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caffeinemachine · 1 year

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Life Jacket- Chapter 2

Hi!! Thanks for all the love on the first chapter! Sorry this out later than I expected but I couldn't stop writing and I didn't want to end the chapter at an odd spot.

Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list! Hope you like this chapter!

WC: 4.8K

Conrad Fisher x Eldest Conklin Sibling Reader

Blurb | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

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The first day always went the same. Unpack, swim, shower, nap, dinner. Sometimes the first bonfire of the season was the first day we got there, other times it was the next day. This year it was the first. So today’s order was, unpack, swim, shower, nap, dinner, get ready, party.

We all gathered around the table for dinner in our usual spots. My Mom, Belly, and me on one side, Steven and Jere across from us, then Conrad on the end next to me, and Sussanah on the end next to my Mom. The spots never changed over the years, unless we had guests to squeeze in somewhere. The other thing that never changed was the food. Susannah was an amazing cook. She had taught me to cook over the years. I had spent many hours by her side being her ‘little sous chef’ as she called me. This summer she told me she would show me her old college food recipe hacks.

I picked my head up from my plate when I heard Jeremiah’s voice, “So Y/n/n when do you leave for school? Do they have the swim team go early?”

I nodded, quickly swallowing my food so I could answer, “Yeah I have to go early, It's not too bad though only 2 weeks before the regular move-in date. I leave on August 5th.”

Susannah spoke next, “We’re so proud of you, our little fish.” Everyone chuckled at the nickname, ‘little fish’. Susannah had been calling me that for years.

“So what about you man when do you leave for training camp?” Steven asked Conrad, only he wasn’t the one who answered. Jeremiah did.

“He uh quit football.” Silenced stretched over the table. He what? I stared at him in disbelief, but in my heart, a part of me felt relieved for him. Being a student athlete isn’t easy and I knew Conrad only did football for his father. Sure he still loved the sport, but not enough.

“What you quit? Why man, I would’ve killed to play college ball?” Steven asked Conrad but again he didn't respond, his mother answered this time.

“He can always change his mind.” That made Conrad speak up, getting defensive towards his mother in a way I didn't usually see from him.

“I’m not gonna change my mind, I was just gonna sit on the bench all season anyway.” I sat quietly. I didn’t know what to say. Conrad and I bonded over our athleticism over the years, it felt weird to think we didn’t share that similarity anymore.

I hadn't realized I was staring at him until he looked back at me, our eyes locked and yet I still couldn't move. You'd think it'd be instinct to look away but as he came into focus, we just stared. I tried my best to read him to understand why he might do that, Why would he quit? I knew he didn't love it but he had gone this far with it, What made him change his mind?

There was something unreadable in his expression I didn't think it was regret or nostalgia or sadness or anger but instead some combination of all of it. I wondered why. He looked away first turning his attention to his plate as he picked at the food in front of him. I didn't push him on it, I wasn't sure I'd push him on it later either. I’m sure he had a reason, maybe it’d be best if I just let him tell me if he wanted.

The rest of dinner continued on like normal on the first night. Catching up, making jokes, and just being happy to be in each other's presence again. Everyone went their separate ways to get ready for the bonfire, and Belly and the moms stayed downstairs preparing for their movie night. Their tradition started a few years ago when Belly was 11, almost 12. That was the first year we went to a bonfire, Conrad and I were 14, and Jeremiah and Steven were 13. The bonfires were different then, we were with the younger crowd still unmixed from the older kids. It was in the backyard of the house owned by a kid Jeremiah and Conrad knew from sailing camp. Belly was so upset she couldn't come with us. She was too young and we didn't want to have to watch out for her the whole night, or entertain her for that matter. I love my sister and she's gotten a lot better over the years but she loves attention, even though she won't admit it. Having her come meant that I would have to keep her by my side the whole night, that I couldn't mingle with new kids and make new friends. The moms promised to hang out with her that night. They went to the drugstore in town and bought a bunch of candy. Susannah made brownies and they watched a movie, a PG-13 movie which Belly thought was awesome at the time.

I didn't do too much to get ready for the bonfire, it wasn't anything new, but I still like to look a little bit nice. It was the first time I was seeing everybody for the season after all. My hair was down, air-dried from the shower I took earlier so it had a natural wave to it. A little concealer under my eyes, some mascara, tinted lip balm, and that was that. I put on a tank top and some jean shorts with my navy Cousins Beach sweatshirt on top. It tended to get a little bit chilly on the beach at night. I looked at myself in the mirror, my eyes catching on the shimmer coming from my ears. My pearl earrings, Susannah's pearl earrings. She gave them to me for my 16th birthday just like her mother did and I've treasured them every day since.

I had to shoo the thought away as I felt myself getting choked up. I exited my room and went down the stairs, slipping on my very worn-in black Converse by the door. I heard stories of people in college having a designated pair of shoes they called their ‘frat shoes’. This pair of black Converse was that for me over the summer. They had been covered in sand, soaked from water, and scuffed with dirt, more times than I could count.

As I finished tying my last lace, the boys walked down the stairs. I sat up, shoes now tied, and patted my knees, “You guys ready to go?”

“Yep let's do this we're taking my car. Y/N you promised to be DD for the night right? Don’t worry though I won’t drink too much anyway, wouldn't want to be hungover for my first day of duty, right Y/ N?” Jeremiah answered.

I laughed, “No Jere, you definitely shouldn't be hungover. Wouldn't look good for me either after I vouched for you to get this job. But yes I’ll be DD.” He laughed with me throwing his arm over my shoulder as we walked to the car. Steven called shotgun which left me and Conrad to sit together in the back. I hated to admit it to myself but he looked good. How someone could pull off a gray hoodie that well I didn't know, but he pulled off a gray hoodie and jeans better than I'd seen ever before.

The drive was silent in terms of conversation but in the front seat, Jeremiah and Steven were singing their hearts out to Steven's ‘pregame’ playlist off Spotify. I kept my gaze out the window. Partly because I was still taking in the beauty of Cousins, partly because I could look at him. He looked too good and I always had to distance myself from Conrad before parties. I never knew how they’d play out with him. Sometimes he’d just stick close to us, the crew, and have a super fun night hanging out. Usually, that’s what he did when I was at the party with the guys but I’d been told the stories of his playboy party actions when I wasn’t there, and last summer I had gotten a glimpse of it. A girl named Nicole had come up to him and started chatting with him. Within seconds she was quite touchy-feely. Her hand was on his chest or upper arm, even playing with his hair every once in a while. I had whispered into Jere’s ear who was between me and the horny fest, “Who’s that?”

Jere took a quick glance over his shoulder and then whispered back, “Nicole, she and Conrad hook up every once in a while.”

I furrowed my brows, “I’ve literally never seen her before.”

“They met at a party last summer when you had left for swim camp, I think her family like only comes out for August.”

I swallowed the information and then excused myself to get a drink. I stole a beer from the kid's fridge and walked back feeling a little bit better now that I had a drink in my hand. But when I looked up to find Nicole on her tiptoes kissing Conrad against the wall, the power of the drink in my hand ceased. I turned back to the kitchen, leaning against the counter by myself for a few minutes. I had my focus down on my hands when I suddenly looked up at the sound of the refrigerator doors flying open. It was her. She was seemingly grabbing a beer from the fridge the same way I had been just a second ago. I expected her to walk back out to Connie, but instead, she stationed herself on the counter, so I took that as my sign to walk back. It was the first, and only time since I had seen Conrad's fuck-boy behavior, but the stories continued, and I never let myself feel unprepared for the chance I might see it again.

Now sitting in the car with him I did just that as I watched the houses go by. The streets are littered with beautiful bloomed hydrangeas. Suddenly, my hair was pushed behind my ear. I turned my head as his hand draped its way down from my ear to the ends of my hair. His face was soft but I could see the dimples around his smile starting to crease. I shifted in my seat, nervous with his attention on me.

“W-what are you doing?” I spoke lowly. Not that it mattered, Jere and Steven had no chance of hearing over our screaming.

“You’re hiding.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. And it left me speechless. “Your hair is always so soft, you’d think after years of chlorine that wouldn’t be the case.”

That eased the tension a little, as the corner of my mouth turned up. “Well, that's because I wear one of those swim caps.”

He laughed, “I’d pay to have a picture of that.”

I laughed with him, “Don’t say that to my mom 'cause she’d easily take your money for an exchange.”

“Let's go!” Jeremiah shouted, exiting the car along with my brother. I hadn't realized we had stopped.

I looked over my shoulder to see Conrad hadn’t moved. His eyes looked at me like he was observing my soul. I held my breath. As if not breathing would help ease the bubbles floating around in my chest.

I couldn’t bear it.

With an awkward laugh, I scooted out of the car and jogged over to Jere and Steven. I didn’t want to walk down alone. I knew the boys wouldn’t stay by my side the whole night, they’d go do other things within the first hour, but I liked to hold onto them for as long as I could. I didn’t mind the girls I’d met with the guys here over the years, but we were never that close. Nicole, Dara, Gigi, Marisa, and Shayla, we’d all lose contact over the school year. I also knew some people who weren’t from that crew. Some of them I knew from the swim club I used to do at the Country Club when I was little under the Fisher’s name. I wasn’t exactly supposed to be in the club seeing as I wasn’t truly a member but Susannah had a way of getting people to do what she wanted. Kindness can be blinding. The club was mostly made up of little boys, there were only 3 of us girls, Sydney, Ally, and me. Sydney was a nice girl. She was super smart, and ambitous, she’s set to start at Princeton for business in the Fall. Ally, I remained better friends with as we grew up. She was a dedicated swimmer like me so we even ran into each other sometimes during the school year at competitions. Ally was a total sweetheart, but she liked to have fun. She was easy to hang out with, she understood. I hoped they were here, I had forgotten to text them when I got to Cousins.

The fire wasn’t too crazy, they had to be careful not to draw too much attention from the cops. A big crowd of people had already formed though and it was only 9:30. I grabbed a cola from the cooler as I said hello to everyone coming up to us. Chit-chat was made with numerous people, and I couldn’t help but feel these conversations were really competitions for these kids. It was like every comment had to be a one-up to the one previous.

It was around 10:30 when a hand plopped down on my shoulder abruptly. I assumed it was one of the guys but then he came into my eyeline, Peter Millington.

“Yooo Y/N what's good?” He said a little slurred. As he moved to stand in front of me his hand dropped from my shoulder.

“Hey Peter,” I laughed. Peter was a good guy, he was flirty but it was harmless. Annoying, but harmless. I met him at the swim club when we were 10.

“So miss big shot where you heading this fall? I’m sure schools across the country were practically begging outside your front door!”

I laughed, “I won’t deny that, but I’m actually not going far. I’m gonna be going to Harvard.” His mouth hung open.

“No shit.”

“Yes, shit. How about you, still swimming?”

