#have someone else's poll while we wait for me to sort my life out

[violetlunette]

So, I did a poll for Silver pairs (twice) and have been meaning to give my own thoughts but started writing essays before I realized; wait a minute, I don’t need to do that. I can just give my basic opinion. I don't need to justify or over explain, so here we go!

Notes:

*Long post

*twst spoilers

*Opinion-based

*Rambles

Silver x Sebek (Silbek) was, voted #1, to the surprise of no one I’m sure.

Personally, Silbek isn’t my cup of tea and I prefer them in a platonic sense. On top of that, I’m not a big fan of childhood friend romance. It just—annoys me intensely and there are very few instances where this trope works for me. (It may because I’ve been exposed to too many Hallmark romances with this trope and in other media.)

There are a few other minor things I don’t like about the ship, but they’re not worth mentioning.

That being said, I can see why others love the pair.

They have enough opposites to be interesting, such as Sebek being loud, emotional, always active, abrasive, and even arrogant at times, while Silver is quiet, stoic, sleeping—through no fault of his own—and humble. Yet both share a lot in common as well:

They place family above all else, are loyal but keep to their morals, and are helpful and kind. 

Plus, in the canon, we see how much they love and care for each other. Sebek is always there to pull Silver out of his own head and sort out his insecurities, as seen when Silver worried about his lack of emotion, when the other Diasomnia students weren’t listening, and—more recently—Chapter 7 and the revelation.

They understand each other, make up for one another’s weaknesses, and more. So, while it’s not my personal ship, I’m not surprised it was voted #1 and can admit it deserves its placement.

So, fun fact; when I did the poll the first time, this pair was the winner. I remember that as I was super surprised. And I’m still a bit surprised they’re #2.

Granted, they’re cute, but I assumed the pair would be in third place behind Silver x Sebek and Silver x Idia, as I don’t see much content between the two

That being said, it does surprise me that this puppy pair has so many fans;

They share the same morals and are cute together, plus, they’re friends in Canon. Also, Silver admits that Kalim is someone very dear to him, and Kalim is always saying nice things about the other. As a bonus, Kalim is already favored by the father-in-law.

I see these two as being the type that are in a relationship before they know they’re in a relationship. They're holding hands, eating together, and going on outings. Neither of them realizes what they’re doing until someone points it out. Even then, they’re confused for a while.

The downside is that while their relationship would help each other grow and change, it wouldn’t be one that could last long-term.

Silver’s dream is to serve Malleus in Briar Valley, a place he loves and where the people he loves live. His dream is to foster peace between the fae and humans.

Kalim, on the other hand, has a responsibility to take over as head, and it’s not one he can just toss aside, and I don’t think he wants to either.

When I think of the outcome of their relationship, I think of this Bojack quote: “I think there are people that help you become the person that you end up being, and you can be grateful for them even if they were never meant to be in your life forever.”

Silver and Kalim would help each other grow, but they wouldn’t be in each other’s lives forever, at least not as lovers. But in fanfiction, anything could happen. And I would love to see more fanfics of the pair and the challenges they would face.

Third, we have Silver x Idia, a personal favorite of mine. I love the two as individuals and squee whenever I see them together. To me, their interactions are a lot of fun, as I like seeing Idia deal with Silver’s “odd” attitude towards things.

On the surface, the two have nothing in common. Idia is shy, while Silver is bold. Silver is determined to the end, and Idia thinks it’s best to not even try. Idia is a tactician, and Silver is a warrior. Idia was raised around technology, and Silver was raised by nature. Idia is weaker than a kitten, and Silver is strong as heck. (How strong? I have no idea.) The list goes on.

Yet, while they are opposites in several ways, their differences just highlight the good they bring out in each other, or could.

On top of that, the few things they do have in common are pretty strong.

I like that they seem to admire each other. Silver genuinely admires Idia’s skills and isn’t afraid to tell him. He often compliments Idia and offers praise, though he does go overboard, which can make her shy.

For his part, while Silver can be too much at a time, Idia admires Silver’s beauty and skills, comparing him to things he finds cool, like ninjas. Both seem interested in the other, though Idia acts in denial.

Both value family to the point where it’s their main character arc. I love that Ortho likes Silver while Lilia and Idia get along online. The in-laws approve!

They also share a deep sense of insecurity about themselves. Idia thinks he is worthless, to the point where all he can do is hide away, mainly due to a tragic event in the past. Silver believes he’s a burden to those around him, and he does all he can to repay those he has troubled. It would be nice if these two could help one another see their own self-worth.

On top of that, I really believe that of all the Silver pairs, aside from Silbek, these two have the best chance to work out in the long run.

If things go well and Idia can break his family curse, he would be instrumental as Malleus’ tech advisor (probably the first) and could bring Briar Valley into the modern age.

And if he can’t and has to work at STYX, Idia and Silver could still work, as both could maintain a long-distance relationship.

Silver was often left behind as a child, and with technology, they could communicate whenever they wanted and visit when they could. On top of that, both have the temperament needed for a long-distance relationship to work.

The problem is that thanks to Idia’s personality, it would be hard for the two to get together in the first place. (His theme song would be “I won’t say I’m in love” as he sails down the river of De Nile.)

Silver would have to realize his feelings first and do most of the leg work in a way that wouldn’t scare Idia off. (That or Ortho and Lilia would have to play cupid.) Regardless, it would be a very slow burn, but I think once they got together, the two could be happy. And once they were together not even the powers of hell would break them up as both are EXTREMELY stubborn. (Another commonality.)

One problem I do have is that, even if they were together, Silver would most likely be doing most of the emotional labor, as Idia is too self-defeatist to do anything. Luckily, Silver’s pretty low-maintenance, and I'm sure Idia would step up if Silver really needed support.

If I had the time and energy I could write an essay on these two, but for now I’ll just say I really love these two and while they’re not #1 on the poll, they’re #1 for me.

The next is Silver x Malleus. My feelings for this ship are complicated.

I like how their personalities mesh, their shared family history, the drama, and all the works that make a ship memerable. Honesty, two have many, many things I like in a ship. There’s just one HUGE problem that keeps me from loving them: Malleus helped raise Silver.

Malleus was there when Silver was a baby and played an active role in raising him--My brain can’t get past that.

When I try to ignore it, my mind can’t help but slide to, “Shit, is this grooming territory?” (It's not unless the fic has Malleus raising Silver with the intent to have sex with him. Even so, there’s a lot of yikes, you know?) But then again, I overthink things, a lot.

That being said, I still find the pairing entertaining.

For one, it’s an interesting pair to explore human and fae dynamics, as well as the blue and orange morality that comes with it. Like when a vampire falls in love with a human. And again, there’s all the stuff I mentioned before.

I’m also really curious how Lilia would react to the relationship. This something I’ve never seen a Silver x Malleus ship bring up, but they should as Lilia is a HUGE part of both their lives. Isn’t anyone else a bit curious?

I don’t think Lilia would be a supporter of the relationship for multiple reasons, so what would he do? How far would he go to keep the two apart? And how far would the two fight him? (The angst potential, man! THE ANGST!)

In a yandere Malleus setup, would Lilia try to run away from his beloved Prince? Would he take up arms against him to keep Silver safe? Would he be able to do anything? Or would he just be helpless as the dragon he hatched takes away his beloved son forever? It just has a lot of potential story-wise, which I adore.

It’s a nice ship to explore darker themes but If I wanna skip those and just have a cute ship, I just find Aus where Malleus didn’t help raise Silver.

So to conclude this part, while I prefer them in a platonic sense I can’t deny that I have an interest in the stories they could tell.

Silver x Riddle; I never thought of these two, but now that I am, I think the two would be like Silbek without the childhood element. I like that Silver would have no issue standing up to Riddle when he started acting like a tyrant and would stop him before it went too far, yet he would always be there to offer support, especially emotional support, which Riddle desperately needs.

On his side, Riddle could help Silver improve himself, such as in how he presents himself, his studies, and his magic. He may even help Silver overcome his habit of talking down about himself.

I think the romance would be a slow burn due to Silver being oblivious and Riddle being a tsundere in denial who refuses to admit his emotions until they overflow. It could be fun to see Riddle drowning and being jealous of anyone near Silver until Trey and Ace have enough and set the two up.

Other than that, I don’t have too much to say.

SilJade is one I forgot to put on the first poll, but one that I like in casual passing for one-shots. To me, Jade is the bad boy that Silver could end up with. I enjoy how Jade is usually sweet toward Silver in canon. While he has his own reasons, he does nice things for Silver and helps him. I also think it’s cute how Silver’s purity surprises him at times. It’s a cute pair for me and I like to imagine them kissing under toadstools.

A pairing that got a mention but wasn’t on the last poll is Silcarter. I don’t think I’ve seen the two interact too much, but I can see Silver operating as a home to Carter, who never got to settle down in the past, and Carter can help Silver in a social setting like Kalim. It’s also neat to see his energy contrast against Silver’s. Other than that, I don’t think much about the pair.

Next have Silver and Leona. (Sileo?)

While in canon Leona is annoyed by Silver, I like the concept of the two.

Personality-wise, there are opposites, but in a low-key way. The only thing they have in common is that they sleep a lot, and even that’s an opposite between them.

Leona chooses to be lazy. Everyone and their mother sees he’s got talent for practically everything but he chooses not to do anything because he never get the role HE wants, which is to be King of Sunset Savanna. So, he choose to be be lazy and just rest all the time. However, Silver doesn’t have a choice.

Silver tries his best to be active and stay awake, but because of his “blessing” he struggles in all that he does.

I really like the contrast between the two. It’s entertaining to see Silver’s earnest and pure nature against the grumpy cat that is Leona and I think, if allowed to develop, they could have an interesting relationship. I can see Leona constantly being a bit annoyed but gradually coming around and may even try to help the other in subtle ways.

There’s also a possible drama plot where Leona wants to be with Silver, but Silver is devoted to Malleus as a guard, resulting in Leona’s insecurities activating as, once again, he can’t have what he desires because another has it. He can’t be Savana’s king, nor could he be Silver’s king.

Like I’ve said with others, it’s hard for me to explain but I like the potential here.

Tied for last are Silver x Jamil and Silver x Azul. Let’s look at SilJam first.

I love how their personalities contrast and how, despite the fact they’re in similar positions, they feel very differently.

Silver is honored to be Malleus’ guard, while Jamil is resentful that he has to serve Kalim. The difference is simple but major. Silver CHOSE to serve Malleus and Jamil only serves Kalim because of family obligations. It’s a single difference that changes everything for the two.

I think it would be fun to explore the two and their dynamics as they grow from each other.

I REALLY enjoyed during the Halloween arc how they worked together and how, for the first time, someone was interested in Silver and his history. I don’t think anyone other than Idia showed an interest in Silver, though correct me if I’m wrong. And even then, Idia seemed more interested in Silver’s dad than him.

I also enjoyed how Silver respected Jamil’s efforts and how he made sure Jamil got the recognition he deserved in the end. Considering how overlooked Jamil usually feels, this was a sweet moment for me.

Not to mention, it was fun to see how Jamil reacted to Silver’s air-headed moments and how he had to work around Silver’s honest nature, though unlike with Kalim, he didn’t seem too annoyed by it. (Of course, they don’t have the complicated power dynamics between them, so that may be why, but I digress.)

I mean, it’s hard for me to explain how much I enjoyed seeing these two together in the Halloween Event. They show an interest and appreciation for one another, I love how Silver baffles Jamil at times and so on.

And, of course, I see story potential! (Yes, this is a big part of why I pick ships. I can’t help it, I like stories!)

A fanfic plot I like is two versions of the love triangle. (Yes, I like these IF done well.) One is where, at first, Silver likes Kalim, who likes Jamil, who likes Silver. Another is that both Kalim and Jamil like Silver, who’s oblivious. Either way, this feeds into Jamil’s resentments, creating drama that could end a victory for him if Silver chooses him in the end.

That being said, the only way these two could have a future is if Silver leaves Briar Valley, as Jamil wants to travel, see the world, and be free. He doesn’t want to stay in one place.

This pair is one I think of when I want Silver to venture beyond all he knows and see the world. To be something more than a royal guard and expand his horizons.

He could still work for Briar Valley by becoming a diplomat alongside Jamil, so he could still embody Lilia’s teachings and fulfill his dreams for peace, but they would still have to leave the Diasomnia fam.

Now on to Azul x Silver (AzuSil? SilAzu?). This is another pairing I believe has potential.

These two are opposites in EVERY way. One is a pure angel of heaven, and one is Azul of the deep. Silver is strong, honest, kind, and does everything for the benefit of others. Azul is as weak as a guppy, cunning, and manipulative, and he does everything for his own benefit.

However, their interactions did light a spark in my brain and I like the pairing of the “devil” trying to charm an “angel.”

The contrast between the two are intriguing and I’m facinated by the idea of these two coming together to make a couple. I think having someone like Silver in his life would help Azul as he could realize not everyone wants something from him and some genuinely just want to help others.

Not to mention fanfic-wise they work SO many ways;

There’s the redemption arc that Silver could provide for Azul--Beauty and the Beast AU, under the sea edition, anybody? No? Oh, come on—as well yandere Azul when the mood strikes, Lilia vs Azul for Silver, and more.

Though I acknowledge these two would probably never work in canon as there Azul is looking for an intellectual partner, I still have a soft spot for them.

Recently, I was asked about SilRook, so I’ll share my opinion here:

First off, my gutter brain found it interesting that Rook appreciates that Silver can “sleep” anywhere, lol.

In a way, I see some potential for fun between these two and think that Rook would hold a lot of surprises for Silver and would help the latter find things to appreciate about himself. Other than that, it seems like it would mainly be Rook being odd or showering appreciation for Silver and Silver going, “Um, okay?” The main entertainment would be from the "in-laws,” as Lilia and Malleus don’t seem fond of Rook.

Rook would be a fun yandere for a fanfic, but otherwise doesn’t do much for me. Still, there’s fun to be had with the two if a writer’s willing to put in the effort.

Another pair that got a special mention was SilYuu. I didn’t put this on the poll as it’s basically Silver x OC as Yuu can be interpreted many way.

If we go off “canon” Yuu, however, they’re still cute but are definitely a “quiet” pairing. And I mean that figuratively and literally due to the fact neither talks much.

I don’t see them as an out-there, exciting couple, but they don’t need to be. Silver can be Yuu’s shelter from the madness of Twisted Wonderland and a safe-port in the storm. It’s difficult to explain, but when I see these two, I see a very tranquil pair with the feeling of a warm afternoon, napping in the son till the kids and grampa start making noise.

And I think that’s it!

I’m sure some of you noticed that most of these are based on the stories I think they could produce, but I can’t help it. I like stories, so when I look at a pairing I think how well they get on together and what tales can they create together. That’s how my brain works, which is why I’m a fic writer.

I guess it’s cheating as I base my ships on potential and what I THINK they could be rather than what they are, but eh.

Anyway, my personal ranking of all the Silver Ships mentioned here are thus;

Love: Silver x Idia, Jamil x Silver

Really like: Silver x Azul, Silver x Kalim, Silver x Malleus with a huge "it's complicated mark"

Like: Silver x Jade, Silver x Leona, Silver x Riddle, Silver x Canon Yuu

Meh/Don’t care for: Silver x Rook, Silver Carter

Not for me: Silver x Sebek

So, how about all of you? What’s your favorite pairing for Silver, and why? I would especially love to hear why people like Silver x Kalim, as, despite it being voted so high, I don’t see a lot of content for the two, so I don’t know why they’re so popular. Is it really just because they’re both sweet angels? Or do you see something else that you like?

[pocketramblr]

other main character meta- Ochako, pt 1

<part 2>

“Could you send me there?” you ask, while i blink, confused. “The world where someone else is the main character? not because i have any hypocritical biases against the one i got, just curious how the fandom meta changes.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” I nod, thinking, before tapping my wand against your forehead. “Let’s start with Ochako.”

"I'm going to warn you now- I will have to slightly adjust the plot like I did with Mirio, just to actually let her be the main character."

"Yeah, that checks out." You nod, thinking about certain arcs where the female fighting teams get no coverage while the dudes get four different backstory reveals and full fight focus.

"Very well."

The show begins with a brief narration by the girl of quirks and super hero fights- all flashy. Then it zooms out to show the destruction, and a small construction team moving in as Ochako explains that just as there are new careers in society for heroes, there's also a bigger market for construction companies, one of which her own family runs.

"I've always wanted to help them with it, and my quirk would be useful"- a tiny, adorable Ochako finally appears, making rocks in a park float- "but to get a work license like that is expensive and selective- you've got to make a lot of court appearances and convince them why is a good idea and won't destroy the economy. It's much easier to get a hero license."

Then she explains: "Of course, once you have a hero license, you can make a lot more money than just by helping the company. Especially if... Your family company isn't doing very well." A series of tired but loving parents are shown working all hours to make ends meet.

"I want to help them- my parents. They've done everything for me, and they deserve a break. So that's why I'm going to be a hero- their hero."

The training montage is quick, using her quirk during school in training, after school in secret, around the house. She saves up money too, and studies, aiming for a scholarship.

She applies and tests for many hero schools, and the exams all vary widely.

The first episode ends with her looking up at UA, her final one, the one she really hopes to get into.

"Oh, that's nice." You nod. "And we even get to know her parents' quirks here."

"Yep." I agree. "In general, there's a lot more of a look at the financial side. It's pretty interesting."

"And the fandom?"

"Well, certain people get praised for the bare minimum, but I'll admit having a female lead is super uncommon for shonen jump." It's an improvement, though it's up in the air how much of one it will be. "There's also, because we saw a lot more hero schools, a ton of "students at different school" fics, either because they were expelled or because of the danger UA gets into."

"I do kinda feel like this universe is lucky for that sort of world building." You nod.

"It's very cool to see the takes on the aus. But, I will say there's a cost for this world building- the AfO stuff reeeeally comes out of nowhere and tends to not be popular with fans."

The next episode starts, and Ochako helps a boy from falling. "Love interest alert!" The fans notice quickly when the cute boy blushes and doesn't manage to say much before she walks away.

"They caught on quick." You note.

"And they aren't wrong." Not that it's any real feat to be right.

The exam starts, and Ochako is off in a flash. You see a few glimpses of future classmates- Iida, Aoyama, Kirishima.

She does well, racking up villain points and rescue points, until she's a little too ambitious and falls into the rubble. Her nausea is well established by now, everyone knows she's at her limit.

She can't get up.

The green haired boy comes back and stops the zero pointer.

And breaks every bone in the process.

Ochako saves him in return, lifting up the rubble and stopping his fall.

And then vomits violently afterwards.

"You know, I think quirks suck, actually." The fandom tends to agree on this after that episode/chapter. "But it is interesting that there's such a price for the powers, balances it really well."

"Ha." You shake your head. "They caught onto that, quicker."

"Yep." I can't even say it's more highlighted here, it's the exact same way it was shown in our universe- down to the sparkling rainbow puke.

"Though..." You can't quite imagine that's the only thing the fandom is saying isn't actually that great.

"Ding ding ding." I nod. "Did our own main character get treated just like a damsel in distress? Sure, she saved him back, but that just meant she could have floated away on her own in that time, even if it made her sick. Better that than dead. Is it the sexism?" I shrug. "Most decide to wait and see a bit, and by the time they work together in the first battle exercise figure it's a pretty even split between them saving each other."

"So no sexism?" You get happy at that thought.

I cough. "Ah, no. Both in the show and the fandom. You wouldn't believe how many grown men complain about the lady mc, even as they keep watching."

"And have her body pillow."

"Please don't make me think about that." I cover my eyes, but don't deny that it's true. "Anyway, yeah. Get ready for a lot of people to point out that even though the main character is a girl, every single other girl is flat as cardboard so far and that she only has developed friends that are guys."

"Hey, they aren't flat-"

"In the first season? Yeah they are. Unless you meant, physically, in which case..."

"I didn't." You protest. "But I guess I can see your point, at the start."

"Right. Let's continue on."

Uraraka goes to Present Mic to offer her points. The man pats her on the head, and skyrockets to the position of fandom dad.

"It's all about Dadmic and then Dadzawa here," I explain. "The fans were very disappointed to learn Mic wasn't her homeroom teacher, but yeah... He got a huge head start before Dadzawa fics got going."

"Nice. And it's all fanon?"

"Yeah, it may be a good thing he's not actually in it much, or they might realize how much they just made up on their own."

Then she gets accepted in, on hero and rescue points- she's third place overall, and she gets the scholarship.

On the first day of school, she actually gets to know her love interest's name- Midoriya!

There's also the quirk assessment, which really leads to the "expelled to another school" au and the "fire Aizawa and replace him with better Mic" aus, the first of which lasts much longer in the fandom use, but the second one was just as passionate for a while.

Iida becomes the second friend, and gives her the "Infinity Girl" nickname- which actually is the fandom assumption of what her hero name will be for quite a while, a la 'ground zero'.

Then it's time for All Might's first appearance on screen, to much applause of the students, and the announcement that they get their costumes.

During the first battle exercise, there's a lot more lingering camera work in the changing rooms. Ochako gets to expand a lot more on how she didn't want her costume to be that tight. It's uncomfortable, especially when she thinks about wearing it in front of everyone.

"Oh, I forgot she didn't like it at first... Does she just, get used to it here?" It sounds horrible for the plot to just say 'get used to it' to the main character being sexualized by costume makers outside of her control, especially as a child.

"Not on my watch." I mumble, waving the wand. "Don't worry, she'll actually get more costume changes each time, like some other characters."

"Oh good."

Mineta, regrettably, still exists. You find the fandom manages to be even more violent in his removal.

The battle does even out the opinions on Midoriya, as well as lead to a boost in Iida's with his charming little attempt at thinking villainously.

And cements Bakugo as rather hated. No one has really liked him, when the first thing he did was blow up at Midoriya, then get revealed to have called him a cruel nickname all this time. And then specifically hunt him down because all he cares about it beating him up.

"Yeah he's not gonna get a lot of fans here huh."

"He sure never gets first place in the popularity poll." I agree. "Most consider him the subversion of the rival trope to show is just stupid and violent and in real life, people like that don't go anywhere."

"Most?"

I look away. "How dumb of a discourse do you think you could see today?"

"Oh please, show me." You lean in. "It's nice to not have to deal with it in my universe, so I don't care."

The discourse is such.

Bakugo is gay-coded for Midoriya, the violence is a result of him being shoved off for a girl's love interest when she should be single and independent, and the homophobic creator is vilifying all gay people by saying they are predatory to poor straight boys with refused.

"They............... What."

"If it makes you feel better, that's a very brief minority of the fandom. My favorite response to it was "he's not gay-coded, he's bully coded you sanctimonious sumph of a shmuck.""

"Oh good," you sigh. "I'm glad we don't have to deal with actual queerphobic tropes like that."

I stare at you.

"What?"

I sigh. "Nothing, put a pin in that until I bring up the predatory bi thing with Toga."

Your eyes widen, and you start to have some regrets.

"Anyway, we can talk shipping later. Time for more."

The 'exit sign Iida' gives him a boost in being shipped with Ochako, (as well as Yaoyorozu) and also the general idea that "Ochako has two hands."

That one hand can have a boyfriend with a lot of cash to spare for her and the other is also played with.

"I missed the main trio, like this." You smile as they walk off into the sunset after school.

"Yeah." I agree. "Anyway, time for some near death experiences."

The USJ marks the start of the gradual, gradual growth of Dadzawa fics. It also focuses far more on Ochako, Mina, Sero, and Iida having to think strategically to get around Kurogiri. It's only after Iida escapes that we cut back to a slightly abridged version of how Midoriya was doing, then the other kids, before help arrives.

He does still through his first non bone breaking punch though, which makes the audience happy.

All Might saves the day. Aizawa is battered afterwards. Many fans start out by saying they were disappointed, since this was supposed to be the first big fight, and the kids didn't do much. Many others say in response that's the point- we're looking at first years, they had to think and help each other, but in the end they had to rely on adults.

And then the sports festival is announced. They want to do well, because this is how they get work-week placements, which could become internship offers.

Ochako thinks about Hado Nejire, the only intern of a top ten hero, and senior at UA, along with a few others who are on the up and up. She's determined.

"Really? You're bringing in the big three early?" You ask, glancing at my wand.

It's not sparkling.

I cross my arms with a huff. "Look. Nejire is at this point the only intern in the top ten, she would have been recognizable to the students for that, even if they didn't recognize the big three (which really means that they aren't actually called the Big Three by everyone, or at least not a wide enough group for it to be as big a deal as it's treated. Anyway.) But she wasn't, even if she should have been the most famous of the bunch, considering the coverage the first years got in just their first night. That's because a certain someone doesn't actually think of his female characters much, but he has to in this universe, so."

"Ok, yeah, that's fair. So does that change the sports festival?"

"Not... Much." I admit.

“What?”

“Well, keep in mind in the first universe, our main character didn’t make it past the second round in the one-on-one’s. So she’s not exactly guaranteed a win here either.”

You have to nod, admitting that is true.

“And the conflict isn’t so much about having to live up to any predecessor or breaking down some people’s walls via breaking bones.” I tap my wand against my chin, thinking. “There really is two- one about Midoriya, and one about Ochako’s parents.”

“Oh?”

“One, there’s been the Uraraka’s not happy about how much danger Ochako’s been in. Its been hinted at in the phone calls, but really shows up when we get to see them at home before the SF for the first time since she moved for school. They aren’t sure if she can stay there herself, or if the right thing to do would be to pull her out and maybe try a smaller school.”

“I suppose that's fair, if they haven't been able to actually see her or her progress.”

“Right. The second one is- well. in this, Izuku’s win of the first round, and then breaking out of brainwashing, is more about really piling on how good his mind is- all that brain power. This adds more pressure when we see Ochako being offered a plan from him to beat Bakugo.”

“Oh that does sound neat.”

“Yep- but of course, she still refuses. It’s held up as a worse thing, strategically, initially- but then she comes up with a plan that Midoriya confirms in the stands is better than his, and proves to her parents that she’s smart and skilled enough to handle continuing at the school.”

You smile. “That is a cool arc to do, i guess, if very not traditional. But what about all the character setup and growth with Shinsou and Todoroki?”

“Oh, Shinsou’s largely gets delegated all the way later for the joint training arc, where Ochako’s team is directly against him. Todoroki...” I begin to giggle.

You wait for me to answer, getting more concerned the longer i laugh.

“Pocket?”

“Sorry, sorry, yeah. He actually tells her himself in this canon, a bit after stain. Oh! right, i forgot- the cheerleader incident.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes. of course they need this merch opportunity! But yes, it happens. The... shall we say, non-body-pillow portion of the fandom, generally saw it as the end of any goodwill to Kaminari, who had previously been seen as a tertiary possible love interest, since he’d flirted with her on the first day. Flirt, but harmless, and unlikely to be important. Then there was that breach of trust and international embarrassment, and anyway he’s basically the second least likely in 1a to be shipped with her now.”

“Wow. So none of that changed?”

“Well, the setup wasn’t under narration from Todoroki about how his mother was bought for her body and how much that sucked and impacted her and the family while on screen we see multiple girls tricked into barring their bodies and its treated as a laugh instead?”

You stare at me. “I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.”

“Neither am I.”

“So, the Todoroki reveal?”

“Right. So, first you need to know the Stain thing- the claims he has against ‘false’ heroes focusing on money is better spotlighted. After Stain’s arrest, Ochako hears a couple of sidekicks at Gunhead’s agency-”

“Wait!” you interrupt. “She still interned with Gunhead? Then what was the point of showing Nejire and Ryukyuu earlier?”

I try not to massage my forehead. “To build up to it. She only made it to the first of the final round, she couldn’t get an internship with a top tenner yet. She’s also got to learn how to disarm someone who fights with a knife. These things build up over more time, small steps.”

“Ah.” You’re satisfied, and let me continue.

“Right, so, Overhears a couple of them talking about Stain’s philosophy and ends up just feeling really bad about it for a bit, trying to figure out if she’s actually being selfish or a bad hero for, you know, wanting her family to not be crushed due to capitalism.”

“Poor girl.” You shake your head in sympathy, the freeze. “Oh. did not intend that pun.”

“It’s alright, i know what you mean. And yeah, she bottles it up for a bit, until the second day back at school. Then Iida reminds her that him bottling things up last week got several kids in mortal danger, and she begrudgingly admits that he has a point and tells them about what has been bugging her.”

“And they comfort her?”

“Well, Todoroki also offers to tell off Kaminari because at this point his mention of stain upset both her and iida, but yes, A lot of reassurances.”

You squint. “I feel like shippers.”

“You’re learning! Yes, Todoroki is just a bit behind Iida in terms of popularity shipping with her. and she does basically get shipped A Lot with each girl in her class too, like imagine double to triple the amount with each girl now, and for the minor guys- but yeah. There’s a lottttt of ships. This was basically called ‘todoroki’s introduction into ochako’s harem’ in the fandom.”

Shipping. fandom just can’t escape it.

“So, then she learns about Todoroki’s past? oh, and what about Hosu? Does she- and everyone else- actually think Endeavor saved the three??”

I snort. “Oh, no. Todoroki’s flat ‘yeah my father totally helped us, as you read on the official report’ basically tipped the fandom off that something else had. But nothing confirmed either, you know? Filling in the hosu gap is another trope in fics that is pretty common.”

“Neat.”

“Yep. But yeah Todoroki tells her his backstory a bit after his introduction into her ‘harem’ of friends. It’s really played up more to caution Ochako- its alright for her to want to help her family, and to work for money to do that. But Rei accepted the marriage offer for money for her family too, and it ended up breaking her. Ochako has to accept a balance- she can work to help her family, and its good, but there are some things she cannot morally do to help them, and other things that she shouldn’t do because she has to take care of her own health first.”

“Ohhhh.” You hadn’t quite expected that, but you sorta liked it, now that you thought about it.

I smile. “It is pretty neat, yeah.” I glance at my watch. “Look, i hate to cut you off, but this post is gonna end up thrice the length of Mirio’s and i think tumblr might stop me, so we’re gonna have to do a two-parter.”

“That’s fine.” You are gracious for what you’ve gotten so far, and do have questions that you’re excited to see answered for the rest of the series. “It’s been fun.”

“It has been.” I agree. “Lets take a break, but you can ask me any questions too, before I return for part two.”

<part 2>

[fyeah-anya-corazon]

Ranking every potential love interest for Anya

Happy Valentine's day!

To celebrate the occasion let's look at every single character she has had as potential romantic partners. I'm including here every iteration of Anya so far.

For a teen character with more than 15 years of existence, it's amazing she hasn't had any sort of stable partner. As far as comics go, her main version has only had one romantic partner so far, but calling it a "relationship" is kind of a stretch. MSM did what the comics (embarrassingly) haven't and give her a romantic partner that I think we were all happy for, and even though it's not my favorite, it's probably the most high profile partner she'll have in a while.

