As An IzuOcha Shipper…
…them not ending up together isn’t the problem.
Horikoshi taking the “leave it up to interpretation” approach and then proceeding to COMPLETELY AVOID ADDRESSING their relationship status is the problem.
Horikoshi failing to tie up that one last loose end for Uraraka’s character arc (not closing off her feelings) is the problem.
Again, I ship IzuOcha. Still do, because I’m stubborn. Would I have liked for them to end up together, even if it was only a somewhat blatant implication that could be handwaved? Obviously. But you know what? Maybe I would be upset if the story went out of its way to explicitly de-confirm any chance of Midoriya and Uraraka being a romantic pairing, but I’d at least respect it and understand it a lot more if the story let Midoriya and Uraraka actually talk about this, or at the very least SHOWED US them talking about this. I’d understand if Uraraka completed her character arc by having a heart to heart with Midoriya and telling him that her feelings have changed, her priorities have changed, and Midoriya understands and they remain good friends. Let’s be real, romance isn’t Horikoshi’s strong suit, despite his many attempts to leave romantic implications throughout the series. I’d completely understand if he just had Midoriya and Uraraka talk and they didn’t end up together, because at least then it still provides both of their characters with closure.
But no, that’s too simple. Let’s just “leave it up to interpretation,” because it clearly wasn’t that important, right?
Well, as many people on the internet have already brought up, if it wasn’t so important, why did you spend so much time putting emphasis on it? Why did you have Uraraka, up until the FINAL WAR, have her crush on Midoriya be a crucial part of her character (it wasn’t her only character trait, mind you, but it was still important)? Why did the penultimate chapter have the class come to comfort Uraraka and tell her that they can talk to her… and then come the next chapter, Uraraka apparently hasn’t done anything regarding her supposed crush on Midoriya? For literal YEARS!?
…see, this isn’t even a shipping problem anymore. This is a character problem.
Horikoshi, for whatever reason, chose not to include a romance for the main character and his supposed love interest. And again, that’s fine, not every story needs to be a romance. Two problems with it here though (well, one problem and an observation):
1) Choosing to not at least address the romantic subplot with a “I think we’re better off as friends” encounter, thus actually concluding the subplot and providing a sense of closure, not only leaves the result feeling underwhelming and frustrating, but also actively damages Uraraka’s character arc. We can have her address the problem that caused people like Toga to exist, but heaven forbid she talks about romance with Midoriya.
2) Despite his supposed aversion to romance, Horikoshi still went out of his way to give Gentle and La Brava wedding rings… he’s willing to establish a side romantic pairing without bringing too much attention to it, but he can’t be bothered to do something similar for the arguable MAIN pairing? It’s the “Togata has special clothes so he doesn’t end up buck naked, but Hagakure’s still gotta go commando” debacle again…
I’ma go ahead and wrap this up ‘cause I don’t wanna keep y’all much longer, but like… being optimistic, this ending was… functional. I’ve got my problems with it, obviously, I don’t think it was BAD bad… but it certainly wasn’t good. It works. Barely. And it’s ‘cause of stuff like this.
Midoriya and Uraraka didn’t need to end up together, truly. All Horikoshi had to do was put the smallest amount of effort and give us something of substance, something with closure. Instead, we got what we got.
I get that he was exhausted and wanted the manga to be over… but that excuse only holds up for so long.
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@angbands-last-hero | gallorith
Saephrond had long cherished the friendship he shared with Gallorith of Lothlorien. Gallorith had often sent him delicate blends of tea, accompanied by thoughtful letters signed in pressed flowers from his beautiful gardens. These teas, infused with rare flora, found Saephrond wherever he had gone. It was a wonder how Gallorith managed to find him, but Saeph appreciated his quirks.
As he sipped a brew from the most recent parcel, an idea took root in his heart. He would return the gesture by crafting his own tea of mixed herbs from some of his favourite regions, and hand-delivering a few bundles of flowers from the Shire. Surely, Gallorith would have much use for blooms that were foreign to Rhovanion. It was the least Saeph could do. And he'd not pass up the chance to visit his friends. Nor, little Miss Rosie.