He shook his head, “Nah nah, I’m trying to be a sports agent, I’ll be going to Penn State.”

“That’s great, congrats.” I smiled at him.

He pointed at me a big smirk spreading across his face, “Yeah so you better remember me when you go all famous.” He finished his statement by slightly hitting the side of my arm.

“You got it Pete, I won’t forget you-”

“Belly what the fuck!” My head snapped and my jaw dropped. I took off over to them. I sort of abandoned Pete but eh, he’ll be fine.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Steven yelled.

I smacked his shoulder once I had run up to them. “Stop yelling! You’re making a scene!” I whisper-shouted at him.

Then I turned my attention to my baby sister. My baby sister, who wasn’t supposed to be here. My baby sister, who was just talking to a man 5 years older than her. My baby sister, who chose to wear a tiny skin-tight pink mini dress. My clueless, trouble-causing, baby sister.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her as calmly as I could.

“What I can’t go to a party?” She bit back defensively.

Excuse me? She didn’t get to give me shit for being concerned when she's the one who showed up out of the blue. I scoffed, “Did I say that?”

“What are you even wearing Belly we are on the beach why would you-“

“Steven. Knock it off. Go hang out with Shayla.” This was getting too aggravating. Steven was instigating too much, he must have already pissed Belly off by the time I ran up and now I had to deal with it.

“Did Taylor tell you to wear that or something?” I asked Belly, trying my best to figure out what was going on without having to have an argument in the middle of a party.

“Why can’t I just dress nicely without being questioned?” Why the hell was she being so defensive?

“Again did I say that?” I couldn’t hold back the bite to my tone.

She rolled her eyes before looking at me. But then her gaze sharply caught something over my shoulder. I turned to look. Jeremiah. Drunk off his ass. Standing next to the fire trying to strip and go skinny dipping. He had already stripped off his sweatshirt, shirt, shoes, and socks.

“Great.” I scoffed, running over to my now 2nd problem of the night.

When he saw me running over he smiled brightly, “Y/N! We are going swimming come on! OH MY GOSH Belly! You’re here! You come too!”

Belly laughed beside me and I would’ve thrown a dirty look her way if I had the energy to spare.

“No. No one is going swimming. It’s pitch black, the rip currents are crazy, and you are wasted. That’s all recipe for disaster.” I said authoritatively.

Jeremiah pouted. “Please?”

“No. Now put your clothes on.”

“Booooo.” Was he serious? He swayed as he re-dressed, his shirt blocking his vision. Good god.

“And get rid of the drink Jere, You’ve had enough.”

“Ughhh fine party pooper.” Before I could stop him he threw his drink into the fire.

“Jere-” The fire grew, a blaze lighting the beach. Shouts were heard as other drunk idiots followed Jeremiah’s lead and fueled the fire. “I can’t with this, Jere hang out with Belly.”

He smiled at that, “Alright come here belly button sit with me by the fire.” She giggled and obliged.

I took a deep breath, my feet taking me to the shoreline without even thinking. I needed to calm down. The chaos was overwhelming. I sat down on the sand a few feet away from where the water reached. The breeze flowed against me and I felt my mind begin to ease. This. This is why I always loved Cousins. I will never feel as at peace as I do when I’m next to the ocean. Water just calmed me down. I was the little fish.

I hoped that would never change. I hoped I would always be the little fish, no matter how big or how small the pond. No matter what happened down the line, the peace I felt by the water would never be disturbed. I’d always be, as Susannah so deemed me, a little fish.

I felt a plop next to me in the sand. I knew who it was without even looking, I could simply feel his energy. It was Conrad. He looked out on the water as he placed whatever drink he had in his hand down next to him. I kept my gaze out on the water as well. It felt good to just sit with somebody. With him.

“So you go around telling everybody you’re going to Harvard?” He said, slight humor in his tone.

I sighed, “I mean only when anyone asked.”

“No shouting from the rooftops?”

“No shouting from the rooftops. I’m not a big bragger.” I snickered, and so did he.

“You? Please! You have always been humble but you never shied away from sharing your accomplishments. You should be proud of yourself, it’s a big deal.” I just shrugged in response.

“I’m proud of you.” I looked at him then. His eyes were full of sincerity. I don’t think he knew how much that meant to hear. I caught his eyes flicking to my lips.

Wait what-

He was looking at my lips and when he looked back up his eyes shone with vulnerability. I couldn’t help myself when my eyes dipped down to look at his. I imagined what it’d be like to kiss him. His soft pillowy lips moving against my own. I wondered where he’d put his hands. He seemed like the type of guy to cup the back of your head. I’d feel the weight of his hand as he pulled me into him like he was desperate for our connection. Maybe one hand would fall to my hips or my thigh, acting like an anchor.

I couldn’t let my mind wander too far. Lord knows where that would lead. When our eyes met the tension was unmistakable. I couldn’t. I couldn’t let myself fall into him. I’d never stand back up.

“Stella? Alright, thanks man!”

Spell broken. Peter had just snatched Conrad’s beer from its spot between us and was taking a big slug of it.

“Pete what the hell?” I said, standing up from my seat on the sand.

“Dude give me my beer back.” Conrad stood up as well, Pete was standing between us.

“Whaaaat? You weren’t even drinking it man! It was just- you know just sitting there and all the- all the other Stella’s are gone.” He was plastered. I felt my chest sink. This isn’t gonna go well.

“I don’t give a fuck if there aren’t any left, that one is mine now give it back to me.” Conrad defended.

“Connie come on-”

“It’s just a beer man.” Pete turned to face primarily towards Conrad.

“Exactly, so give me my beer back and get yourself your own.”

“No.”

“Pete come on you definitely don’t need another drink.” I approached him, going to put my hand down on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Then just as I did he rolled back his elbow saying,

“Oh fuck off.”

I fell to the ground. His elbow collided right with my ear and the side of my face. Well, that hurt like a bitch. I’ll have a black eye on my first day back to work. Awesome.

“Y/N-“

I kept my eyes clenched shut for a minute before I felt a hand come to my shoulder, it was Belly and Jeremiah helping me up. My ears rang for a minutes before clearing. I watched as Steven and Jere broke up the fight.

Conrad looked at me as Steven pulled him back. I shook my head and looked away. Actually, I looked right at the flashing blue and red lights now coming from the top of the dunes. Cops, awesome.

“Enough!” I snapped everyone out of it, “Let’s go! Come on!”

I grabbed Belly’s hand as we ran up to the car, glancing over my shoulder quickly to make sure the boys were behind us.

“Jere keys!” I caught the keys as he tossed them to me, unlocking the car doors. “In! Now!”

I started the car, a scowl on my face. My head felt like it was vibrating but it wasn’t like any of them could drive with their intoxication level. I couldn’t believe them. How on earth did they think it was appropriate to act like this? I kept my eyes on the road, but I was sure they could feel the anger radiating off of me.

“Y/N look I-“ Steven started but I cut him off.

“I don’t wanna hear it.”

Then Jeremiah came in, “We didn’t mean to-“

“I said I don’t wanna hear it! Unless you want me to hit a drunk teenager stumbling home, you’ll shut up and listen to me! I’m distracted enough by the pinging in my head.”

They were silent after that.

I was mad and I had plenty of reason to be. I had been in this position with my sibling plenty of times, a few with Jeremiah, but never Conrad. I knew he started fights occasionally, but never with me around.

I pulled into the driveway and parked the car. Then I child-locked in all those mother fuckers. I unblocked my seatbelt and positioned myself to be able to see them all. Steven and Jere struggled to open the doors while Belly sat in the middle confused. To my surprise Conrad just sat in his seat, his focus down in his lap, he made no objections. Once the three backseat idiots figured it out they looked to me expectantly.

I raised my brows, “What you thought just cause I didn’t want you distracting me while driving you were gonna be off the hook?”

“Y/N what do you even care? You’re not our mom.” Belly said, rolling her eyes.

She only fueled my anger, “Yeah no shit I’m not 'cause Mom wouldn’t have put up with even an ounce of the crap you guys pulled tonight. Do you think I like playing mommy? Do you think I wouldn’t have rathered to enjoy the first night of my summer stress-free? You are lucky I’m a good sister, 'cause I could so easily walk inside and tell Mom everything that went down tonight. Then maybe you’d realize that having you deal with me instead of mom, is me being nice.” I watched my sibling's attitudes deflate. Jeremiah on the other hand was sitting there trying and failing to hide the smirk from his face. “What’s so funny Jeremiah? Do you think I’m not talking to you too right now? All of you put me in bad positions tonight because of how you acted. ”

Jeremiah chimed in again, “We weren’t that bad.”

My jaw dropped, “Not that bad? Let’s see who should I start with. How about you Jeremiah, I stopped you from getting naked in front of every teenager in cousins, potentially drowning and killing yourself, and even after I did that you acted like an idiot! Throwing alcohol into the fire, you’re probably the reason the cops came! Oh and just the cherry on top, the fact that you’re wasted after promising me you wouldn’t be.” He was quiet now.

“Steven had to cause a whole scene, but I’m not even that mad at him because he was right to be questioning you Bells! How the hell did you even get there?”

She peeked up sheepishly, “I walked.”

“You walked? Belly do the Moms even know you came to the bonfire?”

“No, I snuck out.” She spoke in a quiet tone.

“Jesus Bells! If you had just told me you wanted to come I would’ve vouched for you. For god sake, I would’ve given you a ride!” My head pounded. I rubbed my forehead trying to ease the pain, I needed some advil. “You guys can’t act like that. It’s dangerous, and quite frankly embarrassing. I’m just- I’m done dealing with it.” I took a breath and unlocked the doors, “Go inside guys. Go to sleep.” I sat forward with my head in my hands. I heard the doors open and close as they got out without a word.

Except he didn’t. I didn’t look over at him. I honestly didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t know how I felt at the moment.

“Are you ok? Is your head alright?” He had worry in his voice and I couldn’t help but feel a flutter in my heart.

“I have a headache and I’ll probably wake up to a huge bruise on my cheek but I’m fine.”

“How come you’re not mad at me too?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t mad at you.” I felt his eyes on me the whole time but mine stayed forward at the house.

“You didn’t yell at me like everyone else.”

“Because I didn’t know what to say to you not because I’m not mad at you.”

A beat passed. Just us sitting in the car before he spoke up again, “I’m so sorry you got hurt, Pete was plastered-“

“You could’ve just let him have the beer.”

“Y/N I wasn’t going to-“

“Look it’s been a long night, just- just go to bed Con.” I grabbed the keys and left the car. I hadn’t looked at him once and I didn’t look back at him. I couldn’t. I don’t even think I was truly mad at him, I mean it was Pete’s fault, not his. I was more overwhelmed with tonight’s events and I didn’t have the energy to unpack anything right now. My head was pounding and I needed to lay down. Work would be a nightmare tomorrow morning.

