#but eventually as we got closer and our friendship developed

[redactedlove]

Just me & G…

hi @overclockedselfshipping !

[sockeye-station]

Wait is your four the captain? How did that happen?

YES! YES!! I GOT SOMEONE TO ASK ABOUT IT! I WIN!!!!

CLEARS THROAT. OKAY OKAY OKAY IVE HAD THIS ROTATING IN MY HEAD FOR A HOT FUCKN MINUTE AND ILL TRY MY BEST TO EXPLAIN IT IN A WAY THAT MAKES SENSE

OKAY. LETS REWIND ALL THE WAY BACK TO OCTO EXPANSION!!!

so! octo expansion goes all normally, we have our agent 8 fighting through the entire structure to escape, agent 3 gets brainwashed, they have to fight, yadda yadda. you probably know how it goes by now. But here's the thing.

what if i went ahead and changed a tiny thing. just the teensiest detail.

what if instead of spamming splashdowns, tartar decides to use one big fuck off booyah bomb.

"but, didn't booyah bomb come out after octo expansion?"

yes. yes it did. and that's why i chose booyah bomb specifically.

tartar whipped out the idea to use a booyah bomb from some prototypes it found out about after abducting god-knows-who, and used it despite its unstable build. No one, at that moment, knew whatever that was, what it did, how dangerous it was, or anything of the sort. This was some sort of last hurrah, as it knew that this was its last shot at stopping this failure from escaping the facility. And so it exerted Agent 3 into giving it everything he's got. Quite literally, even! It pushed him so hard, he too became unstable while trying to mantain and boost the energy ball.

The Booyah Bomb is thrown with as much power as Tartar could muster out of that creature, pretty much covering most of the arena. Once the ink settles, and Agent 8 gathers his senses, he looks around. Agent 3 is nowhere to be seen.

at no point in canon is sanitized agent 3 properly splatted throughout the fight — you only break their shield, they superjump back to their platform, and you eventually knock them out. you never splat them. so who's to say that, just like agent 8 during the ascent, they don't have a respawn anchor?

That's what I decided to play with here. Agent 3 is splatted with no respawn anchor. Agent 3 is dead.

The rest of octo expansion plays as normal, only that there's no passed out Agent 3 waiting at the helicopter.

Starting from here, Agent 8 becomes affiliated with the NSS through Cuttlefish after breaking the news, feeling like he needs to make it up for the loss they suffered as he feels responsible for it. He grows closer with Agent 4, and eventually they become closer friends, even staying at her place after she invited him once their friendship was more developed. This paragraph is mostly to explain how they know each other and how their friendship started, also explaining why my Agent 8 gives OtH Agent 4's number instead of Cuttlefish.

Okay! Now, back to the point of this ask. I actually had a bit of this typed out in a server I'm in!

[Agent 4] didn't really have a choice when it came to becoming Captain, being the fifth longest-standing member of the NSS after craig, the squisters and agent 3. craig was retiring, the squid sisters were still busy with their inkopolis celebrity scene, and [Agent 3] was dead. so she was the next best option.

she didnt really ask for this in the first place, and yet she accepted out of hopes of being acknowledged. When she was just an agent, the rest of the team didn't keep in touch with her much (except for Agent 8) after the events of OE, and at one point even stopped being called for whenever Callie got the shades on again. Whenever she patrolled, she did it without any previous call, and was rarely acknowledged by the others. She still kept visiting the canyon whenever she could after everyone else had moved on.

even after becoming the "captain", the others didnt usually reach out to her for assistance, and instead tended to act on their own. they never really took her as captain, rarely listening to her. so obviously this whole mess made her feel like absolute dogshit, questioning why she even decided to go through with this.

that title was meant for [Agent 3]. not for her. he was the one that came before her, and was better than her in so many ways. at least that's what the others kept repeating around her.

as much of a punch in the gut being constantly compared to someone else was, she kept pushing to try and make herself known, separate from the other's achievements. which is why she ended up accepting marina's request.

[destiny-in-the-universe]

More RC9GN Headcanons

Fair warning! This is going to get long!

I’m flat out renaming Flute Girl because- no. Also I would not be able to take myself seriously if I had to use “Flute Girl” as a name in my writing. Her name is Claire now because I said so. Why? It just fits- it felt like her name if that makes sense

Claire is vaguely friends with Theresa, but she’s always been a little closer to Bucky and Stevens- even though they sort of get on her nerves too. (Also she doesn’t spit as much when she talks- even with the fact she has braces)

She hopes to be part of the marching band in college and considers joining a professional group someday

She used to have a small crush on Randy when she was younger, before high school- but always finds him and Howard reckless; hence why she’s almost always calling them idiots. Claire is a little perceptive, and has noticed when Randy mysteriously disappears during the attacks on the high school but hasn’t quite pieced together why (nor does she particularly care- of course there’s also the fact she gets stanked a bit)

Now comes the matter of “Plop Plop” because again, I’m not using that name in my fanfictions- absolutely not lmao

For the purpose of continuing the Japanese history that Norrisville has- (did Norrisville just sort of ‘yeet’ itself into a new location and that’s how it ended up in America of all places?), “Plop Plop” is going to be named Hinata- his surname remains undecided for the time being because, well, I need to have this make a little sense

“Finja” (I’m still deciding his name-) and Hinata met when they were adults- they sort of parallel Randy and Howard, but to make sense of how I believe they met, Hinata was either a servant to the Norisu 9 (though i’m not as sold with this idea-), or there was the other side: Finja and Hinata did meet at the Norisu clan home, only Hinata was a scribe and apprenticed to someone there. Eventually he and Finja got closer, the details of this still remain vague- trust me, I will write more- and well, a mutual friendship began from that

Hinata is literally immortal- at least that’s what got implied by the canon, if he was in present times and guarding the chaos pearl. He remembers when Finja was sealed into the Nomicon, it had pained him dearly but he continued his promise to the ancient Ninja

How Finja got sealed into the Nomicon? Well- this is spoilers, but I do think something happened in his later years where a sacrifice had to be made and that‘a all I’m saying on the matter. We'll have to see what else is there in the past for our beloved First Ninja!

I'm sure you've all realized by now I consider Hinata to be an ancestor of Howard- (also apparently yes, Howard is also a girl's name-); I like to think Hinata only had a couple women in his life, as he's vaguely implied to be a monk- he married one of them, having a daughter he did name Howard. As the years came to pass, 'Howard' became a bit of a traditional name in Hinata's family history (somewhere down the line, when Norrisville ended up in Oklahoma, tradition broke and Howard was passed down to the 'last' in Hinata's bloodline - Howard Weinerman)

So, now we get to Howard- because boy, do I have headcanons heh-

First of all, Howard is known to be somewhat of a toxic friend, but that doesn't mean he's bad. These kids are literally fourteen year olds fighting a literal sorcerer, not to mention the likes of McFist and Viceroy- but something to keep in mind: Howard does care for Randy

(If he didn't- we would have seen that)

Howard is a loyal friend at the end of the day! He's not entirely my favorite, but that might just be because the writers were cowards when it came to character development- like, he did protect Randy more than once; I forget the episode name but it was in the one where the Sorceress comes back, and Randy throws himself into the portal to the Land of the Shadows, but Howard was genuinely scared for Randy- or the episode where Randy was supposedly moving away and Howard didn't want him to leave

Or or or the episode where Randy's acting like a possessive prick over Howard, and Howard point blank states Randy is his biffer- like sure, they're a bit unhealthy to each other and painfully codependent but the duo are best friends. I'm sure they'll grow out of their nonsense toward one another

I need to reiterate this as many times as I can, but Howard does have some degree of social anxiety! (or he hates being alone for some unexplained reason as this is literally canon) I do like to think since Howard has a somewhat bigger family than Randy's- he has always been surrounded by people and the idea of having to be alone is a little nerve-wracking; there's also just the possibility that Howard and Randy don't really have anyone else-? Randy is practically Howard's only friend, and even though Howard's sister Heid does exist, she's not exactly close to him- which leaves Randy and Howard simply cant't fathom the idea of not having him around

(if it were me though, I'd genuinely expand on this more- and yes I know I did breach about this before but Howard's a genuinely interesting character)

Also yes, Howard is mean and more brash than Randy can be at times but let me say this again- he's young and stupid. Also, I feel he was just left constantly unsupervised and while yes, Mort's in the picture- I feel that Howard gets away with a lot since his mom is never seen in the show at all and that also needs to be addressed

I might honestly make an entire meta-analysis on Randy and Howard's relationship in a different post- I ship Fowlham as much as the next person, but Weinerham is an equally great ship and I swear I will talk about it you can't stop me

Circling back to Finja because this is important- I don't consider him to be the eldest child from the Norisu 9; I think he was on the younger side and was left with the mantle of successor after the final battle with the Sorcerer. I think he was forced to witness his brothers and sisters meeting their demise- (hence my other headcanon where he has survivor's guilt and ptsd because no one gets out of that unscathed-)

which speaking of- his debut episode makes me so mad and I love it at the same time like, I do understand why he gave up so quickly but honestly he should have had more time to shine when fighting against the Sorcerer. Maybe it's also my self indulgent ass wanting Finja and Randy to have more screentime together (even if the show did end- one can dream!)