He began his journey in the Shire, where his hobbit friends gathered around him, curious about his travels. As he wandered through their gardens, he gathered the finest marigolds and sunflowers - telling them of the beauty Lothlorien held and the peace their flowers would bring to its soil. And in the hills beyond the Delving Fields, Saeph picked wild flowers and fresh wild mint, known for its soothing properties and fresh taste - a perfect first ingredient to his tea.
With plenty a pick, he bade farewell to the Shire folk and traveled on to Rivendell. There, among the elegant arches and waterfalls, he found delicate elanor blossoms and sprigs of lavender, which would imbue the tea with a calming essence. He hurried along, so as not to meet the Lord of Imladris this time, for time was not in favour of keeping the plants fresh.
The final stop was the rugged, windswept paths of the Misty Mountains. The climb was difficult, and the snow beasts relentless. But in the high, rocky crevices, he found wild thyme and mountain sage. These particular herbs would lend the tea strength. And with his basket now abundant with flowers and herbs, he started for Lothlorien, where the soft yellow treetops greeted him. The air was cool and moved about him in a gentle breeze, carrying with it the bristles of dandelions and the quiet hum of song.
How he'd missed the Golden Wood.
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𝓛𝓞𝓥3 𝓛3𝓣𝓣3𝓡𝓢 💌
Dev Patel as Joshua (Modern Love) x Saleka Shyamalan as Juno J. (OC) - a fic inspired by emails i can’t send and short n’ sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
Word Count-(1K)
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Joshua tossed the ring; it skipped down the street and disappeared down the storm drain as he stomped along the rain-covered sidewalk, entering the first bar he found and shaking his soaked hair out.
“Whiskey. Neat.” Joshua opened a tab, intending to drink away the sting of his first time being cheated on by his long term girlfriend, Emma.
Ironically, it must have been singles night in the bar because it was decked out in cherry red hearts and pink streamers along with cakes piped with sarcastic phrases like ‘CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR BREAKUP.’
A woman in a blue dress swayed back and forth on a bar stool, a melancholy look on her gorgeous features as she stabbed a piece of the ‘Congratulations’ cake with her fork with one hand and nursing a drink with the other.
Feeling eyes on her, Juno J. looked up and locked eyes with a handsome man across the bar: black, rain-soaked curls and a grey t-shirt sticking to his broad chest, warm brown eyes behind thin wire-rimmed glasses balancing precariously on his sharp nose.
‘Hi.’ Juno mouthed, waving her hand at the man before looking bashfully back down at her drink.
After a year in a fake PR relationship with a tennis player who cared more about the game than her, Juno was out of practice and so. fucking. horny.
“I met her parents, y’know?” Josh tossed back another shot with the woman he had met at the bar, Juno. “She’s seen me naked, and I met her parents.” He winced as the liquor burned his throat. “And I got cheated on?”
Juno shook her head when the lemon drop’s sourness puckered her glossed lips. “I got dumped by a number one tennis player.” She sniffled and held her head up high. “I was ‘too much.’ for him, apparently.”
Joshua scoffed drunkenly, swaying on his bar stool. “Too much?” He replied incredulously as Juno stood up, doing a turn in her rhinestone pumps to show off her lacy blue dress. “Do you think I’m too much, J?”
Running a hand through his thick black curls, something like a prince, Juno wondered how Joshua’s ex could cheat on him as he flashed a charming smile and shook his head, ‘No.’ while rubbing the scruff on his jawline with his long fingers.
“I can’t believe I let some white man ruin my self-esteem.” Juno groaned in humiliation and pulled her hair in front of her face like a long black curtain. “This boy didn’t even know the difference between ‘they’re,’ ‘their,’ or ‘they are.’”
Joshua thought of Emma and the ex-boyfriend from high school she had ‘gone back in time with’. “I can drink to that.”
Another shot.
Suddenly, hours passed, and it was one am and the bar was closing.
Juno and Joshua stumbled out onto the sidewalk, too many drinks in and flirting heavily with Juno laughing and grabbing an equally hysterical Joshua’s arms for support.
He wrapped himself around Juno to protect her from the rain that had never stopped.
The street lights and the spins reared an ugly head as Juno pushed off Joshua for the nearest garbage can, pulling her hair back into a ponytail just in time as she retched into it.