I went straight into the shower when I got inside. I gave myself a quick rinse. Susannah always stoked our bathroom with luxurious bath products for me and Belly. But I know Steven liked it too.

I walked into my room and plopped right down onto my bed. Man, it was soft, and it only seemed softer after a hard night.

I went to grab my phone when I saw it. A water bottle, advil, an ice pack, and a cookie, sitting on my bedside table, and I most certainly didn’t put it there. I knew who did. I knew it was him, and I could feel myself smile a little. I felt myself forgive him, he was hard to stay mad at. He wouldn’t mention it, I probably wouldn’t either, but we knew that we knew. That was enough.

For now.

~~~~~~~

Tag list:

@mid-80s @geekinthefuschiahair @paytonloiselle

#the summer i turned pretty #conrad fisher #conrad fisher x reader #jeremiah fisher #jeremiah fisher x reader #tsitp #tsitp s2 #jeremiah fisher fanfic #jeremiah fisher imagine #conrad fisher imagine #conrad fisher fanfic #belly conklin #steven conklin #tsitp conrad #tsitp jeremiah #conrad fisher x y/n #conrad fisher fluff #conrad fisher angst #conrad fisher x you

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theamazingmaddyas · 2 months

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So, I've been hyperfixating on Michael Yew as a character in general (No, I'm not okay, all the fanfictions have emotional destroyed me) and I've been going through everything Michael related, and recently have been looking at Michael fan art, and I've realized that almost every fanart where he's with someone else he's oddly tall? Like, this isn't hate towards the artists, they're out here doing the gods work drawing minor characters, but it leads me to wonder if people really realize how small Michael truly is.

Michael's described as being four foot six, and while one could technically try and argue that Percy is an unreliable narrator and is estimating Michael's height, there is quite a bit of evidence on the contrary. Michael is one of, if not the only person who Percy gives an exact height to; even Annabeth, Percy just describes as being tall, never giving the reader an exact height. Besides, Percy's description of Michael is as followed, "Michael stood four feet six, with another two feet of attitude." If Percy were estimating, or even exaggerating, he'd probably use a preposition in his sentence. So, it's safe to say that Percy is 100% certain of Michael's height (which does leave the question how Percy's so certain of this fact, but we'll never know that, as much as I wish we did.)

I know most countries don't use feet, and as someone who read the U.S. edition, I cannot be positive, but I'd assume if other dialects of English, or different languages, had their prints, it would be in what's common there (probably centimeters?) But if not, here's a conversion chart for everyone:

4ft 6in = 4.5 ft = 54 in = 137.16 cm = 1.37 m

Okay, so we all know how objectively small Michael is, but how does that compare to other people? It's difficult sometimes to make such comparisons between two characters, so I found a height comparision thing to show the height difference. As you, hopefully, can see, the first picture I put Michael (4'6" or 137.16cm) next to Percy (who's about 6' or 182.88 cm). And the second, Michael next to Coach Hedge (5') because his height is made explicit in heroes of olympus, while Percy's is just a guesstimate.

Michael doesn't even reach Percy's shoulder in height, despite the two being the same age, or Michael being older (which I genuinely believe: see my previous post about Michael). Even with Hedge, who people comment on how small he is, has a noticeable few inches on Michael, who reaches to probably about his nose or upper lip.

Now, mostly Michael is drawn with the other Apollo boys, and I've rarely see a fanart where Will's taller than him. Maybe it's because Will is explicitly a few years younger than him (at minimum, 2½, at maximum, 5ish), or maybe not, I'm not sure.

According to the wikipedia page, Will Solace is 6', but again, we take everything on the wikipedia page with a grain of salt, because Will is just described as tall in the books, specifically in Heroes of Olympus where Will would be about 14 or 15 (though, this is also a bit iffy. I could write a whole thesis on Will's age, specifically how I believe Apollo's description of Will's age is overexaggerated in THO, but that's for another post). Using this math, Will would have been approximately 13 to 14 when Michael kicked the bucket. The average height for a 13 year old boy is 5'1" to 5'5", meaning, if Will's height were truly above average, he'd be, at minimum, 11 inches taller than his brother in TLO, which is:

Even if the fanart is depicted a young Will like starting it camp, there is no plausable way for him to be taller than Michael.

Here's a chart for average heights of a white boy (while we do not know Michael's ethnicity, this chart is easiest to show). The red dot is Michael's height in The Last Olympian, if he were 16, and the yellow dot is Will's approximate height, at 13.

If you were to graph out Michael's height, it'll be pretty obvious that the only ages he's taller than Will is when he's really really young (I study neither biology nor math, so I couldn't be bothered to actually figure out the formula, but maybe I will someday) if Michael grew at an average rate. If his growth was normal until about ten and then was stunted, that would be a different story, but we, as readers, will never truly know the reason.

I might not be a bio or math major, but I do double major in creative writing and psychology, and that means I'm interested in why Michael is drawn taller in comparision to who he's with. And for this I have a few theories.

The first one, which I mentioned a bit ago in this post, is age. People percieve being taller as being older—though once you reach adulthood this becomes less infallible, though since they are kids that doesn't matter much—meaning if Michael were drawn his actual height, he'd be percieved as younger. While I'm not positive, I have an inkling this stems from ableism, but I have no proof to back up that claim.

My second theory is that, much like the fact that many people in the fandom say Connor and Travis are twins even though it is explicitly stated they are not, people genuinely forgot. Or one person said something, and it snowballed from there.

My third and final theory is that people just can't fully comprehend the height difference in their mind. I struggle with creating mental images, and it's possible that many other people do.

It's interesting to think about, really. And I'd really like to know if other people noticed this, or if I'm just overthinking everything again.

#michael yew #apollo cabin #cabin 7 #will solace #trials of apollo #percy jackson #gleeson hedge #heights #height comparison #i went a little overboard with my research #oopsie #pjo fandom #percy jackson fandom #riordanverse #if this doesn't make sense I'm sorry #My brain moves a mile a minute #I tried to make this as coherent as possible #If you want anything elaborated ask and it will be done

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shrewtia · 4 months

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How old does Zohakuten appear?

So far, I've seen a few people on Tumblr and other platforms talk about how Zohakuten appears to them like a child. And I think in the minds of many they might even imagine him being younger than some of the main characters like Tanjiro.

Usually in anime, characters look younger or older than they actually are, be it due to the author's intention or because of the art style. Especially with Demon Slayer, the characters usually look younger than they are because of the art style that makes most characters appear to be about the same height due to their proportions. So since we can't really rely on the appearance of the characters, because we see them through the lense of the art style, I thought I'd try to see if we can find out what age Zohakuten is really supposed to look like.

Luckily, we get a direct comparison in the manga and anime from one of the characters.

In her fight with Zohakuten, Mitsuri compares him to look to be about the same age as her brother.

In neither the manga or the anime do we ever get told the age of her younger brother. We know that she has several siblings and from the manga and fan book we know that her brother was born right after her.

So from that, we can roughly estimate how much older than her brother Mitsuri is.

In one of the flashbacks we can see a toddler Mitsuri trying to help out her pregnant mother. We're also given her exact age at that time.

In the anime, we get to see her pregnant mother from a different angle.

Judging from these images, and comparing them to pictures of other pregnant women, we can assume that she's about 25 to 30 weeks pregnant at that point.

So from that we can calculate that Mitsuri's brother is about one and a half years younger than her.

Knowing Mitsuri's age to be about 19 when she was fighting Zohakuten, we now know that her younger brother was about 17 to 18 years old at that time. We don't know how long it's been since she last saw him, since she's a busy hashira. But due to her close relationship to her siblings, I think it can be assumed she tries to visit as often as possible, so it's not like she was picturing her brother at 14 years old for example.

On the other hand, her mental image of her brother might be distorted to some degree, since he's still her little brother and I think we all see our younger siblings as much younger than they're actually are.

Nonetheless, I think it can safely be said, that Zohakuten does not appear like anything younger than 15 to the characters in Demon Slayer. I actually think he's supposed to look somewhere between 15 and 18, since he's about the same height as Tanjiro, who was about 16 at the time they fought. I know I've stated before, that most characters look about the same height as the main characters, but that Zohakuten and Tanjiro are about the same height is seen in the official concept art. Which also tells us Zohakuten is about 165 cm or 5'5''.

Personally, I'd say he's physically about 16 years old. So yes, physically he is a child/teenager. Mentally, he's a 200+ year old demon's hatred personified.

#demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #zohakuten #hantengu #mitsuri kanroji

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3archangelsaints · 4 months

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ASK: I'd like to read something about Simon, please, counseling his teenage son perhaps, with reader. He's probably been in a fight and when he gets home in finds reader putting a band aid on some of his wounds. The rest is up to your imagination, thank you! ✨ I love what you write!

A/N: Sorry this is kinda rushed but it inspired me and itched my brain

Tommy was the oldest son, and he was often like a replica of Simon, which you adored. He'd always been a bit big for his size, at 6'4 at 16 he's tall and muscular from his workouts with Simon. He's honestly a duplicate of Simon in so many ways, but to his younger sister, he often acts like you in the way he cares for her. Lillie was his 14 year old sister, and they went to school together, Lillie was a lot more soft spoken than Tommy. One day after school, Tommy and Lillie were walking home together, unlike usual, Lillie wasn't waffling on about her usual book she'd been reading.

--- She stormed up to her room, chucking her bag on the bottom of the stairs. You looked confused. "Tommy, is she okay?"

He shook his, kissing your cheek. "Don't know, she's been weird all day." You brushed his dirty blonde hair. "Look out for her, for me." "Always do mum." You nod, hugging him. "Where's dad?" "He's in contact with a dog breeder, might have to foster a few dogs again." You clean the table, "I'm thinking of getting you and Lillie a dog each." "Why?" You laugh, "Sound just like your father." He scoffs. "I'll go check on her." You reassure him. --- A few hours later you finally come out of Lillie's room, finally comforting her to sleep, Simon is finally home and he's exhausted, not having had any sleep last night. "Simon." You say softly, leaning into his warm embrace, he kisses you sweetly. "Shhh... I know, Tommy said." He comforts you, knowing how you are and that you'll stress about your kids endlessly. The next morning Simon is cooking a full English breakfast for everyone, whilst you spend the morning braiding Lillie's hair, getting her ready for school. --- It was during school when it broke out, the fight, Tommy punched a guy in his year. He'd dropped to the floor quickly. No one snitched about what happened to the teachers. Lillie hugged Tommy when they were walking home together. "Did he touch you?" He asked. Lillie just sobbed crying. Thomas was so alike to his dad in the way if anyone fucked with his father he felt a strong urge to kill. ---