Anyway, let's start the countdown!

Peter Parker

NOPE. NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE. Sorry shippers from MSM, but this is a big nope from me due to their student/teacher relationship from the comics and that she's still a minor in them.

Possibilities of becoming canon: I mean.... I don't doubt that at some point some hack writer might pull a Bruce/Barbara with them for some au. Probably one of the blessings of her not being as relevant as Batgirl.

Score: -110000/10 HELLSHIP HELLSHIP

Paul Townsend

Her original potential love interest in comics, he disappeared after Amazing Fantasy. He was still important enough that he even appears in the cover of AF #6 as part of Anya's civilian life.

Possibilities of becoming canon: Zero. It's clear we'll never see him again.

Score: -10/10 dude was very clearly into some shady stuff.

Rocky Flint

Her new best friend (?) they even lived together for a while. Introduced during the Spider-Girl relaunch, she is nice friend, but Rikki was the one who took the spotlight during this period.

Score: 1/10 prefer them as friends.

Black Tarantula

From the MC2 universe, I guess it works within it's "What if?" premise. A series that gives a antagonistic-but-not-too-much role to Anya in it's "what if she stayed longer with the Spider Society?" it does kinda feel natural that two characters with characters with similar origin to be attracted. (Let's not even mention how comfortable she feels with Fabian pursuing Mayday to join their harem).

Possibilities of becoming canon: canon in a reality, doubt in main reality this would happen. It would be interesting if 616 Fabian resurfaces as a enemy to Anya.

Score: 2/10 kinda works in it's reality, but I can't forgive DeFalco for thinking it was a good idea to pair a character who lost her family to narcos with a narco.

Lynn Sakura

Oh, the panel that started it all....

Anya's BFF, is a shame she was dropped after the original Araña series. There's is potential in there, but now it all rests on anyone remembering Heart of the Spider.

Possibilities of becoming canon: I mean, it cooould happen. To say there's no subtext in there would be a understatement....

Score: 4/10 just as Rocky I prefer them as friends.

Reptil

So far her only romantic partner she's had. It didn't start the best way, and ended... we actually have no idea how this ended. Next thing we know Berto was pursuing other relationships with Finnesse and White Tiger. It seemed that only Paul Tobin wanted it to happen.

Possibilities of becoming canon: He is kinda dead. He reappeared for a panel thanks to Bendis not caring about continuity, but God knows if anyone is gonna pick that up. Overall, I think there's a bigger chance for Reptil to pursue any of the previous relationships than going back to Anya.

Score: 5/10 good guy, but who thought it was a good idea making Anya's first kiss against her will?

Julie Taregon

Anya's hockey captain from very early, interviews from the time indicated that she was originally meant to have a much bigger role in Heart of the Spider. Just like Paul she was dropped by the main series, but nothing takes away from the distinction of being the one who activated Anya's powers for the first time after she asked her out.

Possibilities of becoming canon: As much possibilities as Paul or Lynn. Assuming a new Anya solo is greenlighted she would make a interesting addition to the supporting cast.

Score: 7/10 I dig it but wish she would appear more.

Mayday Parker

The newest addition to her potential partners, I've actually been shiping them from before Spider-Girls, the fact that in short 3 issues they generated enough interest that this is probably the second most popular ship at this point (came first in a twitter poll I made). There's a story with them just waiting to be written, they need to be together in a series again!

Possibilities of becoming canon: Um... I think that at this point both have the same level of relevance that if someone pitches a story were they become a couple it wouldn't hold much objection.

Score: 1000000/10 currently my fav ship.

Miles Morales

Marvel comics should be embarrassed that a cartoon made this pairing happen, as meanwhile in the comics they haven't even talked to each other. As you may notice, this list is dominated by women, if there's one guy I would smile from ear to ear if it becomes a thing it would be with Miles. They both have so much in common, it's a match made in heaven.

Possibilities of becoming canon: I actually think this has a good chance of happening. They will probably not be endgame, but I see them having a relationship along the lines of Tim and Steph.

Score: 9/10 If only Miles were a woman 😔

Gwen Stacy

Just like Miles, the cartoon did what the comics haven't and developed them into a lovely friendship (with something more...?). Arguably, the most popular ship involving Anya; on ao3 is the one with the most fics, and there's probably more fan art of this pairing than from anyone else. The main limitation with this is how in the comics writers tend to underwrite Anya while putting the spotlight on Gwen, and never developing their partnership into something more. Hopefully the upcoming Order of the Web series they've been teasing they'll finally have some heartfelt interactions.

Possibilities of becoming canon: you know what, I legit think this has a actual chance. As I said, this is a rather popular ship, at least even Seanan Maguire is aware of it and is fair to say other people at Marvel are aware of the fan art and the like. Gwen in the comics so far has ambiguous sexuality, it wouldn't be too far fetched if someone makes it canon. Just as Miles, I can't see this as endgame, but it can become a recurring relationship like Gambit and Rogue.

Score: 10/10 Marvel don't be cowards challenge.

Rikki Barnes

The og. The one that turned subtext into text. Completely unintentional, yet their relationship did eventually had ramifications on at least one of them. At this point, if anyone wants to reveal Anya as a wlw, they just need to point this relationship to justify it. Anya and Rikki were probably the closest between them than any other superhero they ever interacted with.

Possibilities of becoming canon: Uhm.... Just when I thought that Rikki wouldn't be back, she comes back AND confirmed as bi. The problem? Rikki currently has a girlfriend. Breaking up Julie and Rikki seems very mean spirited, specially for Julie. Hypothetically, if for any reason their relationship ends, Rikki and Anya would definitely become canon at some point.

Score: 1100000/10 @Marvel you owe Anya a girlfriend.

[writingsfromhome]

Bad Timing I(.5)

A/N: This is the sort of backstory to Harry and you, I think it can be read on its own if you want, or before you read the first part too. It’s angsty af, but it has some death and sensitive topics jsyk. I tried to keep it concise but it got a little wordy as angst does. xx

Part 1

-------------------------------------------------

About 12 Years Ago:

“So are you coming to that party or not?” My roommate asks. She was one of the first people I’d met last year when we started uni and even though we came from different backgrounds we remained friends over the last year, even choosing to room together again. She got me to open up and find the extroverted part of me that was able to enjoy uni outside of academics.

“Ugh, I’m volunteering for the voting booths for the rest of the week. Maybe if I can make it?”

“You’re actually doing that?” She scrunches her nose. “I don’t get it. You’re just way too nerdy to be my friend.”

“And yet you loove me,” I squeeze her against me and she laughs. “It’s my mom, she said I had to do at least one extracurricular so I could meet friends this year.”

“You already have friends,” she points to herself, and with her came her group of friends that’d quickly taken me in last year.

And my mom doesn’t like that I hang out with you, I think. She thought we partied too much even though my grades stayed decent. “She wants me to have nerdy friends too, I dunno. They’re helping me pay my tuition until I get a job so I kinda have to play nice.”

“Parents suck,” my roommate flicks through her closet. I agreed, this was just something I would get through to get through. Then they would leave me alone for the rest of the year.

Little did I know the person they’d partner me with at my polling station was someone who would be in my life for the next decade.

“I’m Harry by the way,” he’d said after we received our orientation and assigned the building we were going to babysit the votes in. “Second year.”

“Me too! I’m Y/N. What’s your major? I’ve never seen you around.”

“Law--well I haven’t decided if it’s law but that’s what I’m in right now.”

“Really? Law?” I was openly judging, he just didn’t seem the law type.

“Well what are you in?” He demands.

“Business,” I cringe.

“Really? Business?” He has a cheeky smile on, one that would become familiar to me.

“Well, you just don’t seem like the law type. They’re usually more uptight, dress way too smart for me.”

“I know, it’s like, we’re not even in the courtroom yet,” he joins in and it makes me laugh--how he could poke fun at his own people. That’s when I knew we would get along fine, and I actually looked forward to the next few days getting to know him better.

“I’m definitely telling my mum about you, she’s been begging me to make friends outside of my circle. I’ll tell her I’m friends with a law student.”

“So we’re friends already?” We’d reached our booth and began setting up the partitions. He takes over when I set it up wrong.

“Obviously,” I say. “I actually like you which means you’ll have a hard time getting rid of me.”

“I’m alright with that,” he grins and I notice the laugh lines that are brought to life as he does. It somehow made him seem more genuinely.

We spend the rest of the time swapping stories, classes, rants. We check student IDs and hand out voting cards in between but it doesn’t feel like a drag anymore. At the end of the day, I invite him to the party my roommate was going to with our friends. If he was going, maybe I would too. He seemed like he might be fun at a party.

“Er,” he suddenly seems nervous. “I’ll have to ask my girlfriend, she wanted to hang out tonight.”

“Well bring her too!” I say excitedly. “Is she law as well?”

“No, she’s in the arts.”

“I like her already,” I push. “Bring her, my friends are fun you’ll learn how to have a good time.”

“I know how to have a good time,” there was the flash of his dimples again. “Text me the address.”

And thus began a friendship for the next four years, partying together, studying together (trying to), and hanging out in each other’s rooms. We would set each other up with other friends, double dated, went out for sunrise-hikes, and took long drives at night when we had to blow some steam off from being over-stressed, over-studied uni students. Our friend circles overlapped, the fabric of our lives eventually bleeding together. We were made of the same fibers, sticking together even after uni, when our friends got more serious about their careers. When they moved out of the country or to another city, we made sure to rent places close enough that we could still see each other often. And somehow, in the new chapter of our lives, without the partying and our other friends to buffer, we became closer than before.

We cared for each other--we didn’t deny that ever. And somehow that platonic love turned romantic as we depended on each other while we navigated adulthood. I can’t exactly pinpoint where things changed, but one evening our relationship was changed forever.

7 years ago:

“She literally wants me to stay until 7, and she was offended when I said no! I’m not even getting paid for that!” I was bitching to Harry about my shitty job.

“That’s bollocks” Harry shrugs. “Just say you’ve got family obligations or something.”

“I said that the one time she wanted us to come in on a weekend and she gave me shite work the following week! I just...I can’t afford to lose this job Harry.”

“That’s shitty, I’m sorry.” He takes the last swig of his beer. “Want another one?”

“I haven’t even finished this one,” I moan at my now warm beer that I’d been nursing for the last hour, too busy ranting to drink it. “It’s getting late though I should head home before it’s dark. Don’t want that nutter that hangs around my building to harass me again.”

“I’ll walk you home,” Harry suggests. He lived a 15 minute walk from me.

“No no,” I get up and take our dirty dishes to the sink. “I didn’t even ask about you, how was your day?”

“Same old,” he sighs against the counter. “I feel like I don’t fit in, everyone my age is finishing their law degree but I don’t think I want to.”

“I knew from the day I met you, you weren’t destined for the courtroom.” I pull him into a comforting hug. “Do what makes you happy, or what doesn’t make you want to say fuck it and quit your job to hibernate.”

“You really know the perfect thing to say,” Harry chuckles but he pulls me tighter against him. I stroke his back, reassuring him he’d be alright in the end.

“Y/N-” he pulls away to say something but freezes mid sentence. I raise an eyebrow but he’s still, staring at my face.

“Harry?” I ask, but he continues staring. “Hello? You alright?”

“Yeah,” he breaks into a sudden smile. That was weird--I make sure he’s okay before letting go.

Before I leave, I kiss Harry’s cheek goodbye--I was never shy in the affection I gave my friends and Harry’s bummed mood needed extra affection tonight. But what I don’t expect is for him to catch me before I pull away, staring intently into my eyes. The lighthearted energy between us disappears instantly as it dawns on me, how close we were, the unspoken feelings in his eyes, the hesitation before he presses his lips to mine.

I kissed him back then, barely understanding what was happening, before pulling away. I give him a smile but that’s just what he sees at the tip of the iceberg, underneath my mixed feelings churn away. My best friend just kissed me, and I wasn’t totally mad about it.

“It’s getting dark I-” I say as Harry says, “Sorry was that okay?”

We laugh awkwardly, neither of us sure what to do at this point. We decide to ignore it instead.

“I’ll talk to you later,” Harry lets me go and opens the door for me. “Watch out for the neighbourhood nutter yea?”

I stand in place, feeling the fibers of our friendship unraveling but feeling hopeless in mending the tear. “Take care Harry.”

I high tail it out, my thoughts going at an impossible rate as I sort out what happened. And we try to ignore it the next couple weeks,

We hadn’t made it official then, too nervous to face what this meant about our friendships. It was only at my sister’s wedding, that I realised what was wrong between us. I’d been mourning our old friendship, and avoiding him in the weeks since the kiss. But what I didn’t realise was that our friendship had been changing over the last year anyway, and getting drunk on champagne and dancing with Harry, while my sister celebrated the happiest day of her life, made me realise there was a cause for celebration here: a new chapter in our lives.

A couple days later, after a stressful day at work, I’d taken the tube to his flat and waited for him outside. He was surprised to see me there, not saying much except to open the door and let me in. As soon as he’d closed it, my lips were attached to his and we’d let our bags drop, coats, and any piece of clothing between us. After that night, we didn’t even try to deny how we felt about each other.

“I didn’t think I could ever be this happy,” he’s whispered to me after. I thought he’d fallen asleep but his whisper in the dark made me grin to myself. “Are you awake.”

“I am. Awake and happy.” I turn to face him, giggling. “Who knew this could feel so right.”

“Our first kiss was quite wrong though wasn’t it?” Harry says and it makes me laugh.

“That’s why I needed to do a redo,” I tease. “Can’t leave you to plan anything.”

“It wasn’t planned I swear, I was trying to be spontaneous.”

“Let’s not try ‘spontaneous’ again then,” I kiss him in the dark. He pulls me snug against him, I never knew how safe it felt. The safest I would ever feel, wrapped in the warmth with my best friend and now something else.

It was a good few months, testing the waters as our relationship underwent a transformation. All of our friends were supportive, but we never missed the glances between them. Apparently, they were waiting for this to happen. But as sweet as those first few months had been, finding out my mum was sick with a timeline was devastating. I came apart at the seams but Harry stayed through it all, holding me together. He’d proposed then, wanting my mum to be part of the ceremony. We had a small wedding, intimate but still magical. It was bittersweet, the amount of love and happiness I felt towards Harry and our loved ones around us as he said I do and as he took my arm and swept me across the dancefloor. But the amount of sadness crushing my chest kept me from being the weightless bride I always thought I would be.

Through it all, Harry stayed by my side. While we were hopeful, the day our hopes were dashed, the days and weeks I mourned. When my sister and her husband came to stay with their crazy toddlers and Harry kept them entertained giving my sister and I time together. I thought he was perfect, that I’d lucked out.

That lasted a few years, 3 and a half to be exact. There were months leading up to our split and we could point to a bunch of things that could’ve led to it. a) him wanting kids, and me wanting to wait or b) long hours we worked as we changed careers and tried to make our way up or c) how hard getting pregnant actually was. Maybe I pushed him away, or he didn’t love me enough to try and make it work.

I think I lied to myself, avoiding the tension creeping into the relationship. The tired excuses and time spent apart, the lack of usual affection, or casual conversations. I was an idiot, I realise every time I think about the end in retrospect. Maybe if I caught on earlier I could have fixed us before we fell apart. Maybe I could have saved us.

“There’s someone coming in Tuesday morning to fix the broken washer, will you be home?” I ask, still in bed and scrolling through my phone. I hadn’t meant to be up this early but Harry woke me as he got up and I couldn’t fall back asleep.

“No,” Harry responds, his back to me as he ruffles through the dresser. “I’ve got a thing that morning.”

“Well I’ve got to go in early Tuesday-I thought you might be home.” I say. I hear an edge to Harry’s voice but I try not to focus on it. He’d been a little cold all weekend and I was scared to think what it meant.

“You couldn’t be bothered to check in when you confirmed the date?” Harry asks harshly.

“I...guess not.” I put my phone down and wait for Harry to turn, maybe I could read his expression. Maybe he was stressed. “Harry?”

“What?” He turns, but he looks at me with no emotion. No stress, no frustration, not even anger. It’s the lack of emotion in his face that cause my eyes to prick with tears. Harry raises his eyebrows and I shake my head, untangling myself from the sheets so he doesn’t see any tears. I rush to the bathroom but forget to close the door out of habit.

“Y/N,” a kinder Harry appears by the doorway. His face has smoothed out the harsh lines, his eyes hesitant and cautious.

“What’s happened with us?” I blurt out. “Why are you so cold all the time? Am I doing something wrong?”

Harry’s face falls and he walks towards me but doesn’t touch me. “It’s nothing like that. It’s...I don’t know. We should talk.”

He reaches his hand out but I flinch away. “Did you meet somebody new or something? What are we talking about?”

“Let’s not do this here. Right now.”

“Why not!” I finally had enough. “I’ve been walking on eggshells for months Harry! I don’t know what’s wrong and I keep waiting for you to bloody tell me!”

“This isn’t working!” Harry raises his voice to compensate for mine. I’m immediately silenced by the volume, and then the words sink in.

“Is there someone else?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer, his gaze on the hanging vines by the window. My heart drops into my stomach like a boulder, and I find it hard to breathe. I clutch the porcelain sink and ask in a surprisingly even tone, “Harry. Answer me.”

“What we have, Y/N...it’s dysfunctional.” He says quietly, meeting my eyes. “It doesn’t matter if there’s someone else, we’ve been fighting for months. Things aren’t the same between us-”

“Who is she?” I ask. I needed to know.

“That’s not relevant,” he shuts my question down quickly. “I’m sorry Y/N, I...I don’t want to hurt you. I care about you, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Then don’t,” I’d pleaded. “We can go to counseling, talk it through-”

“I can’t Y/N.”

“Because of her.”

“No, because this isn’t good for either of us.” He’d walked up to me, cradled my face. “We’re not good for each other, not like this.”

“Who is she?” I yank his hands away.

“She’s...it doesn’t matter, I swear nothing happened between us Y/N. Knowing who she is isn’t going to help this situation--”

“It is! If it weren’t for her, you’d be willing to work on us--to see a future. You...Harry how could you do this to me? To us?” The tears come with no control. “You’re moving on before we’re even over. How are you giving up on us like that?”

“I’m not!” his voice booms in the tiled bathroom. “I’m not bloody giving up on us! I tried Y/N, so many times. I tried! You just keep pushing at me to be someone I’m not and-”

“I can say the same thing about you!” I throw the brush in my hands into the sink. “We were good! And you got it in your head you wanted a baby even though we’re young, oh my god Harry you kept pestering me to change my mind even though I told you I needed time!”

“It’s not like we could have a fucking baby anyway,” Harry says bitterly before realising what he’d said. “Shit-”

“There you go,” I mock. “I knew it. I knew you were holding that against me. And that,” I jab my finger into his chest. “Is what’s made you so moody, so mean and why we’re always fighting. You held it against me.”.

There was absolute truth to what I said. Last year, Harry had brought the baby topic up. I’d told him we were only in our mid-20s, we had a lot of time, and we still had a career to establish. But he would bring up the topic often enough that I’d given in.To make him happy. And months went by, trying for a baby. Went we finally went to our doctor, she’d told us why it was so hard, it could take us years she’d said.

Harry came home that day dejected, and left me feeling like a failure. I think it tore us up.

“You wanted a baby so fucking bad and when I couldn’t, it made me feel like a complete failure. And I told you that! And you did absolutely nothing to make me feel better. You held it against me, Harry! You didn’t even try to tell me it was okay.”

“It’s not so fucking simple,” he says, his cheeks flushed pink. Maybe it was anger, or maybe it was embarrassment from being confronted with an ugly truth.

“It is. And now you’ve upgraded to a newer model, maybe her version comes with a fertile womb.” I take the cheap shot.

He doesn’t say anything though. And I don’t know why that hurts more than knowing he’d fallen for another woman while he was still married to me. My best friend in the whole world had just broken my heart into a million irrevocable pieces.

“It’s a bunch of things Y/N,” he finally says. “That’s just part of it. We’re not...we’re just not working!”

“Did you even try to make it work?” I ask, swiping my sleeve across my face. “Did you ever think how I felt? How you made me feel Harry? You’ve been slipping away from me without talking to me-” I break off. I couldn’t speak through the heartbreak, the thunderstorm of grief threatens to consume me and my sobs are the only thing that manages to come out.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” Harry tries to place a hand on my shoulder but I jerk away, moving to sit on the edge of the bathtub. “Y/N...”

“Just go,” I say through the tears.

“We can talk more about this later-”

"Just go,” I say louder.

Harry’s phone rings again from the bedroom and he sighs. But he leaves me, crying on the bathroom floor. The sadness that was always in my peripheral consumes me. I’d carried this sadness for a long time--ever since I found out my mum was sick, the sadness plagued me. I’d neatly packed it up once I decided to move forward with my life like my mum would want me to, but now it comes back tenfold, marrying the grief of losing Harry like this. And I stay on the floor crying my grief away for hours, eventually crawling into bed and sleeping the daylight away.

When I wake, it’s 6 and Harry isn’t home. I take that as a sign and get up to pack up a few things. I call my sister who still lived in London then, and crash on her couch, staying there for a few weeks and ignoring any call or text from Harry. When I need to go back, for my things, I find him sleeping on the couch with the TV on, something I always found endearing. But I can’t afford to dwell on how much it hurt seeing him like that.

He must have woken from the noise because when he finds me, he tries to stop me and tell me that we still needed to talk.

“About what?” I ask, just tired now. Too many tears shed and too many hours laying awake thinking about the exact moment we went wrong.

“Us,” Harry looked tired too. He was probably throwing himself into his work with nothing like me to hold him back, I think bitterly. His girlfriend had probably already been to our house--his house.

“What about us?” I barely look at him as I begin folding away all my clothes.

“I don’t know,” Harry sits on the bed. “Don’t you want to talk?”

“I’ve got nothing to say, do you?”

Harry sighs, “I don’t know.”

“Nice talk then,” I say, shoving the rest of my things in just so I could get out.

“I just want you to know I care about you Y/N, I don’t want to hurt you.” He says as I pack.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. If you cared about me, and you didn’t want to hurt me you wouldn’t have done this to us.”

“I wasn’t trying to--I didn’t mean to go and fall for someone else-”

“Just stop,” I cut him off. I couldn’t hear it, how the man I loved fell for someone else. I couldn’t break down here. Again.

He said he cared but it didn’t feel that way. It hurt more than I wished to admit. He knew what I’d been through and he still betrayed me, tossed my heart like it was replaceable. The cut he left in me ran deep.

As I leave he tries to talk to me, but I barrel past him. He still reaches for me and pulls me into a hug, I struggle against him but he’s too strong. He wraps me in his arms until I go still but it’s too much. A sob escapes me, and this time he lets me push him off and leave, my bag banging into my hips every time I take a step. As soon as I got into my Uber, I can’t stop crying. There was an infinite pool of tears where Harry was involved.

3 years ago:

My trust and my heart had been been lost in the war between Harry and I. It only took him a month to mail my divorce papers which sat collecting dust on my dining table until he showed up at work one day and demanded I sign them by the end of that week. I’d taken the day off the day I mailed those in, mourning the end of something that was once so safe and beautiful.

When a close friend calls me on a warm July afternoon, I don’t consider her warning that I shouldn’t check Instagram. That I still had Harry’s friends on my list. I open Instagram before she can tell me why, and see it. Harry was getting married, again. To the woman he gave up on us for. I try to zoom in on a picture without liking it, she was pretty...and blonde. She looked familiar--probably from his office. It didn’t take him long.

It was like someone had taken a retractor to the wound I thought had finally scabbed over. The physical proof that Harry had moved on is just the salt on the wound.

I cry myself to sleep that night.

2 Years ago;

The guy in front of me drones on about his job, mansplaining to me how a mortgage worked as if I wasn’t in finance myself. I excuse myself to use the restroom, checking my phone to see a text from my sister. She’d moved to Scotland this year, to where her husband was from, and I’d missed her terribly in the last year.

A little birdie told me your demon-ex just got divorced 🥂

I stare at the screen, chest feeling tight. I felt vindicated somehow, but I also felt a small bit of sadness. What a fuck-up.

Good for him I had texted back. A part of me wanted him to hurt the way he hurt me.

I went back to my date with a renewed enthusiasm. I’d ordered more wine and got so drunk he was actually interesting enough to take home.

About 1 year ago

“Y/N,” a voice from my past says, one that haunted me some nights. I turn as I exit the shop I was just in. I blink at the sight before me, Harry in a vest and hat. He realises what I’m staring at and laughs awkwardly. “I’m in uniform.”

“You’re...police?” I look up to his face finally. He hadn’t aged a day, although the hat he wears makes him look a little silly.

“Yeah I joined the force uhm...almost 4 years ago now...law didn’t really suit me.”

I know what he was doing, trying to find a baseline to have a conversation. But he was dead to me, and I didn’t want to invite him back in when I was finally forgetting about him.

"Seems like you dropped a lot of dead-weight four years ago.”

I watch his face fall as he realises I wasn’t going to pretend to be friendly.

“Seems that way to you,” he says cautiously. “But that’s not how it happened.”

I shrug. “So. I heard about the divorce. Must’ve been hard being put through that.”

I knew I was being petty, obviously I never got the closure I want (according to my therapist) and I wasn’t over him hurting me the way he did (also according to my therapist). This was how I got my peace, and it wasn’t the best version of me but it was the only one I knew how to be right now.

“Yep,” he crosses his arms over his chest. “So, are you seeing anyone?”

He knew I wasn’t, I don’t know how but the way he stoops to my level I know he knows I hadn’t had a long term relationship since him.

“Not at the moment,” I say awkwardly. “Just focusing on my job...trying to get this promotion.”

“Sorry,” he seems to shake off whatever had come over him. “That was...nosy, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Having him be the bigger person sets something off in me, like there was an anger-bomb inside my mind where he lived and knowing that he was doing okay enough to be able to be the bigger person disrupts this calm I was trying to keep.

“Maybe you shoudn’t have stopped me to ask anything at all. We don’t have anything to talk about anyway.”

I turn around and start to walk away but he catches up, “I wasn’t trying to upset you-”

“Well you have a way of doing that. Please just leave me alone Harry.”

He huffs beside me, “After all this time, can’t we just bloody talk like two adults?”

I freeze and turn to him slowly. He seems to sense this was the wrong thing to say because he takes a step back. “After all this time? Are you serious? I was the one you left behind Harry when you went off to lives your best lift Harry. We’re not living the same life, and we’re not coming from the same bloody place. Don’t fucking patronize me and ask me to talk to you like an adult when you bring out the worst part of me. I meant what I said: I want you to leave me alone. And you know what, if we ever run into each other again, just don’t even talk to me. Pretend you don’t know me. I want nothing to do with you.”

He opens his mouth but his partner calls him from the shop’s entrance. He stays silent, letting me go. As soon as I turn the street corner I rush the rest of the way to the tube, collapsing into a seat and trying to sort out my breathing. It was a shitty feeling, knowing someone was going to be in your life forever because you shared so much history that even when that part of your life ended they were still there. There was so much apart of me, around me, that reminded me of him. And it felt so lonely carrying that around. I wanted to be done with him, I wanted my heart to purge him out. But it couldn’t stop carrying him around everywhere I go.

[novantinuum]

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: General Audiences

Words: 1.6K~

Summary: The question— incomplete, and yet bursting with long-held curiosity— emerges from thin air while he’s about to tuck Steven into bed in the back of the van one night.

In retrospect, no parenting book could’ve ever prepared him for this one.

A Greg and Steven focused fic, set when Steven is freshly four. This is one of those I had on the poll a month or so back, ahah! Finally finished it. Apologies for the wait. The good news is that my list is now whittled down to three non-Crack the Paragon WIPS! Woo! That’s rather exciting.

There’s some brief meta rambles on the AO3 version. If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3. Thank you! <3

____

“Where’s yours, Daddy?”

The question— incomplete, and yet bursting with long-held curiosity— emerges from thin air while he’s about to tuck Steven into bed in the back of the van one night.

In retrospect, no parenting book could’ve ever prepared him for this one.

“My...?” Smiling encouragingly, he lets the word dangle unfinished in the air for a moment, and gestures to try and prompt the little tyke to continue. “My what, kiddo? My... pajamas?” he says, pointing towards each item his kid bears in succession. “My... stuffed tiger? My very own... tickle monster?!”

In the spirit of good-hearted mischief, Greg tousles his boy’s dark, flyaway curls. When he then moves his hands to tickle his sides, Steven breaks into delighted peals of laughter, squirming nonstop.

“Noooooo,” he giggles breathlessly, batting his small pudgy hands at him to stop the affectionate onslaught. “No tickles, your gem! Like mine! You ‘aven’t never showed it.”

In an instant, the small universe encapsulated inside their van freezes, and he goes momentarily slack-jawed as he struggles to process the words that just came out of his son’s mouth.

“My- w-where’s my gem?”

He lets out a low chuckle at the absurd thought— imagine that, him, having a gem of his own! Where on Earth did his kid acquire this notion? And then... his memory can’t help but drift back to a few hours earlier, when Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl spent a mission-free day with Steven on the beach, surrounded by all manners of summer tourists. Humans coexisting amongst Gems, most entirely nonplussed by their otherworldly appearances. Steven was eagerly padding across the shore in his brand new swim trunks— the pair he received for his birthday just a week ago— the quartz gem at his navel on proud display. Midway through the afternoon, though, the kiddo seemed to become strangely preoccupied by all the human beachgoers. He’d glance at people’s faces, their sternums, their exposed navels, and then scowl in confusion. At one point he excitedly ran up to a dark skinned young woman with hair like Garnet’s to give her a high-five, and returned puzzled, his lips pressed in a thin line. At the time, Greg didn’t understand what all of his bewildered, curious gawking was about, and quietly instructed him not to bother other people. But now, given this latest comment, a theory builds in his mind... oh stars, was he looking for their gems?

Did he somehow assume both from his own and from his frequency of interaction with Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl that everyone had one hidden somewhere?

Swallowing, he deliberately makes it a point to mask his nervousness about this topic in front of his impressionable four-year-old child as best he can. Oh, boy. They haven’t had this sort of conversation yet. He always kinda feared it was coming, coursing towards him like a tidal wave faster and faster with each passing moment, but never in a million years did he imagine this moment would be tonight. And now, his tongue dry as a stone in his mouth, he finds himself at a complete loss for words. As best he knows, there’s no one else even remotely like Steven in the entire universe. How does one even convey this concept to their child in terms they’d understand?