I honestly would like to see something where Finja or even Randy end up in the future over the past; this could be very interesting- especially if they were forced to defeat an even bigger threat that the future timeline's Ninja couldn't deal with

I'm sure some of you are curious to see if the Nomicon could've been part of the Norisu clan, and the answer is that's for me to know and you to find out later- because I decided to be mean today hahaha, let's just leave it at that for now

This is not as much headcanon anymore- as it is me wanting something to be part of the lore, but with Nomi-Randy, I feel the Nomicon created him with the intention of showing Randy he needs balance which is canon but at the same time- it's more or less an interpretation of the type of person he could've become had he not been chosen as the Ninja. Nomi-Randy is part of the Nomicon, and was allowed out but I do think he might be able to live in the real world (provided someone watches over him-)

Headcanon time again, and this is something I will be breaching more in a certain analysis for Weinerham and their relationship overall (even without shipping) but I do think there's a reason for Randy's possessiveness. I am in no way saying the actions he took in that episode, where Howard begins befriending- was it Bucky? I can't remember, it was him and a few others, were justified but if I'm right- Randy is constantly left alone by his parents. He doesn't have a big support system, if any- apart from Howard- and his jealousy is more than likely a product of that

Although Randy does learn his lesson- and let's be so fucking for real here, he's just an idiot; like this kid is brash, impulsive, and altogether a disaster waiting to happen but he understands in the end what he did wrong. This is not a page to slander Randy or Howard because oh my god, the content we could've gotten if they were given proper character development

Randy is not an abusive little fucker who has it out for Howard, but we can't deny he still isn't great to him a lot of the time- and Howard has his faults because he also has a temper, he doesn't always seem to understand his own misdoings sometimes though that is the whole point- they're freshmen and are literally so dumb in the series (like seriously Randy did not need as much of a prick in season two, that was so unnecessary- but I digress, we'll get to that later)

I will write that meta-analysis of sorts focusing on Weinerham and just Randy and Howard overall at some point between the next couple days- I'll either queue it, or just send it in one go but honestly, they're my blorbos at the moment oops; what we got and what we should have gotten makes me want to go insane.

Anyway, that's it! That's my headcanon dump! I'll be back soon because the rot of the brain on this dumb (/aff) series does not stop apparently-

[extasiswings]

As someone who never watched bones, the bones blueprint???

What is the Bones blueprint? WELL, LET ME TELL YOU. So Bones is the show with one of, if not THE hetero slow burn ship of classic Fox procedural shows in the mid-2000s-early 2010s. (Pretty much every main network had at least one major procedural slow burn at a time. Fox had X-files, then Bones. ABC had Castle. CBS had NCIS and The Mentalist…you get it). So, let me set the stage with our characters:

Seeley Booth, played by David Boreanaz. Booth is an FBI Agent and former Army Ranger (with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart and a certain amount of PTSD that he doesn’t like to discuss). Catholic. Complicated relationship with his family. More than a little repressed. Definitely needs therapy (and gets it eventually—at first when he’s required to go, and voluntarily in later seasons). Good at and devoted to his job. Single Dad who feels like he missed out on a lot of the early years of his son’s life and worries about being a good father (he asked his ex to marry him when she got pregnant, but she turned him down even though she loved him—at least early on in the series even though they aren’t together it’s discussed that they have a tendency to fall into bed not infrequently) [I swear I’m not making this up]. Anyway, you get the picture.

And behind Curtain No. 2, we have:

Temperance Brennan (Bones), played by Emily Deschanel. Brennan is a forensic anthropologist. Super smart, super scientific, doesn’t have great social skills, but definitely has the whole “perceived as cold but actually feels things very deeply” thing going on. Tragic backstory. She’s also a novelist.

So! Booth and Brennan. They work together, they’re partners, they solve murders. And, naturally, they have the whole opposites thing that works for them—she’s very book smart, he’s very street smart, she believes in facts and science and logic, he believes in intuition and gut feelings and faith, etc. etc. As is often the case with the aesthetic of the crime procedural slowburn ship, they start out sort of reluctantly working together, but eventually develop a real partnership built on trust and friendship (and love!).

Early on, she has some things in her past with her family that she asks for his help investigating so that she can get answers. There’s also a time in the second season where Brennan gets kidnapped by a serial killer and buried alive while Booth is stuck trying to find her, which in addition to still being just An Episode(™) remains one of the great, classic, early-in-the-slowburn “I almost lost you and it made me feel Some Kinda Way, but no no we’re just friends really, nothing to see here” defining arcs, especially since Brennan starts dating someone not too long after. The same serial killer returns in season four and snatches Booth that time, and then it’s Brennan’s turn to find him (with the help of Booth’s younger brother). Anyway, classic slow burn—there’s a lot of Implication that you could read into if you wanted throughout the first several seasons, but not necessarily super concrete (although they get caught under the mistletoe once), and there are several rounds of saving each other in various ways as over the years they just become closer and closer until they’re Partners(™) in every way (even when they’re dating other people).

What’s making me yell and scream today though, is: the S4 finale and S5. In the S4 finale, Booth is in a coma after having brain surgery. He has a wild coma dream where he and Brennan are married and they run a nightclub, but there still ends up being a murder—ANYWAY, irl Brennan basically spends the whole time he’s in a coma at his bedside, but then he wakes up and he has no memory of who she is. Pivot to S5, Booth remembers her again, and also feels like he might have romantic feelings for her, but (in part because of some third party commentary) questions whether they’re real or just a side-effect of the surgery. He sort of tells her anyway, but flubs it massively. Later in the season, we get Booth’s son being concerned that his dad doesn’t have a girlfriend, both Booth and Brennan separately getting relationship advice from third parties, and Brennan getting asked out by a new guy. And then! The 100th episode.

The 100th episode, which reveals the start of the series wasn’t their first case, they worked together once before and kissed and almost slept together, but hadn’t ended up going all the way. And after they’re done telling their story, Booth finally stops and kisses her and gets to give his big damn love confession, lays it all on the line, tells her he’s always known she was the one and wants to really try…and she freaks out and cries and turns him down, and he accepts it but says he has to move on. And then they both date other people before fully running away from each other for many months (Brennan on an anthropological dig, Booth back to Afghanistan for the military). (And then, when they come back, she’s ready to put on her big girl pants and give it a shot, except that he went and got a girlfriend who he seems happy with so we all get to suffer through a season of angst and pining while he proposes to someone who isn’t Brennan etc while everyone else is like “you’re still in love with her though” but they do sleep together by the end of S6 and ultimately get married and have two more kids (not in that order)).

So, yeah—the blueprint! Making me especially crazy because here we are with Buddie on a Fox procedural, 4 seasons since they really started trying it seems to make Buddie something potentially real, and Buck is heading into a coma where he's about to hallucinate another life, and the 100th episode is coming up near the beginning of next season (and I really hope Fox learned from Bones that there's such a thing as dragging out the slow burn too much and just lets them be happy after the big damn feelings reveal but XD).

[paperzombiie]

How is Nohreh doing?

he's... surviving(?) this is gonna be a long post bc i've been wanting to talk about this so i apologise in advance fndjksnfjd

right now his story and the rp is on hiatus for numerous reasons but to summarize it:

-original rp discord group closed suddenly bc admins were antis, threw a hissy fit and didn't want anyone to have fun if it wasn't on their own extremely sanitized """moral""" terms (like, every time a character did anything wrong we had to clearly state we didn't support what they did... and other even worse things like that ugh)

-we (the users) made a new discord group to continue with the story as we pleased (hence the change from "azalea valley" to "rhododendron island". the tag is now called "rhodo island")

-we had a few rp events but eventually we all got busy with our jobs/uni so we had to make a pause

story wise, Nohreh has:

-found out Demian bit Coni on a full moon and went hiding from everyone

-went looking for him when he didn't reappear after a week and become closer after taking care of him

-had a period of "peace" until they uh... let's say they both fucked up and had sex again when they didn't even know what they wanted from each other. that put a strain on their friendship, Demian refused to talk to him but only bc he was so afraid and anxious (he doesn't hook up with the same person twice to avoid getting attached and this went against all his own internal set of rules), Nohreh thought he was mad at him, communication issues ensue

-they finally talked about it (or at least tried to) and both concluded they needed a bit of time away from each other to think but agreed to talk about it again after some time passed

-Nohreh took that opportunity to go to the sea and finally dare to search for his grandpa following a lead he obtained a while ago

-not only he did find him but he also found his grandma! they were both alive living in a mermaid city but grandpa couldn't go back to the surface due to a curse. his grandma was actually the mermaid witch who lifted the seal that suppressed his mer self from birth on this comic (she's the one saying "welcome back")

-spent some time with them catching up and learned a bit of his own family history, along with the reason they decided to stop living as mermaids and forget the rest of the family (said reason is still a WIP, sorry 💦 let's say it was just good ol' family drama with a mix of magic in it)

-came back to the island and reunited with his friends and Demian. they talked, agreed to take things slow and take care of each other

-had a halloween party organized by the villagers and almost had a date night with Demian. as the island is located in the southern hemisphere that means it was summer storms season... a particularly bad tropical storm quickly developed on halloween night and plunged the whole island into chaos. lighting caused the lighthouse to malfunction and the electricity of the whole place went down for a couple of weeks. a dense fog seemingly undisturbed by the storm engulfed the town and strange things started to happen, with voices being heard at night and weird silhouettes seen stalking the villagers in the fog

-Nohreh and his friends had to go through a few chilling adventures to restore the power to the lighthouse and the island, and finally succeded! the fog disappeared and everything went to normal... or at least as normal as one can be after a strong tropical storm

-in the process he discovered the lighthouse acts as a guardian for the island that keeps the paranormal fog at bay. it's inhabited by a lady who's some kind of brazilian fairy whose name escapes me at the moment, the thing is, she controls electricity and provides the whole island with power

-he's helping rebuild a few places and trying to return to his normal life... but things feel different. dead animals keep washing ashore on the beaches and Fay has told him he had a premonition about a new danger lurking in the island after the storm awoke it...

aaaaand that's all i have for now lol

i suspect this is not the kind of answer you were expecting, maybe something with a little drawing on it but i honestly been too caught up with what's happening with my country so i apologise for the lack of drawings ;__; still, it fills me with immense joy to know someone still wants to know about Nohreh so, thank you for asking!!

