#coming up with example sentences is hard why did i do that???

[genericpuff]

The excessively passive voice when talking about Minthe being intended to have BPD is hilarious. "It was thought to have her written with BPD"? So weird

Honestly, once you start noticing this passive voice in how Rachel writes and talks, it's kind of hard to unsee.

Like, for starters, the BPD example. It's very non-committal, almost as if to sound like she never actually wrote her with BPD, it was just an 'idea' that she could neither confirm or deny as canon. But then you read the episode with the slap and-

It's- it's literally called "Splitting". It's about as subtle as a brick to the face. This entire episode showcases Minthe having an actual literal episode of splitting and it's plain as day to anyone who can read the title card and put two and two together. So for the wording to be so passive around her characterization... it wasn't "thought" to have her written with BPD, she was written with BPD.

Another example that sticks out in my mind of Rachel's passive writing is far later in Season 3, when Demeter reunites with Persephone and naturally expects her to come back home with her.

This line still fucking bothers me to this day. Besides the fact that it's just really poorly written dialogue, Persephone describes her being in love with Hades as if it's just some coincidental thing that happened to her that she can't avoid and not a deliberate choice she's making. "It would seem" my ass, Persephone is a coward for not being upfront and just talking to her mother like an adult by saying, "Mother, I love you, and I understand why you want me to come home, but I'm in love with Hades and want to stay in the Underworld with him." Instead the way it's worded is almost designed to absolve Persephone of any and all agency in her own decisions and active participation in her relationship with Hades by instead making it out to be just some circumstance that she can't get herself out of.

Again, this isn't quite as egregious as the aforementioned BPD scene, but it's still irritating because Rachel writes like this a lot throughout LO. And it's not just the dialogue either, entire decisions throughout the comic are flip-flopped and kept vague by Rachel so she can give herself plausible deniability over the narrative. I could come up with some of my own examples, but I think she managed to speak for herself just fine in the end-of-series Q&A that left both critics and fans of the series massively confused and disappointed:

LO is full of half-committed plotlines because Rachel herself can't commit to her own decisions. So the decisions she does make are left vague enough that hardcore fans are willing enough to fill in the blanks themselves, but anyone who asks her genuinely what her plan was, she just gives the same wordy "IDK it's up to your interpretation!" response. It's like she thinks people are asking her as just another reader who can only speculate, but she's literally the author, so why is she acting like her guess is as good as theirs?

Well, because that's how she wrote LO. That's how she's always written comics, with vague half-finished thoughts and just enough for readers to do the mental gymnastics of making sense of it all just to give her the credit for "smart writing" that she never actually did because she stopped paying attention after the first sentence. And that method of being vague for the sake of audience interpretation is fine for illustrations or anything that isn't trying to be a concise narrative, but LO did try to be that and it really shows how hard it failed in doing so when its own creator can't even come up with something slightly plausible to explain all the questions people had in the end. "There is some backstory there" but proceeds to not actually expand on said backstory. "I like to imply things without outright telling people", so do I, but the difference is that Rachel is using that as a crutch to not answer the questions she setup for her readers and then didn't resolve after five years. There's not wanting to spoon feed people the plot, and then there's literally refusing to explain your decisions when writing said plot, almost because you don't know any more than they do.

The entirety of LO is rooted in Rachel's passiveness, from her inability to answer questions concisely to every little plot point that was established and dropped throughout the comic's run. Writing a story is a series of decisions, deciding what to keep, deciding what not to keep, deciding what has to be changed, etc. and Rachel just... doesn't seem like someone who's ever been capable of making those decisions, especially when she's writing an actual long form story to the end and doesn't have the luxury of dropping it whenever it feels convenient for her like she did several times with The Doctor Pepper Show. Once she was actually held to a standard, once she was actually signed into a contract that expected her to make those decisions, she failed to and it culminated in one of the messiest conclusions to a story I've seen since Game of Thrones.

LO is kind of like Schrodinger's Cat - a plot point can be or not be whatever it needs to be so that Rachel can be either praised for smart writing she never did or absolved of bad writing that she did do. It's equally parts interesting and vague enough that whatever her readers give her credit for writing, she can give them a thumbs-up and go "you're totally right, champ!" and proceed to take all the credit of being a "good writer" from the efforts of her own audience who had to jump through a million hoops to make sense of her own messy writing.

But when she's put on the spot by those very same readers to answer for her own decisions, she can't.

Because she never made them.

Because there was never anything "deeper" going on, that's just what her style of "distraction writing" made you believe. The plot never lets you stop to think about what you just read long enough before zipping away to the next thing and distracting you with a new twist or a new character or a new plot point, and before you know it, you've gone weeks without reading about the last thing that was established you probably haven't even realized that those questions never got answered. Sometimes Rachel remembers to get back to those things and resolves them within a handful of panels, other times she forgets them entirely and just leaves them to rot in the hopes that no one ever calls her out on it. And when they do... she can just pull the get-out-of-jail-free "Welp, it's up to your interpretation!" card and get that credit all over again for being deep and insightful, meanwhile those who are rightfully dissatisfied with that answer are blanket-accused of "getting mad at Rachel for not writing the story they wanted".

To close out this ask that, per tradition, turned into an essay, I'd like to recall the famous words of fictional detective Benoit Blanc: "Look into the clear center of this glass onion... Miles Bron is an idiot!"

[zuhaism]

⊹ ｡˚ 𓂃 ♡ MMTG ?! ┊ lesserafim ⁺

[ navigation | corso ]

you and the members were in hybe’s lobby. you were sitting between chaewon and jaejae for the interview. many laughs were exchanged here and there as jaejae interviewed each members.

“when do you use it?” asked jae jae when the topic came to slangs. “for example ‘what are we going to eat for dinner?’ IDC. with a shoulder tilt” everyone did it together. then yunjin spoke up. “y/n is the only one who never uses slangs.”

“why why why” jae jae was bewildered. “arent you american too?” she had a shocked look on her face. “what ! no i am!” you paused because you were laughing too hard “it’s just that my mom said i shouldn’t talk like that. she says it sounds rude.” you answered with a sheepish smile.

the members nodded in agreement. “y/n’s actually very polite and has great manners, she just doesn’t talk.“ chaewon intervened and gave a thumbs up to the camera. jaejae continued interviewing yunjin.

“y/n! the other american. an all star basketball player! our nations little math nerd” and it showed a picture of 16 year old you about to do a three pointer and you after winning the mathematical olympiad. the interview finally got to you. you closed your eyes in embarrassment. everyone laughed in unison. “wah our y/n looks so cute.” eunchae spoke up.

“i heard you got recruited when you were playing basketball?” jaejae looked at you for confirmation. you chuckled before answering. “yeah actually i got scouted when i was on a school trip…” everyone was silent expecting you to continue but instead you stopped there. “ah” jaejae spoke amongst the silence “ah i guess thats all okay! its alright if you dont want to continue!” everyone bursts out laughing “no no no i can explain! sorry, sorry i thought you wanted to add something.” you tried explaining yourself. after the laughter died down and them teasing you, you started talking again.

you went all the way back to when you were 17. you and your other matheletes teammates won first place in a competition and got to go to Seoul as the winning prize. one night during the trip u got bored and sneaked out the hotel to a basketball court you saw nearby.

while you were shooting three pointers by yourself you noticed someone from the corner of your eye watching you. you got scared and ignored it hoping it wasn’t an entity from another dimension. the person stayed there for far too long and you started getting creeped out even though you were a whole feet taller than them.

you started packing your things up. putting everything in faster when you heard footsteps close behind. you were ready to book it when someone tapped your shoulder. you turned around and was met with a card in your face. the person said nothing as you took it and walked away.

it was a business card. as you examined it you noticed ‘you’re perfect for us. please come and audition tomorrow’

“and then i had a free day the next day so i went.” you ended your story with a small smile as everyone stared at you in awe. “you rapped to corso by tyler the creator am i right.” jaejae spoke up. you looked at her in shock “how’d you know.” she looked to the camera with a smug face and shrugged.

“y/n ! you once went live and answered all the fans math questions.” jaejae suddenly changed the subject as you sat up straighter. the members burst out laughing while you turned red from embarrassment. “wah y/n you’re really good at math aren’t you!” jaejae praised you.

“what. no no” you declined. “no! you’re really good. you just lack confidence.” jaejae ended her sentence and signalled for you all to look at the screen. it was showing a clip of one of your lives where you answered fearnot’s math questions.

“i think the x is 4 but i dont know” you said with your eyebrows furrowed moving closer to the camera to read the comments. “i dont know guys dont listen to me i might be wrong.” you said looking back at your paper, checking your answer again while scratching your head.

“you’re really cute.” said jaejae.

“stop flattering me”

the topic moved on to you being heartless but caring. you never knew you had this title. you never even knew you were caring you just did what you felt right. now that the topic changed everyone was giving examples on how you speak louder through your actions rather than words.

“one time, after coming home from a schedule. i went to my room and slept in the mess i made in the morning because i was too exhausted. the next morning i woke up to a clean room.” sakura started she said after that, she asked who cleaned her room and y/n only shrugged while zuha confirmed it wasn’t her. “it really warmed my heart because we had the same schedule.” sakura ended.

“no unnie it’s because you’re getting older.” eunchae teased the oldest. sakura gave eunchae the stink eye.

“oh! when we arrived at japan it was pouring and y/n unnie was beside me. she took off her jacket and wrapped me in it, holding an umbrella and then we walked together to the car.” eunchae expressed. “and in the car i noticed her shirt was half wet and i was like ‘so this is love’” eunchae announced softly with a dreamy look on her face as she looked at your red face.

“wow y/n you seem like you’d be a good boyfriend” said jaejae while you protested. “you’re right. you’re right sometimes even i want to date her.” chaewon voiced. chaewon started telling about the time after a schedule, when she got out the car her feet was hurting so bad. she was at the back struggling to walk through the pain. she saw you stopping and waiting for her at the parking lot entrance.

when you noticed she was hurting you immediately crouched infront of her. “what?” chaewon asked. you signalled her to piggyback you. “i am not doing that. we’re wearing the same shoes! you’re going to-“ she got cut off when you moved back and carried her anyways. she held onto you tight when you lifted her and she stayed that way until you guys went up to the dorm.

“wah y/n noticing the small things. we need more people like that.” jaejae added. yunjin and kazuha started talking about their loving experiences with you. yunjin stated that she’d only watch a horror movie only if you’re there. yunjin said when you’re with her, she feels safe. probably because whenever there’s a gory scene you’d mutter ‘that’s so fake’ under your breathe. but that’s besides the point. you’d rub circles on her hand and make her feel reassured.

for kazuha, you’re her debate mate. you talk the most when you’re with her. you don’t know how her mind works but you sure know how to handle it. like the other day, she asked which is the strongest : rock, paper, or scissors. you had to explain to her how its neither and rock, paper scissors is just a game of luck.

she also mentioned how you’re always helping her in korean and you’d go for convenience store runs whenever she gets a question right. you treat her so well.

“in conclusion! y/n is a great person to date.” jaejae ended

“not the dating part” chaewon muttered.

[appleblueberry-pie]

I love yall, and I know I haven't been writing on here...but like what happened to being descriptive in our writing? I feel the effects of communism reaching the fingertips of the only group of writers who still (gladly) bother to give energy into this website. I barely do much, and I barellyyy give anything at all nowadays but without the explanations of anything going on, how are people new to this supposed to understand where ur coming from? I wanna feel the emotion in your story. I want you to tell your tale and i wanna feel what all those characters feel.

Im being given like literal scraps right now. All I see are what could pass as a description of what a book is about and then yall call it a day like whatttt that's not what we're here for. At all. I wanna feel what your brain felt when u wrote that one sentence. Description isn't just meant for smut, its meant for all forms of writing.

The best example I could give is with what I do best, yandere stories(sorry). Jujutsu kaisen(sorry to other Fandoms but what I'm saying does apply to everyone).

Yandere Gojo kidnapped you after you found out he was stalking you for over a week now. You don't even know him like that. He's just your coworker for crying out loud. But now you're trapped in his home for his to have, to take care of. And you can't do anything about it.

.........................okay??? Where's the rest? Why did he kidnap you? What drove him to take you in the first place? He had enough? Did he NOT have enough and just took you entirely out of sad guilty pleasure? Is he a loser that depends on you without realizing it? How does the reader feel about it?? Why isn't there anything about how the reader feels about any part of this?

What about buildup to the kidnapping? The mental work-up to that big moment? Where's the intention behind the language he speaks to you, the love he gives in every move he makes directed towards you, where's the devotion and care he shows in every touch he gives to you? Where's the absolute opposite of that care when he's around anyone that's not you?

Where is this character that you're proposing to us?

It's just hard for me to read anything when no one's....idk it just feels like no one enjoys their own writing anymore. I get everyone's busy, and they still post every now and then. And that's me. Im so fucking busy. But it's just like, somethings off. I wish I could find good writing again.

[staypuffy]

Okay, so I know prefacing something with "hear me out" virtually guarantees that not one motherfucker will, but, heart me out...

Jim was default Gabriel. He was Gabriel without all the corruption and pressure and complacency he had from being the Supreme Archangel of Heaven for so many years. When he takes away all his own memories, the things that led to this corrupt person we know from season 1, we're left with the basic blueprint of his personality and that's this: just a nice guy. He was helpful, apologetic, thoughtful, kind and even self-sacrificing to an extent (when he offered himself up to Shax's legion to save everyone.) We can assume then, that this is what Gabriel was like before The Fall.

We see some of Jim, or the old Gabriel, start to come back out during his interactions with Beelzebub, for example, miracling the jukebox because he remembers Beelzebub likes the song. Would the Gabriel who sentenced Aziraphale to burn and told him to "shut his stupid mouth and die already" think to do something like that?

No, because love brought him back to himself.

When he's around Beelzebub, the person he loves, we start to see more of Jim, Gabriel's softer side. Eventually, it is this love for Beelzebub which causes a complete reversion back to his old self. As you can see in Gabriel's final scene, he is very pointedly acting much more like the Jim character we became acquainted with over season 2 than the vindictive, wrathful bureaucratic Gabriel from season 1.

Now that Aziraphale has assumed Gabriel's old position, there is a chance the very same thing could happen to him. That the monotony, the responsibility, the corruption of running Heaven, of having everyone look to him for the answers, could do the very same thing to him that it did to Gabriel. Since Jim and Aziraphale's characters are actually quite close to one another (soft, somewhat childlike and innocent, geuinely kindhearted and good) there is a precedent.

(I think Crowley might suspect all this and it's part of the reason why he's so suspicious of and resentful of Heaven for calling Aziraphale back; because he's too loyal for his own good and can't accept that there's something fundamentally wrong with Heaven as an institution, but that's an entirely different post).

When Aziraphale goes back, Crowley knows this is what he's risking. That he's not only leaving Crowley behind, but that he's risking completely changing who he is because of what that position will do to him. It's why he tries so fucking hard to get him to stay. It's why he kisses him. He does everything he can think of to keep Aziraphale there, he puts everything he has on the line to show Aziraphale how he feels in the hopes that he’ll stay so Heaven won’t corrupt him.

But Aziraphale goes anyways.

IN WHICH CASE...

If Aziraphale does let the position change him, like it did Gabriel, the only way to bring him back from being a hard-bitten, cruel and ruthless husk of his former self would be with Crowley's help (vis a vis Beelzebub, a demon, doing it for Gabriel, an angel). And Crowley, no matter how damaged and heartbroken and traumatized, would do it.

It's hard to imagine Aziraphale becoming this way, but could you imagine Jim in a bedsheet toga with a feather duster sentencing someone to death? Me either.

Is it unlikely? Yes. Will it happen? Probably not. Do I like asking myself rhetorical questions to reinforce my point? Also, yes.

That has been my keynote speech, thank you for hearing me out.

[twee-too]

A Strawhat Sleepover Zoro x Sanji x Fem!Reader (NSFW)

word count: 7k

small summary: Luffy, Usopp, and chopper had a great idea. They decided to throw a crew sleepover, but when alcohol and party games get introduced, the peaceful night gets a lot more interesting.

CW: Threesome, face fucking, oral (M&F), Drunk sex, slight neck grabbing

A/N: just wanted to point out that this is my first time writing a fanfic(Audible gasp) so it might or might not suck ass 💀 imma apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes/ incorrect sentences or smthing 😭 But hope yall enjoy it!

Also gonna colour code the names teehee

(some ppl share a colour cuz theres only so many 😒)

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Robin

since they say shii in this they get colours (sorry franky and brook)

You and the strawhats just finished the dinner your cook Sanji had prepared. Your captain had looked like he was about to pop, his belly gotten so round from all the food he just consumed. You'd tried to contain the smile that was about to form from how Luffy looked like an overstuffed Turkey, but having your fellow cremates Usopp and Chopper laughing hysterically in your ear wasn't helping. You eventually broke out laughing after Luffy had tried to get up but falling in the process making a cartoon "boing" sound effect.

It was getting late and the crew had slowly started to do their nightly routine. You had just put on your pajamas when all of a sudden you hear Luffy yell " EVERYONE COME TO THE DECKKKKK!!!! " you obviously hear your loud captain and rush to the deck.

Everyone had arrived eager to know what they were called for. An emergency? a marine Ship spotted? another Pirate Ship that had threaten to attack the Sunny and steal all our-

....

"Guys! Usopp, chopper, and I had a great idea!! We should all have a sleepover on the deck since chopper has never been to a sleepove-" Before he could finshes Nami and Sanji started beating poor Luffy and Usopp up, forgetting Chopper had also been a part of this.

"YOU GUYS ARE SO STUPID!! I THOUGHT SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED"

Nami scolded the both of them hard, You stood there rubbing your head in relief/annoyance. On one hand yay! nothing is wrong. On the other hand. Dumbasses.

Through luffys beaten up faces, he mustered up a muffled apologized

"WHY DID I GET PUNCHED? CHOPPER WAS THE ONE THAT BROUGHT IT UP!"

"DON'T BRING ME INTO THIS"

"YOU WERE ALREADY IN THIS"

"ALL OF YOU BE QUIET"

...

All of this was too much, especially for it being night time, but a sleepover doesn't sound too bad, The wind had been stale for the whole day and the ship had barely made it anywhere, so spending more time with your fellow crewmates couldn't be so bad right? You along with chopper had never been to a sleepover so this idea sparked the inner child in you. After all the fuss had worn off, the others had given their thoughts on the idea.

"I think the idea isn't too bad"

you were honestly a little surprised that Robin was willing to do it, actually thinking about it... it would be nice to hear her read a bedtime story for everyone, the way she reads storys never fails to soothe you.

"Me too! as long as we get to do sleepover stuff...like...uhh..."

The crew looked at you waiting to hear an example.

. . .

"To be honest I have no clue" You shrugged giving an embarrassed smile.

"ahh y/n, there's a ton of stuff to do during a sleepover! Like pillow fights, storytelling, playing tricks on people-"

Usopp was suddenly cut off at the burst of thought Nami had

"Yea! and we can also tell spoooky storys!"

Nami gave an evil stare at Usopp, knowing how much of a scaredy-cat he is.

"WHATCHA LOOKIN' AT ME FOR?!"

" Ya know what? I think a sleepover is a great idea as well!"

" I think this sounds stupid, I want my sleep"

"Zoro... You take naps every day, I think you'll be fine"

"tsk" Zoro gave an annoyed look

"Fine, if it'll stop all your whining"

of course, Sanji said yes, if thats what it takes to spend more time with the ladies he'll put up with the other's shenanigans.

Everyone had agreed, and now comes the sleepover prepping! Since there were no sleeping bags on board they loaded up in blankets and pillows! Luffy was telling Sanji the snacks, food, and drinks he wanted him to prepare. Usopp, Chopper, and Franky had all started to come up with stuff to do in case they start to get bored. Robin, Nami, and brook were collecting some stories to read, Nami and brook were getting the scariest ones, and you were setting up the sleeping area with Zoro.

You and Zoro we on good terms, you would sometimes ask him to help you train and would study him a lot. You were never really a love-crazy person, but something about the way Zoro carries himself made your heart beat a little faster, It got especially worse when you started hanging around him more often. Obviously you would never want to admit this, even if you do sometimes let your mind wander off thinking about him, or would sometimes catch yourself staring at him too hard while he trained. You don't want to admit you have a slight crush on him, because if you did you'd only have your heart broken. You respected Zoro, but you also acknowledge how empty-headed he can be, you know that someone like Zoro doesn't do love, the only thing on his mind was swords, sake, and sleep. You'd sometimes daydream about what he'd be like as a boyfriend, but you knew it would never work between you two. Although you knew all of this... you still had those nights when you'd crave his touch, fantasizing what it would feel like to have his big thick hands caress the hot inners of your thighs, feel the warmth of his body against yours, the idea of having him manhandle you all night long just excited you.

"Oi, you should pick whichever blanket and pillow you want before the others get back"

With that you snapped back from being lost in thought, all this Zoro nonsense was starting to get to your head. You didn't want to like him, but your heart said "hmm yes, sword-man"

it was first come first serve when it came to the blankets/pillows, some were better than others so you took the chance to take the best ones. Zoro on the other hand took whichever one he picked up first.

You didn't know where to lay your stuff, so you just picked the middle of the deck. Zoro just plopped his stuff across from yours. Your feelings regarding him just kept coming back to your head, but after hearing Sanji and Luffy come out of the kitchen and the others start returning to the deck, you felt more at ease.