Because even if he— ignoring the rose quartz gemstone embedded flush with his skin where a typical kid’s belly button would be— looks the part, Steven isn’t human. That much is obvious. That’s simply a fact. Humans don’t glow as babies. They don’t grow so ramrod still while sleeping that they appear like they’re not breathing at all. They can’t casually lift double their body weight at the tender age of four. Not to mention, in all his years of life thus far, he’s never gotten sick. Never gotten a scrape or cut that didn’t heal up completely in less than an hour. Not once. There’s no way that’s by mere coincidence, Greg muses, there’s gotta be another reason. He’s gotta have some sort of mega-boosted immune system or something, or magically healing cells. No branch of human science can successfully justify the alien nuances of his son’s existence. He just... is. He’s a walking miracle, the light of his life.

Steven’s never been a normal child, that’s for sure.

But how is a father supposed to lovingly and sensitively explain this to innocent ears?

“I, erm- I don’t have one of those, bud,” he says slow, still desperately sorting through his thoughts to figure out what else to say about this.

The kid stubbornly wriggles free from his arms, lifting up the bottom hem of his baggy pajama shirt to showcase the glittering pink gemstone resting at the center of his belly. “But I got one, an’ Amethyst an’ Pearl got one, an’ Garnet, she- guess what,” he says in an attempt at a whisper, wide eyed as if he’s about to impart some sacred knowledge. “She even got two gems!”

“That’s right, she does have two gems!” he nods, only barely holding back his chuckle at the hilarious solemnity of his kid’s proclamation. “But Steven, not everyone has ‘em like you and them. It’s something unique to the four of you. Y’see, they are Gems, just like me and everyone else in town are humans. It’s, um—“ his speech falters as he struggles to find words someone so young could possibly begin to understand— “it’s sorta just who they are.”

The corners of Steven’s mouth turn downwards in an exaggerated pout, and it’s immediately obvious that this blind, clumsy attempt at an explanation didn’t satisfy him one bit. Greg leans back against the inner siding of the van, gently tugging at a strand of his hair as he scours his mind for any potential solutions to this parenting quandary.

Think, think, think... How does one connect this topic to things such a young kid might understand?

“Listen, uh...” he begins again, marked hesitation tinting his voice. “Pearl’s been teaching you about bugs lately, right?”

However, if Steven— bless his heart— happened to notice his heightened nervousness, he sure doesn’t let it show on his face, instead enthusiastically jumping to answer his question.

“Uh-huh!” he nods, and then proceeds to happily babble about what he’s learned, flapping his hands in front of him as he does so. “She tells me all about bumble bees an’ stick bugs, an’ these...” His brow creases as he pauses, combing his memory for the right words. “...fuzzy worms? But they aren’t worms, ‘cause they sleep for really super long and then, then they get wings and fly away!”

He can’t help but smile at his son’s animation about this subject. He soaks up knowledge like a sponge, that’s for sure. Between Pearl and him, they’ve been trying to introduce him to some of the basics lately, stuff kids his age should know. Like reading, and writing, and counting, and music, and basic science. Pearl does the math and science, (those classes were never his wheelhouse in school), and he takes care of everything else. Given, erm... given their kinda strained history, they don’t exactly collaborate on lesson plans, but so far the arrangement seems to be working out okay. Steven’s having fun, at least, which is all that matters in the end.

“Oooh, caterpillars and butterflies, huh?” he says, reaching for the thick blanket folded up against the side wall of the van. “Well, y’wanna learn a cool new thing?”

His son bobs his head, his eyes glittering.

“All those bugs you named?” he begins, unfolding the blanket for the two of them as he goes. “They’re each types of completely different creatures, or, different species, we call ‘em. And humans and Gems, they’re types of species too. And every species has something that makes them unique, different from everything else. You know how all those bugs have special things the others don’t have, like the bumble bees and their stripes, and those caterpillars’ fuzz?”

“Yeah!”

“Well, that’s what it’s like for humans and Gems, too! Garnet and Amethyst and Pearl and you, you all have gemstones, just like yours right here,” he says, tapping a gentle finger over the rose quartz embedded at his midsection. Steven lets out a small giggle at the contact. “That’s your special thing as Gems, something humans don’t have.”

“What’ve humans have?” he asks in curiosity, tilting his head.

Greg purses his lips, his fingers subconsciously massaging the blanket’s rough, time-worn surface as he considers the elements that— from personal experience— he’d consider essential to human life. “Hmm. Well, let’s see... I guess... humans eat, and sleep, and grow from babies all the way until they’re adults. Gems don’t age. They don’t really... do any of that.”

“But I can do that!” he whines, brows creasing.

“Hm?”

“I thought you jus’ said I’m a Gem?”

Greg’s breath stills upon the deliverance of this pointed question, spoken with such youthful innocence, and yet wholly capable of penetrating through every layer of his ill-formed logic. He swallows hard. Once again, he is not prepared. He likely never could be.

His son... oh, his beloved Steven. Without meaning to, he keeps ignoring the inherent humanity that sets this boy apart from the rest of the Gems. He’s similar to them in many respects, yes, but he’s also not. He’s both, but...

He’s also neither.

He’s unique from everyone, his own thing altogether. Something entirely new.

Quite honestly, the best word he can grasp at to describe him is hybrid.

And while at this present moment he has no idea if he’s doing his son a disservice, othering him from the rest of humanity at such a tender age, he figures that he at least deserves to know the truth.

“You’re kinda- uh, both, at once, actually,” he clarifies, these very words acting as a beacon to clarify a wide range of once deep-seeded assumptions in his mind. “Gem and human. You’ve got special things from both sides, how funky is that?”

“Huh.” Steven mulls this new information over, and then flashes a toothy grin. “That's cool!”

[narrowtriangle33-blog]

Please share this article, it important that you do so. These truths have to be told.

"Bethune’s name appeared in six reports in the House Committee on Un-American Activities and five times in Senate reports on people suspected of communist activity. While she was cleared of any involvement, the message was clear: Confronting racism and white supremacy is un-American."

"This is why white people are my bellwether."

"Whenever I am trying to decide whether or not a particular movement, policy or person benefits Black America, I wait and see what white people think. While that might sound racist, there has never been a movement, policy or person that benefitted Black America who was simultaneously embraced by white America. In this country, a stance against the trauma-inducing brickbat of whiteness is perceived as a stance against America. And anyone who disagrees can feel free to prove me wrong. Name one person who fought for Black liberation who white people agreed with."

"Whenever anyone does anything that includes the word “Black,” it immediately falls under the classification of Marxist and anti-whiteness. White people hate being left out, even though they are acutely aware that there is nothing more valuable in the known universe than a white life. White people will slit a Black baby’s neck for a white woman’s life."

"Let’s just say they will beat a Black baby to a bloody pulp, tie him to an industrial fan with barbed wire and toss his lifeless body off a bridge. Is that better?"

"But I understand why they vilify Black movements with Marxism."

"White people don’t know what Marxism is."

"According to a 1970 Harris Poll, 64 percent of Black Americans had a favorable view of the Panthers, while 92 percent of white Americans had a negative view. It’s probably because a lot of members of the Black Panther were Marxists, which is different from communism. Basically, Marxism is a way to examine history, economics and societies through the lens of class, while communism is actually Marx’s economic and political theory in which...wait. For a second I started to believe that there was some logic to white supremacy."

"White people hated the Panthers because they had guns and pushed for armed self-defense. For some reason, those America-hating negroes believed “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”"

"I have no idea where they got that crazy idea from."

"Black people voting"

"Why white people don’t like it: States’ rights, something something, communism, something something it was a different time."

"When Black people marched on Selma for voting rights, they were called “communists.” The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was called “Un-American.” Of course, the 2020 election was about “socialism” because so many Black people voted."

"Southerners, conservatives and white people, in general, have never pushed for a single law to expand the electorate because they are the only true Americans."

"Critical Race Theory"

"Why white people didn’t like it: Because they don’t know what it is."

"This one is easy."

"The one thing that dumbfounds me about white supremacy is how much white people trust each other. They just trust the explanations for their fellow white people. In all this debate about CRT, I have yet to see one person who opposes CRT who can also explain what CRT is. And many of the legislators who are against funding K-12 teachers who absolutely do not teach CRT are already funding the leaders’ movement, such as Richard Delgado, the professor at state-supported Alabama Law School who wrote a little book called Critical Race Theory: An Introduction. "

"All they know is that it has the word “race” in it, so it must be bad."

"Legislators opposed the Civil Rights Act because it was “Marxist.” The House Committee on Un-American Activities investigated the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for communism. The FBI did, too."

"In a 1964 New York Times survey, a majority of white people said that the “Negro civil rights movement had gone too far,” and a quarter of those people said their resentment was growing. They were right. Two years later, a 1966 Harris Survey, revealed that 85 percent of white respondents thought civil rights demonstrations “hurts the negro.”"

"Apparently, to white people, fighting racism is worse than racism."

"And if you think I’m kidding about white people not thinking Black people were smart, according to the National Opinion Research Center, it was not until 1963 that 50 percent of white people believed “Negroes” were born with the same intelligence as whites."

"History"

"Why white people don’t like it: Because white people might find out about some of the things white people did, which is racist."

"The fight against what politicians have deemed the Marxist, Un-American 1619 Project is actually a fight against teaching the history of slavery more accurately. And it is not new. White people said the same thing about teaching abolition. The United Daughters of the Confederacy said the same thing about the Civil War. White school districts in the North and South said the same thing about Jim Crow. And Black History Month."

"Plus if white kids learn about America’s racist past, they might start saying: “I’m not going to do that again,” and then, what will happen to white people?"

"Martin Luther King Jr."

"Why white people didn’t like him: He was a communist. He was anti-white. He was a Marxist."

"In 1966, a majority of white Americans had a negative opinion of King. When he died in 1968, 75 percent of Americans disapproved of him. Now they love him..."

"Because he’s dead."

"This is why we must never ignore white people."

"While we should never, ever do what white people collectively want, history has shown us that if something is good for Black people, white people will hate it. And if they vilify something as racist, communist or anti-white, you should take a second look because, nine times out of 10, it might be worth considering. When it comes to freedom and equality, the easiest thing to do is to see what white people have to say...

Then do the opposite."

I copied a lot of his article word for word those are Michael Harriot's words not my own.

The word's of people who commented.

"I was asking one of the few people on the Right side of politics I am still in touch with about why he hates CRT, and he sent me a link to a whole essay. It boiled down to a few leaps in logic:"

"1) the USSR used US race relations as a shield to deflect criticism of their own human rights record (“And in the USA, they hang n-words”)"

"2) therefore, any criticism of race relations was caused by Soviet propaganda (not, you know, by actually HANGING BLACK PEOPLE)"

"3) therefore any discussion of race relations was commie propaganda."

"4) therefore, any movement that calls attention to race is communist."

"It’s very similar to how the Communist League fired the original writer of The Communist Manifesto because he brought up ethnic minorities and racism and replaced him with Marx, outright rejecting any factor that so much as complicated their preconceived model. It also shares many of the issues raised in the “grievance studies” affair, being exegesis to elaborate and propound upon a founding scripture."

"That’s the most idiotic line of reasoning I ever heard. It’s so typical of white people as a group in this country that when someone points out some shit they did that’s fucked up that instead of you know, stopping the fucked up thing they basically say that the entity pointing out their fucked up shit is bad therefore bringing up solutions to the fucked up thing they did is wrong."

"Fuck the trolls, but if anyone is actually confused about the likelihood of any white person to trust any other white person over anyone at all who is even POSSIBLY not white, please refresh your memories regarding the multiple instances in the last several years of a Black person being anywhere near a house or building, then being approached by either a white guard, cop, or other self-important deputy of white fragility."

"In these instances, Black people are often believed to be up to no good even after they show ID proving they live in the building some white person has decided they don’t belong in. No amount of proof will have a fragile white self-deputy believing that even state-issued IDs are a real thing and this Black person lives in their own home."

"But when any white person walks by and says “Oh, this is _____, they live here”, immediately, that’s good enough to let this perceived criminal go into their home."

"Because any white stranger vouched in any sort of way."

"Literal evidence of address means nothing, but the word of ANY white person, with no proof of their authority, no hassle about “Well what are YOU doing here?!?”, just...instant belief of any white skin."

"Also, the main difference between Angela Davis and Assata Shakur is that Ms. Davis beat the system at its own game, the “proper” way. Racism couldn’t even beat her at their heavily-rigged game. Ms. Shakur ALSO beat the system, but because she didn’t get to win at a fully-rigged game, she found her own loophole and got out of this racist hellhole."

"Not that it matters, because they’re both the same to any racist. To me, they’re both brilliant heroes."

"If you asked these mouth breathers what they hate about CRT not only could they not tell you, they would call you “the real racist” for asking. There is no winning with these people because they refuse to see themselves as ANYTHING other than the good guys in any situation. It is fucking tiring to deal with this shit and yet they seem to not understand that we are more fucking tired than they are. With each comment, committee and talking point they pretty much prove that no white person could handle being anything other than well, white."

"To admit anything else would result in a reckoning. It will never happen and America will remain a racist society, with white culture pushing back and getting more extreme as each generation of BIPOC become more aware and angry over white supremacy. America will implode and whatever rises from the ashes will either be that reckoning with real change or a third world country."

Again I quoted these people

[cheeriecherry]

Birds Of A Feather [2/7]

Hawks x Fem!Reader

Warnings: like, one swear

Part 2/7

It’s been a week since you started your new position at Hawks’ hero agency. It’s a nice workplace, very accommodating for the staff, and the sidekicks and interns you work with are friendly and sociable. But there’s still a little piece of you that’s bitter.

You appreciated the job, especially when you discovered what your monthly paycheck would be, but the whole place was just so damn...busy. If you’d known that you’d maintain your hectic lifestyle after moving to Japan, you never would’ve come in the first place.

On top of that, despite your presence being requested by the man himself, you’d yet to actually meet your new boss. Not a conversation, a text, a simple hello, or even a red feather. At this point, you were wondering if the guy even existed.

You decide to mull it over some more on your afternoon lunch hour. You find your usual seat in the staff lounge, and pull out a container of chicken curry.

“Hey Y/N! Hawks says he wants to see you in his office!”

You pause with a forkful of food halfway to your mouth, glancing over at the young sidekick who’d just bounced in. “Can it wait until after lunch?” you ask, hoping to at least finish your meal before dealing with whatever you were wanted for.

The sidekick looks sympathetic. “Sorry,” she says, “but I don’t think so. He asked me to tell you to bring your food…”

You sigh deeply, but thank her for passing the information on. Don’t shoot the messenger, and all that. You begrudgingly pack your things back up and bid farewell to the few people in the room, all of which are ominously quiet.

That didn’t bode well.

----

A few minutes later finds you outside Hawks’ office, balancing your lunch container in one hand while you knock on his doorframe with the other.

His door is wide open, and you can see him sitting at his desk, facing the window and the view of the city. He probably knew you were there before you knocked, but there was no harm in being polite… though he might appreciate the humour of you walking in like you owned the place.

“You wanted to see me, Boss?”

He spins around in his chair, a charming smile gracing his features. You wonder idly if he’d planned that little spiel, and if so, how long he’d been sitting like that for.

“That I did, chickadee! Pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable, eat with me.”

You do as you’re asked.

“Sorry for not seeing to you sooner. It’s been such a busy week, villains and disasters all over the place. I swear, I’ve been to every end of the country.”

You sit tidily on the chair, legs crossed and wings tucked up neatly behind you.

“I understand,” you tell him, “you’re number two, after all. You’re in high demand.”

Hawks smiles wider, but you get the feeling it’s lacking some genuity. You don’t call him out on it, though.

“That’s a relief,” he sighs, slouching back a little. “I looked into you a bit before I hired you, y’know? Gotta make sure you had a good track record, blah blah, PR crap, blah, anyways. The reports said you were a pretty easygoing person. I’m glad they were right!”

You pray he doesn’t notice the slight ruffle of your feathers. Easygoing? Is that what people thought of you? You supposed there were worse things to be known for, but you? Easygoing? Maybe you’d become an actress if the whole hero gig didn’t work out for you, if you’d fooled that many people.

Easygoing. Yeah right. Burnt out, exhausted, apathetic, those were all accurate descriptors. But fucking easygoing?! Hah.

“Hey, you alright, kid?”

You’re about to ask him what he means, to tell him you’re fine and completely unbothered, but your stomach has other plans. Right when you open your mouth to speak, a loud growl interrupts you, aggressively sounding in the quiet of the room.

His grin softens a bit, a touch more kindness apparent on his face. He’s concerned.

“I didn’t mean to take your lunch hour away,” he apologizes, “I had actually wanted to catch you earlier today, but you were on patrol. I figured it wouldn’t be very cool of me to approach you and get swarmed by fans. Not productive for conversation, that.”

You shrug. “I haven’t taken it personally.” In fact, you hadn’t taken it at all. He could have never spoken to you ever, and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference. You were here to do your job, and anything else was an unguaranteed bonus.

“Anyways,” he pulls out a paper bucket of what looks like KFC, and pops the lid off, “eat up. Don’t need my favourite employee dropping out of the sky from exhaustion.”

He digs into his own food, and you take yours out.

“If exhaustion could do me in, I would have fallen out of the sky a long time ago,” you mumble, immediately afterwards spooning food into your face.

Hawks bites off a small piece of chicken. “Whadya mean?” And you curse yourself for forgetting he’s sensitive to sound.

You chew your food pensively, making sure to swallow before you speak (unlike him…). “It’s like. Okay. Wing quirks are pretty rare where I’m from, yeah? In my old job, I was the only airborne hero for five hundred kilometers. I got called all over the place, back and forth, never in one place for very long, almost never at home in my own bed. I was sort of...uh…”

“Spread thing?” he supplies.

You nod. “Spread thin. It wasn’t healthy for me. Anywhere that makes you grow to hate your own quirk can’t possibly be good for you.”

“Now hold up, chickadee,” he interrupts, leaning forward in his seat to rest his elbows on the desk. His eyes are wide and surprised, like he’s unable to fathom your words. “How could you possibly hate your own quirk?”

You think for a moment. “Hate is maybe a strong word,” you admit, “but there’s definitely some contempt there. Flying used to be my favourite passtime, y’know? The views, the wind, the sun, the silence. And then one day I woke up and thought ‘god, I hope they don’t make me fly today’.”

Hawks picks a little at his lunch, but is far to engrossed in your tale to pay much attention to it.

“Yikes,” he says.

“Yeah.”

You’re both quiet for a moment before you start speaking again.

“Two weeks after that happened, I moved here. Figured a change might be nice, good for my head, or whatever.”

“And how’s that working out?”

“I still hate flying.”

The conversation ebbs and flows after that, with Hawks not supplying much personal insight on the matter, despite you just spilling your guts to him. You don’t mind, though, and he doesn’t strike you as the kind of person to open up very easily. You probably would have been more disgruntled if he’d offered you some kind of similar story.

The two of you talk a little about work, what your old agency was like, where you went to school, and the questions centered around your life, and none prying into his. You make note of that, and file it away for later.

By the end of the hour, you’re sufficiently full of chicken curry, and your boss looks like he’s fairing the same (you’re not sure how he managed to pack away an entire bucket for fried chicken by himself).

“Thanks for lunch, Boss,” you tell him with a smile, an unspoken ‘it was kind of weird’ in your tone. If he picks up on it, he doesn’t say anything.

He does, however, stop you at the door, tugging you back into the room by your collar with a single red feather.

“Say, chickadee,” his voice is coy, “how’s about we make the afternoon more fun?”

You raise an eyebrow.

“Come patrolling with me,” he clarifies.

“Why?”

“Flying’s more fun when you’re not alone!” he says, as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world. You doubt him, thinking back to all the times you’d ever flown with someone else (re: none). You relent, deciding to entertain his plan.

“Fine. But don’t fall behind, okay? I take my patrols seriously.”

The strange smile returns to his face.

----

After packing up your dishes and throwing away your trash, you follow Hawks to the stairwell. He said it was best to take off from the roof, if you didn’t want to get bombarded by fans.

“Ah, but I’m sure your fans would love to see you!” you tease, marching carefully up the steps. “It wouldn’t take too long, surely?”

He glances over his shoulder at you, pausing so suddenly that you almost get a faceful of his feathers.

“Well sure, if they were just my fans. Most people have seen me before, though, flying around, fighting crime. But you? You’re new. Your fans in Japan haven’t gotten to meet you yet.”

You tilt your head. “I...don’t have fans, boss.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He swivels around on the step, wings brushing quietly against the cramped cement walls. His expression is one of exasperation, and a hint of disbelief. Once he sees your genuine confusion, however, he sighs. “You really have no idea, do you?”

You shake your head. “I’ve only been here like two weeks. How could I have any significant following?”

He looks at you with a fondness reserved for naive children, or puppies. It’s a little patronizing, in your opinion.

“International heroes are pretty big here, you know?” he explains, “and you, little chickadee, were voted number four on the overseas popularity poll this year. Your fanbase here is rivaled only by a handful of heroes, most of which are in Japan’s top ten.”

You’re shocked, to say the least, and Hawks takes your silence as cue to continue walking.

You dodge his wings again, and resume following him.

“How could I be popular and not know it?” you ask. “Surely someone would have approached me by now-”

“Chickadee, when was the last time you were on the ground-”

“This morning-”

“-in the daytime?”

“Oh.”

You think back a little. You’ve patrolled in the skies since you started working at the agency, and your shifts started before sunrise. Plus, you usually flew home, well after sunset. It was just easier than trying to fit into a car and deal with traffic.

“I guess...not since the day I arrived.”

“Exactly! No one knew you were here, then. But now?” He pushes hard against the heavy metal door to the roof, taking a deep breath when it opens and a breeze blows through. “Now, all of Japan knows we work together!”

You saunter out into the sunlight, basking for a few seconds in the warmth. But the thought of your fans quickly overtakes your mind again, and the relaxation is lost.

“Are you sure it’s not fame by affiliation,” you wonder, “because seriously, I didn’t have fans back home. I’ve never been stopped for an autograph, or asked for a photo. I’m cool with that. I just don’t want people to like me because I’m near you sometimes.”

Hawks steps up on the lip of the roof, wings spread wide and overlooking the city.

He stays like that for a few seconds, and you note the deep tiredness in his posture, behind his eyes. You’ve seen it in your mirror too many times.

He’s just as exhausted as you are.

“Thus is the way of the world,” he mumbles, and you’re not sure you’re meant to hear it.

But then he perks up, as quickly as a light switch. He turns on his heel to face you, mischief and playfulness glinting in his smile. “I’ll race you to the bank tower? If I win, you gotta go on patrol with me tomorrow, too.”

You shrug, and take off into the sky. It’s not much of a fight, though. He has agility and familiarity on his side, and he’s waiting for you by the time you finally arrive at your destination.

You don’t mind.

[suddenlysackler]

One Little Spark

Charlie Barber x Reader

TW: general somber tones, alcohol, covid19, election, anxiety, depression, some angst and cynicism if you squint

A/N: Hello! It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? This is something I had written right after the election returns in November, got halfway through and then couldn’t bring myself to finish it. There’s a looooot of self projecting in it and it certainly is not my best, but I wanted to share something with you all. I miss you very much and hope to get back to posting more often soon. Thanks for reading!

...

There are three empty bottles of wine scattered around the living room now, something that might surprise someone given all of the talk about drinking in excess over the past five days to cope. 

Not that it mattered anyway because, in reality, you weren’t really coping. Neither was Charlie.

Your electricity bill would surely be head and shoulders above what it typically was on any given month and your bed hadn’t seen any use since the wee hours of Tuesday morning when the two of you had pulled yourself from the security and warmth of blankets and sleep to vote and then head to work. Work had seemed like more of a formality than anything else after slipping your ballot into the machine in the gym of the elementary school that had been deemed a polling place. No one in the office really got much done Tuesday and you had opted to work from home to keep Charlie company in the following days.

The two of you had fallen asleep on the couch with the sounds of news anchor speculation just a little louder than you cared for typically.

“Just in case something happens.” Charlie had said, remote in one hand while the other snaked around your waist as you drifted off to the most broken sleep of your life.

The pandemic had been hard on both of you in different ways — you were working with a skeleton staff due to Broadway going dark and, well, Charlie had no work. The two of you were getting along just fine financially, but the lack of things to do and people to see were taxing. Not only that, but Henry just so happened to be with Nicole when things began to shut down and neither she nor Charlie felt right sending him on a plane back to New York. 

All of this is to say that, since March, the two of you had not been doing well. It was quieter around the apartment than usual and three weeks into the stay at home order Charlie had put away the toys scattered around the apartment from Henry’s last visit to avoid the pang that shot through each of your chests every time someone tripped on one or caught a glimpse of another. 

Charlie didn’t know what to do with himself when you were finally called back into the office. Sure, he wrote and he organized virtual workshops and networked as much as he could and even tried to get some of his older stuff published, but it wasn’t enough to keep him satisfied and invigorated. You busied yourself with cooking when you were home and the two of you took as much time to walk or go for runs or whatever you could do in order to stay active and get some fresh air. 

The two of you had had the discussion multiple times since maybe June — would the election fix everything? Absolutely not. Would it get rid of the pandemic overnight? Again, not at all possible. But maybe, just maybe, if it was the outcome you were looking for, there might be some spark of life and hope instilled back into the apartment that had once been so full of joy and possibilities.

“You didn’t sleep again, did you?” You ask that Saturday morning, blinking away sleep and snuggling down even more into Charlie’s chest.

“No.” He shrugged, eyes trained on the ceiling as he listened to the same characters on the same news station talk about the same election returns that they had for the past two days.

Your stomach sank because, yeah, you hadn’t slept well, but you had at least slept. “Did you work at all?”

Charlie shook his head, taking a deep breath as he glanced back toward the television. 

“We should just turn this off, honey.” You whisper, reaching over to grab the remote and jumping when a large hand shot out to stop you. 

He shook his head once more, eyes pleading and round and bloodshot. “What if they call it?”

Holding his gaze steadily, you shake your head and encircle your hand around his wrist. “Then they’ll call it. We’ll find out one way or another.” You continue to whisper, eyelashes fluttering. “Someone once told me that if news is important enough, it’ll reach you even if you don’t have a newspaper or television.”

Charlie’s expression wavers somewhere between incredulousness, exhaustion, and desperation. He needs to know, needs to be put at ease, but he also knows the two of you can’t keep doing this. It’s not sustainable and if it’s not the outcome you want...Well, Charlie doesn’t really know what he would do. Especially after having waited so long. 

“Please, baby?” You plead, your own face just as desperate for some sort of respite.

He’s silent for a long moment, weighing his options but not really focusing on any one in particular — his mind feels like jello. His resolve is breaking. “Okay.” He finally breathes out a sigh of defeat and slouches back, turning the television off himself and visibly relaxing even more as silence envelopes the room. 

You crawl right into his lap and weave your arms and legs around his torso, a movement when he is completely pliant to. He snuggles right up to you and kisses the top of your hair, sniffling just a bit. 

“Baby?” 

“Yes, honey?”

“I’m sorry.” 

Charlie is sorry for so many things. He’s sorry that he hasn’t slept and he’s sorry that he hasn’t been the man you needed him to be for months. He’s sorry for moping as much as he has and he’s sorry for the fact that practically everything in your lives has been ripped apart in the past year. He’s sorry he can’t fix it.

You pull back and stare at him, then shake your head. “You have nothing to apologize for. None of this is your fault.” You say softly, eyes just as round as his had been and now teeming with tears. “I wish I could make it easier for us, but it’s okay. We’re making it through.”

As Charlie opens his mouth to respond, both of your phones start to vibrate. Notification after notification populate the screens that you scramble to grab and his smile matches yours when you’ve finally digested the news. The election had been called and, to your delight, it was the news you had been waiting for.

The celebration that ensues is not what you had been picturing since Tuesday morning. No champagne is popped. There’s no dancing in the streets for either of you. The television is not switched on again. Rather, the two of you breathe the biggest sigh of relief that you had in months, years even. You settle back down into your snuggling positions and even cry a little bit. You talk and talk and head to the kitchen to have a bowl of soup together and just be together and take in the celebrations down below. 

No, this didn’t change anything for either of you. You knew there was still a long road ahead with plenty of your own trials and tribulations to come as well as those that faced the world in the coming weeks and months. But, despite the lack of change that had occurred in the span of the twelve hours since you had last paid attention to the news, that lack of change and all of the change to come could be concurred with Charlie by your side. You just knew it.

[cosmiclatte28]

First Encounter (1) (Yuta x mermaid reader)

Okayy I got carried away and made a long opening for Yuta. Let's say just for the reader x Yuta, it will be kind of two parts. Later on it will only be scenarios .. I promise :")

Please follow my Instagram @cosmic_latte28 as I will be posting polls and questions on what to do next in this mermaid au!

ENJOY THISS 4k story, it’ll be interesting i guess

Scenario 1 – mermaid au! Yuta x reader

Have you ever found your mother annoying? Her constant "mother knows best" quote uughh you're tired of it!

For eighteen years of swimming under the sea, down beneath the scorching heat of the sun, you've spent your entire life swimming within the boundaries just like what your mother told you to do. But today, today is a special day!

You're turning nineteen and well nineteen can be considered a good age to be called mature right? You know running away is not a good idea, but your best friend who is a year older than you had just return from the surface and oh gosh either she was a good story teller or the world above the water is really that magnificent, you don't know yet and soon you will.

Yes, for today your nineteenth birthday, your mother has given you a quick birthday ceremony. She gave you a new "dinglehopper" a mermaid's hairbrush! You thanked her and she quickly left to work. That's when your best friend came and the two of you started your adventure.

It took you some tiring swimming, but the excitement of seeing the other world beats your fatigue. You wonder what's so special up there that your pretty aqua-green haired mermaid here told you such a wonderful story!

"You cannot imagine what I saw (y/n)! Believe me..." she said last week as the two of us are sitting over one of the bright coloured corals. We love to hang-out here and gossip about things. Last week she brought you for a very special story... her journey to the dry sand area!

You listened to her story, trying your best to imagine what it's up there, you listened to her story, while playing with your sparkling ash grey hairs. "Why wouldn't I believe you?" you wondered

She grabbed your hands and stared into your eyes deeply, "Because you will need to experience it to know what it truly is!"

You gave her a meek smile; well her parents are not as conservative as yours. Atlanta can go wherever she wants, and her parents wouldn't scold her, unlike you. Well if you return home after dark, you're pretty dead. Mom was so protective to you after father was caught on one of those giant shiny nets, and he never came back.

Atlanta continued with her story, "It was quite a long swim, I went there with some other girls and oh how great was it to breathe the fresh air!"

You laughed, well your lungs can breathe both air and, in the water,, but rumour has it that the transition phase hurts! You don't really mind that since you're really dying to experience the thrill.

"So, since you told me I wouldn't believe it," you smirked, "why don't you bring me up there to experience it? I'm nineteen next week and I'm sure we can go up for a while and I'll return before mom got home."

Atlanta at first disagree, she told you to ask a legal permission from your mother, but you know better. Mom would never agree and so you chose what people will do. Run away and promised to come back before she got home and pretended nothing happen.