[ginnsbaker]

Ginny baby I’m having a mini-crisis

I think I like my best friend and I don’t know how to go about getting rid of this. I’ve known her for 7 years and throughout that time I’ve had two separate occasions where I developed feelings for her, first time not that serious but I can’t say that about the second time. Admittedly the second time I surely panicked briefly but the feelings faded both times, what always followed after was that I’d feel insane for even believing I could feel that way about her in the first place.

BUT now it’s back and I’m in a sort of denial about it? I talked about it with another author here before but we ultimately chalked it down to it just being attraction. Now I’m scared that’s not the case?

Last night I went clubbing with some close friends but I ran into (let’s call her Wanda I guess?) while waiting in the line to get in. Wanda looked so damn good, I’m already shorter than her normally but she’d was in all black wearing her platform shoes along with a skirt and a blouse. Wanda and I are touchy drunks(with other friends too) but the way that we’d been last night had me feeling something. Whenever Wanda and I would talk, we’d lean our bodies closer together and start talking directly into each others ears, her hands finding mine after the start of every sentence- one would assume we were doing that because we couldn’t hear one another but it wasn’t loud and when we’d talk to the people around us we’d stay firmly in place. Wanda went out with three friends and one of them was this guy who I knew liked her, I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that he saw me holding her and talking to her in a way that looked intimate.

I didn’t really think much of it last night cause I’d been focused on having a great time, but now that it’s day I’ve realized all of that really put a different angle to the perspective I once had about what I was feeling and why. I hate it, i want it to go away because I’ll always prioritize maintaining our friendship above anything else, this is not something I’ll ever admit to anybody I know but I guess I’m saying all this because I wanted to ask if you’ve ever been in a similar situation and how did you cope? How did it play out for you?

Somebody once told me it might only be attraction and a gauge that I could use to see if it was is imagining a future with them and I wish they hadn’t said that. I’d genuinely believed it was just attraction but I’ve been thinking about that question all day today, the answer to that question has my heart racing at the imagination of it all, but I swear I’d been indifferent to it when I’d first been asked.

The less I think about it, the more I ignore it, the less it feels real so thanks for letting me rant to you gonna go back to gaslighting myself out of this(SI SE PUEDE). Needed to get all this off my chest. 😮‍💨

omg sorry I was already asleep when this went in.

*wears calliope's hat* before we proceed i have a couple of questions:

how long have you known you're attracted to your bestfriend? was it even before you were friends?

have you been in relationships with other women?

(disclaimer: im not a therapist of any sort im just experienced when it comes to being gay cause ive been gay since i was 2 and now im almost thirty lol)

I'm assuming she's straight? so here's my #1 piece of advice is: NEVER FALL FOR STRAIGHT GIRLS

fine, there might be few instances where falling for straight girls will eventually shake their sexuality and give us a shot, but dude, that very rarely happens. Fics, movies, tv series love to portray them often but in reality.... NO.

Feelings for bestfriends WILL pass. I assure you that. Cause yea, I've been in your shoes. I met my best friend in college during sophomore year, and we were from different groups of friends and I intentionally got to know her because I had a crush on her (turns out later on, she also has a crush on me, but it's the type of crush where she finds me pretty so it's basically straight people crush). She had a boyfriend when we became close/bestfriends and I was hang up on her for two years before the feelings finally went away.

Now she's married, and she's still my bestfriend and everytime I think about the past where I was very attracted to her, I'd laugh.

I coped by just letting it run its course. And definitely being interested in someone else helps. Go out there, meet new people, get to know new people. You have the luxury of using a dating app without being judged for it (in the 2010s that's not the case).

Again, whenever possible: DO NOT FALL FOR STRAIGHT GIRLS

The less I think about it, the more I ignore it, the less it feels real so thanks for letting me rant to you gonna go back to gaslighting myself out of this(SI SE PUEDE). - Dude, keep thinking about it. exhaust yourself. go through the drama and the wonderful feeling of being attracted to somebody. it's all part of life. accept that you have feelings for her and then decide: 1- if you want to pursue it 2- if you want to let it pass.

I decided not to pursue it because she's really straight despite the fact that she's touchy and back in college, i'm the only one she'd ever sleep in her apartment and we kissed like 1-2 times on the lips (yes straight girls dont mind)

But in the future, lemme repeat: DO NOT FALL FOR STRAIGHT GIRLS

[isfjmel-phleg]

Todd Dezago, who wrote #50-89 of Impulse and Young Justice: The Secret #1 (and co-created such characters as Inertia and Secret), apparently had hoped to write the ongoing Young Justice series and had the first year and half of plots outlined--considered it some of his best work.

The existing YJ series as written by Peter David is pretty fantastic. But I would love to know what exact direction Dezago wanted to take it--especially in how he would have handled Secret. His original background for her conflicts a bit with what David did (deemphasized the imprisonment by the DEO), and every time Dezago gets to guest-write her during YJ (Impulse #56 and the story in Young Justice 1998 #22 in which Bart ropes Secret into his schemes to get Kon back his powers), you can tell he's trying to reassert his vision for her a little bit.

There have been some hints in interviews of what he had in mind.

When asked in 1998 what he thought of the newly begun YJ series, Dezago indicated that he was disappointed not to have gotten to write it and that the existing version is not like what he had in mind:

Because I worked in development on Young Justice for about a year before it finally came out, and because of the difficulties which eventually led to my leaving the project, it is still a very emotional subject for me. It's hard for me to pick the book up, and so I haven't really looked at it; therefore, no opinion. I will be following it now, of course, as reference regarding what Impulse is doing in that title, and how he is being portrayed. I am told that the current storylines are very different to what I had planned for the first 16 issues of the book.

Dezago apparently was setting some things up in World Without Grown-Ups, the first Young Justice story:

When I left Young Justice, I regretted leaving those things unresolved; there were quite a few elements planted in both that and The Secret that were intended to come back to haunt our heroes. What was going to happen to Bedlam? To Red Tornado? How would the Secret (and any other candidates) eventually be brought into the team? How come the JLA Watchtower didn't remain on the KidWorld moon? What would chairs look like if our knees bent the other way?

There were plans to develop characters' friendships. Which did of course get prioritized in David's series. But I'm curious about Dezago's intended take, especially the notion of the boys having to learn to see from each other's perspective and there being an emphasis on learning to trust each other.

I had originally planned to have some real bonding going on in Young Justice--putting the Boys into situations that would bring them closer together emotionally, stories that would let them see the world through each other's eyes (and, yes, at the speed he's always going, this would be tough for Bart...but he'd get a glimpse...). I wanted to show them growing together and learning to trust one another, so that they would have close, yet different, relationships with one another. That said, I think that he has a great friendship (that I hope to explore around issue 56 or 7...) with Arrowette!!

If he were to write a series about Secret?

I don't want to tell you the whole story, but it would be about her looking for her past...and finding a lot of stuff she didn't want to...! Truth to tell, it's already written...I had it in mind when Todd Nauck and I created her...

He also had plans for more Impulse stories that never got to happen:

Oh, Bart… I loved Bart from the moment he popped out of the future! He was everything we are as kids: reckless, impetuous, fearless… He was young and innocent (and ignorant), and gullible. He was a “Joey” (from Friends). He would write his own dialog. I would just put him into a story or situation and let him go — and he’d just do what he did! I loved writing his adventures and his fun and am sad we didn’t get to go on. Our last year was a mess due to all the crossovers and events (7 out of 12!!), but I had some more fun planned for that kid…

I would like to think that this would have included the return and eventual redemption of arc of Thad, which was set up and which readers who wrote to the editor seemed to want quite a lot. But we have no way of knowing for sure.

I couldn't find any more recent interviews with Dezago and I wish I could conduct one! It would be fascinating to get further background on stories that never got to happen, or what the creative process was for Thad and Secret, and where the idea for the Mercury Falling arc came from and why it stands out so much, etc. etc.

[velvet-cupcake-games]

Early FAQ Bits

I'll be making some posts from time to time that will eventually go into our launch FAQ on our in-development website (that I really do want to finish and polish, but development is taking precedence). This is one of them!

Q: My love interest got angry at me for a choice I made. Should I go back and change the choice to get a good ending?

A: No! We strongly want to encourage players to make whatever choices they want. Any choice that doesn't lead directly to a bad end is a role-playing choice that will take you closer to one of two possible good (romantic) endings. Conflict (and resolving it) can be an important part of relationship development, so we urge players to stick with their choice and see how it plays out. It may lead to character revelations that you won't find in the other, more conciliatory choice.

Some routes do allow the player to proceed to a friendship ending instead of carrying through with the romance, but those choices will be very obvious (like: "Turn him down permanently").

Q: How many chapters are in Made Marion?

A: Made Marion's two common routes, Sherwood and Nottingham, have two chapters each. Players choosing Meissa's route will only read the first Nottingham common chapter (Meissa's route may be a bit longer to compensate).

Once you pick a love interest, their routes are four chapters long. They're fairly long chapters. Chapter 4 is where you'll see the results of your role-playing choice throughout the route, and there will be major differences between the two possible Chapter 4s for each love interest.

Q: I've reached a major choice, but one of the options is greyed out* and I can't select it. What gives?

A: Around Chapter 3 (out of 4) of each route, players who have consistently picked one particular role-playing choice may commit themselves to that ending earlier than others. Players who manage to be balanced between the two at the very end will have one final choice that forces them to commit to one ending or the other. I expect that on most playthroughs, this final choice will already be selected for most players.