Sanji and Luffy were carrying some snacks that the chef had prepared, dead eyeing Luffy to make sure he didn't even eat a crumb of it, alas, we know how Luffy is.

A few kicks in the hip later and everyone had finally settled down into their sleeping area, Sanji though was handing out special desserts he had made for the ladies. You know how Sanji is.

When you first joined the crew you had a pretty big crush on Sanji, he had stolen your heart with his kindness, respect, and obviously his gentlemanliness. You knew if you wanted to be in a relationship with him, you could. However as time went on, your thoughts started flying everywhere, you'd wonder if he'd be a committed boyfriend, and you'd soon come to your conclusion that he just didn't seem like the loyal type, though you didn't have any proof of this well other then the fact he acts like a dog in heat around other women, thoughts just kept building up to the point where you started to distance yourself from him a little. Not by too much, just ignoring his flirtatious comments/compliments, never being in a room alone with him, and always being one of the first people to leave the kitchen after they're done eating. However, even with all your efforts to get this man outta your heart, you still can't look him in the eyes for too long without blushing, the way he gazes at you so softly always makes your heart melt.

"Y/n! I made you this pastry, I put all my heart into it! I hope it tastes as good as you look~"

His stupid heart-eyed expression always annoyed you, he'd do that to any girl he sees in a 1-mile radius. You thanked him and took his pastry, adverting eye contact.

You hated how pathetic you felt, both Zoro and Sanji had no clue how they made you feel, and that alone made you feel so small, and it's not like you'd do anything to change that. You just needed to grow up.

As the night went on the straw hat pirates did a list of activities to do. They built a blanket fort, made s'mores (Sanji did all the work, although Luffy did try to make a fire that almost ended in setting the ship on fire merry pt2) Had a pillow fight (which resulted in a few people flying off the ship) Played hide and seek, told scary storys, and finally ending in Robin reading everyone a bedtime story. You almost forgot this was a sleepover and not a party from how much fun you were having, but good things have to come to an end. Everyone was falling asleep, and you were even finding yourself..dozing...off....into.......sleep..............

....

"ACK"

You jolted up awake looking around confused, then look down to see what just hit you...

ah.

You piece the puzzle together, luffy had somehow turned upside down in his sleep and kicked you in the face by accident.

You wanted to hit him back but decided not to, you knew it'd wake up the others in the process.

You looked around to see everyone dead asleep with snores echoing to the area. you guessed it has been a few hours since everyone had fallen asleep. You get up and stretched your back, rubbing your eyes and making your way to the kitchen to grab a drink. You tried to not wake anyone up but it was hard considering it was like a maze to get out of with everyone sleeping on the floor and all. You'd soon happen to walk right above Sanji without even realizing, he grunted softly and adjusted his legs a little but that was enough movement to stop you right in your tracks. You could hear nothing but your heartbeat, it was a nerve-wracking feeling. You stared at him for a while, letting a deep sigh out. You were standing right above his face, with each foot on each side of his shoulder, if he were to wake up to this sight of you... you'd die of embarrassment, never being able to look at him the same. The more you stood there, the more your mind spun with late-night thoughts,

"what if I just sat on his face"

As soon as you thought that you turned bright red, and finally continued your way to the kitchen.

Finally, you made it to the kitchen, after what felt like years. You grab a cup and start filling it up with water until you hear someone walking outside the kitchen, your heart almost skipping a beat. You thought everyone had been off in dreamland at this time of night, but someone was awake aside from you.

You where just about to go see who it is until you hear a loud thud, then some arguing. You had a sneaking suspicion of who it was.

You walked over to check the deck and alas, Zoro had "accidentally" stepped on Sanji's foot, causing Sanji to wake up. They were about to start a commotion until you grabbed their attention and Motion them to shush.

You were thinking how this can get any worse? They end up coming to the kitchen to see what you're up to. At this point, you're panicking a little bit, you alone with the two of them? that thought alone gets your mind racing. You assure yourself that nothing is going to happen.

"Whatcha doing awake at this time of hour?"

"Luffy kicked me awake, I was just grabbing a glass of water."

"Are you ok?? does it still hurt??"

Sanji walked over to you to get a better look at your face, his face closer than it has ever been to yours, his eyes...you felt your heart doing break dances in the sudden excitement but also felt embarrassed. You dodged the eye contact and nervously faked laughed

"Ya! im fine, don't worry it wasn't too hard"

you walked off to take a seat at the table, cup in hand.

"Zoro, what'ya up for?"

"I heard some movement and noise... came to check who it was, ended up waking this guy up to"

Sanji shot an annoyed stare at Zoro, and Zoro shot one back. The tension between them was getting out of hand, you just wanted to drink your water in peace. You decided to cut the water short and go back to sleep, you were about to get up but Zoro gave an idea.

"Well, since we'll all awake, how about we do something while we have a drink"

"That's just your dumb excuse to drink sake you stupid celery stick."

"and what about it? you curly fry!"

What did he wanna do? Zoro went to grab the sake, Sanji looked like steam was about to come out his ears.

He'd had gotten 2 sake bottles and 1 empty one.

"I knew you were an idiot but come on? I hope you know thats an empty bottle"

"of course I know you dumbass"

Zoro was gritting his teeth in anger. You couldn't help but wonder what the empty bottle was for... Zoro placed the three bottles down, he had brought 2 cups for the sake and gave one to you, he didn't care enough to bring one for Sanji. He sat back down and poured himself a cup, he put the second bottle closer to you. You looked at Sanji, but he was too busy giving Zoro a dirty look.

"Whatever! I didn't wanna drink anyways"

You knew you couldn't handle sake, it was too strong for your taste. 2 or 3 cups full would probably get you pretty drunk. You decided to fill the cup up and down it. You never really liked the taste of sake, you didn't understand how Zoro can drink this stuff all the time.

"Time to play truth or dare"

Zoro smirked as he looked at both you and Sanji. Your eyes widen a little.

"you're on"

"What?"

Zoro placed the bottle down ready to spin, it's not really how you play truth or dare, at least not the way you played it. there was never a bottle involved?.

He spins the bottle, sending it spinning around the table. You were sitting at the end table while Zoro was sitting on the left and Sanji on the right. The bottle stopped closer to the left side.

"Your up Zoro, truth or dare"

"dare"

Zoro didn't even hesitate, caught you a little off guard, but that didn't stop you from coming up with something.

" Yell out the first word that comes to your head "

"SAKE."

You shook a bit when he yelled that. You didn't expect him to do it so fast without hesitation. He drank more of his sake and spun the bottle again. You were a little scared, but you felt excited. But that excitement soon turned to dread when you saw the bottle slowly stop on you.

"Y/n! Truth or dare?"

"uhh...truth?..."

You had thought that truth would've been better than dare, you were in the heat of the moment, and it's usually common knowledge that dare is worse than truth, but for a split second, you had forgotten what situation you were in. You had forgotten who you were with.

"hmm..."

there was a moment of silence between the three of you. The tension was ripping you apart. You drank another cup of your sake. You were trying to make a mental note to not drink too much, but all you could focus on was the words that were going to come out of one of their mouths. They both looked at each other, then at you, then back at each other. You felt your palms begin to sweat a little, you were cupping them in between your legs playing with your thumbs.

"What is your biggest fantasy?"

Sanji was staring at you like you were about to tell them where the one piece was. The sudden attention on you had you suddenly blush. You couldn't look them in the eye, you couldn't even think of a fake answer. The first thing that came to your mind was having your way with both of them. Your face grew red and knew that you couldn't just say nothing. You started to feel the sake, you started to crack a smile. You couldn't hide it now, they were staring at you wondering what you were thinking.

"M-my fantasy..."

Your eyes looking down the whole time, you weren't brave enough to bring them up. your imagination was running wild, and before you realized it, you were spacing out again

"Is-- too--... be with..."

You realized what you were about to say and blinked away the dumbness. You quickly looked up to see them, but that only sent more butterflies to attack your tummy. You caught both of their eyes and felt yourself burning up.

"be with? what do you like someone?"

When Zoro said that Sanji looked like his soul had flown out of his body. You had no idea what to say, you had dug your own grave.

"ah n- uh well... uhm..."

With the sake and the level of embarrassment, you were feeling right now you couldn't form a clear sentence. You thought maybe you should drink more sake, to loosen up, but then who knows what'll you'll say next

"y/n— do you really like someone??"

Sanji was in disbelief, To be honest, it was a more genuine reaction than what you would have thought.

"That isn't... the question... I don't have to answer that"

Even without saying it both of them knew You had someone in your heart. Little did they know it was the two of them! You knew your cover was busted. They just couldn't find out it was them.

"alright fine, let's change the question, who do you like y/n?"

Zoro had an evil grin on his face, it annoyed you to the core. It also annoyed you that they were pressing you about a whole new question!

"That wasn't the original q-question! That's... not fair!"

"Well, you didn't answer the other question in time, so time for a new one."

You were beyond annoyed but also nervous as hell. How has this situation gotten worse? You cursed Zoro for being such a dick! You hated that you liked him. Plus Sanji is over there eager to know your answer, giving you all his undivided attention.

"I like...some guy...you don't know him"

Sanji looked so defeated, While Zoro over there just stared at you, you weren't even able to keep eye contact for a second without feeling your face warm up. You dont understand what they expected, or what you should've said??

The night goes on and after a while, the truths started to become worse than the dares. There was a rule where you could only pick the same thing 3 times in a row or else on your 4th time the other players get to pick for you. There were some incidents where you forgot the rule and it ended in an embarrassing mess. You'd had taken your last cup of sake for the night making it at 4 cups and at that point your inner self was on do not disturb and your embarrassment had flown out the window, the men in front of you took notice of this. Now, The bottle is on Sanji, you are thinking of a truth question but you just end up blurting out the first thing you think of.

"hehehe.... What ... turns you on the most? sannnji~"

Your question caught both Zoro and Sanji completely off guard. You went from not being able to make eye contact to this? You stayed giggly and kept looking at the stunned blonde. Sanji was Speechless, his face blushed with a little bit of pink. None of them have ever seen this side of you. It was a turn-on in itself!

"haa...uhh..probably would be..."

He already knew the answer, but could never say it was you, but of course he wants to say you. He's loved you ever since you joined the crew. He loves you so much it hurts to not be around you, but he doesn't want to force anything or make things uncomfortable for you. He didn't want to say anything to you because he couldn't read you sometimes, one day you'll be kind to him and the next you'd be giving him the cold shoulder. He didn't want to make the wrong move so he just went your flow, but by doing so it sorta created a distance between the two of you. He always tells himself it's what you want, but it still breaks him. He'd think about you every night before he slept, hoping one day you love him as much as he loves you. He doesn't like to think of himself as a pervert, but every now and then when he's taking care of "Business" he'd always Dream of you, how you'd look completely exposed under him while he plants a kiss over your soft face, then on your neck, then your perked up breast, thinking of that alone can get him stone hard.

He looked at you, you looked so adorable, like nothing in the world mattered.

"as long as its the person I love, anything they do can get me going"

He didn't break eye contact, but gave a soft smile to you, it was like he was trying to tell you with his eyes. You on the other hand were too drunk to get the memo. Sanji grabbed the bottle and gave it a hard spin. It eventually stopped on Zoro, he had only been doing dares when given the chance, so now it's his turn to do truth. You gave him this Big cheeky smile alongside a giggle. After that question Sanji got, Zoro wasn't too excited about whatever you were about to spit out.

"....How many ...people have you slept with?"

He knew he shouldn't be surprised but damn. Your expression plus the way you said that was so....he felt his heart skipping and doing a little dance. You looked so vulnerable in his eyes, made him just wanna carry you to somewhere private and have his way with you. He didn't even realize he had feelings for you, not until a few weeks ago. He was Training like usual but it felt more empty like Something was missing. when he was done, he saw you talking to Luffy. He knew nothing was going on between you two but something about how happy you looked bugged the hell outta him. He wanted to just walk over and sweep you away, he wanted you to only ever be that happy when you're with him. That's when he realized, what was he thinking? he thought he might've been tired so he took a nap but even in his dreams he saw you, but you were so out of reach. It drove him crazy, to the point he couldn't even look at you without feeling a pain in his chest. He knew at that point it was love, it had to be.

"Hmm, 3"

Zoro had been with a few people way before he had met Luffy, but this news absolutely blew you away, you couldn't even hide how visibly surprised you were. This meant that Zoro actually cared about his love life?? well at least his sex life, but you were jumping to conclusions. This all hit you at once, like a big sign that said "YOU HAVE A CHANCE" you didn't even know what to say, but before you could muster up anything he had already gone and spun the bottle. You were still processing all the thoughts in your head, not even noticing the bottle barely on your side.

"y/n Truth or dare"

now that you know Zoro could potentially develop feelings, you go in for the kill. At this point, you had all the confidence in the world.

"I p-pick truth!!"

you were riding the little bit of hope you had, you fully believed in yourself. You were ready for whatever they were about to say! However You took a look at Zoro, he was giving this devilish smirk and looked like he was trying to contain a laugh. He looked up to meet your eyes.

"Who would you rather want to sleep with, Me, or Curlybrows?"

You looked at Zoro, a little puzzled, even Sanji let out a small gasp, he didn't think Zoro would ask such a straightforward question. Zoro knew if worse came to worse he could blame it on the booze.

You knew that too.

...

"I-I'd rather sleep with both of you"

You saying that felt like a 10-ton hammer had been lifted off of you. You felt so free now that you have nothing to hide anymore. Other than your feelings. Maybe they got the hint? you looked back at them, both flushed with a red tint down to their neck, Sanji grabbing a tissue to block the blood from coming out his nose while Zoro froze up. The room went silent for a moment until it was broken by the sound of Zoro's chair backing up. You looked up at Zoro wondering what he was doing? Maybe you weirded him out and he was leaving, you never stopped looking at him until he had walked right up to you.

"It's a damn shame you didn't say just me, but hey, better than nothing"

Quickly he spun your chair to face him and leaned forward to grab your chair armrest.

"You idiot marimo! Whattya-"

Sanji quickly got up to back Zoro away from you.

"Shut it you shitty chef... listen for a second"

He never broke eye contact with you. Him leaning above you gripping your arm rests for some reason turned you on? the roughness was extremely hot.

"I know your drunk.... but tell me where you being serious"

You were confused why Zoro took it so personally. In response to his question, you shook your head yes. He moved his face closer to your ear, you could feel his body warmth from how close he was.

" would you wanna do it now? "

His words lingered in your ear, his deep whispery voice made you clinch your thighs together. Took a second for you nod yes, you haden't fully realized your actions before Zoro picked you up and plopped you on his shoulder your ass towards his face while you stared dumbfounded at Sanji.

"You heard her Curlybrows, she wants us to fuck her"

You've never seen Sanji so flabbergasted, it was honestly kinda cute, but that was the last thing on your mind right now. They were gonna what you? you looked at Sanji to see him following Zoro, bring more tissues. You cover your face, you didn't know if he was joking or not, but here you are at The aquarium bar. No one was gonna hear anything, was he being serious??

He sat you down on the long sofa, giving you a peck on the forehead. Sanji then followed by sitting next to you. He looked eager to touch you, his eyes scanning your body, but he took your hand and kissed all around it, kissing your palm, your fingers, your knuckles, then finally looking at you, the light from the aquarium tank made him look so Beautiful.

"Are you sure you want this darling?"

Your heart almost exploded in your chest, this is what you've been waiting for, this moment right now. To give them all your love. You felt Zoro take your other hand and kiss your wrist slowly trailing up, stopping on your skin and looking at you, waiting for your answer.

"yes...

Please..."

You could feel Zoros smirk on your skin, he snuck a few more kisses in and got up on his feet.

"Curlybrow."

Zoro balled his hand in a fist, initiating a game of rock paper scissors. Without questioning, Sanji did the same.

"Rock, paper Scissors"

Sanji had won.

Zoro gave a defeated look, while even tho Sanji had no clue why they were doing this, he was still smug because he had won.

Zoro took your hand and tugged you in front of him, your back directly on his chest. You could feel his erection on your ass, and knowing how turned on he was made you even hornier.

"I got top, you got bottom"

Sanji was already happy he beat Zoro, but now he gets to eat you out too? he couldn't be more excited. He got on his knees and slowly started taking off your shorts, letting them drop to your ankles. He couldn't believe the sight he was seeing, taking it all in and staring without making a move, the way he eyed your wet panties made you needier.

You jolted a little when you felt a wet kiss on the crease of your underwear, he licked the brim, and he kissed all around your panties just before spreading your thighs more to get a better angle of your covered pussy. He started to lick your clit through your panties, he could already tell how wet you were before he even started. He suckled and pushed his saliva through your underwear making you lean into his mouth, even with your panties on he still somehow managed to devour you.

While Sanji was getting busy feasting on your honeypot, Zoro had already crawled his way under your shirt into your bra. He had mange to sleep with women before, but that doesn't mean he knows how to take off a bra, after all, he's still a dumbass. you could tell he was struggling a little, which made you internally giggle and crack a half smile until he had enough and literally ripped that shit in half. The shock shoved you deeper into Sanji's face causing you to slightly moan, you saw your ripped bra fall to the floor and a pair of Big calloused hands Touch you up. Your soft skin, your scent, and your little gasps at every touch were driving Zoro mad. He was a hungry beast and you were the only cure for his Hunger. He dug his face into your neck while he messaged your breasts, sucking your shoulder, then moving to the side of your neck, from the side moving to the back. You could feel him taking in your Pleasant aroma, it gave you Goosebumps.

You were getting needier, you wanted more. It felt as if they were just testing the waters, you bit the inside of your bottom lip slightly staring at Sanji's head. He kissed all around your thigh, lifting his head and now making eye contact with you.

"Can I take this off, sweetheart?"

He tugged slightly at your panties, his eyes were as soft as his touch. You nodded your head yes and felt him slowly take them off. You felt the cold air meet your wet cunt, you could also feel how wet your panties were when he took them off. Your legs flinched a little at the new cold atmosphere. Your bottoms have completely been taken off and were fully exposed. you could just feel Sanji's extreme gaze on you, he rubbed his hand up and down your thigh as he pecked kisses all around the front of your pussy.

His tongue taking lead and slowly made a sloppy trail to meet your slit. You twitch your legs slightly closer and a small airy "ah" moans out your mouth. You could feel Sanji's mouth touch your sweet clit, he groaned into your cunt making your legs shake. Zoro was getting busy full-on needing your tits, He brushed against your now erected nipples, toying with them. He made sure to not fully play with them just to tease you a little.

"Z-Zoro"

You whisper bringing your hand to touch your breasts, but before you could Zoro pinned your hands behind your back and pushed his boner into your ass, slamming your pussy all in Sanji's face. you let out a desperate moan as you felt Sanji's groan vibrate throughout your body, he didn't stop his feast and continued to eat you out. His tongue flicked your clit at a rapid pace, sucking and licking like that was the last meal he'll ever eat. You jolted at the sudden bite Zoro had marked on the side of your neck. He was still holding your hands tight, he won't allow you to help him. With his free hand he grabbed your face by the cheeks to pull you into a wet kiss. He groaned into your mouth and could feel how hard he was breathing, he slide his tongue in pushing your faces closer together like he wanted to merge.

You both pulled out of your intense kiss, gasping for air. Sanji wasn't letting up, his tongue was like a gift from god. He went from fast licking and suckles, to slow tongue glides across your sensitive spot. You felt Zoros mouth right over your ear, He bit it softly and sucked on the area he had bit. You let out a louder moan, goosebumps ran through your body as you felt Zoros wet tongue enter your ear. The feeling was so new, your body squirmed at the feeling, but that only made you rub against Sanji's tongue more. His wet tongue moved its way along the inside of your ear, you could hear his groans Crystal clear. You felt yourself coming to a climax, Your back arched and you locked Sanji's face in between your thighs.

"I-I'm— ahh!"

You couldn't form a sentence, the pleasure was too immense. They understood that you were about to cum, you felt Sanji pick the pace up a little, and Zoro with played with your nipples. You let out a finishing moan and leaned forward into Sanji's face, feeling your eyes roll to the back of your head. Your legs shook profusely as you felt overwhelmed, you were on your tippy toes at this point. Drool ran down your face as you felt you're high come down, your legs became weak as Sanji pulled away. Zoro had bear-hugged you for support just in case, you were breathing so heavily it sounded like you were whimpering.

Sanji kissed your thigh, his soft wet lips against the inside of your Shakin thigh made you Twitch. Zoro still hugging you, lifted you and sat you back down on the sofa. You looked at them both, Zoro was as red as a tomato, and Sanji cleaned his face with his thumb, your juices glistened on his finger, his face was bloodshot red and looked like he was about to blow up. You then noticed the tent that laid on his pants, you looked at Zoro, just to see the same.

Sanji is still on his knees, laying his head on your lap. You motioned him to sit on the sofa, which he quickly did.

Your heart was still beating heavily, you wanted to make them feel as good as they made you. You turn to Zoro and whisper in his ear

"You'll be in back"

As you drew your head away from him, You could see the not-so-slick smirk that had crept onto his flustered face, Zoro didn't even try and hide his satisfaction. Sanji had wondered what you told him, but before he could ask you had gotten on all fours and faced Sanji, you pecked a kitten kiss onto his still-wet lips. As you went further down, your back arched more upwards, lifting your ass for Zoros view. They had both got the memo, Sanji protested cupping your face in his hands.