"What happened?" You snatched his right hand, noticing the skin breakage, then looking at Lillie's red and puffy eyes. "Sit both of you." Both Thomas and Lillie sit down. You went and grabbed the medkit. "Lillie - now, what happened?" You begin disinfecting his knuckles as Lillie sniffles. "A guy in Tommy's year - he - followed me into the bathroom and he-" Your heart pounded and everything became a blur, the thought of someone hurting your baby girl made you sick. "Mum." Tommy's voice brought you out of your daze. "Did you punch him?" You ask, as you wrap his knuckles. "Course." You smile, tears falling, you kiss his wrapped knuckled and sit beside Lillie pulling her to lie down in your lap as you play with her hair. Lillie falls asleep and Tommy carries her to bed, and you two sit back down on the sofa. "Did you two fight?" "One punch and he was out like a light." "Your father - he -" "If I didn't do it, he would've done it to be fair."

---

When Simon comes home, he notices every little detail. "What happened?" You wipe your tears. "Someone touched Lillie, so I punched him." "Damn fucking right." He goes to his cupboard opening his expensive bourbon, pouring Tommy a glass. "Where is she?" "Upstairs-" He's storming up the stairs and waking Lillie, next thing you hear are sobs, Lillie's sobs. Your heart breaks, but she walks down with her father, clinging to him. "We are ordering Lillie's favourite and we're drinking. She's old enough." You grab glasses as Tommy orders take away, you drink and giggle, hugging your children together. Before you're blurting out information about the guy and his family. "What? Did some digging about him... not the first time he did something like that, he's changed 3 schools last 2 years." Lillie smiles softly, nodding. "Lovie, calm down, me and Tommy are going to his family tomorrow to talk." Simon coddles Lillie sweetly. --- You and Lillie sleep cuddled together. Your arms wrapped tightly around her. She gets up to go school, but you ask her if she wants to stay home. "No, wanna go school." She says sleepy. You nod and get up. Helping her. Tommy and Simon, are already out, and you shake your head hoping they're okay. "They're fine mum." She reassures you. "Are you?" "I will be." Your eyes water and you nod at her resilient behaviour. She was so gorgeous and intelligent. You kiss her temple. "He touches you I will castrate him, already got the new electric knife." You say lowly, frowning. "Don't go." You whisper in her ear. "Please, you need time okay? Stay at home." Her eyes water and she nods.

#call of duty #simon ghost riley #cod mwii #call of duty modern warfare #cod x reader #simon riley x reader #cod mw2 #cod ghost #ghost cod

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shankss-magnificent-ass · 11 months

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Imagine the red hair pirates reminiscing about your childhoods

You: Wait so if your family lived in a one-room house

Howling Gab: Calling it a house is generous, but yes

You: And you have two younger siblings who are 10 and 14 years younger than you, the that means....

Benn: That means you've seen your parents doing the deed.

Shanks: Making the beast with two backs

Yassop: Boinking

Lucky Roux: Doing squat thrusts in the cucumber patch

You: Putting the bun in the oven

Hongou: Literally present for the conception of your siblings

Howling Gab: *rolls his eyes* Yes, I saw my parents fucking, and no it's not weird. What's weird is you haven't seen your parents fucking.

Shanks: *slaps his knee and laughs* Maybe so, but I'm all the happier for it.

You: Yeah, I'm glad I can't say I know what my dad's balls look like.

Benn: I wish I could.

The crew: *concerned silence*

Benn: *reads the room* OH! No, no, no, not like that. It wasn't anything bad.

You: Then what was it?

Lime Juice: Do ya wanna talk about it, buddy?

Benn: I told you it wasn't like that! I wasn't diddled as a child... He was taking us swimming, and I was clinging to his leg because I thought it'd make him hurry. When I made the mistake of looking up while he was wearing swim trunks. And BOOM, I got a front row seat looking directly at his taint and ball sack.

You: *covers your mouth to contain your laughter* oh gods.

Benn: they were pale and veiny. And they hung so low *shudders* I don't wanna even think about it.

Hongo: You are all so dramatic, like your balls aren't as perky as they were twenty years ago.

Benn: They've definitely migrated a ways south. And my dick kind of just always leaking.

Shanks: Yeah what's up with that? Nobody told me about this, and the fake I'd piss myself so much. That's something I miss about my childhood, my undies were always dry.

You: I miss that my back didn't hurt

Yassop: or my fucking knees, the damn things click so often you could mistake me for a reindeer. (their tendons click)

Lucky Roux: Yes! It's the fucking worst.

Author's note: the swimming pool incident is based on a true story. And unfortunately it's a memory that won't fade no matter how much I wish it would.🙃

List of Up-and-coming works

Support me on Kofi and Patreon

#one piece #one piece x reader #one piece imagine #shanks #red hair shanks #red haired shanks #akagami no shanks #benn beckman #red hair pirates #yassop #lime juice #lucky roux #hongo #Howling Gab #from the depths of the dragon's hoard #tma original #10/11/23 #no beta we die like men

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mai-irumi · 5 months

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Chapter 2 appreciation post

I swear I'm not planning on doing this with all chapters (maybe I will) bit I can't help it if EVERYTHING IS THAT GOOD

I just love how here we can see that Iruma, even being the Pusillanimous boy that he is, he's totally conscient of the bizarre situation he is in

Yet can't dare to say no

I mean, I bet this is the most loved he's ever been, and it's not good love, as much as I love Sullivan for giving all those opportunities, he is not a good parent, he only got Iruma out of a whim and didn't really care that much for hoe he felt, at least at the early episodes.

Once again, Asmodeus blinding us all with his pretty face and already obsessive behavior to Iruma, but who would be Asmodeus without obsession?

THEY HAD NO RIGHT TO MAKE HIM LOOK THIS FINE WHILE BEING MAD

Like GODS, now I get y'all Naberius' fans, the anime did not do any justice TO THIS

I wouldn't mind being scolded by him (Lie, I'd burst into tears of pure fear)

Okay, but is it me or the snake is cute?

Like look at those googly eyes that look like they may just pop out of the skull at any moment, makes me wanna squish it

Also we can see here very clearly that Asmodeus type of body is pear shaped 🍐, in case anyone had curiosity

Sweethearts, if you two only knew you wanted the same, you wouldn't have gone through all of that.

Like let's be honest both of you wanted Iruma out of the school, easy job

I LOOOVE how Iruma resembles Sullivan even without being related to him, like that's so cute, family soulmates maybe?

Now, I don't remember well, but I do know that in the present on the manga has already been a year, but I do think Kalego is still his familiar, correct me if I'm wrong

ALSO I was thinking about, and all of this boys are 14, like dude, I'm older than them (was younger when I first saw the series, I suddenly feel old 😭) THERE'S NO REASON TO MAKE THEM GO THROUGH ALL OF THAT

Have you guys ever seen those jobs where they ask for young people with plus 10 years of experience? They want Iruma, that's what they've been looking for, too sad he's in hell

<-_->

#Does Sullivan have a tag??#welcome to demon school iruma kun #iruma suzuki #mairimashita! iruma kun #mai irumi #asmodeus alice #naberius kalego #m!ik #mairimashita iruma kun #mairuma #iruma kun

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asherloki · 1 year

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Innocence!

Bbc Sherlock x virgin reader!

Warning:- fingering, age gap, sexual context!

Request:- Can I request 14 and 29 from the smut prompts with sherlock please? I can’t wait to see what you come up with! ~ anon!

Prompt list!

"Ugh, I said no" y/n said on phone annoyingly before hanging up. Sherlock was stunned to see her in such a mood. His roommate, or rather little roomate is always childish (like him) but what caused her to be annoyed. He calls her little roommate because she always acts like a baby and was also quite younger than him.

"What's wrong little...." Sherlock was about to say his favourite nickname for her but y/n stopped him.

"Don't you dare say that, I'm very mad."

"I just wanted to know what's wrong" said Sherlock.

"Ugh, this fucking guy friend of mine want's to hookup with me"

"Oh" said Sherlock as this topic he tends to avoid cause he's way too ahead of this, "so what's stopping you."

"I don't want to" snaps y/n

"Wait wait wait, don't tell me it's Chris" Sherlock asks now, he's now perfectly invested in solving y/n's case.

"What... How do you know that?" Asked she.

"Oh because when you received the call you were happy and when he talked of hooking up you were annoyed, you totally have a crush on him but you may not be ready for sex and it's totally fine." Said Sherlock.

"No I can't hide a thing from you" y/n snapped again.

"Mmmm no you can't" said he and gave a mischievous smile, which said 'i'll always win'.

"But it's not that I'm not ready." She started to explain.

"So?" Sherlock enquired putting his laptop down.

"I don't want a casual hookup, I can only sleep with someone I love, and also..."

"And also?" He asked.

"Nothing but yeah just casual hookup ain't my thing."

"Hmmm... What kinda men do you like though." Asked Sherlock and this did the trick. She blushed and looked away, Sherlock always noticed how she'd stare at him when he's inside in his house robes, how domestic, he noticed she'd stare at his long fingers and there's something about her blush when Sherlock is to close to her. He knew she might like him. But he was too older. Over ten years, so he preferred to keep it platonic, but he knows the truth, when she comes out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe, water still dripping from hair, it does makes Sherlock stare too. When she watches herself in the mirror and wears lipstick, winks at her own reflection Sherlock does stares then as well. Y/n thought before answering him, "i don't think I have a specific type but if I have sex, I'd want someone who'd care for me because...."

"Because?"

"I don't know anything about it honestly." She admitted. Sherlock got up and said, "sit here little...."

"No, not that name". She warned.

"Okay, come sit we'll discuss about this Chris guy."

She sits on his couch and takes her phone in hand. When He suddenly came close to y/n. His face very close to her, she liked it. She even blushed furiously,

"Wh-what?" She asked softly.

"Nothing just... wanna taste my cupcake." He replied seductively.

Slowly he pressed his lips on hers. She returned the the kiss. She knew how to kiss thankfully but the next thing was new, Sherlock slipped a tongue inside her mouth and so did she. She cupped his face and enjoyed their tongues dancing. Then His lips went from her lips to her soft cheeks and then neck and collarbone, no one ever visited those places. Her whimpers and gasps reflected her inexperience. She caught his back and the upper arm tightly as his hand went to touch her delicate soft thighs, then to upwards.

"Sherlock" his name came out as whimper as he touched exactly where even she herself never did. Sherlock lifted his face from her neck and enquired with baffled eyes, "you never touched yourself?"

In reply y/n could only shake her head. To this, Sherlock gave a mischievous smirk. And his hand slide inside her panties to touch where she needed to be. Her eyes closed in pleasure and in embarrassment. Sherlock exploring her. The places of her body which no body ever has. His fingers touched her slit and the clit. She couldn't help but whimper softly.

"You're wet, so wet." Sherlock said, rather whispered.

"I've never been... Ah touched like this before". Y/n replied.

"Good" he whispered to her ear, intentionally so his voice send shivers down her spine. He rubbed his finger against her clit. This was enough for her to moan. She gripped him tightly almost her small nails as if it would dig in his flesh making holes in his coat. "Oh fuck" she moaned followed by a hum. Her innocent child like face making such sounds? Sherlock may have been more turned on by her helpless state, her innocent face. She was absolutely inexperienced when it came to sex.

"I never knew you make such sweet noises" teased Sherlock.

"Neither do I." She replied rather whispered between her pleasure.

As she grew more wet he took this opportunity to slide his finger in her. This was new to her too. A sudden low scream came out of her mouth.

