#feel free to add on to my points or argue or whatever and sorry if i made typos. im too tired to check for them LOL

[fluentmoviequoter]

i was wondering if you can do like a secret admirer / friends to lovers thing with tim bradford? like reader or tim are sending each other notes and get them something that they’ve mentioned before but never had time or the resources to get. sorry if that sounds confusing

I hope this is along the lines of what you wanted; if it's not, let me know and I'd be happy to try again! Thanks for the great request and please feel free to let me know what you think!🤍

Secret Admirers

Warnings: fluff, brief angst, friends to lovers, obliviousness, brief LA Rams slander

Word Count: 1.9k+ words

Masterlist | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info/Fandom List

“How am I supposed to consider you a friend when you say things like that?” you ask.

Tim shakes his head. “You’re just mad because I’m right.”

“There are other things to do besides football,” you argue.

“I thought it was my night to pick.”

“You always pick football.”

“The Rams are playing.”

You sigh dramatically, leaning against Tim’s shoulder. “Fine, turn on the game, let me lose a few more IQ points.”

Tim’s shoulder moves below you, the only sign that he’s laughing at your actions. If you didn’t want to watch football, he wouldn’t make you, because he’s a good friend. No one knows; you only got close to him because of your relentless pursuit of getting to know him. And now you’re inseparable.

“You know you’re my closest friend?” you ask.

“Then you should get out more,” he deadpans.

“You love me.”

“Whatever you need to hear.”

“Tell me I’m your best friend and I’ll tell you the Rams are making it to the Super Bowl.” You lower your voice to add, “For once.”

Tim’s eyes narrow as he moves to look at you. “You have to mean it.”

Nodding, you put on your most serious expression.

“You are my best friend,” Tim says.

You smile brightly, and Tim presses his lips together to hide his smile.

“The Rams are going to the Super Bowl. Guaranteed,” you tell him.

“Well now they are. You’re our luck,” Tim mumbles, leaning back against the couch again.

“Heard that.”

✯✯✯✯✯

You haven’t seen Tim in almost a week. After the game ended, a win for the Rams, he got called into work and has barely been home since. Just long enough to sleep and eat each night before he’s gone again. Los Angeles has been dealing with numerous crime sprees, like a miniature version of the Purge that the Mid-Wilshire Division faces singlehandedly.

Your stomach rumbles around lunchtime, and as you reach for your bag, you realize Tim probably hasn’t had a good meal this week. Dialing the number of his favorite restaurant, you place a huge order to be delivered to the station, not even thinking about letting Tim know who it’s from.

Knowing Tim has food he’ll enjoy, you rest a little easier and continue your day with a small smile.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Hey,” Tim sighs, letting you inside. “Sorry I’ve been so busy this week.”

“No problem, glad you’re home.”

“You’ll never guess what happened,” he says. “Someone sent a ton of food from my favorite restaurant yesterday afternoon. The timing was perfect; we were all exhausted and starving. And… it’s been so long since someone just did something nice for me like that.”

Tim smiles as he shakes his head gently.

“I wish I knew who it was from so I could thank them properly.”

You consider telling him, but first, you ask, “Think it’s a secret admirer?”

Tim barks out a single laugh. “Yeah, because this is going to become a regular thing.”

That’s all the answer you need. Keeping your mouth closed, you nod and become Tim Bradford’s secret admirer. He deserves everything and more, and it’s up to you to show him.

You’ve always felt something for Tim, and as you start taking note of little things he likes or wants, you avoid confronting what these feelings could really be.

✯✯✯✯✯

“More to come,” you say as you finish writing the letter.

After a few days of giving Tim small gifts and becoming more attuned to his wants and likes, you add handwritten notes to your deliveries to add a personal level. He hasn’t seen your writing enough to determine you are his secret admirer, so you give him the acknowledgment and words of affirmation he craves, often without knowing.

Securing the note to the top of the box, a new Rams jersey, you smile. Being Tim’s secret admirer makes you happy, but more than that, it makes Tim happy, which is the one thing you want in the world.

✯✯✯✯✯

Tim opens the box before the letter, his eyes widening at the brand-new, once-worn Rams jersey. Closing it quickly, he reaches for the letter before stopping. Tim feels strange accepting the gifts, especially one that is so expensive. But, if whoever this is wants to do something so kind, the least he can do is accept them. It’s not just about the money, though, Tim realizes. His thoughts often drift to you, and he can’t place why, but he still wonders if accepting something from others will create a rift in his relationship with you.

First, it’s not too expensive. You deserve so much more than you would ever be willing to get for yourself. So, accept it and enjoy it.

Tim shakes his head; whoever wrote this knows him better than he thought. They’re probably close.

Happiness isn’t something you have to earn or prove you are worthy of.

Closing the card and tucking it underneath the jersey, Tim prepares to leave for the day. After stowing the thoughtful gift from his secret admirer in his backseat, he drives to a nearby store to pick up a few things for dinner.

While shopping, Tim sees something you have always wanted but have never been able to afford. After receiving so many kind gifts and hearing the exact words he unknowingly craves, he feels a strong urge to give you something you want and deserve, too.

It's after dark when he leaves the store, so Tim decides to put it on your porch in the morning as a surprise. You’ll know his writing, so he prints a note that you deserve nice things, even when you don’t feel like you do.

Once it’s safely on your porch before sunrise, and Tim is driving to the station, he realizes that he doesn’t like having a secret admirer. Not because he doesn’t like the gifts or the money spent on him, but because he doesn’t want to lose you if the secret admirer wants more.

✯✯✯✯✯

Tears gather in your eyes when you see the gift on your porch. After years of daydreaming about spending that kind of money on something you love and then talking yourself out of it with an argument that you don’t deserve it, you don’t know what to do. The note attached to it silences each of the thoughts racing through your mind.

Being a secret admirer and having one are very different things, and you’re not sure you like this.

✯✯✯✯✯

Each gift Tim receives over the next week deepens his frown, even as he reads the kind notes attached. He wants to know who it is, so he can explain that he’s grateful, but it needs to stop. You’ve stayed at his side through each letter, glad that someone is being kind. Tim’s contention comes from the fact that when he gets something, he wants to call you and share it with you, but that may not be fair to you. Yes, he’s your secret admirer, but he doesn’t want to lose you because of his. It’s probably an irrational fear, but if someone is doing this and expecting to move forward into a real relationship with Tim, he can’t. He won’t.

On Friday, the end of his first week as your secret admirer, he sends you a bouquet, not made of flowers, but of things that constitute your favorite hobby. It’s incredibly thoughtful, and the note comes straight from his heart. He mentions something specific about your past, smiling as he pictures your excited smile.

✯✯✯✯✯

When you accept the large arrangement, your eyes widen as you reach for the card first. The last line mentions something you’ve only talked about once. The one time you confided about it to someone was to Tim Bradford.

Your jaw drops as you realize that Tim is the only person who could have been doing this over the last week. That means he probably knows that you’re his secret admirer, too. Grabbing your car keys, you drive straight to the station, ready to tell Tim it’s been you and you meant every word you said.

✯✯✯✯✯

“Who dropped it off?” Tim demands.

“Sergeant,” the woman begins.

“Don’t tell me that it was a delivery, they have to give a name. I need to know who is giving me this stuff because I can’t accept it!”

You stop in the hallway, listening to Tim’s raised voice as he refuses to accept a gift. 

“I can look into it.”

“Please do,” Tim says, quieter.

Stepping out of the hall and walking toward the bullpen, Tim sees you, and his shoulders drop in relief. He walks to your side and leads you somewhere private to talk.

“You don’t want a secret admirer anymore?” you ask softly, your fingers brushing the edge of the envelope hidden behind your back.

“No.”

“Why not?”

 Tim sighs, rubbing his hand on his jaw before answering, “Because I’m in love with someone else.”

Even though you were sure the letter was from him, you drop your eyes and begin second-guessing yourself. Maybe you mentioned it to someone else, or they just found out. Tim notices your change and steps closer.

“What’s going on?” he asks gently.

“Nothing, I just- I should go.”

You rush out, and Tim can’t chase you because he has to work. He calls and texts you throughout the rest of the afternoon, growing grumpier with each ignored message and ring.

When he finally gets off work, he drives straight to you and knocks on your door, determined to get answers.

“I thought it was you,” you admit, opening the door and not letting him speak. “I was getting letters too and I thought they were from you.”

Tim’s anger dissipates nearly immediately with your soft voice and downcast eyes. “They were. The letters were from me.”

“Then-“

“That’s why I can’t let whoever is sending me such thoughtful gifts continue,” Tim interrupts. “Because I have feelings for you.”

You pull Tim inside, leaning against the door as you say, “But it's all been from me.”

Tim’s eyes widen, and his mouth gapes open as you pass him an envelope. He opens it, nearly choking on air as he sees two tickets to the next Rams game.

“Why didn’t you just tell me at the station?” he asks, looking between you and the tickets before moving toward you.

“You said you were in love with someone else,” you answer with a shrug.

Tim chuckles, letting you see his smile as he bends to look into your eyes. “Because I didn’t know it was you.”

“I was going to tell you. At the game, if you’d let me go.” You fiddle with your fingers until he slides his hand between yours.

“I have a better idea.”

“What?”

Tim sets the tickets on the table behind him. Turning toward you, he takes your face between his hands and kisses you. His slow, languid movements reinforce everything he has expressed through his actions and written words over the past week.

You gasp when his lips meet yours, clutching his shirt in your grasp as you kiss him, letting your actions speak yet again.

“Will you go out with me?” Tim asks, breathless as he pulls back, his hands dropping to your waist. “Some walking angel gave me a few Rams tickets, and I’d love to take you.”

“Depends,” you answer with a hum. “What are your thoughts on secret admirers?”

Tim squeezes your waist gently. “I love mine.”

[mysticficti0n]

Hi B can you do something about if the TH boys were to walk-in while she was showering?? I feel it would be really funny

thank you ♥︎

BAHAHAHAHAHAH OMG YESSS

∞༺♥༻✧✧༺♥༻∞　　∞༺♥༻✧✧༺♥༻∞　

Shower intrusion

warnings- swearing and thats about it

words- 990

Tom

Tom was sat round in the living room watching some stupid film on tv until the idea of going for a nice relaxing shower came to his mind, he knew Y/n was up stairs, he could hear her fucking music rattling off the walls so its perfect timing to go in and clean off whatever was on him from the day. He climbed up the stairs and saw his roommates door wide open with the speaker on 100 volume, he shook his head as he grabbed a towel from his dresser and walked to go to the bathroom, his hand twisted the door knob and he walked in and hot steamy air hit his face "TOM GET OUT!" a high pitched yell echoed on the tiled walls "FUCKING HELL Y/N!" he shouted back standing stunned as Y/n reached for the shower curtain to wrap around her body "well don't just fucking stare!" the girl growled seeing Tom's eyes widen with realisation to what he'd done- we all know where his little eyes drifted... "shit I'm sorry I thought you were in your room!" he argued looking to the ceiling trying to not think of her naked in front of him "I'll go now erm... enjoy?" Tom had never moved quicker in his life to leave the bathroom. Why was he such an idiot? Tom found himself sat back down on the sofa flicking through channels before a wet-haired Y/n came and stood before him- fully dressed in her Pj's may I add- he gave her a shy smile as she crossed her arms staring down at the slouched position he was in "bathrooms free now perv"

Bill

"I need to go take this bloody make-up off!" Bill groaned wiping his black eyes and seeing a huge dark smudge draw itself along his hand "ugh!" leaving the group down stairs he went to his room searching for the make-up wipes "come on where are they?" he pulled open every draw he owned swiping his hands over every surface he could reach but nothing Then he thought to check Y/n's room, she always had wipes stocked somewhere, he knocked the door and had no response, Bill opened the door slightly and saw a darkness filled room but a light shone from her bathroom, with a happy sigh he trudged in walking straight to the bathroom not noticing the sound of the taps being twisted off "Y/n I need some- OH FUCK I'M SORRY!" right in front of his eyes was a unsuspecting Y/n hurriedly wrapping her towel around her "why didn't you say something when you were walking in!" she laughed seeing the singer cover his eyes and spin back round "fucking idiot, you can turn around now" slowly Bill turned back to the girl seeing her fully covered with a clip holding her hair back "erm.. I need make-up wipes if you have any" his voice was quieter than before making Y/n chuckle and point to next to her sink "thanks and sorry... I don't know why I didn't thing you'd be in the shower" the boy quickly grabbed the wipes and ran back down stairs to fill in his bandmates about his encounter before wiping off his make-up

Georg

Georg was sweating like shit on a hot day after being outside helping set up the barbecue with Tom who couldn't seem to understand how to screw legs onto the main barbecue drum which oddly enough ended with a shoe mark stamped into it, with heavy steps he came up the stairs taking his shirt off and already unbuckling his belt his free hand pushing the bathroom door open as soon as the smell of vanilla and lavender filled his nose he regretted everything he did "shit sorry sorry!" he chanted walking back out closing his eyes making him close to smacking his head off the door "Jesus Georg you gave me a heart attack!" the girl called with a laugh, while the bassist stood with a thought fighting his way to the front of his mind, he opened the door slightly again and the scent of his shampoo washed over him "are you using my fucking almond shampoo?!" he yelled getting a suspicious 'no' from the girl "fucking hell Y/n out of everyone in this bloody house I didn't think you'd be nicking my shampoo! I wondered why it ran out so fast!" "look it makes your hair so shiny and smooth I was getting jealous!" Georg couldn't stop a laugh from leaving his lips "I'll buy you your own next time but don't use any more!" he warned walking to his own room to write a reminder 'get the shampoo stealer her own shampoo'

Gustav

"god my shoulders hurt so bad" the drummer grumbled rubbing the sore spot on his right side "ah- I need a shower, hot water helps" he spoke to the group sat with him as he turned to leave the room he thought he remembered Y/n saying she was going for a shower but surely she'd be out now? He made his way to the bathroom and pushed the door open and herd the small voice of Y/n singing a tune then "GUSTAV LEAVE!" the boy was brought back as he attempted to run out the room but it turned out to be more of a stumble as he smacked into the wall outside "SORRY Y/N!" he yelled slamming the door shut while slapping himself in the face trying to forget the image on Y/n with suds falling down her body, how long was he looking? "why does nobody in this goddamn house knock doors before they enter?" the girl shouted with a grunt making him laugh and her angriness, he'd make it up to her- maybe buying a door lock? "Gustav I know you're still outside" he snickered walking back down stairs with a red tint across his face "oopsie" he giggled

[mirage-aera]

Hi, I’m new here! I’m not sure if requests are open or if you’re currently writing for ghost, but could we have a scenario where there is a new female ghoul and they’re trying to figure out where they fit in the hierarchy. She’s bratty and challenges sodo, but he’s having none of it and it gets a bit smutty/suggestive and has her submitting. Thank you and my apologies if you don’t write anything like this!