"Wait-! Y/n, I don't want to get your Beautiful face dirty... you don't have to do this"

His cute puppy-eyed face made you wanna do it even more.

"I want to do this...I...I've been waiting to..."

Sanji bit his lip and groaned at the way you stroked his hardness slowly up and down. You didn't even give him a chance to protest, he was already melting from your touch. You could feel Zoro message your ass slowly, like he was waiting for something. He rubbed his erection onto your exposed cunt, You held in your moan, you craved him more than ever. You slid off Sanji's pants and pulled his dick out, you looked at it wondering if you could really take him all in your mouth. However, before you got to test that thought you felt Zoro smack your ass, you yelped in shock. He bent forward a little and pulled your face up towards him, he whispered deeply in your ear

"you didn't tell me what you wanted."

His voice was so rich and gruff in your ear, you let out a small Exhale as he dug his crotch into your ass, rubbing it slowly.

"I— want you"

"You want me what?"

"to..f-fuck me.."

He hummed hearing you say that "Now put it all together" he teased

"I-I want you to fuck me Zoro!"

"That's my girl"

He set you back to doggy style and grabbed your ass, sanji kissed your forehead before giving Zoro an ugly look. Not for too long tho, when he felt your tongue meet the tip of his dick. He couldn't even remember what he was mad about. He jolted and let out not so concealed groan.

You sucked the tip feeling it twitch in your mouth. The warmth filled you as you took more of him, licking around his Veins, You got off to seeing how much pleasure that was spread onto Sanji's face. That thought was cut sort becuase of a sudden pressure you felt in your backside. You almost choked when you felt the tip of Zoros dick press into your entrance. You didn't expect him to be so thick, you felt a moan bubble up and couldn't hold it in, letting out a muffled moan onto Sanji's member. Which he surely enjoyed.

"Mmh!"

Your walls wrapped around him like a Christmas present, the grip was real he felt like he could cum just like that but he knew that wouldve been embrassing He gripped your ass and let out a broken grunt. Your toes curled with each inch he went deeper, you could feel his dick pulsing in you. He spread your cheeks apart with his thumbs, to get a better look at how his dick just fills you up. He suddenly pulled out slowly, you let out a little whine of confusion. You wanted to look back at him and see what he was doing, but as he was tip-deep he thrusted hard into you. Your legs jolt together, you feel Sanji's dick hit the back of your throat, you couldn't help but let out a choked gag.

Zoro's thrusts were slow but hit hard, he'd try to go slow, but his patients was running low, he couldn't help it when his hips started to pick up the pace.You bobbed your head up and down feeling Sanji's tip hit the back of your throat. Slurping his dick out your mouth you look up at him as you let your tongue roll out, all the juices that's been building in your mouth leak from your tongue to the head of his member.

"shit..."

Sanji really couldn't hold back how much he wanted to just devour you, his face went apple red as he bit his lip and tried to keep eye contact. His chest grew and shrank as his breath increased, you put him back into your mouth while stroking him. You loved seeing him this Squamish, you loved his soft moans and groans, any noise that came out his mouth made you want to have the sloppiest make-out session. You loved the Control you had over him and his pleasure, you felt your clit pulsing, you went to go play with it but Zoro grabbed your arm and folded it behind you. He went for your other arm and crossed it behind your back. He gripped your hands tight as his hips slammed against your ass, he was going all in now, his thrusts sounded like gun shots, he wanted to go as deep as he could. Loud moans and groans filled the air along with slapping sounds, Your head was getting fuzzy and your eyes where clouded.

The hard thrusts and motions from Zoro did all the work for you when giving head to Sanji, The sensation made your teary eyes roll back, you felt your stomach knot, and your moans became more loud and desperate. You felt yourself reach your limit as Zoro hit your cervix. Your legs shook and tightened up as you felt yourself cramp up, warm tears ran down your stuffed face. You moaned onto Sanji's dick when you felt him bring his hands to your face, his thumbs rubbing away your tears from your puffed-up flustered cheeks.

Sanji's hands tensed up, he was reaching his climax feeling his dick hit the back of your throat, hearing the gurgling noises you made with each thrust Drilled into his ear. He was drunk on lust, he didn't even realize he was gripping your face slightly and moving his hands along with each thrust Zoro did. He let out one last groan as he filled your mouth with his seed. Zoro wasn't too far off from his own release. He held your hands with one hand and your neck with the other, slapping against you again and again. Edging closer to his pleasure like an animal in heat. His breath was out of sync with his movement and his grunts started becoming more rough. He quickly pulled out and painted your ass white, he held his twitchy cock on your ass stroking it vigorously until nothing came out.

As everyone came down from their high, both Zoro and Sanji realized how messy things had got. Your face is covered in a mix of cum and saliva, and your ass is graffitied with Zoros jizz. Sanji had taken a minute to question what happened to all the stuff in your mouth? He dragged his thumb to your bottom lip and slowly pressed into your mouth, to see everything had been gone. A part of him was extremely turned on

"did you swallow it darling??"

Sanji was both concerned and extremely flustered, but before he got to overreact you felt your legs go weak, you couldn't hold yourself up anymore and collapsed.

You woke up on deck, Your face tucked in zoros neck. Your body still felt sore but it was bearable, you were all cleaned up from what the three of you had done. Having zoro hold you with such security and softness made you feel at ease. You heard the others from the kitchen, it was only you and Zoro who hadn't gone to breakfast. You felt bad for Sanji since he couldn't sleep in with you. You looked at Zoros's resting face, you examined him how handsome he was.

"Go back to sleep"

He mumbled, adjusted his pose, and pulled you closer to him. You gave him a little peck on the neck before you felt your tiredness creep up on you, it was not long before you and him Fell back to sleep with the morning wind brushing against your warm faces~ꨄ

[brooooswriting]

Hey can I request a fic with Jenna or Tara up to you but it’s like reader is not used to people listening and liking her rambling about something she’s passionate about like super hero’s and comics for example and then Jenna or Tara actually do listen without stopping her and saying she’s annoying and then reader gets all giddy and happy

Own world

Popular!Tara Carpenter x reader

“Did you see the Marvel movie I recommended? It’s really great, the way-“ you couldn’t even finish your sentence before your roommate turned away to talk to someone else which made your shoulder sink. This was quite common, your friends never really listened to you, no matter how important the topic was to you. You loved films, it was just a passion of yours as it gave you some sense of comfort in a shitty household. It was also something to do when everybody else was out but you stayed in due to anxiety. You never guessed today would be different.

“Which one? The new guardian of the galaxy?” A small brunette asked, you didn’t even notice her sit down. She must have sat down while you were quiet for a second after you were interrupted. “N-no, the black widow one” you mumbled out carefully, deciding to keep your sentences short, it minimized the risk of getting cut off. “That’s a great one, the Dynamic between Natasha and Yelena is awesome” she smiled at you. You took a second to look at the girl, she was familiar somehow, you believed that she was in your calculus lecture. “Yeah, it’s nice” you mumbled as you played with your water bottle, you guys had a break but you didn’t like eating in front of people. “And she has never watched it?” The girl asked causing you to shake your head, “well which other marvel movie would you recommend and why?” Your face lit up immediately, hers did too. “Oh, the new Thor movie is quite nice, it has a lot of comedy to it but still maintains a balance between jokes and actual storyline. But if you like leading female roles you should watch the new black panther…” you were, again, interrupted by your roommate who now just noticed the brunette in front of you.

“Omg Tara, when did you sit down? I didn’t even notice you, or I would have rescued you earlier” the side eye that was thrown your way was pretty hard but what was even harder was how the brunette, Tara it seems, laughed. You thought she was dearly interested but you were wrong. With disappointment settled into your chest you stood up and walked away, deciding to go back to your dorm room to read some comics you just got. You didn’t notice the way Tara watched you walk away.

The next time you saw her was the next day in your calculus lecture, she sat a row in front of you with two other girls and two guys, while you sat alone. You knew one of the girls that sat next to her, Mindy, she was in your lecture about film and you worked some project together. The short haired girl turned around and waved at you which made you smile as you waved back.

During the lecture you glanced at the group every now and then to notice the following things: 1. One of the guys was watching football while the other one was weirdly starring at Tara, 2. Mindy was asleep by now and her girlfriend was doing some work for another lecture and 3. Tara was clearly not getting shit down there and she was the next person that had to pretend, which made her panic.

“Psst, Tara” you mumbled lightly kicking her chair which made her turn, “come up here and I’ll explain it and give you my work” you told her looking straight ahead so the prof wouldn’t notice. In a matter of seconds the girl climbed over the table and sat next to you, “you’re my savior” she mumbled out as she scribbled your answers down while you explained why you did what. “Miss Carpenter, it’s your turn presenting” the prof called out causing her to stand up, she gave you one last look. You nodded at her as a signal of support.

“Wow, I gotta say I’m impressed. This is the best you’ve been the whole year, seems like you improved. Well, lecture is over” you quickly packed your bag and walked out before the brunette came back up but she seemed to be quick enough to still catch up outside. She stood next to you and grabbed your arm to bring you to a hold, “thanks, you really saved me there. Let me take you out for coffee as a thank you” she smiled at you as you two stood in the middle of the hall, people watching you. It was uncommon, someone as popular as Tara with someone as shy as you.

“You don’t have to, but thank you. I just saw you struggle so I thought I could help, and I’m happy I could, you really don’t though. Mr. Bakers exercises are pretty hard most of the time so I totally get why you struggled” Tara watched you ramble with a small smile, she liked when you rambled. She had been watching you for a couple of weeks now, in the lecture and out on campus, or when you were with Mindy. “As much as I like your rambling, I’m taking you out for coffee. You still gotta tell me a bit” she grabbed your wrist again and pulled you into a caffe on the other side of the street.

She ordered and after a small argument also payed your food. “So, are you at the frat parts tonight?” She asked as you walked over the campus with coffee in hand, “no” you mumbled as you played with the cup in your hand. “Why not? I bet it’s gonna be fun” she smiled at you, she liked your shyness. “I don’t really like big parties especially if I barely know anyone, too many people and I still have stuff do to for the classes” you explained, “you would know me and Mindy and your roommate is gonna be there too right?” You only shrugged which caused her to drop the conversation.

“Tara, nice to see you” one girl you didn’t know called out which caused the two of you to stop. “Hey, how are you?” Tara asked the girl as she gave her a quick hug, you zoned out while they talked not noticing that they walked away, but it seems like they also didn’t notice that you didn’t walk with them. When you zoned back again they were kinda gone already, so you decided to turn around and head to the dorms throwing your coffee into the trash.

It was 10:30 pm when you sat in your dorm watching the Hawkeye series again until there was a knock on the door which confused you, your roommate only left 20 minutes ago there was no way she would be back already. So you finally stood up and opened the door to see Tara in a short dress with makeup on. She looked ready to go, so why would she be here? “Hi” she only said as she looked up at you, “what can I do for you?” You asked her as you looked over her shoulder. “You disappeared today, I wanted to check on you” you breathed out a laugh at her words, “you left with somebody else. I though you wanted to go to the party” she sighed as she looked into the dorm. “I did but I think I’d rather stay with you” your face bushed so hard that you tried to cover your face as best as possible. Nonetheless you took a step to the side to let the girl enter your dorm where she was quick to look around your side.

There were posters from the marvel movies and some pictures on the wall, the shelf’s were filled with comics and some books. “So what are we watching? She asked as she sat on your bed, making herself at home, “I was watching the Hawkeye series but we can watch whatever” you mumbled as you sat next to her. “Is that with the guy who shoots arrows?” You laughed a bit as you sat down next to her, “yeah, Hawkeye or Clint Barton but it isn’t just about him”

Five minutes later you were rambling about what kind of impact someone like Kate bishop had on the whole phase and what could possibly happen between Yelena and her. You were talking on and on without any pause, a smile on your face and your hands wildly gesticulating. “I mean it’s just something different you know? And the way they keep on putting more women into the leading roles just gives us as women a totally new opportunity” and again you just kept on talking until you suddenly stopped and just looked at the brunette in front of you. “What’s wrong? Why’d you stop?” She asked as she scanned your face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to talk the whole time and annoy you” you said as you tuned away from her a bit. “What? Why’d you say that? I was very interested, come on keep talking” she encouraged you with a hand on your leg. “Really?” The shock on your face made her laugh a bit, “yeah”

So you kept talking, you were all giddy, smiling and laughing as you explained why you were so invested and she listened, sometimes asking questions but all with a smile on her face. “Do you maybe wanna, you know, stay and watch it with me? I could lend you something to wear if you want” she smiled brightly as she nodded.

Ten minutes later you two laid in bed in joggers and hoodies, her makeup was washed off showing her natural beauty. The Hawkeye series was playing in the background, “thank you” your voice was small and she wouldn’t have heard you if you weren’t laying so close. “Why?” She asked as she looked at you instead of you laptop, “because you listened to me, people barely do” you explained which made her sigh. The younger carpenter wasn’t sure what to say so instead she just shuffled closer and cuddled up to you.

Somewhere between the episode the two of you fell asleep, cuddled up with the series playing quietly. You woke up the next morning with a sticky note next to your pillow, it was from Tara.

“I had to go back before my sister kills me. Lunch at 2pm? If not call me

Xxx-xxx-xxx”

You smiled at the note as you got ready.

After some torturing lectures it was finally 2 pm. You went outside to find Tara and her group sitting at a table, she immediately waved you over. “Y/n, good that you’re here. Marvel or DC?” Mindy asked as Tara pulled you to sit next to her. “Marvel all the way” you answered causing Mindy and the younger carpenter to high-five. “No, so not true. DC has way better storylines” Chad said, his twin immediately booing him. “Y/n, tell him how he is wrong” the girl next to you said, but you were to self conscious about your rambling. “It’s fine, trust me” she mumbled as she wrapped her arms around your waist which gave you the comfort to start talking.

This was the first time in years that you finally had someone who wanted to listen to you. You discussed the topics with the others while Tara gazed up at you like you hung the stars.

Again you mumbled a “thank you” to her which made her kiss your cheek. You blushing again

She couldn’t wait to take you on a date.

You were scared of the way people were going to react.

[badaziraphaletakes]

We've got a wriggly one

Love a good "Ooh I'm probably going to make myself unpopular here" at the opening of an offensive post. We're off to a very good start.

If you have to preface your take with four paragraphs of disclaimers explaining how not-ableist you are, then I Have Got Some News For You

"Before you accuse me of being ableist"... I have literally never heard this phrase not followed immediately by a giant ableism, and this is no exception

"I'm not." That's not how this works. It's something we all have to fight against every day. No one is just "not ableist". We all have ableist biases that we need to work hard to be aware of and keep in check. If you think you're just "not ableist", period, end of story, that's concerning in itself.

Disabled people can literally still be ableist (and saying otherwise is in itself ableist). We’re all products of an ableist society, so we all have structural internalized ableism inside us. Just because you are not aware that you’re doing it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. It can be unconscious. It very often is.

"I've been a disability advocate for years, so I'm entitled to tell other Disabled people how to feel about their own representation" quit weaponizing your Disabled identity to oppress other Disabled people, also, I can already tell I literally never want this person as my advocate, ever

7. The Autistics never, ever need or want alltistics to speak on our behalf, so if you're not Autistic then you are most welcome to shut absolutely and completely up at your earliest convenience

8. “This is as close as I can come to being gentle"... I have an alternative theory, which is that OP could, in fact, manage to be gentle if they really tried. For example, I do not have to be scathing right now in this reply. I am doing it because that is a choice I have actively made.

9. "I say things that people misunderstand" is never a defense. Most of the time, it's victim-blaming. And by the way, if this isn't a defense for Autistic people (spoiler alert: it's definitely not), then it sure as hell isn't a defense for alltistics.

10. "This isn't meant to invalidate people's opinions" *Spends the whole post invalidating people's opinions*

11. "Unless the book specifically says x, y, or z, you're not allowed to... say that something is ableist" umm wow

12. If Autistic people say a character (a character written by an Autistic author, no less) is Autistic-coded, then yelling "no they're not" at us is a very concerning thing for someone to be doing. To anyone doing this, just think about a. Why you feel the need to talk over Autistic people about that and b. why it bothers you to have people say that character is Autistic. Seriously, take some time and think about it. And also - if you can't see how Aziraphale is Autistic-coded - how did you miss that lol? Also also - how is thinking a character isn't Autistic your "personal experience" of that character that you feel the need to cling to? ...That gives me the ick.

13. Calling someone out for doing something ableist is not "name-calling".

14. "If someone read one of my [books?]..." I'm assuming this sentence ends "I wouldn't want people deciding one of my characters was x, y, or z". Well, guess what? - If it's a book you're finished with, then it's out of your hands what people do with it now. And if everyone from the autism community is saying your character is Autistic-coded, then guess what? Congratulations, you inadvertently (or, I suspect, advertently in NG's case ^^) wrote an Autistic-coded character! Seriously, take some time to read about what "coded" means and how characters are coded as Autistic. We're not saying Azi and the Starmaker are literally, conically Autistic. We're saying they're Autistic coded. And we’re saying he has autistic traits that autistic people identify with, and calling him selfish or cruel or lacking empathy or emotionally unintelligent (just a few of the common autism stereotypes that people have flung at Aziraphale) or things like that BECAUSE OF THOSE TRAITS is ableist.

When Aziraphale struggles socially and people call him selfish or stupid because of it, how am I (someonewho struggles socially every damn day) supposed to take that?

IN CONCLUSION: In trying to tell marginalized communities why we're wrong to think certain takes are offensive, people invariably end up just saying a bunch more offensive things - and in doing so, prove exactly the point we were trying to make in the first place.

[goodolddumbbanana]

TO BE MIRROR AU [6]

Summary: Nexus attempted to kidnap Sun to get him to find the shards by threatening Dazzle and Jack. Moon is nowhere, idk, maybe sleep.

It was just a normal day…

Only the yellow animatronic stays in daycare to cleaning. Moon was busy in his laboratory, busy his head with everything from finding the whereabouts of Ruin and the Dark Sun's hideout, to studying the remnants of the Wither Storm.

Moon has been working hard for more than 12 hours. The overwhelming amount of work that his brother endures making Sun worried that Moon will fall back into his old habits, working until his battery is dried out.

Maybe after cleaning this place up, Sun should go back to the lab to check. He can get something for his brother to eat? At least, for now, this is what makes him feel like he can help in some way.

A loud sign coming out his mouth. The barrel was so shiny in Sun's hand that he could see himself on it.

He still couldn't understand how he could sense the shards of the Wither Storm, but he didn't look into the gift horse's mouth. Although... that was just a little concern in Sun's heart, why did he feel so attracted to those crystals? Why did he feel... so relief when he touched them?

Unlike Moon, who not only had a headache, but slept so soundly that it frightened Sun until the next day?

The sound of someone coming out of the ball pit rang out, startling Sun's train of thoughts.

The computer hasn't been fixed yet. There's so much work that needs to be done and Moon's AI creates is relatively complicated. So they have to do everything by hand by now, what is sometimes really inconvenient for Sun.

For example, he couldn't guess exactly who had entered this dimension.

A dark blue shadow appeared in the distance. A nightcap bobbed, revealing the tall, thin body of a lunar Daycare attendant. Star and moon shaped characters are embroidered on the shirt.

The shadow cast by the light caused Sun's optics to involuntarily shrink. He came closer, still holding the barrel towel in his hand.

“M–Moon?! I thought you would work until late?—”

The words coming out of Sun's mouth suddenly stopped. Sun's non-existent heart seemed to skip a beat when the stranger raised his face, revealing a bygone face that was only seen in Sun's old nightmares.

His eyes were red as blood, like two coals dipped in the burning fire. The smile was as curved as a crescent moon, white as bone, as marrow, as sickly white as the way a wild animal grins when hunting its prey. The long, slender body, bent in a way that physics could not explain, stretched out of the ball pit.

“H–Hello? Who are you?" Sun asked timidly, he silently scolded himself, why didn't he call Moon right now. It's not that he can't defend himself, because of magic, Moon still encourages him to practice day and night. But Sun didn't want things to go that far at all.

If possible, he just wanted them to leave or they could talk in peace.

That strange guest just twisted his body, his posture was too comfortable for someone who did not live here. Sun's internal chip doesn't understand why it keeps screaming, trying to emit a telegram of connection, feel like his subconscious is whispering something about there is something very familiar towards the stranger.

Could this be KC or another version of KC?

Sun never held out hope that KC was still alive. Their KC‌ was dead, broken into pieces in Bloodmoon's hands. But something about the stranger made Sun unconsciously take a few steps forward.

They laughed, a hoarse, dry, ugly laugh like the sound of a knife carving into flesh.

“No… Take another guess.”

Sun didn't know it was possible to shatter someone's reality with just one sentence.

In the colorful colors of daycare, Moon-Nexus stood there calmly, with a smile that didn't reach the corners of his eyes.

New clothes, new body, will any of that still can Sun call them his brother? When they at that time had hurt their own sister without any remorse, and now in those lifeless eyes, only the bloody brutality and indifference of the scientist towards his specimen were visible?

Nexus looks happy. Dangerously happy. They approached Sun, letting out a greeting as if nothing had happened, as if Nexus hadn't torn his own family in half.

“Hey, Sun… Long time no see.”