This allows us to have particular relationship development trends that build throughout each role-playing "route" (say, whether Marion approaches Robin with clever rapport or with blunt honesty) and make sense as you come to a relationship's climax.

If you come to a locked choice, it doesn't necessarily mean that all your choices will be locked out until the endings in Chapter 4. It just means that I decided that players who are committed to Marion's "clever" RP path really need to read the "clever" result of a particular choice. The final, major choice being locked in simply means that you've already committed to that path and will get the most emotional satisfaction from seeing the big choice related to it.

*This may change, I'm going to have my backers vote on whether or not they'd like to see the greyed out choices.

[gendervapor14]

two fights for freedom ~ chapter seventeen: taking the plunge

Arlong frowned at Rosinante. “Why would a noble settle for some filthy riff-raff like her?”

The blond drew up the same card in his repertoire, pulling her in for a platonic side-hug. Did not want to risk setting her off with anything more invasive. “She��s a fascination of mine. So, uh, beautiful and fiery. Why not marry her to keep her for myself?”

Did he really just say that? Bell-mère coughed on her next drag, which led him to believe, yes, that did just come out of his mouth.

“Seems to me like she’s trying to manipulate you into paying for her tributes.” Arlong sat back, arms folded. “Unless I’m mistaken.” He raised a hand before Genzo could chime in again. “There’s no escaping this. I need some form of physical evidence that this isn’t a ruse now, and then I’ll let you go.”

“Physical evidence.” Rosinante repeated numbly, thinking that Genzo’s magical paperwork would more than qualify as physical evidence. If only they thought this through more, forged some signatures or foil rings. Bell-mère tugged on his sleeve and he turned to face her squarely.

“Let’s kiss.”

i've said this like 80 times but i might have to slow down posting? maybe? i've got a bunch of things i have to write for january that are not yet written at all, and i accidentally pantsered myself into an unexpected plot twist in a rewrite of chapter 18 so. bear with me. i'll post more updates as we get closer to the next posting.

title: two fights for freedom rating: M category: F/M, gen content warnings: graphic depictions of violence status: incomplete, seventeen chapters, 51,808 words relationships: rosinante/bell-mere, cora & law, rosinante & hatchan, bell-mere & rosinante & law & nami & nojiko, rosinante & genzo, bell-mere & genzo characters: rosinante, bell-mere, law, nami, nojiko, genzo, nako, hatchan, arlong, arlong pirates additional tags: canon divergent, fix-it, everybody lives, pre-arlong park, angst with a happy ending, angst and feels, fluff and humor, hurt/comfort, suggestive themes, sexual tension, limes (yes i'm bringing limes back), eventual smut, romance, slow burn, financial issues, broken bones, references to depression, alcoholism, mental health issues, canon backstory, mentioned doflamingo, non-canon backstory (giving bell-mere a backstory), found family, medical inaccuracies, blood and injury, trafalgar d. water law is a little shit, developing friendships, past child abuse, nightmares, self-harm, fake marriage, selective mutism, more tags to be added later summary: freedom for one means adventure. exploring all the world has to offer, while avoiding the occasional haunting. freedom for another almost costs an arm and two daughters. a home, a village. perhaps freedom is best sought back-to-back. {a cora and bell-mère lives au}

♥

[babykentthegent]

Lucky 7-Months

Somehow we are nearing the end of the year and what a year it's been! We started the year wanting to adopt a baby and ending the year with a 7-month old. It's been a rollercoaster of a ride, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Kent is learning and growing so fast that it's hard to keep up. His hair is getting long and he now has two little baby teeth in his bottom front gums and two vampire fangs trying to bust through the top. And his personality...he is nothing short of perfection. He's so loving, so silly, and has a way of bringing sunshine into peoples' lives. The love we have for this boy is boundless and continues to grow each day we spend with him. Feels like just yesterday we were flying home from Texas just before summer and now it's almost Christmas!

In the last month, Kent has tried so many different foods. He really enjoys eating solids and is getting better at using utensils. That's not to say that he is clean about it - we find food all over the place, including the ceiling. He just learned that the dogs will lick his hands clean and has turned it into a little game. The friendship he is developing with the dogs is so special and warms our hearts. Between our two giant hounds, his grandparent's small pooch, and his nanny's birds, we think Kent is developing a strong love of animals.

With this year being Kent's first Christmas, we've been considering what traditions we want to either create or carry on with him from our families. The holidays certainly feel more exciting now that we have a kiddo. With Christmas having been my mom's favorite holiday, and her having passed away in December, the last five Christmases have felt like a candle that had been blown out. Kent has brought light and joy back into our lives and this year Christmas feels special again. I can't tell you how many lives Kent has touched with his mere existence, but I can tell you that he has completely transformed ours. As the year comes to an end, we can't help but feel immense gratitude and are so happy for the honor of showing Kent the world.

Some of the traditions we hope to introduce him to:

Reading the Night Before Christmas on Christmas eve

Opening one present on Christmas eve

Leaving out cookies and milk for Santa + carrots for the reindeer

Watching Christmas Story on Christmas eve and Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended edition) on Christmas day and dad's birthday

No Elf on the Shelf for this family - My ADHD brain won't possibly remember to do this every night not to mention Rob thinks it's creepy, haha! To each her own! ;)

Kent got to meet Santa for the first time not once, but TWICE. He did so great and didn't even cry! That was until Santa turned him around to show the camera his booty message. We were no longer in eye sight and he no longer had his parents to reassure him that he was okay. It made for a fantastic photo, though! The second Santa he met was while visiting Rob's family. It was such a nice surprise and Kent loved tugging on Santa's beard. He also got to meet some distant cousins that were closer to his age. His cousin Penelope even taught him how to hug properly. It took a couple eye pokes, but he eventually figured it out.

Kent has been surrounded by family and loved ones this month. He really seems to be social and loves interacting with everyone. So many people have told us how good he is, how he never fusses, and is such a laid back baby. This kid is all smiles and is so good at communicating what he needs. Kent spent time with multiple grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. He loves everyone and everyone loves him. <3

Christmas is just about here and we could not be more excited! We know he'll likely only be interested in the wrapping paper and less on the gifts themselves, but I am just grateful that we get to experience his first Christmas together and to begin our family traditions.

Happy new year to everyone reading! We hope that 2024 is full of new adventures and more happy memories ahead!

[love-advice-on-call]

hi fren! complicated story but i’ll try and keep it short. last year, i befriended a guy called blue. we were just classmates initially having met through uni, but he was good friends with my friends so we got to know each other and became a friend group. we got on really well initially, having really great platonic chemistry, and similar senses of humour. i developed a crush on him, but i knew it wouldn’t lead anywhere and i was completely okay being his friend, and would have wanted that more than dating him. he had a bit of a reputation for being a manwhore, and i didn’t want any part in that.

the months pass and we end up growing much closer than before, having deep, vulnerable and quite intimate talks with each other. we would hang out one-on-one, constantly send voice notes to each other and sit on long calls together. this was all kept secret from our friend group. i still tried to maintain a platonic bond with him, which made things confusing. while there was some (very minimal, quite deniable) flirting, our relationship was more emotional than romantic, and we were genuinely friends.

he went home for the holidays once uni ended and we kept in contact for those three months. he would drunk call me, text me odd things, and was just sending me mixed signals. new year and when he came back, things were a bit awkward between us, as we both didn’t know where we stood. we drifted apart for a couple of months, but still saw each other daily due to our being in the same friend group. it was awkward and stilted and i felt he had pushed me away to be honest. but we found our way back to each other and we picked up right where we left off, as if no time had passed. he told me i was one of his closest friends, and i said the same back and truly meant it. at that point, the feelings i had for him had completely dissipated.

eventually, we couldn’t ignore the weird state of our friendship the previous year, and we had a conversation about it, both admitting we were confused about where we stood. he said everyone kept putting doubts in his mind about our friendship. but i told him that i didn’t like him, because at the time i was telling the truth. but from there, our friendship spiralled into more confusion. it wasn’t necessarily romantic, and wasn’t sexual at all, but just extremely intimate. i felt so close to him, to the point where i didn’t know if i did have feelings for him or not. lots of confusing things happened, and i won’t bore you with the details, but it definitely reached a point where it wasn’t entirely platonic; but neither one of us knew what it was.

eventually, he asked me to be fwb and i said no. i was hurt he asked me this, especially because he told me it would mean nothing to him and he wouldn’t want me to get the wrong idea or get attached. the idea that my friend, someone who cared about me, and who i had built such a deep connection with, would only want to use me for sex was hurtful.

from there, our friendship wasn’t platonic at all, and veered into a weird romantic territory. but he also started to get hurtful and angry and manipulative. and one night, we had a huge fight in front of all of our friends, and he nearly made me cry. about a week later, he ended up apologising, saying that it was all his fault and he has a tendency to self sabotage close relationships. but to also tell me that since the beginning of the year, there had been another girl he was speaking to and he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend. this is about three weeks after he asked me to be fwb. he had told everyone he was serious about her and saw something long term with her. all the while, he would chat shit about her to me, so i thought nothing was going on.

i’m no longer speaking to him, but it’s confusing and hurtful. i’m starting to doubt if he was ever my friend. i don’t understand why he would lie to me. i feel so betrayed and i don’t even know why he did half the things he did! sorry this is so long. any advice or opinions would be appreciated! thank u for reading!! <3

Hi,

Well it sounds like this is all for the best. Just reading this, there was a lot of back and forth on the way people felt and from the start you said you wouldn't want things to lead anywhere with him which is what you ultimately got. I understand feeling hurt by him asking you to be FWB, it sort of devalues the friendship. Maybe he did half the things he did because he said you were one of his closest friends and maybe he was just treating you well in that regard.

I'm sorry to hear the way things ultimately turned out, but hope you find someone who can be more straight forward with you and someone you have confidence in to begin with.