Hello there! They are open, so thank you for the request. I am also terribly sorry for the very long wait. I have been having trouble with my writing motivation but it's back!

•°. *࿐ Rocky start

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Take Me Back To Eden - Sleep Token

Sodo x fem!reader

The new ghoulette challenges Sodo, he’s not amused in the slightest.

Word count: 1.590

Ghost masterlist

It’s been a while since you’ve been summoned to the top. You were summoned to replace Aether for the upcoming tour while he stays back to help around the clergy. Copia and the other ghouls and ghoulettes have noticed that you are having a harder time adjusting to the surface than previous ghouls. For a quintessence ghoulette, you’re a bit more snappy than usual. As days go by, some ghoul’s patience is running thin. That certain ghoul is Sodo. There isn’t a time of day when you two aren’t arguing. To their confusion, you are a lot more agitated around Sodo than the others. Yes, you have your moments with the others but it’s never as bad as it is when you’re around the fire ghoul. Sodo has noticed it too and isn’t too thrilled, to say the least.

You’re in the practice room with the rest of the band, rehearsing for the upcoming shows. Currently, you are on a short break so everyone is conversing or playing something random. Sodo is trying to fix his solo since he kept messing it up previously during the rehearsal. You, wanting to annoy him a little bit, decide to play the solo as well but add your little twist. As he's nearing the solo you start getting ready and crank your amp up. You both start playing, at first he doesn't notice but as he messes up again, he growls and throws his pick across the room. You, however, continue playing. You finish his solo perfectly. You place your guitar down and give him a sly smirk, "wanna try again, Sodo?" Some snickers could be heard throughout the room. He snarls and flips you off, "yeah yeah, whatever." Just as you open your mouth to say something Copia pipes up, "Alright, ghouls and ghoulettes. From the top!"

***

As the rehearsal goes on. Everyone within the room can tell how fired up Sodo is. At least, more than usual. He plays with a lot more passion, aggression, and spirit. At some point during the rehearsal, you were going to match or top his attitude to get a rise out of him, but the look that Copia gives you says enough. It’s like he’s saying, ‘Don’t aggravate him further.’ And for once, you pull back a little on your playing and continue as if there isn’t tension in the room. An early practice already sets off the fire ghoul and topping it with your attitude isn’t the ideal morning for the said ghoul.

You can see from the corner of your eye that he’s fiddling with his pedals. His guitar and pedals have been giving issues as of late, during practice and the rituals. “Fuck!! Stupid thing won’t work!” He shouts out with frustration. He fiddles with it once more before giving up and throwing his pick at it. “Maybe if you stop throwing shit at it, it would work.” You mumble out. He hears it and snaps his head to you, “what did you just say?” he asks in a low tone. “I said, maybe if you stop throwing shit and kicking at it, it would work.” He glares at you, “maybe if you mind your own business I can get it to work.” He retaliates. Copia sighs, “(Y/n), take over his parts until he fixes it. We don't have time for this.” You nod and smile triumphantly at Sodo. “Oh! Of course, she gets my parts! What a fucking joke.” Copia gives him a pointed look, “Sodo if you need a minute to cool off, feel free to do it outside of this room.” He takes of the strap of his guitar and holds the guitar by its neck and storms off, “fine!! You don't need me anyway! Do this stupid rehearsal without me!” and with that he slams the door behind him closed. Looks are exchanged with each other throughout the room.

“Should one of us talk to him?”

“He won't set the clergy on fire, right?”

“Maybe one of us should go after him, to calm him down.”

“I can go.” You propose to the group. Swiss chuckles, “no offense, he hates you the most. You'll just set him off more.” Copa sighs and pinches his nose bridge, “no one needs to go after him. He’ll calm down on his own. And no, he won't set the clergy on fire. He has enough self-control. Okay from the top now, 5, 6, 7, 8.” You all look at each other and shrug. Deciding to trust his judgment you continue playing, without Sodo.

***

You can't help but dwell on Swiss’ words the whole morning. ‘He hates you the most.’ It hurts to think about it. ‘Does he actually hate you?’ you ask yourself. You hope not, you actually like him a bit, even if it doesn't look like it. You walk mindlessly through the halls of the clergy, some halls you haven’t even seen before. Eventually, you reach the gardens. You decide to spend a couple of hours there. You look around the scenery. It is well kept by the earth ghouls. You spot Mountain among them, you smile and give him a subtle wave. He notices and smiles and waves back. You see a tree near the pond where the water ghouls like to spend their time, especially during the warm summer heat. You take a seat at the base of the tree and watch the handful of water ghouls swim around, splash around, and relaxing. You look around some more and you see the air ghouls playing around with the kits. And the fire ghouls... well they are being typical fire ghouls. Messing around with the other ghouls and goofing off. Even the few multie ghouls that the clergy has are scattered about. They’re spending time with the other elements. But you see no quintessence ghouls. What are their roles? What is your role in the clergy? Eventually, the sun sets and the ghouls are heading back inside. You, however, decide to take in the serenity of the garden while you can.

You spend how many minutes before Aether walks up to you. You look up at him and give him a questioning look. “I thought I'd find you here. Come inside, before they start eating your dinner.” You nod and take his hand that he outstretched for you. He pulls you up and leads you inside.

“Aether?” he hums in acknowledgment. “What do we quintessence ghouls do? All the other elements are outside doing different stuff.” He chuckles, “is this why you are bothering Sodo so much? He's your mate, isn't he?” You slap him on the arm, to which he laughs at. You're only proving his point. “Well, we help out the papa’s if they need it. We also occasionally help out Sister Imperator and the other sisters and brothers. A simple job really, not much to it if I do say so myself.” You thank him, and before you know it you're at the dinner table. You sit across from Sodo, who's picking at his food. All the other ghouls and ghoulettes at the table have already finished if not, almost finished with their food. Sodo usually finishes by now. You put your knife and fork down, “Sodo?” He raises a brow, acknowledging you but not saying a word. “I’m sorry about earlier during rehearsals, and for the earlier weeks. I have been giving you a hard time for no reason.” Sodo grunts before standing up and stalking over towards you. He wraps his hand around your arm and pulls you up from your chair. Aether looks at you to ask if you need him to intervene. You shake your head, wanting to see what Sodo wants. He drags you out of the mess hall. He walks over to his room and nearly throws you inside. He pins you to the wall and gets close to you, so close that you can feel him heavily breathing. “You know we are mates, correct?” He asks you. You nod timidly, clearly having lost your tongue. “Then why have you been giving me a hard time the whole fucking time since you have arrived here?! You have been nothing but rude to me, insulting me, trying to put me down. I can't even hate you for it, because I love you too much.” You raise a brow, “you love me? Even after all of that?” He nods, “when you have a mate, you just want to be close with them, love them. But you make it so fucking difficult. Why have you been doing this?”

You sigh, “I don't know.” He looks at you incredulously, “you don't know?” He repeats. You hesitate before continuing, “I loved you, I still do. I just didn't know where I belonged. I was confused, angry, and upset for being suddenly summoned, expected to know everything and take over Aether’s position so soon. And I took it out on you, I realize it was wrong of me to do so. I'm sorry Sodo.” He loosens his hold on you, “you could've just said so. We would've helped you. I would've helped you. All you needed to do was ask.” You hang your head low, ashamed of your actions. He lifts your chin up with his finger, “but I forgive you. We are mates after all. We can't be separated.”

You give him a look, “does this mean?…” you trail off. He chuckles, “I'm yours, and you are mine. At last.” You smile brightly, “I like the sound of that. You're mine, and I'm yours.”

[oscconfessions]

Sigh... I'm gonna add my two cents about the Balloon arospec drama(I'm AroAce BTW) and by my two cents I mean I'll mention it two times and just talk about something else related. I'll also be providing some knowledge about AroAceness and all that.

For those of you who don't know,

Aro: Aromantic - Little to no romantic attraction.

Ace: Asexual - Little to no sexual attraction.

Aro+Ace are spectrums and aren't just "every Aro person doesn't feel any kind of romantic attraction" or "every Ace person can't feel sexual attraction." I feel as tbough people forget that all the time so I wanted to remind you lot haha.

I'm noticed this kind of drama a few times, where people argue about a character on where they are on the AroAce spectrum. It's difficult for me to put what I think into words here, but if a character(either canon AroAce or not) doesn't have a canon placement on the spectrum then whatever, go wild.

To help with my previous statement, I'll use SakiK from... SaikiK. People generally agree he's AroAce, yet people argue about where he is on that spectrum(mainly the Aromantic part). Since it's not ever stated where he is on that spectrum(or even if he is AroAce but SHHHSHSHHSH 🤫🤫), everyone has their own interpretation of it.

I believe it should be the same for Balloon, unless Balloon comes on screen and says "I am *insert very specific thing here* " as he points to a picture of the Aro spectrum then its to to you. Obviously, don't make him a sex crazed fiend or constantly searching for love, you eejit, but it should be up to interpretation.

A little off-topic here, sorry, but I wanted to bring up umbrella terms in both the Aro and Ace spectrums(I'm included ace because eh why not! This is for my people who HC Balloon as Aro AND Ace 🙏🙏)

Here are some terms under both the aro and ace spectrums. I feel as though you guys and many, MANY others tend to forget that there are umberlla terms for AroAce. I'll define them below:

Ace umbrella:

Aceflux: someone whose sexual orientation fluctuates but generally stays on the asexual spectrum

Greysexual: only experience sexual attraction some of the time, and sometimes not at all.

Demisexual: An individual who does not experience sexual attraction until after a close emotional bond has been formed.

Aro umbrella:

Aroflux: someone whose romantic orientation fluctuates but generally stays on the aromantic spectrum

Greyromantic: Some may feel a strong emotional connection with others but do not desire romantic relationships, while others may feel a weak romantic attraction to some people but not all.

Demiromantic: An individual who does not experience romantic attraction until after a close emotional bond has been formed.

Now, there are MANY more, feel free to add in the replies or the reblogs (o: !

Also, my apologies that this post was very long! Also also, my personal opinion on Balloons arospec thing? Idfk, lmao. TBH, this was kinda an excuse to just talk about stuff I like and am interested in so... 👍I've seen the tweet where one of the people who worked on II said yes, Balloon is meant to be Aro, but I couldn't tell you if they went into specifics about it. Sorry for constantly saying AroAce instead of just aro for Balloon, I felt like it was still important to include all my asexuals out there and educate others about it.

(BTW! Any inaccurate info, PLEASE, PLEASE correct in the replies)

Anyway!

TL;DR:

If a character who is just stated to be AroAce(not demi, grey, flux ETC) and never has their place on the spectrum explained whatsoever, it's okay to have a little fun experimenting with it IYKWIM. As I've stated, we all have our own interpretation of the AroAce character and there's no point arguing about it and getting mad because that's fucking stupid, unless they start actively getting rid of the AroAce rep then burn them to the stakes! /j

I know how wild you mother fuckers can be, so don't shank me please. If you disagree, take a deep breath and remain calm because getting all pissy about this isn't gonna do shit. Try to go about it calmly and reasonably. <3

I'd love to see others' opinions on this, remember to be respectful! 🩵

.

[8bitsupervillain]

Higurashi When They Cry Hou Ch. 2 Watanagashi pt. Final

Guess this is all tied up in a neat little package.

Ah man, so much for everything being tied up nice and neat.

I miss the simple days of when murder victims, and the dead killers stayed dead. It's like a bad horror series where they have to contrive reasons for why and how Michael Myers survived being locked in a burning building with no avenue for escape. "He survived because he hid where the guns are hidden." Bullshit, I don't think hiding in an impromptu oven will stop you from being cooked to death. Maybe the dead Mion and dead Takano are also friends with the writer and convinced him to spare their lives for a smidge.