After a lot of bribing and coaxing Atlanta with lots of promises, she agreed, and you were to meet her on the North Border at nine when the tides are calm.

So here you are today! Finally the sea no longer looks dark, the sun rays are penetrating the light blue waters and you can totally see the rocks and hear the sound of the waves as you swim and swim towards the sky. Your eyes changed colours from dark big pupil into a smaller one! Living on the deep waters, made your pupil dilate for maximum light absorbance, now getting near the sun, your eyes naturally contracted, and your hair looks even paler under the sun.

The sound of crashing waves, flying birds, and what mermaids and mermen call "human", are all getting louder in my ear.

"This is it, get ready to feel chest pain!" Atlanta squeezes your hand in assurance, and you nod your head. One last deep breathes and the two of you pop your heads out of the water. The transition of changing your water lungs into air lungs really hurt, you see white seconds after the air made their way to fill your air sacs and you feel great pain in your nose like when you choke on waters.

You feel your head goes light and the bright scorching sun no longer penetrates your eyes, you see dark and suddenly your body limps.

Atlanta was not as surprised as you, maybe it's because you never travel this far and it's your first time changing lung system. She dutifully brings you to an area of rocks where the waves are still high, so there's no human there. She calls out your name several time and slaps your cheek slowly.

"(y/n)! wake up dummy, you made it..." she slaps you

"We made it! Come on wake up..." She shakes your body gently, but when you did not respond Atlanta rolls her eyes and her hand scoops a good amount of water. She directly splashes your face with water and that did help you cough to live.

"Where am I?" You ask

"The upside... those are the dry sands... they are people... you made it! You're breathing air now!" Atlanta cups your face and you smile when you see how messy her aqua-green smooth hair looks above here.

"Hey tell me does my hair look that bad too?" Your first question out of the water is this, how lame!

"Well yeah the salt water made our hair stiffs here but believe me people will not judge you." She shrugs her shoulder.

"Hold up" your eyes grow twice as wide, "How did you know they don't judge?"

Atlanta rolls her eyes, "Well they saw us and they did not comment us at all, they just take out I don't know some sort of rectangle thing that has hole and flashes light... then no one dare to go near us."

You shake your head in surprise, Atlanta missed this part of story. She never told you she and her friends went that near to human! You thought they only hide and saw people from afar, but no they did not. You're now half worried, but what's there to risk more? You've broken mother's rule, and you've suffered from the transition, might as well made this a worth it experience and have no regrets! "You didn't think I'd bring you here just to see them from a distance right? Besides honey, you're the most gorgeous mermaid down there, no one will dare harm you!" Atlanta inches closer to you and brings one hand to brush away a strand of hair from your face.

"I mean it, your glowing ash grey hair, your deep amber eyes! Hey never realized they were amber before... not to mention your sweet smile and sweet voice. Girl they'll love you!" Atlanta praises you with tons of comfort and you find yourself under control.

What you did not know, yes being a beauty in the mermaid world made everyone adores and protects you, but here being a beauty means more danger! Come on which human doesn't want to own a pretty mystical creature in their bathtub?!

You and Atlanta are both too naïve to think that situation. All that matter now for you two is enjoying sunbathing and the fresh air.

"So, what are we waiting for? I'm good already and can we go somewhere else? Rocks are boring here." You splash your tail and make a giant splash to your friend.

Atlanta scoffs but quickly drags you to move to the other part of the sea surface. The two of you swim while holding breathe, yes, you're not transitioning that frequent... took too much energy and painful.

"Is this okay?" Atlanta found a place where there are several rocks and they're still in contact with water. You smile and look for a good position. The warm feeling from the golden ball in the sky really satisfies you. Deep waters are cold, and you love this warm burning feeling. Your long shiny silver-purplish tail flaps gently when needed and you feel your head gets lighter as the sun dries your wet hair away.

"Atlanta, why didn't people let us do this? I swear the sun is my favourite thing now." You brush away your stiff salted dry hairs away from your face, but that doesn't lessen your beauty at all.

The beach was crowded with people, but there were not many people around you. You still choose a distant rock, you're afraid of them still and Atlanta wants the most comfortable for you. So, you learn them first from the distance and later you can always move right.

You relax yourself over the flat rock and enjoy the piercing hot feeling on your pale skin. You close your eyes and feel the breeze, your ears catch the soft whisper of the ocean hitting rocks and without your concern, you start humming.

Well when a mermaid hums, it is luring, but believe us, we're not sirens. We don't kill people...

Your humming stop when you fell asleep on the rock. Atlanta is beside you, posing beautifully just in case someone passes by. You know stories of mermaid and mermen marrying someone from the dry world, and yes they can live happily... or you just didn't know what happen next. You know you can shape shift to have legs, but each step will feel like walking on blades. You cannot imagine living on two legs and take strolls on sharp blades.

"Atlanta have you tried walking on the dry sands?" you ask, still closing your eyes.

"Hmm no, I don't want to feel the blades... Do you know legend says you can get used to it and if you found your true love that won't happen again?" Atlanta answers while daydreaming on the fluffy clouds.

"Hmm... I'll tell you if I know the answer." You joke around and change your position.

Now you're laying flat on your stomach, the warm water meets your bare skin and you winced a bit. Rocsk can get really hot!

"How long can we stay here?" You question, tail still swaying slowly on the waters and hands under your chin.

"Hmm when we leave at nine, the swim took like an hour or two... I guess this is mid day now." Atlanta pierces her eyes into the beach,s and she can see people starting to spread check red mat and laying down plates of foods. It must be "lunch"

You thought things will not go wrong, and that's when everything went wrong.

The sun suddenly disappears, and big waves roll over to you. You and Atlanta are both sun-bathing and laughing under the sun, unaware that it is slowly turning cloudy. Well both of you are not aware since you two are blinded aka closing your eyes as you two chat and laugh. The laughter is loud enough to cover the sound of the growling sea and wind.

When you peek over your eyes since you feel cold, that's too late.

"Atlanta!" You scream when the big wave engulfs both of you and you're holding your breath in. Thinking maybe you'll be okay ... this is just one wave; you'll appear again on the surface.

No that was wrong. You feel the strong current push you into a group of rough and hard stones, you feel your bare back hit the rocks and you wince at the prickling sensation.

"Atlanta where are you??" you call out her name before being swallowed by the big waves again and you're carried further into the beach. Sadly, when you turn around, you're eye to eye with another group of pointy and sharp reefs. You scream when the friction from the rocks rip your shiny scales slowly and bitterly.

You turn your head around to look for your best friend, but you cannot see her. When another big wave hits you, you're ready to inhale the water and just go back home, but nature did not allow you.

Your eyes catch the reflection of your tail under the raging water, one of the pointy rocks has pierced over your tail and you see gushes of blood out of it. You gasp as you try to move your tail, but the painful feeling bring you tears and stop you from moving around. You receive the big wave once again and as hard as you try to keep your tears from falling, the pain under the water is unbearable.

You clung into one of the rocks and try to put half of your body weight into the rocks and let the buoyancy do its thing to keep you floating. You bury your head into your hands and your shoulder shakes and trembles. You cry since you're afraid and alone here. Everywhere you look, you're on another side of the beach, you no longer see the rock you hang out with Atlanta earlier. You also did not see her aqua-green hair at all!

You're doomed. That's all you can think. You weep as you imagine what are the things that could happen. Well if you're lucky Atlanta might make it home and tell someone to help look for you. Two, mom could probably tell someone you're missing but you curse yourself when you remember the silly note you left.

Earlier you left a note, "Gone with Atlanta for a trip, might not go home today. See you! I promise to take care of myself"

Your mother will most likely think you're sleeping over.

Third, you'll maybe die here if no one helps.

Fourth you might end up being caught.

Fifth caught and treated.

Sixth caught and eaten?!

You try to hum and call anyone lurking nearby, anyone who can help or at least see you're there helpless. In the middle of the panic, you see a glint of your father smiling at you as if telling you "this is not the end."

You grit your teeth when the pain hits back, you glance to look into your tail and grimace over the bigger stain and the pointy rock pointing out of your tail.

You look around and see that the sky is clearing, and you choose to try and survive. It's maybe noon already, your last chance of surviving is here.

Quietly you focus yourself and you bring out all of your emotion and voice. The mysterious luring echo suddenly resonates through the big ocean. The open air and the ocean wind helps deliver your voice to anyone near you. You keep on singing, letting out a melodious sad song through the air. The air particles vibrate and send your emotional cry of help to someone walking over the coast by himself.

A young man with white shirt and a comfortable beach shorts walks through the damp sands. He tucks his hand into his pockets as he walks quietly by himself on the now half empty beach. The crowd has fled away when the howling wave crashed the shore an hour ago. This man however, loves taking in the ocean after it is angry. He loves the feeling of the sombre, mysterious, and sad atmosphere lurking on the air as the wave slow down and return calm.

Today's weather forecast had reminded people to leave the beach before noon, but apparently the wave came earlier. Lucky he lives nearby, he can always check the shore after a mad ocean.

His steps come to a halt when his ears perk up after hearing an eerie cry. He focuses himself, closes his eyes, and sharpens his ear. He cannot believe himself when his brain tells him this is a cry of another being. Not a human's cry!

Curious, the young man lets his heart and ears guide him to the source of the painful magical cry.

The sound becomes clearer and the cry painfuller. He opens his eyes when he thinks he arrives at the place already and his eyes widen when he sees you, a wounded mermaid, crying herself for help.

"Help," you plead urgently when you see a man standing across you.

"Help... I'm not.. going.. " you wince from the unbearable pain now, "I won't hurt you... help"

"You're not human, aren't you?" he asks you from the shore.

Your heart curse him for still asking you that when you're clearly hurt.

"Well yeah, but please help me..." You grimace when the saltwater meets your fresh torn scales.

"You won't kill me, right?" he raises his brow.

You roll your eyes, "I'm not a siren, can you please just help me first... I am dying!" You're annoyed, afraid, and emotional. You don't mean to yell at him, but it's too late to take back your words.

You pull your hair with frustration, "Gosh I didn't mean to scream... now you're more afraid... I'll die in this pace." You bury your face to your hand. Now you understand why your mother calls you a drama-queen.

"Just ... help me or bring me help. I'm injured." You look up and to your surprise, the young man is already in front of you. Sitting on the rock with a wet pants. He has left his shirt on the dry sands and swam to you.

"Let's see... I'm not a doctor but I'll try my best," he rolls his sleeves to his elbow.

"Doctor?" you question him

He shakes his head, knowing it will be hard to explain, "Later. Now, what happened?" he leans closer to the edge of the rocks to see your lower body which is still under the water.

"See for yourself," you gritted your teeth when another friction from the rocks and the water meet the fresh wound. He grimaces, "Oh that's so bad. We'll need to pull you out... Can you hold my hand and push your tail as strong as you can?"

You bite your teeth and nod your head, worth trying right? There's no way he can break the strong rocks.

"Hey, what's your name?" asks him

You wonder why he needs to ask that now, but you blurt it out anyways. "(y/n), and you?"

He smiles, "Beautiful! Just like you, now I'm Yuta and I will help you get out of this."

Yuta offers you his hand and you reach out to touch them, "On three or when you're ready... Now (y/n) you can do this... it will hurt, but I'll take care of you.. okay?"

You nod your head and tear escapes your eyes again.

"You're bleeding so bad, on three..."

You take a deep breath and count along with Yuta.

"One..."

"Two..." he grips your small hands stronger

"Three..." with one nod from Yuta, you try your best to swing your tail away and hold into him.

You scream in pain when the sharp edge did move a bit, but your tail is not entirely out of it yet.

Yuta looks at you in pain too and he wipes a tear that left your eyes.

"Look! You're so strong! We'll do it one or two more times and you're free!"

You nod furiously, hands gripping into him tighter, trying to find strength.

Yuta gets down to kneel and offers you a stronger hold, you find the courage and strength again to free yourself.

On three, more tears fall from your eyes as the dagger like stone is only one pull away from your whole tail.

"Yuta... it hurts.." You cry when the waves start to hit you more frequently. The tides are coming in, and you must hurry.

"You can do it! I am here with you... one last effort and you're free (y/n)." he is sweating and you can see his knees are also bleeding from the rough surface of the reefs.

"Sorry... one last pull." You grit your teeth and with Yuta's strong grips. Your tail made it out and you almost got washed by the waves, if Yuta did not pull you out of the waters quick.

He lays you on the rocks and winces at your big scar, "We need to treat this or you will get an infection. Can you swim to the shore?" he asks you worriedly.

You cock your head to the side, it's only a short swim, you feel your tail still has some energies left and so with his help, Yuta guides you to the beach.

You finally feel the funny feeling of dry sands on your hands and tails. You did not realize you're smiling and ignoring the dying feeling on your tail.

"First time with dry sands?" Yuta asks as he kneels down beside you and ties a piece of cloth over your big wound. You think that must be his shirt, for he is still bare chested here.

You bashfully nod, "Thank you Yuta..."

He looks to the horizon, sun is setting down and he doesn't think you can go back to the sea in this state, so he offers you what he can do.

"Can I bring you to my cottage and just clean up this blood first, then you can rest before going home."

You look to the endless horizon and gasp in surprise when you see the sun is already settling down. Oh no, this is not good.

Afraid, you nod and let Yuta carry you bridal style to his cottage.

It is only half meter from the beach and his small cottage is cosy.

"Should you stay in water?" he awkwardly asks.

You think for a while, "Not sure, but now I don't feel anything weird. Don't worry I can breathe both in air and under water."

Yuta is busy walking around the house to fetch the first aid kit, "I know... I'm a marine biologist."

You smirk, "That explains why you got my trust directly after saying I'm not a siren."

Yuta scoffs, "Actually it's because I see your true face and the one over the water the same, and your tail is slightly different."

You nod your head slowly, then scan his room, "Nice, a mermaid enthusiast eh?"

The furniture decorating his shower room is basically mermaid, sea, and ocean. "Quiet interested in one, never dream I'll meet one like this, bring one home, and talk like this is nothing at all."

You're now inside his bathtub, you need water to keep your tail showing, and Yuta must heal the wound in the real form. So, here you are relaxing in his bubble bath! Bubble! He makes cute bubble bath since he thinks you can relax more! How cute and thoughtful is he.

You focus on his delicate fingers gently cleaning your injured tail from the impurities, washing it with alcohol, and then wrapping it with bandage after giving it medicament.

"Now that's all done." He stands up from the small stool and tidies up the mess. He throws the dirty napkins away into a basket.

"Umm don't you feel cold?" you ask when you realize he is still lacking clothes while you're under the warm bubble bath.

Your smile fades a bit when he quickly wears a tank top over his ripped abs.

"So, tell me how to take care of a mermaid?" Yuta drags a chair to sit next to the tub.

"I don't know... Yuta this is all new! I never leave the sea and now... now I'm here sitting next to a human, talking about mermaids, having a bubble bath, and I don't even know what will happen to me next." You massage your temple and relax your body into the warm sensation.

"Yuta do you know what will happen to a mermaid if they did not return by sun set?" You ask him after the two of you have exchanged information of one another. He also had boiled water and introduced you to this wonderful warm dark sweet liquid... hot chocolate.

He flips on his book and points to you a certain picture cycle, "You'll have feet and you can always bring your tail back by being in water."

"Oooh tell me what it is like to walk?" you sip on the warm liquid again.

"For us human it doesn't hurt... well you feel sore after a long walk, but for you... I heard first steps will be horrible."

"Oooof, guess this is the price I have to pay to experience an unforgettable memory, right?"

You two dive into deeper conversations, and you swore you've never seen a man this charming. Yuta and his smile, you feel at ease.

You don't see any harm and danger when you see him, you feel your body tingles and suddenly your tail shifts into a gorgeous pair of legs.

Both you and Yuta are speechless since this is the first time both of you witness this.

"That is amazing!" you squeal and move your legs up and down, feeling the weird new sensation running through your body. You kick the air and water a bit, laughing when you make a riffle of water.

Yuta just sits next to you, smiling as he sees you so happy over small things.

Both of you did not say anything, but the looks in your eyes and his are enough to say these two will one day madly fall in love.

"Hey now that your legs are here, your tail must be quite healed. Now shall we leave the tub. Don't you want to feel what it's like to be human?" Yuta grins and you snap your finger.

"You really understand my mind, don't you?!" You giggle as you push yourself to sit on the tub.

"Uhm wait a second, let me grab your clothes." Yuta nervously tells you to stay under the water first, well he is respecting your privacy.

He returns with a big tee shirt and a boxer. Guess he never has a girl coming to his house, there's only men attire here.

"I only have these, but I'll buy some things for you tomorrow." He apologizes.

"Don't be sorry! This is better, but how do I wear them?" you ask him innocently. Through out your life you've never seen a tee shirt let alone wear something on your legs! Duh even you just see your legs today!

So with a red face, Yuta teaches you how to dress up and when you stand up from the bath, he winces when you squeeze the bone out of him.

"Hell this hurts so much!" You hiss and he too squeals from your dead grip.

"Your grip! You're breaking my bones!" Yuta naturally slaps your hand away, and you end up squeezing his arm even stronger when you take a step to the mirror on the wall.

"Ah! My hair!!!! Yuta I swear I look tidier than this under water!" Your mouth suddenly explain this insecurities of yours out loud to a new man you just met.

He laughs and then apologizes when he realizes he must be rude.

"Believe me, I know how hard it is to arrange salted hair."

"Wait what? Salted hair?" You run your finger to your stiff hair and almost cry since you feel the stiffness so irritating you.

Well you're the most beautiful mermaid down there, there's not a day where your hair is not the talk of the town. Your hair is always on point, making everyone jealous, and even earning you the "best mermaid hair" title. You never leave the house when you have a bad hair day, and you sacredly always brush your hair til it floats perfectly in the salt water. However, now above the waters... you lost them!

"hey, I have a secret to cure that, but let me show you that tomorrow. Today you've had a long day and you need to rest."

You agree with him, though you have so many question in your head, your body is exhausted and you need a sleep.

Gently Yuta asks you, "May I?"

And before you could say anything, he carries you again and lays you down on his soft bed. You take in the new sensation of the soft mattress and soon your eyes grow heavy and you're drifting to dream land.

Heading to next scenario in the next chapter

What to expect

_ Yuta revealing secret to smooth hair

_Yuta teaching you what's that shiny thing dangling on his ears

_Yuta teaching you how to make your hair look flawless

SEE YOU!! MERMAIDS and MERMEN UNITE! 🧜‍♀️🧜‍♂️💖✨

[classic80sand90smovieloves2]

Meeting and dating Veronica Sawyer

(Not my gif)(requested by anonymous)

- You meet Veronica in the lunch room as she’s walking around with Heather. You’re sat at a table with your friends when the two girls come up to your table and ask you the daily poll.

- When she sees you for the first time she just can’t seem to take her eyes off of you. At first she thinks perhaps it’s because she hasn’t seen you around school before or just out of admiration for your style/features. But then you complimented her outfit and she internally lost her shit for a good minute, it was then she realized that this was not in fact a normal reaction and something was going on with her.

- Soon enough she realizes what exactly is going on and it ...slightly troubles her. Where she’s from being gay isn’t exactly normal nor really accepted.

- As much as she doesn’t particularly like/trust the Heathers she also has no one else to talk to, so with reluctance she tells them about her feelings for you. Heather C basically just says “Well you didn’t pick the worst chick to want to date. She’s not a total mutant like some of these people…could use some more blush though.”

- It’s easy to forget that the Heathers and Veronica were actually friends no matter how catty they could be with one another. They still sort of want the best for each other so when Veronica confides in them they attempt to give her any advice they can. They do do her a favor (without her knowing) and invite you to ‘Become a Heather’ which you slightly agree to meaning you and Veronica get close.

- She doesn’t really know what to do about her feelings, she wants to act on them but that doesn’t feel like an option considering where she’s from. She writes a lot of diary entries about you and her feelings just to get everything out.

- You both do that whole ‘you stare at the person and when the person looks at you, you look away then that person stares at you until you look at them’ thing.

- Her heart races every time you compliment her and vice versa (but she doesn’t know that just yet).

- She begins to write you secret admirer notes. You have no idea it’s her because she disguises her handwriting every time she writes them. It kind of makes her smile when she gets to hear all about how cute you find the little letters and seeing all the Heathers giggle along as you read them.

- You only find out its her when you catch her slipping one into your locker but at the time you assume it’s just an invitation to a party or some notes you might have missed from class. It’s only when schools over that you get to read what she dropped in and it’s another lovey dovey note.

- You call her after school to hangout and when she comes to your house you act as though everything’s normal until you hand her the note. She tenses up and freezes in her place as you wait for a response. As quickly as she can she tries to apologize and explain herself before you stop her, telling her it’s alright.

“It is?”

“It is.”

“...You’re not mad?”

“No, in fact I’m quite happy.”

“...really?”

“Yes really, I’m just waiting.”

“For what?”

“For you to ask me out.” She looks at you completely shocked before a smile spreads across her face and she asks you out.

- The two of you go to a bookstore where you both split apart and find a book you think the other will enjoy. After you meet up again you go back to her place and read together while listening to some soft music.

- Your first kiss is that day as your date ends. She stops you as you’re about to open the door to her room and puts a hand on your cheek, leaning in and kissing you. The two of you break apart smiling and you leave her house happy and excited with your new relationship.

- A lot of kissing and cuddling.

- She’s open to sex pretty early on so it depends if you want to or not, she doesn’t want you to feel pressured to do it. 

- She’s a self admitted mini genius so she’s happy to help you study and plan your calendar.

- She definitely forges notes/passes so that she can get you out of class with her. You just have to hint at needing a signature or something and she’ll do it for you.

- Horror movies are her ally. She loves having you grab her hand whenever you get a good scare.

- She’s probably a little insecure after having been friends with Heather Chandler for so long and being the talk of the school for better and for worse. 

- She tells you you’re beautiful all the time and gives you this adorable little smile when you tell her the same. 

- She sort of prefers to stay out of the spotlight especially when you’re together just in case people start to get suspicious. She’ll grab a lunch table in the far corner of the cafeteria or the two of you will eat somewhere else together.

- The Heathers usually butt their way into your lunch dates or dates in general. They’ll just show up and sit with you all while starting a conversation about something that’s just happened to them.

- The Heathers choose to ignore your relationship, it’s not that they don’t like it just that they think it’s best to be willfully ignorant. They’re still getting used to the fact that they know not one but two gay/bi/etc girls.

- She’s a raging pessimist most of the time but you brighten up her outlook on life. 

- You guys play croquet a lot. She’s happy to teach you if you dont know how to play.

- Her room is really cosy so you guys hangout in there a lot. It’s also a bonus that her parents are completely clueless as to what you two actually are. They just think you’re really good friends like her and the Heathers.

- She writes you little poems every now and again.

- Makes up overdramatic plays to entertain you starring a very overdone preformance by her.

- She wants to protect you all the time, she knows just how mean people can be.

- She usually has an arm around your shoulder or looped with your own during the school day. It’s a normal thing for ‘ friends’ especially the Heathers to be affectionate with each other so no one questions it.

- Pâté with her parents.

- You have dinner at her house at least once a week, afterwards you, her and her parents sit and watch tv together.

- She definitely has some deep rooted issues that she doesn’t talk about (in the movie you’ll see that now and again she tries to hurt herself). You try to help her anyway you can but ultimately wait until she’s ready to come to you about what wrong with her.

- Being there when she needs someone to rant to especially about Heather C.

- She can always tell when something’s wrong and makes sure to be there for you when you need it.

- Having to bite your tongue whenever someone flirts with one of you or the both of you at the same time.

- She strokes your hair absentmindedly whenever you’re sitting and watching tv together.

- Fights are usually screaming matches but they’re resolved pretty easily and quickly so it’s never really that bad.

- Doing stupid shit together.

“What if we like coughed up a phlegm glob or something?”

- Photobooth pictures of the two of you

- She loves your praise especially when it’s about something other than her looks. She’s used to people thinking she’s pretty so it’s a nice change when you compliment something about her that she’s actually proud of.

“Tell me how good this is”

“It’s great”

- Cue a cute little smile.

- Knowing each other’s locker combos and borrowing each other’s stuff.

- You probably join the yearbook committee with her and the two of you help each other with your work.

- Morbid jokes.

- Getting your designated color for when you’re with the Heathers. They subtly make sure it looks good with Veronicas blue, that’s how you know they support the two of you together.

- Taking care of her whenever she gets drunk/sick at parties. You’ve had to hold her hair as she pukes more than a few times.

- Quick comebacks that never fail to make you laugh.

- Taking naps together after school.

- Gossiping and making fun of people together for shits and giggles.

- Convincing her to hang out with Betty Finn more, she’s an absolute sweetheart to the two of you.

- Helping her accessorize since she apparently can’t do it for shit.

- She’ll say “love you” over the phone but she has a little trouble saying it in person. It makes her a little embarrassed and she ends up getting tongue tied before she can get it out.

- You offhandedly talk about the future, like she’ll make a comment like ‘we should do this next year’ or ‘god I could marry you’ or ‘next year I’m going to take you to do this’ and the ever so common ‘after highschool I’m blowing this town and taking you with me’.

[jincherie]

tentacledipity | three

➛pairing: jimin x reader ➛genre: alien au, space au, soulmate au, wanted au, smut (coming) ➛rating: sfw ➛words: 11.1k ➛warnings: none really jimothy snaps later on ➛notes:  wow this took a while but I’m back tentacle fuckers! this one is double the size of the usual update so i hope it makes up for how long it took me a little bit. From the looks of the poll this will probably be the series I focus on first! 

also; I will add links at a later date! pls enjoy & lmk what u think!

This tale starts, as any good fiction does, with a girl crash landing on a foreign planet. And, like any good fiction, it follows a theme of serendipitous happening, and tentacles. Behold, serendipity and tentacles— or dare we call it…. tentacledipity.

— posted; 17.03.2019 //  ↞ prev. || three || next ↠

Not for the first time in your stay on this planet, you found yourself once more overcome with awe at the sheer beauty of your surroundings.

Today was a day you’d been looking forward to ever since Seokjin had asked you if you’d like to tag along three days ago—today you finally ventured past the tall, looming obsidian walls that guarded the edge of the palace’s property. You were going into town! The fabled city that nestled below the incline upon which the palace sat, with markets, stalls, parks, and all the other good things you’d heard of from Namjoon and the other humans but hadn’t had the pleasure of experiencing yet. You were beyond excited, quite literally bouncing down the path beside Seokjin. Contrary to what you might have expected, the male was surprisingly unbothered by your sudden hyperactivity. In fact, you suspected from the slight bounce in his step that he was barely restraining himself from skipping down the path with you.

“Where are we going first?” you couldn’t help yourself from asking Seokjin, not for the first time. Your arms were swinging and you felt a bit like a child but were too excited to really care.

Seokjin snorted as your hastened pace caused you to trip on a dark plum-coloured branch that had fallen onto the black stone path and blended in. His arm shot out with ease and stopped you from face-planting, a sheepish laugh tumbling from your throat in response.

“Well, I have a list of supplies I am to fetch. Normally a task like this would be assigned to someone in a lesser position, but since the event is so important it has fallen onto me. Additionally, it occurred to me that you hadn’t seen the town yet and might enjoy the opportunity to venture past the palace walls.”

“Aw, Seokjinnie~” you cooed immediately, your first instinct always to give in to your playful whims. You paused your skipping to latch onto the kelkie’s arm dramatically, nearly tripping again in the process. Was it your shoes? Or were you just incredibly uncoordinated today? “How kind of you, I can always trust you to take care of me!”

Seokjin let out a loud laugh at that, allowing you to cling for a moment before he peeled you off. “I know, I’m far too generous and considerate. Combined with my incredible good looks, it is a wonder I do not have suitors lining up for miles.”

You joined him in his laughter, bracing yourself on his arm. You didn’t bother adding to that since it was already funny enough as is, and in the following comfortable silence the male’s words from earlier caught up to you.

“Wait,” you turned to face the tall male, watching as his raven hair rustled in the breeze and patches of sunlight lit his skin in a golden glow. His dark eyes swept to meet yours, the light colouring them deep chocolate. You were thankful the walk so far had been one that was mostly under the cover of the foliage because you didn’t fancy the idea of being fried alive beneath the full force of the sun’s rays. “You’re going shopping for things for an event? An important event? What’s happening?”

Seokjin seemed surprised at your question. “You don’t know?” he queried, “Jimin didn’t tell you anything?”

At the mention of the male your heart simultaneously skipped a beat and dropped slightly. A surprising mix of a reaction, but one that occurred mostly because you hadn’t actually seen the male much at all since your last encounter in the gardens. Apart from glimpses caught in hallways or through windows, he proved to be as elusive as always. Something that tickled your competitive side about as much as it disappointed you. You just wanted to see the prospective alien love of your life, damn it.

“I haven’t really seen Jimin in a while…” you said, unaware of how your face was betraying your current state of perturb. Seokjin’s keen eyes caught every shift in your features, his lips pursing in concern and curiosity at the sudden drop in your mood. He waited a few moments to see if you were going to continue before he spoke.

“You are… a little hard to read,” he noted, bringing your gaze from the ground to his face. “What are you thinking, cheeky human?”

You frowned, considering whether it was worth telling Seokjin. A part of you wanted to keep your mouth shut, simply because you felt a bit like a fool thanks to your current train of thought, but the rest of you wanted desperately to let it all out and to talk to someone. You didn’t do well with bottling things up, and your philosophy was always more along the lines of the more communication the better anyway, so you ultimately decided you may as well spill your thoughts to the curious alien walking alongside you. Besides, he knew Jimin—perhaps he could offer some important insight.

You mulled over how to word what was running through your mind for a few moments before giving up and just attempting to go for it. “I… I just can’t help but wonder… You know, he seems busy, and I don’t see him much, but sometimes it’s like…”

Pausing to order your thoughts a little more, Seokjin waited patiently for you to continue. You sighed, deciding to bite the bullet, “It’s not me, is it? Is he really avoiding me? Does he hate me that much? I know I’m a little unbearable but still… that shit hurted.”

If Seokjin was perplexed at some of your speech habits he didn’t show it, instead gazing at you with a look that was somehow thoughtful and sympathetic despite the trickle of amusement you caught glimmering behind his eyes.

“I think,” he began, turning his gaze forward as he sorted his thoughts and the two of you continued down the path; you glimpsed something just beyond the trees as you waited for him to continue. “I think… you are something he hasn’t ever encountered before. I have not ever seen anyone interact with him the way you do, so I think that if he is avoiding you… it is because he is flustered.”

You felt your mouth drop slightly, forming a tiny ‘o’ shape. Seokjin continued, returning his gaze to yours; the warmth in his eyes helped to soothe the slight aches troubling your heart a little. “But besides that, the celebration that is coming—it is… incredibly important, probably the biggest one in over twenty sweeps—sorry, years. So it could also be that he is just busy. Jimin and I have received the biggest portion of work for this, since we are the King’s closest and most trusted advisors.”