Posted July 1, 2024

[ink-man-sam]

bro who won the feel bad competition what happened we need gossip

Ok, the feel bad competition is still ongoing but I can give a bit of context

This is a thing that has been brewing up for four years now, so it's a bit of a long story of small things eventually becoming a bigger problem

So, this friend (I'll call her "i" to make it easier to explain) has been kinda clingy towards me since we met in 2020

These past two years we've gotten closer to each other and spent a lot of time together, to the point where she would sleep over at my place almost every weekend

Last year, her "lovebombing" has gotten really out of hand. She has always given everyone in our friend group pictures she's drawn (she's an amazing artist) but she gifted me a new drawing almost every day. She also kept giving me compliments about how good I look, how talented I am, etc. Everytime we had a sleepover, she would ask for cuddles too

Me, being the attention whore that I am, loved this of course. I indulged in all of it and obviously, I started becoming very fond of her too after a while. So much, that I started to think that I have a crush on her

My best friend (I'll call her "s" or just "bestie") saw how enamored we were with each other, and liked to take the piss out of i for it, in a joking way of course (insisting on holding my hand and wanting to be the one who sits next to me whenever i was present). Eventually, my bestie got i to confess that she has (had?) A crush on me and made her confess to me too.

Once again, since I was absolutely drunk on all the attention i was suddenly giving me, I said that I find her kinda cute too

Time flies, and eventually i asked me if we want to start dating. I've thought about dating her too, but realistically thinking, it would be horrible to be in a relationship with her for multiple reasons (always shitting on my interests, infantilizing the hell out of me, etc.) So when she asked me, I said no.

Now, summer vacation starts, and i and my bestie go on vacation together. They talked a lot every night, and eventually, "i" started to develop feelings for s too. All the attention i used to give to me suddenly shifted towards my bestie and she barely wasted a thougt on me.

My bestie rejected her bc 1. She isn't gay and 2. She does not feel that way about i in the slightest. They've always had this kind of hate-love-relationship where they fought a lot in a joking manner and suddenly i's treatment of s completely changed. Our friend group's dynamics shifted and everything was very weird for a while.

One night, while i was having a sleepover with s, they were sitting on my bestie's bed and watching tiktoks. My bestie kinds fell half-asleep and i kissed her without her consent. Two times.

My bestie socked her in the face for it of course, but i just would not get the hint that she isn't interested. S kept rejecting her, I kept trying to convince her that s doesn't like her like that but i just wouldn't stop being gross towards her. She kept sending really gross messages and saying really gross stuff and it slowly started to ruin the friendship.

Eventually, my bestie chewed i out through text so hard that she didn't text her for a few months.

Now, me and s have already graduated in 10th grade but i still went to school for two more years. While my bestie had to go to a boarding school pretty far away for her apprenticeship, I went to the sister school of i's school. During my apprenticeship, I met my transfem classmate "L".

L is a pretty weird girl. I don't hate her, but she isn't my favourite friend either. She's just a classmate I can talk to and joke around with, and tbh I don't really want our friendship to go anywhere beyond that (not that L cares about that or anything)

L always liked to steal my phone and text i. L and i seemed to fit together pretty well and I introduced them to each other.

This text is already way to fucking long, so I'll try and go into less detail but eventually, i's attention started to shift aways from me and my bestie and suddenly she and L were in this kind of friendship+ relationship.

Usually, I wouldn't give a shit about what other people do in private, but lately, i has been refusing to speak to us. At all. All her attention is on L now, and i doesn't even talk to us even if we're standing right in front of her and L isn't even there. It fucking sucks.

And what makes me the angriest is, that L only ever texts us when she needs something or when she, personally, wants to spend time with us. She ignores us and brushes us off whenever we meet up, but when she's in the mood, she expects us to drop everything and spend some time with her. It pisses me off.

So now, I'm ignoring her the same way she keeps ignoring me and my bestie. If she doesn't find it necessary to spend time with us when we see each other irl, I don't find it necessary to spend time with her when she texts me. Easy as that. Tho she's kinda starting to cave in now. She texted me wanting to know how I am earlier, but you can bet I'm taking my sweet time responding to her, if I even respond to it at all. That's what she gets for pulling this shit on us over and over again. Either she gets over her fucking attachment issues, or this friendship is over. This has been going on for two years, I'm fucking tired of bending over backwards to save a friendship she obviously doesn't value judging by how she treats us. I'm not a toy she can play with until she's tired of me. I'm not a therapist who will listen to her crying about how everyone always rejects her. I'm fucking tired of it all

Sorry for rambling

[chicken2potato]

5/4/2023

This is going to be my one and only post about this. So read carefully. 

I have a mixture of emotions going on. I’m equally pissed the fuck off and heartbroken. Actually, that’s a lie. I’m mostly just pissed the fuck off. A part of me is dumbfounded that this actually happened, and another is not even surprised.

You said that being together was what ruined our friendship the last time. That wasn’t what it fucking was. You know what it was? The lack of fucking communication, the influence of others trying to tell us how we should be fucking handling our shit, and just straight up being young and stupid. What took our friendship away was Averi. What took our friendship away was letting people tell us that it wasn’t right. Or just fucking not communicating and exploding on each other or giving each other the silent treatment. It wasn’t the fucking relationship. I remember back when we first started telling each other that we had feelings for each other and we were both scared that it would ruin our friendship. We both promised each other that we wouldn’t let it, and I think we stayed true to that promise. It wasn’t fucking being with you that ruined the friendship, it was not being with you that did. After we broke up, everything hit the fan. Whether it was Averi, or my mom, or the church, or what-the-fuck-ever it was, it wasn’t our relationship. 

And this time... it’s not the two day fucking relationship that’s ruined this friendship. It’s the fucking lies and the fucking betrayal. 

“I’ll tell you everyday if it means you’ll believe me.” “Yes, I want this.” “Yes, this is real.” “I promise.”

Words I will never believe if you ever say them again. You fucking promised. You fucking lied. You fucking told me that it was me. Fuck you. Do you know how much that fucking hurts??? To be told that you’re finally, FINALLY, getting what you want after fucking years and then for it to be ripped out from underneath you in two fucking days. 

I knew that you weren’t going to follow through. I can’t tell you how I knew, but I did. On Monday, when you said all those things.... did all those things... I fucking knew that it was going to be too good to be true.

I’m fucking heartbroken. I spent the entire fucking ride home from church yelling and sobbing. Because what the fuck?? Literally. What. The. Fuck. 

I have loved you since fucking day one. And you said that you didn’t “want to feel like I’m leading you on while I’m waiting for feelings to develop.” I’m sorry??

Waiting for feelings to develop???

Then what the fuck was Monday?? 

You lied to me. I let you tell me it was all okay and that I was what you wanted. I slept over. I slept in your fucking bed. I let you fucking touch me. I have not only been fucking vulnerable with you in that sense, but also in the sense that I’ve let you read my fucking thoughts. And you fucking used that and betrayed me more than anyone has before. 

I don’t care if you keep reading these. I don’t care if you don’t keep reading these. Frankly, I just don’t fucking give a shit anymore.

Yesterday I texted Jess that her present came in. She asked if she could come over and I thought it was a good idea, I shouldn’t have been by myself. And I’m glad that I said yes. Because instead of wasting my fucking night crying my eyes out over you, I made memories with her and I got closer with her. But who knows? Maybe she doesn’t really like me either?

I couldn’t go to bed last night. I took a sleeping pill finally around four in the morning. Because even though she was there for most of the night, she had to leave eventually and then I was by myself. Thinking of you. Thinking of the way your hands felt on my body. Thinking of the way that your lips felt on mine. Thinking about all the fucking things you said. I couldn’t stop crying long enough to go to bed. 

But that’s all I’m giving you. One night. Because that’s all you gave me.

I’m not going to be spending any more time crying over you. Crying over someone who knew me at my absolute fucking core and still tore it open. 

I will never trust anyone. I will never love anyone. Including you. 

What the fuck, Rowan???? Like... literally what?? I don’t even know what to fucking say. Two days? TWO? How could you fucking do that? How could you sit there and tell me all those fucking things and promise to fucking tell me everyday so that I would believe you? How could you touch me? How could you kiss me? If you didn’t know 100000000% that I was what you wanted, you shouldn’t have done fucking shit! What the fuck??

I want to tell you that I’ll always love you and that I’ll be here if you ever need anything... but frankly, I’m so fucking done.

Done waiting. Done loving. Done fucking giving a shit. I’m so done giving every piece of my heart away to someone who treats it so flippantly.

And then you said that you wanted me to be your best friend?? I’m sorry, how do you think you treat your best friends? Because, honey, this ain’t it. 

I’m so beyond fucking pissed. How do you do this to someone you claim you fucking love? You don’t love me. Maybe that’s it. Maybe you never did. Maybe I was just always a matter of convenience for you. Convenient when you were tired of Riley. Convenient when you were tired of Averi. Convenient when you and Averi divorced. Convenient when you didn’t know what to do about Courtney. Is that all I am to you? A fucking convenience? Well, not anymore. You’re not getting another chance. I’m tired of fucking being your fall girl. The girl that will always be hopelessly in love with Rowan Michael Speck. Not. Anymore. I can’t trust you. I can’t ever believe you. I sure as hell can’t keep sitting here loving somebody who would treat me in such a manner. 

An “I’m sorry” isn’t going to fucking cut it. You also told me you wanted me and that was a lie so the “I’m sorry” probably is as well. 

This friendship is far beyond broken, and I don’t think that there is anything you could ever do to fix it. Because how would I ever believe you again?