There's a quote from an old crime writer named Mickey Spillane. "Nobody reads a mystery to get to the middle. They read it to get to the end. If it's a letdown, they won't buy any more. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book." You might think this is a jab at Ryukishi07, but I like to think that he's heard this quote and has ingrained it in his soul. Come to think of it I'm pretty sure a lot of writers use this trick, even if they don't like to admit it. The mystery of how people who were apparently dead days before their corpses were found is an intriguing mystery. Now, of course this isn't the end of the chapter, but it's close enough.

It is a pretty good joke, shame Mion didn't see the comedy in it. Also it's tragic that the two were attacked and lost their faces. So how much of this was actually real do you think? I'm going to guess everything after the stabbing is all in Keiichi's mind and he did die of his stab wound. You don't twist the knife if you don't mean to make sure your victim is absolutely dead. I'm not a huge fan of the "everything was just the main character's dying dream" trope because I generally feel that's just people interacting with the book/game/VN/whatever at the absolute laziest possible level.

But this can't be real, up until this point ghosts haven't existed in the narrative at all. Not even as a one-off casual mention. I suppose you could argue that spirits exist because of the notion the god Oyashiro exists, and demons, but that could just as easily be counter-argued with the explanation these are just fairy tales.

I have a backup theory. My main bet is everything post stabbing is entirely in Keiichi's head, and he died from the wound. But the alternate theory I have is that everything up until Ooishi left happened, and that's when Keiichi died. His wounded body couldn't handle the mental strain of being told Mion, Shion, and everyone else had died, and as such it simply gave up. Which is extremely bad luck for Ooishi, that the last witness of the entire Sonozaki/Watanagashi Incident died shortly after he saw him. Which I guess would kind of make Ooishi the grim reaper.

I enjoyed it a lot better than Onikakushi. It was much more intriguing of a read.

Rika, just vibrating with fury.

Sorry Satoko, I'm pretty sure everyone's gonna be put through the wringer before all's said and done.

Ah, they have fun.

No.

Anyway, I do have a question, please feel free to answer it, but be mindful not to spoil please. Should I bother reading these All Cast Review Sessions? Do they actually contribute to the overall narrative? Or is it just a decompressing lighthearted discussion about the chapter? Would I lose anything if I just jumped directly from the end of say Chapter 3: Tatarigoroshi and went in immediately to Chapter 4: Himatsubushi? Basically, I'm wondering if these Review Sessions are like the Tea Party segments from Umineko, and will add large amounts of plot details to the overall narrative.

I ask this like it'll make a difference, I know myself well enough that I'm just going to read them regardless. Still, I'm curious.

[dream-critical]

Idk just think it’s weird that Q hasn’t spoken out 🤷🏾‍♀️. People getting doxxed and mess (from what I’ve seen/ heard mainly Q’s “fandom” (sorry don’t know the right word to use)) for simply just for being excited for the USMP. Like he can’t just tweet “I don’t condone this” or whatever?

Even about the messaging thing. Haven’t MULTIPLE people tried and contact him with no response (besides Karl)? It is weird that a lot of people tried reaching out and not one response back just saying “I’m ok, just don’t wanna talk” or something.

But me personally (who hasn’t had the time to really look into this) I didn’t see it as “drama” I saw it as “hey this is what has been going on, and I’ve seen what has happened to the people in both communities”

Ok so I'm taking this at face value so if I'm interpreting anything you've said wrongly do feel free to correct me. And I'm sorry if my response seems all over the place I just wanted to reply as soon as possible.

I think in general it is unfair to expect quackity to reply. Is it the most emotionally mature thing to do? No absolutely not. And I'm sure he's aware of it as well. Do I think the whole situation is ridiculous? Yeah. Do I think it was the best move on Q's part? Probably not. Do I get why he did that? Also yes.

Anyway, I think that in a situation like this, where dream has said some pretty passive aggressive things about quackity, both on Twitter and on stream even when they were supposedly still friends, looked down on the things quackity has achieved, like with the streamer awards etc, Q actually does not owe dream a response. Replying to the other people who reached out would mean having to actually acknowledge what is going on and it would end with having to talk with dream as now others will have become deeply involved in this mess. And I genuinely do not think that dream is the kind of person that would actually listen to Q if they actually did sit down and talk but that's another conversation.

Dream also is known for ghosting people (like the way ccs on the dsmp couldn't do lore streams bc dream never replied to them etc) so the way he's reacting to this is just hypocritical to me and the way he has handled it is also very childish. He's basically forcing quackity to reply to him through peer pressure and by relying on his fans bothering Q about it it enough that he'll give up on keeping distance. Which also is not an emotionally mature reaction imo.

You're right the whole situation is a mess, I have even seen some people who claimed to be doxxed being proven false, and while I do feel very bad in case there are people that did actually get doxxed and hope they'll be able to move on from it soon, saying that the majority of the doxxers are Quackity stans is untrue as far as I know. Bc I've also seen lots of dream stans spreading misinfo, claiming everyone is suddenly from lktwt, claiming every person critisizing dream is racist.

Arguments about the usmp/qsmp are mainly rooted in the fact that some people get really vile about it and yes I'll admit some people who dislike dream do go a bit far. But at this point the majority of mcyt twt dislikes dream so it isn't just quackity stans.

I have seen people being straight up racist towards quackity bc of it. And perhaps you could argue I'm biased as someone who deeply dislikes dream but I think there's a lot more hostility coming from the usmp side of the argument.

Either way doxxing obviously isn't ok and I don't condone it and I hope everyone that got doxxers is safe and ok.

However I'd also like to add that the only reason this whole usmp Vs qsmp debate has been going on is bc dream couldn't stop mentioning quackity and the qsmp all the time so I'd say dream also has blame in this and I feel he should tweet something denouncing his stans harassing others instead of putting all the blame on someone else since he's so keen on putting pressure on Q.

Also would like to add that no matter what quackity does at this point, things will not change for the better as the situation has been escalated by dream like a lot.

[punmasterkentparson]

How to Comment on Fanfics! (A Guide for the Socially Anxious)

I'm autistic and find socializing with people to be scary af, and that used to include commenting on fics. Now I'm 35 and I've been through multiple fandoms and written plenty of fic, so I'm comfortable on both sides of the fence. Below are some tips and tricks for commenting on fics, to help you when you really want to let your fav author know how much you appreciate their work but aren't confident on what to say.

Feel Free To:

Leave comments. You don't have to say something original or even with words; emojis are great!

Say what you liked. "I love their chemistry." "The scenery description was *chef's kiss*" etc. Hearing about your experience of the fic is what makes the writing worthwhile.

Quote specific lines from the fic. No need to write a thesis on the narrative whatevers of it. (Although long comments are also good!) Even a simple "THIS! THIS HTIS THIS!!" lets the author know you appreciated what they wrote, and it makes them warm and fuzzy.

Comment several times. You know how the AO3 kudos button works only once? Comments work every time! You can use the above methods for commenting multiple times, or even leave a simple "Darn kudos button, let me leave more kudos!!" to let the author know you enjoyed their work more than once.

Share how the fic was meaningful to you. I wrote a fic about the nature of getting older, and lots of people shared their experiences of growing older in the comments. Don't share identifying information (name, country, date of birth, etc.)! Stay safe. But reading and writing fic can be cathartic for both parties, and it's okay to talk briefly about how an author's story mirrored your own life experiences, and how it made you feel understood or seen.

Try Not To:

Nitpick spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Sometimes, authors will leave notes (top or bottom of the fic on AO3) saying "Please comment with any mistakes I made!", and that means they're interested in feedback. ("Sorry for any mistakes," on the other hand, is generally a request that you to overlook them.) Unless an author explicitly asks for feedback, refrain from commenting on mistakes in public. Maybe the author was writing in their second language for practice; maybe they have dyslexia; maybe they were tired when they uploaded the fic and didn't check. The fun part of fic is that it's not under the level of scrutiny as traditionally published works. If an author has lots of mistakes that bother you, try reading fics by someone else.

Argue whether a story follows canon. Fanfic is fun because it doesn't have to follow canon. It doesn't have to make sense or follow any rules. If a ship or character portrayal doesn't match the original media, that's okay. The original media doesn't change!

Talk about what the author could have done "better." This can be anything from how they wrote the dialogue, what words they used for descriptions, the tense they used (present or past), the POV (first, second, third), etc. The point of fanfic isn't to write the best thing possible, it's to have fun. What if someone said you can't build sandcastles on the beach unless your goal was to become an incredible sand sculptor? It would take the fun out of playing in the sand.

Ask the author to change something in their story. Generally speaking, once a fic is published, it has reached its "final form." Asking an author to go back and change what they wrote because one person thinks it could be better is making unpaid demands on their time. NOTE: If you want to be involved in developing and editing fic, you can volunteer to be a beta reader! You can offer to check spelling and grammar, characterization, story development and narrative flow, canon compliance, even use of culture or language (i.e. "Britpick" fics about British media written by non-British writers).

That's all off the top of my head for now. Feel free to add notes to this post with your own dos and don'ts of leaving fanfic comments. Be encouraging! Fanfic and fandom courtesy are a communal effort, and ensuring that everyone feels welcome to do their best and make mistakes along the way is the best way to ensure fic and fandom continue to be a safe, fun place for all of us.

[alistairlowes]

i would love to hear how you think they handled his storyline horribly if you’re up to sharing because i thought the same thing.

another note: it’s gonna be hilarious to see this show get canceled just after two seasons of being on abc lmaooo (im so sorry to station 19 tho, y’all got canceled for this shit show 😭)

hey. first, sorry i’m late with this reply. i let this cook in my brain for a bit in hopes of elaborating my thoughts better but it didn’t really work lmao. but anyways i did say it before and i still stand by it and that is that they wanted to do something big for 100th episode that’s why we got bi reveal out in that way but the build up was shit and imo it wasn’t handled with enough care & thought put into it. literally zero character introspection before or after for something as major as sexuality. and like i truly don’t expect them to do wonders on network tv but making them kiss to establish buck is bi because it was the quickest way although they barely spoke up to that point is just lazy and pandering to a certain group of people. buck and tommy have no emotional and romantic chemistry whatsoever and i fucking hate that 180° switch oliver did with acting in that scene i was literally like “oh okay we’re really doing this now". it was forced af. they barely interacted until that point? nothing else in that episode makes sense and especially not “your attention”. what the fuck are you even talking about? i also said before it would make sense if it was about eddie so he projected those feelings (i would still think writing sucked even if bdw </3) but i’m not sure of anything at this point since they just seem to wing it as the show goes and care more about numbers, milestones and what the audience goes along with rather than what makes any narrative sense. 

like i don’t know dude, if smashing two men together like ken dolls without actually giving them any development or realization counts as good bi rep for some people then good for them, couldn’t be me tho. as someone who watched a lot of queer shows that actually bothered to deal with arcs like this properly this is giving nothing. it was rushed. bucks bi arc is clearly not about him as some tend to claim. they could have done it without random fucking kissing right away. but they did that and all other episodes followed with that and nothing else. and if i have to read one more time how i should be grateful we got “macho guy” coming out because there isn’t enough rep like that i’m gonna end it all.

but also feel free to share thoughts too i’ll add it to my everything wrong with this shit .docx. sadly don’t think it will get cancelled any time soon but whatever i emotionally detached myself from it. i don’t even enjoy other characters anymore because it’s just back and forth all the time. i’m on the side watching people argue from now on.

[h0rr0rsaxo]

Okay so I have another ocv idea...hope you don't mind. So this is where cp Anni ends up in the oc-verse.

Fang and Viper are freaking out, Kellin and Vince are sitting there like dude....this human is kinda cute, Varrick is standing there holding onto Anni and quite literally is about to kill anyone who tries to touch or get too close and ocv Anni is being unreasonably aggressive, insulting Anni and threatening her, saying things like... "If you were smart you wouldn't be here. You are weak and pathetic and could get us all killed ! In fact I hope some demon catches you and decides to eat you."

"I won't fucking hesitate to kill you. In fact i'd relish in it." which is making Varrick tug her closer to him. Once everyone calms down they realize that human Anni is very much human and smells like such so they have to get rid of the smell. Fang offers to use a spell but Varrick practically jumps at the chance for affection and scents her by hugging her, rubbing his face against her, kissing her cheeks and neck, ocv Anni is seeing this and is just glaring, she feels jealous and kinda lonely but says nothing and sits there with her...."cat". Human Anni even tries to pet her "cat" but Azrael goes into his actual form and screeches, unhinging his jaw and scaring the piss out of poor cp Anni, and Varrick just shields her and glares at ocv Anni and her "pet."Then cp Anni just looks at her other self and narrows her eyes and says, "Why are you such a bitch? This entire time you've been sitting scowling and sulking, so what the hell is your problem?"

Ocv Anni: "YOU are my problem. You shouldn't be here!" and the arguing goes on until it gets to cp Anni just completely calling out ocv Anni.

"Oh whatever, you're just jealous and you know what, I know what your scared of. Your scared of being close to people, your scared that if you get close to anyone like you did with Ris, something bad will happen and you'll get hurt again....you and me may be different but we both have the same fears. So stop acting like you're all high and mighty."

Ocv Anni: "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT NAME! YOU DON'T GET TO SAY HER NAME, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO LOSE SOMEONE LIKE THAT!"

(I am so so so sorry this is so long, no pressure, feel free to ignore this or change and get rid of/add anything you'd like and if you have any questions then feel free to ask!)

[ jealousy. || simp party. ]

Warnings: none.

Tags: @insane-horror-movie-addict

A/N: Never mention Ris around her...-- also, not really proof read?