"Shhhh don't let Mrs Hudson know". Said he. And started to finger her. She rolled her eyes once he got the rhythm, in pleasure.

"You like it little cupcake?" Asked he . She could hardly talk back, yet tried and said, "don't stop please". Looking at him with her puppy eyes, Sherlock wouldn't admit but he was a sucker for that baby face and her puppy eyes.

"I don't intend to." He replied and fastened his speed.

"Keep doing what you're doing, please Sherlock." She pleaded.

"I got you". He fingered her harder until he felt she was close and came all over his finger. He held her and she panted for her first time experiencing something like that.

"This is how you do it." Sherlock said with a smile. A smile which had care and mischief both. To this she needed to reply to her detective. She turned and smirked. Her confidence grew alot after this so she said,

"Maybe you can teach me something more."

#bbc sherlock #sherlock x reader #sherlock x y/n #sherlock holmes x reader #sherlock smut

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dzvelinaskebiyars · 1 month

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hi i would like to make a request (headcanons or one shot, what do you like more) with baji x fem reader (where he is 14 years old), she is his girlfriend, and also she lives with a neglectful father and has to raise her younger siblings on her own. (maybe if you watched "shameless" you can make the father look like Frank, and the reader like Fiona, if you don't know it's okey but I will make a note that even though Frank was a bad father, Fiona was still his favorite daughter) and how Baji would treat her in this situation, maybe help her with siblings or chores, also please make it so that they know each other since childhood

Hello! Yet another request that I'm doing way too late lol. Thank you so much for requesting tho! And no I haven't watched Shameless but I've seen enough Tiktok of it to get the idea.

You and Baji have known each other since childhood and your families are very close. It wasn't much of a surprise for your family when you two started dating, considering how much time you two have spent together.

Though, starting a relationship was extremely big choice for you and you've been very hesitant in that because of your family's situation. And Baji has been nothing but understanding towards your situation.

He's very aware of what kind of family you have and he's genuinely very understanding and comforting to you because of that.

I feel like he'd take you to amusement parks and etc a lot because he wants you to enjoy your childhood. Since amusement parks are kids' favourite and you just...didn't get to enjoy any of it before.

Yes he'd come over a lot, especially when you need help, and would help you out even if it's with chores.

His home's door is ALWAYS open for you. If you just don't want to stay at your house and need a break from all of it, you're more than welcome to stay at his place.

Genuinely gets so angry when your family, especially your parents, don't appreciate you and your efforts. Yea he wouldn't get too involved since at the end of the day, it's still family business. But he'd say things like "Don't you think you're just being selfish? I mean, if I had a sister who would give up her entire childhood just to raise me well, I'd go as far to kill for her and die for her." or "You're asking her to support you when you have never in your life supported her?" to your siblings after they'd complain about absolutely stupid shit that you didn't do for them.

When you seek any kind of comfort, he'd gladly comfort you. For example cuddle with you and calm you down when you're crying, telling you how he's proud of you and etc.

But seriously, there has been times when he just snapped and told you to pack your things up and live with him because he can't stand to see you suffering.

Just say what you need and he'll do it. He'll help you. Your siblings are being piece of shits? He'll talk sense to them. Your father is drunk asf and starts a fight? He'll take you away to a date or to his place. You need a shoulder to cry on? He's right here, pretty. You need financial support? He'll help you out. You need help with housechores because there's sm to do and you need s hand with it? He's coming over rn to help you out!

He purposely doesn't beat tf outta of your father or siblings because he knows it'll upset you and he doesn't want that. But, trust me, all he wants is to bash your family's heads on the wall and take you far away from those monsters and make you happy.

If your father or any of ur family member gets physical, he'll absolutely lose it. I swear he'll make them regret that forever.

#tokyo revengers #tokyo rev #request #tr headcanons #baji keisuke #baji x reader

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givemewallywestorgivemedeath · 1 year

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figured i'd ask you since you're like, The Flash Fam Expert, but do you happen to know the rough ages of the flashfam? like i know irey and jai are nine, ace is somewhere in his late teens, and wally has to be late twenties at the youngest but i can't find many specifics on other characters and wasn't sure if you might be able to help!

OOF. That's a rough one buddy. You don't understand what you have just unleashed upon the world.

God. Alright.

Irey and Jai are nine physically and mentally. Chronologically speaking, they're still toddlers but don't worry about it.

Ace is around 17? Not yet 18 but older than 15. I would bet on 17 but 16 wouldn't be crazy either. Avery is the same age.

Jay and Max are over 100 but by how much, I couldn't tell you. They play their age close to the chest. Physically they look 50-60 though.

Here's where it gets tricky.

Barry, Wally, Jesse and Bart.

So, Wally would've been in his early 30's when his children were born. Definitely by the time Barry came back Wally would've been at least 30.

However, during the N52 reboot everyone got deaged around a decade younger, Wally included. Wally came out of the Speedforce wearing his Kid Flash costume, indicating that he was physically 19 at the oldest. It's been a few years since Wally emerged, so physically he would have to be around 21 at this point.

Wild! I know!

So yeah, Barry would've been... late 30's? Ish? When he died. He came back at roughly the same age and chilled for a bit. He would've had to have hit 40 at least by that point. But speedsters also don't really physically age? So he looked like he was in his early 30's.

The N52 reboot hit, putting Barry at... late 20's- early 30's. I would say, by now, that the man is at least 30. Potentially even 35. But he looks 25 because speedsters don't age. (Iris would be around 30)

Bart is going to be the most wild one here. Alright. I'm speedrunning this one, so if you don't understand what is happening, I'm sorry but it is too late for you.

He exits the time portal at physically 12, ages to 14 before stabilized. He ages to 16 at which point he disappears. He comes back as an adult for a year but is killed. He comes back, again, back at 16 and is allowed to chill for a bit (potentially a year), bringing Bart to 17 years old (physically) when Flashpoint and the N52 reboot hit.

Bart was somehow spared the ~10 year deaging but he wasn't spared the deaging entirely. Bart pops out looking around 12-14 years old again. He runs around for about a year ish, which brings Bart to physically 13-15 years old currently in comics.

HOWEVER, it must be stated that, like Wally and Barry, Bart's mental age has never been reset. His mental age did not reboot with his body, so mentally Bart is around 19-20 years old.

Jesse... Jesse is weird. DC likes to keep Jesse ambiguously young. When in doubt, Jesse is around the same age as Wally. So, currently she would be around 21. The same applies to Linda.

So yeah. It's weird because Barry was a guy in his 30's with a little baby ten year old Wally and there was at least a 20 year age difference there. And now it's maybe 9 years? But also Barry looks 25 because he's a speedster, so it looks like Barry is only 4-5 years older than Wally.

Honestly if you went off looks alone, it'd be Jay (50), Max (50), Barry (25), Wally (21), Jesse (21), Avery (16), Ace (16), Bart (14), Irey (9) and Jai (9). Which is WILD?! Their family looks like two gay dads adopted 8 kids. Other than Max and Jay, they all look within five years of each other. It's wild.

Speedster aging man... They just... don't. They don't age. They live on Neverland time 24/7.

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jamelslivres · 2 months

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Hama

Let's start with the canon(ish) timeline:

Assuming that the young woman with the hair loopies is Katara's grandmother Kana and she's around the same age as Hama, I'm going to say that both are in their early-twenties. This is because Kana needed time to emigrate from the Northern Water Tribe. Yue got engaged at 16, and the healer Yagoda thought Katara was old enough to be engaged at 14. Judging by these engagement customs, Kana was probably engaged and then left around 16/17. To give her enough time to cross the world and settle in, I'd say that she and Hama must be around their early 20s.

During "The Puppetmaster", Hama says "the raids started over sixty years ago". Based on this, Hama is in her 80s during the events of this episode.

As she is describing her escape, Hama says she "walked free for the first time in decades". This could mean anything, but given that she hasn't started graying yet, I'm going to say two decades. Making her in her 40s when she first escaped.

Now, when did Hama get to the village we see in "The Puppetmaster"?

I've collected the relevant pieces from the show and discussed them. I truly can't make up my mind on this point, so I'd love to hear what others think. Let me know if I missed anything or if you guys have different interpretations of the evidence.

Here is what is said in the episode:

A merchant explains to a customer that he won't have any ash bananas until next week. The customer then says 'oh right, the full moon'. The merchant then says that he can't lose another two delivery boys to the full moon.

This interaction, to me, can be used to justify that Hama either has or hasn't been kidnapping people in this specific village for a long time:

Kidnapping in the short time interpretation: The merchant looks to be around sixty or slightly older, so he'd have been around when Hama came to the village (if she arrived immediately after escaping in her 40s). Let's assume he's been running this business for that long. If Hama started kidnapping people near immediately, I'd assume the lost delivery boys incidents happened near the beginning of that time. In this case, up to four decades ago. The merchant might not bring up those incidents to a customer who is (two?) decades younger than him and might not remember that incident. Since telling the customer is kinda bad marketing and makes the merchant look irresponsible or reckless. This could imply that these incidents are more recent.

Kidnapping in the long time interpretation: The customer doesn't need to be reminded that the full moon is that night. He knows it instinctively and doesn't need the merchant to connect the dots between the two day journey and the full moon disappearances. This awareness of the moon phases could imply that this has been happening for long enough that people have been habitually paying attention to the moon for a long time.

2. The guy who tells Aang, Sokka, and Toph about Old Man Ding says he's the "only one person who ever saw it and lived".

The word "ever" here implies that this might have been going on for a long time. However, local legends are quickly made and inflated, so the timing might just naturally be exaggerated.

3. Old Man Ding interaction, in which he says, "I'm not ready to get snapped up by any moon monster".

Honestly, I don't know what to make of this. To me, this reads like a semi-recent event, but I don't have anything to really back this up. Apart from maybe Ding saying he's not ready to get snapped up by a moon monster in response to a conversation about his age, which could imply that he was already old when this event happened.

Fun fact: the credits say "old man dig" even though the subtitles and voices clearly say "old man ding" (:

Now for some speculation:

If Hama escaped in her 40s, the earliest she could have gotten to the village was forty years ago. In my opinion, that is a LONG time to be kidnapping people and not get caught. However, she does only have the opportunity to kidnap people once a month, but still that seems like a really long time. This brings me to the part of this that is just me asking questions (so again, please let me know what you think!)

When did Hama start kidnapping people?