Nodding, you took a moment to process all that. What he said made sense, and to his credit… actually served to mollify your worries a little. You felt a smile beginning to tug your lips once more, already over the brief stormy spell in your mood. Wow, Seokjin was a really good counsellor. No wonder he was one of the King’s best advisors, as he so often proclaimed.

“Thanks, Seokjin,” you said sincerely, offering him a bright grin. He returned it and you allowed a moment before the curve to your lips turned sly. “Anyway… back to the important topic at hand… just what is this celebration that’s so big and important that the King’s right- and left-hand men are working so hard to organise it?”

Seokjin mirrored your look, and you knew in that instant that this shit-stirring bastard wasn’t going to spill a single drop to you. He cooed instead of an answer, reaching to ruffle your hair.

“You can wait and find out with the rest of the population,” he snickered at the petulant look on your face. “Don’t think you get any special privileges just because you are awfully endearing for a human.”

Accepting that you weren’t going to get any more out of him regarding the mysterious celebration, you instead latched onto the other part of the sentence. You batted your lashes, giving him a shit-stirring grin. “You think I’m endearing?”

Seokjin let out a loud groan, distracting you as you rounded a harsh bend in the path. “I should have known when they told me you were like me that they weren’t kidding,” he lamented, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head dramatically. “I am sorry y/n, but this planet only has enough room for one Seokjin. I am going to have to dispose of you… imposter.”

You laughed loudly at that, playful banter one of the things that truly sustains you. You opened your mouth to shoot back an equally riveting response when your attention was suddenly captured by the sight in front of you. Your mouth dropped open, eyes shooting wide. You missed Seokjin’s smug look at your current awestruck state.

You’d finally reached the town, and it was… beautiful.

Streams trickled alongside the path on either side, clear and crystalline and glimmering turquoise as they flowed between the edge of what you presumed to be a large, two-story homes built from smooth marble-like stone and the obsidian path. The road was a bit more worn as you entered the town, but still made for stunning visuals when paired with everything else. The area you were currently in appeared to be more of a residential one, the path leading to a large circular area in the middle of the section that branched off in main pathways in each direction. From those pathways more would split; short, curved stone that bridged the path to the front door of the homes over the stream, which acted as a moat of sorts around each structure. In the middle of the circle was a small water feature that had gorgeous water flora floating along the bottom pool, glistening prettily as the droplets of moisture caught the light.

“You are so easily impressed,” Seokjin mused, bringing your attention back to the current moment. The two of you had halted on the path right at the entrance to the town where the foliage ended and the buildings began. “It is as though you have never seen a residential section… what does it look like, on Earth?”

“Ugly,” you answered immediately, snorting at the shocked look that flitted across the male’s features. “I mean… some areas were pretty, but those kinds of areas are the ones that only richer people could afford. Most of the population couldn’t afford it, so they lived in places that are… less well-kept and structured.”

Seokjin seemed appalled at that, wide eyes flitting from you to the scene around you. “You mean to say that not everyone in your cities gets the same opportunity for housing?”

You nodded regretfully, Seokjin’s jaw dropping. “Most people live in decent places, but a lot of people live in housing that doesn’t have the main necessities, like clean water, or in a house that is falling apart because it is old. It’s… not great. It is better than it used to be, but there are still a lot of people who live like that—at least, there was, last time I was there. A lot of people can’t afford homes too, so they live on the street. Homeless.”

“That is preposterous!” Seokjin exclaimed, eyes alight with fury at the injustice present on your home planet—oh, if only he knew the half of it. “Everyone deserves the right to live in security! Does your ruler, your government not help them? Do they just leave them to suffer?”

You scratched the back of your neck. “I mean, a lot of people try and fix things but… humans have a long history of shitty actions and behaviours that is hard to undo. I mean, it’s part of why the environment and nature is so shot to hell. Humans ruined it.”

The male seemed to pick up how sad you were about that fact in particular, as he stepped forward and looped your arm with his.

“I do not understand the rest of your species,” he said decisively, beginning to move the two of you further into the town. “But I am glad that it was you who happened to come crashing down into our orchards. I think we have been lucky in only getting to meet the best humans.”

You let out a laugh at that, swinging your arms cheerfully. “True! And dude, even I don’t understand humans. It’s impossible.”

That brought a hearty chuckle from the male, and the two of you delved into another conversation as he led you further into the city and pointed everything out to you as you moved by it.

As the morning passed and you spent it following Seokjin around as he went to gather everything he had on the sneaky list he never let you fully glimpse, you began to grow familiar with the market portion of the town. Stalls upon stalls set up for trade, bigger boutiques and kiosks nestled into small buildings that provided shelter from the sweltering sun. While you moved through the slight crowd and cheerful chatter that filled the air, many things caught your eye, and Seokjin actually ended up purchasing a dress for you—not because you asked him to, but because he saw it and proclaimed quite loudly that it would suit you so well it was “practically made for you”. The vendor was a sweet elderly kelkie with what looked to be a tattoo curling up her neck and peeking over the edge of her jaw. When she caught you looking at it she smiled in amusement, but her attention was quickly taken by an elder male that sidled up to her with a fond look, running his hand across her shoulder and speaking to her in the native tongue you still had no idea how to understand. To your complete and utter curiosity, you noted that he had a matching tattoo in the exact same place in the exact same style. You knew better than to ask or comment on it, but couldn’t help but think to yourself how sweet that was. Ah, love. Marvellous to behold, truly.

You tailed after Seokjin like an awestruck little duckling, having to grasp the end of his shirt so you didn’t get lost. Despite how many stores and stalls he visited, the pile in his arms wasn’t that big. You supposed a lot of the things he had gone for were things that would need to be ordered and delivered to the palace for the mystery celebration. It was really burning you alive, not knowing what was going on, but you supposed that if even the people inhabiting the town by the palace didn’t know then you could bear to wait a little longer. It wasn’t like you were that left out of the loop.

As Seokjin neared the end of his list, you found yourself more than a little saddened that your trip was soon to come to an end. This was the first time you’d really been out of the palace and in all honesty, you thought you were in love with the town and the sweet townspeople who shot you bright smiles despite the fact you were very obviously not even from their planet. You knew as soon as you returned to your room in the palace that you were going to feel a sense of loss and emptiness. Now that you’ve tasted freedom, could you go back to what you had before? That sounded a bit dramatic, but all you meant was would you be able to resist the urge to sneak out every so often?

The answer was a very obvious no, and while you didn’t care that you were sneaking out you were a little regretful in advance for the scoldings you were going to get. Inevitable, you supposed. Couldn’t be helped.

A few of the stalls you’d passed had piqued your interest a little, but none so much that you had the urge to stop Seokjin and investigate. You were very much aware this was more of a sight-seeing trip than anything—hell, you didn’t even have any of whatever currency the Kelkie used. Actually, you take that back a little. You’d found out today that a lot of stalls aren’t that strict on the currency. Many will settle for a trade. The thing is, you didn’t think you had anything of worth to trade. Sad times in the y/n kingdom, it seemed.

Things changed when you began on your way out of the market area though, as you turned with Seokjin and caught sight of something glimmering in your peripheral. You halted on the spot, head whipping and a loud gasp tearing from your lips. Was that… jewellery? Seokjin, who had halted when you did, seemed amused that the thing that had finally caught your attention after a morning of wandering was sparkly metals and jewels.

You’d planned on just staring at the door to the boutique, and jumped when Seokjin spoke, his voice closer than you’d anticipated.

“You want to go have a look?” he queried, grinning when you turned to him with wide eyes shining hopefully. “Alright, let us go.”

You couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across your face, eager to follow the tall male into the boutique and keep up the duckling act from earlier. The outside was a sleek mix of black, navy and white marble-like stone, a sign of similar material placed by the door and engraved, with the letters painted pretty silver to stand out against the inky colour of the backing. You couldn’t read it, of course, but were happy to go and investigate nonetheless. Discoveries were more exciting when you had less clues as to what they were!

A soft tinkle rang above you as the two of you entered, the inside of the store painted a smooth, deep teal colour on some walls and stark pearl on others. There were rows of jewellery along the walls and on the short aisles in the middle of the room, but some of them looks peculiarly shaped and you weren’t sure what they were for… until you glanced one in particular with a barbell-like sculpt and realised belatedly that this was both a jewellery and piercing boutique. Your surprise must have shown on your face because Seokjin ended up laughing softly from beside you.

You were startled from your keen observations of the pretty jewels by a low voice from deeper into the store. Jumping in fright, your gaze whipped up; further towards the back there was a counter, more jewellery displayed on shelves beneath, and a tall Kelkie male who possessed broad shoulders, deep golden skin and a cheery smile. He was speaking in the language native to Kilkhea, if the familiar clicks and rolling sounds were anything to go by, and his gaze was flicking between you and Seokjin. He seemed pleased to see the advisor, marks across his cheeks and arms flushed calm blue.

To your surprise, in your curious observation of his features you found he had a number of piercings. Two jewels embedded in the skin under the outer edge of each eye, large, thick silvery hoops in his ears and a piercing just below the plump flesh of his bottom lip, the metal supporting a thin charm that dangled prettily against his chin as he talked.

The conversation went right over your head as Seokjin let out a laugh and responded in kind, patting your shoulder as he said something that was no doubt about you.

You let your gaze wonder as they conversed, brought back to the present when Seokjin suddenly addressed you.

“y/n, this is Hyunwoo,” Seokjin said, smiling big. “He is the town’s main jeweller and responsible for clan piercings.”

The male said something suddenly, a teasing lilt to his voice, and the Kelkie beside you snorted. “He says to call him Shownu since that is what everyone calls him anyway.”

The male nodded, satisfied, and you couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped you. “It’s nice to meet you, Shownu! I’m y/n.”

Seokjin translated for you, and Shownu nodded at you once more with a smile. The raven-haired male beside you turned to face you in question.

“Does your clan participate in piercings?” he queried, tilting his head. “Do humans do something similar to this? You seemed like you recognised some of these…”

“Yeah, humans do it,” you affirmed, allowing your gaze to sweep over the contents of the shop before returning to Seokjin. “But I’m not sure what you mean… my clan? Do you mean my family?”

The male nodded, taking initiative to fill you in further at the sight of your confused expression. “It is tradition here for some clans—some families—to get a certain set of jewelleries and piercings on their twenty-fourth birthday. Shownu was the one who did mine— my clan does not have many interesting ones, save for the, uh… ears, and here…”

You weren’t sure what you had expected him to show you, but it certainly hadn’t been his tongue. He slipped it past his lips, and you nearly fell over in shock as you registered the sight of the pearlescent metal sitting in the middle of the flushed muscle. What the hell—had that been there the whole time?! And you didn’t even know?!

He returned his tongue back to its place, letting out a loud laugh at your shaken expression. “It was funny to show the other humans that too,” he admitted, incredibly amused. “For some reason, you never expect it.”

“It’s probably because you don’t look like the type of person who would get it back on Earth,” you said, grinning. “We don’t really get them to continue tradition, a lot of people get them just because they want them or think they’re pretty.”

Seokjin nodded, “Ah, that is true of some people here too. Do you have any, y/n?”

You nodded, pulling your hair back to show him the rings and studs in your ears. “I always wanted to get ones in other places, but I was a little scared… plus I never got the time to get them on earth, and I’m not about to look for reputable piercers in the back rooms of interspace stations.”

The Kelkie snorted at that, peering curiously at your ears and nodding in approval at what he observed. Shownu’s eyes seemed to light up as he caught sight of your bejewelled ears, beckoning you closer so he could have a look. You moved over without complaint, leaning so he could inspect the metal and jewels easier. You could hear him muttering to himself every so often, fingers softly prodding and nudging as his marked shifted shades of blue.

“Understandable,” Seokjin said, amusement curling in his tone. “But if you wanted them… why not get one here? There are many arrays to choose from.”

You fixed him with a pondering look, chewing your lip. “Would that even be okay?” you asked, worried about overstepping your bounds as a foreigner—as an alien on this planet. “Aren’t they important to you and other kelkie?”

Seokjin shrugged. “They are a rite of passage, but they are not especially meaningful aside from that. Often, they are just a marker of adulthood, and which clan you belong to. Still, some Kelkie pierce as they like. You’re human, so you are not really bound to any of our traditions. I think if you chose something, the clan that possesses that piercing would probably feel honoured you chose it.”

You hummed, mulling that over. His words soothed your worries somewhat, and as you turned your gaze over the jewels and pieces before you, your mind filtered back to the one you’d noticed earlier. The barbell, commonly used for navel piercings… something in your gut urged you towards that, and as someone that more often than not followed her instincts above all else, you were inclined to choose it.

“Do you… are there any, for here?” you queried, lifting your shirt and pointing above your bellybutton. Seokjin tilted his head, something curious yet unreadable curling in his gaze. Shownu grinned, shifting in excitement as he moved to grab a box from the top shelf behind him, bringing it back before you. Opening it, you were exposed to a soft cushion displaying a number of beautiful, intricate barbells with charms and jewels. You couldn’t help your gasp.

“Your…?” Seokjin said something in his mother tongue that you had no idea how to interpret but hazarded a guess as to what he meant. “Are you going to get it? We have time.”

“We call it a bellybutton,” you informed him, and he nodded in understanding with the slightest bit of perplexment, possibly at the name itself. Excitement began to curl within you at the possibility of finally getting to do this after hoping for it all your teen years, but you came crashing back to the present as you remembered part of why you hadn’t done it before.

“Ah, but I don’t have any money,” you said, taking a step from the counter and shooting Shownu an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I can’t believe I forgot.”

Shownu shook his head, giving you a kind smile. Seokjin said something to him, receiving a rapid response and a smile. He turned back to you grinning brightly.

“He says that he is happy to trade in the stead of currency.”

You could feel you face lit up, before you realised your predicament in that sense as well. You sighed, “I don’t have anything to—wait!”

Your sudden exclamation had both males straightening, looking on curiously. You reached under the material of your shirt, with a little difficulty thanks to the high neckline, and fished around until you found what you were looking for and unclasped the two chains that found their way into your grasp. Shownu’s eyes lit up as you pulled the necklaces from your shirt, both gold and decorated with a different jewelled charm each. They weren’t really anything special, just things you’d once gotten from a prospective suitor and thought were pretty enough to keep.

The Kelkie chattered excitedly as he took them into his hold, waving his free hand at Seokjin as he inspected them eagerly. You wondered if he was so interested because almost all of the jewellery Kelkie had was of variations of silvery metal.

“He says this is more than enough for just the piercing—is there anything else you want while we’re here?” Seokjin translated, seeming proud of you in the way you presumed a mother would be of a child who was making their first purchase.

Excited, you let your gaze wander and your mind run. Was there anything you wanted in particular? You didn’t really feel any extra need for jewellery now that you were getting one in your navel, but you didn’t want to waste the opportunity…

Your pondering came to an abrupt end when you caught sight of something to the side, something that almost seemed to glow in a bid to catch your attention. You gasped softly, moving over to inspect it closer.

It was a necklace, the chain consisting of thickly woven silver links, intertwined with a molten-grey metal you didn’t think you’d seen yet. The silver was almost pearlescent, resembling mother of pearl more than it did actual silver from your home planet, but was firm beneath your touch. The thick chain was connected by a single large hoop of a slightly cooler silver, which was engraved lightly with patterns and swirls. It was stunning, magnetising, and upon looking at it, it immediately reminded you of a certain someone.

“Wow,” you said, unable to stop your words from flowing. “This would look beautiful on Jimin…”

Ignoring Seokjin’s look of surprise, you turned to Shownu and gestured sheepishly. You expected this to be out of the price range for the trade, but figured you may as well ask. “Would this be too much…?”

Snapping out of his stupor with a strange glint in his eye and an amused curl to his tone, Seokjin relayed your question to the jeweller. Shownu instantly shook his head, offering you a smile. You weren’t sure of the answer he gave you until the Kelkie by you translated once again.

“No, he says that meets it perfectly.”

Shownu hurried to come and grab it for you, holding it gingerly as he came to place it into a small, cushioned case made of a stone that, oddly-enough, reminded you of some sort of jade. Surprised that everything was coming together so easily for you, you couldn’t stop the big dumb grin from tugging your lips.

“You know, with a gift like that, one might get the wrong idea,” Seokjin was teasing you, you knew it, but still you couldn’t help but rise to the bait.

“What wrong idea? I’m clearly trying to woo him!” you shot back, your response eliciting a cackle from the tall Kelkie. Shownu spared the two of you a fond smile as he finished tucking away the necklace, pushing it towards you in its closed case and saying something to Seokjin.

The male brightened, turning to you with a grin as you took the case into your hold, relishing the comforting weight. “Well, that will have to wait for now, cheeky human. You have a… a belly… bellybottom to pierce.”

You burst into laughter at Seokjin’s slip up, hastily going to correct him as Shownu led the two of you to a room towards the back that you hadn’t even noticed until then. The male’s cheeks heated but he took the embarrassment graciously, laughing with you as you continued snorting and prepared for the piercing.

You definitely weren’t letting go of that one any time soon.

x    x     x     x     x     x     x

 As you’d expected, your return to the palace had brought on a certain sense of emptiness after experiencing what was beyond the walls. It had been a few days now, and although you wanted to get out you hadn’t really wanted to venture into town without an escort when you had no money and couldn’t speak the language. So to settle somewhat, you’d slipped past poor Jongin and Jongdae again and snuck to a certain part of the gardens you’d discovered a while ago. You really ought to make them something for their troubles—you were sure their life was much more stress-free before you rocked up.

You liked this little spot; it was nestled in one of the corners of the garden that followed the wall by the back of the palace, not too far from the kitchens now that you actually thought about it. Perhaps that added to the charm. Even so, without taking its alluring closeness to a food source into consideration, the spot had its own charms. The corner itself consisted of thick hedges with deep blue leaves and stunning magenta and cream flowers, the obsidian wall that marked the end of palace property looming close behind it. The earth was soft and plush beneath your feet, soil rich and no doubt part of the reason the main tree that had grown there had grown to be so tall and thick in diameter. The wood was peculiar, in that it was incredibly supple yet completely sturdy at the same time, and it grew in curls and curves. This meant that it was an absolutely ideal tree for climbing, but you didn’t quite have the energy for that today. You were a bit bummed, and it wasn’t entirely because you missed the town.

You had a feeling Jimin was avoiding you again.

Well, either that or he was so ridiculously busy that he had no time for anything but sleeping eating and work. You’d been trying to track him and chase him down for days to give him the present you got for him at Shownu’s shop, but to his credit he was very hard to track. You pulled out all the stops you could think of and yet here you were, no closer to catching him and instead sulking about your failure beneath a tree as you laid sprawled across the ground. You probably looked as pathetic as you felt.

You let out a sigh, patting your stomach absent-mindedly and brushing your finger over the slight bump beneath the silky material of your shirt. You’d gotten the piercing expecting to get a lot of pain and limiting instructions afterwards, but to your complete and utter surprise it was quite the opposite. After piercing you, Shownu had cleansed the site with a teal-coloured liquid that shimmered green beneath the light. It stung for the barest of moments before every single sensation of pain disappeared completely. You felt the flesh tingle and watched, wide-eyed, as it appeared to heal before your eyes. Kelkie medicine was truly something else, and you were forever thankful that you’d crash landed on this planet of all possible planets.

Shownu had simply told you to be extra mindful of it for the next week but that after that, it would be completely fine. The mixture he used sped up the healing process almost entirely, something you could barely wrap your head around, and meant that you didn’t have to face a lot of the possible complications you knew could come with these sorts of things. You’d thanked him profusely, immensely pleased with how good the piercing looked, especially with the jewellery you’d chosen, and had made sure Seokjin told him how much you liked it and appreciated it. Seeing how pleased Shownu was at your words made Seokjin’s sassy eyerolls worth it.

 Back to the source of your current lamentation, you’d left the parlour with a new piercing and a pretty necklace in a jade giftbox—a necklace you had still been unable to give to the person it was meant for.

Another sigh escaped you, eyes staring absently into the foliage above. Ah, nothing like becoming one with nature and disassociating as you attempted to sort through your thoughts and feelings. A classic move in your emotional organisation repertoire.

You’d come here for solitude, but despite that… you were actually feeling a bit lonely. Was it possible to want to be alone and around people at the same time? Because you were feeling that. Perhaps it was the slightly bummed turn your thoughts had taken that had you feeling this way. You closed your eyes, trying to clear your mind and start again so you felt less crummy. You didn’t get very far before something interrupted your concentration and scared you shitless.

“Connecting to a higher power, are we?”

You yelped loudly, eyes flying open and body lurching away from the source of the noise— a snickering Min Yoongi of course. You glared at the offending male, tempted to roll away and turn your back to him like a child.

“And what if I am?” you ask snidely, crossing your arms. “Shouldn’t you leave—I thought they didn’t allow creatures of the night into holy places, you little gremlin.”

Yoongi cackled at that, thoroughly amused, and took the invitation you most definitely didn’t give to sit beside you, leaning back against the thick trunk of the tree. Still, despite what the pout on your face might have him believe, you shuffled over to give him more room. The two of you sat in comfortable, amicable silence as his chuckles gradually calmed down, soaking in the serenity that came with such a beautiful segment of nature like the one that surrounded you now.

“So,” he began after a while, voice low above you. You didn’t bother looking to meet his eyes, it would have been too much of a struggle with the angle you were at. “What’s got you all mopey, peach cheeks?”

You groaned, fighting the urge to smack the male as he snickered softly at your expense. Yoongi looked cool and chic at first glance, but really that was just a front and he was just a goblin. Pouty whiny baby. He was fun to tease but a little too good at teasing you back, if anyone asked you. Well… perhaps that was a bit of a fib. You liked the playful banter he provided, and the fact he gave it back as good as he got. Kept you on your toes, you know?

“My prospective alien boyfriend is avoiding me,” you said, amping up the exaggeration colouring your tone because you knew he’d appreciate the humour in it. He did, letting out a snort.

“What’s new?” he snipped, before letting out a yelp as you smacked him on the thigh closest to you. “Ow! Alright sorry I didn’t mean it. Why is he avoiding you?”

“I don’t knooooooooooow,” you moaned pitifully, thrashing your arms a little like a toddler. “I’m just trying to give him this damn present I got him but he keeps turning tail and running every time he sees me, and I don’t even know if his cheeks are red because he’s blushing or because he’s exhausted from running away from me.”

You risked a glance upwards, and to his credit, Yoongi looked like he was trying very hard to contain the laughter attempting to climb his throat.

“What did you get him?” he asked after schooling himself a little, seemingly unable to contain his curiosity. You huffed, averting your eyes as you mumbled your answer.

“… a necklace.”

As expected, Yoongi let out a snort; it was as though you could feel him rolling his eyes. “Geez, careful y/n, give him a gift like that and he might think you like him or something.”

You sent him your best deadpan look, contorting your neck just to pin him with it face-on. He seemed entirely too amused with himself and it kind of really made you want to smack him. You didn’t even need to respond—you were pretty sure that not only Jimin but probably half the palace knew that you liked him by now. You blanched mentally for a moment—you hadn’t really realised it until now, but somewhere along the line in your stay here you’d progressed from simply finding Jimin attractive and voicing it to actually… liking him. Like, like-liking him. Oh god, was this a crush? Your stomach fluttered at the mere mention of his name, your heart jumped whenever he looked your way—you’d even gone and bought him jewellery without so much as a second thought.

Oh, this…. You were whipped.

Choosing to ignore that startling revelation for a moment, you released your neck from its twisted position and returned to staring mournfully at the foliage above you.

“Not that it matters, anyway,” you couldn’t help the sigh that huffed past your lips. “I can’t even find him to give him the damn thing in the first place.”

At this, Yoongi was silent for a few moments—you took the opportunity to bask in the moment a bit, taking note of the different sounds of nature that filtered through the air to brush your ears. Soft chirps from the small, violet-feathered, birdlike creatures that nested in the nooks and niches hidden in the curling wood of the tree’s branches and trunk; the faint rustling of the leaves and the soft creak of the thick, winding limbs as they swayed with the breeze. The patches of sunlight that managed to reach your form beneath the canopy were warm as they soaked your skin, but thankfully not unbearably so in such small doses. You didn’t doubt that if you weren’t mostly under the shade you’d feel like an overcooked meal by now, though.

“Well…” The sound of the male’s slow drawl brought your attention back to the conversation at hand as he began to speak, “Who says you have to give it to him in person? You could always leave it somewhere for him.”

You huffed, crossing your arms over your chest. “That’s the coward’s way out,” you grumbled, crossing one leg over the other to match your arms. “How would he know it’s from me?”

Snorting at your apparent view on gift-giving and how it should be done, Yoongi leans over to peer at you, albeit upside down. “Uh, leave a note? I’m sorry, I forgot you lost most of your brain cells when you crashed here. I’ll try and be a little bit more considerate.”

Whining, you smacked him on the leg—apparently the response he was expecting since he burst into laughter as soon as you did it.

“Okay yeah, you’re not wrong about that, but it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t write or even read k-kelk—kelkoe? Whatever it is people speak here.”

You peered back in time to catch Yoongi’s nonchalant shrug. “Namjoon knows a little, why not just ask him to help?”

You opened your mouth to protest but the words died on your tongue as you allowed yourself to consider it for a moment. That… wasn’t such a bad idea, actually. Plus, Namjoon might tease you a little but at least he wouldn’t be a little gremlin about it like Yoongi or Taehyung.

“… Alright, perhaps that’s not a bad idea…” you admitted, begrudgingly. Yoongi’s featured brightened and you were witness to a sudden shit-eating, gummy grin.

“Admit it, I’m a genius,” he boasted, leaning over you to stare at you smugly. You groaned but couldn’t keep the laugh that followed from escaping.

“Never!” you refuted, reaching to smack his thigh once more. “Stay humble, if your head gets too big the few brain cells you have will get lost.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes, rubbing his thigh where you got him; it wasn’t a hard hit at all but you managed to get him in one of the areas where the sensation lingered a bit. “Oh, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

A retort already bubbling up your throat, you sat up so you could argue a bit better. Yoongi resembled a smug cat as the two of you bickered, unaware of the eyes that watched from beyond the shrubbery, boring into you from one of the palace rooms that peered over the gardens.

x     x     x     x     x

 Jimin shouldn’t be as angry as he was.

Really, he had no right. There was nothing tying him to you, or you to him—nothing that staked any sort of claim over you on his behalf. Based on this, even if he found you attractive, he should not have been feeling what he did, to the degree that he did.

Catching sight of you and one of the humans from the Queen’s crew, Yoongi, wasn’t something he had expected to spark a raging inferno of emotions within him. And yet, the second he glimpsed the scene in the far corner of the gardens, he’d been almost over-encumbered with too many feelings to name; yet one in particular was sure to rear its head and make itself known.

Jimin refused to accept that the sight of you with Yoongi had made him jealous.

Ridiculous, it was ridiculous. Ever since you’d arrived here everything had been out of whack for him—nothing had gone as it should, as it was expected, as it always had for years before your arrival. You were a threat to the knowledge he thought he had of his world and way of life—the knowledge he thought he had of himself. Jimin knew that in years past he had proven himself to be a Kelkie of exceptional control, yet the second you drew too close to him, the second your eyes met his or your alluring scent brushed his nose, he felt the limbs hidden in his back stirring to life and fighting to be free like he was some inexperienced fledgling. With your presence in the palace he was living on his toes, and the only way he’d managed to save face thus far was because he’d taken to doing his best to avoid you—something that while achieved its purpose had him feeling bittersweet. Despite the barest relief he felt, he actually found that he missed you. He couldn’t believe the audacity of his heart that it longed for you even after all the trouble you’d given him so far.

At first he had tried avoiding you simply to save himself from acting in an embarrassing manner, but lately it had been for a somewhat different reason. He could sense it lingering in the air that you moved through, could catch the new sweet undertone to your scent as it touched his senses—he didn’t know much about the human cycle apart from what the Queen had once told him, but he could tell—was acutely aware— that you were at the peak of yours. You had been close a few days ago, and he had no doubt that today you were at the height of your fertility; and he hated that he knew that, that he was so finely attuned to you in a way he never had been to anyone else. The pheromones you didn’t even seem to realise you were emitting permeated the air wherever you ventured, and shamefully even the sight of you through the window had a knot of longing forming in the pit of his abdomen. It was even more out of hand than usual with the state your body was in and he didn’t think he would last very long at all if stuck in the same room as you.

Which, incidentally, is exactly what he would be tonight.

The kitchen staff had thrown together a mock-up run of the dishes and foods that they were considering for the celebration coming, and Seokjin had insisted that everyone gather at once to try them—although he hadn’t gotten around to telling everyone yet. Jimin suspected that the male missed the nights where everyone would dine together, including the King and Queen. Knowing that, he hadn’t had the heart to refuse him, even when he realised this meant he would be stuck dining a few feet away from the human that had been troubling him so much lately.

Truly, he was at war with himself—he enjoyed your presence, more than expected, but he was also incredibly conflicted. He wasn’t against having fun and the odd passionate tryst, but with you… it felt like he longed for more than that. Which, frankly, alarmed him greatly—the only person he should be feeling that way towards is his Fated One. So, what would happen if he indulged himself in you and then in the next sweep received his Fate Mark and with it the person he was to spend the rest of his life with? Would he want them? Would he want you? The prospect of such a situation was absolutely terrifying to him, and he didn’t know how to sort through the mess of emotions and thoughts it spawned within him.

He didn’t know what to do with the way you made him feel, yet each time he saw you he grew a little weaker in his resistance to you. Why was it that the heavens had decided to curse him so?

His footsteps were a little heavier than usual as he stomped down the hall that housed his rooms, eager for a moment of reprieve before he had to start preparing himself mentally for dinner. It had been only this morning that he caught sight of you and Yoongi in the gardens, yet the mood it had thrown him into had persisted for the rest of the day as he did his duties. The ugly, icky feeling it incurred within him had clung to his insides ever since—Jimin never had liked the sensation of jealousy, the few times he’d experienced it in his life, and the same proved true now. He hated it, yet could not stop its presence at the thought of you with someone else. He shouldn’t be bothered—you were human, shouldn’t he be pleased at the prospect of you being with another human? Yet his heart clenched painfully in protest at the thought, stomach dropping. Against his better judgement, he didn’t like the idea at all.

He felt a momentary sensation of calm and relaxation wash over him as he stepped through the doorway into his room, shoulders releasing the tension they carried along the walk there. The sensation proved to be fleeting as he recalled suddenly that Yoongi would be at the dinner along with you and the other humans, and suddenly he was tense and stressed all over again. A large sigh huffed past his lips, eyes closing as he scrubbed a hand over his face and pushed his hair back a little. God, he kind of wanted to nap if only to escape the stress for a few moments.