Word count: 2,769

Fang and Viper found themselves in a dimly lit room, the flickering torches casting eerie shadows on the stone walls. The room was filled with demons, their glowing eyes fixed on the two of them as they entered. Fang's heart raced as she realized the gravity of the situation. She had messed up, and now she was in the presence of Enid and her shadow-proxies. She could feel their stares piercing through her, and her mind raced with thoughts of what kind of punishment Nightmare would inflict upon her.

"Oh no, Nightmare is going to be so angry with us," Fang whispered, her voice trembling with fear. "We're going to be in so much trouble! We allowed them to bring another human— you know how much Nightmare fucking hates humans?! We're all going to be fucking executed by her fucking proxies!" She paced back and forth in a panic, her heart racing as she began to sweat

Viper, who had been calm and collected up until this point, suddenly became more forceful. "Fang, pull yourself together!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls, she jumped up and grabbed Fang by the shoulders and striking a palm on her face to get to snap out of it, "We knew this was a possibility, and we have a plan. If we handle this correctly, everything will be fine." Fang nodded, trying to steady her breathing. She knew that Viper was right, but it was hard to shake off the feeling of dread that had settled in her stomach.

Fang looked at Viper with wide eyes, her breath coming in short gasps. "How the fuck would you know?! You're the one who got us into this mess!" she asked, her voice trembling.

Fang's eyes blazed with fury as she confronted Varrick, the large demon who had brought a human into their world. "How could you be so fucking idiotic?!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the walls of the cavernous room. "You know that Nightmare will punish us all severely for this! And if we manage to escape death like that, then creatures from all over are going to TRACK her scent down just to get a taste of this human!"

Varrick looked sheepish, his eyes darting around the room as if he was searching for an escape. "I didn't think it through," he muttered, his voice barely audible over Fang's angry tirade. "But I know I didn't make a mistake— she's so precious.."

Fang shook her head, her long black hair whipping around her face. "You never think anything through," she snapped. "Now we're all going to suffer the consequences of your stupidity!" Everyone's eyes fixed on Fang and Varrick as they argued. Fang could feel their collective tension and fear, their bodies tensing as they braced themselves for the wrath of her furious state. "Varrick? Are you even listening?!"

Varrick, a large demon with rippling muscles and a fearsome countenance, looked down at Anni with a tender expression. He had always been fond of the small, fragile human, and he couldn't resist the urge to show her affection. Gently, he reached out and traced his fingers along her cheek, marveling at the softness of her skin. Anni looked up at him, her eyes wide with wonder. "You are so delicate," Varrick murmured, his voice low and rumbling. "I must be careful not to hurt you."

Anni smiled up at him, her face glowing with happiness. "You're always so gentle with me," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Varrick leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, his large, calloused hands cradling her face. "You are precious to me," he whispered, his voice filled with emotion. "I will protect you, always." Anni felt a warmth spread through her body as she gazed up at him. Despite his fearsome appearance, Varrick was always so gentle and caring with her. She felt safe and loved in his arms. Varrick pulled her close, his massive arms enveloping her in a warm embrace. Anni snuggled into him, feeling his heartbeat steady and strong against her chest. For a few moments, they stayed like that, lost in their own world of love and affection. In that moment, nothing else mattered. They were together, and that was all that mattered.

Finally, Varrick leaned back and gazed down at her with a soft smile. "You are my treasure," he said, his voice filled with reverence. "And I will cherish you always." Anni smiled back at him, feeling her heart swell with love. She knew that with Varrick by her side, she could face anything that the world might throw at her. He was her protector, her guardian, and her love— he was nothing like the other Varrick back at home. When Vince tried to walk up to the human, Varrick started growling— glaring at his brother with disdain.

"Seriously, can you stop touching that human? It's fucking pathetic to see you that desperate for attention, Varrick." Ocv-Anni bit at him, clearly angered by his irritating display of affection towards her alternate self. Kellin snorted with a chuckle at her behavior, but quickly shut his mouth when he realized she had been glaring at him with vicious intent. "I can't believe you can even be considered a proxy with this behavior."

Ocv-Anni grunted and rubbed her head, a headache suddenly eating at her brain. Clenching her eyes shut, she moved towards her alternate self that was being smothered in affection, "And you. You pathetic little human. I can't believe you're even a version of me! Why are you so weak looking? I could kill you right now!"

"And I can't believe even when my alternate self is some badass asshole, I still don't get any taller." Anni said bluntly— looking at the angered woman with a completely flat-tone while saying that. "Why are you even trying to threaten me? You're like 5'3…at most." Anni narrowed her eyes.

Ocv-Anni felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as the room erupted into laughter.

The laughter continued, growing louder and more raucous with each passing moment. Anni could feel the weight of their amusement pressing down upon him, suffocating her with its intensity. Finally, one of the onlookers spoke up, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Yeah, Anni," Kellin said. "Why are you threatening her? Varrick could easily just pick you up…and put you on top of a fridge so you wouldn't hurt his treasure." Kellin's tone was laced with mockery as he snickered and teased both ocv-Anni and Varrick.

Ocv-Anni's embarrassment turned to anger as she bristled at the insult. "Shut up," she spat, her voice shaking with annoyance. "I could kill you right now." The room fell silent, the laughter dying away as her threat hung in the air. He felt a pang of regret, knowing that he had probably ensured that ocv-Anni was going to kick his ass later.

"And you." Ocv-Anni was sharp with her words, but she managed to spit them out. Her colorless-eyes were venomous with her, letting the human know she wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, "If you were smart you wouldn't be here. You are weak and pathetic and could get us all killed! In fact I hope some demon catches you and decides to eat you— in fact, I hope a crawler comes to tear you apart. Limb by limb."

"You know what? I don't need those creatures to do the job." The much more dangerous version of Anni paused to look at her, her eyebrow raising and it was enough to send her little human heart leaping from her chest- but she smirked shortly after. "I won't fucking hesitate to kill you. In fact I'd relish it. It's your fault for being stupid enough to decide to come here in the first place."

Varrick, the large demonic man, could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he surveyed the dimly lit room. He knew they were in danger, and he would do anything to protect Anni, the young human girl who was with him. "Anni, come here," he said, his voice low and urgent. He pulled her closer to him, his massive arm encircling her protectively. Anni looked up at Varrick, her eyes wide with wonder. She could see the worry etched into his face, and it made her so curious— why was he so worried? Would that other version of her actually go through with her threats?

Fang, the only other human, let out a low groan as she surveyed the group of people gathered before her. She couldn't help but shake her head at the tension in the air.

"Can we cut this soap-opera act and come up with a plan, please?" Fang said, her voice dripping with annoyance, "Do any of you have a plan to cover up Anni's human scent before the crawlers come to hunt her down? Or are we just going to let her be a sitting duck?" The other demons looked at Fang with a mixture of annoyance and confusion.

They knew that Fang had a tendency to be sarcastic and snarky, but they couldn't deny that she had a point, "The moment she steps out of this place, crawlers are going to surround us. My magic has been lacking as if recently, so I'm not certain I can hold them all off. These things can't be killed with regular weapons, people."

"We could use some of the herbs from the forest," suggested Vince tentatively, a look of concentration as he carefully set his finger on top of his chin, "They might help mask her scent."

Fang rolled her eyes. "Oh, great idea," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because I'm sure the demons won't be able to smell the human girl walking around with a bunch of herbs stuffed in her pockets." Vince quickly flipped her off, while the others were unsure of how to respond to Fang's biting comments.

"Well, then what do you suggest we do, smart-ass?" Kellin rolled his eyes at the snarky woman, his azure-eyes trailing to her with annoyance.

Fang let out a sigh, her expression softening slightly, "We need to be smart about this. We need to find a way to protect Anni, or else we're all in trouble." She said, "I guess I can cast a spell on her temporarily but—"

"Let me do it." Varrick quickly interrupts— an adorable yet goofy smile as he grinned down at his little treasured human. Anni certainly was confused on what they had been talking about, this entire situation as a whole was confusing— I mean, until now, she didn't even know other worldly travel was possible— like at all. She didn't even know she had an alternate self, with differences that she'd never begin to imagine. Anni's eyes widened even further, and she instinctively moved closer to Varrick. She could feel the heat radiating off his massive body, and it was comforting in such a difficult moment.

Anni felt her face getting warmer. She hated to be the center of attention, and at this moment all the girls were piercing her with their curious eyes, making her sigh. It was all irritating to her, until she felt a chaste kiss being pressed against her soft skin— that was the one thing that hadn't changed about Varrick, he wasn't ashamed to show her affection— at all. A soft smile crossed her lips without her realizing it, her eyes glued to her intertwined fingers resting in her lap while he continued with practically rubbing himself against her. Smiling sheepishly, she turned to run her fingers through his hair, enjoying the way his large fingertips slipped alongside her skin, abnormally warm fingers drawing random patterns on her skin while he pressed kisses all over. Placing her hands over his, she slightly bumped her head against his chin, receiving a kiss on the cheek in return. Giggles were spilling from their throats, and Ocv-Anni felt sick.

Ocv-Anni sat serenely on the plush velvet couch, her long fingers delicately stroking the soft fur of her magical feline, Azrael. The feline purred contentedly, arching her back in pleasure at the sensation of her owner's touch. Ocv-Anni's eyes were narrowed, lost in the moment of pure jealousy that came from watching Varrick throw himself at somebody new, as soon as they gave him the attention he craved. As Ocv-Anni continued to pet Azrael, the room grew quiet, the only sounds being the soft purring of the cat and the gentle rustling of fabric as she shifted position. Anni approached the couch, a look of curiosity on her face. She reached out to pet Azrael, but as her hand made contact, something strange happened.

Azrael's fur bristled, his eyes turned deep red, and his body began to contort and twist in a grotesque manner. His once-soft fur became spiky and sharp, and his purring turned into a low, menacing growl. Anni recoiled in horror as the creature before her continued to shift and change, growing larger and more monstrous by the second. Varrick's face fell as he realized what was happening. He had forgotten to warn Anni about Azrael's tendency to shape-shift when she was agitated or startled. He quickly leapt to his feet, grabbing Anni's hand and pulling her towards the door. As they fled across the room, the monstrous creature that had once been Azrael let out a deafening roar, its sharp claws raking the furniture as it began to unhinge its jaws— before it turned back into a small feline, jumping back onto Ocv-Anni's lap as she snickered.

"Why are you such a bitch? This entire time you've been sitting scowling and sulking, so what the hell is your problem?" Anni heard her alternate self scoff under her breath, while her feline followed her lead. Anni was already prepared for her alternate self's disgruntled stubbornness— quickly flipping off her and her terrifying cat— which only caused the feline to hiss even more.

"YOU are my problem. You shouldn't be here!" Ocv-Anni's nails were buried deep in the palm of her hands, creating moon shapes. Her fists tighten, shivers running through her spine and her arms shaking uncontrollably, "You're causing nothing but problems, once they find out an ordinary human is here, we'll be killed. If not by the hundreds of crawlers tracking us, it's gonna be by the same damn goddess who killed the only fucking person I've ever cared about!" Varrick felt oddly offended by that statement, he narrowed his eyes slightly and sadly buried his head into Anni's neck, pulling the human closer to him for utmost comfort.

"Oh whatever, you're just jealous and you know what, I know what you're scared of," Anni could feel the power of her alternate self, a few meters away from her and her friends, like she was just by her side— her aura was terrifying. It was like her hands smashing her body, pushing her to the ground. Just standing there was hard, and all she could do was repeat the same phrase; 'please don't kill me for saying this,' "You're scared of being close to people, you're scared that if you get close to anyone like you did with Ris, something bad will happen and you'll get hurt again....you and I may be different but we both have the same fears. So stop acting like you're all high and mighty."

Ocv-Anni's heart accelerated. She observed her fingers. They were the same as when she had stretched them towards Ris, seconds before her life was taken by the blue–haired devil. Anni could still see her eyes being engulfed by black— smoke even emitting from them. She could hear her voice echoing her name, the pain she felt once she reached the floor alone. And the darkness, "DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT NAME! YOU DON'T GET TO SAY HER NAME, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO LOSE SOMEONE LIKE THAT!" Her fist struck the wall near them, causing the unstable wall to collapse beneath the strength of her fist. The entire house they were hiding in almost collapsed, with most of it already being obliterated. Light steam emitted from her fist, from the pure strength and velocity from the punch.

Everyone watched in sympathy as ocv-Anni hyperventilated, smoke still engulfing her fists while she glared at her freckled alternate self. Vince glided his hands to her shoulder, in an attempt to calm the shadow proxy, but she only shoved him off and turned on her heel, towards the forest.

"I'm going out to let off some steam."

[i-make-mogai-terms-2]

an argument for xenogenders

imma be honest i took this argument half seriously then i got bored so i might come back to it but dont count on that. i think its a good jumping off point for Something though.

0. foreword

i'm kind of tired rn but i just wanna get this out there. i am not an end-all be-all, i am not a representative or a large member of this community, and i would love it if someone could proofread or add to this or bring up counterarguments because hoo boy my brain ain't running today

note that i will not tolerate people just saying "cringe" or whatever. if you're here, come here with a real argument.