The two images melt into each other. One is the concerned eyes of a version of Moon he has learned to love and trust, the other is of a stranger that Sun doesn't recognize anymore.

Sun should run. He should scream and let any of Moon's defenses activate, but he couldn't. His throat was stiff, his mouth dry. He couldn't stop shaking, his freezing reflex made his joints immobile.

“What's wrong, Sun, aren't you happy to see your brother again?”

Nexus tilted its head, its neck as long as an owl's, the deformity that Nexus had intentionally inflicted on itself was like a punch to Sun's stomach.

‘What happened to you, Nexus?’

“I can guess this can happen.” M-Nexus shrugged, and they moved closer leisurely, ignoring Sun's momentary flinch.

"You already have your Old Moon back, how can you miss this Moon, am I right, Sun?"

He wants to say...

‘We have missed you. We still missed you. Earth couldn't look at Moon's face without crying silently afterward. Even though Lunar didn't say anything, I still knew that the boy hid your photo in the room. I miss you, I miss you so much.

But you don't know that, do you?

Only cares about what you want, and always jumps to these places whereI can't keep up with.

And now you throw it all away to pursue a self-destructive obsession that you think we want, when what we need is for you to be happy with us.'

He wanted to say many things, but his mouth could only make pitiful stuttering sounds. His hand wanted to reach out, a faint glimmer of hope that Nexus felt remorseful and wanted to return to his family.

But the cruel mind only laughed at Sun's weak heart, mocking him about how dangerous the Nexus looked.

'Even an idiot like you can understand why he came here, right, Sun~~' The sound of Sun's thoughts was too close to Eclipse's disdainful and even tone, making Sun unconsciously frown.

“How is the new house btw? I heard that beast say you have moved. Do you live well in there? Not that I care—”

Sun wanted to refute. He wanted to grab Nexus tightly and ask if they didn't care, then why did they deliberately bring up the old story? He wanted to cry and hug Nexus tightly, to beg Nexus to return to Sun, Earth and Lunar. He also wanted to punch his other brother, to let them know how stupid the thing they did was, how much it hurt the people who loved them.

But nothing can come out except the bitterness.

“Oh come on, no need to look so tensed like that.”

Close, too close, Nexus was approaching Sun without him realizing it. The shadow of Nexus fell on Sun, their voice was gentle, so gentle and considerate, like that was still the person he called his brother.

The sound of bells rang in Sun's ears. A red shadow flashed across Sun's eyes, and the ribbon on Nexus's wrist fell onto his shirt.

“I said I wouldn't hurt you, didn't I?”

The distance between them was only an inch apart, and the tip of Nexus' nightcap accidentally touched Sun's rays. Nexus's hand was clasped in his, the grip soft but firm, just like the way they used to do whenever Sun had a panic attack.

It really made Sun soften, and let his guard down for a split second.

Enough for a sick smile to flash across Nexus's lips. A wave of pain erupted in Sun's arm, Nexus's hands gripped Sun's hand tightly, their sharp nails digging into his metal shell.

“Well… I guess I lied.”

The pain caused Sun to pull away and stagger backwards. He panted, the rays of light converging with Sun's breathing. Nexus' sadistic chuckle was almost unreal, as if this were just a normal gaming session between the two of them, rather than looking like Nexus was ready to hurt Sun.

Sun shouldn't be surprised, because after all, Nexus has always hated him. This person's care is purely a order, a purpose that Moon has placed like a chain on this newly reset Moon's neck.

Sun knows Nexus always hates him for being alive, for the one who dead is Solar.

“W–Why are you here, M–Nexus?”

Try to squeeze out each word. Ignoring the pain in his wrist, Sun wished he wasn't trembling, so pathetic for someone who hadn't even done anything to him.

“You know why.” Nexus retracted his hand, his red eyes looked straight at Sun, a look so determined that it scared Sun.

"No I dont." Sun gritted his teeth, both of his fists clenched. There was an anger that came out of nowhere in his chest like a flood, making his vision red and Sun didn't know what he wanted to do next.

“A little bird told me about a dream you had.”

“…”

Breath escaped from Sun's mouth. His joints convulsed, and Sun's entire operating system continuously crashed into each other with errors and loops.

“I want you to come with me, Sun.”

“From now on we will do everything together Sun… I will not leave you…”

Two voices collided. One from the present and one from the past. The protective concern that once existed in that voice now turned into mockery. Nexus looked at him like a curious child looking at a sick cat that was about to die. They had no intention of doing anything, just watching with interest to see where this was going.

***Flashback

Sun never understood Moon's laboratory preferences. Too white, too clean, everywhere is sterile white. There is a coldness and crampedness that clings to this place, even if there are more green trees. can cover up its emptiness.

Moon stood in front of the board, his shadow was too high, beyond Sun's sight. Moon's hand awkwardly touched the edge of the table, her face serious. There was only the clicking sound of the radiator running, and the gurgling sound of running water, as if time had stopped a long time ago and was working again, as heavy as a nail stuck in the wall.

Reflections of surrounding objects flashed on the Sun's gilded shell. A cup of steaming hot tea was placed in front of him.

“Hey Sun… I need you to think about this…” Moon's voice is gentle and careful, as if he was speaking to a child. “If what Dark Sun said is true, then Nexus is also searching for the fragments…”

“That means… he might come to you…”

“I'm not telling you to decide now… but for your own good and I don't want you to get hurt…”

“Can you tell me you are willing to attack the Nexus if push comes to shove?”)

***

There was heavy pressure and tension between the two. It felt like there was invisible sweat dripping down the back of Sun's shirt.

Nexus is taller than him, stronger than him, both physically and intellectually. If he wanted, he could take advantage of Sun being caught off guard and take Sun away at any time. But here, right now, Nexus made Sun an offer.

To go with him voluntarily.

Why?" Sun lowered his voice. His hands were hidden behind his back, ready for any movement by Nexus to trigger him to activate his magic. Every sensor in his body was screaming at him to attack, or run away, but for some stubborn reason, he continued to wait for Nexus's answer.

Listening to Moon was an inherent rigid habit, making him no matter how angry or disappointed he was, the first person to lay down his cards was still Nexus.

“Sun, you know what's funny? It had taken me months of manual labor to find the fragments of the Wither Storm, while the answer was right before my eyes."

"It's you. Sun."

"Yes, I was surprised too. Who would have thought that little Sunny would have this ability? How many pieces have you and that bastard found? Where did you hide it?"

“And why should I tell you?”

Red eyes glared at Sun maliciously, so evil that it would make his former self burst into tears.

“Because I will not go easy on you anymore if you keep stubborn like that.”

(Duck honk honk sound sound)

A flash of light erupted, right next to Nexus's feet smoking remains of a fireball. For the first time since him show up, Nexus's eyes opened wide to look at him in surprise.

Their approaching feet stopped, they looked intently at the fire burning the carpet next to them. A few balls couldn't stand the luck, half melting and emitting an unpleasant smell of burning synthetic resin.

“I won't go with you, Nexus.” Sun spoke harshly. His hand twitched. A sick feeling went deep into Sun's stomach, making him want to vomit. "Quite the opposite, I like to stay here."

Sun had never, ever directly pointed a weapon at his family like that, and the thought of hurting someone... even if it was Nexus, it made Sun's whole body tremble.

Bitter bile seeped into Sun's throat. A dirty feeling that couldn't be washed away flowed through him. It was like a rope was wrapped around Sun's throat, making him writhe in pain.

Sun couldn't breathe.

What is he doing?

Satisfied giggles rang out.

“Oh?” Nexus hummed. “You shot me.”

“You shot your brother.”

‘And yet you always try to act like you're better than me.’ The meaning behind Nexus's words.

Say it casually as if it were a fact. Say it smugly as if they knew this was going to happen.

Red appeared in Sun's eyes. Red. Red like the blood flowing on Evelyn's head, red like the color of Nexus's eyes, red like the dirt on Sun's hands, which can never be washed off.

The giggle of a certain red devil rang in Sun's ears, causing Sun's snow-white pupils to shrink. No… Just an hallucinations. He took a deep breath, avoiding the immediately understanding look from Nexus.

“Don't take another step, because the next shot will be real.” Sun took a deep breath, trying to speak without trembling. Magical colors like a kaleidoscope glowed in Sun's hands. His fan seemed to be overloaded, every part of Sun's body seemed to fall apart. “I suggest you to leave, Nexus. Or else…"

“Or else you will kill me, right?”

Sun was about to say he would expel Nexus, but Nexus' answer left him stunned.

What percentage of his magic would succeed, and what percentage would it fail like the other things Sun had attempted.

A painful chuckle echoed in Nexus's mouth, close to the edge of madness. There was a bitter feeling in it, and it made Sun feel endlessly guilty.

“So little Sunny finally grew a spine. It's sad that it took two Moons for that to happen.”

“When did you learn magic? I remember you were so insistent that you didn't want to touch that supernatural thing at all."

“Is it because of Moon?” Nexus' eyes narrowed. Sun's silence seemed to confirm Nexus's guess. “I'm never really good enough, am I?” They scoffed. “As soon as I left, you replaced me with that monster version, and running after him like an off-leash pet.”

It's hurt. Hearing that from someone who was also his brother hurt so much. But it cannot be more painful than the feeling of betrayal that Earth has experienced.

“Are you done yet?” Sun was tired, he knew Nexus was trying to insult him, that any reaction from Sun would only give Nexus an advantage.

But he is very tired.

Part of Sun wanted to give up, let Nexus take him away. It's better to surrender to reduce the pain than to resist and the result will still be the same. But the other part in Sun, the one had to restrain Moon, Eclipse, and whoever was in his head from trying to control give Nexus a middle finger.

Sun cannot give up, not when he has Earth, Lunar, Moon... and the destructive potential of the Wither Storm and whatever plans Nexus wants to try for the world.

Strangely, the fleeting thought of death was so light compared to what was before Sun.

“Nah— Youunderstand me, Sun. I will never go without what I want.” Nexus chuckled, his finger pointing at Sun.

Daycare still plays the cheerful, annoying music as if nothing had happened. A feeling of deja vu made Sun's heart sink deeper, as a shot was fired right in the area where he and Nexus were standing right now.

“So, if Sunny boy really wants to leave, you have to be the one to do it first—.‌”

The gears in Sun's chest stopped turning once. A smile spread across Nexus's lips, his arms spread wide. Their eyes were closed, they looked completely at peace.

“Shoot Sun. Break me, destroy me into pieces.‌ If you have the guts, do so, so I can't cause any more harm to your familym”

Sun wants to say Nexus was also his family, Nexus is still his brother.

“But remember, I'm only giving you this first shot for free.”

Another image placed on Nexus. Blue separates into orange and red.

‘See you in hell, Sun.’ A tired, bitter smile, angry eyes, unwilling to give up even in death.

'Cowardice. Useless. Without Moon you are nothing—' The impostor wore Moon's face, provoking him with evil words.

“So, let's give me your best shot.”

Five-colored light flashed brightly in Sun's hand. Shoot. Don't Shoot. Just let go. Just relax. Whether it was Eclipse's whisper or Bloodmoon's, he no longer knew.

It's easy, very simple, especially when he is in charge.

Just release it.

You can do it, Sun.

‘You are my older brother, Sun. I care about you.'

Nexus's face appeared, full of concern and understanding.

The magical light grew louder and louder, before completely extinguishing in Sun's hands. Standing there stiffly, the hand still couldn't be lowered. Sun can't, he can't attack M–Nexus.

‘What a coward, Sun.’

“It's not that I didn't expect it, but it's also disappointing.

Nexus walked around Sun, his neck sticking out excitedly like a vulture hunting its prey. Touching Sun's spell-casting arm, they suddenly lifted Sun up.

“–!!?”

Sun screamed in confusion into the air, and in a moment that was probably only a few seconds, he was thrown hard to the ground. His metal skeleton groaned in pain, warning triangles flashed, causing his optics to turn yellow.

Maybe something broke. Suddenly, there was a soft falling sound of something hitting Sun's head. He groaned and picked it up, his sensors classifying it as a toy.

What is this?

A worn sun doll blinked back at Sun. A cold feeling reached the heart of Sun's non-existence, algorithms 0 and 1 jumped like locusts, howling in a vortex of indignation.

“Yeah… If I was you, I would have watched my baby deer better.”

Nexus's voice rang in Sun's ears as if it were annoying, the bell rang with every step they took. “By the way, the new outfit is nice, it would be a shame if it were damaged, right, Sun?"

“W–Where is Dazzle???” Sun's voice trembled. He held the doll tightly with him, clumsily stood up and rushed to grab Nexus' shirt. “Nexus, WHERE IS DAZZLE!!!?”

Not paying attention to Sun's violent attitude, Nexus just touched his fingertips. An immature sound rang out.

“H–Hello? Hey Sun!!!”

“DAZZLE!! DAZZLE!!! WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU HURT?!!!” Sun desperately clung to the receiver.

“No-o?? I'm playing with Jack. We're going on an adventure! Oh, Jack said we have to keep it a secret now…”

“Jack? Dazzle, you tell me where you are?! Please Dazzle–”

Nexus turned off the mic before Sun could finish speaking. “You know, I forgot when Solar and I created Jack, we, actually, it was Solar's idea, to put a backup code inside, in case anyone hacked Jack's code. Then, the administrator rights will still belong to Solar.

And even though that idiot Monty changed quite a few things for that traitor, the original settings are still the same.”

Sun looked up at Nexus, they smiled cheekily. Horrible smile, full of teeth.

“You don't want both Jack and Dazzle to become Lunar. 2.0 isn't it, Sun?

[jabberwondia]

【the next step】 【part 2】 RIDDLE x READER, NSFW

Part 1 is here.

The proverbial "next time".

Riddle Rosehearts x Female Reader, 18+. Fluff, sexual intimacy (explicit), consensual.

Worrying about failing a test, botching that one high note at the recital, or stammering throughout the graduation speech are all examples of performance anxiety. The thought of failing and the looming overshadow it casts on the far-off dream of success – to a lot of people, it can be paralyzing. To counter it, you dwell on all the possibilities before that something can even come to pass, methodically going through worst-case scenarios in your head; at the time, they all seem more like prophecies.

Contrary to what his occasionally fiery mood swings might suggest, Riddle Rosehearts was a fairly confident and composed person, and never suffered from nerves before a test, recital or speech. The roots of his self-assurance were practice, diligence and rules. No test would ever be scary if you had revised hard enough, no note unreachable if practiced frequently enough, and no speech impossible if rehearsed enough. Rules provided a frame which allowed little flexibility, which meant more provable, safe results.

This, however, was different. There was no way to prepare for it. Any guides on the subject would generally say, ‘Let it flow’, and honestly that’s what he believed he had done -or at least tried to do- last time, when you were catching your breath, spread on top of his lap. He had purposefully, repeatedly, attempted to forget all about it – but every time his phone buzzed with one of your messages, he was sorely reminded of everything he did, and specially of what he didn’t do.

‘Would it be so bad if it were... planned?’ he pondered. But it’s not like those words would ever leave his mouth, and he truly did care about you, so he was not about to insult your integrity by suggesting something as unrefined as “Hey baby, let’s get it on”.

Sigh. It hardly seemed like the topic you could trust friends with, either. “What should I do?” he wanted to ask, but the fear of getting humiliated in return was too real. Or at least, it was inside Riddle’s head, as however certain he could be in social situations, one of his most recurring nightmares included screwing up an easy spell, getting laughed at, then yelled at by his mother, and, finally, falling through the void (in that order).

“Next time,” he had told Floyd. Why did he do that? Whatever the hell did that mean? Not unlike enlisting New Year resolutions and telling everyone you started working out – in a way, the contract behind your words binds you to turn them into action. Riddle really wish he hadn’t, and to be fair, Floyd hadn’t even asked about it since – but the thought alone was eating away at him.

Alone in his room, he had, at long last, drafted up the end-all, be-all of text-based conversation.

Riddle Rosehearts: “Hello! 🌹 What are you doing for the break? I’ll pass on going home this time, I think. We can expect an exceptionally hot summer this year, and I’m worried about the hedgehogs.”

And then, greatly contingent on your answer, but – hopefully – the next sentence would be:

“If you’re free sometime, would you like to stay the night?”

‘Stay the night’ was a much more suitable euphemism for what he wanted to say. It was short, and sweet, and left the possibility of nothing happening, which was important. The main problem with it is that it broke quite a few rules, but most notoriously: the rules that stated students from other schools were not allowed inside the dorms past curfew, and that non-alumni needed a special permission to enter in the first place. Well, uh, and also the fact that he was trying to bring a girl to sleepover to an all-boys school. After one law had been violated, the rest of transgressions just seemed like silly, collateral damage. This is why he was a stickler for codes and regulations – being unyielding did, in fact, protect the system from falling apart all at once.

The hedgehog excuse also worked well, and even his mother had believed it and granted him permission to stay all summer on campus.

The first text is an easy one to send. If, for any reason, Riddle feels like he needs to call the whole thing off, he can just invite you to a Tea Party, or suggest a date in the park. The break begins next weekend, and it’s a perfect time because the school will be mostly empty and free of prying eyes. And if you are too busy to catch up, spending a quiet summer caring for the hedgehogs doesn’t sound too bad either.

Y/N: “oh hey! 😊 poor darlings🦔 it’s good they have a very kind caretaker💓 yeah, I read somewhere we were reaching record temperatures. thankfully it’s not so bad inside our dorm. i’ll go home, but only from the second week onwards”

Which leaves a week in between to... to...

Riddle opens up his drafts once again. All he has to do is copy, paste and hope for the best. But as he’s proof-reading, it occurs to him that maybe “sleepover” is better than “stay the night” – which one sounds more casual? Ugh, his hands are starting to feel icy cold and unresponsive. The weight on his chest is getting bigger.

Y/N: “we should meet up before I leave! 😊 i can help take care of the hedgehogs if you need a hand?"

Oh my Queen. A second, continuous text from you was not in the original plan. So now what? Well, he could still brave through and –ahem– suggest his suggestion. Hell, if he was so paralyzed at a text, there’s no way he could actually sleep with you, even if you did come over.

Riddle does not want you to help take care of the hedgehogs. Or rather, that is so trivial right now, that he wishes you could forget about it, and words to be undone.

Riddle Rosehearts: “I couldn’t possibly ask that! Hedgehogs are nocturnal, so you’d have to come in pretty late.”

Riddle is quick to type and send, but then gasps when he realizes the meaning. It can be taken two ways: either that he wants you to come in late, ergo, wants to get in your pants and is cowardly suggesting it; or he does not want you anywhere near the dorm at night, which, eh, kind of resets all the progress made in this conversation.

Y/N: “oh, right 😊 the school has rules against that, lol”

It’s getting more and more impossible to recover from this, like a rowing boat trying to maneuver through a river of chocolate fudge.

The draft that is waiting in his copy clipboard now makes no sense. “If you’re free sometime, would you like to stay the night?” is no longer applicable to this flow of the conversation. But he needs to find a way around it, or else it’s back to square one.

Riddle takes a very, very deep breath. Face red, fingers trembling, he manages to write:

Riddle Rosehearts: “Actually, don’t worry about the hedgehogs. It takes time to build trust with them anyways. But on that note, would you like to stay over sometime? Feel free to say no.”

That last part sounds incredibly weak and lacking in courage. He erases it and types it again a couple of times until deciding in favor of leaving it as-is – the fact that you don’t feel pressured is, after all, of utmost importance to him.

And yeah, “stay over” sounds better than sleeping or staying the night, so let’s stick to that.

When the message pops on your side of the screen, your sight paces back and forth at least twenty times, doubting the verity of your own eyes or reading comprehension. After last time, and how nonchalantly it had ended, you thought for sure that Riddle had been distancing himself from you, and that you had crossed a boundary that was hard to backtrack from. That is exactly why, truth be told, you were relieved when he initiated casual conversation as if nothing had happened. The struggle was mixing all these pure, affectionate, innocent emotions he made you feel with the raw Eros of whatever last study session was, and it had left you more confused than ever.

But hey, you tell yourself. Nothing needs to happen. I can just sleep. We can cuddle, and that’s it.

It seems you are taking all too long to answer, because his chat box pops up again.

Riddle Rosehearts: “I want to see you.”

Riddle was really good in situations reigned by protocol. He was the best social dancer you’d ever seen, and the way he’d guided you while waltzing through an interscholastic dance had been dreamlike. He’d open doors for you and escort you to your school gates; he was always eager to send over a study guide or offer some academic advice. But “I want to see you” and “I miss you” were words rarely uttered.

Filled with a newfound courage, you text back:

Y/N: “i'd love to! is friday ok? 😊”

Getting into Heartslabyul is always a challenge. You’d need to either come over during the daytime and then purposefully miss curfew, or you’d have to find a way to sneak in just before the gates are closed for the night. As a housewarden from a rival school, your face is somewhat known within the Night Raven College students, and while it’s not exactly a secret that you’re dating the Heartslabyul sovereign, you’d rather if people did not know you were planning on staying the night, for the Seven’s sakes!

If this were an eventful holiday, like Halloween celebrations or a friendly Spelldrive tournament, inter-school visits were more easily forgivable. There were plenty of ways to score a guest pass and walk around freely. But an outsider going around the dorm at night, on a normal school day? Now, that is just fishy.

You devised a plan of which the success depended on how fast Riddle could find you and then rush to his room. And you know he hated running in the hallways.