Did she go to other villages before she came to the one we see in this episode? If so, did she kidnap anyone in those previous villages (I'd guess yes)? If she was in other villages, was there a point before she started kidnapping people, or did she start immediately (I think it could be interesting if she struggled with it for a bit, then gave into the urge. Or even if the urge didn't appear immediately)?

Did she ever try to go home? If so, did she find that she wasn't able to let go of the need for revenge, and leave again?

#avatar the last airbender #atla #hama #hama atla #bloodbending #avatar #katara #aang #sokka #toph #atla fan theory #atla headcanons #atla hama #waterbending #fire nation #water tribe

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jazzjlan · 8 months

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ok look, this has been scratching my brain the past few days and i had to let it out, fair warning though it's not THAT shocking it just fascinates me and i was going insane as the damn linebeck stan i am

midway through this blog i just checked the zelda wiki and hyrule historia again and found out 100 years passed since then, so just a small warning this is all BEFORE i found out about the 100 year gap between the games, and theory's rather going with the more "logical" 70-80 years

This is basically related to Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks, and specifically Linebeck himself. Based on some rambles of mine one random night at 4 am, with no prior research but facts from Hyrule Historia, and autism.

In Spirit Tracks, you come across Linebeck III, who looks very similar to Linebeck himself from Phantom Hourglass. He gives you a letter from his grandpa, which is signed "Linebeck Senior". Initially I thought; "Is his grandpa Linebeck's father? Is Linebeck this guy's dad, then?" But turns out I was wrong.

I was reading Hyrule Historia the other day (i have the french version, hence the french screenshot underneath) and it says that Linebeck III is not only Linebeck's descendant as mentioned in-game but also his grandson. Therefore, Linebeck Senior is in fact the guy we all know (and love) from Phantom Hourglass.

don't worry, i got you covered, put a translation at the top as well

But then I was confused. I asked myself; "Wait, how did Linebeck ALREADY have a grandson???"

Putting Linebeck aside, if we pay close attention to Niko, the silly hehe pirate from Tetra's crew who appeared since Wind Waker, we notice that he's aged up, from possibly a child/teen to a grandpa. I'd like to pretend Niko's around 14-15 during TWW and PH.

So if we think about it, a lot of time has passed since the events of Phantom Hourglass, let's say 70-80 years. we love you grandpa niko

Anyway, going back to Linebeck, let's say he's in his 40s, and so is Linebeck III (maybe younger, he seems like it), and if we still say that the average human life expectancy is 80 years, that means Linebeck III is born when his father's the same age, being 30-40 years old.

If we take this same pattern with Linebeck (Senior) and his child (Linebeck II), that means...

Linebeck's a father during the events of Phantom Hourglass???

i'm honestly shook over this fact idk why. it's just so funny to me to think of linebeck as a dad, seeing his personality and the way he acts and so on. i just always see him as some bitchless pathetic stinky garbage man LMAO

With whom did he even have this child? Jolene? Who knows?

Personally, I just think it's funny to think of Jolene's being after Linebeck's ass because of that child he possibly abandoned. But that's not the canon reason why she's after him, that being just pure revenge.

honestly i'd like to think of it like that it's just hilarious like "LINEBECK FOR FUCKS SAKE WHERES THE CHILD SUPPORT"

However, if we delve into the more canon timeline, being ST happening 100 years after PH, that would mean that Linebeck possibly had his child after finding land, by the end of PH. It's either that, or he could just be much older than I thought (like, maybe 60?) and he's already had his child.

and niko's old as fuck and somehow still thriving

wild

thanks for listening to my rambles baibaiii

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tzigone · 3 months

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Bruce's general path in headcanon reboot

Any long running character has gone through multiple personalities and relationship dynamics. Some I like, some I don't. But for my headcanon reboot, I'm mapping out a general path for Bruce. Pick bits and pieces out of canon and put them into something that works for me.

So, two big point that are so different in the early days and the later days are Bruce's wealth level and Bruce's emotional health.

So, for this story, we start with Bruce as rich, but not a billionaire and as an emotionally healthy superhero. These will both change as the story progresses.

Okay, I'm starting with Bruce becoming Batman as a 24 year old. He's studied and trained (and no one ever thought he was dead) and he's ready to get started on improving Gotham. His Uncle Philip Kane and Great Uncle Silas Wayne and some second cousins live in Gotham, while his Aunt Agatha is an out-of-town relative. Silas is the one running Wayne Enterprises at the time (though maybe not still doing the day-to-day) and owns 50% of Wayne Enterprises. Agatha (Thomas's sister) owns 25% and Bruce 25%. Agatha and Bruce have little to nothing to do with the business.

The Bruce we know then is social and generally pretty happy. Also a determined crimefighter. Superman's already on the scene and others heroes follow. Bruce does, like in the golden age, think of this as a phase in his life and something he'll retire from once he's accomplished his goals.

Gotham is certainly a city with crime and corruption, but it's not a cursed-from-birth-can-never-get-better kind of place. But well, while not nearly all the cops are on the take, there's enough of them that he can't leave that poor orphaned acrobat unprotected. He becomes Dick's guardian, and he trains the boy and lets him do the things he wished he could have done when his own parents were killed.

We'll see the early villains introduced now. While I'm spreading the golden age villains out a bit more than the compressed time of comics allowed for, the Joker and Catwoman still come at about the same time.

Things continue along that line for a while. Dick begins taking cases alone (Star-Spangled-Comics-like). Dick's in the phase of life where he's developing his own way of doing things, but he always defers to Bruce when they work together. They still have a healthy dynamic and Bruce is proud of him and seeing that he can trust Dick to handle things on his own.

Bruce joins the JL. He's worked with some of them before and he and Clark are friends. They have a good team dynamic and mutual respect, though that's not to say no one ever irritates another.

I haven't really worked out Talia. I'd like to use the dislike Dick had of her, but originally that was when he was a college student, but if we look at Damian's age, Dick'd be younger when Bruce and Talia met, and I'm not sure how I'm going to work that out because the dynamic doesn't work the same with a 14 year old Dick and grown Talia.

He and Selina have had their banter in the past, but she was a criminal and he a hero and nothing every really happened. She goes straight and he thinks they'll not be seeing each other again.

Then Silas dies. His own children were, like Thomas and Agatha, never interested in running the business. Bruce feels like he needs to step in and get involved in the company and show some oversight, since no one else is. He's deliberately exposing Dick to the business side of things, hoping Dick will want to take over after college and he'll be able to devote his full time to heroing again.

We'll see Dick (16) join the OG Teen Titans and Barbara become a hero around this time. As with the original story, Dick's more welcoming of Barbara as a hero than Bruce is. This is when we first start to see his desire to be in control of everything, though it's much toned down back in this day and he accepts her quickly enough. He does not train her - she was already an adult and already trained. She works with the two of them sometimes, but mostly alone.

Bruce is getting more and more involved with the company, but beginning to resent the pull it has on his time. Actually, as the 10th anniversary of him donning the cowl approaches, he's starting to feel dissatisfied with his life. He thought he'd have accomplished his goals and be retired and married by now. But there's so much left to do. It seems to him that Gotham has barely improved at all. That's completely false, but he didn't set any actual benchmarks back when he started and now he feels like he's not meeting them. He'll hire Lucius and sort of start off-loading a bit of his Wayne Enterprises load on to him (and getting more eager for the idea of Dick taking over after graduation - Dick's leaving for Hudson). He will date Silver, but that'll fall apart.

Dick becomes much more independent at University. He gets used to doing things his own way. And he starts working with Barbara some. And now it's not just the TT, but his partner he expects to treat him as a equal. He's capable of the schoolwork, but doesn't prioritize it. He and Bruce are both leaning into putting more time in the hero biz right now, and less into other things. And he decides to leave University and spend his time on heroism. This is problematic for Bruce for two reasons. First Dick was supposed to take up the slack so he could do that. But more than that, it really bothers him that Dick doesn't finish college. He considers that a baseline accomplishment for his kid. He's not living up to his potential, etc. Dick knows how much of sacrifice this could be for others and feels fortunate he has a trust fund that enables him to do this and he resents Bruce trying to control his decisions like he's still a kid and that Bruce is doing partially so that Bruce can spend his time doing what Dick wants to do with his time. Since Dick isn't going to be taking over the company, Bruce hands the day-to-day over Lucius, though he maintains overall oversight.

So, this is the beginning of some of their issues that will become more significant over time. Also, Bruce is getting more determined, more driven, more focused, more demanding and more controlling in general. As I said, he feels like he's gotta step it up to save Gotham. We'll seem him start to pull away from his JL buddies, too. He starts to see them as insufficiently focused. And while he's always been confident in his own decision-making, he's getting more into the mindset that his way is the only way.

Dick joins the NTT, and he and Bruce have quite a strained dynamic at the time. Selina become a vigilante and she and Bruce interact more, but it doesn't go anywhere. Though they continue to interact and lust and care.

Then Bruce meets Jason. He does love him and value him, but he's much harder on him than he was on Dick at that age. He doesn't give him leeway to do anything but obey when in costume. Out of costume, he's a pretty good dad. But he's spending less time out of costume than he used to.

Jason's death really messed him up even more. He pulls away even more from the relationships he had, and he doesn't want to form new ones. He's angry and taking it out crooks sometimes. He's barely ever out of the costume. His relationship with Dick continues to get rockier.

After Tim becomes Robin Bruce very deliberately doesn't cast himself as a father (of course, Tim has one). Tim would open up with an emotional discussion with Dick or Alfred long before he would with Bruce. But Tim and Bruce have a good working relationship. Tim looks up to Bruce as almost infallible at first (which isn't really healthy) and he obeys completely, which is something Bruce values.

For a while, Tim is a good bridge for Dick and Bruce. But eventually, after working on his own for a while, and working with others, Tim starts to have his own ideas to believe Bruce is wrong sometimes (see the late 90s and early 2000s when Bruce was awful, though he won't be nearly so bad here) and Bruce isolates himself more. Grandmother Kane dies and he inherits a fortune from her.

Then Damian comes along, and Jason is back and Bruce is terrible at relating to both of them and handles all of it poorly and then is lost in time (or similar).

This experience and the alone-ness and forced time away from being Batman give him too much time to think about his own thoughts, think about his own life and his successes and mistakes and what he wants.