I. an argument for xenogenders

gender is a construct. a construct based off our biology, sure, but still a construct. the idea of gender has changed over time and varies by society. the concepts of gender vary from person to person. what "woman" means to someone might be completely different from what it means to someone else.

gender is presentation. you outwardly convey what you want others to think about you. part of that is gender. gender can be conveyed through appearance, actions, words. the signals are then interpreted by someone else. 

now, then. there are a lot of different positions that anti-xenogender people take, but i don't give a shit because i'm a teenager on the internet with like 3 followers. my point being: why does gender only have to be male or female (or male, female, and both/neither)? why can't we try to convey a gender in abstracts, in "tree", in "blue", in "love"? (it doesn't matter if people interpret it wrong - most people with xenogenders, heck, most non-binary people are prepared for that.) but no one can ever perfectly portray their self, their personhood.

gender is self-expression.

FAQ: "why do you coin new genders that no one will use then" IDFK i'm doing it as a community building exercise and because i like flags

II. an argument against cringe

sometimes people are weird. that's really it. i'm fuckin weird, for more reasons than mogai bullshit.

i don't know why the fuck you'd want to hang out with people who don't like you because they don't like people who share the same label word as you. like, who fucking cares about a "cringe" vocal minority? 

and politics. why would people be prepared to take away transgender rights because of a few "bad apples"? it's 'cause they were fucking looking for a reason to take away transgender rights. the people who take away your human rights are never the people you should be sucking up to.

...i'm sorry if being seen as cringe is a new thing to you. i really am. i get the social alienation that comes with being seen as weird. but to truly be yourself, you have to accept that sometimes, people won't like you, because no one likes everyone.

III. an argument for transsexuality

my argument isn't really about dysphoria, lol. (can u tell my brains running out.) i dont rlly see dysphoria as a part of gender expression, which i'm trying to argue xenogenders are. dysphoria is a thing related to but not entirely made of gender expression... i dont rlly know what causes it, i dont know the brain mechanisms behind it, yadda yadda

feel free to copy-paste & alter this post and use it wherever... just don't paywall it, information is free <3

[fluentmoviequoter]

Promises from Your Side

Requested Here!

Pairing: Javier Esposito x fem!neighbor!reader

Summary: Your neighbor Javi is flirty, but you try not to read much into it. When you're targeted because of a case he's working, you learn that he means everything he says and feels the same as you.

Warnings: angst, r is attacked (not graphic), mention of staying in the hospital, Spanish petnames, fluff and comfort

Word Count: 2.4k+ words

A/N: This is my first time writing for Javi!!! I hope it's okay and he's not too out of character. (I also haven't finished Castle so there's def no spoilers.) Please feel free to let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy!🤍

Javier Esposito is the life of the party and the NYPD detectives. So, when you hear him sigh heavily on his way down the hall, you’re surprised. His eyes are on his feet when he comes into your view, and you stop with your key in the lock to watch him.

“Are you okay, Javi?” you ask softly, pulling your hands together.

“Better now,” he flirts. His eyes rise to yours, and he smiles, but it’s not the same as usual. Something happened; you can tell that much.

“Do you want to talk about it, or…”

“If we start talking it’s not going to be about my long day, chica.”

You press your lips together and look down. Javi flirts with you as often as he can, and though you have an ever-growing crush on your unattainable neighbor, you constantly tell yourself it’s just his personality.

“Sorry,” he adds.

“For what?” you question.

“You looked away again. I’ll try to control myself.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it. Or don’t,” you joke lightly.

“Is that a challenge, hermosa?”

Javi steps closer to you, and you smile as you nod. Even if Javi Esposito is the definition of ‘out of your league,’ there’s no rule that says you can’t have a little fun with him, right? Javi extends his right hand with his head cocked challengingly. You wipe your hand on your top before you place your palm on his. Javi wraps his fingers around your hand and pulls you closer.

“Game on,” he whispers.

“I think you’re already losing,” you murmur, though your breathlessness tells Javi he’s doing the opposite of losing.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, and your hand falls to your side as he retrieves it. You watch Javier’s expression change as he reads the message.

“I have to go back to the station,” he tells you without looking up. “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

“Sure, you will, vaquero.”

Javi leaves without acknowledging your Spanish (and ego-boosting) nickname, and you know that whatever case he is working on must be rough. As you enter your apartment, you remind yourself that Javi has plenty of people who can help and comfort him. Maybe one day you’ll challenge yourself to tell him how you feel about him. Today, the idea alone gives you shivers.

“Nice timing, Ryan!” Javi yells.

“You just got here; how are you already mad at me?” Ryan replies.

“It’s probably your fault,” Castle interjects.

“No!” Javi argues. He turns to point at Castle as he accuses, “It’s your fault. This entire case is your fault, and now everyone we care about is in danger!”

“How was I supposed to know a homicidal maniac would get obsessed with my new book?”

“Boys!” Beckett shouts. “This isn’t helping. If we want to get this guy off the street before he does something else, something worse, we have to keep working the case.”

“Wait,” Ryan says. “Nice timing on what, Espi?”

“The text about someone targeting our loved ones,” Javi answers. “What else?”

“I didn’t send you a text.”

Castle stands and walks toward the murder board. Beckett asks to see the text and reads it several times with her brows pinched. Javi shifts on his feet, worried about you and wondering how this qualifies as working the case.

“It’s not that hard to hack messages,” Beckett points out as she returns Javi’s phone.

“Even easier to send a text when you’re in the room with the phone,” Castle adds.

“Castle, what?”

Castle points to a note on the murder board and explains, “He was here.”

“You may be getting closer but it’s still ice cold,” Ryan reads. “This is a restricted area. I’ll check the cameras. Javi, find the sign-in sheet. Beckett, Castle… do whatever it is you two do.”

As you sit in bed and think about Javi, someone knocks on your door. The clock on your phone says it’s a few minutes after 10 p.m., and you know you aren’t expecting company. You stay in place, assuming the person is at the wrong apartment, and will realize in a moment. A minute ticks by slowly, and there’s no second knock.

“That’s what I thought,” you mumble.

In the dark, you let your thoughts wander back to the conversation with Javi in the hallway. He pulled you close, flirted, and called you things that you’ve never thought of yourself as. You smile to yourself, but a quick tapping noise draws your attention. It stops quickly, but you keep your eyes on the door. The lights in your apartment are still on, so you decide to walk out of your room and see if something fell. The building is old, so you’re used to odd noises here and there, but the tapping is one you haven’t grown immune to.

When you step into your living room and see the door standing open, you realize that what you heard was far worse than the floorboards creaking above you. Turning quickly to retrieve your phone, you don’t see someone reach for the light switch. You run into your room when the lights turn off, but the footsteps behind you are faster than yours. You’re tackled to the floor before you can get your phone to call for help.

The man above you leans his weight against your shoulders to keep you pinned down. “You’re special,” he says.

“I’m not,” you argue weakly. “I’m not.”

“That’s not what Detective Javier Esposito of NYPD Homicide said.”

“He’s just my neighbor.” Your voice drops halfway through your sentence, and the man above you laughs at your growing shyness and fear.

“Let’s see if he keeps talking when he has one more murder to solve. What did the character say again? ‘It stays in the family, blood or other.’ Rick Castle was onto something this time. Some families just need to go away.”

“It’s just a story,” you say through scared tears.

“And yours is ending.”

He raises one hand, and you brace yourself for a hit. When his hand slides to his pocket instead, you choke on a cry and close your eyes. You continue to think about Javi, but this time, you can only imagine him coming home and saving you.

“Shocker,” Javi grumbles as he looks through the sign-in sheet. “Half of them are illegible.”

“How’s the camera looking, Ryan?” Beckett asks.

“The camera is in that corner over there, so we can see a lot of people’s back walking past the board, stopping beside it to talk or waste time. But nothing else. The lights glare on that side of the board, too, so I can’t even tell what time the note appeared.”

“That’s great,” Beckett sighs. “So, what do we do instead?”

Javi’s phone rings. His brows raise as he reads the caller ID, but he answers quickly and greets, “Hey, cariño. Miss me already?”

“Who is he talking to?” Beckett whispers.

“It’s Javi,” Castle points out. “That could be anyone.”

“No, it couldn’t,” Ryan adds.

“Talk to me,” Javi requests. Javi says your name as he stands, and Ryan gestures in a see? motion. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” Javi demands.

With each hit the man above you delivers, and every threat that he makes, you go farther into your bedroom. You use your hands and feet to push you, and even though he follows you into a corner where you’re pinned, you know that you are going the right way. When Javi first met you, he gave you something for ‘those long nights when he’s away from you.’ The taser has been in a drawer since then, but this is one of those nights.

“Pinned yourself in a trap, didn’t you?” the murderer taunts. “You shy types make it too easy.”

He turns away from you, and you take the chance to pull your taser from the drawer. As you depress the trigger and the man tips backward rigidly, you scramble backward, away from him. The man groans before he crawls forward to stand. You push yourself against the wall and raise the taser again.

“I’ll be back,” he threatens shakily.

You watch as he staggers out of your room. He slams the door behind him, and you hear something snap on the other side. The front door closes loudly too, and you know you only have a few moments to call for help. After you get your phone and make sure the taser has another cartridge in it, you crawl into your closet and duck behind your hamper. Tears continue to stream down your face and your breathing comes in ragged, shallow exhales. You count to 100, ignoring the pain radiating throughout your body, then dial Javi’s number.

Javi answers after two rings, and you don’t consider the fact that you’ve never called him while he was at work before until he says, “Hey, cariño. Miss me already?”

You don’t answer, but his voice causes a buried sob to well up, and it breaks through, interrupting your labored breathing.

When Javi speaks again, he’s more serious than you imagined he could be.

“Talk to me,” he requests. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“Javi,” you cry. “He’s coming back.”

“I’m on my way.”

You hear two voices, male and female, call Javi’s name. He doesn’t answer and you see a mental image of him leaving his partners Beckett and Ryan – who you’ve met once – to get to you. Of all the things Javier Esposito is or claims to be, you always knew he was a good guy beneath the flirting and meaningless advances.

As Javi rushes out, Beckett and Ryan look at each other and shrug. They know about you and Javi, probably more than you and Javi do. Despite his track record for flirting with every woman he sees, the way he treats you has always been different.

“Mi cielo, breathe,” Javi reminds you. You hear his car engine rev as he speaks.

You close your eyes and try to pretend that Javi is sitting beside you, but until he is, you won’t be okay. And even then, you’ll have injuries and pain to think about.

“I’m here,” Javi says. “I’m going to kick your door in. It’s just me.”

“He’s coming back.”

Javi kicks the front door open, and you flinch harshly at the sound. Your phone drops because of your sudden movement, and Javi breaks your bedroom door down before you can retrieve it.

“Cariño!” Javi calls.

You push the hamper out of the way and look up at Javi with tearful eyes. His eyes darken before he steps toward you. Slowly, he kneels beside you as his eyes roam your body. You look down slowly, but Javi stops you with a kind hand on your chin.

“You tased him,” Javi whispers. “Good job.”

“How do you-“

“Officer found him in the bathroom.”

“He said he’d come back.”

Javi sits back and pulls you into his arms. Your injuries are worse than what he expected to see, but he needs to hold you just as much as you need to be held. With your face against his shoulder, you inhale deeply and whisper, “Thank you.”

“Por siempre y para siempre,” Javi promises softly.

Carefully, Javi removes his arms from around you and moves backward. He helps you stand and demands you go to the hospital. When his hand slides into yours, you don’t argue with his instructions.

After two nights in the hospital, you return to your apartment building. Both of your hands are clasped around one of Javi’s as he leads you to the elevator. He hasn’t left your side since he found you hiding in the closet, and you aren’t sure you can survive being away from him again.

The elevator doors open, and you step out and then stop. Javi steps back to stand beside you and looks into your eyes.

“Javi, I don’t…” you begin, your voice barely above a whisper. “I can’t go back in there.”

Javi smiles as he shakes his head. He whispers for you to follow him, and you do so without a doubt about your safety or well-being. You stop outside his door, then happily accept when he invites you inside.

“Look, I know that our relationship isn’t… ordinary. I flirt and you get shy, but I mean it,” Javi says. “I want you to stay here as long as you want. You’re safe here, and I won’t let anything happen to you again.”

“It’s not your fault, Javi,” you respond.

He smiles brightly, and you tilt your head to the side in question.

“You didn’t say no to my offer of staying,” he explains.

“I don’t want to say no.”

“Good. Let’s get you comfortable, and I will be the handsomest nurse you’ve ever seen.”

You roll your eyes, but as Javi begins fussing over what you should wear to be comfortable and how the pillows are arranged, you understand that he really does mean it all.

“Javi,” you call.

He stops by the kitchen island, on a mission to get an ice pack for your bruised side and a fresh bandage for the cut above your eyebrow.

“I, um, I have a crush on you. I’ve had it since we met,” you admit.

“I had a dream just like this once.”

“Me, injured on your couch and admitting that I like you?”

“You didn’t have so many bruises.”

“Thank you, for everything.”

You lean back and hiss in pain. Javi reprimands you gently for doing that without his help, but you have to breathe sometimes. He’s been at your side, doing anything and everything he can to help you since before you arrived at the hospital. And he really is the most handsome nurse you’ve seen.

Someone knocks on Javi’s door, and he raises a finger to you before he opens it. Ryan looks over Javi’s shoulder, sees you on the couch, and nods.

“I just came to let you know we found the officer our guy paid $20 to pass along the message to us. Genius, right? But I can see you have better things to focus on. Take your time, man,” Ryan says. “Feel better!”

“Thank you,” you call.

“Don’t talk to him,” Javi says as he returns to your side. “That’s not good for your recovery.”

“So, I never get to meet your friends even after I almost died for one of your cases?”