“Oh, God!” Lip gloss smeared Juno’s face as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “I'm so sorry!" She gagged and turned away from him as she spit up the remains of her espresso Martini in the gutter.
“You can leave. I’ll call an Uber.” Juno kicked off her sequined pumps; she couldn’t have been more than five feet tall without them.
Juno sat on the curb, leaning against a lamppost and closing her eyes.
Joshua watched the chrome eyeshadow on Juno’s eyelids change shades of blue under the light as she took deep, shallow breaths.
“Are you sure? I know we’ve only met, but I live about a block from here.” Joshua knew better than to leave a drunk woman slumped over on the sidewalk. “You can sleep it off on my couch.”
Joshua removed his t-shirt and used his jacket as a cover for Juno in the alley they ducked inside of for her privacy. “Here, if you need to change.”
“If you’re offering. I don’t want to be alone tonight.” Juno accepted Joshua’s help rolling the blue, martini-soaked lace down her wide hips.
Twisting her shiny black hair back in a bun, Juno asked Joshua to hold her hair while she pulled his t-shirt over her head.
Inhaling the scent of Joshua’s cologne calmed Juno’s senses. “Thank you.” She sniffled, feeling very unpretty with her hair windblown and dried spit on the sides of her mouth, not to mention her ruined dress and bra.
“Do you think you can stand?” Joshua looped an arm around Juno’s waist, and she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, nodding and allowing Joshua to lift her.
“Hop on my back.” Joshua turned around, and Juno grunted with drunken effort once, twice, before throwing her arms around Joshua’s neck and allowing him to hike her body up and wrap her garter-covered legs around his waist.
“You can clean up and take a shower if you’d like,” Joshua said as he climbed the stairs of his apartment complex with Juno on his back. In her drunkenness, Juno was impressed by how Joshua carried her with ease.
If Juno didn’t know better, Joshua was reassuringly rubbing the inside of her thigh with his thumb. “This is me.” He gently set Juno down against the wall and unlocked his apartment door, walking her to the bathroom and lifting Juno again to sit her on the sink’s marble counter.
There was a brief moment where Joshua was standing between Juno’s thighs, her dress rolled up so high that he could see the blue lace of her underwear.
They both got quiet, chests rising and falling as heat filled the bathroom. “I’ll get you a change of clothes.” He quickly excused himself, and Juno pouted to herself as she watched Joshua leave.
Joshua heard Juno singing in the shower and was impressed. It sounded familiar; Juno must have been covering some pop songs from the radio. He made a mental note to look it up later.
The shower and fan were turned off. Joshua listened to the shower curtain open and the sound of wet bare feet on the linoleum.
The door clicked open, and Juno padded into the living room in one of Joshua’s clean t-shirts, and a pair of sweatpants rolled up to her ankles. “You can throw those away.” Juno frowned at the ruined dress and bra. “Those were expensive.” She pouted, her full bottom lip trembling slightly.
Juno had tried to wipe her face clean; her thick brows were unruly, blue mascara streaked down her shiny face, and her wet hair was already starting to curl.
“It’s alright.” Juno looked exhausted, and Joshua felt bad for the young woman, guiding her to the bed he made her on his couch. handing her a glass of water and an ibuprofen. “Get some sleep; everything will feel better in the morning.”
“This is a strange request, and I know how much you have already done for me tonight,” Juno snuggled underneath the blankets Joshua had laid out, looking up at him with her glassy brown eyes.
“Can you stay out here with me?” Big tears started to roll down her round cheeks, and Joshua didn’t hesitate to slip underneath the covers with Juno and use the sleeves of his sweater to wipe away her tears.
Joshua enveloped Juno in his arms. She put her head on his chest and nuzzled her face into the material of his sweater. “Thank you. You’re a real stand-up guy to let pretty drunk girls sleep on you in your apartment.”
“I don’t like being alone,” Joshua admitted, still feeling drunk as his lids got heavy and his voice slurred. “S’nice to have the company for once.” He let his hand rest on her exposed lower back from where his t-shirt rode up her.
Juno kissed the space above Joshua’s heart as he reached back to flick off the tableside lamp. “Night, Josh.”
“Goodnight, Juno.”
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