Allowing his eyes to slide open, he surveyed the contents of his room, attempting to avoid the area with his bed lest he be tempted. Surprise filtered across his features as he caught sight of something amiss, something new that he certainly hadn’t left on his desk before leaving earlier. Curious and apprehensive all at once, he approached the soft green box with what appeared to be a note tucked neatly beneath it. Tentatively, he took the box into his hands, the stone cool to the touch and decently heavy, and retrieved the note. He was never sure whether to read or open things first, but this time he opted to inspect the paper.

He wasn’t sure what he had expected when he opened it, but it hadn’t been a note written in messy scrawl that looked like it belonged to a fledgling. It was in his language, but he had a suspicion that the person writing it wasn’t exactly familiar with it. Still, he read it, and with each word he took in he felt surprise tickle his ribs and his heart stutter excitedly. The person had forgotten to sign their name but even without it Jimin had a strong suspicion as to who had left him this gift.

Unable to stop himself from opening the box now that he knew it was indeed a gift for him, he placed the note down and took great care in lifting the lid. Inside, sitting neatly upon plush cushioning that worked well to contrast with the metal of the piece it held, was a necklace. He felt his lips part as he took it in, slightly mesmerised, fingers of his free hand brushing gently over the silver and black chain and the large hoop that connected it. Even without the knowledge that it was a gift, most likely from a certain someone, he instantly liked it. It was just his style, and the fact that they’d known…

He placed the box down, moving the hand over his heart as he felt it skip a beat once more. Once more, it seemed you were proving to be more trouble than he was capable of handling.

What on Kilkhea was he going to do?

x     x     x     x     x     x     x

 When Seokjin had told you that there would be a small feast of sorts tonight and that pretty much everyone you knew would be attending, you hadn’t bothered attempting to hide your excitement at all. It had everything you loved. Food? Check. Your friends? Check. A fun family atmosphere? Check. Food? Check, check. You were almost bouncing off the walls before Taehyung laughed at you for it and you had to track him down to teach him a lesson. Seokjin had said that the food being served was all trials for the celebration that was coming, and that meant that given your food was normally good quality, this food was likely to be god-tier. You were almost drooling you were so damn excited.

Your renewed energy at the knowledge you were going to be fed well tonight meant that you were a little bit more unbearable than usual as you hung around the other humans, and by the time dinner actually rolled around you were sure Hoseok was ready to actually lay hands on you and choke you out. It was a recent development, since he’d actually joined you in your hyperactivity initially. You’d ended up outlasting him with your energy though, something that Namjoon, Yoongi and Taehyung found incredibly hilarious, and as soon as he was no longer in on your shenanigans he seemed to grow tired of them very quickly. As you all entered the small dining room where you’d be eating tonight you saw him beeline for the seat furthest away from you and couldn’t help but laugh. Did he think that would stop you? He really didn’t give you enough credit.

To your delight, even the guards you’d become so friendly with—Jongdae and Jongin as you recalled—had been allowed to sit in. The look they’d shared when they caught sight of you almost had you in stitches—especially since they were still under orders from Jimin to be keeping an eye on you and you’d slipped out of their watch earlier in the morning to spend the rest of the day free.

“Aren’t you two meant to be watching her?” Joy asked, having arrived at the same time they did and bearing witness to the fact it was without you in tow. She was more amused than anything, knowing firsthand how crafty you were, but still the two of them sputtered for an excuse.

“She—she is just so slippery!” Jongin burst, eyes wide and marks flaring a sheepish peach. “Every time we think she will cooperate, we turn our backs for a single second and when we look back she is gone!”

“And she tricks us,” Jongdae’s voice came out in a whine, pointing his finger at you accusingly. You smiled at him. “She leaves sweets and treats to distract us and escapes in our moment of weakness.”

You couldn’t hide your big, shit-eating grin because honestly you found the whole thing really funny—despite the fact you felt a little bad for deceiving them—and were having a riot listening to them talk.

“They’re gifts,” you said, no effort at all put towards sounding even remotely convincing. “Sometimes you look hungry so I leave things for you to eat, like a good friend.”

The two guards sputtered and you could hear Taehyung choking on a laugh behind you, snickering to Namjoon. Joy rolled her eyes, an affectionate smile tugging her lips, before she stepped in and urged everyone to take a seat since the food would be coming soon.

It didn’t take you long to notice that Seokjin and Jimin hadn’t arrived yet—oh the shock of excitement that bolted through you when you realised you’d finally see him—but almost as soon as you took note of that there were two familiar figures entering through the double doors and Taehyung was cheering.

“Yes! Just in time for the food to arrive—hurry and sit down we’re all hungry!”

You laughed, Yoongi snickering softly from beside you. Taehyung seemed to be right; as soon as Jimin and Seokjin entered from one door the kitchen staff entered from the other. The two hurried and took their seats, Seokjin across from you and Jimin next to him. You tried not to stare, you really did, but he just looked so good and it had been so long since you’d seen him—you kind of wanted to sob at how attractive he was. He’d donned a deep, deep purple set of silken clothes today, and when combined with his raven hair, the dangly silver earrings hanging from his lobes, the chains around his wrists and the rings sitting firmly and contrasting against golden skin on his fingers… it was a knockout look. Unable to help it, your gaze strayed momentarily to his neck on a curious whim—you wished the spike of disappointment within you wasn’t quite as prominent as it was. He wasn’t wearing it… that was fine. You hadn’t expected him to, really. Perhaps he just hadn’t gone to his room yet—

No, it was better if you didn’t think too hard about it. It was out of your hands now, you’d done your part in leaving it for him. What he did with it… technically didn’t concern you. You ignored the slight throb your heart gave and turned to the plates being placed along the table.

As the food was served there was inevitable chatter that followed, and you were surprisingly caught up with laughing at Seokjin and Yoongi, and occasionally Jongin, who was unfortunate enough to be seated on your other side and kept getting startled into dropping his food whenever you moved too quickly. Had you really traumatised them so much with your fleeing escapades?

Your natural inclination was to look at Jimin for the duration of the dinner, and you did look at him a fair bit, but for some reason tonight felt… different. It didn’t take long for you to notice that he was sitting stiffly in his seat, entire body tense, and each chew was accented with a clenched jaw that honestly had your stupid heart skipping a beat. Fuck, he was even hotter than usual. The nerve? The audacity? Right here in front of your… what was that on your plate, it looked to be a salad of sorts…?

Despite how your gaze was naturally drawn to the raven-haired male, every time you glanced towards him your attention was quickly drawn away by Yoongi or one of the others. And the second you turned from him, you could have sworn you felt eyes boring into your form with alarming intensity.  You didn’t ever catch him, he was always looking back to his plate or at someone else when you turned back, but the butterflies in your stomach and your gut feeling told you that the stare belonged to him. The thought excited you, but you were also confused. His usual response to your presence was fluster and embarrassment, sometimes he was even a little grumpy. You didn’t know what changed, but something had, and you were eager to poke and prod and find out exactly what had caused his behaviour to shift ever so slightly.

You felt the stare intensify whenever you leant closer to Yoongi, or the guard beside you. The more you experimented throughout dinner, the tenser Jimin seemed to become. You caught Seokjin shooting him looks that seemed to be a combination of concerned, knowing and amused, but he never voiced his concern out loud. He cracked a few jokes that had Jimin’s lips twitching into a slight smile at several points throughout the meal, but his features consistently fell back into their tense default.

By the time the meal was over and people began cleaning dishes up and filtering out of the room, you were absolutely itching to pounce on Jimin and resume your usual antics of annoying and flustering the hell out of him. You hadn’t seen him in a while, so the urge had built up and you were keen to make up for lost time. A part of you protested softly, the same part that stung a little more at each little sign of rejection he seemed to display, but it was easily silenced

You had a feeling that Jimin was going to try and make a run for it, and your suspicions were confirmed when not even a minute after he helped stack the plates nearest him, he was standing from his chair and bowing slightly to the table.

“Thank you very much for the meal,” he directed this to the staff, offering those that had come over a soft smile. You cursed the small morsel of jealousy that wormed its way into existence at that. “I think this line-up will work well for the event. Perhaps one or two more fruit dishes? They seem to be a favourite.”

The staff nodded eagerly, taking in his advice, and he offered them another smile before he turned on his heel and uttered that he was going to retire for the night. You could see how tensed the muscles in his back were as he walked away, posture stiff and straight. By the time you realised he was about to get away and you launched from your seat, he was already moving through the doorway. You had to act fast!

“Thank you for the meal, it was delicious—as usual!” you burst, grinning widely. The kitchen staff, well-acquainted with you by now, rolled their eyes fondly at your next words. “I will give you a full written report of my thoughts and bring it later, thank you!”

With that you ruffled Jongin and Yoongi’s hair, and then you bolted from the table, only nearly tripping once. You could hear Seokjin cracking a joke at your expense as you left but for once, ignored it. It pained you to do so, but you had a bigger objective in mind right now.

Quicker on your feet than you anticipated, you zipped through the open doorway and burst into the darkened hallway just in time to catch sight of Jimin while he was still barely visible. The lights hadn’t turned on in this hall yet, and you made sure to watch a little where you were going so that you didn’t fall flat on your face in front of your apparent crush.

You were certain he heard you coming, but just in case he didn’t you decided to announce your presence very loudly. “Jimin! Wait up, peach cheeks!”

Visibility wasn’t great in the hallway, yet you still managed to catch it as the male stiffened and halted for a moment, apparently surprised. Perhaps he hadn’t heard you coming?

When the male turned to face you, you felt your heart stutter before skipping several beats and setting off a swarm of butterflies in your stomach. His jaw was clenched once more, muscles along his throat shifting as he turned his head, and his marks glowed deep rosy red—but what had your knees wobbling slightly as you ran up to him was his eyes, dark and molten and absolutely boring into you from where he stood. His tongue darted to wet his lips before he spoke, a motion you couldn’t help but trace with your eyes.

“Do you need something, pesky human?” he inquired without any real bite, and you hated that even a nickname as dumb as that had your heart leaping when paired with the velvet tone of his voice. God, you’d really starved in the days he hadn’t been around, huh.

“Absolutely,” you answered, face straight save for the twitch of your lips. “It’s something you can help me with, actually.”

Jimin tilted his head, lids lowering ever so slightly as he held your gaze. You nearly stuttered at the way it made your stomach dip. “Oh? And what is that?”

“I’m very desperately in need.” You stepped closer, just barely noticing him stiffen further. You felt your grin spread across your features, unable to contain it any longer as you leant forward, barely a foot from his face, and poked his side softly. You felt a little bit of shame at what you were about to say but pushed it away—go big or go home. “Very desperately in need of you, Mr Jimin.”

There was a beat of silence as the kelkie registered what you said, before shifted into a reaction. Except, it wasn’t anything like the pink-cheeked flustered reaction you expected.

You had barely a moment to catch the shift in his gaze, the smoulder of new fire behind his eyes, before he was stepping forward suddenly, his hands moving so fast you almost didn’t see where they went until you felt them grip your hips. A gasp escaped you as you were moved backwards quicker than you could keep up with and your back pressed to cool stone, Jimin’s front pressed against your own. Your heart leapt into action, thudding unevenly against your ribcage as you stared at him with wide, shell-shocked eyes. Fuck. Fuck what the fuck—

“You need me?” his voice was low and raspy yet still ran against your ears like rich velvet. Your stomach dipped, arousal lighting your veins on fire. His hands gripped your hips tightly, one shifting up to grasp your waist; you curved into him instinctively. “You shouldn’t say such things so carelessly.”

Your heart was racing and your mouth was open in shock—you had no idea how to even begin processing what was happening, but he didn’t wait for your mind to catch up. His fingers dug into your supple flesh enough that the slight ache melted into pleasure and had a whine building in your throat—a whine that shifted into a squeak as he pressed you further into the wall and rolled his hips against yours, sending molten desire shooting along your spine and throbbing at your core. Your pulse was out of control at this point, and you could barely catch sight of his features in the darkness.

His thumb brushed up, pressing into the flesh over your ribs through the shirt and nearing dangerously close to the underside of your breast; you felt your breath catch in your throat. It was as though your mind was filled with nothing but static and acute awareness of just how close he was, brain unable to track anything else.

“You shouldn’t push so hard, little human, I’m not sure you’d like the end result,” his voice grew lower, tone laced with such promise that it had a shiver rolling down your spine. He leant closer, full lips brushing your cheek before they moved to your ear. You felt something foreign brush against your leg, dragging up the side of your thigh before brushing the skin where your shirt had ridden up. You jerked at the slick sensation, a gasp tearing from your lips. Jimin’s voice returned, lips tickling your ear as he spoke and making your knees weak.

“You are not the only one that can play, petal.”

And then just like that he was gone, cool air greeting you in the absence of his touch, and your mind was left reeling in its attempts to catch up. Flabbergasted, with your cheeks unbearably hot and legs wobbly, you just barely caught it as he disappeared into the shadows down the hall, the darkness shifting oddly behind him. A heartbeat later and he was gone from sight completely, and you were alone in the hall with a racing heart and your skin still tingling from the remnants of his touch.

What. What…

What the fuck just happened?

↞ prev. || three || next ↠

::[ please lmk what you think! & pls consider buying me a kofi if you’d like to support me in some way! <3 ]::

[wilccard]

☺ ♣ ♥ !! ☼ ?? ► ↕

                                     ( modern au ) ::: accepting.

☺ for a loving/affectionate text 

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  when did we turn into the third floor gays that buy flowers and leave them on the window sill for ages? 🙄

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  several poets would be disappointed in us. i won’t bother listing them here.😒 just buy new flowers THE ONES THAT DON’T DIE.

♣ for a drunk text

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  [ SPEECH TO TEXT ] hello babe why is your family cruella de vil. ville. veel? how do you spell

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  i’m getting grilled for no fuckjng sreason. Reason. why do they know my motherss name??? something abt? her not finishing college? fucking ell

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  HOW AM I AT UR FAMILY PARTY BEFROE YOU...! GET HERE 🤡

♥ for a sexual/naughty text 

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  oh my god, august, the things that does to me.

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  [ VIDEO 03:38 ]

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  okay, longer than usual, but. what’s the point in having a bathroom mirror if not this. ALSO, USE HEADPHONES. EXPLICIT DESCRIPTIONS AHEAD.

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  if you use this to destroy my nonexistent political career (since my life is an appendage to yours at this point, no jk) at least take it to the finish line

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]] [ IMAGE ] yea btw we need to clean the bathroom mirror.

!! for a threatening text 

[[  sutherlandslide. ]]  [ 2018 ] [ drafted ] i cannot believe you’d pull this stunt. what’s the point in bringing him to the dorm room, you absolute idiot, you have a condo in the city. yOU LEFT THE DOOR OPEN. OF COURSE I’D WALK IN ON YOU TWO. you’d think i?? what, wouldn’t catch on? wouldn’t see through the paperthinfuckingveil of it? I AM NOT BLOODY TWELVE. I’M A POLI SCI MAJOR THIS IS LIKE... COLD WAR TACTICS 101. i cannot believe you’d use up and break the heart of some random bloke just to prove a point - people are people you absolute fucking brat. you spoiled, silverspoon asshole. shit like this, august? it’s exactly the reason i need to go. i just... need some time away. a world that doesn’t revolve around this will-they-wont-they we keep doing.

☼ for a morning text 

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  it’s like i woke up and i no longer know who i am

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  or as if i just found out. yea, definitely the latter

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  cannot believe it took us this long to do this. mostly me, but shush. i’m losing it in the fucking subway i cannot wait to get back home.

?? for a strange/vague text

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  the polls close in at 10, go go go go !!! you can make it to the first interview if you drop everything right now. ed should be there.

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  i’m omw, just trying to GET A FUCKING RIDe. if central lon traffic isn’t your priority for the first quarter i’m quitting.

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  also, if this works out.... and i’m saying IF. if. we should probably get new phones for these messages??? i’m not freaking out. just... I just want to hold you right now. to be there for whatever they announce.

► for a text not meant for you

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  jonathan i have no idea what they teach you in med school but. That thing you suggested? Christ i saw stars. i’m p sure august can’t walk straight 👌

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  wait

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  SMHhhhhh no way 🙃🙃🙃. they show shit like this on twitter and i always said it’s utterly fake tosh. well GUESS WHAT? I’M BEING PUNISHED FOR MY SKEPTICISM. FOR MY HUBRIS.

[[  willem 🍑💕 ]]  i am so sorry lol.

↕ for a scared/worried text

[[  sutherlandslide. ]]  [ 2019 ]  this is a temp phone so i’m not sure if it’ll get through. thank God the contacts saved. S. Jobs looking out for me from beyond the grave i guess haha.

[[  sutherlandslide. ]] [ 2019 ] okay, okay. here’s to cutting the crap in the new year: your mom texted. actually, she didn’t, she phoned MY mom, who was already riled up for not being able to reach me, so I assume that just amped her up. cue their collective paranoia that we’re somehow both gonna die at 5000 miles from one another but in perfect sync. cue my mom phoning the EMBASSY. she cried for like an hour but i managed to get from her that you’re?? in a bad way?? on some stuff?? it still wasn’t clear. you’re using?

[[  sutherlandslide. ]] [ 2019 ] one, what, and two, what the fuck? you never did that shit. we never did that shit. i took like two bumps in fresher’s week and you had to hold my hair back as i was throwing up in someone’s garden. and then you stayed up with me literally all through the night while i kept saying i can hear my teeth speak, which, Yeah. so how

[[  sutherlandslide. ]] [ 2019 ] God this PHONE. how did you get from that to just doing lines on the reg? and what else? there better not be an else. there better not is all i’m saying. and no i don’t mean the swedish/danish/whatever boyfriend, you can go through the GQ catalogue for all i care & as long as you’re safe. i mean an ILLEGAL sort of else. God, August, what happened to you? you had plans. we had plans? just because David Cameron can be caught on camera dicking a pig or something doesn’t mean it’s a free for all in world politics. one footage of the wrong angle, the right angle, and it just. it all goes to shit.

[[  sutherlandslide. ]] [ 2019 ] I don’t even know if I’m giving you this ole slap on the wrist as your future PR or manager or... or just as me. I think it’s just as me. I cannot cope with the thought of you snorting shit off someone’s hand in a glitzy loo somewhere. I cannot cope with the fact that? This is who you are when I’m not there? Was this who you’ve always been? Where the fuck was I during it? What did I not see? It sends me bloody raving. It sends me just... somewhere so dark and so off the edge of the world.

[[  sutherlandslide. ]] [ 2019 ] I’m coming home.

[echoeternally]

If Alakazam and Machamp Survive Together...

Balancing the votes between Machamp and Alakazam in the Hero’s Second Wind poll will bring them into the next story together. Those potential scenes are found on this page!

Brief descriptions and scene titles will be included below!

Fair warning: There is some content dealing with death below as well.

Second warning: This post is long to depict several developing scenes!

... ... ... ... ...

Cave of Wonders

At the conclusion of their battle, Alakazam was barely able to Teleport himself and Machamp to safety. They discover that they’ve healed, and wonder if they can place where they’d arrived.

...

His eyes snapped open, and Alakazam grasped at Machamp, who jolted awake as well. He quickly grabbed at Alakazam and scrambled to the surface.

Gasping, Machamp lurched forward, coughing a bit. He pulled up on Alakazam, who gasped, coughed, and sputtered. Both stared at one another, panting as they steadied their breathing.

Alakazam quickly patted at Machamp’s chest, and they looked down. No stab wounds were on him. While Machamp glanced around the cave, Alakazam held his hand out, telekinetically lifting his spoons back out.

“How did we…?” Machamp returned his attention to Alakazam. “Did you bring us here?”

“That shouldn’t be possible,” determined Alakazam. “We’ve never been here…”

“Wait, but even if you did, that last Teleport should’ve killed you!” Machamp splashed water out as he scooped up Alakazam’s hand. A soft orange glow lit up around their wrists. “…Your…pulse is fine…”

“And you made a remarkable recovery as well, yes,” pointed out Alakazam. “None of this makes any sense, unless…”

“This can’t be that place, can it?” Machamp brought Alakazam closer into him as he paddled over to the nearest ledge. “You remember the legend about the hidden lake that we read about?”

“Now that you mention it…” Alakazam studied the cavern as Machamp gently lifted him to the land, and then pulled himself up. “But how…can it really be…?”

... ... ...

Charting the Waters

As they proceed with climbing the mountains of the monarchy, Machamp takes a moment to talk with Samurott about some potentially developing feelings.

...

“…So…” Machamp slid over to Samurott, who slashed at a rock. “That Typhlosion pal of yours, huh?”

Samurott sighed and rolled his eyes. “What about him?”

“When did you start liking him back?”

Jerking back, Samurott spun around to Machamp, whiskers standing on edge. He pointed his blade at him.

“Don’t. You. Dare.”

“What? I wouldn’t tell him anything!”

“No, I’m not going over this with you, ok?”

“From what I was told, he gave you some clear moments that you could’ve talked to him about it,” reasoned Machamp. “But you’re holding back, because you already screwed up a few times, didn’t you?”

“Just what do you think you know?”

“Well, if you tell me that I’m right,” started Machamp, “that’ll be good to work with, because I went through the same problem with Alakazam.”

“…Wait, you two weren’t always…?”

“Us? No way!” Machamp laughed. “We needed help from your friends to sort our own feelings out!” He sighed and rubbed behind his neck. “A while ago, I, uh…I messed up with Alakazam pretty badly.” Machamp smirked. “We try not dwelling on it, though, because we’re really happy together nowadays! But…I could go over it with you, if you want.”

“Look, I don’t know what I’m feeling,” admitted Samurott as he sheathed his blade. “I just can’t sort it out, and I don’t think your little story would help any.”

“Maybe not, but you’d be surprised.”

Silently studying Machamp for a moment, Samurott sighed and nodded.

... ... ...

Battle Harmony

During a battle trial to prove their worth to the monarchy, Alakazam and Machamp outshine rivals from the mountains kingdom, with unrivaled pairing skills in combat.

...

“There’s no way they can be this good! …Can they?” Krookodile fumbled back. He glanced at Audino, who blankly shrugged to him. “Come on! We’re in a band together! It’s literally our job to synchronize and harmonize!”

“Being a band doesn’t really mean that you two are that close,” contested Machamp, as he folded his lower arms. “And it’s got nothing to do with your battle prowess.”

“What would you know about that?!” Krookodile folded his arms. “I bet your boyfriend over there is the one with all of the tactics.”

“Me?” Alakazam chuckled and shook his head. “I only know the tactics that Machamp has extensively taught and practiced with me.” He cupped his hands together and charged energy between his spoons. “The tactics that you’re dealing with are all his ideas, not mine.”

“Seriously?!”

“Aw, listen to you bringing me up.” Machamp beamed to Alakazam as he lifted the ball of green energy. “Don’t mind if I do!”

Alakazam waved to us, and then winked as Machamp pulled his fist back. “Always here for you.”

Orange energy focused around Machamp’s hand as he swung forward, slamming the orb at their opponents. Audino clapped as Krookodile grabbed her and dove aside.

He glanced back and watched the energy ball burst, with leaves scattering around the impact, and orange ashes coating them. Grinding his teeth, he twisted back to the pair.

“What the hell kind of combination is that?!”

“You mean you don’t have attack combinations?” Machamp grinned. “You’re only proving how much more we’ve got going on over here!”

“Bah!”

Krookodile lifted his foot and slammed it to the ground with his tail. A tremor ripped across the earth and toward the couple.

“Oh, I’ve been waiting to test this.” Alakazam slid in front of Machamp. “Ready, darling?”

“Always!”

Concentrating on his lower hands, red energy crackled from Machamp’s fingers, as he cupped his hands around Alakazam’s waist. Alakazam outstretched his arms, with his spoons levitating out from them.

Clapping his hands together, a fuschia aura lit around them as Alakazam pointed them to the ground. As the ground split open, his spoons, glowing with both energies, slammed into the earth and forced a heavy bubble between them.

... ... ...

Stoking the Flames

As a midpoint in their journey and after a show performance, Alakazam picks up on Typhlosion’s wavering interest in Samurott and decides to lend him some advice.

...

“Do you want to talk about your feelings regarding Samurott?”

Alakazam folded his legs as Typhlosion deflated and stared across the table to him. He lowered his head and plopped it down.

“There’s nothing else to talk about,” mumbled Typhlosion. “I told him months ago how I felt, and he…doesn’t like me the same way.”

“Has he ever actually told you that he doesn’t like you?”

“Does he have to?”

“Probably.”

“If he has by his inaction and disinterest, shouldn’t that count?”

“Not necessarily, considering that he’s likely struggling with sorting out his own feelings regarding the matter,” assessed Alakazam. “In all honesty, his mannerisms and hesitation around you seem to indicate that he has interest in you, particularly after your little, ah, performance back there.”

“Can we not talk about that?”

“Ha, you didn’t see how he watched you, and how he scowled at the crowd,” teased Alakazam. “Machamp guards me with that same underlying ferocity, so if he’s not romantically inclined to you, then that’s still a supremely excellent friend.”

“If he still even sees me like one…”

“Without a shadow of a doubt, he certainly cares for you,” reassured Alakazam. “Even when Machamp and I weren’t getting along years ago, he would always defend me.”

“Hold on, what?” Typhlosion picked his head up. “You and your boyfriend didn’t get along? I thought you were childhood sweethearts.”

“That’s not quite the story.” Alakazam sighed. “To tell you the truth, you and I are quite alike. My emotions twisted my thoughts up miserably, and I thought Machamp wasn’t as interested in me as I was in him.” He gazed down at his hands on the table, twirling his spoons around one another. “It was actually because I caught his mind off at the wrong moment, or uh, several times, really, but…I just repeatedly misinterpreted his love for me as curiosity and lust.” He sank down in his seat. “And lust for someone else, but I’d rather not get into that part.”

“But you’re both so…” Typhlosion sat up. “Now you’re both so inseparable!”

“Absolutely.” Alakazam grinned. “Your friends helped us come together, and we’ve stayed that way happily since.”

... ... ...

Echoes of the Apex

Near the conclusion of their journey, Machamp and Alakazam must face off against Mega Garchomp once again.

...

A heavy roar erupted from the rainbow light as it faded, and Mega Garchomp lowered his head, wildly grinning at the couple.

“Yeah, I definitely didn’t miss that psycho smile,” muttered Machamp. “Now what do we do?”

“Last time, we were throwing ourselves at him to defend our home,” pointed out Alakazam. “We were stuck with putting ourselves on the line because if he crossed it, everyone else would have died.”

“In case you didn’t notice, we’re falling right back into that scenario,” pointed out Machamp. “Just not at our home, but we’re not going to let innocent people die, are we?”

“Not at all.” Alakazam smirked. “But, unlike last time, we can’t give up breaking through to him.” He frowned. “Also, we don’t have you get too close to him.”

“Definitely not planning on a full repeat performance,” agreed Machamp. “So if you’re trying to get to his head, what do I do?”

“Keep me alive.”

Machamp twisted around to fully face Alakazam, who softly smiled to him.

“Yes, I would absolutely leave my life in your hands,” Alakazam answered Machamp’s thoughts. “And we’ll need to once he comes across the way to us.”

“Alakazam, we can’t—I can’t!”

“Would you rather just find a way to kill him, after what we nearly died discovering about him?” Machamp paused before he shook his head. “Good, because I’d rather not either.” Alakazam searched the mountaintop, and spotted the green dragon. “As a matter of fact, I have a few ideas on appealing to him this time.”

Following his eyes, Machamp spotted who Alakazam focused on. He grinned as Alakazam turned back to wink at him.

“Ok, I think I can follow.” He picked up Alakazam’s hand and kissed it. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Just…let’s be very careful this time.”

“Absolutely.”

... ... ... ... ...

(Remember, these are scenes in development. However, this is what you can look forward to, should the vote tallies of Machamp and Alakazam be close enough together! See if you can get their combined return for the stories!)

(Head back to the poll here!)

(Still not sure or want to read more? Check back here!)

[evien-stark]

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 109 [Begin: Interlude]

The first quarter meeting had been delayed by unfortunate circumstances this year. What with its two CEOs mixed up in Avengers superhero business and the downfall of a huge government agency which was hiding a Hydra conspiracy inside of it… things had to understandably be put on the back burner until the end of January. So now that you and Tony were a little bit more free and clear, you decided to host a bigger conference than normal. You had your own presentation to give inside of it, for the Board more than anyone else, but at the same time you could run the project updates from the other departments and see where development were on several other key things. 

These sort of things were always nerve wracking, no matter if you were confident in the works you had started. Even if it ended up that the Board disagreed or didn’t like what was going on, they would never have the balls to start organizing another movement for removal. For either you or Tony. After what had happened last time… and now that the two of you were certifiable public darlings and heroes- they’d never do that again. It would be against their own interests. 

Yet, still, knowing this, you had a two hour long presentation about your projects and initiatives. Some that went years back. It was hard to hold a room for that long, you knew. But the information needed to be out and in the light of day so that Stark Industries could move forward into the new year. Tony helped you prepare… the best he could, anyway, and he sat front row for you while you took the stage. 

You went through each with power points that you and Pepper had put together late into the night the day before. Starting with the Clean Planet Initiative that had started the moment Tony had shut down the weapons division of Stark Industries and spanning the power up of the Tower everyone was currently sitting in. That was going all well and good. Of course. Running smoothly, the Tower was still sustaining itself, and Stark Industries had been able to credit itself with the reduction of air pollution, with plastic waste reduction, with fuel efficiency regulations, and new clean energy production. Stark Industries’ teams in that area had also begun their last phase of their Intellicrops project, which was something they’d present near the end of the conference. 

Then came the update on the Disaster Relief Funds for both the Expo and the Battle of New York. After the initial snafu of having terrible staff that had had to be replaced, things had been running a little bit more smoothly. Though the funds had not run dry, their usage had gone down- which was a great sign. It meant people were no longer relying on Stark Industries for help. Life was returning back to normal. Not particularly important to people like the Board, but the mentions of the oodles of tax credits the company could still claim and the boost to PR through all this was a little bit more substantial to their tastes.

A lengthy chunk of time was dedicated to Damage Control’s reports about the clean up portion of New York. You made sure to include that you’d broken off a portion of the team to go assess and clean up DC, and that the warehouses were scheduled to go under a revamp after you’d been forced to purchase more property for them to operate. Company bloat would always be a thing to be mindful of, but when that bloat consisted of deadly weapons… someone needed to go through every single shelf to make sure things were not only accounted for, but to determine whether or not those very same things were worth holding on to. 