Your Signature Spell, “Drink Me”, as tongue-in-cheek as it sounded, allowed you to change an object or person in size for a very small period of time. Theoretically, if this was used on yourself and your clothes, you could become hedgehog-sized in seconds. And then, all would Riddle need to do is transport you in his shirt pocket. Simple enough, right?

As you head through the motions of the plan, you realize how utterly embarrassing it is. First, you would need to decide on a set of coordinates where Riddle would find your miniaturized self. He needs to pick you up, basically engulfing you with both hands. You are then to fit inside his pocket, and this meant that his heartbeat would sound like thunderstorms in the summer sky (a by-product of you being so small). And because you’d turn back in 5 minutes, he needs to rush to his room and take you out of the pocket, lest you grow back to normal and rip his prized uniform shirt apart.

There could be some repercussions. Usually, your Signature Spell required of a catalyst – you would use homemade soda for the shrinking spell and cookies for the enlarging spell – so as to keep the side effects at bay, and make the desired transformation last longer (a maximum of an hour). Very rarely you’d cast them directly from your pen to the object in question, unless you wanted or needed consequences to be more immediate and short-lived. In this case, staying small for a whole hour was not exactly the most enticing of options, and gorging on enlarging cookies while the effects of the fizzy shrinking drink hadn’t yet subsided always resulted in nausea, an upset stomach and a fever (you know – you’ve tried before). So, the only viable option was cast and run: a plan problematic in and of itself, but the only chance you had to access the property unnoticed. Ah, if only Chen’ya could teach you how to disappear at will.

When you suggested all of this over the phone, Riddle was flabbergasted. It was hard to tell which is more mortifying – carrying you around like a portable magic pen, or having you enter the dorm life-size and risk a student seeing you enter his room at night.

Eventually, after much persuasion, he had agreed to meet you at the outskirts of the Heartslabyul forest, which was exactly five minutes away from his quarters.

It’s the first meeting since the, uh, lap-sitting incident, and you are both quite self-conscious still. You wave and smile at his approaching figure, but he hurriedly hushes, “Quick! Before anyone sees you.”

Pointing a shaky pen to your chest, you take a deep breath. “Here goes. Drink Me!”

If the feeling could be compared to anything, you’d say it kind of reminds you of a balloon deflating – air gushing out, spiraling as it swirls until it reaches the floor. A kaleidoscope in which the senses become filled all at once, as the world around you is so big, and you’re now so small. The only good part is that, because your height and weight also decrease in proportion, having a parasol ready allows you to float tenderly for the last couple of inches, and the fall is never too abrupt.

Riddle is now... huge. I mean, wow there, Y/N, witty observation. But he really is, and even the act of him crouching to get closer to you shakes the whole ground like an earthquake. He stares at you, two fingers pressed on his lips, pondering if he should lift you up by the collar... but no, no, that’s too ungracious.

So, he offers the palm of his hand. You know that even if you talked at this size, your tiny micro lungs are not enough to produce enough sound to reach him properly, so you keep quiet and climb up his thumb.

When Riddle brings you up to the height of his pocket, it’s like that one Twisneyland attraction that you rode together once, the scary one with the elevator which you had hated with every fiber of your heart as you held on to your boyfriend’s arm screaming – and he wasn’t too keen on thrill rides, either, but had tried to put on a brave face for your sake.

“Are you alright?” he beckons, in a normal tone for him, but it’s like a cacophony ripping apart at your miniature eardrums. You put your hands over your ears. “—sorry! So sorry,” he reduces his voice to a whisper.

Plopping yourself into the pocket, you fall all the way in, roughly reaching the middle while standing straight. You are way smaller than hedgehog size at this point, comparable to a miniature doll of only a few centimeters high. “Hang in there,” he says.

By the sudden swaying, like a seism about to tear the face of the Earth, you assume that Riddle has set course for his room. The countdown starts.

As luck would have it, everyone and their mother is out to get the Headwarden today. He gets stopped at least thrice, mostly about silly stuff such as the shipment for flamingo food or the rundown for the next unbirthday party. It’s impressive how many students are still in the dorm, really –don’t these people have anything else better to do?– their voices are so loud you can barely make out the conversations, instead just catching the keywords. You have both hands pressed against your ears, eyes closed, trying to avoid sensory overload. At least this goes to show there is no way you could have gotten into Heartslabyul unnoticed if you were your proper size.

After many unwanted interruptions, time was running out for the both of you. The de-transformation would start coming in little bursts, where you’d feel your body a little bigger each time. The transpired, stuffy white fabric of that pocket was sure starting to feel a little tight, and now you could almost peek over the hem on your tiptoes.

“Riddle!” is your hurried plead, but he’s going as fast as humanly possible, as fast as anyone can go while still avoiding attention.

When he’s at the doorstep, it feels the seams won’t hold any longer. To the best of your ability, you lift yourself using your arms, trying to squeeze up and out. He fumbles with the key, breath visibly agitated, until he remembers he can just use magic, and can finally, triumphantly, open the door and slam it shut.

“Y/N!” he beckons, in a panic, looking for you to jump on his palm again so he can plop you onto the ground.

“No time! Throw me on the bed!” you squeak, unsure of how much of your speech is currently intelligible. Riddle catches the gist of it, and grabs you by the first thing he can pinch, which is the hem of your skirt, as you’re now dangling outside his pocket, barely not small enough to fit back in.

And next thing you know, he is flinging you like a Spelldrive disk towards his bed; with a loud “poof”, you transform mid-air and land headfirst, full size, cartwheeling on his mattress. Your skirt is flung open, you’ve lost both shoes somewhere along the way, you’re all tangled in on yourself, but at least you are finally safe, and neither Riddle’s shirt nor reputation have been ruined.

Adjusting your sitting position, you first make sure all parts have grown back to size. After all, it’s not unheard of for the effect to last longer on some objects or body parts than others. A quick check assures you that you’re back to normal – all over, that is. You turn to Riddle, who is watching you from the edge of the bed, hand over his mouth, his expression between bemusement and bewilderment.

A stifled laugh that you can’t seem to contain breaks the silence, and it’s like springing open a can of worms, because the redhead giggles a little, too, and then the whole situation becomes too funny to hold it in. Soon he’s laughing tears out of his eyes, unable to speak in full sentences.

“You — you really became pocket size. Right here! You were right here!” He gasps for air between chuckles, pointing at his chest pocket. “I can’t believe... really can’t... ahaha!”

“Hehe, that was some adventure,” you agree. And it’s not like you’re not laughing yourself, but your turn to your boyfriend, and the sight of him fills your chest with a strange warmth, so much that it quiets your laughter. You’d rarely ever seen such a playful, childlike expression; he keeps cry-laughing uncontrollably, wiping his eyes and clutching at his stomach; a hint of relaxation in his ever-so-stiff posture.

His giggle fit starts settling down, and then it dawns on you.

“Oh, no, we need to go through this exact same process tomorrow!” you say, pinching the bridge of your nose.

Tomorrow. He liked the sound of that. It made the fact that you’re staying over more official.

“We’ll think of something by then,” he states.

The rush to close the door and prop you out of the pocket as fast as possible meant that the room was still dim. Because you had landed on his bed, there you were sitting upright in its dead center; suddenly feeling a rush of pink on your cheeks, as the whole Drink Me situation had acted as a deterrent to the actual elephant in the room: the fact that you were here to sleep over and that you had both been so nervous up until that point.

Riddle’s bleary eyes flicker in the twilight, still a soft smile on his lips.

“That was nice,” you grin. “It’d been a while since I last saw you laugh.”

“Oh, come now. Am I really that serious all the time?”

You struggle to find the words. “It’s like... like you’re always worried about something. Not that I blame you—"

“Huh,” he retorts before you can continue. “Well, even I can find something that tickles my funny bone, every now and then.”

He’s now frowning and pouting and just... standing there, as if still hesitant to join you in bed. After all, Riddle was quick to notice that you had made no effort to stand up, and now is wondering what the next step is. It’s not like he had planned any activities for you to do that night – maybe watching a movie on your phones? ...playing card games? Or just go straight to sleep? In the end, he could decide on none and the Day Of came to happen before he could devise a plan, something he dreaded from the bottom of his heart. His whole life was set in rules, set in stone tablets, and now he had to somehow improvise.

“I’m not worried,” he says, pensive, then adds: “Not when I’m with you, at least.”

“Liar,” you accuse him, to which he looks rather offended, albeit playfully so. “By now, you’re probably thinking, ‘What’s comes next?’ — well, aren’t you?”

His expression gives him away immediately. For such a well-postured, well-mannered person, Riddle tends to be a bit transparent. “H-how did you –”

“—it’s because I’m thinking the same thing, too,” you admit. “This is hard, isn’t it?”

It’s not a question. In no unclear terms, last time you’d met had been the very first instance of feeling each other’s bodies, and along came the realization that you are dating and it’s perfectly okay for you to do so. And now you’re subconsciously running your fingers through his velvety red, quilted duvet; and Riddle is still paralyzed a few steps away from the bed. You are not the boldest person out there; and he seems to be bold for anything except for this.

“Agreed,” he muses. Again, he’s like on the outside looking in – it’s that anxious feeling that never goes away, back to the little boy and the cakes he’d never eat.

“This is so awkward to say out loud,” you muster up some courage. “But I’ll try.”

“—yes?”

“I don’t care what we do today. I get to be with you, and that’s enough.”

...oh. Riddle can feel his heart doing a summersault. Being filled to the brim with love like this is something he is not accustomed to. It’s like he’s back to your warm embrace and the rhythmic breathing of your clothed chest, like digging his fingers in your back again, and feeling you return the squeeze. Every single waking moment, and hell, even while sleeping, he goes back to that evening. But he struggles to return your words, hesitant and meditative, staring at the floor.

“Riddle?”

“—yes?”

“Are you okay?”

He’s not. He’s fed up with himself. Scared of this new situation to which he doesn’t have a manual for. Terrified of underperforming and disheartening you.

“Of course,” he lies through his teeth. You are still fully clothed, so all he can see are your knees and calves, from where the skirt of your uniform ends and the socks begin. It’s not remotely erotic at all, yet he’s burning all over. You notice his eyes traveling up and down, trying to take the sight of you in.

You can’t be sure, but deep inside, you intuited that if you both feel the same, then he wants it as much as you do. But then again, pressuring your boyfriend is something you would never, ever venture to do – like a hedgehog himself, he was always quick to spike up to prevent you from poking at his vulnerability. He’d get angry or annoyed or sulky, only to quickly apologize later. So, you are not brave enough to ask, but the least you can do is initiate the scene – like the character that utters the first lines in a play, setting the mood and the proceeds in motion.

Hands, your own, travel to the elastic on your socks, as you slide them off slowly, one by one. Your feet get adjusted to the soft duvet, now feeling it on your bare skin, and you can’t help but notice how utterly cold your toes are – might be from the air conditioning, might be from the nerves. Riddle gasps audibly and clutches at his chest.

You look up at him, as he’s still standing immobilized in his spot. Fine. You’ll venture one more step past the proverbial line of his defenses, then.

Not unlike his, your school uniform consists of a white shirt with a tie or ribbon, at the student’s free choice of whichever. The ribbon on your neck is striped light blue and white, with a small coat of arms applique that depicts a teacup floating in a bottle full of tears. With a quick tug, you undo it, then the first button of your collar, all while keeping eye contact with your boyfriend – it feels like the sound of your own heartbeat is going to deafen you at this point.

Riddle takes a step in your direction, fully flushed, although you can barely tell through the room submerged in the summer dusk. But he stops just by the edge of the bed, frozen again. His is quite the big mattress, and he will need to crawl to you if he wants to reach you. Close, yet so far.

You press your lips together, at the attempt to regain some moisture: your mouth feels dry and trembling all over. Even so, you use the last bit of courage to undo one more button – completely innocuous, as this barely only reveals your collarbone.

“Stop,” he beckons, scaring you for a second. Seeming so desperate, filled with regret. “Don’t.”

“Oh.” Maybe it had been too much? You dread having pushed the Heartslabyul warden too far. “I’m sorry—”

“—no.” He takes a deep breath. “I mean, let me do it.”

Riddle climbs into the bed, knee first. His hand is reaching for your face, slate grey eyes full of adoration, and in turn, you unbalance him by pulling at both his arms, so he stumbles on top of you. Bumping heads at the fall, now faces only an inch away.

“Riddle—”

“—shh. Quit staring.”

But you’re not really, as your eyelids are drooping over, lost in the moment. It doesn’t matter, though. It’s so like him to want to have the last word.

As usual, it’s a peck on the lips, albeit a bit longer and hungrier; he then kisses your cheek, and now the question is what comes next and how the familiar pattern will be broken. To your surprise, you feel two nibbles on your neck, just below your jaw at first and then close to your throat. One leg has snuck in between yours, pressing slightly, the weight of his bony hips digging into your thigh.

He’s always fixing other students’ uniforms, so maybe that’s where it comes from, but he has unexpected skill in unbuttoning your shirt all the way through. But he’s taking it slow and steady, because every single new flash of skin is just killing him on the inside, building up fire within.

Pushing up with one arm, he uses the other to take your hand and give it a kiss, then a tug as he prods you to turn around, softly undressing one sleeve, and reaching for the clasp of your brassiere. Is this too sudden? He’s filled with worry, but push comes to shove, and his instincts urge him to keep going. He needs both hands to do this, causing him to promptly level forward, his mouth caressing your naked shoulder plates. And with one quick snap, you’re out of your bra, though it still lingers lazily on top of your breasts, as you adjust on your back once more.

Riddle realizes – he can almost peek – y-you’re half-naked, writhing beneath him, and –

“—hey,” you call softly, smiling with a tint of self-consciousness as you reach a hand for his cheek. “C-can I...?”

Can I take your clothes off, too? – is what you mean to say, but the words can’t seem to leave your mouth. Curses. Leaving the question unasked, you tug at his striped necktie, and his fingers follow yours, together undoing his shirt buttons all the way to his waist. He’s using a white, paper-thin t-shirt underneath, so you can make the shape of his nipples through it. More lightly clothed than ever, the sudden rush of shame gets the best out of you, and your gut reaction is to pull him into a full embrace, arms clasped around his neck.

Riddle stops for a moment, melting into your hold. You cannot see eye to eye right now, but you can clearly hear each other’s heartbeat. After a moment of hesitation, he kisses you again. It’s sloppy and uncharacteristic of him, but he wants to eat you whole and has no way of hiding it. Uncertain, his hand travels down your neck, feeling your collarbone, and hovering for a few instants where your bra is – unbound, it is no more than a decoration on top of your chest, and he pushes it aside.

“Ah,” he exclaims, almost unwillingly. Your breasts are oscillating up and down with your breathing, your lips are swollen and dyed a madder red, and you just look so beautiful.

“Now you quit staring,” you snap back.

“Hah,” he laughs raspingly. “Who do you think you’re talking to? You’ve got some nerve.”

You smile so wide your cheeks hurt, glad that he’s finally back to his normal self, setting aside all the anxiety and worry. Well, mostly. Of course, some worries are still in the way, but they continue melting as the heat rises – it’s impossible not to give into the moment and fondle your breasts. You let out a little yelp.

“Ah – does it hurt?” he frowns, worried, unable to gauge your reaction. Sure, he made a point to read a few erotic novels in an attempt to prepare for what should be expected for this situation –ugh, perish the thought of anyone finding those hidden at the bottom of his drawer– but truth be told, he still had no idea how rough or how gentle he should be.

“No,” you assured. “It feels good.”

“Show me where.”

At his request, you guide his hand with yours, back to your chest; and strengthen your grip, instructing him to squeeze ever so slightly. His leg, or rather, his knee presses against you, separating your legs further apart, sending a wave of electricity throughout your body. The goddamned skirt is still in the way, but you can’t muster up enough lucidity to concentrate and remove it, moaning and twitching below him.

Riddle must have read your mind, because he shifts his hands to the zipper on your skirt instead, and his mouth starts moving down and away from your neck. Your first reflex –completely involuntary, mind you– is to cross your arms and cover up your breasts, as if it made any difference at this point. His eyes move up to yours, worried again.

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No!” –well, now you’re making less sense than the Queen’s Twinkle Twinkle Little Bat poem– “It’s just... ah...”

He understands. Neither of you want it to end, and yet moving forward is just as scary. Before this, when you first started dating, he used to be able to listen to his inside voice when he kissed you. Or rather, he was forced to listen to it, by his own brain – like a switch you can’t turn off, he’d count the number of kisses and always follow the same pattern. His head was constantly yapping at him, keeping track of time so as to not be late for the 5 PM tea, or telling him to compulsively fix your uniform. But since he had climbed on top of you ten minutes earlier, he has not heard his inner voice, not even once. He could not keep count of how many kisses and nibbles he’d placed all over your collarbone, shoulders, inner elbows and wrists; softly motioning you to let go and uncross your arms. And the sheer fact of losing control was terrifying, yet it felt so good.

That being said, when faced with your bare chest, and the zipper on your skirt lowered but still not removed, Riddle feels a flash of clarity and stops dead on his tracks. There she is, the girl he loves, half-dressed, gorgeous, breasts perking up, but there is one thing that doesn’t quite feel right.

“Come here.” He props you up, helping you sit. He moves the hair off your face and pats your head. “I’ll– I’ll take off the rest of my clothes, too.”

It’s not as embarrassing if it’s the two of you, is his reasoning. And it was important for him that this wasn’t one-sided.

“—you wha– you will?” Not at your brightest nor most eloquent, you’re taken aback by his sudden assertiveness, again crossing your arms in front of your chest. He’s halfway through the zipper of his black school pants when he stops to look at you, face fully flushed.

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” he mumbles guiltily, his delivery harshly contrasting with his words. “You know I hate that.” Feigning authority and playful anger, part of him is trying to be a tease, yet still unsure how.

A giggle escapes your lips. “Shame you’re not wearing the dorm uniform today.”

“—ah.” He notices in that same moment. Had he been so nervous he completely mixed up his clothes today? As the last layers were coming off and he was sitting there in his underwear, he realized it didn’t matter.

“Wait, what is it about the dorm uniform?”

“Heh. Just – the heels,” you blurt out. “They’re kind of... –ah, I’m not gonna say it.”

The idle talk is not important. All you can focus on is how his porcelain skin contrasts with the crimson quilting, and he’s blushing head to toe, like a white rose poorly stained with red paint. Actually, you meant to say the heels turned you on (come on, admit it, just a little?), but halfway through the sentence you noticed you could not be any more aroused, and then he fell on top of you again, and your head emptied completely of thoughts. His hand now presses between your legs, and you wonder where your skirt went – it had been on you just a second before, right?

“Riddle,” you gasp, knowing the fabric of your underwear is betraying you and giving away how wet you are. You have no doubt he can feel it too. And he wishes you wouldn’t call his name, not like that – do you have any idea what you’re doing to him? His fingers are caressing you softly, and it truly feels like you might burst even though you’re just getting started. His face is close to yours, jaw shivering in a cold sweat, even though it feels like there must be a hundred degrees in the darkness of the room. And while he’s helping your orgasm build up, thumb toying with you gently, he can’t help but wonder if your skin feels just as good to the direct touch as it feels through your panties, and how is it that even the parts of you he never knew are all so perfect. It seems slightly unfair, he muses, that you could be this flawless without even trying – but then you wince a little, possibly lost in pleasure, and Riddle starts worrying again.

“Are you okay?” his words feel moist close to your ear.

“Hm-mm.”

“Relax your arms.”

And the second you do, he moves back down again, slobbering kisses all over your neck and chest. While seemingly rawer and more animal than ever, he’s still attentively measuring your reactions, and finds you gasp the loudest when he sucks on your breasts. So, he teases them for a while, circling slowly with his tongue, then softly and toothlessly pinching the stiff center with his lips; he repeats from left breast to right, slowly, deliberately, back and forth, with a sort of rhythmic cadence. Focus, Riddle reminds himself, as his own erection is throbbing painfully. But he’s determined to devote to you first and foremost.

“May I–”

“Yes. Please,” you beg, not even sure what you are agreeing to, but realizing it might as well not matter anymore.

Struggling to open your eyes, you force yourself into keeping alert just so you can take in the view of your raggedly breathing boyfriend, peeking up from the curves between your breasts, hand on the inside of your underwear and soaking his slender fingers inside, applying even pressure. He is amused at the sight of how effortlessly they go in and out, assisted by your moisture, so much so that he forgets about your breasts for a moment. Your voice brings his attention back, however.

“I – I can’t...”

“It’s okay. Don’t hold it in”, he reassures, but maybe he is also talking to himself, as Riddle is always the type to exceed in self-restraint. You are melting, becoming undone with a touch of his hand and he cannot get enough of how it feels – to hear you panting and moaning, to know he will soon be able to press inside you and fill you with his length. It’s an unfamiliar, weird, wonderful thing – not quite like he had imagined, but perfect all the same. Your chest is responsive to his every kiss, and now his fingers have gotten faster and heavier. He can feel you close and is living for it.

“Riddle, I –”

“You’re so beautiful,” he gasps breathily, finally able to be honest with himself. “Don’t hold back. It’s all right.”

“Riddle. Riddle? I’m – I ––”

“––Y/N,” he chuckles, and his touch becomes even more merciless. Your hard nipples cannot possibly take any more kisses. “You’re so adorable.”