Javi pulls you under his arm and against his side. You lay your head against his chest and listen to his heartbeat.

“Do you think I’ll ever stop being scared?” you murmur, running your finger along Javi’s shirt. “That I’ll stop thinking about him when I close my eyes.”

Javi shifts his arm to hold you tighter and dips his chin to look at your face. “You will. I promise you will.” You nod, and Javi asks, “Want to know how I know?”

“I do.”

“Because I’ve got you. And I’m not going anywhere.”

[pizzaronipasta]

I'm sorry to drag back in the ai discourse, but this one thing has been bothering me: I think that accessibility by making art programs more user friendly would be the big impact here. Finding ways to work with people and make the process overall much easier to navigate and not as physically demanding would be huge for all users. It would also allow for new mediums for people to choose to engage with at a pace and focus right for them.

I also will say, I think AI would work best as a tool, something to maybe help generate an idea, or to guide in the right direction. My anatomy sucks, so I often use a 3D modeling program to angle the camera after a pose a blank base so I can achieve dynamic movement. Tracing as an early artist is sometimes encouraged, because you have to know what exactly you're drawing. All thats required is the acknowledgement of what into that work, and that it's a tool being used.

If you have put keywords into a computer and it produces an image, you can't trace what made that exact image, unless you put art in for it replicate. In which case, it's based on someone's work heavily, and credit is due. If you write an essay about the dangers of milk consumption, and even cite sources and quotes some of your information... but most of your paragraphs are paraphrased from other people's articles on the same subject, you didn't really share your own thoughts. There isn't a discussion on what you think, the way you see the world, because the bulk of that product is someone else's words and the ideas that are yours aren't allowed to shine.

And that's why I can't really consider typical AI generated images, just by themselves, as art. It's a picture, and it can look nice enough, but I would rather see what innovations someone can add to that picture to make it their own. You don't have to be limited to traditional artwork, you can make through whatever medium works best for you.

So, at this point, I'm wondering if I'm just poorly reading and misinterpreting what you meant, and want to clarify:

Do you mean AI art, as in AI generated images then edited significantly by humans with the AI image and base product, or AI just by itself?

Because the thing about art is that it's definetly building on previous ideas, there's a reason "steal like an artist" is a popular phrase. But the difference is that AI doesn't tell you where it's sources are: therefore you can never credit them. Generative AI is based on an algorithm, but it doesn't tell you what that algorithm is coming from. When you learn how to draw over time, you're influenced by your memory of what things sort of resemble, but it's almost never exact, and thus even when you make something mimicking that piece, you default to your own movements you've learned. If you try to draw the Mona Lisa, you'll end up drawing your own stylization, with the way you've taught yourself to draw eyes, the way you've learned to render color, and backgrounds, ect.

I don't think people should have to put themselves through physical stress or harm to create art. What I want is for art to be more accessible so more people can express how they feel. Generative AI can only express a few sentences of an idea, but not the deeper thought process and emotions and experiences, and because of that I feel it fails as art.

Thank you for your time.

I'm having a little trouble understanding your perspective on a couple of points, so I don't think I can adequately respond to the whole thing. Feel free to elaborate in further asks if there's anything you want me to understand better. However, I do feel that I can provide my thoughts on a particular detail you brought up. You say that some of your problems with generative AI come from the fact that it doesn't cite sources. I would argue that an AI's sources are too diluted to warrant or even enable conventional citation, considering that it's mostly unknowable what specific influence any given source would have on the program's output. Barring exceptional circumstances, AI doesn't really draw from existing works in any remotely straightforward way unless specifically prompted to, in which case the user is responsible for that decision, not the computer.

More importantly, however, I must stress that AI training is comparable to human learning. No human is able nor expected to credit every source that contributed to their every habit. When making art, we are drawing inspiration from literally everything we have ever experienced in our lives in at least some small way. Yet we only consider credit to be due for the most direct influences. I don't see why AI should be held to a different standard.

To answer your question, yes, I do consider both edited and unedited AI-generated images to be fully capable of being art. In general, I have a maximalist view of what counts as art.

I hope I haven't misunderstood anything you were trying to say. If I have, please correct me. Thank you.

[kohakhearts]

snape as harry’s guardian

ok so. my take of the day is that snape was harry’s only true guardian/protector/trusted adult. before anyone tries to suggest i’m vilifying the remus, sirius, dumbledore, mcgonagall, molly, etc., please know that’s not my point at all. i think each of those characters loved harry in some capacity. but none of them was fit to protect harry - his life, his soul, whatever else. sirius tried, yes. but he was a fugitive. kinda puts a damper on the whole “adopting a child” thing. and dumbledore did do a lot to protect harry. the problem there is just that...dumbledore was also a big reason why he needed any protection in the first place. i’m not here to talk about these characters, though. that’s just my opinion. feel free to reject it.

my point is that even if those characters were fit to fill the role of harry’s “parental figure,” snape is the character who fills that role the best. i actually think this is intentionally baked into the narrative. why do i think that? because snape is to lily as sirius is to james, but lily’s love for harry is elevated above james’s by the story. ergo, snape fills a larger role than sirius does in protecting harry.

i don’t think it’s a good message, but there is no denying that motherly love > all other forms of love in the hp ‘verse. the emphasis on lily’s connection to harry over james’s is in fact so emphasized that jkr made a continuity error in gof because of it (with the priori incantatem; lily should have come before james, but she came after him. i’ve seen plenty of people try to explain this away for x, y, or z reason, but imo the reason is that whoever comes second is more important. plain and simple). in dh, when he uses the stone, he’s fixated on his mother. he looks directly at her when he says “stay close to me.”

obviously, snape isn’t a mother, but “snape was a single mother” will never not be one of the funniest jokes made about hp imo but he is given a lot of feminizing traits, from his handwriting to his long hair to his patronus (edit: check out this post for more on this! super interesting stuff tbh). in fact, on the last - i would argue his partronus is less reflexive of obsession and has more to do with the fact that, in many ways, lily taught snape what love is. similarly, we see with the title of “half-blood prince” that snape feels more connected to his mother than his father. his connection to magic is a maternal one. we don’t get a lot of info on eileen, no, but there is a lot to indicate that she has more positive influence in her son’s life than tobias does.

there’s a lot more that could be discussed there, but i’d rather focus on the part about lily. at first glance, sure, his love for her looks obsessive. it probably is a little bit. but lily was snape’s first and only true friend, and it is his fault she died. uh, yeah. i’d be obsessed too. that is an insane type of grief to be carrying around - the bereavement of a lost friendship, coupled with all that guilt. dude spent his whole adult life atoning for what he did. well, never mind that. lily was also his first “out” from an abusive household. i’ll be the first person to say that like...a lot of my attachment to harry as a character comes from his abusive upbringing. i don’t think the topic of abuse is handled well in this series. i also think that a lot of times, people in the fandom downplay its effects on the characters who experience it. but like...loveless childhoods mess people up. a lot. there’s this deep, very human desire we all have to love and be loved - to have our experiences, our existences, validated. even if one or both of his parents did really love him, it doesn’t change the fact that kids like snape don’t get that at home. they have to seek it out from other people. and snape found it in lily. his whole life revolved around her. when she died, he devoted himself to her son.

which is all a very long way of saying that snape becomes a stand-in for lily. it’s all very cyclical, too: lily dies to keep harry alive, and snape keeps himself alive only long enough to ensure harry knows he has to die. isn’t that neat!

so there’s one big part of my argument: snape is harry’s best protector, because he is supposed to represent lily - his mother, the person who loves him more than anyone else. but that’s just what i see has been intentionally slotted into the narrative. i think it’s boring. and sucks because i hate the way lily is put on a pedestal by the narrative.

but! there’s more! a lot more, in fact.

imo a better basis for this is in all the things we actually know snape does for harry. some are very obvious. some are probably just coincidental, or solely symbolic. here’s a list of the top of my head, which is not exhaustive by any means:

was suspicious of and actively working against quirrell throughout ps

countered quirrell’s jinx on harry’s broom, then actually reffed the next gryffindor game

he’s the one who finds and fetches ron and harry after they crash ron’s dad’s car

he actively discourages the idea that harry is slytherin’s heir

one of those symbolic ones - he teaches harry exepelliarmus

he is hyper-vigilant in poa - under the belief that sirius black is a serial murderer out for harry’s blood

he goes after harry and co. in the shrieking shack and steps in front of a werewolf to protect them (great parallel to The Prank, js)

returned to spying despite the risk to his own life

agreed to teach him occlumency, and tbh was shit at it but he did realize what harry was dreaming about and put two-and-two together there and reported it to dumbledore

actively impedes umbridge from interrogating harry

he understands harry’s message about sirius, and when harry doesn’t come back he goes out into the forest to find him himself after alerting the order of what he thinks is going on. i’m bolding this because imo this detail and everything that happens around it is kinda huge

he gets between harry and draco when they’re basically throwing death threats at each other LOL

the half-blood prince’s book. need i say more.

he heals draco after harry uses sectumsempra on him, and then lets him off tbh prety easy. harry wholly deserved to be expelled for this. snape is the one who protected him from being expelled, even though he himself was nearly accidentally killed by classmates too - and didn’t get justice for it. i’ve seen people say his choice of detention was too harsh, but i very much disagree. it was deserved. and could have served to teach harry a pretty good lesson tbh; snape just misjudges his character in such a way that it can’t do that because it’s not actually really a lesson harry needs. either way, the punishment was lighter than the crime

he kills dumbledore. maybe the poison wouldn’t have killed him first, but either way - it keeps the death off harry’s conscience

he’s the only character who ever calls harry out for casting the cruciatus curse. this is in chapter 28 of hbp, “flight of the prince.” this entire scene is super big to me. harry is throwing crucio and sectumsempra at snape, and he just blocks the spells. he lashes out once, and it’s when harry tries to use levicorpus on him - it’s an exact 1:1 parallel with snape’s worst memory. he slashes his face, just like he did to james. in this scene he tells harry “until you learn to shut your mouth and close your mind” which is...frankly, live-saving advice. even while this kid is hurling torture spells at him. speaking of torture spells - when someone else tortures harry here, snape is the one who makes them stop and forces everyone to flee, and leave harry where he is

honestly? it’s a hell of a lot more than any other adult does for harry. and what’s interesting to me is that after the first book, harry mostly stops being shocked when snape does something to protect him. in fact, in ootp, he blames what happened on snape with the full awareness that it is actually his own fault. that’s what makes this part stick out to me the most. children often do this thing where, like...they blame a parent or other trusted adult for x bad thing that’s going on. they’ll say, like, “it’s all your fault, i hate you,” etc. and one of the reasons why is because the trusted adult in question is someone they know will continue to love and protect them regardless. it’s a way of deflecting difficult emotions - things that are too large for them to handle on their own - on to an external target. self-hatred opposes the human instinct for survival. projected on someone else...it’s safer to lash out.

my thoughts? deep down, harry knows snape will protect him. he is reliable. very rarely do we ever see him go back on his word about something - to harry or anyone else. in a sense, he’s kind of predictable. his hate for harry is as normal as his determination to keep him out of harm’s way. i think this is a big reason why harry reacts so violently to finding out about snape’s hand in telling voldemort the prophecy. it’s a betrayal twice over: one, a betrayal by dumbledore for never telling him - and letting snape teach at hogwarts, letting snape watch over harry - and two, a betrayal by snape for doing something that is, yeah, unforgivable in his books. and then he kills dumbledore on the same day. suddenly he’s gone from reliable but hated teacher to some harry “hated nearly as much as he hated voldemort.”

but in the shrieking shack, he is compelled to approach him. he takes his memories. he views them, and accepts them. there is real trust there, i think. trust, which grows into respect. a name worthy of passing on to a child - because like harry, snape had no family. which leads me to their parallels.

their parallels. holy shit.

so. i’ve got a lot of issues with how harry potter is written. one of the biggest has a lot to do with this quote, from dh chapter 34 “the forest again” (my most detested chapter for a whole host of other reasons. go figure):

“hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. he and voldemort and snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here...”

people have hashed this conversation out a million times - should harry have been sorted into slytherin? i’m not here to answer that question, but i think uh. yeah. he should’ve been. that’s a way more profound story imho. thematically, it would make a lot more sense. but ask me about that some other time. i have plenty of thoughts.

anyway, what this quote tells me is that, even if they had a lot of untapped potential, there are major parallels between these three characters:

they are all half-bloods

they all have ties to slytherin house

they all came from nothing. they had no families

voldemort is beyond saving. and while the parallels are strong with him too, they’re more abundant between harry and snape:

they grew up in abusive households

they grew up wearing hand-me-downs

they were detested by muggle relatives for being magical

they were bullied and assaulted in school

they were both in some way marked by voldemort

stag patronus | doe patronus

they are “dumbledore’s men” - harry tells scrimgeour this about himself. in dh, he tells voldemort that “snape was dumbledore’s.” as it turns out, dumbledore made them both sacrifices. they were both betrayed by him in the same respect. by dumbledore’s orchestrations, they both die at voldemort’s hand

when snape starts teaching dada, hermione points out that he approaches the subject much as harry does

they both use dark arts - some of the only “good” characters we see use them on multiple occasions, in fact

like i mentioned, they play out the werewolf prank in reverse in poa. in hbp, snape’s worst memory

i think, ultimately they both see a lot themselves in the other. their mutual hatred, then, is the same sort of thing i mentioned before - self-hatred projected outward. harry gains peace and acceptance from snape’s memories. in other words, he gains peace and acceptance from seeing snape exactly how he was. when snape dies, he asks harry to look at him - in that moment, he sees him not as james potter’s son, but as lily evans’s, too. he sees, in a way, “both sides�� of harry. 

do i think they ever liked each other? absolutely not. this comes from the fact that they don’t actually see each other until the very end. which is i think...a big reason why so many people struggle with the name “albus severus,” or feel like snape’s death was cheap - somehow a "redemption through death.” it wasn’t that, because his redeeming actions were done throughout the timeline of the entire series, and before that, even. but we find it all out at once, like harry does. by which point, snape is already dead, so it feels like a cop-out. but harry forgives him! ergo, he forgives himself. in a literary, symbolic sort of way.

anyway, we all know i love a good snape adopts harry story. for me, that comes down to the fact that these parallels and everything add up so that snape is the adult with the capacity to understand harry best. and if snape’s final moment in canon is seeing harry just how he is - and vice versa - yeah! it’s really satisfying to see that played out in a fic scenario where they get to actually talk to each other about it. in my opinion, there’s a lot of potential there. a lot of potential that just...can’t work in the books. and it’s really unfortunate, because more than understanding each other, they can learn through one another to understand themselves. and i think that’s a pretty cool dynamic, honestly.