If it wasn’t what you fucking wanted a thousand percent then you should have never fucking done anything. Don’t message me again in seven fucking years saying how much you missed me, or cared about me, or thought about me. 

Frankly, I hope you do think about me. Every. Fucking. Day. I hope you think about all the lies you said, and I hope you realize how much they fucking hurt. 

Was any of it fucking true? Your apology for high school? Your “feelings” you had for me? Any of the shit? Any of the time we spent together over the past month or so? I can’t believe a single thing you say anymore. I don’t know how to forgive you. I don’t know how to tell you that it’s okay. Because it’s not. You shouldn’t have fucking done that. And I can’t keep being a friend to someone who treated me like that. Like I was fucking disposable. Just like so many other people in my fucking life. You were supposed to be different. You were supposed to be the one I spent my fucking life with. You were supposed to be my fucking rock. You were supposed to be my fucking everything. You were supposed to be my best friend for fucking life. I said on Monday that this was a life changing decision and you fucking said that you don’t date just because. You date with a purpose. What was the purpose? To hurt me? Well, it fucking worked. 

I hope you’re happy. I hope you fucking get what you want. I’m so done, Rowan. I have exhausted so much fucking time and energy sitting here loving you and waiting on you to finally love me back. But you don’t, you never did, and you never will. 

I want you to know, that at least on my fucking end, there were no lies. I meant everything I said and everything I did. I couldn’t lie to somebody I fucking loved. You sat there on the fucking couch and promised that you would always tell the truth no matter what. So instead of telling me in that moment you weren’t sure, you waited until after everything that happened and let two days go by before saying anything? I mean, I guess you kept your fucking promise. But also, fuck you. That fucking hurt more than I could ever fucking put into words. 

A part of me still wants to be your friend. Still wants to believe you... But I don’t know if I can anymore... How do I do that? How do I get to the point where I forgive you? How do I get to the point that I can believe you again and be your friend and talk to you without wanting to rip my fucking heart out? I don’t know how to fucking do that...

I guess at least I know after two fucking days and not two fucking years...

[wolfybugswriting]

Itadori/sukuna x reader

Summary: You go into a yearly rut, and this time Yuji catches you out of your room. He learns what's going on and decides to try and help you. Sukuna's a brat.

Warnings: amab gn reader(has a dick, but I try to not use gendered pronouns), masturbation, somewhat rough sex to even rougher sex w/ Sukuna, lots of biting, slight degradation? reader teases Yuji about wanting to fuck them, Sukuna is a brat, Yuji is super submissive, nice fluffy ending

Note(s): In this, the rut is essentially a side effect of your curse/cursed technique

Word count: 4.2k

With a huff, you slammed the snooze button on your alarm clock for the who-knows-how-many time - you hadn't been keeping count. Still foggy with sleep, and the side effects of your incoming rut, you didn't really care how late you slept in today. You'd managed to keep your situation a secret from your friends, feeling more comfortable dealing with it on your own. You told them that you were out on a mission, and would lock yourself up in your room until it subsided.

But now you were hungry, late in the evening; the others should be out by now, so you made your way to the kitchen. You took enough food to hold yourself over for a while longer, and it was a good thing too, hearing footsteps as you locked your door behind you.

Fucking hell- You could sense him from here, connected to both Itadori and the curse he hosted. You see, you were also a vessel. You housed the only curse that could rival Sukuna; one who was once his lover when they were human, until she was killed. She resented Sukuna for not trying to save her, but they were still connected to each other whether they liked it or not.

Shaking your head clear of your thoughts, you huddled into your haphazard mess of pillows and blankets. Maybe you could just sleep away your problem.

. . .

"Fuuucck..." You groaned, throwing your blankets off of you as your body was starting to overheat. This was one of the worst ruts you've gone through already, and knowing just how close Itadori's room was to yours certainly wasn't helping. You'd liked the guy for a while, his kind while sometimes a bit childish nature catching your eye. Then combined with your shared memories of Sukuna, thanks to your own curse, you were whipped to say the least.

Stumbling out of your room to get another water bottle to try and cool yourself off some, you froze at the sight of Itadori stumbling down the hallway towards you. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, jumping a little when he finally noticed you.

"H-hey, you're back!" His voice was lower, and scratchy from just waking up. You tried not to think about how else you'd like to hear his voice.

"Yeah... What're you doing up?" Leaned back against the wall, you made sure to keep some distance between the two of you.

Oblivious as ever, he moved to stand right in front of you, laughing a little. "Just getting a midnight snack, what about you?"

Gods he smells good- "Water." You grit out, unable to look at the other. Even in the dim lighting he looks good.

Shuffling back towards your room, you stuff your hands in your pockets. You couldn't be around him for too long; as in control of yourself as you normally are, you didn't trust yourself to not pin the pink-haired male to the wall and-

No, don't even think about it. You don't want to freak him out, you idiot.

"Are you ok? You don't look too good," the good-natured idiot came even closer, trying to look into your eyes. It was hard to see your flushed face in the dark, but he knew you enough by now that he could tell something was wrong.

You had to bite your tongue, not wanting to say anything about your rut, and besides you didn't want to focus on just how close he is, or how you could practically hear his heartbeat- or was that your own?

"'M fine. Just- I'm going back to sleep." You didn't wait for a response, though you could hear him ask about your water, and you quickly closed your door and dropped onto your bed with a heavy sigh.

. . .

"What was that about...?" he wondered aloud, a little worried. You were never really the super upbeat type of person like himself or Nobara, but you seemed grumpier than usual and he didn't like to see you upset. When you two had first met, he could hardly get a word out of you, but that was a long time ago; he hoped something hadn't happened to you, or worse that he'd done something.

Eventually deciding to get his snack, and a water bottle that he left by your door, Yuji went back to his room. He curled up on his bed with whatever he'd grabbed out of the pantry with a sigh. As a mouth formed on his hand, he frowned but waited for Sukuna to speak.

"You can tell something's different about them, can't you?" The curse grinned, knowing something his host didn't.

"Obviously. Why?" Though he'd gotten more used to Sukuna's presence, he still didn't trust him. To be fair, he hasn't given much of a reason to trust him.

Still speaking into the darkened room aloud, Sukuna pulled his memories to the front of his mind and sharing them with Yuji in turn. "You see, the curse your little friend shares a body with," an old memory, but it was clear as day. She had an almost scary resemblance to you. "We were lovers."

Yuji nearly choked on his food, surprised that the King of Curses could have had a lover, let alone said lover now inhabiting the body of his crush. It clicked in his mind after that moment why he always felt so drawn to you, even before the crush on you had developed.

"What happened?" While he didn't know why, he'd known of Sukuna's aversion to the other curse; he'd made it clear from the moment when you and Yuji had met.

"...She died." The curses voice rang in his head, the lips on his hand pursed into a frown. "She died, but even then our bond didn't break. Though she surely hates me now." He huffed and though he acted like he didn't care, Yuji could feel his concern, as strange as it was.

Though he could barely wrap his mind around all this, Sukuna still hasn't told him what was wrong with you. "So why are they so upset?"

At that, the mouth on his hand shifted. "They're going through a rut because of the nature of their curse, and they don't want to get you involved. Some ridiculous self-sacrificing act I'm sure." Yuji opened his mouth to ask what he could do, but Sukuna got there first. "It'll pass on it's own, though it won't be pleasant. There is something you could do though, if you can convince them."

He waited, getting impatient for the curse to get to the answer he was looking for.

"If you fuck, the rut will pass after." The blunt answer made his whole face and neck flush a dark red.

It took a minute to process the idea, letting everything sink in. You were ok, thank goodness, but because of your curse who also happens to be the lover - ex-lover? - of Sukuna, you are going through this rut and if you, his crush, fucked him it would pass. It was a lot to take in, so he decided that he'd sleep on it, then go to you tomorrow night. Obviously you didn't want them to know about this, but if there was something he could do, even if he was a little lot nervous to ask, he wanted to do it.

. . .

You couldn't stop thinking about Yuji. Your heart was pounding, and though it has since calmed down you certainly haven't. He was close enough you could see flecks of red in his eyes, close enough that you could've kissed him. You'd wanted to, that was for sure. But you didn't want to ruin your friendship with him, afraid of any number of things.

The two of you had a rocky start; you knew about him, and being Sukuna's vessel, though he had no idea of your existence until you'd met. With only what you knew about Sukuna, both from other sorcerers and your own curse, you were wary of the boy and didn't stick around him long enough to give him a chance to explain. But eventually, with a little help from Gojo, you two made up and became fast friends, the group often having meals together when no one had a mission.

It took awhile for you to realize what your feelings were on Yuji, simply writing it off as a different brand of friendship. It wasn't until yuji nearly died for a second time, and you weren't there to save him; you were so afraid that you'd never get to see him again, never hug him, never make dinner for the others again, laughing about this or that. You realized that you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him, and you were afraid you'd miss the chance to tell him.

"You love him." The curse had said. "You're meant for each other. Like soulmates." She'd said, telling you what you were coming to realize yourself.

But you shook your head now, feelings not something you wanted to dwell on as it got later into the night.

Tossing around for a while in the messy sheets on your bed, you finally gave up and threw them off along with a majority of your pajamas, body too hot for comfort. Left in a pair of boxers, you buried your face into your pillow and groaned. Your thoughts drifted for a while between being too hot, sweat still sticking to your skin despite the fan at top speed, and your pink-haired crush.

You've always thought he was attractive, even before you got to know him. His bright smile lighting up any room, an aura of innocence around him. Then his strong physique, though you usually don't see it much between his hoodies and the Jujutsu tech uniform, but man, when you did; you'd like to run your hand over his abs, curious if they feel as strong as they look.