But unlike canon, he decides what he wants is to prioritize the people and relationships in his life more. When he gets back, he starts off working on what's important (but still totally dons the cowl and saves the day, too). He works very hard to build a relationship with Damian (and Dick has made tremendous progress with him) and to repair his relationship with Jason (and Tim had done quite well with him) and to do better about treating Dick, Steph, Barbara, Cass, Clark, and so many others better than he did. And treating the adults like equals instead of thinking he should be the boss of them. And he decides to finally take real shot with Selina instead of back-burnering or being too afraid/pessimistic to try. It does work out. In time, they'll be married and he'll have a good dynamic with family and his old friends will be his friends again.

He'll eventually inherit Aunt Agatha's portion of WE (and a fortune from Uncle Philip) and he'll eventually retire the cape and cowl when he knows he's too old to keep doing the job effectively. But he will know he did good, and he will have faith in the younger generations that they have to and will continue to do so.

#Bruce Wayne #Dick Grayson #Jason Todd #Selina Kyle #Clark Kent #Batman #Robin #Nightwing #Catwoman

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barbarianbookhoe · 1 year

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Chapter 6

Taglist: @vainillasmil157 @bookloverfilmoholic

A/N: i don't think there's any warnings, this one's mostly fluff, little angst and flashbacks! Sorry it got so long ...

Apologies for any grammar mistakes, it's almost midnight while I'm editing this!

(I know Y/N and Kaz as "kids" are going to sound like adults, but hey, this is the language of Ketterdam) (Also, there's a little getting jealous of Inej, but no Inej slander!)

Age 13: "I wanted to know who you are"

Kaz knew 3 things about the girl: 1, She was younger than she looked, 2, She was hiding something, and 3, Her name was definitely not Eliza.

He's been watching her ever since she first came in six months ago. At first, Kaz thought she was there to replace him, and therefore made her time in the club stressful. Leaving glasses everywhere, hiding her cleaning cloth, basically being an asshole.

That all changed, when one night, while he was coming back from a job with a few guys, Kaz saw Y/N changing into a cat in the alley next to the club, and follow a merchant inside. It was Pekka Rollins.

Kaz went inside the club and saw the cat lying down on the floor, under Pekka's chair. He watched the man having a conversation with Per Haskell, and noticed that the cat's ears picked up their voice. She was eavesdropping on them.

Kaz catched the girl when she was about to step out of the place, and guided her to an empty alley and confronted her.

"Who are you?" He asked harshly and saw the girl look at him in confusion. "What?" "Who are you?" Kaz asked again, this time more seriously. "I-I clean the tables, that's all," "You're lying. You're a shapeshifter who eavesdropped on Pekka Rollins, and now is acting like it never happened. You're hiding something important. Who. Are.You?" The girl kept her scared and innocent facade for a few seconds longer, then dropped her face and stared at him in anger.

"Nobody. And I'd like to keep it that way, pretty boy," She whispered harshly and Kaz raised his brows. "So you admit you're hiding what you are?"

"This is Ketterdam. No one's who they say they are," She said and crossed her arms. "Including you, and those black gloves of yours. You think I can't see when you're pick pocketing customers in the dim light?" She tilted her head looking at Kaz expectantly. The boy stood there for a second in complete surprise, but then he regained his composure.

"You're spying on me." He stated and the girl hummed. "So are you. The only difference is our intention,"

"And what do you think my intention is?" The girl quietly chuckled as she answered. "Suspicion. You think I'm a danger to this club, this gang. I'm not after the Dregs. I'm after Pekka Rollins," She stated and Kaz's eyes widened in shock. "Why?" The girl hesitated, before stepping closer and quickly whispering to him. "Because I want him to suffer, and die like the rat he is,"

Hearing the anger in her voice, Kaz stared at her with a hint of amazement. He took in the girl in front of him, and felt a sense of familiarity with her hidden violence. Kaz knew that look, he saw it every time he looked into a mirror.

He spoke up with a newfound, cold calmness. "Then we destroy him,"

"We?" The girl asked and Kaz turned to her. "I'm familiar with your hatred towards the man. One mind can kill him, but two can take everything from him," He saw the way her eyes lit up at his words, and she smirked at him. "I'm curious about what damage the two of us will do,"

She turned around and began walking away, but before she could get further, he quickly stopped her. "You didn't tell me what your intention was. For spying on me," Kaz asked and the girl answered simply.

"I wanted to know who you were. And now that we're going to work together, I can't wait to find out."

Age 14: "Every step of the way"

Kaz had a reason to be angry. He was listening to Y/N scolding him for the thousandth time that week. It all started when she saw him walking instead of resting his leg. She put him back in bed, then he sneaked out and she caught him again. Right now, she was scolding him for running on a job with other Dregs members. Their argument consisted of Kaz rolling his eyes and making sarcastic comments, eventually fueling Y/N's frustration. Maybe it wasn't the best idea telling her to fuck off.

"Kaz, I will not leave you to run around the city with a broken leg!" Kaz rolled his eyes again at her words."It's not broken, the medic said I can walk on it just fine,"

"He said you're going to limp for the rest of your life," Y/N looked him dead in the eye. "Exactly, a limp. Which means I can still walk." He told her and stood up to go to the door of his room, but Y/N was quick to push him back on his bed. "Walk, and not run! Kaz, I thought you were smart." She said and sat down in the chair next to his bed. Kaz stared at her in frustration. "How long will you scold me for running with a limp? You did that too," Y/N scoffed at his words. "Yeah, but my leg wasn't broken." She stood up and opened his bedroom door. "You want to be on your feet all day, so be it. Just-" She turned back to look at Kaz and pointed under his bed. "Just make sure you use that. I'm going to beat the shit out of you if you don't, because I stayed too much after work for it to collect the dust." Y/N went out of his room and closed the door.

It wasn't closed for two seconds when Kaz practically jumped off his bed and pulled the object wrapped in multiple layers of newspaper from under his bed. He tore the paper apart and when he saw what the object was, he just stared at it for a minute. Then he saw the small letter that fell out of the wrapping and quickly read it.

"Dear boy who boils my blood,

I hate it when you think I don't know when you sneak out, but maybe this way I can be with you every step of the way. I hope it suits your taste.

P.S. I added some extra weight to it."

He tried not to smile as he inspected the cane.

It was black, with silver painting on the bottom, and on the top of it was a beautiful silver crow, with silver eyes, the beak almost as sharp as a knife. Kaz lifted the cane and felt its heaviness and furrowed his brows. When he moved it around, like he was using a hammer, a smile crept upon his face.

Y/N made a weapon for him.

Age 15: "Take my hand, and take my heart"

"Son of a bitch!" Y/N yelped and grabbed her chair's armrest. "I told you so," Kaz said from behind her, also sitting on a chair, his back to her. They were getting the Crow and the Cup tattoo at the same time, because lately they found each others company indispensable, comforting even. Aside from their comments and teasing, of course.

"Just wait till the needle hits your skin too. You're going to yelp like a school girl," Y/N growled as she tried to stay still in her seat. She heard Kaz's movements as he rolled up his shirt's sleeve and held it to the tattoo artist to start the tattoo. When the needle pierced his skin, Y/N felt his chair move as he jumped a little. She giggled, "Isn't it wonderful, Kaz?" "I need a drink," He answered instead, which made her laugh, but it soon turned into muffled groaning, as the needle hit a sensitive spot on her forerarm.

They didn't speak much after that, since they were too focused on keeping their composure. Truth be told, they didn't need words to know how the other was feeling. Y/N grabbed the arm of the chair multiple times, indicating that she was about to scream. Kaz exhaled rather sharply, which meant he was close to stabbing himself with the needle, just for the pain to end.

When Y/N let out a yelp, Kaz didn't even hesitate to find and grab her free arm, his back still facing her. He didn't want to risk the needle going any deeper into his skin, than he would've liked to.

"Motherfucker!" Y/N shouted and squeezed Kaz's hand with so much force she could hear the leather creak in her hands. His face didn't even falter, but his heart? It was going ten miles per second, just like his thoughts, that seemed to overflow all of a sudden.

Does she has soft skin? Are her hands cold or warm? Does her hands have scars from working with the gunsmith? What would it feel like to interwine their fingers? How long can he touch her, before he feels like throwing up?

Then his heart told him things, things he sometimes naively wished to say, when they were alone in the club.

You were an unexpected surprise, the defining moment. You could never stay in one place for too long, and yet, I was the one you constantly came back to. You pulled me out to shore when the waves rose higher, threatening to drown me. You're the anchor that ties me to this world, making it less lonely beside you.

Without realizing, Kaz interwined their fingers and whenever he felt like loosening his grip, Y/N readjusted their hands. It was like as if she were able to read his mind, knowing when he was about to slip away.

They stayed like that for the rest of the evening, while the two men finished their tattoos. Y/N drew slow circles on his hand, comforting him, and Kaz squeezed her hand, encouraging her. When they finished and Y/N let go of their hand, Kaz grabbed it again and squeezed it one more time, trying to make her understand his thoughts.

Take my hand, and take my heart too. You robbed it from me, and I don't want it back. It's yours now, yours to own, yours to lose. I promise in the name of all the Saints I don't believe in, you will never have to fear the dark when you're with me.

It was only a second, maybe half a second, but it changed everything. Y/N was never going to forget the feeling of their fingers interwined, before he dropped her hand and regained his cold composure.

She finally knew how it felt to hold his hand. She wanted more.

And Kaz Brekker? He was hiding a grin, for he never once felt like throwing up during the touch.

Age 16: "A girl worth fighting for"

"No, fuck you Kaz!" Y/N shouted at the boy in front of her in his office. Their ranks in the Dregs rose quickly, with Kaz basically leading the gang himself, and Y/N being their "secret" weapon. Using her shapeshifting abilities came in handy, especially when Kaz ran out of plans. (Though he would rather carve his tongue out, than admit that).

"What do you want me to say? That you're unreplaceable? Because you're not. None of us needs you anymore," Kaz casually said and Y/N looked at him in shock. He took a deep breath, before lifting his head up and continuing. "I didn't mean-"

"Yes you did." She said and Kaz couldn't ignore the small crack in her voice. "Then what the fuck am I doing here? Why not throw me away as soon as you brought Inej in?" Her tone got angrier by each word she spoke, but Kaz looked at her with a cold stare.

"You're valuable for the team." He said and looked away, searching through the numerous papers on his desk. Y/N scoffed. "Valuable my ass! I'm not one of your soldiers, I'm your fucking friend Kaz!"

"Oh, do you want me to treat you differently? Maybe talk with you about our hopes and dreams, and how are we feeling? I'm not your fucking lover!" His eyes held no recognition of the man Y/N knew. This wasn't her Kaz anymore, this was Dirtyhands. "And if you keep acting like I am, I'll throw you out on the streets myself." He sat down in his chair and didn't look up, not even when the girl left and slammed his door on her way out.

He couldn't concentrate on the work he was supposed to do. He tried and failed multiple times, and when even the glass of kvas wasn't enough to keep his mind off of her, Kaz marched into the night to find her.

He went to the shop, the bakery next to it, the marketplace, the library, her favorite antique shop, the Slat, and just in case Fifth Harbor. When he still didn't find her, he knew there was only one place left where she could be. He didn't like it.

Kaz came to a halt at the front step of the house, on the outskirt of the Financial District. Y/N told him countless stories about her time in her aunt's house, and now that he was standing in front of it, he felt like he knew the place.