[shemarmooresfedora]

Home

Series Summary: After being arrested, Spencer Reid desperately tries to get back home to his daughter, Camellia, who was placed into foster care in your home.

Pairing: Single!Dad!Spencer x Foster!Mom!Reader

Word Count: 1.7k

Content/Warnings: mentions of Diana’s Alzheimer’s and Schizophrenia, prison, separation of father and daughter, swearing

A/N: i hope you guys enjoy my new fic! this may be about 8 chapters or so! i’m not sure yet, going to see how interested people are in the plot :) (also quick disclaimer: i have never been in the foster care system so please excuse any inaccuracies)

Masterlist

Chapter 1

Spencer never wanted his daughter to see him like this, being brought into the BAU bullpen in handcuffs. He was supposed to be the good guy.

Right now, he couldn’t tell if he still was. He had good intentions going down to Mexico to get non-FDA approved medicine for his mom but he may have killed someone in the process. If only he could just remember.

Camellia ran into his arms to hug him, a hug he so desperately wanted to return if it wasn’t for these stupid cuffs around his wrists.

“They can’t just take you away, Dad,” she cried.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’m going to get back to you as soon as possible,” he promised, kissing the top of her head.

Spencer felt absolutely crushed as the guards had to drag his crying 11-year-old off of him so he could be taken to his holding cell.

-

You had just gotten off of work when your phone rang. Eileen, the head foster care coordinator, was calling.

“Hello,” you answered.

“Hey Y/N,” she greeted you, “I know you haven’t had a foster kid in a few months but I kind of have an urgent case. 11-year-old sixth grade girl. Mom has been out of the picture for a while, Dad recently imprisoned and on trial for murder. There are a bunch of family friends willing to take her but no direct family,” she explained.

“I can take her for as long as she needs,” you told Eileen.

“Great! I’ll text you the address, it’s the FBI headquarters.”

-

When you walked into the BAU, still in your dino scrubs and white lab coat, Eileen was surrounded by a frantic group of people.

“As I said before, I don’t doubt any of your credentials but this is the law. We can only give away a child to direct family at this point in time. If you are not direct family, you will need a lawyer to fight for custody as well as permission from her father but that process could take months,” Eileen stated.

“Spencer hasn’t spoken to his father in years and his mother is in a facility for her schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s,” a dark-haired woman spoke.

“Exactly so she must be turned over to the foster care system. I apologize to you all but this is how it works. We can’t bend the rules,” Eileen said.

“I don’t want Callie fending for herself in a house with 20 other kids,” a blonde-haired woman argued, “I’m her godmother. She stays with me all the time. She was staying with me while Spencer was in Mexico.”

“Sorry, my answer is still no. But, hopefully this will squash your concerns, Y/N!” she called you over, “This is Y/N. Jo will be placed with her. She is a pediatric doctor and currently has no other foster kids at the moment but all of her past kids have absolutely adored her. She always passes her surprise safety and wellness checks with flying colors.

“Hi,” you waved, intimidated by this huge group of frustrated people with guns on their hips.

“A doctor? So she isn’t even going to be home most of the time,” a curly-haired man scoffed.

“Actually, I own my own practice. I don’t work at a hospital so I usually have a regular 8-4 shift unless one of my patients needs urgent attention,” you clarified.

“JJ, don’t make me go,” a girl, who you could only assume was Callie, sobbed.

They were all staring at you like you were the worst person on Earth. You wanted to shrivel up and die. When you went through the process of becoming a foster parent, you thought this was a very admirable thing to do. You just wanted to provide a good home to kids in need.

“Do any of you have a key to Dr. Reid’s residence so Camellia can pack a bag?” you asked politely.

The woman closest to Callie that must be JJ pulled a key off of her chain and handed it to you.

“I’ll-um-leave my phone number and address here so you guys can contact me at any time or stop by. I understand your concerns but please know I try my absolute hardest to make sure all kids feel welcome and safe in my house,” you scribbled your information down on a scrap piece of paper.

“Are you ready to go, Camellia?” you asked softly.

She went around hugging everyone in the circle before solemnly nodding to you.

God, you felt like such an asshole.

-

After Callie finished packing her things from her bedroom in relative silence, you returned to the car.

“I don’t know what you like to eat but we can stop at the grocery store so we can get stuff you like and any other things you need,” you said.

You were met with silence from the backseat. You offered for her to sit in the passenger seat but she declined.

“Listen, I’m really not trying to be the bad guy here. Please don’t make me out to be one. I know you are having a tough time with your Dad’s situation right now but shutting everyone else out won’t help,” you spoke softly, “Trust me, I know.”

You sighed when the silence continued. You pulled out of the Reid’s driveway and headed to the grocery store.

-

You let Callie lead when you entered the grocery store, opting to follow behind her with the cart. She went immediately to the frozen meal section and started throwing them in.

“Camellia, that’s fine if those are what you want but just so you know, I love to cook so I can make you anything you want,” you offered.

“This is what I’m used to,” she spoke sharply, “My dad is not a bad dad, he just usually doesn’t have much time.”

“I never claimed he was,” you defended yourself.

After that, you kept your mouth shut. Clearly, she was a very independent girl and she had her own routine she liked to stick to.

-

You hauled all the grocery bags inside the house and unloaded them as Callie brought in her suitcases.

“So Camellia, I put all the food you picked out in these two cabinets. I mean obviously, you are welcome to anything in the kitchen but I just wanted you to know where the things you picked out were. I always have a grocery list on the fridge that you can add to,” you began to give her a tour of the house, “Bathroom is in there. There’s another upstairs. Here’s the living room with a TV,” you headed up the stairs, “Here’s my room.”

On your bed was an adorable toyger kitten cuddled up on your pillow.

“Oh! This is Winnie like Winnie the Pooh. I just got her a few weeks ago from a shelter. She is super friendly and loves snuggles so she will probably try to sneak into your bed unless you keep your door closed.”

“I don’t mind,” Callie spoke softly as she petted Winnie.

You smiled softly. These were the first words you got out of her that weren’t a rejection.

You continued the tour, “There’s a bathroom between our rooms but I tend to use the downstairs one so feel free to make it your own. And here’s your room,” you opened the door to a white room with a queen bed in the center, a small bookshelf, a few plants, and paintings.

“I hope this is good enough for now. We can go out this weekend to a home goods store if you want to redecorate. I’d even be open to repainting it if you want,” you offered.

Callie just set her bags down and nodded.

“Alright, I’ll leave you be. I’ll probably be downstairs for a while watching TV if you want to join. Let me know if you want me to make you anything,” you began to shut the door but Winnie slipped in first.

“Good night, you guys,” you smiled softly.

-

“Do you want me to wait out here or come in with you?” you asked softly.

Spencer had been denied bail, meaning he was transferred to a federal prison and Callie was going to be staying with you for a while. She had taken the news rather hard as expected when the team came over to your house to tell her. You still weren’t really accepted by the group so you mostly stood in the corner of the kitchen while they were all in your living room.

You had spoken to Eileen several times about Callie’s current situation. She gave you permission to do whatever you saw fit. This means you could opt her out of school one or two days a week if she wasn’t feeling up to it as long as she emailed her teachers and got her missed work in on time. You were researching different therapists for her to talk to because she didn’t seem to want to open up to you. You were also given a schedule of visiting times for her to visit her dad in prison.

“I’ll just go in alone,” she walked in the door to the visiting room, leaving you in the waiting room.

-

“Dad,” Callie tried to hug Spencer but the guard pointed to the ‘No Touching’ sign posted on the wall.

They both sat down defeatedly at opposite ends of the table.

“How are you?” Callie inquired, wiping her tears away from seeing her father locked up.

“I don’t want to talk about me, sweetheart. How are you? Emily and my lawyer visited yesterday and told me you had to be placed into foster care,” Spencer asked, concerned.

“It’s okay. Not the best,” she sighed.

“What’s happening? Are they hurting you? Are they not giving you enough to eat? Callie, I’ll have my lawyer on the phone and you out of there so quick,” Spencer frantically stated.

“No, Dad. Y/N is fine…nice, even. But she’s not you,” Callie cried.

Spencer’s face softened, “I’m so sorry, Callie. You don’t deserve to be dealing with any of this.”

“Just please come home,” she sniffled.

“I’m trying, sweetheart, I’m really trying,” he replied earnestly with tears in his eyes.

A/N: i will also be starting a series taglist if you don’t want to be added to my main taglist so just clarify which one you want to join! also i recommend listening to the song Home by Phillip Phillips because it is kind of like the theme song for this story

main taglist (just ask to be added/removed!): @samuel-de-champagne-problems @g0lden-cth @spencerreid9 @averyhotchner @coldlilheart @k-k0129 @ickleronniekinsemotionalrange @harrystylesandthegoobs @cmily @jswessie187 @rem-ariiana @hoodpankow @mochionly @spencerreid-187 @babymetaldoll @fics4arainyday @ssavanessa22 @all-tings-diego

series taglist: @ilovespencerreidmarryme

[kkusuka]

I’m so proud I’ve been here long before 2k💁🏼‍♀️ N E WAY CONGRATSSSSS!!!

Can I have fluff 16 with a twist tho, like “My ex just invited me to their wedding and I need you to be my date so it doesn’t look like I’ve spent the last few years being single and hunting down weird things most people can’t even see." with Gojou, Fushiguro, Itadori and a fem reader? If 3 characters are way to many you can keep only Gojou. Keep being amazinggg<3

thank you so much!! <3

“My ex just invited me to their wedding and I need you to be my date so it doesn’t look like I’ve spent the last few years being single and hunting down weird things most people can’t even see."

Gn!Pronouns, but you are implied to be female! 

Cw: an itsy bitsy hint of angst, slight confessions, reader panics, 

a/n: these were almost criminally fun to write, I love these three so much 

Gojou Satoru 

Words: 700 

You had no idea how a simple piece of paper could make you feel. Awkward, confusion, shock, all from one note that you thought was a bill. 

‘Y/n L/n save the date!’ was the last thing you had expected, from your ex-boyfriend nonetheless. The same guy who dated you for a whole three years before telling you over text that it wasn’t going to work out. 

Well, the both of you never had a bad relationship after, but you were a severe level of butthurt. But what made you really freeze was the plus one invitation, if you showed up to your ex’s wedding you would look like a loser. 

Since you were clearly going, you’d never miss on free food and a chance to have a day off, you needed an outfit and a date. The outfit was pretty easy to figure out, you’d go shopping on the weekend and buy something then. 

But someone to go with? You had about three friends whom you knew could not afford any days off and that you just didn't want to take. (at least you had some last resorts) Then, another problem, if they weren’t part of the Jujutsu world it would be harder to explain if you had to abruptly leave, which was a huge possibility this time of year. 

With that, your options were cut down to two- Nanami and...Gojou, of all people. 

Obviously, you tried, emphasis on tried, Nanami first. But after 24 missed calls and a 15-second conversation where he basically told you to shove it, you were in full-on panic mode. The wedding was in three days and you had to do something about your inevitable loneliness. 

You had to get over yourself, the worst Gojo could do was make fun of you or say no. But, he never passes up the opportunity for sweets, just lay on the dessert y/n!

“To what do I owe this sweet phone call Y/n? Confessing your love for yours truly?” his voice laughed through the line. You just had to ask him in a way that would compel him to want to come with you. 

“My ex just invited me to their wedding and I need you to be my date so it doesn’t look like I’ve spent the last few years being single and hunting down weird things most people can’t even see." you blurt not even thinking about the words falling from your lips. 

You come to realize your words from the ringing silence in your ears, “I’m sorry I just-” 

“I’ll come” he answered, cutting off your apologies. He’ll come, you didn't even have to say anything about sugar or bribe him into coming. 

“You’ll come? Really? Why-wait Thank you! It’s on Saturday at 3 pm, we can go together if that makes things better! Thank you so much, you just saved me Gojo! How can I make it up to you!” you were just spouting whatever you could to thank him, listening to his daughter from his side. 

“Why wouldn’t I want to spend time with my little Sugar? You can make it up to me by wearing your prettiest little dress so we’ll be the hottest couple at the wedding.” he teased, continuing ranting about how you should match colors to add ‘flare’. 