You wanted to touch him in a lot of places, really. His arms, definite muscle, but not too ridiculous like Todo's(Sorry Todo simps). His soft hair, though you've felt it before patting his head, being a bit taller than him and teasing him about it. His thighs, and definitely his ass. And you could only imagine the size of his package.

Biting your lip, you hadn't realized your hand drifting down your body as your thoughts turned, letting out a shaky breath. You'd definitely feel bad about it later, but right now you could only think about your hand being Yuji's as it rubbed against the bulge in your boxers. Flipping onto your back and pulling your underwear to your thighs, you shivered as the cold air hit your skin, sweltering as it was.

Even with your room being fairly soundproof, you kept your voice low, the idea of the object of your thoughts catching you both exciting you and making you anxious. You stroked lazily along the shaft, hips stuttering into your hand the closer to the edge you got. The thought of Yuji crying your name sent you over, dropping your head back as your orgasm washed over you.

After calming your breathing down, you cleaned yourself off. Despite feeling all sweaty, you didn't want to get up. Sighing, you decided you'd shower in the morning after the others left. It didn't take much longer to fall asleep, thankfully.

. . .

You woke up laying half off the bed, even the natural warmth your pile of blankets held getting to be too much during the night. You felt gross. Luckily, you couldn't hear anyone, probably out for lunch, so you could shower in peace.

Leaving your room in just a thin pair of sweatpants and a tank top, your grumbling stomach making your hunger known - you apparently didn't get enough food like you'd thought. You noticed a water bottle beside your door, grinning slightly as you knew who put it there. Shaking your head, you picked it up to bring with you; Yuji would probably try to talk to you when he got back, clearly worried about you. It's cute, but you wished you had a good way to explain your situation without him trying to help.

As much as you would like the idea, you didn't want to make it seem like you just wanted to use him to get through your rut. You wanted him so much more than that, but you couldn't say that, could you.

Quickly grabbing some more snacks, you hid away in your room again, growing tired of your four walls. With your ruts usually lasting around a week, you dreaded having to stay in your room for much longer, but you didn't want to be going on missions in your state.

. . .

The day seemed to go by agonizingly slowly, for the both of you; you in your room with only what you had with you for entertainment, and Yuji waiting anxiously to talk to you. Sukuna had told him earlier that it'd be best to try to talk to you once the others were asleep, as you'd probably be asleep most of the day anyways. That was usually the case, if you could you'd sleep as long as you could to avoid dealing with your body all out of wack.

Finally though, just as you were going to try and go to sleep, a knock sounded at your door. Yuji had to hype himself up to do it, with roundabout encouragement from Sukuna, his thoughts running rampant. 'What if you thought he was weird for asking? What if you got upset with him? What if it ruined your friendship? What if, what if, what if?' He was still fiddling with the hem of his sleeve when you opened your door, a faint look of surprise on your face. You'd started to think you were wrong, that maybe Yuji had forgotten about your interaction the other night or thought he'd dreamed it.

"Hey." You spoke softly, looking him over. He wasn't wearing much, similar to what you had on. He looked good in it.

"H-hey, um, sorry if I woke you, I just kinda wanted to talk?" Yuji smiled, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck.

You sighed, but nodded.

"So, y-you're," he blushed a little more, his cheeks already having been red, thinking about you most of the day - as well as what he planned to ask you. "You're in a rut, right...?"

Eyes widening, you blushed a bit yourself. "How'd you..." Your voice trailed off, confused.

Yuji tapped his cheek, "Sukuna, he told me. So... are you, o-ok?" He still wanted to make sure, even if he knew now what was happening and you confirmed it with your unsaid question.

After a moment, you opened your door wider and nodded your head back. "Y-yeah, just, come in and we can talk." You were careful to sit at the edge of your bed after closing the door behind Yuji. "What all did he tell you?"

"Everything, I think. The rut, the whole lovers thing between them," he gestured between you and himself, "and, um..." He looked away, unable to meet your eyes as he mumbled, just loud enough for you to hear. "The s-sex, thing."

Nodding in turn, you ran a hand back through your hair. "Right. So, why're you here then?" You could apologize for being harsh later, you wanted to make sure you didn't pounce onto him. And fuck the look he makes when he brings his eyes back to yours.

"I wanna help, a-any way I can." His face is completely red, so innocent looking, you bit your lip.

"I appreciate you wanting to help, but I can handle this on my own, Yuji."

You watched as he shuffled closer to you, take a breath and grab one of your hands. He looked into your eyes, so cute.

"Please, I want to help you! S-sukuna told me what it's like when this happens, and if I can help it, I don't want you to have to deal with all that!" Only Yuji could manage to look so sweet and innocent when talking about having you fuck him, even if it was just because of your rut.

He would look even cuter all fucked out, crying for you. You swallowed, looking him over again. You wanted to have your way with him, so badly, but you never wanted to put it on him like that. But... if he's asking you to fuck him. Well, maybe you could have him after all.

"...Are you sure about this, Yuji? I don't want you to do this just for me." But you do, really.

He nods, almost excitedly. To be fair, he'd be lying if he said he hasn't thought about you on top of him, fucking him into the mattress. He wanted you to feel better, and if he got to be with you in the process it was a bonus.

You smirk. "Words, Yuji."

His eyes widen, but he stammers out a soft, "Y-yes."

You bring your free hand to his waist, leaning in a bit closer. "'Yes', what?" Your eyes were darker than usual, clouded with lust, and it made a shiver run down the pink-haired males spine.

"Yes, I- I want to do this."

"Good." You press your lips to his, hungrily running your hand along the contour of his back.

He lets out a little noise as you kiss him, eyes fluttering closed. Fumbling with the hand not holding yours, he finally places it on your shoulder. You could hear his heartbeat, this time sure it was his, though yours was quickly picking up to match it. His lips are so soft, just like the rest of him, a bit of squish to him along with his muscle; you gave in to your wants and felt everything, moving from his back to his arms, down along his chest, squeezing his ass. He yelped at the feeling, and you took the chance to slip your tongue into his mouth.

Submissive through and through, he didn't fight it, but it was clear he didn't quite know what he was doing. But you didn't mind teaching him, spurred on by the little sounds he was making, almost whimpering. Unclasping your hands, he moved his opposite his on your shoulders and you let yours to wander beside the other.

His body was more than you'd imagined, and his sounds were downright sinful. You were just getting started though, pulling his shirt off and pressing not-quite-rough kisses along his jawline and down his neck to his collarbone. You hit a spot that made him whine, and you grinned, kissing and biting there. You could just see his expression from where you sat, pressed into his skin, and it sent heat straight to your core.

Gripping at your back, Yuji pulled you closer, entranced by you. "F-fuck, (y/n)..." His voice was soft, almost shaky as his breath stuttered the longer you nipped at his neck. He tugged at your shirt and you pulled away just long enough to take it off, taking his turn to admire your body.

Leaning forward, you caged your hands around his head, his wrapped around your shoulders. You kissed down his chest, taking off his sweats, surprised to find that he hadn't put any underwear on, and when you looked up at him he had his head turned to the bed.

You hummed, raising a brow at him. "You really wanted to get fucked by me, huh? Ready for me and everything." You lightly traced random shapes on his now bare thighs, watching his cock twitch in response.

Yuji whined, nodding, but kept his face turned away from you. You gripped his chin, turning it back. "Words, remember Yuji?"

He did his best to not just whine again, "Y-yes, yes I want you!"

You just hummed again, "Say it."

This time he did whine, long and drawn out, "Ahh~ I w-want you to f-fuck me! Please!"

You kissed him, muffling his noises, only pulling away when you needed to catch your breath. "Good boy." You didn't give him a chance to respond, wrapping one hand around his length and pressing a finger of the other into his hole. Yuji shuddered, his words cut off by a shaky moan.

It didn't take long before you had three fingers in, with the way he kept begging for more, pawing at your pants. Taking the hint, you stripped down, your own dick mostly untouched now very hard. You look at him, making sure he still wanted this. He nodded, muttering 'please's under his breath between moans.

You kept stroking his weeping cock as you pressed into him, until you bottomed out and you let him rest for a moment and get used to you inside him. He surprised you, rutting his hips into yours as his head dropped against the bed, body quivering under you.

"Fuck, fuck me, fuck me-e p-please!" Yuji whimpered, words punctuated as he grinded against you. You were right, he looked so pretty when he was whimpering and moaning for you.

Something in his voice made whatever restraint you'd been holding onto snap, thrusting into him at a merciless pace, though he didn't seem to mind, moans rising in volume and pitch. His eyes rolled back, and all you could hear besides his moans were broken pleads and your name. You had your head in the crook of his neck, and you growled, going from nips and kisses to biting, leaving large hickeys in your wake.

"I- I'm g-gonna- F-fuuu-uuu-ck-" The loudest moan he'd made throughout the night interrupted him, hips stuttering as he came, painting his stomach white. You came not long after, his body clenching around you so well. You were both panting, at some point Yuji had wrapped his legs around your waist, and you slowed to a stop still inside of him.

You pulled away to make sure he wasn't hurt, and you stopped when you saw tattoos that hadn't been there a moment ago. They must've switched accidentally, if the faintly confused look was anything to go by. But when the curse started bucking his hips, you growled.

"C-come on, I know you can take me too," he taunted, but the effect didn't work as well as he wanted when his voice was so broken and he moaned when you hit that one spot.

You huffed, but you grinned. "Who knew the king of curses was a fucking brat?" Thrusting once to make a point, he shuddered, still full of you. "At least I won't mind if I rough you up a bit."

Sukuna chuckled, sharp nails digging a little more into your shoulders. "You c-couldn't break me if you tried."

With that, you started up that same rough pace, smacking his ass. It was almost strange, not quite muscle memory leading you, moving to make him cry out the most. It was still Yuji's body, but with Sukuna in control, it snapped something into place between both of you.