It’s not like you need any more stimulation, but as he says this, his mouth is full of one breast and hand cupping the other, and you can clearly see it all, from his heavy-lidded slate grey eyes to his dark red eyelashes, all focused on you as he’s making your sex squeak with wet sounds, pushing down just underneath your navel as his fingers throb and sting inside you.

“Please. Don’t stop.”

He won’t. He’s not the type to tease you like that. Your toes are curling in a frenzy as your legs swing inevitably open, and pretty soon you’re incoherently giving into the thrusting of his hand, and his lips have not left your breasts for one second.

You can’t hold it in. You would have if you could have – the sensation was just too amazing, and you were trying to grasp at straws –literally, if by straws you mean sinking your nails into his shoulders– trying to prolong your orgasm to no avail. You are coming all over, spasming and stirring and gasping his name, and Riddle is a bit scared at first – did he – did he do that? – but it seems you are content, and you settle down huffing beneath him. He takes out his fingers, but his hand stays put, pushing on you softly, as you are still whimpering with the aftershocks that come and go after the peak.

Riddle knows what is supposed to come after that, but the thought alone makes his stomach do cartwheels. Now, how to initiate? He doesn’t have time to think, as you grab him by the wrist, taking his hand out of your underwear and giving it a tug, motioning him to come closer. In your current clouded state, it’s hard of you to completely gain enough strength to pin him down as you originally had wanted to, so you settle to have him sit beside you as you roll over so that your upper body meets his crotch.

“Y/N?” he yelps, suddenly self-aware of how flush his length is against the fabric of his boxers, throbbing to come out, and your face is now caressing it softly with only one layer to separate you.

“Ah. Sorry. Too fast?”

He shakes his head.

“No. Actually,” he pushes his underwear down. “Please. Can you –”

He needn’t ask. The sensation of him in your mouth compelled such novelty – it was weird to get used to, but at the same time felt like the natural next step to take. Tip reddened and throbbing, teased by your lips as your hands would steady his thighs. Funny how something so intense – suckling at him, gasping for jagged breaths, as the bitter taste of his precum numbs your other senses – would come apparent to you so matter-of-factly, unrehearsed yet perfectly calculated. Riddle stifles moans until he can’t anymore, pouring from his lips, buckling into you with hand tangled in your hair, pulling you closer.

He’s no longer thinking straight, and that’s fine. If he were, he’d still be stuck in the preparation phase, staring mindlessly at the welt of your socks, unable to move. But since he’s no longer counting the kisses he’s given you tonight, he’ll make a point of also not counting how many times he’ll thrust into you, as he topples you over when the wetness of your mouth just won’t quite scratch that itch, and hurriedly reaches over the counter for a condom. It’s not like the guilt is completely done, but this – this is everything right now, and as you are huffing and puffing away below him, eager to receive him, he understands that a bit of chaos is needed every once in a while.

A lot of first times are awkward. This might be no exception. But he enters you with such ease, you wonder how this new feeling can be so recognizable, as the pressure builds between your legs and his hipbones dig into you once again, and he restrains your hands with his, raising your arms, soft eyes filled with lust.

“So tight...” Riddle whispers, but it’s more like sounds are escaping him, uncontrolled, “Y/N... y-you’re...”

His speech is barely intelligible, though you can sometimes make out words – ‘beautiful’, ‘good’, ‘wet’ – and a few poorly-pronounced phrases like “does it hurt?” –– it doesn’t, and as you’re pinned beneath him with a clear view into his quivering rosy lips and half-lidded gaze, you know he’s getting closer as he gets harder. He‘s trying to get his mouth full of your taste as if it were forbidden – like it all boiled down to this one evening, and this chance was all he had. And if it were for him, he would have made it last forever – but his body is not so used to this kind of endurance, so after a few minutes Riddle finally gives in, collapsing into your shoulder, quietly whimpering your name, in a moment of weakness that is greater than he’d like to admit. Riding his orgasm, fingers entwined with yours and digging at your knuckles in a tight grip, his voice is unlike you’ve ever heard it before, and you understand its over once he quiets down.

The silence lasts for a few moments. Or, more appropriately put, a slight wave of sheepish embarrassment, as he’s promptly rolled over to your left and you’re both lying face up and wheezing up a storm as if you’d just ran some kind of marathon. But then Riddle slightly tugs at your hand.

“Everything alright?”

“I think so. You?”

“It’s been... quite the novelty,” he says flatly, but then smiles a little at his choice of words. “Do couples do this all the time? ...it seems exhausting.”

“So that’s it? That was your quota for a whole lifetime? Fine then.”

“––No!” he hastily turns sharp on his side, facing you, only to find that you’re unable to hold your laughter. “–Oh. Not funny, Y/N.”

“Sorry! Sorry.”

“– I would very much like it if we did it again. Uh... tomorrow, or – or some other time.”

You smile. “I would like that, too.”

“Should we settle on a schedule?”

“––what? No!” but a sudden tinge of guilt overcomes you, as you quickly realize he might need it. “U–uh, I mean, if – if that makes it easier for you–––”

“––just kidding,” a soft smirk escapes him, like a stifled giggle that says ‘gotcha’.

“Oh, look at you cracking jokes now,” you accuse him with a pout. “That’s a first.”

“Guess that makes two firsts in one day.”

As you both let out a complicit giggle, reaching out for the sheets and then for each other’s hands, no longer worried about the next one step or million steps to come, you find yourselves drifting off to sleep in a loose embrace.

[sfstranslations]

how hard(?) would you say it is to translate? Ive been kinda curious about that, like does anything get lost in translation/ just not make that much sense without knowing the og language? or anything like that? 🤔

Hm, maybe 7 or 8 on a scale of 10? Though it can easily go higher at times, haha. (Always when Sung Hyunjae is in a scene because his name is a misspelling and it pisses me off.* This is a joke. Only half, though.) Basic word-by-word dictionary lookup is simple, which is why machine translators can do it well enough. But then you have to string all of it together in a sentence where you:

figure out and find a way to convey any difference in connotation between this specific chosen word and other words that mean the same thing (think the connotations of "regal" VS "royal" in English), and

do the same as above, but on a sentence-wide level translating the nuance of a particular grammar/sentence structure (thousand and one sentence endings in Korean, I swear -_-), and

make sure distinct character voices are retained or translated from the original Korean (think Song Taewon's stiff formality VS Han Yoojin's more casual speech VS Sung Hyunjae's middle-aged rich guy-type speech), and

make sure this sentence flows with the overall paragraph/chapter.

All those priorities have to be juggled throughout the chapter and add up to make it a fairly hard task. It definitely gets easier with practice once you're more familiar with the language (especially the nuance/connotation stuff), though, and I did get lucky in that my native language shares some aspects with Korean so the grammar is easier to intuitively grasp. Of course, I'm still learning, so I do have times I need to call in more experienced speakers for help.

(I definitely wouldn't say I'm good with the language period. Recently I've tentatively picked up a new novel—people following my personal blog will know which one—and it turns out I'm familiar with the way Geunseo talks and familiar with the vocabulary typical to dungeon fantasy novels, but kind of. Majorly hopeless when it comes to other stuff. The phrasing is juuust off enough that I keep getting tripped up and taking thrice as long to understand what's being said.)

There's definitely stuff that wouldn't make sense in English—certain idioms, cultural stuff, and all that, but that's why I try to localize wherever possible and add footnotes with relevant info/links if not. And there is stuff that gets lost in translation—you can look at the chapter titles from 302–307 for an example of that, where the joke is much more immediately obvious in Korean but had to be translated differently as chapter title VS in-chapter text messages and lost the clear parallel. I also remember being grumpy back during the virtual reality dungeon arc because Yoohyun would use 네놈 (ne-nom but typically pronounced ni-nom, a derogatory way to say "you", LMAO) towards Sigma and there was no concise way to get that across in English except having him be aggressive and direct. Especially since he isn't the type to swear by word of god, so I couldn't have him addressing him with "asshole" or "jerk" to convey it.

TL;DR: Fairly hard to translate, but gets easier with time, and there is stuff that's lost or difficult to understand, but I do what I can to make it understandable in English!

--

* Sung Hyunjae uses "ae" at the end, but that implies it's 성현재, which is wrong—the correct spelling is 성현제, which should be "Sung Hyunje". (If you wanted to go the full Revised Romanization route, it'd be Seong Hyeonje, but I've weathered my share of name changes and that's a step too far even for me.) I've been meaning to make a poll about changing it like with the Lauchitas spelling, but I keep forgetting.

[swanimagines]

CAUGHT IN HIS WORLD | KAZ BREKKER

Summary: Kaz asking you to accompany him for a job makes you think it'd be a nice opportunity to spend time with him, but instead you end up breaking and entering to one of the most feared gang's warehouse, and that doesn't exactly meet your morals.

You had always been a good and obedient child, raised in a wealthy family of merchants, that valued order and stability. But there was one person who made you question who you were, who you were supposed to be - and that person was Kaz Brekker.

The boy quickly gaining reputation as a ruthless killer, a child demon. He’d even get called Dirtyhands after he started to wear his gloves, for all the horrible things he did - some kids not much younger than him were taught that if they didn’t behave, Dirtyhands would come and take them. Him breaking his leg and getting a cane just intensified the rumours somehow, even the weakness was turned into something scary.

And you had fallen for him of all people. You had tried to push your feelings down - you really had. But it wasn’t that simple, maybe the life he lived was why you felt so drawn to him. So you sought for his company, hung out with him as much as he let you, and eventually he seemed to warm up to you too. Or at least he didn’t snap at you as much as before.

One day, Kaz asked if you wanted to accompany him for a job. He was being vague about the details, but honestly you didn’t mind, you’d enjoy spending time with him - even if a small voice at the back of your head was telling you that it was a bad idea. So here you were, walking through the dark alleys of Ketterdam, slightly uneasy about shady people lurking in the shadows. You thanked the Saints you were with Kaz while there, he’d kill everyone trying to ambush you, and people knew it.

Finally, you stopped in front of a warehouse and Kaz scanned his surroundings quickly. His gaze fell on the large lock hanging from the door and took out a small pouch of lockpicks, laying his cane against the wall and kneeling down on his good leg as he started working on the lock.

Was he breaking into a warehouse? Your heart started pounding in your chest, you had known in a way that you shouldn’t have come with him, but you had been too wrapped around Kaz’s dangerous aura to resist it.

“Wait,” you asked, for some reason hoping Kaz had a legitimate reason to do it. “Do we have a permission to do this?”

“Of course,” he replied, not even glancing at you. “Hein Middelesch asked me to snatch some jewelry and some papers to claim the ownership of certain shops at the Barrel. He’s a real gentleman, helping a rivaling gang like that.”

You swallowed, recognising the name. “H-Hein Middelesch? The leader of Grinning Cats? Kaz-”

The lock gave a click on that moment and opened, and then the door was open, and Kaz headed inside, without letting you finish the sentence.

The warehouse wasn’t that big, but the clicks of Kaz’s cane still echoed through the hall. You followed him meekly, feeling like you had just committed a murder of some kind. Kaz began looking through the cabinets and boxes, once in a while stuffing items to his pockets, and you glanced around, basically being scared of your own shadow.

After a few minutes of just standing there, you cleared your throat. “Kaz, um. I don’t know if it’s wise to be here. What if we get caught? The Cats are known to dig eyes out–”

“You can always walk out of the door.” Kaz interrupted, not even giving you a glance.

You sighed. “I… I don’t want to leave you here alone. It’s just that, my family wouldn’t think this is a good idea.”

Kaz moved onto the next box, and you almost heard an eyeroll in his words. “Of course they wouldn’t, they’re too busy to count their kruge and looking down at us Barrel rats.”

You felt a twinge of anger at his words. “That’s not fair. My family has worked hard for our wealth, unlike Pekka Rollins for example.”

Kaz’s shoulders tensed at the mention of his arch nemesis, his hands pausing for a moment. But then he continued, “Sure they did. And they’d be absolutely thrilled to know that their little princess is here, having broken in into a warehouse with me.”

“I'm not a princess. And I didn’t break in. You did. I agreed to come with you just to spend time with you. I didn’t know you’d do something like this. Clearly I made a mistake.” 

Kaz stood up, finally turning to look at you. His face had his usual scowl, and his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at you. “You sure are quick to turn against me.”

You crossed your arms, groaning. “I’m not turning against you, Kaz. I just don’t want to get into trouble.”

Kaz let out a snort. "Doing something like this probably isn't what you've been used to? Being acquaintances with me and assuming you'll never get your hands dirty isn't an option."

He always called you an acquaintance. Not a friend. Acquaintance. You had come to hate that word by now. You fought with your heart for a moment, before you finally gave in to it.

“Alright,” you grumbled, taking a look at the boxes around the hall. “What shelf should I look through?”

Kaz smirked, nodding over to the shelf next to the one he had been rummaging through. “Start with that one.”

You slowly walked over to it, taking in a deep sigh before you peeked into the first box. You definitely didn’t feel like you were in your element, but you knew that what Kaz said was true - in the Barrel, you either adapt or you die. It was harsh and cruel, but it was the truth. And as much as it went against your morals, you wanted to help Kaz to survive. Being a Dreg didn’t come for free, and there was no way Kaz would let that life go. Something had happened to him prior to meeting you, something involving Pekka Rollins, and his revenge required him to become powerful. The kind of powerful that didn’t come the legitimate way.

Deep down, you knew that this path you were going with Kaz Brekker could bring you into the criminal world - your family could disown you, you could end up in the street. But still, in a twisted way, this was something you felt right about doing. Even when you were reluctant about it, you felt like you were part of something that would help Kaz in a way you would never be able to help anyone else. You weren’t sure where that feeling came from, but you were always drifting back to Kaz, back in his company, somewhere you didn't belong. Maybe things would sort themselves out in the end. Maybe Kaz would start calling you a friend instead of an acquaintance. And maybe… 

Maybe there would be something more waiting for you and Kaz. 

---

Requests are always open! FANDOM LIST | PROMPT LIST(S) | RULES (READ!!!)

[so-many-ocs]

a guide to formatting dialogue (it's harder than you'd think!)

a request from instagram that i'm posting here. buckle up, because this is a long one!

if a spoken sentence ends in a period, don’t use a dialogue tag. either replace the period with a comma or replace the dialogue tag with a separate sentence indicating a related action or description.

incorrect: “I need to go.” he said.

even more incorrect: “I need to go.” He said.

correct: “I need to go,” he said. or “I need to go.” He pushed back his chair and stood.

this rule does not apply to other types of punctuation such as question marks or exclamation points.

leave the dialogue tag lowercase, no matter what. (proper nouns remain capitalized)

incorrect: “When are we leaving?” She asked. ("She asked" is not a complete sentence)

correct: “When are we leaving?” she asked. (the line of dialogue is included in the complete sentence)

when formatting dialogue, you can add natural pauses by breaking up a spoken line with a dialogue tag or an action.

correct: “Wait,” they said. “I feel like this is getting overly complicated.” (within the lines of dialogue, ‘wait’ is its own sentence, so you use a period after ‘they said.’ you can remove the dialogue tag and it would be written like this: “Wait. I feel like this is getting overly complicated.”)

also correct: “I’m running out of sentence ideas,” they muttered, shifting in place, “but writing doesn’t sleep and neither do I.” (if you wrote the dialogue without the tag and action, it would look like this: “I’m running out of sentence ideas, but writing doesn’t sleep and neither do I.” adding the dialogue tag lengthens the natural pause created by the comma. also it’s 3am while i’m writing this. “go to sleep,” you say. to which i say, “did you not read my example sentence?”)

still correct i think (probably but english grammar is a total bitch): “I am going to stop now—” Here, she began rummaging through her bag, before producing a slender vial filled with shimmering liquid, “—and show you something of great importance.” (if you removed the interrupting action, the sentence would be written like this: “I am going to stop now and show you something of great importance.” there is no comma, so the pause being added is for effect, rather than for grammatical purposes. use an em dash (two hyphens, formats like: —) or ellipses (...). additionally, the action is its own separate sentence, rather than being attached to the dialogue as a tag, so it is capitalized.)

an additional note on em dashes: if they are used in a sentence, be it for an interjection, an interruption, a pause, or a secret fourth thing, there is no space before or after the dash. here’s an example from my wip: “Now, though—and overnight, it seemed—the two were acting as a unit, leaving her on the outside.”

if, for whatever reason, a character is speaking in paragraphs, the formatting gets a bit wonky.

“This is going to be the shortest example paragraph ever, but here goes. I am going to write three sentences so this qualifies as a paragraph. Two sentences might also qualify, but I am nothing if not committed to the bit. “New paragraph,” she continued, “same speaker. Wow, look, I incorporated an earlier concept to demonstrate it in a different context. How cool is that? You should totally follow whoever is posting such great writing advice.”

there is no end quote after the first paragraph, but there is a start quote at the beginning of the second paragraph. the end quote comes whenever the speaker is finished. why? i have no idea; i didn’t invent the english language, i just work here.

you can use colons and semicolons in dialogue. it gets a bit awkward, but we’ve just covered paragraph formatting, so how hard can it be?

correct: He asked: “What on earth are you talking about?” (colon in place of a comma when a dialogue tag is placed before the dialogue)

also correct: They said, “It’s getting late, isn't it?” (comma when a dialogue tag is placed before the dialogue)

incorrect: “What on earth are you talking about?”: he asked. (the question mark functions as a comma and eliminates the need for a colon. also, as a rule of thumb, the ending punctuation does not get placed outside of the quotation marks)

still incorrect: He asked; “What on earth are you talking about?” (use a comma)

you can also use colons and semicolons within lines of dialogue (as you would in a normal sentence)

stylistic choices

you do not have to use quotation marks in dialogue, but whatever you choose to do, do it consistently.

For example, some writers format their dialogue in italics, they said. But grammatical and punctuation rules still apply.

Others don’t use italics and just hope people can spot the dialogue or action tags, she supplied. This can get a bit confusing, but I think that’s the point.

— Some use dashes to indicate the start of a line of dialogue, and, of course, the standard varies from place to place and language to language.

‘Still more use single quotes,’ he offered, ‘though I’m not sure why. Maybe it looks better.’

that's it for now! really, you could probably write a book on this topic alone, and cover every minute detail of grammar within dialogue (how would one format an interrobang, i wonder?), but here's a kind-of-basic-but-still-dense guide :)

buy me a ko-fi | what's the deal with radio apocalypse?

[accio-victuuri]

Wang Yibo’s “Popular Films” interview feature:

Why do everyone keep talking about Al Pacino's performance in "The Godfather"? It's really like the blooming of a second life that will last forever. This is probably what makes me like movies more and more. I watched a movie before, and there was a line I liked very much that seemed to say: Some movies end the moment the screen lights up, and some movies will last forever. Well, good movies will last forever. , this is also what I think is very charming about a movie.

👨: Welcome Yibo! Congratulations on your nomination!

WYB: thanks, thanks!

👨: Speaking of which, "Popular Movies" had a relatively detailed report on "Hidden Blade" in the second issue of 2023.

WYB: Ah yes, I know. I read that article.

👨: How well do you think the author understood it?

WYB: I think there is no such thing as a standard! Because everyone has a different story and a different perspective on things, so everyone has their own understanding. This is what I think is the most interesting thing about the movie.

👨: We also made detailed reports on the subsequent "Born to Fly" and "One and Only", but we did not conduct interviews at the time. Now let's talk briefly about them in order of release date from near to far!

WYB: Okay, okay!

👨: First up is "One and Only". The protagonist of this film is a hip-hop boy, which should be in your Comfort Zone Is this role relatively easy to play?

WYB: I think it is my comfort zone when it comes to dance. In terms of performance, it will indeed be similar to my childhood experience. I may understand the dancers better and get into the role better, so it will be closer, but I think there is no easy role.

👨: This script was written after the director negotiated with you to star in it, right?

WYB: Yes, the director was also making changes and additions in the middle. The script he received at the beginning was also different from the final result.

👨: There is a lot of dancing in this film. Did you participate in the choreography?

WYB: Because this type of dance is quite special, it is not danced while standing on the ground. There are many techniques in breaking. Although I know hip-hop very well, I cannot completely execute the technique part by myself, so I do have my own idea, but the choreographer didn’t participate.

👨: After the choreographer completed the choreography, did you propose any changes when communicating with them?

WYB: Maybe you have, yes, because sometimes when you jump by yourself, you may wish that here, eh, would it be better to use this action? Well, it is a process of continuous improvement.

👨: It's very interesting. You and Director Dapeng got along as actors in "Hidden Blade" and as directors and actors in "Hidden Blade". Is there a big difference in the way of getting along with each other?

WYB: There is indeed a big difference, because in "Hidden Blade" I had less contact with director Dapeng, and we did not have any direct scenes together. We only appeared together in the group scenes of eating and holding umbrellas at funerals. In that very serious creation. There is also less communication in the environment. But when we collaborated on "One and Only" later, Director Dapeng seemed like a different person, very lively and happy.

👨: "One and Only" has a comedy atmosphere, while "Hidden Blade" is very serious, even a little sad, so I think your personal temperament is closer to "Hidden Blade"...

WYB: Thanks!

👨: So how did you develop your comedy performance in "One and Only"?

WYB: I feel that I was not responsible for the comedy part in "One and Only". Chen Shuo is more like an innocent, serious and hard-working young man. Yue Yunpeng laoshi or Xiao Shenyang laoshi are responsible for the comedy part.