“While we’re there we can start planning our own wedding! Doesn’t that sound fun Sugar!” 

Fushiguro Megumi 

Words: 700 

“What even is that” Megumi’s voice rang through the office hallway. You’d like to know too, you haven’t spoken to anyone from your hometown, save for our family, since you moved away six years ago. 

“I’m not totally sure, you want to open it with me?” you question opening the door to your office as he silently follows you in. 

Settling the rest of the mail down, you take a closer look at the suspicious envelope noticing the name on the return address. There's no way! Why the hell was your ex sending you things to your official workspace?

“What’s wrong? Is it bad?” Megumi doesn't know what to do, your face went pale and you looked super confused. 

“Oh, nothing really. I’m just surprised, it’s from my ex” well now he was frozen, was it a love letter? Why was he sending you stuff, he just hoped that it wasn't bad, you had enough on your plate and you didn’t need more. 

Opening the envelope to see flower patterns and script lettering; you know exactly what this letter will be telling you. Just as you suspect a date plastered on the card along with two all familiar names flood your senses. 

“He’s getting married!” you couldn't believe it, why would he invite his high school ex to his wedding, it was an odd choice, to say the least. 

“That’s cool I guess, anyway I gotta go, have fun,” he murmured leaving the room and letting to wonder if you were even going to show up in the first place, but at the moment you send an email and reserve a spot for yourself and admittedly a plus one that didn’t exist. 

You would figure it out in due time!

 ❍❍❍

You did not figure anything out and the wedding was tomorrow. No one in their right mind would drop everything to come to some random wedding. Your point proved when Itadori explained he had plans to go see a movie marathon with Jumpei that he just couldn’t cancel. 

Not even Nobara would spare you some mercy, she and Maki were having a pre-planned girls' day, one that you would be going to if you hadn't agreed to go to some random wedding. 

Now you could only pray that Mehgumi felt enough pity that he would go with you. Deciding that a call would be too impersonal and would be easier to say no over, you make your way to his apartment with a box of dumplings that you knew he loved. 

“Gumi-chan? Open up please!” you knocked on the door waiting for him to come, him appearing a few seconds later; hair messy in sweatpants and a black tank-top. No- this isn’t about his body, it could be, but you had to get this settled first. 

“Uh? Did I miss something? Why are you here?” his questions break you from your stare as you shove the food in his arms, gathering all the courage you could muster. 

“These are for you and all you need to do is hear me out, please? I would really like you too!” you beg, watching as he silently commanded for you to continue. 

“As you know, my ex just invited me to their wedding and I need you to be my date so it doesn’t look like I’ve spent the last few years being single and hunting down weird things most people can’t even see." you kept your head low as you explained to him what had happened, “I really need you to do this for me, I'll give you anything I swear! Just help me this once!” 

“Why do you need me?” he mumbled, commanding your attention back onto his face. 

“Because it’ll be fun and you need to get out.” ‘and this is my way of asking you out but not asking you at the same time’ goes unsaid.

“Fine, but you have to come to dinner with me the next time my dad asks.” that was it you, ultimatum, an easy one too. 

“Deal! Now we have to match or it’ll look stupid, and we have to practice dancing and-” 

“Dear Lord, what did I get into” 

Itadori Yuji 

Words: 600 

You’d pinned the invitation above your bed as a constant reminder that you had to do something. 

Not that you cared what your ex thought of you at their wedding, but something deep inside wanted to show him that you were happy without him. 

And the only way to do that was to shove a hot guy down his throat; better yet, a totally hot guy that was into you. Now all you needed was a hot guy to be into you. 

Well, you had a hot guy to go with you. In a desperate plea, you had asked your good friend Itadori, formally known as the vessel of another somewhat friend Sukuna, and he had agreed. 

Just thinking about it made you cringe a bit; you had been freaking out and ran to his apartment, drenched in rain. 

“My ex just invited me to their wedding and I need you to be my date so it doesn’t look like I’ve spent the last few years being single and hunting down weird things most people can’t even see," you explained frantically, waving your hands. Watching his face contort into every human emotion you could think of, before spreading into a smile. 

“Of course I’ll come with you! It sounds like a blast!” of course Sukuna had a few choice words to say about that, something along the lines of, ‘you're not dragging me to some stupid event because you're lonely! I refuse!” 

And he continued to complain throughout the night of planning and the next morning when you told him he was going whether he wanted to or not and he told you he’d rather die. 

“This Wench will not dictate my life!” he spoke through a mouth on Yuji’s cheek, eye slit glaring in your direction. 

“And I’m not letting some lame demon tell me what I can and can’t do with my friend!” you argued back. 

But he didn't have a say anyway. 

Now you were standing before a mirror, admiring how your dress wrapped around your body, waiting for Itadori to come to the door. 

Hearing the knocks on your door, you grab a small bag and your invitations and your plus one, opening the door to Yuji in a three-piece black suit, staring at you with wide eyes. 

“You look great-” 

“You look crazy beautiful-” 

Both of you freeze at the word mix-up, then breaking into laughter as you loop your arm through his outstretched one. 

“Seriously you look great, y/n. You have that guy wishing he’d never let you go! Wait then you wouldn’t be with me, so just make him miss you a bit but not too much!” he stammered out as you continued your way to his car. 

“You are the worst two humans in existence.” 

[shurisneakers]

harmless (iv)

Summary: Bucky volunteers to go stop a small time villain, but nothing can prepare him for what exactly he has to deal with. (Bucky x villain!reader, drabble series)

Warnings: cursing, guns, mention of war, frustrated bucky, dramatic reader

Word count: 1.5k

A/N: good evening i’ve never been to any of the places i mention in this series so dont come @ me

if you have any ideas for future inventions/evil plans, lemme know! i might actually end up using them 

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Previous Part || Series Masterlist

He spends the weekend doing nothing. It’s supposed to be relaxing. He finds it nauseatingly boring.

“No mini mission this week?” Steve asks him from across the couch. 

They’re supposed to be catching up on Star Wars but two prequels in and Bucky could feel himself lose his sanity. Anyone could present him with a random assortment of alphabets, call it a Star Wars species and he would have no reason not to believe them.

It’s not like he doesn’t like space. It’s just that he’s had enough of it and everything and everyone who came from it for the foreseeable future.

“No. Someone else is taking care of it.”

“Didn’t you volunteer for this?”

“I pulled myself out of the case.”

“I thought you were having fun.” 

Bucky’s head slowly turns to look at him. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know,” Steve shrugged. “Looked like you were.”

Well, he wasn’t. He likes it here at home, glued to the TV. Popcorn beside him, sweatpants on. Refreshing, calming, slow, mundane, and Jesus Christ, so fucking boring-

His spiralling is interrupted by the dinging of the elevator to the common floor. No one was allowed up there unless it was extremely urgent. Guests were barely allowed into the Tower as it was. 

It reveals the receptionist from downstairs, Marie. She’s always a little reserved, a little shy. But Bucky had seen her chew and spit out trespassers or anyone who dared to get on her nerve. He adores her.

“Hey, Marie,” Steve says while Bucky sends her a friendly wave in greeting. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a hostage situation downtown,” she informs them. 

“Okay...” Steve drawls, waiting for a reason why this was an Avengers level threat.

“They’ve asked for Mr. Barnes by name.” She makes a mention towards him.

Bucky sits up straight. Bits of popcorn fall off his chest. 

“What?”

“They said, and I quote-” she looks down at her notepad. “‘Tell that grumpy motherfucker that I’m waiting for him and that he’s not getting out of this so easily because we have come too far.’ End quote. They’ve also told me to include a kissing emoji. And a skull.”

Steve and he look at each other.

“Well?” Steve prods. 

Bucky sighs and gets up to go get ready.

The entrance of Chuck E. Cheese is more crowded than he’d ever seen. He wasn’t even sure he’d seen people in the store before. If there were, they probably only came up till his waist. 

There are a few journalists, a few policemen standing together outside. Whispers of confusion and curiosity reigned free. 

Bucky gently pushes his way to the front. He gets a nod from a police officer who opens the door for him after a quick briefing. 

The place is darker than it usually would be. A trademark, it seemed. The blinds are drawn shut and most of the light is coming through whatever sneaks in through the crack. 

“Hey, Barnes.” Your voice is muffled by a mask that looks suspiciously like it was made out of classroom craft supplies.

There’s a person in a loose chokehold in your hand with a gun pressed against his head. Once again it looks straight out of a cartoon, purple with round disks lining its barrel. 

“What’s all this now?” He gestures around monotonously. 

“A hostage situation. Didn’t you get the memo?”

“Got that part down, genius,” he bites back. “But why?”

“Fucker kept harassing me when I was walkin’ down the street.” 

The guy’s helpless gaze met Bucky. 

“Catcalling me, stalking me.” You tighten the grip you have on him. “Call me darlin’ one more time, you son of a bitch. I dare you.”

He wasn’t impressed with his pleading eyes. He kinda felt like he deserved it. 

“Why’d you do it here?” The bright colours were starting to give him a heading. “And where are the staff?”

“It’s symbolic, Bucky,” you emphasise, “He deserves to be among other rat bastards.”

Of course.

“The staff?” he asks again. 

“Gave them thirty bucks and told them to leave. I’m not a monster.”

“Right.” He doesn’t bother refuting you. “Why’d you call me here?”

“Dunno.” You shrug. “Thought it’d be fun. You having fun yet?”

You shake the guy you’re holding. He gives a small whimper. 

Bucky doesn’t want to stop you. He had chugged enough Respect Juice in his lifetime to know that this guy probably deserved a threat or two.

Hell, he’d even help but you were more than capable of handling this on your own.

“Listen,” he sighed. “As much as I’m sure he deserves it, this is technically illegal and I’m required to stop you.”

“Sorry sarge, I thought you weren’t interested in playing this stupid game with me,” you mock, voice dropping to imitate him.

“I’m not.” It wasn’t entirely true. One Saturday with Jar Jar Binks had convinced him otherwise.

“Okay, so before you leave, do me a favour and call Hawkeye. I hear he looks mighty fine when he’s annoyed.”

His face involuntarily scrunched up. You were going to replace him with Clint? Clint?

He probably took it more as an insult than he should have.

“I’m not doing that.” Bless his foul mouthed friend, but he was a little shit who was too sarcastic for his own good. At least twice a week he’d say something stupid to Bucky and then take out his hearing aids when he tried to argue back. 

“You’re leavin’ me with no options here,” you groaned, using your thumb to flip a switch. The gun looks like it powered up, lights along the side turning red.

If he let you have this, it’d be a bad look for the Avengers.

New York man dies in Chuck E. Cheese lone hostage situation, unable to be saved by same superhero who tried to fight Thanos with a machine gun.

“Tell ya what,” he says instead, “If you kill him, there won’t even be a slight chance that you’ll see me again.”

Your grip on the gun falters.

“If I let him go...”

“I might consider coming back next week.” He’s trying to spin it, make it look like he’s the one with the upper hand here. “But you gotta let him go.”

You search his face for any signs of dishonesty.

“Let him go or you’ll never see me again.” It sounds too much like Clint’s arguments with his dog who brought a live squirrel into the house. 

“Fine,” you relent, a glint in your eye. “but say goodbye to this fuckface.”

Before Bucky can open his mouth to shout in protest, you pull the trigger. The man clenches his eyes shut, face red.

He expects blood to be splatter across his face.

Nothing happens.

A barrage of bubbles floats into the room.

“I meant it literally,” you say, pushing him off you. “Say goodbye. He’s leaving.”

The man stumbles to the ground and Bucky doesn’t make any attempt to catch him. He scrambles to his knees, picking himself up and scurrying out the door to a hoard of reporters.

The door shuts behind him with the chime of a bell.

“You’re annoying,” Bucky states, giving a small sigh.

“I’m well aware of that.” You pull off the mask, wiping the sweat off your brow.

“Where is the agent assigned to your case?” 

“Dunno. Last I saw he was crying on the driveway of my lair. I just figured he’d pick himself up later so I left him there.”

Bucky’s nose twitches. 

“You weren’t actually going to kill him, were you.” He shrugs with his shoulder towards the door. It wasn’t a question, more a statement. He knew you wouldn’t. 

“I could have.”

“But you weren’t going to,” he repeats. 

“No,” you admit. “I wasn’t. But I’m glad to see you showed up.”

“You held someone hostage as leverage.”

“No, no. I held someone hostage and then asked to see you. They were completely unrelated.”

“You’re evil.”

“You jumped to conclusions,” you point out. “Would you like a trampoline next time? Maybe a pogo stick, you clown?”

He has a very real gun in his holster. His very real metal death arm aches to use it. 

“No one else agreed to come,” he deflects. 

“We both know that’s a lie. You were going to come back anyway.” You stuff the bubble gun back into the bag. “I’m deliciously irresistible.”

“I beg to differ.”

“Then beg.” You give him a smirk and he rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry, you win this round, sarge.”

He doesn’t say anything. He watches you remove your heist gear, revealing normal civilian clothes underneath.

You walk casually to the kitchen, intending to leave through the back door.

“But I can’t say I lost either.” You send him a wink before swiftly pushing open the door and leaving him behind.

He only watches you leave.

It doesn’t hit him until a few seconds later that he let a criminal out of his hands when there were several policemen and journalists outside.

He entertains the idea of chasing you down and handing you over. 

It takes him only a few seconds to decide that if they wanted you, they’d have to try themselves.

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