'Soulmates'. You were brought together like this for a reason.

He kept trying to taunt you, but his words would always break away into a whine when you bit in just the right spot, or you'd smack him a little harder. Finally, he couldn't speak anymore than moan, pulling himself into you as he clawed at your back and shoulders. His voice broke as he came again, nearly crying as you sped up even more as you got close to finishing. You bit into his neck as you came, riding it out, slowing down to a stop for the second time.

"Satisfied now?" You taunt, and he whines.

Slowly pulling out, both of you moaning at the loss, though he was much louder, you relaxed. Yuji switches back after a moment, shuddering at the feeling of your cum leaking out of his hole. You sigh, standing to go run a bath for the both of you, letting Yuji know before he closes his eyes just in case he falls asleep in the meantime. He nods, so you know he heard you.

. . .

You ended up curling up next to each other, wearing some of your clothes, after you pulled off the dirty sheets. As the sunlight streamed through your window, you woke to your arm wrapped around Yuji's side. It was a peaceful scene compared to last night, though you definitely enjoyed yourselves.

"mm... Morning." Yuji looked up at you, a small smile on his lips.

You hum. "Morning. You alright?" He chuckles.

"I should be asking you that. But yeah. 'Lil sore, but yeah."

Nodding, you grin in turn. He probably won't be walking straight for a little while. "Good... Thank you, for helping with- this." You frown a bit, gesturing to yourself. He cups your cheek, waiting for a moment before smiling wider.

"'Course. I wanted you to feel better," he blushes a bit. "Aaand I might've been wanting you to- f-fuck me for a while..." His voice trails off at the end, pulling away nervously. But you pull him closer.

"I'm glad, cause I've been wanting to fuck you for a while too. Probably cause I like you. A lot."

He grins. "Me too."

[peachyysugaa]

enhypen maknae line as e2l troupe requested by anon

– sunoo

how you became enemies: sunoo is so friendly i don't see how he can make any enemies ;;-;; maybe if you're also a bubbly person, it's an unspoken but real bubbly person competition? JFLGAKLJA basically you just send smiles to each other and everyone thinks you're good with each other, but they're actually lowkey menacing o.o'

"hi sunoo! ^^" is actually ugh you -_- and "hi y/n!! :D" is really try me biss :D

how you became lovers: the both of you eventually become tired of this weird competition you have going on and decided to finally talk to each other. after that, you two start over, become closer and even become best friends that slowly develop feelings for each other!

let's be honest, people were already shipping the two of you, so to see you two finALLY dating makes everyone so happy to see their it couple come to life.

you close your locker door to find someone behind it. this someone was none other than your notorious rival, kim sunoo, with that stupidly charming smile of his.

"hi y/n!" he says to you. usually, his words are laced with a hidden poison, but this time, you detected none of that. raising your eyebrow, it prompts him to go on. "can i talk to you for a moment?"

"sure!" you agree with the best smile you could muster. to outsiders, it may look cordial, maybe even just two friends talking to each other, but the two of you knew that it was far from friendly. nevertheless, you follow him into an empty classroom, where the two of you drop your smiles the moment the door closes. "what is it, kim sunoo?"

he lets out an exasperated sigh. "you know what this is about, y/n, don't give me that."

rolling your eyes, you cross your arms over your chest and shift your weight to one foot. "maybe i do, but i want to hear you say it."

"fine, fine," sunoo says with his hands raised. "i just want this stupid competition of ours to end."

"oh thank goodness you're tired of it too," you admit relieved. "i don't even know we started this anyway."

"whatever the reason, it's all over now," he replies, for once with a genuine smile on his face, for once directed towards you. if you said it didn't make you feel even one thing, you would be lying. you're hyperaware of every move he makes as he takes a few steps closer to you with an outstretched hand. "truce?"

"friends," you claim with your own grin and shake his hand. without knowing it at the time, this was the start of not just a brand new friendship, but also the start of blossoming feelings between the two of you.

rest of the maknae line under the cut! <3

line break insurance please ignore and enjoy!

– jungwon

how you became enemies: jungwon always managed to overshadow you in Everything, which prompted you to become angry/jealous of him. he, on the other hand, never meant to uptake you in a lot of things. he just knows what he wants and follows his own path and intuition, so he sees you as a friendly rival. not knowing that you hate his guts, jungwon treats you fairly even during the time the two of you went head-to-head for student council president, which he won, making you his vp.

he admires your hard work, but he doesn't know why you treat him somewhat coldly though he just brushes it off (much to your dismay)

how you became lovers: as pres and vp, you have time to get to know each other, but jungwon's kinda oblivious to your disdain for him and he just compliments you often because he admires your hard work! i think jungwon's the type to also remind you to take breaks because he sees how much you do and he doesn't want you overworking 🥺🥺 you notice how much he cares for you despite being president himself and your hate for him transforms into equal admiration!

he confesses to you first because you're a little slow on picking up that he likes you.

"y/n-ssi," the voice calls to you, prompting you to look up from your paperwork. upon lifting your head, you see that the person is indeed the student council president, yang jungwon, your longtime rival.

"yes, jungwon-ssi?" you reply, with a little sting to your tone. if he noticed it, he paid it no heed as always and simply walks forward to your desk, placing a carton of your favorite drink from the vending machine.

"don't overwork yourself, it's getting late," is his blunt answer before walking away. you just stare at the drink sitting on your desk as he's going out the door but peeks back in, appearing very catlike. "and y/n-ssi?"

"huh?" you say rather lost.

jungwon chuckles at your agape face. "you always stay longer than you should. if you end up working until dark, come by my office. i'll walk you home."

with that, he shuts the door softly while simultaneously opening a new door to your heart that was beating way too quickly for your own good.

– niki

how you became enemies: niki's got that class clown vibe down PAT. he plays way too many pranks on you, which sets you off. when you two are in the same room, everyone has to deal with your bickering. well, more like niki's verbal teasing and your nagging responses. needless to say, everyone knows your relationship with the prankster and knows by now to leave the room if the two of you are there together.

in truth, niki has a crush on you, but he didn't know how to express it. pulling pranks is his love language 😔💔

how you became lovers: just like one of the hyung line members, he takes it too far one time and actually makes you cry. he feels so bad that he panics and decides to fess up to you.

he asks his hyungs for advice before leaving a bunch of gifts and a letter for you to read because he's not sure if you want to see his face. either way, he's waiting for you at a park bench so that he can tell you his true feelings in person.

there's a quick rap of knocks on your front door before your mother tells you to go answer the door. getting up from your bed and wiping your tears away, you're still hurt from what riki had done to you at school this afternoon but get up anyway to see who was there.

peeking through the hole, you're confused when you see no one. instead, you open the door to a stuffed version of your favorite animal and your favorite snacks. when you pick up the items, you see that the envelope attached to the animal is real and has your name written on it. closing the door, you quickly open the letter and scan through the handwritten note to find out it's an apology note, from the one and only nishimura riki, the very source of your tears.

it was sincere and moved you enough to get changed and run to the park where he said he would be waiting for you. when you arrive, he indeed was sitting where he said would be, but he stands up slowly, mouth agape from your appearance.

"i..." you take a moment to catch your breath from running while he walks towards you to meet you partway. "accept your apology, riki."

"y-you do?" he blinks a few times as if to make sure it's not just a dream.

you just nod quickly and finally straighten your posture while finally taking in the right amount of oxygen. "yea, now tell me what you wanted to say. why couldn't you say it in your letter?"

"well, i..." he pauses, not thinking he would get this far. you wait as he tightly closes in his eyes to muster up his courage. "i've liked you all this time, y/n. i'm sorry i couldn't express that properly, but i'm willing to start over if you would let me."

hyung line version here!

[panicking-skywalker]

I was at a work lunch this afternoon and it suddenly dawned on me that I am happy with having platonic relationships (ie friendships and possibly a QPP under the right circumstances).

For context this realisation actually happened over the course of a few days and also right after the meal when we were all heading back to work.

I've been lucky enough to form a rather lovely friendship with one of my colleagues who works in my shared office - she was working in marketing previously but has recently moved to her new role working more with student voice and events coordination, and the former is my remit (we work for a students union).

This means she has been working more closely with me, even if she is based at a different campus sometimes. We have weekly meetings to discuss student voice either at our main campus or the other that she is currently helping to develop with other colleagues.

Over the course of the past few months, we have grown increasingly closer due to the fact that we have very similar, if not the same, social and economic views. Not only do we both have progressive views on LGBTQ+ and race issues for example, we also literally feel the same about things like marriage and relationships.

Now, I have no way of "proving" anyone's sexual or romantic orientation (nor would I wish to), but I'm just saying that as an aroace, it's very nice having someone else also say "oh god yeah, no, never getting married. Absolutely not."

Like... Same?? Love her for that. Also? She recognised the ace and aro flags as my phone wallpaper (I have since changed it for unrelated reasons - I took a really nice photo of a flower and it deserved to be my background lmfao). I was very happy when she pointed it out!

Going back to the meal we had today. Everyone was talking about weddings, mostly because two people at my work are getting married, and me and her just looked at each other from across the table and smirked. It was like some sort of code 😂.

We got up to leave eventually and I walked back with her into the office. I realised that I feel almost completely relaxed around her and like I can be myself - and this is quite rare. I'm an introvert with a history of social anxiety. She's very easy to talk to (probably because she's a very talkative extrovert and forces conversation out of me 😅), and I just feel so happy in her company.

I was just walking next to her and I just thought, "this is what I want in life". I was content. I felt relaxed about being aromantic for once instead of feeling guilty or even upset for not experiencing romantic attraction. It was like a sudden, gentle wave of self acceptance.