If Kaz had to be honest, he felt somewhat afraid in that moment. After he knocked loudly on the door, he counted the seconds until it opened. Dirtyhands wasn't scared of anything, he was a fearless man, but the boy standing there wasn't him anymore. He was just Kaz, who was afraid of losing someone important to him.

"What did you say to her?" Raffiel, Y/N's brother asked Kaz, and he felt himself swallow before replying. "Something I shouldn't have. I need to talk to her," Raffiel only looked at him with a furious look. Kaz noticed the fire in his eyes, reminding him of Y/N when she was angry. "I believe you talked to her just enough. Bye." He went to close the door, but Kaz stopped him with his cane. He pushed the door open with it and stepped inside without a second thought.

"I came here to apologize, and I'm going to, wether you like it or not." Kaz told Raffiel coldly and the two of them stared each other down. None of them broke the eye contact, but Kaz could feel his hands starting to sweat under his gloves. A voice made both of them turn away from the other.

"Is that true?" Y/N asked standing on the staircase, her arms crossed. She looked down at Kaz, who in return stared at her with sincerety in his eyes. She saw the tiny change in his look, and nodded her head upstairs, not looking back to see if he followed her.

When Kaz was about to step on the stairs, Raffiel stopped him. "I've known you for a while now, Brekker. But if you hurt my sister ever again, I'm going to paint the Barrel red with your blood," He whispered to him and Kaz scoffed at him. "Many tried and failed."

"I believe Y/N will succeed one day," Raffiel told him and Kaz furrowed his brows. When the man saw his face, he watched him with curiosity. "I have a question for you, Mister Brekker," He mockingly said the 'Mister', "Who is she to you?"

"I came to apologize, not to have an interrogation." Kaz answered harshly and attempted to walk up the stairs, but Raffiel stopped him again. "But why would Dirtyhands apologize to anyone at all? Especially my sister, a regular gunsmith?"

Kaz didn't have an answer. Actually, he had multiple answers, consisting of curse words and sarcastic comments, but the smirk Raffiel gave him told him everything he needed to know. He won't believe any shit excuse Kaz might come up with, so he had no choice but to tell the truth.

"I'll ask once again, who is she to you?"

The old words came to Kaz with ease. No one. A spy. A great asset. But there was something else, a voice shouting at him, making everything else disappear from his mind. She's my friend, my partner, my anchor. She's the one keeping me on the surface, when the tides get tough. She's someone worth dying for. Kaz answered with the outmost casualty.

"She's a girl worth fighting for." But before he could completely disappear from Raffiel's line of sight, he spoke up with a small smile.

"Find me when you believe she's worth living for."

Age 17: "I always noticed you"

The heist got royally fucked up. The guards decided to change posts a second earlier, the rain didn't stop before midnight, and they were low on weapons.

Y/N, once again, was Kaz's secret ace up his sleeve during a robbery with Inej and Jesper. The latter two got told to go straight back to the Slat, preferably unnoticed, while Y/N and Kaz were running for their lives.

Actually, it was Kaz who was running, with Y/N flying above him in the form of a crow. They neared Fifth Harbor, when Kaz was attacked and abruptly pushed to the ground. The man was almost twice his size and thrice his age, but Kaz fought him with great strength that lied beneath his skinny frame.

Y/N quickly flew to the back of the attacker's head and began pecking it and scratching the man's face as hard as she could, making him wave around with his hands, trying to get her off of him. When he suddenly punched Y/N, she fell to the ground and briefly saw the man pushing Kaz into the deep water.

As if she were guided by some primal instinct, she attacked the man in an instant and scratched his eyes. The man was shouting in pain as one of his eyes began bleeding and stood up to face the bird.

Y/N turned back into human without a second thought, and continued what Kaz started. The fight went on for longer than she would've wanted, and it made the worry in her grow by each second. She finally sliced the man's throat, before jumping into the harbor after Kaz. The ice cold water shocked her body, and it only made her go faster. She knew what the water represented for Kaz, and it broke her heart that he was currently sinking in those memories.

When she felt her hand touch Kaz's coat, she clutched it firmly in her hands and began pulling themselves up. Her muscles felt like they were on fire, but she didn't dare to stop. She wouldn't let Kaz sink, not now, not ever.

When she finally broke the surface, she took a big gulp of air like it was her first breath. She held Kaz close to her chest as she started to swim to the docks on her back. When she reached it, she quickly braced herself for the power it was going to take to pull Kaz on the dock above them.

It took her several attempts to finally bring the both of them on top of the wooden surface. She quickly turned Kaz onto his back and checked his pulse. It was faint but it was there. Her worry turned into panic as she let go of the ice cold skin under her fingertips.

"Sorry." Y/N whispered to him, as if he could hear her. "I'm so sorry," she repeated as she quickly pulled Kaz's coat apart and began the chest compressions. She counted each compression, but after thirty, the numbers left her brain, and she began something she stopped doing many years ago.

She was sending a desperate prayer to the Saints she once believed in, hoping they had not yet turned their backs on her. She knew it wouldn't change a thing, but still she sent prayer after prayer as the seconds turned into minutes. She didn't notice when she started to speak out loud, but she didn't stop.

"I beg of you, please bring him back!" Y/N pleaded as her eyes filled with tears. She fought to keep them from falling. "Wake up Kaz! Please, wake up for me!" She said and stopped the chest compressions to gently shake his shoulders. "I know you don't need me, but I need you! I need you to wake the fuck up and look at me!" She shouted at his face but the response never came. "Please, I want you to look at me," Y/N whispered as the tears escaped her eyes and clouded her sight.

"I don't know if you can hear me but I want you to know, that I, that I don't hate you. No matter how hard I try to. What I do hate, is the fact that even now, you can never turn your face at me. And yet I-," Y/N scoffed as she looked away and continued. "Yet, I tend to forget about that whenever I look at you. Whenever you think you're slicked back into the shadows, I know you're there, because somehow I'm always able to notice you. Funny, how we can deceive ourselves in the most ironic way possible. I saw you, but I never saw my true feelings, until recently. I'm so fucking oblivious," Y/N's words turned into a whisper at the end, like she was afraid someone could hear her admit her feelings.

"But I know for sure that you don't feel the same, because if you did, you would give me some kind of hint outside of your usual glares. I just wanted you to see me, to look at me, to-"

"I always noticed you." Kaz said as he coughed up some water. Y/N was quick to help him sit up, so he'd be able to cough up the rest. After a few seconds he stopped, and spoke again. "I always looked at you," Kaz whispered as he lied back down on his back, closing his eyes for a second before opening them.

When he looked up into Y/N's eyes, he felt his heart stop. As the midnight moon shined down from behind her back, it drew a faint gloria around her head. Kaz didn't believe in Saints any more than he believed in the afterlife, but in that moment, he could swear he found his religion.

And he would try every day for the rest of his mortal life to be worthy of the love showed his way.

"What?" Y/N asked in a confused tone. She didn't know if this was a dream or a hallucination. "If you took some time to really look at me, you would know that I spend my every free minute watching you. I can't find the reason why." Kaz said the last sentence with some frustration, before he continued, this time making sure to keep looking at Y/N and not turn away.

"You make me want to know more and more about you, and it makes me frustrated that this curiosity won't leave me alone, not even in my sleep," Kaz told her and abruptly sat up. The movement made Y/N realize she was still holding Kaz's waistcoat at his chest. When she noticed it she pulled away, but was stopped by Kaz's hand, which gripped her hand and squeezed it for a second, before dropping it.

"You occupy my head even when I don't want you to, and no matter how hard I try to erase you from my mind, you manage to sneak your way back in by simply existing. It's fucking annoying." His words came out as a threat, but Y/N learned long ago how to read between the lines. And what she found made her heart swell up in her chest.

"Can I ask, how long have you been... annoyed by this?" She asked as naturally as she could, and thankfully Kaz didn't catch the excitement she tried to hide. "The night we got the tattoos. Everytime I catch a glimpse of the Crow and Cup, my thoughts get drowned by you. It's irritating and I can't put an end to it." Kaz said and Y/N fought hard to keep the serious look on her face, but eventually she gave up.

She sweetly smiled at Kaz, to which he looked back at her with raised brows, question in his eyes. Y/N took a deep breath before she spoke up. "You're an evil man, Kaz." She whispered and Kaz's lips turned into a slightly wicked smirk.

"That never stopped you before." The statement lingered in the air for a minute, before Y/N spoke with confidence.

"And it never will."

Present: (Age 19)

The two days after Inej woke up were pure torture for Kaz Brekker. It was hard for his brain to focus on the map of the Ice Court longer than 10 minutes, and he was starting to consider asking Matthias to crack his skull open. He was certain the Fjerdan would most definitely enjoy his request.

There were also other pleasant things occupying his mind: thoughts of him ripping his eyes out so he wouldn't be able to look at Y/N, or cutting his ear off, so he wouldn't be able to hear her voice or laugh. While she took care of Inej along with Nina, she didn't really talk to him, or look at him, or even stayed in his presence for too long, not to cause any more suspicion in the others. And it was slowly driving Kaz mad.

Ever since their almost kiss got interrupted by Nina (who Kaz cursed in his head everytime he saw her), he couldn't get a grip on his emotions. On the outside he remained cold and serious, calm even, but on the inside Kaz was fuming with rage and an emotion he never thought he'd experience: desire.

The desire to kiss and kiss and kiss. At first, when Kaz thought of kissing Y/N, he got nauseaous about the idea of putting his lips against someone else's. But curiosity got the best of him, and one night he pressed a small kiss on her jaw. The action made the adrenaline rush through his veins. He realized he wanted more. That is why he tried to kiss her a few months ago, even though it ended with him shaking in the corner.

He had been craving her ever since. For the past almost three months, Kaz wanted to kiss her more than he wanted to do anything else. He wanted to finally kiss her, and after that, kiss her day and night, until their lips were sore. He never knew he was capable of feeling such strong emotions, and it made him crawl out of his skin.

Hearing Y/N laugh, hearing her voice, seeing her walk around on the ship meant no good for Kaz. He fought hard to hide even a glimpse of his thoughts, whenever Y/N put on one of his shirts. Of course the others didn't notice this because the shirts were usually hidden underneath her vest, but it was something that made Kaz's heart speed up just a little. He reminded himself that he had to be extra careful, now that there was a Heartrender on board. Ghezen forbid she began guessing about his relationship with Y/N.

And if all of these didn't make Kaz want to tore off his skin, than the smug look on Y/N's face certainly did. She didn't know the reason behind Kaz's frustrated behaviour at first, but when she did, she did everything to make it worse. With her actions she sent a message to Kaz, a bet. She wanted to see if he'd give up his composed facade before she did. Without words, he reassured her that he won't back down, no matter how hard she might try to break him.

The days ahead of them were going to be painfully long, since neither of them liked to lose. And the tension around them could burn down the entire ship, if they werent't careful.

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