👨: But there are also some scenes where everyone will have fun together after just one sentence...

WYB: oh?

👨: For example, "Just show respect!"

WYB: Ah, hahaha, yes. These jokes were thought up by the director and screenwriting teacher. I told them based on the upright and innocent feeling of the character. Maybe the contrast coupled with this word will make the effect more comedic.

👨: Although there are not many lines like this, the impression is quite deep.

WYB: Thanks!

👨: Generally speaking, when an actor completes a role, he will have certain emotions for this role. So when you leave Chen Shuo, what kind of feelings do you have for him, and what do you hope his life will be like in the future?

WYB: After the movie "One and Only" was completed, I still remember it very fondly. Yes, because it is more like my experience as a child. When I was a child, I insisted on dancing when I was a child, and it was because of dancing that I became a star or an actor. So I am very happy that Chen Shuo has such a perfect ending. I hope he will have a smooth sailing future and win more championships.

👨: Okay, now let’s talk about “King of the Sky”. Director Liu Xiaoshi said it’s very important for you to get the script, you quickly decided to star in the role. Was it the subject matter that moved you?

WYB: It is indeed a script like "The King of the Sky". Many of the lines are really touching, and it is also hard to resist such military themes and test pilot themes.

👨: Do you have a military complex?

WYB: I think I am quite passionate inside.

👨: This film was shot in the Northwest for a long time. During the process, I knew that there was some training, and it was also quite difficult. The Northwest is windy, sandy, and cold.So what do you think is the most difficult thing?

WYB: Well…………I think this is really after getting involved, I don’t think it is a difficult thing, because everyone is working hard in the same direction, maybe I will feel tired at the time, or It was quite bitter, so what, but when I look back and think about it - I am this kind of person - if I look back and think about the things I have done, I won't think it was anything, it was not a big deal. Although the shooting time is so long, this allows the actors to focus more on delving into the knowledge of various aircraft, because this still takes time to understand.

👨: Mr. Hu Jun was also nominated for the Golden Rooster Award for Best Supporting Actor for this film. Did you congratulate each other?

WYB: Yes, yes, I was congratulating him just now during the ceremony.

👨: He has played many soldiers, and I think he is very familiar with this temperament...

WYB: Yes, Hu Jun laoshihas acted in "Flying Leopard" before and is also a pilot.

👨: He is the captain in the movie, leading you young test pilots to fight. Watch the behind- the-scenes and he often teaches you acting outside the play?

WYB: Yes, he is like a big brother. He takes us to exercise and eat together, and sometimes we will talk about the script and each character together on set. Jun ge is very good at taking care of people, because there are seven people in our team. It’s not just me. In fact, Jun ge has also been taking care of other young actors.

👨: Your team is quite united.

WYB: Yes, because they are all boys, they like sports, and they all havesimilar interests.

👨: I would like to interject, if you really go for the pilot selection, is it possible to pass?

WYB: It may be very difficult, mainly because the physical quality is too high. I’d better treat myself as an actor first (laughs).

👨: It is both the main theme and commercial quality. We feel that "Born to Fly" has exceeded our expectations. How did it feel when you saw the finished film? Because there were no special effects when you shot it? ?

WYB: Actually, when I started running the road show, I hadn’t gone to the cinema to watch it because of time constraints. Then I remembered whether it was in Guangzhou or somewhere, so I went to the theater to watch it. The visual effects, sound effects, and the whole thing were really like those in a theater. The special effects are really shocking. I didn’t expect that the visual effects of fighter jets in the air could be made like this. I didn’t expect that some high-altitude movements of airplanes and unknown movements of the aircraft could be explained and presented on the big screen like this.

👨: Also, what do you think of Lei Yu’s future?

WYB: He will definitely go in the direction of Captain Zhang Ting, but he must be a new generation of young test pilots. Captain Zhang Ting also said before that every generation of test pilots is different, and theoretical knowledge like Lei Yu It will be more solid and the flying skills will be better.

👨: Director Cheng Er said that when he sees you ordering and putting on those costumes, he feels like the characters in his original novel or script have become different. So when did you feel that you were Mr. Ye?

WYB: When I tried makeup for the first time, I had never tried makeup and styling like that before. It felt like I was in another time and space. Such styling and clothing helped me instantly connect with this character. Then I think it was through the lines between the opposing actors and the communication with the director - because everyone knows the director's script, they will add it part by part, and as the filming process progresses, it will gradually become more and more complete. The more I get to know this character, the more I am immersed in it, and the more skillfully I perform.

👨: Director Cheng Er said that you have sufficient training. What does this training include?

WYB: I also trained in advance before shooting, and went to watch some movies specifically. For example, the director took me to watch "The Godfather" Parts 1, 2, and 3 again, as well as "Pulp Fiction", "Inglourious Basterds" and so on, and maybe more It’s some pull tabs on performance status. Then there is also some training such as lines, including action training.

👨: Director Cheng Er himself said that many scenes are left to you to express yourself freely.

WYB: Well, sometimes there are. Sometimes the director will tell me his idea first, and then I will act it out again, and then make adjustments; sometimes the director will give me a framework, that is, how to do it in this environment, and then you will You think about what you want to do, and if you think it's OK, we'll start shooting.

👨: Oh, it turns out this is such a process.

WYB: Yes, yes, he is very detailed in some aspects and very open in others. For example, the previous process is a detailed communication, telling me carefully that you can take off your clothes first, then take off your tie, and then change; or if you feel comfortable, you can also take off your tie first—— I'm just making an analogy - take off your clothes again. But sometimes, they will tell me the situation, and then let me think about how to do it, and then shoot after I have thought about it. Give it a big framework, yes, and it contains your freedom.

👨: What impressed you most during the filming of "Unknown"? Which scene do you remember the most NG?

WYB: Actually, not long after I started making movies, I was selected by director Cheng Er, and it was a very important role, so I had a very deep impression on the filming. One reason is that the director is used to shooting at night, or he feels that shooting at night is more exciting. Most of our shooting starts at 6 pm and ends at 6 am the next day. This highly concentrated and tiring way of working is really rare to experience! And then I failed a few times... The director is very, very serious and very meticulous. Maybe during the filming process, wefilmed a lot of scenes, well, we just found the best ones through reshooting over and over again.

👨: Especially that one-shot fight scene?

WYB: Oh, yes, that is also rehearsed in advance. You get those cardboard boxes in advance, roughly arrange a scene, and then practice and play until the official shooting.

👨: I remember director Cheng Er said that he shot more than 30 takes, and he used the second to last take.

WYB: Maybe, but I can’t remember clearly, because I could only take five or six pictures a day, and it took a week. The director will be more aware when editing.

👨: So Director Cheng Er said you have enough patience?

WYB: I personally think that when doing something you like, no matter how big the difficulty is, it may not be a difficulty, so you can just keep doing it. Maybe this is the aspect of patience that the director is talking about.

👨: Speaking of language talent, Director Cheng Er has repeatedly praised you. Is that because you have this talent and it doesn’t take much effort to learn these dialects or foreign languages?

WYB: Well, I think on the one hand it's okay and not too strenuous, and on the other hand I think my own lines are not that good, so maybe I will feel more confident when speaking a language that I am not familiar with.

👨: Many viewers commented that your Japanese is not only fluent, but also that your tone is full.

WYB: Well, the crew has a dedicated Japanese teacher who will give me a video with the corresponding Chinese characters and Japanese, so I listen and watch at the same time, and I am also imitating his tone, because the Japanese teacher actually helped me perform and speak the Japanese intonation and tone, so I tried my best to imitate it.

👨: The eye scenes, fighting scenes and the use of multiple languages ​​in "Hidden Blade", which part do you think is the most difficult?

WYB: I think it's the eyes, because maybe I haven't trained my eyes like this before. In addition, "Hidden adr" does have a lot of eye scenes, so I think eye scenes are quite difficult. In addition, sometimes I have to act opposite Mr. Liang, which makes me very nervous and under a lot of pressure.

👨: How did you overcome this pressure later?

WYB: Prepare in advance and have a lot of rehearsals.

👨: You said that Mr. Ye is a very bitter person. If the plot continues, Director Cheng Er will most likely arrange a tragic ending for him. Putting aside the director's settings, what do you hope Mr. Ye's ending will be?

WYB: I think it may be difficult to have a happy ending. He lived in that era and in that working environment, but he did not leave. I hope that in his spy career, he can achieve his goals, complete his work, and escape unscathed. Well, how should I put it, be safe!

👨: Out of 10 points, how would you rate Mr. Ye's performance?

WYB: (Laughs) I think it might be a little higher than a passing grade!

👨: 7 points, 8 points?

WYB: If the full score is 10 points.

👨: We’ve just talked about three movies. Do you want to drink some water and take a break?

WYB: It's okay, it's okay, it's okay.

👨: It is very rare for a new actor to have three starring movies released in one year!

WYB: Thanks!

👨: I read some reports and interviews. The directors of these three films found you first, which can be said to be very lucky. So for you - you entered the entertainment industry as a singer and a pop idol - is it something that happens when your career develops to a certain stage, or is it because you like it, love it, and seize the opportunity to make your dream come true?

WYB: My first dream when I was little was definitely to be a singer and to stand on stage and sing. I think this first dream has come true. How I came into contact with movies, I think, was probably a mistake. In fact, my first movie was called "Dream Partner". At that time, Ms. Du of the company asked me to go for an interview, and then I made movies with Sister Yao Chen, including the movie "The Red Boy" in "Westward Journey 3". . From then on, I slowly started to understand movies and watched some movies, and then I felt that many movie actors, their charm, through movies and the screen, seemed to have gained a second life. Why do everyone keep talking about Al Pacino's performance in "The Godfather" It's really like the blooming of a second life that will last forever. This is probably what makes me like movies more and more. I watched a movie before, and there was a line I liked very much that seemed to say: Some movies end the moment the screen lights up, and some movies will last forever. Well, good movies will last forever. , this is also what I think is very charming about the movie. The charm of movies is still very different from the charm of stage. Yes. The stage, I think, may be more of a moment of pleasure, a kind of release on the stage, while the movie is exquisitely crafted.

👨: These three movies were all chosen first. Will you try hard to get a role that you like in the future?

WYB: Yes, you must first have a character and a script you like, and then go for it.

👨: Now that you have been nominated for the Golden Rooster Award, will you still submit your resume and audition?

WYB: Of course, including the works of favorite directors, I will also fight for them.

👨: Your own temperament, as defined by the movie channel, is "noble and romantic"...

WYB: Thanks!

👨: And it has a relatively reserved feeling. If you encounter a character who is full of emotions and has strong emotions, would you avoid it?

WYB: I think when I like a character, I don’t first think about whether his emotions are high and low, but maybe I think more about the charm of the character. If I like the character very much, it doesn’t matter if he is high or low, or Regardless of whether I keep it or not, I might wan to try it, but I’m not against it.

👨: What about comedy? Are you interested in a pure comedy?

WYB: Pure comedy, well, I haven't thought about it yet. If there is a character that i really like, I don't think I can resist it and I can try it.

👨: As a newcomer, you are relatively relaxed in front of the camera and don't feel tense. Is this because you started your acting career very early and have rich acting experience, so you are more familiar with the camera?

WYB: I think it is true that as a singer, when performing on stage, whether in front of the audience or in front of the camera, you may be relatively skilled and relaxed, but it is still not enough in the eyes of the director. I think Director Cheng Er gave me a good start. He asked me not to "act" but to subtract. In fact, I am very grateful to the director for cultivating such a goodhabit in me.

👨: During the filming process, in addition to the NG mentioned just now, we often heard "Keep one thing, keep one thing". Of course, this kind of "keep one thing" is often proposed by directors, but have you ever raised it yourself?

WYB: There will be, there will be.

👨: Why is that, if there are no mistakes?

WYB: The requirements are definitely getting higher and higher, and I hope to be better.

👨: What if the director is already satisfied?

WYB: Sometimes actors have their own obsessions, demands, or ideas of their own.They may want me to try something like this again, or I feel that if I have subtracted some actions just now, I would like this action I think it's a bit redundant, so I might want to say, let me do another one without this action.

👨: When you are working, are you in a state where you can get into a scene quickly and get out of the scene quickly?

WYB: I have to get into the mood in advance. I think as an actor, it is normal for you toprepare for the role. As for whether you are really immersed in this role, it depends on you. The more you put your heart into it, the more you will be immersed in it. If you put in your heart less, you won't be able to immerse yourself in it. This is how I feel. So I am more on that set, in that environment, to feel and immerse myself in the set. There is no way for me to change my face as soon as the filming starts, and then return to myself as soon as it ends. I think in that case, as an actor, I have not experienced enough to experience the role? Including if you are really crying very sadly and violently, can you stop it at once? That is impossible.

👨: Well, speaking of which, your crying scene really left a stunning impression on people, I just said that when the crying scene ends, you may not be able to get out for a while, but what about when you enter?

WYB: Every actor may have a different way of entering a scene, so I may still have to use some help. Whether it’s some memories or music, this is also a skill and the reason why actors need a lot of experience. The more you experience, the more you see, the more you understand. When I need some help with my performance, I can quickly capture similar details from my experiences or memories, and then perform them based on the feeling of the character.

👨: Your collaborators, whether they are directors or rival actors, often comment that you are dedicated and hard-working. So I would like to ask, to use the current fashionable term, are you an "involved" person? ?

WYB: I don't think there is such a thing as "involution". I just want to do this thing well out of love.

👨: Is it more accurate to pursue perfection relatively?

WYB: Well, I think so.

👨: People also say that you can endure hardships.

WYB: Well, it must be a little tiring physically, but back to the question, when I am doing this thing, I have already chosen to do it, and if I also want to do it well, I still can’t feel bitter. But would you say you are tired? You will still be tired. Maybe onlookers will think, how tired you are when you do this? Then the premise is that you still like it. I just don’t think it’s hard, but people will see how tired you are, so when they evaluate you, they will say you can endure hardship.

👨: Three movies were released this year, and two were nominated for the Golden Rooster Award. How do you evaluate your year?

WYB: I feel very satisfied and very lucky. Being able to produce three such good works in one year, I think it is really a blessing for an actor. Then whether you try different roles or experience different lives, you will be very happy.

👨: The word Director Cheng Er used to describe you impressed me deeply. It was called "Mianshan". This "Mian" should mean "soft". So you are a relatively soft-hearted person?!

WYB: Well, I think it depends on the situation. When getting along with others, I may be relatively soft. But when it comes to what I pursue, when I want to fight for the first place, I won’t be soft and will be very determined, so it depends on the situation.

👨: We have been paying attention to you since the news about "Hidden Blade" and "Born to Fly". Then I feel that you have changed a lot this year. Before, you felt more like a teenager. This year, whether in activities or in the process of publicity, you have become very calm, and you feel like an adult. Have you felt this change yourself?

WYB: I actually don’t feel this way too much, but I think it may be that I improved rapidly in the year when I made three movies... Maybe it’s also because of experience. Various experiences, I think, are different.

👨: You are usually busy with work and have a very intensive schedule, so do you have very little time for yourself in your spare time?

WYB: Actually, when I am not on the set, my spare time is pretty good, um, pretty good.

👨: Do you watch movies in your free time?

WYB: Yes, I watched a lot of movies with the director some time ago.

👨: Is it the kind of projection you watch at home?

WYB: No, I watched it in a theater with the director.

👨: By the way, you can now watch movies in real commercial cinemas

WYB: I haven’t tried this before. I haven’t tried this yet.

👨 What type of movies do you like as an audience?

WYB: Director Cheng'er took me to watch many literary and artistic films, such as "Songs from Second Floor", "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence", "All that Jazz", and I liked them all, as well as "Leviathan" and so on. .

👨: They are all foreign films.

WYB: Yes, there are more in Europe.

👨: Do you find European literary films boring?

WYB: I didn't fall asleep (laughs), I quite liked it.

👨: So you watched a lot of movies with Director Cheng Er, and a few days ago went to the theater festival to watch a lot of plays. He also recommended you to "Sea of ​​Stars"...

WYB: I said at the (Golden Rooster Award) nomination and commendation ceremony that I was very grateful to the director for helping me with the film, but I might have been a little nervous on stage at that time. In fact, what I wanted to say was that it was not just in "Hidden Blade", but it also helps me a lot outside the theater, whether it's the aesthetics of movies, music, or art. He told me that if you see too many good things, you will know what is bad.

👨: My understanding is that in addition to the cooperative relationship between director and actor, Director Cheng Er also has a kind of appreciation and support for you.

WYB: Well, yes, it can be understood that the director is teaching me like a teacher, he is my mentor and helpful friend.

👨: Talking about watching movies, do you rarely watch commercial movies?

WYB: I also like commercial films like the "Batman" trilogy very much. But recently I have watched relatively few commercial films. Yes, I mainly study literary and artistic films.

👨: Do you have a particular favorite actor?

WYB: Ah, think about it, the actress likes the Spanish actress Penelope Cruz in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", and the actor, the actor in "21 Grams", is called Sean Penn.

👨: Well, he is an Oscar-winning actor and has a lot of personality.

WYB: Yes, very charming. He has many works. I also like the movie Dead Man Walking.

👨: "Dead Man Walking".

WYB: Hmm, yes.

👨: You have many hobbies, many of which have turned into skills, and you are considered an all-around artist.

WYB: No, I just want to like more things, but it’s not all-powerful. I like a lot of things, but I'm not good at them, so I don't think they're all-rounders.

👨: But when three directors notice you and choose you, these hobbies and skills such as motorcycle racing, hip-hop, etc. play a very important role.

WYB: Ah, this is also a bit lucky for me. I think I still have to stick to my hobby. This is also the joy of life. You can't just do one thing forever. I like to be exposed to new things, and I hope tostick to it as much as possible, but sometimes my hobbies may change quickly. For example, I was still enjoying golf, but suddenly I started playing tennis again. There is no way to focus on one hobby. To practice and improve all the time, maybe study in time periods. So I think I have many hobbies, but I am not good at them. But I just like so many hobbies, which make your life richer and more interesting, and can keep you in a relatively good state, including your mental state, in your spare time.

👨: Well, exercise is very good.

👨: I also want to ask a question about traffic.

WYB: Yes, yes, yes.

👨: Making a film is a long process, and some of it is kept secret. During thisprocess, if your popularity and traffic as a star are lost, would you mind?

WYB: I definitely don't mind, um, yes. Because I think my main identity now should be an actor. Of course, because it’s my favorite since childhood, I will also release new songs. Now that I am an actor, I actually want more time to broaden my horizons and enrich myself so that I can better shape different roles in the future. So how can I broaden my horizons and make myself more informed? Then I must go out, huh. Similarly, when I was working as an actor and making films, I might have less time to appear in public, and then my traffic would decrease, but I was still doing what I liked and paying for what I liked.

👨: Give us some information about the new film! Is there a script now?

WYB: Uh.........Yes! But I don't know what it will look like in the final shooting (laughs).

👨: Will movies still play an important role in your future career plans?

WYB: Yes, and at the same time, as I just said, don’t give up if you can, and persist.

====

*We have been urged several times to end it as soon as possible, and the following activities have been delayed.

Okay, that’s it for our interview! Finally, I would like to congratulate you again and hope that the filming of the new film goes well!

thanks, thanks!

This is the longest interview we did during the Golden Rooster Awards. The lovely interview subject has always been focused and peaceful, expressed candidly, occasionally thought, and often smiled.

No water, no rest.

His high-frequency vocabulary: thank you, like, love

What impressed us about him:

Extremely polite and always with a straight back.

Later, I watched him take photos. In the dark retro setting, he calmly changed his posture, calm and elegant, and had a charm that only radiated to the camera rather than the crowd.

This boy fulfills all the fantasies people have about idols. This young man is already pursuing bloom and eternity on the big screen. As a young man, his wings are beginning to take shape.

scanlations source

[goldenempyrean]

“Why didn’t you tell me?”  + “I do not have a cold!”  for Lena working late when sick so reader goes to get her to come home?

Workaholic

〚 Notes - First Supergirl fic, hopefully yall enjoy :D 〛

〚 Pairing - Lena Luthor x Reader 〛

〚 Summary - Lena's been pushing herself too hard and ends up sick. You're there to take her home. 〛

〚 Wordcount - 1550 〛

〘 Check Out My Masterlist! 〙

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Your wife was stubborn at the best of times. Maybe it was because her of her family or even her job but honestly, sometimes it made your life just that much more difficult. Right now for example, you’d told her to take it easy, to stop pushing herself so hard. But did she stop? Oh no she didn’t. 

You saw the signs, her husky voice, eyes looking more tired than usual and her small periodic sniffles were all pointing to one fact. She was getting sick. You knew it was bound to happen sooner or later but still you couldn’t help but be annoyed by your wife’s ability to not look after herself. 

This was the third time this week she’d called ahead to say that she’d be working late. Something about a major project at L-Corp that needed her undivided attention and you couldn't say you were surprised when you got a call from her worried assistant only half an hour into her overtime. 

“Hello?” You answered, already knowing who it was. 

“Hi, it’s Jess from L-Corp. I’m sorry to bother you, but Lena’s here still and I think you need to come convince her to go home. She won’t listen to me.” 

You sighed, knowing that this wasn’t going to be an easy task. “Alright, hang tight. I’ll come get her,” you said, already grabbing your keys and coat before hurrying out to your car. 