After that you gave the update on the Hansen Foundation. Still up and running strong. Though it had mostly assisted and helped the veterans that had been hurt by AIM’s malicious intentions, you and Tony had expanded it to care for the nation’s veterans that were otherwise not getting the help they needed. Going well, smoothly, and in the light of mentioning the funds needed for the Foundation, you again brought up the tax breaks and stock boosts that came from having someone like Colonel Rhodes on advisory staff. It had been a huge face lift for Stark Industries. Putting its past behind it and moving forward to navigate the damage it may have taken part in. 

...especially after the SHIELD leaks had informed the public that Obadiah Stane had been selling weapons to America’s enemies for fun and profit… yes, this foundation out of all of them was probably the most important one to have as a full face right now. 

The last two points of business were two of your newest initiatives: M and OAT. It was a little early to be reporting on either of them in a financial capacity, but the public returns had already been great and, as you convinced everyone, very cost effective. The net gain would far outweigh whatever dollar amount ended up being on the end of this year’s reports. You were very sure of that. With OAT came the mention that you and Tony were looking to buy up another building- perhaps in DC, but not sure yet, to accommodate the expansion of Stark Industries and its brand new employees. Scouting would have to be done soon, something you said you were looking forward to. 

With that you opened the floor for questions, whether from the Board or the teams that had been invited to this big meeting. There had been… many. More than you would have liked. And more than you needed about topics not exactly pertinent to your presentations. Many of them having to do with the SHIELD leaks, of course, and your and Tony’s various… dealings. It wasn’t hard to put the voices to bed, and direct them to any of the multitude of reports that already existed. As for if any of them would negatively impact the company, you had personally already seen to that your and Tony’s motives would not be questioned. 

After that very public spat with Christine, the general consensus was that you were doing your job- as a superhero and businesswoman. Were someone to look up to. Were someone that people agreed with, in every poll that had come out about it. Stark Industries had remained untouched. So whether or not you should have blown up that way (you were kind of the mind that you maybe shouldn’t have and should have remained dignified about it) didn’t matter anymore. You had and the public was loving it. 

Christine had retreated into a hole. Calls had stopped. Her portion of the media that followed you and Tony around like hawks had disappeared. That spelled trouble, you were sure. She’d been smacked pretty hard for all to see. There was no way she was going to take that without repercussions. You just hoped… she wouldn’t do something drastic. Better not to think about it, for the moment. 

Once your portion of the conference was finished, you thanked everyone and as usual, made a small speech about looking forward to the year ahead. After that, you excused yourself off the presentation stage in the theater, wanting to take a moment just to breathe after speaking for so long. Even though you hadn’t seen him get up, it didn’t surprise you to see Tony waiting for you behind the curtain, bottle of chilled water in hand. 

The next presenter was already taking the stage as he smiled at you. “Great stuff. You really have a talent for getting people to eat out of your hand.” 

“You know, I think one of the members of the Board said that to me a long time ago.” Hard to remember it, now. Although the part of your brain that held on to all things painful reminded you that that moment had not been a good one. 

“They’re not wrong.” As you took the water from him and sipped at it gingerly, he put an arm around your waist. “What’d’you think? Time to cut and run?” 

“That would be very rude to the other presenters.” While this grand meeting would be summarized in reports that you would go over later anyway… it was better for appearance to sit through and smile. 

“Hm. Yeah. Well. Then we have a problem.” Humming sardonically. When you looked up at him he grinned. “It may also be very rude to the waitstaff at Ivy Lane if we bail on our reservation.” 

You settled a hand on his chest with a playfully light push. “You mean your reservation. I had no part in that.” 

“It was for two.” 

“Guess you’ll have to get Bruce to go.” 

“Busy.” 

“So am I.” 

The exchange left the two of you lightly smirking at one another, probably all too obvious you’d give in very soon. He helped speed matters along by lifting the hand you’d laid over his heart, pressing a kiss to the back. “Come on. Little celebration dinner never hurt anyone.” 

“Technically the conference isn’t over. Celebrating early might invite chaos…” Lilting lightly as you half leaned up. 

“I can handle chaos- especially restaurant chaos. What’s the worst they can do. Burn my chicken? Spill my wine?” 

“Let’s not tempt fate, darling.” Shifting completely forward to press a small kiss to his lips. 

It was interrupted all too soon by a clearing of someone’s throat. And when the two of you broke and turned, you saw Happy standing behind you. He hooked a thumb towards the exit door. “Car’s ready.” 

You feigned annoyance back up at Tony. “I didn’t even say I would go.” 

“But you will. Call me crazy, but, I’m pretty sure I know you by now.” 

That damnable boyish charm of his, with that beautiful wry smile… you wondered if Tony Stark was aware of just how much he had you wrapped around his finger. You only hoped the feeling was mutual, as the two of you made your quiet escape. And hoped that no one noticed. Or saw. Or cared. 

                                                     ---- 

As luck would have it, the night after that went perfectly fine. No one burned Tony’s food, no one spilled any drinks on you. Though he didn’t reserve the whole restaurant, the two of you had a back table all to yourselves. It was nice to just be together, to just spend some time together after everything. Really, it was starting to feel like falling into a bit of a routine that way. 

Something terrible and seemingly world-ending would come down upon you, Tony, and the team. You’d all figure it out. Clean up would start. And then eventually you and Tony would pretend you knew what normal life looked like for a little while. Enjoy each other’s company. And then… something else bad would happen. 

It made the moments you shared, like that, precious. But it also… served to fuel your anxiety. How many more times would big terrible things happen? How many more storms would you have to weather? 

While you had decided, coming into your realization, that you didn’t want to ruin the evening, he caught your eyes in the lowlights of flickering candles, and his smile disappeared. Settling his hand over yours, “You okay?” 

Your smile was somewhat bittersweet. “That obvious?” 

“Always.” Such a strong and resolute statement drove a stake of warmth through your churning worries. 

But it wasn’t enough to kill them. “I don’t wanna ruin the night. I just… for a second couldn’t help but think about how we always end up here. After something nasty. Like we’re caught in an endless cycle.” 

His eyes lowered, thinking. There was a soft silence before he started nodding lightly. “Yeah. ...I’m still in the planning phases, of this whole defense idea, but. I think I can get Banner in by June and start putting in the real work.” 

This was not where you wanted to put his mind right now, but now that you’d forced him there, you had no choice. “I know we’ve talked about it but could you just… as simple as possible give me what your “defense idea” is?” Before it had been assistance. Something to help the Avengers. But now… 

“It would be nice. Kinda far fetched, but. I work best on lofty ideals.” Smiling just a little. “-anyway, what I’m getting at… I’m willing to put in the time and effort- to something that… lets us go home.” 

“Is that an option?” 

“I’m still in the very rough draft phases, but-” 

You turned your hand over in his so that you could give him a squeeze. “I’m not asking if you could build something. I have no doubt in my mind that you could figure out something- even something that big. I’m asking… even if you did…” 

“Would we be able to stop?” A breath left him, and he slid his fingers between yours, just holding on. His eyes dropped again. “If you’re asking me that, you already know the answer. But. In terms of incremental steps. Monitoring a situation is better than being on the front lines.” 

Monitoring. You imagined, he meant this, from somewhere safe. Wasn’t that what this was all about? There were levels of this. To build something that would allow you to pretend you could lead normal lives. To build something that would protect the earth from the things he saw up in space, and the things he thought would eventually come to earth to wreak more havoc. But, on top of it all… 

Somewhere inside you, you heard the broken plea he’d made the night before your house in California had been blown up. 

Threat is imminent, and I have to protect the one thing that I can't live without. That's you.

Taking a breath, you tried to level the both of you out, and aimed a quieter smile his way. “When you say lets us go home, what is it you’re envisioning?” 

He blinked twice, having to shift gears to acquiesce that kind of question. But, once he was there, the quirk in the corner of his lips was considerably wry. “Are you asking me where I see us?” 

“In… five years.” 

“Am I being interviewed?” Grinning, then. 

You returned the expression. “If it helps to think of it that way, then sure.” 

“Alright. Five years…” Breathing out, eyes going up quickly in thought. As if he was looking at something- the picture he had in his mind. “New house. Something- comfortable. I think I’m aging out of my whole playboy billionaire estate vibe.” 

“Thank god for that.” 

For one reason or another this got a little laugh out of him, a drop of his head. When his eyes returned to yours, he lifted your joined hands, shifting forward so that he could rest the back of yours against his cheek. “Even though it seems like it’s not up to me- I’d hope by then you’ll settle for marriage.” 

“Settle, huh? That’s a terrible pitch. You’re doing a disservice to yourself, you know.” 

“If that’s how you feel, I’ll have them bring out a slice of cake with a ring in it right now.” 

While you didn’t think he had something like that set up, you also knew if you gave him even the barest notion that that was what you wanted, he’d absolutely make it happen in fifteen minutes. He was ready to jump for you, whenever you were ready. That’s what he was saying. It put a squeeze in your heart. “Tony…” 

“Oh that sounds bad.” Teasing, even knowing defeat was coming, smiling even still. 

“It’s not that I don’t want to.” 

“We’re off to a good start.” 

“Just- right now…” You sighed, and he mirrored it, looking the exact kind of crestfallen yet understanding that really broke your heart. “Right now is not the right time.” 

He nodded, and then pressed a little closer to your hand. “But. In five years?” 

Your brows went up. “Did you just turn the tables on me?” 

“I was sure you’d be used to that by now.” 

Untangling your fingers from his, you turned your hand, resting his cheek in your palm. Just holding him. Dearly. Lovingly. Eyes watching his. “In five years… yes. I’d like a home with you. I’d like to build a life with you. And… yes. Be married to you.” 

“Okay.” He murmured, looking at you. Adoration shone in his eyes, radiated between you, twined with that ever present and deep feeling of love. That he had only for you. “In five years.” 

Hearing him at that moment, make a promise. A promise to try and find a way to cull that self same chaos in your lives. The uncertainty. Not only for the world. But for the both of you. So that the two of you could have a life together. “I love you, Tony.” 

His smile was so beautiful. “I love you, too.” Reaching up to hold your hand there against his face, turning lightly, to press a kiss to your palm. “More than anything.” 

                                                    ----

A light rain had started to fall and it was terribly chilly outside, but after your meal you and Tony decided it might be nice to just take a little walk in the rain. Happy provided the both of you with an umbrella, and at your request set a moving security perimeter of twenty feet, him ten behind, just to keep cameras at bay. It sucked, that you were having to do that increasingly more, but this life came with that territory. 

Tony was holding the umbrella over the both of you, his other arm preoccupied, twined with yours as you laid your head against him. The city at least seemed quiet, not even in the superficial way that your security was creating. It was just… nice. Even the cold was refreshing, in a way. The two of you had slipped into slightly broken and soft conversation about nothing important. 

It was hard to sense the subtle shift, lulled into that false sense of things being alright. Someone had been following the two of you. And it wasn’t until you heard Happy arguing with whoever it was that the both of you turned. 

A little too late as a woman put him over her shoulder and onto his back in a hard thump. She was short, black hair and very pale skin- and she was angry. Tony immediately moved just in front of you, “Please don’t touch my Happy.” Calling out to her. 

While she looked at him for a few seconds, her gaze skewed to you. “I don’t want trouble.” And after saying so, continued to give you the exact opposite idea as she came stomping your way. 

You couldn’t help but make a face at her. “Then you’re making a mistake.” Whoever she was, she was now just short of charging two of the most powerful people in the city. How she’d broken through security was a bit of an upsetting question- but- the two of you could handle yourselves. 

Said security had gotten the message that something was going down on their watch, and two of your Stark Industries strongmen came to her side. A car pulled up on the sidewalk. Tony opened the door for you, and put his arm around you to usher you inside. But, with one leg up and a hand on the door, you heard her call. “Hey-!” Whoever she was, the police could sort her out. Your plan was to leave. At least until she yelled again. 

“Hey, puppy!” 

It shot a tremor through you so violent you thought for a second the sidewalk must be shaking. Going in the car was no longer an option. Your body seemed to be moving on its own as you turned back to look at her. Your security was scattered on the sidewalk. 

“That’s what I thought. That’s you. Right?” 

Tony’s voice was so very far away. Muffled, as he called out, with a hand on your shoulder, “Honey-” 

The next motions came in swift chops. The yank of your jacket zipper. The double press of the Heart Reactor. Tony was yelling something behind you- as you’d started moving. Running at full speed. This woman was dangerous. And not only that- 

She was with him. 

Moving to a half leap to put all your momentum forward, you charged at her with a powerful punch. One she caught, both of her hands holding you at bay, gritting her teeth at you as the two of you struggled. “Listen to me-” Growling at you. 

“You work for him-” Growling right on back, zipping your eyes up along your HUD to get the helmet to release. You wanted to look into her eyes for this. To send a message to her- and him. You felt a snarl as you bore your teeth at her, “So you go back to him and tell him-” 

“I don’t work for that asshole. And he’s dead. No thanks to you.” 

That practically killed the fight in you almost immediately. The feeling of such raw and powerful guilt- of disgust and of wrath… you’d felt these things before. Easing up on your punch, even though she still held you in her palms, you narrowed your eyes at her. The heavy smell of liquor rolling off her was sickening. “What are you talking about?” 

“It’s you, right? At least tell me I’ve got that part down.” There was a smaller air of satisfaction. She scoffed with a dead-eyed half grin. “Yeah. He’s dead. I thought you should know.” Her eyes moved sideways and then she let you go, putting her hands up. “I did what I came here to do.” 

You realized the sound of a heavy thunk behind you too late. Tony had pulled a suit- probably from the car- and while this woman was strong... she was also probably no idiot. “Are we talking about-” 

“Kilgrave. If you even got that far. If you even cared.” She spit at you. Like this was… your fault, somehow. “I thought he was lying, you know. Not that it matters, he’s dead now. But he hurt a lot of people. Because you let him.” 

“You’re sure he’s dead?” 

She hung her head, a sarcastic bark of laughter leaving her. “Saw him got hit by a bus. Yeah. He’s pretty dead.” Then she looked up at you, and for a moment you weren’t sure you’d ever seen so much boiling hate- or felt so much- directed at you before. “Superhero my ass. You could’ve stopped him-” 

It riled you straight to your core. Even as you held up your hand to keep Tony at bay- from firing on this woman- you stared her down. “If we’re talking about the same monster, then you know I had no say in what I did.” 

“But you got out. And you let him continue to roam around. Because you’re a coward. Live with that for the rest of your life. Knowing he hurt so many other people. Knowing you could have done more. People are dead because of you.” Then she turned away in a half stumble, shoving aside one of your other security guards who had gotten to his feet. “Don’t touch me.” Barking at him, half falling over, catching herself, and then walking off. 

Your men were staring at you, waiting for direction- because two of the Iron People of the world were standing there, letting her get away. So clearly that meant they shouldn’t get involved. Right? “...ma’am?” 

Tony put a hand on your shoulder. “Honey.” 

With a shaky hand, feeling the earth shift beneath you, you reached up to deactivate the suit, and felt the slice of pouring rain suddenly coming down over you. The man that had taken you… one you’d promised vengeance on- the one you’d promised you’d make regret doing that- regret hurting others… also the one you ran from- such a dangerous, powerful man. The man who could command people with a single word. 

...had gotten hit by a bus. 

Wrapping your arms around yourself, you turned to Tony, unable to meet his eyes. “I need to go home.” 

“Yeah-” Clearly stunned and confused, having no earthly idea what the hell was going on. But wanting to heed your needs. 

Once the two of you were in the car with Happy behind the wheel, promising he was okay- and apologizing for letting that happen- you tuned everything else out except the patter of rain on the windows. 

Fury had been right. You should have gotten out of bed. You should have made an effort. Maybe you could have caught that man- Kilgrave, apparently. That did make you a coward. The woman was right. 

Stuck in traffic, fifteen minutes out from the Tower, you found your voice. “She said he’s dead.” 

Tony had his arm around you, the both of you soaking wet still. “Who?” 

“The one who took me.” 

The air in the back of the car became suffocating and dark. “...she sure about that?” 

“She wasn’t lying.” You knew it, now. Sensed it, as she was coming down on you. Everything she’d said was true. “She blamed me-” This escaping out of you in a hiccup as you reached up to press a hand to your forehead. 

“She was also drunk. Which. Excusable. Given the circumstances. But. Also skews her judgment.” He was trying to defend you. And much as you wanted to give in… 

“She called me a coward.” 

“What more proof do you need that she’s wrong?” When you didn’t- couldn’t- answer, he let a breath out. “...we’re really sure. That he’s dead? Who even is she? ...you’re sure she’s sure?” Double and triple checking. Wordlessly you nodded. “...how did she know about you?” 

“He must have… told her. I don’t know. He was a sick person.” 

“And he’s dead now. According to her.” Tony’s skepticism was understandable. This was such a terrible mark on both your lives. To have it come to a quick and unforeseeable, maybe even unknowable end… it was hard to believe. “...either way. I had JARVIS grab a scan.” 

“Why?” Finding enough strength to finally look up at him. 

“Seems like enhanced people are popping up everywhere, these days. Seeing as how she laid out our security and held a swing from you like Cap, I’m thinking it’s not a bad idea to keep an eye on things.” 

You weren’t sure how you felt about this. If she were anything like you- and it seemed like you had an uncomfortable amount in common… “I don’t want to spy on her.” 

“Nobody said spy. I’m not spying.” Defending himself quickly. 

“I believe her.” What she had been saying was true. You… were pretty sure about it. 

“Alright. So I believe you when you believe her. Doesn’t change the fact that a woman that angry and that boozed up could punch a hole through a regular person.” 

Your eyes dropped, thinking about this. ...he was right. And you weren’t sure how to feel about that. The two of you weren’t responsible for every single newly enhanced individual that showed up on the street. Not until they started menacing the general public, at least. Then it was sort of your problem.

But this woman had been taken by that man. Probably abused by him. No telling for how long. She was now angry and had a new sense of freedom. ...she was also self medicating with alcohol. And she had some pretty heavy firepower in her muscles. This was a dangerous cocktail. ...it also wasn’t fair to pigeonhole her. 

“SHIELD kept tabs on people, remember? And we didn’t like it. ...I’m- I agree with you. This situation is a little dicey but… let’s leave her alone. Until she decides what side of the fence she’s coming out on.” 

“I’m not trying to menace her.” There was a sudden blossom of blue in the backseat as he looked away. Guilt was very close. “...I remember. How you came out of that. I’ve got nothing but sympathy, alright?” Leaning in closer, you practically hid your face against the round of his shoulder, hand over his heart. Just clinging to him. He took a breath to even himself out. “We’ll stay worried about us. And our current situation.” Making a very valiant effort, he touched a hand over your wet hair, directing your attention his way, and tried a smile for you. “...and that five years will be here before you know it.” 

Out of all the ways you’d expected this evening to go… this wasn’t exactly the chaos you’d thought you were inviting. It wasn’t exactly the worst, either. But it… definitely sucked. 

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 113 Results

The chapter poll closed with 1,355 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,319 Responses

While still highly rated, last month’s chapter was a hard act to follow. The number of 5 ratings were down nearly 17%.

I find myself getting waaaaay religious whenever a new chapter comes out

Floch is annoying, Gabi is annoying, Eren is annoying, but I can't wait to see where this all is heading.

I could feel the ground shake and hear Zeke's agonizing screams and almost, almost really felt for the poor guy, falling victim to something worse than the angel of death itself.. gosh, I don't think a manga ever gave me such goosebumps before..well done Isayama, well fucking done.

Everytime I think Floch has reached the maximum level of assholery, he ups the game to inconceivable levels. I still can't believe poor Marlowe had to die for this.

Can I have a break from suffering? Thanks.

Forget opening a tea shop, Levi should open a sushi bar instead

Seriously how about Levi just go solo the whole world and win because he's so damn OP and save all Eldians and just end the story in the next episode

JUST TELL ME HOW ZEKE AND EREN MEET ALREADY!!

WHAT WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? 1,331 Responses

It was hard to choose a favorite moment. “All of it” was the top pick (21.5%) followed by “Levi’s face when he resolved to kill his comrades” (17.1%). Third place was “Levi slicing Zeke’s feet and legs” (10%).  Levi’s Angel of Death moment was the most popular write-in. In retrospect it should’ve been included as an option.

Levi looking like a goddamn Angel of Death.

Nothing I am invested in happened this chapter, but Levi emerging from the trees like an avenging angel was pretty cool!

This is the First chapter where I have trouble choosing one Option. This was a real rollercoaster.

Levi kicking Zeke’s a** is quality entertainment

Kinda bummed by this chapter, though it was good. As a Mikasa stan (lmao) I was looking forward to seeing her post-emotional destruction, but we didn’t see her face vs. the rest of the 104th which makes me think she isn’t crying, but has gained some resolve and will pull open the bars or some shit. Also FUCK Floch.

Thank you Levi for finally ripping Zeke apart.

CHAPTER 113 IS CALLED “SAVAGERY.” WHICH CHARACTER DID YOU THINK BEST EXEMPLIFIES THIS TITLE? 1,322 Responses

Close to 70% of the fandom believes Levi was the most savage this chapter. Floch was a distant second (18.2%). The most popular write in was “All of them!”

I think the title "Savagery" does refer to Levi, because I think he can be the monster he needs to be to survive. And I love it.

Paradis island. The whole chain of command is out of the window; the residents are becoming savages (those who drank wine becoming mindless titans, trainees beating up Shadis, Yeagerists promoting anarchy, etc.) They are becoming literal savages (they're all sociopaths because they're a little more savage than others lul)

Keith Shadis & Floch  would be the obvious choice. But I interpret the title as describing the overall savagery of war, as seen in all the different parties.

Walls were built to protect titan from Levi, amen

While it very much could be a direct description of Levi's brutal actions aganist Zeke, I believe everyone engaged in this conflict is being savage one way or another by inheritence, as war in itself is savagery.

Zeke did nothing wrong. Levi did nothing wrong. Floche is the worst.

SINCE HANGE AND PIXIS HAVEN’T SPOKEN, HOW DID PIXIS KNOW ABOUT THE WINE? 1,321 Responses

Most respondents (42.8%) believe that Pixis does not know about the wine specifically, but deduced that Zeke's scream had something to do with what happened. 24.8% believe that he is just a smart dude, but 23.2% think that he might have been tipped off by Yelena.

Pixis knows alcohol. He knows when something's up.

Imo Pixis , Eren and Zeke are all working together , so Pixis gained knowledge of the wine from Eren , although after he drank it.

He was willing to surrender to the Yeager brothers, maybe Zeke or Kiyomi told him beforehand.

P A T H S

SINCE IT’S BEEN CONFIRMED THAT PIXIS AND NILE HAVE CONSUMED THE TAINTED WINE, DO YOU THINK THEY ARE DESTINED TO BECOME TITANS? 1,325 Responses

While the majority is unsure (42.7%), more than a third (34.4%) believe Nile and Pixis are destined to become titans.  Only 22.9% think they will die another way be just fine.

I really hope Pixis doesn’t become a Titan I’ve always liked him.

I think that Zeke has a plan, probably he wants that Levi takes him to Sina with the Paradis high commands (Pixis, Nile, etc) to use his scream with they to turn them to titans. We saw in this chapter that Zeke's scream doesn't work with enough distance, that's the reasson that Zeke wants to go with them.

LEVI HAS LOST ANOTHER SQUAD, THIS TIME BY HIS OWN HANDS. HOW BADLY DO YOU FEEL FOR LEVI? 1,327 Responses

79.4% of people responding to this question: Levi lost his entire squad (...again). He didn’t lose 20% of his squad. He didn’t even lose 50%. He lost his whole squad (...again). Look at what it’s done to him. You can see the death in his eyes, but he keeps on going. This is why Levi is one of my favorite characters.

If I have learned nothing else, I have learned that the world has destined Levi to be a soloist. Every time he has a squad something goes wrong.

Man, Levi's face was just pure resignation. He knew he had to, once again, he had to take lives in order to protect others. Gut wrenching, but just completely real.

Ffs, just let Levi retire. Like, look at the PAIN in his eyes when he remembers the conversation with his subordinates. It's even worse when his expression changes to "knowing exactly what to do".

I think he will be correct that everyone’s deaths amounted to nothing in the end

That panel if Levi falling while all his comrades are trying to kill him; this guy can't catch a break

THERE’S BEEN SOME TALK IN THE FANDOM ABOUT LEVI BEING TOO OP. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 1,333 Responses

53.3% of the fandom agree that Levi is OP but they are a-ok with it.  20% thinks he’s powerful and not OP at all. Only 10.3% of respondents indicated that Levi’s extreme power hurts their enjoyment of the series.

It doesn’t matter to me that many think Levi is OP; whether you agree with that or not, come on, give Levi a break. He at the very least deserves a happy ending after all he’s been through

Levi is too overpowered. I didn't want him to die here but at least I want him to have a more difficult fight. Him getting a serious injury for example. Every fight he had he didn't even get injured (except against the FT and that was because of Mikasa). This is one of the reasons that for me Levi is a VERY boring character.

Levi destroying Zeke was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. I think he stands a fair chance against Eren if he still has thunder spears.

Seeing all the Levi hate, because of the ""OP"" thing was kinda unexpected and annoying to me lol Without Levi's help for example in the female titan or RtS arc wouldn't be some characters where they are right now *cough* Mikasa would be dead *cough* I think Zeke underestimated him and that's was the deal at least.

Not sure the arguments about Levi being too OP make much sense. He was in the forest of giant trees, which has already been established as the best environment to use 3DMG. I really thought Levi was toast after last chapter just because Zeke utilizing the element of surprise, but I forgot how strong he was. Good to see him in action again.

I know a lot of people have had issues with Levi being too OP or with Levi being too cruel uwu but ffs have we forgotten who this man is? Levi fucking Ackerman, who is *supposed* to be OP af, who has the curse of having one of the worst fates in the series. Seriously, everybody around him is dying, he was born in a shit world that just keeps getting shittier, and he is no close to that pristine tea shop than he ever was, possibly ever will be. Sure he's Hella strong and survives all his battles with barely a scratch, but does it give him a happy life? No it fucking does not.

Levi isn't OP you guys are just mean

LEVI=GOD

DO YOU THINK LEVI’S QUICK DEFEAT OF ZEKE WAS UNREALISTIC? 1,332 Responses

Just over half the fandom (50.8%) say no, Levi’s quick defeat of Zeke was not unrealistic. Only 8.6% answered “Yes” to this question.

I know 90% of the Fandom has a hard-on for Levi but I wish the fight with zeke was more even.

Levi's fight against Zeke was fun but at the same time it felt like some sort of repetition of him fucking Zeke up back in RTS (I guess that was part of the purpose, lol), so it ended up not being very appealing to me after a couple of days.

Being Intelligent and being Smart are different things and yes Zeke might be good at planning strategies but he is a dumbass when it come to fighting and understanding other people.

Seeing Levi vs BT 2.0 gave me some serious highs. Was literally shaking while reading the leaks. I just realised how Levi truly is the perfect foil to someone like Zeke. The world could be crumbling, but give Levi any task, and you can trust him to deliver it 99.9% of the times, with the 0.1% being but the benefit of the doubt.

BEFORE READING THIS CHAPTER, WHO HAD YOU THOUGHT WOULD WIN THIS ENCOUNTER? 1,327 Responses

At nearly 40%, a majority of respondents thought that Levi vs Zeke Round 2 would be a more even fight than their first encounter, with a close 34.7% thinking that Levi would prevail again. Only 21.1% believed Zeke would win.

Anyone who thought Zeke had any chance of facing Levi and winning mano a mano (even with titans) is not reading the same manga I am.

The "Farewell, Heicho" leak made me think Zeke won.

I thought Zeke's plan wouldn't be enough to kill Levi, but enough for him to escape. I still wasn't surprised lol.

If it came down to a straight battle, I knew Levi would win because we've seen him win against greater odds. The difference is that I didn't think the encounter would become a straight-up battle so quickly, I assumed Zeke would have some other distraction or escape plan other than literally just yeeting out of the scene

I hoped Zeke would escape or Levi would at least struggle instead of Ackerhaxing his way through 20+ Titans and still managing to catch up to an escaping Zeke and effortlessly defeat him, but no.

The outcome was fairly expected considering all the factors that stood in Levi's advantage (big ass trees, thunder spear, zeke's miscalculationsTM/underestimation...etc) so I wasn't surprised when he easily whooped his ass.

Bolting away while screaming was such a solid plan. I'm shocked it didn't work.

IF ZEKE HAD EXPLAINED HIS PLAN TO LEVI, DO YOU THINK THERE’S A CHANCE LEVI WOULD’VE UNDERSTOOD? 1,327 Responses

42% of respondents think it’s possible that Levi might have been open to Zeke’s plan, but equally possible he wouldn’t have listened. Nearly 40% are certain that Levi has no interest in anything Zeke has to say. A small 13% of respondents think that Levi would have been open minded if open communication had been present.

whether Levi would have "understood" the Jeagerbros' plan is irrelevant. I think Levi still lives by "make the choice with least regrets" and so would not have changed his mind, even if he had understood their motivations.

Poor zeke , Poor Levi , we wish Levi will understand zeke's point of view...😔😔

WILL LEVI FACE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES FOR STOPPING ZEKE AND DELAYING THE YEAGERBRO’S PLAN? 1,324 Responses

Half of respondents believe that Levi will not be able to bask in his victory for long before the story throws him another wrench. 30% aren’t sure if he will or not and 15% are confident that Levi’s victory is solid and will be rewarded.  

I believe Levi has now somewhat of an advantage over the Yeagerists as he's holding the key and core to their plan captive, without Zeke the plan just won't proceed. Unless Eren suspected something might happen to Zeke and has a plan B up his sleeves, Levi has the upper hand now, and he can easily finish Zeke off any second. If he were to encounter Eren & co. on the way there's no doubt he'll use Zeke as a bargaining chip. I'm exceptionally excited to see how things will play out between them.

God I hope not, but knowing Yams, something terrible awaits Levi after the brilliance of this chapter.

not sure but SERIOUSLY people need to stop with the lies and secrets.

I think something we're not expecting might happen.

Why would he? If there are any negative consequences coming his way, it is because he didn't kill Zeke . Zeke seems like the type to come up with double plans -- for example, Levi could unintentionally be leading Zeke to his meetup with Eren.

I wouldn't say "negative consequences," but he definitely stalled their plans. Considering the fact that no one other than the two know what those plans are, I feel like Levi's victory over Zeke would allow some space in the story for these "plans" to finally be revealed and explained, whether it be to the characters in the story, or to us readers.

Zeke can regenerate anyway so I think he might get away with it

I'm afraid for Levi. He did what he did to Zeke with the best intentions, but I fear he's now inadvertently ruining the plan the brothers had so carefully orchestrated. I'm afraid he's gonna face Eren in a next chapter, who's going to do everything to prevent his brother from being eaten.