When you arrived at her work, you made your way to Lena’s office and found her sitting at her desk, surrounded by a mountain of paperwork. She looked up as you entered, her eyes bloodshot, skin a sickly white and her nose was visibly red. For somebody usually so put together, she looked awful. 

“Hi, honey,” you spoke softly, trying to keep your voice gentle. “Jess called me and said you’re still here. What’s going on? You’re not looking too good.” 

Lena sighed and leaned back in her chair, wincing as she did. “Im sorry I thought I already told you I was working late,” she muttered. “I just can’t leave this work unfinished. It’s too important.” She finished her sentence with a chesty cough that she muffled against her elbow and groaned. 

You handed her a tissue as Lena let out a harsh sneeze, her body shaking with the force of it. You couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy as you watched her struggle to catch her breath. 

“Come on, darling, you need to go home and rest,” you said firmly, trying to ignore the slight tremble in your own voice, “This cold looks like it’s doing a number on you.” 

“I do not have a cold!” 

You raised an eyebrow at her denial, knowing full well that it was a lie. Lena had always been stubborn when it came to admitting that she was sick. But you weren't going to let her push herself any further. 

"Alright, then what is it?" you asked, crossing your arms and standing your ground. 

Lena hesitated, her eyes darting away from yours. You could see the struggle on her face as she tried to fight off another sneeze. 

"It's just allergies," she finally admitted, sniffling again. 

You couldn't help but roll your eyes. "Allergies, huh? You sound pretty congested for allergies." 

Lena glared at you, but before she could retort, she let out a loud sneeze, her body lurching forward. You rushed over to her, holding out a tissue for her to use. 

"Bless you," you said, rubbing her back as she sniffled again, “You sure you do have even the tinest of colds?” 

“I'm not sick.” She paused to sniffle again as she shot you an annoyed look, “I’m not! Luthors don’t get sickhh - Hh’tshoo!” 

She broke off from her sentence with another sneeze poorly covered by her hand. You hated to think just how many potential colleagues your irresponsible wife could potentially infect. 

“And apparently Luthors don’t use tissues either.” You chided but your teasing tone was unmissable as you pulled a few tissues from the box on her desk and held them out to her. 

Lena glared at you through watery eyes, but eventually relented and took the tissues from your outstretched hand. She blew her nose loudly and then tossed the used tissue into the trash can beside her desk. 

You watched her for a moment, concern etched on your face. Lena was usually so put together; it was strange to see her like this. You knew she hated showing any sort of vulnerability, but you couldn't help but worry. 

"Are you sure you don't want to go home and rest?" you asked, hoping she would take the hint. 

"I can't," Lena replied, her voice scratchy. "I have too much work to do." 

You sighed, knowing that arguing with her would be pointless. Lena was stubborn when it came to her work, and you had learned long ago not to try and change her mind. 

"Fine," you said, finally having enough of the back and forth arguing. You grabbed a chair and pulling it up next to her desk. "But I'm staying here to make sure you don't overwork yourself." 

Lena rolled her eyes but didn't argue. You could tell she appreciated your concern, even if she would never admit it. 

For the next hour, you watched as Lena tried to power through her work, despite her obvious illness. She sneezed and sniffled every few minutes, pausing occasionally to blow her nose or take a sip of water. You couldn't help but feel guilty - you knew that if you maybe had been a little sterner about her resting then she wouldn't be in this predicament. 

You stood up to stretch your legs and grab a cup of coffee from the break room, hoping it would help you stay alert during your long night of babysitting. When you returned, Lena had finally succumbed to her illness and had fallen asleep at her desk. 

You hesitated for a moment, not wanting to wake her, but you knew she needed rest if she was going to get better. You gently placed your hand on her shoulder and shook her awake. 

"Lena, darling, you need to go home and get some rest," you said softly. "You're not going to get any better if you stay here." 

Lena groaned and rubbed her eyes, looking up at you with a defeated expression. "I know," she sighed. "I just have so much to do." 

"I'll take care of everything," you reassured her. "You just need to focus on getting better." 

Lena nodded; her eyes drifting shut again. You stood up and gathered her things, making sure to turn off her computer and lock up her office before escorting her out of the building. 

The ride home was quiet, with your wife sleepily dozing off in the passenger seat. When you arrived at your apartment, you helped her inside and tucked her into bed, making sure she had everything she needed before retreating to the living room to start on the pile of work she had left behind. 

As you worked, you couldn't help but glance at the clock every few minutes, counting down the hours until Lena would wake up. You knew she needed rest, but you also knew she wouldn't be happy if she woke up to find you still working. 

Hours passed and before you knew it, the sun was starting to rise. You had made significant progress on Lena's work and were just about to call it a night when you heard a soft groan coming from the bedroom. 

You quickly made your way to Lena's side, finding her looking up at you with tired eyes. "How are you feeling?" you asked, brushing a strand of hair away from her forehead. 

Lena yawned and stretched, looking a bit more refreshed than she had earlier. "Better," she said, her voice still scratchy. "Thanks for taking care of me." 

"Of course," you replied, leaning down to place a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Can I ask something though, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” 

Lena let out a sigh, looking a bit guilty. "I didn't want to be a burden," she admitted. "And I thought I could tough it out and get my work done." 

You shook your head, a small smile playing on your lips. "You're never a burden to me, Lena," you said. "And it's okay to take a break when you're not feeling well. I'm just glad I was able to help." 

Lena smiled weakly, reaching out to take your hand. "I know," she said softly. "I just get so caught up in my work sometimes that I forget to take care of myself." 

You squeezed her hand gently. "That's why I'm here," you said. "To remind you to take care of yourself and to help you when you need it. Now, how about I go make you some breakfast, hm?” 

Lena smiled at you, and you could tell she really was grateful for your help. As you made your way to the kitchen, you couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. Despite the long night, you had been able to take care of your stubborn wife. It was a small victory, but one that you would cherish. 

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(still unsure wether to tag everyone in supergirl fics for the ones who said 'all' so just lmk!)

[genericpuff]

Hope you don't mind my asking but do you mind elaborating on why you don't like Mongie too much? I know all about why everyone dislikes Let's Play itself. There are various videos and post upon post online tearing it to shreds with criticism but I've not heard much about the creator herself like I do Rachel Smythe. Does she also run into the same issues that Rachel does or is her behavior different but equally questionable/annoying?

It's kinda equally questionable, kinda different. They both have the same issues of like, fetishizing youthfulness and creating unhealthy power dynamics. They also haven't done a great job at depicting POC in their comics, you can tell they're written by white women who don't understand other cultures but are trying to make their series more "progressive" by including stand-ins for representation.

That said, considering Let's Play is set in a real world setting, the POC characters (and the casually racist issues in their writing) are a lot more obvious than in LO (where you have to know the context that the neon-colored nymphs are based on POC to really realize that they're lower class POC people who are getting the shit end of the stick from the rich upper class main protagonists).

And I don't even mean in the usual "there aren't any POC in this comic" or "the POC in this comic are stereotypical/poorly written", I mean in the sort of white-victim-complex "I added in other ethnicities and people got mad at me anyways so what more do you want!" kind of way (paired with the "they're poorly written and stereotypical" aspect).

Dean is a good example of the stereotypical designing and writing, IIRC he's a Hispanic man but he's written like some Spanish soap opera character who flirts with every woman he sees and always has rose petals falling around him.

Even in that sentence he says "part Asian" which is weird because he's looking for Marshall who's supposed to be his best friend and it's been established in the comic that Marshall is half-Japanese, but that brings us to the other instance of mongie being casually (if not directly) racist and even more so than with Dean...

Apparently mongie thought it was a good move to say that it was "more inclusive" to make Vikki only vaguely Asian. Which is just... so not true LOL Asia is an entire continent made up of MANY different cultures and ethnicities and so generalizing all of them to just "Asian" is not a great take from someone who's trying to seem "more inclusive".

But of course, when her community called her out on this and asked her to elaborate, she and her mod team basically dug their heels in and made up excuses that made mongie out to be a victim instead of just acknowledging she made an error that didn't connect well with members of her audience.

And theeen in comes mongie ready to torch the place. Note that up until this point, it's basically been her mod team speaking up on her behalf and giving her benefit of the doubt, so when mongie DID get her chance to speak, she jumped right to:

"FINE, SHE'S HALF CHINESE HALF KOREAN THEN, STFU AND STOP ANALYZING ME WHEN I INCLUDE CHARACTERS FROM RACES THAT DON'T ALIGN WITH MY OWN !!!" (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ is very much the vibe people got from this, understandably so. It's also odd (and extremely privileged) for her to say that she'd "rather focus on a character's personality and not their race" because it's very "I don't see color" which has been proven to be counterintuitive to understanding and celebrating different races.

And then we get a lot of self-victimizing "well I can't win no matter what so you people are ungrateful and actually it's MY feelings that are hurt" excuses:

Again it's weird because she had NO problem specifying that Marshall was half-Japanese and she didn't make him into any sort of weird stereotype like she did with Vikki. So I don't know why she's having such a hard time grasping that being vaguely Asian for Vikki isn't inclusive.

Although, let's be real here, the only reason Marshall is half-Japanese at all is because he's a self-insert of Markiplier, a half-Korean Youtuber who mongie apparently worked for on payroll as a graphic designer prior to Let's Play. Which is just a whole layer of ick that I think surpasses even Rachel Smythe and Mads Mikkelson. Like the Rachel and Mads thing is definitely creepy and weird because she's literally drawn herself - an adult woman nearing her 40's - being swept off her feet by a smoochy-faced Mads. But at least she didn't work for the guy or ever interact with him directly like mongie did with Markiplier. That's a whole separate level of "ew".

That said, mongie continues:

Which is just such a half-assed non-apology. Not "I'm sorry for misrepresenting a culture" or "I'm sorry I didn't do proper research", but "I'm sorry people think I'm being insensitive or that they need specific representation in my work that I'm claiming to be representation to be good". Completely shifting the blame from herself onto her audience for not being happy with the bare minimum that she gave them.

There's more though. Probably one of the worst parts and it's not even her, but one of her mods:

The fact that this is one of mongie's mods telling mongie's audience that her feelings - as a white woman who's just legitimately patronized her audience - are more valid than the people whose feelings were hurt by mongie being so insensitive... it's a real gross move and I can't believe they even pulled that.

Oh, and of course, as people like this tend to do, she goes on about "cancel culture" and how "terrifying" it is to her and then comes up with some imaginary scenario where a kid pays a hitman to kill her ?? as a defense for herself that really just further victimizes herself over her own misled actions ??

And this is something mongie does a lot, at least in this instance - she comes up with justifications for her decisions based on completely imaginary scenarios that she came up with and assumed, rather than just, idk, doing her research and being open to learning new things about cultures she's clearly not educated on. Shit like "well if I do xyz you'll be mad at me anyways so fuck you!"

When in reality? No one would have been mad at her if she didn't have any non-white characters in her comic. Would readers be disappointed? Probably. But - and I can't speak for everybody out there obviously so this is just my opinion - I know I'd much rather representation from someone who wanted to represent my respective groups and identities and put love and effort into it, than get it from someone who was just doing it because they made up a scenario in their head that they would be cancelled for not doing it. No one really has any tangible ground to stand on if they get mad at you for writing a cast of all-white characters you wanted to write, there are plenty of webtoons like that on the platform. We do need more stories that uplift and represent POC voices, but it shouldn't be from white victim complex people who only do it to virtue signal and ensure they don't get "cancelled". You know what WILL get you cancelled? Attempting to write other ethnicities and racial groups purely based on stereotypes for the sake of "representation" and then getting mad when people ask you to be a little more specific than "Asian".

Oh yeah, and then have your mods censor/delete any mentioning of educational resources regarding Asian cultures, and then essentially dox one of your community members by revealing their Twitter to the entire Discord group to boot!

oh boy mongie, if you think THAT'S drama, wait until you see the shit I do here LMAO

[norris-lando]

for you, i would ruin myself

Daniel Ricciardo x reader, Max Verstappen x reader

warnings: implications of smut, cheating, masturbation, angst, fighting

author's note: i finally had the time to finish this part 2, yayy. i had a hard time figuring out how to end this but i'm happy with how this turned out. as always, i hope you guys enjoy and please, let me know your thoughts :)

word count: 2.3k

this is a part two to this fic here

There was a burning sensation all around your body fueled by the anger you felt for Max. How could he do that? Be like that? Act like the whole world revolved around him? He was infuriating. But you couldn't push him out of your mind, no matter how hard you tried.

He had you under a spell. He made you feel seen in a way Daniel had never, in a way Daniel could never. And although it wasn't Daniel's fault, the thought slowly pushed an invisible wedge between the two of you. It was only a matter of time before Daniel figured out something was seriously wrong.

—

It had been weeks since the grid dinner. You hadn't seen or heard from Max since and there was an emptiness inside you.

A part of was happy-ish that Max was in the past. You could finally focus on your relationship with Daniel. But at the same time you were missing Max and the person you were around him.

Max brought out a different side of you - one you could not show around anyone else. You hated the fact that he had such a tight grip on you but at the same time you felt excited. It was like you were living a secret life.

—

You were alone at home and bored out of your mind. All of your friends were busy with something unintresting to you and you were burning with the need to do something.

You picked up your phone from your bedside table. Stared at it for a good few minutes. Debating.

You and Max were like fire and water. Day and night. Heaven and hell. The perfect example of opposites attract.

Max was carefree, go with the flow type of guy. He didn't care if someone found about your little secret. He'd deal with it if it ever got to it.

You on the other hand were nervous wreck. The thought of someone, anyone, founding out almost driving you crazy. So why on Earth did you find yourself dialing Max's number as you lay on the empty bed at home alone.

Ring. Please don't pickup.

Ring. Please, just hang up.

Ring. Please, whatever you do, just don't—

"Hello?"

The familiar voice took you by surprise. As if someone else had taken over your body, dialed Max and now you were left to deal with the concequences.

"Y/n, is everything okay?"

Oh, no. No, no, no. This isn't happenning. Surely you were just imagining it. You hadn't really just called Max of all people.

Cold sweat washed over you and there was an audible gulp on your end of the line.

You didn't know what to say and, to be fair, you didn't have to say anything. Max knew why you called. He knew exactly what you wanted. And he was willing to give it to you.

"Are you alone?"

The question made you feel sick. He wasn't stupid — Max knew you were alone but he wanted to hear you say it. That way he could take the control of the situation, of you.

"Y/n, I asked you a question."

Another gulp. Louder this time as you tried to form a coherent sentence.

"Yes." Point blank, it was all you could say.

Max laughed smugly on the other end, "do you want me to come over and..."

His voice went quiet and you could feel your core warm up at the thought of Max. The way his hands roam around your body as he leaves wet kisses on your neck. How his pulsating erection feels when it presses against you.

"Yes."

It didn't take long after that before the phone call ended. You were panting alone on the bed you were laying on, panties already dripping wet and Max hadn't even yet arrived.

You couldn't take it any longer as anticipation took a hold of you. Slowly, you pushed your hand down your stomach until you could feel your fingers touching the lacy fabric under your sweatpants.

You moved your fingers gently on your clit, going in circles. A quiet moan escaping your lips.

Click.

The sound of a key turning and the lock to your front door opening sent shivers down your spine. Max didn't have a spare key so who was it that had just made their way into your home. And then it hit you.

You had assumed Daniel would be away longer, though now the thought seemed stupid. He did just say he was going to the store.

You panicked and searched for your phone. Everything felt like a haze but nothing irreversible hadn't happened yet. You thanked your lucky stars, escaping a drama filled day yet again by mere minutes.

Quickly, you dialed Max's phone number but came to a sudden stop when you heard two voices, instead of just one, echoing downstairs. You listened carefully and froze when you realised it would be too late now to be calling Max. He was already here and he was with your boyfriend.

Thought after thought, you racked your brain for answers. What had Max said to Daniel when he questioned why he was here? Did Daniel suspect something was off? You had been acting differently recently and it hadn't gone unnoticed by Daniel. You had been able to play it cool, brushing off Daniel's accusations regarding your behavior.

But this was different. The man causing your change of heart was standing in your living room with the man you supposedly loved more than anything. What were you supposed to do in this situation? Act like you had no idea why Max was here? Come up with a lie so obvious a five year old could tell you were being dishonest? None of your options were optimal but you just couldn't lock yourself in the bedroom.

It wasn't anything unusual in your household that Max came over. He often came to visit, usually to hang out with Daniel but the three of you were all friends first before your friendship with Max turned into something more. With the shift in dynamics, you and Max had spent less time with Daniel around and it was a treacherous road to go down now.

Step by step, you walked down the stairs and into the living room. Max was the first one of the two men to spot you. A grin spreading on his face and you knew the second you saw his face that this was not going to be easy.

"Hey, y/n," he said and Daniel turned his head to look at you.

You offered only a small wave as a response, not trusting yourself to speak yet.

Daniel walked over to you, his hand sneaking around your waist as he gave you a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. "Hey, babe," he said with a wide smile.

"I didn't know you asked Max to come over?" It was more of a statement than an inquiry but the way the words left Daniel's mouth it sounded like it ended in a question mark.

"Oh, yeah, I-" Your gaze shifted over to Max as you were silently begging for his help. It was like you were screaming, say something and save me from this nightmare.

Max, however, only held a fake puzzled look on his face. As if he was just as oblivious to why you had asked him there in the first. He had no interest in assisting you right now. He just enjoyed to see you squirm as you tried to come up with a good enough reason.

The silence was loud enough to pierce your ears and you wanted the ground beneath you to swallow you whole. It was the only way to avoid this very, very awkward situation.

Suddenly you were pulled back to the moments when you knew Max wasn't a good guy. When you first realised he wasn't thinking about anyone else but himself.

The sight of Daniel making you question if you should just tell the truth. To tell Daniel the real reason why Max was in your living room. But he didn't deserve to go through that kind of pain, not this way. To hear that the man who was once not only his teammate but also his friend, had come in between him and the woman he loved more than anything. That would have to happen in private - in a situation where it was just the two of you.

You didn't want to be the one who told Daniel, though. You didn't want to put yourself in that situation. And maybe it was selfish but it was easier to live in a lie. Especially when there was still a part of you that hoped and prayed that Max would change. You wanted him to be the kind, sweet, man you knew he could be. The one he was when he had first charmed you.

By some miracle, the topic of conversation, the reason why Max was here, was soon forgotten when Daniel's phone started ringing.

He fished it out of his pockets, glancing at the screen. "Sorry, I gotta go take care of this." He gave you an apologetic look.

You felt a wave of relief wash over you as you watched Daniel rush out of the door, yelling his goodbyes on his way out.

And with that, you were left alone with Max. It was what you had wanted just a few moments before but now the thought was repulsive and making your head spin.

It felt like you were going in circles. You weren't able to make up your mind. One day you wanted Max, the other you wanted Daniel. It felt horrible and you didn't know what to do.

"What are we doing Max," you asked suddenly. The same question you had asked him just a few months ago. Back then it led to you walking away from him, questioning if it was the right thing.

You thought back to that time when you were sitting in Max's car. Back to when he told you to 'stop wasting his time.' Were you doing it again?

Max scoffed. It was his go-to move whenever you questioned your relationship, situationship, whatever it was that the two of you shared.

"Not this again," he said and soon continued, "I didn't come here to listen you whine and worry." There was a mocking tone to his words, something you had grown accustomed to during your time of knowing Max.

All this time you had spent in secrecy with Max had left you at times feeling like you knew him well. Like every corner was swept clean of all the information they could provide. If there was an encyclopedia for Max, you were it. Every last bit of information had been etched into your brain.

But there were also times when you weren't sure who he was at all. It was like he changed into a different person depending on how he was feeling and how you were behaving. If you were compliant enough, he was the kindest man ever - making you feel loved and special. But if you dared to cross him, he was the polar opposite. He'd yell at you and make you feel worthless. Like you were nothing but an imposition to him.

"Damn it, Max," you screamed, "don't act like I'm in this all alone! You are just as involved as I am."

The sudden outburst of emotions took both of you by surprise - Max cause he had never seen you like this and you because you had never dared to actually confront him.

"It's like I've told you before - I was ready to walk away from all of this," you said as you gestured the house that you were in, filled with all the memories of you and Daniel and the life you shared. "I was ready to leave all this behind, to be with you, to deal with the shitstorm that would inevitably follow me where ever I'd go next."

You had unintentionally closed the gap that was the only thing keeping you and Max apart until now. You were standing so close to him now, you could practically feel the warmth radiating off of his body. You were close enough to leap into his arms, if only he was willing to embrace you in them.

"I was ready to love you and be with you and live a life with you cause I-"

Silence filled the space.

"I already am in love with you."

It was a staring contest now. Max's blue eyes pierced into yours and you could almost feel him search for answers in your brain. Like he was rummaging around, trying to decipher a code only he could decode.

What happened next was a blur. It took you a while to register it but Max had crashed his lips into yours. His hands cupping your face, holding tightly like he didn't want to ever let go. Like you were the air that he desperately needed to breathe.

You relaxed into the feeling. Your lips dancing together in a perfect harmony. And suddenly everything was clear - Max was the one you had always been meant to be with. It just took you this long to figure it out.

The two of you were in your own world. Everything else around you just disappeared as you held onto each other.

A voice pulled you back. It was Daniel.

"Y/n, what the hell's going on?"

---

tagged: @eviethetheatrefreak