WHERE DO YOU THINK LEVI IS HEADING? 1,317 Responses

Historia’s Farm was the most popular option with nearly half the vote (49.7%). Shiganshina was second with 20%. In retrospect we should’ve included Rakugo as a potential destination since the theory that he’s heading there to feed Zeke to Connie’s mom is gaining popularity.

Historia's Farm or Ragako

Levi's smart enough to figure out there were probably more individuals on the receiving end of the tainted wine.  With that in mind, he'll be very cautious with where he goes to ensure no more transformations occur.

Unless he has some titan serum in his pockets going straight to Historia would be a bit pointless. Meeting with Pyxis first seems likely.

Taking Zeke to Shiganshina or anywhere where everyone else are is too risky. Zeke could get away and pull out his screaming card and shift onto his beast titan form.

The horses don't seem to be moving. So maybe he's just chilling out in an open field

To Erwin’s grave

Dear snkpolls. How about cutting out with this unfunny Zevi bullshit for sociopaths and including real ships some people actually like instead? I mean pairings. Not the actual ships. I don't want Titanic in the next poll.

Honestly, the Zevi getaway option gave me a much needed laugh after the chapter.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT LEVI’S SLICE AND DICE OF ZEKE’S LEGS? 1,330 Responses

A tiny fraction (3.1%) of the fandom was upset or disappointed with Levi’s actions, the rest were fine with it. “I don’t blame him” and “cruel but understandable” comprised the thoughts of 70% of the fandom. 20% wish Levi had done even more.

I thought it was unnecessarily cruel and completely in-character for Levi. God I love this man

He didn't want Zeke to transform, what's so difficult to understand?

Honestly I’m not sure why zeke was so surprised that Levi came out alive lmao. Like he’s literally seen - up close and personal - what he’s capable of. He’s humanity’s strongest ffs.

I get it and it's hard to say there's not a little justification, but I think it's a very natural human response to wince at ANYONE suffering enormous amounts of pain. Most of us would cringe even if we were witnessing Hitler himself being tortured, no matter what we might think right now. It's just a natural, innate reaction to human suffering.

Unnecessarily cruel and it's gonna bite him in the ass.

I have not been able to eat celery since

DID ZEKE’S INTERNAL MONOLOGUE AFFECT YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT HIM? 1,328 Responses

44% of respondents were not swayed one way or another about their stance on Zeke after hearing more of his perspective, while 29% continue see him as a total enigma. 23% have started to see Zeke more positively.

Zeke shows he lacks fundamental understanding of human compassion

BABY ZEKE LOOK AT HIM ISAYAMA WHY DO YOU DO THIS

Zeke is officially an idiot and Eren is a bigger one for trusting him above his friends.

I kinda don't want Zeke to have some tragic background. Zeke as the series Joker who just wants to see everyone destroy each other no matter who they are, that is a far more interesting direction for me than more of the same 'Marleyans aren't evil, just misunderstood' rubbish that we have been force-fed for over a year

Zeke deserves life, love, and his glasses.

One other thing that really pleased me in this chapter is that Levi managed to give a reply to each of Zeke's annoyingly patronising statements. Zeke has always made me furious with his ""aww you naïve creatures, you don't understand"" bit, and I adored the fact that Levi actually shut him up while he fought him. About goddamn time someone shut up that monkey.

Zeke worrying about his glasses is a big mood because as a fellow glasses wearer, I would do the same

DO YOU BELIEVE SHADIS TAUNTED THE NEW RECRUITS IN AN EFFORT TO PROTECT THEM/HANGE? 1,329 Responses

A huge majority (74%) agrees: Keith Shadis is a good dude, and wanted to protect the recruits and/or Hange with his boast. A minority (7.6%) believes he severely overestimated himself (oof), while everyone everyone else (18.4%) was not sure.

I didn't before, but I do now, you monsters!

Respect for Shadis for what he did.

Also, somebody please kill Floch already.

Shadis deserves only good things

Shadis is sick, anyone who says he isn't is trippin

I wish Shadis had head butted the shit out of Floch

I can't believe that Shadis roasted Floche to a crisp and sent him to the Burn Unit lolololol

YOUR THOUGHTS ON FLOCH ARE BEST SUMMED UP AS: 1,318 Responses

Floch will not be winning any popularity contests in the near-future, with 67% of respondents selecting the most negative options: that they want him to burn (44.5%), or that they just simply love hating him (22.5%). In contrast, only about 10% of respondents view Floch favorably:  3% say they are fully on his side, while 6.4% still reluctantly support him.

A character such as his is destined to die while Eren looks at him emotionless. Eren doesn't give a shit about him and this little boy will learn it the hard way. He's a prime example of the "brainwashed, vengeful" character who dies a horrible death.

He's just a pawn.  I have no feelings for pawns.

I'm really sad that Shadis got pulverized, but do still think that Floch is trying to help Paradis the only way he knows how (even if a tad misguided).

Floch is correct about needing to be more proactive, but he & Yeagerists are going about everything the wrong way. I do not support the Yeagerists.

Shadis' assault was absolutely unnecessary and savage for all the wrong reasons. Floch is basically on a power trip here and it was sickening to read. I hope he dies a slow, painful death, that dickwad.

I don't think there's a definitive answer as to who's right here. Marley's coming and if Eren is the right leader, then fine. But it's not given.

I hate him, but wonder if he might have a point

I wish someone would use P A T H S to rip the fabric of their reality open and that that would lead to Mount Doom, just so they could then toss Floch's ass into it. That would be great, thanks.

Now I'm not saying anyone is truly evil in snk... but Floch is sprinting in that direction so fucking fast.

WHICH CHARACTER(S) DID THIS CHAPTER MAKE YOU FEEL MOST SYMPATHETIC TOWARDS? 1,320 Responses

Levi easily takes first place this time around after losing yet another squad, this time at his own hand. He’s followed by Shadis (did he really deserve that, Floch??), Hange, and the rest of the 104th. Zeke’s short flashback garnered some empathy as well.

Levi, Zeke, Mikasa, Armin and the 104th, Hange, Shadis, Every single character in this chapter. Even Floch and the cadets.

I feel a lot of sympathy for Falco, waking up naked in a robe in front of strangers. What, they were in THAT much of a hurry?

I feel sympathetic to all of them - even Zeke a tiny bit. This whole thing is a clusterfuck of mamoth proportions.

Zeke might join the list, but depends on next chapter, I need his flashbacks to give me a valid reason to why I should sympathize with him, which I think they will as his past looks just as crappy and angsty as the other characters'.

Levi, Zeke, Mikasa, Armin and the 104th, Hange, Shadis, Eren. He looks miserable even though he's SOOO FREEEE~

IN LAST MONTH’S POLL, ONLY 17% OF RESPONDENTS BELIEVED THAT EREN IS IN CONTROL OF HIS ACTIONS. WE WANT TO KNOW IF THIS CHAPTER CHANGED YOUR OPINION. WHAT BEST DESCRIBES HOW YOU VIEW EREN’S CONTROL OF HIS ACTIONS? 1,324 Responses

The percentage of respondents who believe Eren is fully in control of his actions jumped from 17% to 23% this month. 29% percent still believe that he’s fallen victim to a combination of Zeke’s manipulation and previous titan holders’ memories. 16% remain confused and don’t want to make assumptions either way, 14% believe that the titan power is controlling Eren, and a small 8% actually think it’s the other way around and that Eren is manipulating Zeke.

I think what he said to MA is ultimately to protect them, but like Connie said - the eren we’ve seen since Grim Reminder 2.0 in Liberio isn’t the eren we once knew.

Eren is and always has been kind of a jerk. I think he's 100% free to make his own choices. However, I wouldn't discount the idea that the memories he's inherited and whatever selective knowledge Zeke has imparted are influencing those decisions. They're in no way forcing him though. This is all 100% organic Eren BS.

He is being only influenced by the previous titans, which is messing up with his mental state. This causes him to make decisions not regarding human life out of wanting to fight for freedom.

Eren is the master manipulator! Mark my words, guys!

Zeke and Eren are both misguided. Perhaps the rumbling is a lie, or they have a plan that only they would get, but I suspect that the rumbling isn't a simple concept, just like Marley and the Helos story.

Eren is definitely being influenced by previous titans. After he consumed the hammer titan some changed about the way he acts.

He's definitely not being controlled by Zeke, but I still think there is something off/wrong with him.

Eren's doing what he thinks is best for his people, and chose this path based on the memories he gained, the experiences he's had, and the information he's come to know. Its possible some of this information was skewed by Zeke, but other than that Eren is in control

I personally believe he is being influenced by the many titan powers he holds as well as the many memories of the people that held these titans before him however, I believe that these powers are not completely dominating him and he’s able to make his own decision. Eren is also probs not being manipulated by Zeke as I believe that these two bros will stay together.

Influenced to an extent but still in control in that the various factors we're considering has warped how he thinks the situation should be handled. I feel like Eren thinks his unpredictability gives him the most control because he'll probably try to do what's most advantageous on the fly as forks in the road appear (because he never really struck me as someone who can spearhead planning ahead). He's in control of his actions but I think he's still incredibly susceptible to manipulation by those who can plan as a result.

DO YOU THINK EREN IS REALLY WORKING WITH THE YEAGERISTS? 1,322 Responses

Half of respondents believe that Eren is actively working with the Yeagerists in order to achieve a larger goal. 17% aren’t convinced he has anything to do with them aside from tagging along on their road trip. Almost 10% of respondents believe Eren will eventually backstab Floch and isn’t on their side at all, and 9% feel that Eren has been the one giving orders all along.

Maybe he is, but I still have some hope for him that what he did was to protect the people he loves. I hope he still cares about them.

Eren is using them (he doesn't give a fuck about them) and the Yeagerists are using Eren. Eren will backstab Floch. I don't think Eren's aware of everything Floch's doing while using his name but, at the same time, if Eren "cared" about what they do he would ask/wonder... he's too dead inside for that tho

I hope he backstabs them but damn am i confused and a lil angry about this situation

Whether he is working with them or not, he did nothing to stop them but rather act as their leader and that makes him partially responsible for their actions.

Dammit Eren you better not be behind Shadis' beating, he's a good man

I have this feeling Eren doesn't really give a titan's ass whether they're on his side or not, as long as Big Bro got his back he will carry on with the plan either way. They sort of just formed this faction on their own but Eren isn't stupid not to take advantge of that. After all, who knows what might happen and keeping his own small army at arm's reach sure is helpful. But Eren did mature into this very prideful and confident rebel with that "aint need nobody bitch" attitude so.

They seems to be a different faction led by Floch, and Eren is exploiting this.

I think he is working with Zeke (whether they have the same end goal or not is something I’m not sure about) but I don’t think he is working with the Yeagerists and doesn’t even fully know about them or what they are doing

Zeke and Floch are on one side and think they are working with Eren. Eren is currently working with them solely as a means to reach an end and will go his own way after they initiate the rumbling.

PREDICTION TIME!! WHO IS MISTER XAVER? 1,328 Responses

Almost all respondents (81.9%) speculate that Mister Xaver is the holder of the Beast Titan that preceded Zeke, and 25% believe he was affiliated with Eren Kruger in some way. 21% think that he is a family friend of the Jaegers, while 8% believe he was an actual member of the family. There are all sorts of other creative ideas floating around about who this bespectacled mentor figure might be:

Titan Scientist

Pitcher and pinch-hitter for the Liberio Warhammers.

Zeke’s father figure

Zeke's only childhood friend

I think he’s the person who inspired Zeke’s plans

A member of the royal family

Kiyomi and Kruger's ally in the plan to restore Eldia in order to destroy Marley, hated by the three of them

I think he might be an “Ackerman” or someone from the Hizuru clan that secretly remained in Liberio to watch over the members of the royal family there (Dina, then eventually Zeke as he grew up). I also think he was working with Kruger to “groom” Zeke for the ultimate plan that is beginning to unfold now in the most recent chapters (whatever that plan may be idk) (just as Kruger’s influence and memories “groomed” Grisha, and perhaps Eren for what’s happening now as well) P A T H S.

Xaver runs a school for mutants.

PURE SPECULATION, BUT DO YOU THINK XAVER INFLUENCED ZEKE TO TURN IN GRISHA AND DINA? 1,324 Responses

Just over half of respondents believe that Xaver had some influence on Zeke, and that influence contributed to his choice to turn his parents (and the other restorationists) in to the Marleyan government. 33% are not sure, while ~16% believe that Xaver had no hand in that decision.

It would be interesting to see Zeke's flashback, I think you could be onto something, that Zeke himself is a victim of childhood indoctrination, and was manipulated by Xavier (a true honorary Marleyan) to turn in his parents and be loyal to Marley. He clearly thinks of him very fondly, and he seems to be the only one confirmed to be in Zeke's good books. He may or may not be the former beast titan, but I think that however he died is a major reason and key to understanding Zeke's current actions and main motive.

Since he has been shown comforting Zeke after he snitched on his parents, their relationship obviously goes way back and it drives me to think he was a close family friend/relative whom Zeke found some kind of comfort in to battle the neglect, pressure and brainwashing of his parents. From the final panel it doesn't look to me that Xaver wanted Zeke to become a warrior at first, hence probably why he infuenced him to turn in his parents, but obviosuly sth happened that changed that. I do believe he's the ex-BT, even if he wasn't, surely his death was a major factor in why Zeke decided to become a warrior. Dang it I should stop writing nonsense I just wanna KNOW WHATS UP WITH THAT MONKEY MAN

WHO DID IT BETTER? 1,326 Responses

Almost half of respondents thought both our Ackermans brought the thunder equally! Levi, however takes the title this time, with 31% choosing him over Mikasa when it comes to blowing up titans. 18.8% thought she still did it best. 

OUR TRANSLATORS APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN CHANNELING STAN LEE. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SFX FROM THIS CHAPTER? 1,300 Responses

“Splat” edged out “ba-BOOM” for the win with just under 20% of the vote. “BSHHT” was  third and “baKRAK” a close fourth.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,330 Responses

These last few hard hitting chapters have amped up the pace of the story, and most people are looking forward to further plot progression. 46.2% and 42.7% are hoping this comes are some sort of flashback related to Zeke or the Yeager bros, respectively. Historia and the warriors bring up the rear, and there’s always people hoping for something more specific in the write-ins:

I miss Reiner and Historia...bring them back please.

this chapter lacked a significant amount of Reiner, and i am tired of not seeing him

I'd take an entire chapter of Levi chopping Zeke up, please

Show me my Mikasa!

Missing Option: Mikasa, Armin, and the 104th

Literally a thought from Eren.

Gabi and Eren Talk

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Give Annie ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Someone killing Floch. Anyone. Please.

Let it be contain one panel of the best girl Yelena 😭

Prison break for the SC and equipping the 3DMG in preparing to battle

More Floch Greatness. All Hail The New Eldian Empire!

I can safely assume next chapter will be 75% Zeke flashbacks which is what I've been waiting for.

JUST GIVE US ANSWERS ISAYAMA!!!!!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,286 Responses

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

Floch needs to — and I can’t stress this enough — die an unholy death.

Zeke should not have grown his facial hair back before all his skin lol

A very aptly named chapter, where there is savagery and violence, without glorifying or romanticising the brutality. Violence obscures understanding and communication, as seen with the inability for Levi and Zeke to understand each other, despite them being more similar than they realize. Levi kills all his titanized comrades but he is emotionally and mentally unravelling — it is not true victory, only loss and fading of hope. Floch’s violence through abuse of power only breeds cruelty and the reiteration of oppression — it is not true revolution, only regression. Zeke and Eren’s actions intentionally bring war upon Paradis — it brings death and destruction. And yet violence is necessary - it is an unavoidable truth in a world that refuses to listen, only fight, because of fear. The themes in this chapter have so many layers to them; it was a tough one to read because of how dark and brutal it was, but very thought provoking. As readers we look forward to action and fight scenes, but here Isayama deliberately and skillfully delivers it in such a raw and uncomfortable way.

Floch will forever be Manneke Pis. Shadis has been through enough. Eren is hot but needs to die. Falco needs some clothes. Where was Gabi? I fear for Historia's unborn child. Warriors when?

Regarding Zeke, seeing him tear up while thinking of Xaver hurt me a little bit. It's one of the few times (the first time, even? not sure.) that we've seen him show any strong attachment and fondness (and borderline remorse) with regards to his actions. He isn't the "absolutely evil" character in this series.

This kind of chapters are like "ok" to me but frustrating as hell. It will be nice to see it animated in 2030 nonetheless.

I still thinks Eren is a jerk but i still love him. Plus: Floch can be canceled i don't care. Plus+: I want my babies Armin and Mikasa free of the jail, They don't deserve that crap from Eren.  

Seeing Levi vs BT 2.0 gave me some serious highs. Was literally shaking while reading the leaks. I just realised how Levi truly is the perfect foil to someone like Zeke. The world could be crumbling, but give Levi any task, and you can trust him to deliver it 99.9% of the times, with the 0.1% being but the benefit of the doubt.

I think it was a waste of time if I'm being honest. We learned nothing new other than from the few pages with Zeke.

I think this chapter made me realise that I don't really care about Levi anymore.

I waited until the last day to fill this poll out because I honestly don't know how I feel about this series right now. While there's plenty of entertainment to be found in these recent chapters, I don't think I really like the direction the story has taken. I'm bored. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I was surprised to see people genuinely being concerned about Levi surviving after the last chapter/when spoilers were dropping. Levi got plot armour thicker than a tank. He already took out a whole row of titans at far worse odds. He wasn't going to die.

I'm excited for what's coming. I wanted a high stakes story and I'm anxious, but in a good way. Still giving Eren the benefit of the doubt, he has to have info that he's not sharing (from having the memories of 3 titans).

I'm so dead inside due to having an awfully emotional week of being very sad about Zeke and celebrating the survival of Levi. I love both of them so much, this chapter exhausted me greatly.

It was nice to have a more action-packed chapter this time around, I've been missing those. It looks to me like at least half of next chapter will consist of Zeke's childhood flashback, then after that I would like to see Historia again. Please Isayama it's been half a year I miss my queen! :((((

Oh my god Xavier yes yes yes I thought Isayama had completely forgotten about the “mystery man”

I'm so glad Levi won and got Zeke tied up! Now Armin's got to find a safe way to do a titan jailbreak! Hange needs allied more than ever!

No Pieck, no party. Things are just heating up, and it’s still somehow a shitshow?

It's nice to know that characters such as Levi exist in a very morally grey world, and that of all the people given extraordinary powers and abilities, it's someone with that kind of mindset. It makes me feel positive that the series would end in an overall good note, even if this may include some heartbreaking deaths and turn of events.

I liked finally seeing a little more inside Zeke's head.

THIS is how you subvert expectations. Introduce that Levi is watching Zeke back in 106 and doesn't trust him then, and then showing their conversation in 110 to further building the tension. Because of the reveal of Zekerets and that Zeke had been working with Eren as well as the fact that Levi won his first encounter against Zeke - it makes sense from a storytelling standpoint for Zeke to win his next encounter against Levi. 112 plays into this expectation due to Zeke's sudden attack on Levi with a cliffhanger heavily suggesting that Levi would die. Instead 113 was the complete opposite, with Levi utterly decimating Zeke and making the story take an unexpected curve. This chapter is brilliant.

The story is progressing extremely fast right now. The Endgame arc is approaching its climax with all the players taking their stance in preparation for the Ragnarok…

Floch needs to be taught not to miss around with adult affairs that are way beyond his basic childish comprehension. I don't hate the guy but I will be satisfied to watch him shit his pants in a fiasco made of his terrible life choices.

okay but when will best boy jean finally read flock the riot act

there is no transparency in this arc, only suffering

[florrickandassociates]

TGF Thoughts: 3x05-- The One Where a Nazi Gets Punched

One recap down, two to go. Think I’ll be able to write them before the next ep airs? I doubt it. 

The episode opens by confirming Maia’s gone from RBL: Her name’s no longer on what used to be her office, her documents are being shredded, and all her personal belongings are in a box.

Marissa decides to pick a fight with an associate over Maia. “If you didn’t like Maia, you could have just come out and said that,” Marissa says. Uh. I don’t think Maia got fired because one associate didn’t like her but okay Marissa. The associate insists she’s not happy because she didn’t like Maia, she’s pleased that the zero-tolerance policy is being enforced consistently.

I do wish people would stop saying “Maia’s been arrested twice” because one of those arrests was in no way her fault. Every time anyone tries to use that as an argument, it makes me want to defend Maia even though I totally believe the partners had reason to fire her.

“Maia didn’t use drugs,” Marissa, who faked a drug test on Maia’s behalf, insists. Alright Marissa.

The whole 22nd floor starts to bicker, and Julius goes to inform the other partners that Marissa is stirring the pot. “She’s only stirring the pot because she feels that Maia was made a sacrificial lamb to the fact that the partners don’t want to pay for true financial parity here,” Diane says in defense of Maia/Marissa. Does that mean Diane wants to take whatever pay cuts and struggles come with paying true parity? Or does that just mean Diane wants her goddaughter to be able to get ahead?

To pay everyone the same amount at each level (which I’m not convinced actually gets at the root of the problem if they don’t put measures in place to make sure performance evaluations and opportunities are also awarded equally) would cost the firm $800,000 a year. That’s less than I thought, if only because whenever the partners are personally liable for something it’s always at least a million a person and when they bring in a big client it’s always like 35 million dollars/year in billing. And didn’t they pay off lots of the women Reddick assaulted with at least 800k?

Adrian is very right: this strategy would also raise the lowest performers to the level of the highest performers (within their job title), and then the highest are going to want more, and then the problem resets. How do you determine who the highest are, and which of the highest threaten to leave and which stay no matter what, and so on.

“Maybe we should consider it a human resources issue,” Julius says. Maybe? MAYBE? You’ve got associates fighting while on the job and internal documents circulating and you’re only NOW thinking to involve HR?

Julius wants to hire an expensive sensitivity trainer to talk to the associates instead of paying them more. Sounds like something the partners need more than the associates. Also would that go over well? I’m imagining the associates being like, wait, they have money for this but not money to pay me fairly? And now they’re telling me I need sensitivity training to cover their own asses, as though I just decided to pay myself less? If they do this sort of training in conjunction with an actual fix, sure, whatever, they may need it just to deal with the infighting. But alone? Noooope.

This conversation gets interrupted by an assistant telling Adrian that Judge Dunaway is wondering why he’s not in court. “An associate” is there and Dunaway wants to know why no one else has showed up. None of the partners knew anything about a motion in this case, so they suspect Maia of trying to steal their client.

I think Maia could try to steal a client, but I don’t think she’d ever think to do it.

They put Maia on their biggest case? Just Maia and Lucca and the partners? This sounds wrong.

Maia’s not returning Diane’s calls. I think it’s pretty clear that Diane wants the best for Maia, but I can totally see why it might not feel that way to Maia. She’s not handling this in the most mature way, but I’ll cut her some slack. She was just fired, after all!

Lucca and Jay are in the middle of nowhere, poll watching. Lucca worries this assignment is punishment for stirring up the salary drama (though idk how anyone other than Jay would know to tie it to Lucca!) and I don’t think she’s wrong. She’s a fucking department head and they have her out poll watching?

Maia isn’t the surprise co-counsel: Blum is. That makes way more sense, but also, UGH. I’m over Blum.

This case is interesting but I’m still going to write it up as “Case stuff happens” for the most part. Its premise is more interesting than its execution. I kinda just want to Google what kinds of suits are pending against real life genetic testing companies.

Blum got on this case because of documents he stole from Diane’s office. It is very possible RBL has worse security than Alicia’s apartment building.

Maia’s got a new job at something called Consult-a-Lawyer, a phone helpline that charges clients by the minute (and makes sure each call takes many minutes). This seems terrible.

Lucca and Jay talk with their Republican counterparts; they disagree but can at least talk about their disagreements. Also, none of them are really there to be poll monitors; they are there to try to sway the election results by fighting to selectively enforce rules. I’m sure they’d take issue with that phrasing but that’s what they’re doing.

Marissa’s noticeably grumpy at work and tells Diane it’s because her “best friend” was fired. Marissa says and does so much stuff that no one else could get away with; this is not a proper way to conduct yourself at work-- especially towards the people who are on your side.

Diane is reaching out to other firms on Maia’s behalf. That’s privilege at work right there.

Diane tasks Marissa with watching Blum. She also confuses Marissa and Maia, which is weird since only one of them is her goddaughter.

I am SO OVER Blum. Why is he so loud?! When I watch these episodes first thing on Thursday mornings, the last thing I need is his maniacal screaming.

Marissa is unimpressed with Blum.

OH MY GOD MAKE HIS LOUDNESS STOP. I just don’t care. Just gonna let this next bit with the song play while I change my sheets, because I have nothing to say about it.

And then I did laundry, went on two trips, and visited a bunch of bookstores and now I’m back, three recaps behind.

I didn’t even get to the credits before I stopped writing!? Me of three weeks ago, what were you doing?! (The credits are 17 minutes in, to be fair.)

He’s so loud! So! Loud!

Some sort of white (male) supremacist group shows up at the precinct Lucca and Jay are monitoring.

Diane and Liz meet with the sensitivity consultant, who has them do an exercise as a test. It’s one of those games where you take a step forward/backward if a sentence describes you. Neither Diane nor Liz wants to participate, but the game ends up working on them: turns out they both like singing, Prince, Roma, and Hannah Gadsby. LOLLOL I believe every one of those things.

I don’t know what Lucca thinks Diane will be able to do to help with the white supremacists, but she probably doesn’t suspect Diane’s going to have her unwittingly help #Resistance.

Case stuff happens. It involves Blum singing. Go away.

Jay calls Naomi with the story about the Red Jackets, while Diane’s #Resistance buddy (what is her name? I’m going to have to pay more attention because she is “The Young One Who Does Computer Things” to me, but she’s been in enough episodes I should probably learn her name) gets the Red Jackets fired.

Case stuff happens. Blum puts another actor on a stand as a witness.

Marissa comes to visit Maia at work. At this job, Maia actually has to do work and gets negative feedback when she doesn’t do work well, so as happy as she is to see Marissa (and the Sunglasses of Badassery), she can’t chat long.

Maia is not as happy to help with work related things. In fact, given that I’ve seen the next two episodes (and the end of this one), Marissa reaching out to Maia about something work related may even make Maia feel like her work friends never really cared about her.

Marissa also brings Maia a list of three firms where Diane’s put in a good word. “Diane doesn’t care about me,” Maia, who got the only two jobs she’s ever held because of Diane, insists. Sure, Maia. But I won’t criticize her too much-- she WAS just fired.

Marissa loudly informs the entire Phone-A-Lawyer office that it’s “not fine” to work there. I love Marissa but she lacks self-awareness, like, all the time when she’s not undercover.

Maia’s supervisor isn’t pleased Marissa’s shown up during work hours. She asks her to leave, but does help out with the case.

“If you don’t call them, I will,” the woman in the cubicle next to Maia interjects, offering Maia some much-needed perspective. Maia’s been through a lot, but it’s still clear she’s not someone who has ever had to worry about money.

Lucca calls the police on two of the Red Jackets (they’re sex offenders) just as Naomi’s news van shows up.

Naomi and Jay are a couple which surprised me but, you know, I don’t hate it. Actually, I think I like it.

The judge Adrian is sleeping with does him a favor in court. This relationship? I don’t think I like it.

Diane and Liz regroup about the sensitivity consultant. Liz doesn’t think she’s worth the money, since no sensitivity game will ever solve racism (she’s right-- I don’t know that I think they’re completely useless but they are never going to get at the root of the problem). Diane suggests midyear bonuses instead; Liz points out they’ll know they’re being bought off.

Then something magical happens: Diane and Liz start SINGING! It’s so fun. It’s also a great character moment. We’ve never seen Diane have a female peer at work she could just be herself around, and this strengthens the Diane/Liz friendship that’s driving a lot of the season.

A sex scene quite rudely interrupts the wonderful duet.

If anyone’s written anything on Judge Hazelwood, I’d love to read it. I’m intrigued by her use of power but I think I need to read someone else’s take to fully understand what the writers are (attempting to) do with her.

“Your head is like a sculpture. I want to cut it off and put it on my desk,” is a VERY DISTURBING LINE.

Maia’s using her mom’s maiden name again-- smart. And she took Diane up on the interview offers-- also smart. (Yes, I’ll call her privileged for even having those offers, but I don’t take issue with her using connections. I don’t care if she’s privileged; I care when she lacks self-awareness about it.)

The job won’t start until November, which makes Maia angry. She sees this as Diane trying to fuck her over, when really she’s been offered a job 30 seconds after introducing herself because Diane’s recommendation means so much. Maia TURNS IT DOWN, even though it’s a promise of good work in six months and the best lead she has. Unless there’s going to be something in the contract about how she cannot accept another job if one comes up in those six months before she officially starts, WHY? WHY TURN DOWN GOOD WORK AT A TOP FIRM JUST BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU COULD DO BETTER? YOU’RE WORKING AT PHONE-A-LAWYER.

And this dude gives her so many chances-- he even says to let her know if she winds up being available.

Her only question is whether Diane knew about the late start date. The interviewer thinks so, and Maia takes it as a personal insult. Oof. You know what most low-ranking people who are fired for drug use get? Here’s a hint: it’s not interviews at three top firms with the highest recommendation from a well-respected name partner.

NOTHING about this reaction from Maia is out of character for her. I just have no patience for it.

Adrian and Blum collaborate in one of the more interesting scenes they’ve done with Blum. He’s loud and devious, but he’s not stupid. And watching Adrian understand and go along with Blum’’s strategizing-- setting the stage for him to normalize all of Blum’s other, more illegal antics as appropriate workplace behavior-- is fascinating.

Naomi is polite when interviewing one of the Red Jackets, but she refuses to shake his hand. I like that moment.

Jay punches one of the Red Jackets after the Red Jacket antagonizes him. The Republican poll monitor sees the whole thing, but decides to say nothing. (The point, basically, is that we can find common ground with people we disagree with, and that only CERTAIN people we disagree with are actually the enemy.)

A riot breaks out and we see only a little bit of it before Jay starts monologuing about his belief that Nazis should be punched. Dunno to what extent I agree (slippery slope, etc) but I do know I’m not going to waste any time being outraged over one of them being punched.

More case stuff happens.

Lucca, Jay, and Naomi share beers after the riot. They’ve all emerged from the riot safely. This is a nice scene; I love watching these characters just hang out. Apparently Jay had a crush on Lucca for a little while, which I find kinda cute as long as it doesn’t go anywhere beyond that (SO OVER WORKPLACE ROMANCES ON THIS SHOW).

Maia calls Lucca, but Lucca can’t get any reception so she decides to be 2x14 Alicia and find a high spot on top of a car. Her phone still gobbles the call, though. Maia takes this, too, as a personal insult.

Diane calls Maia and Maia refuses to answer. Oh, Maia. If I got the sense she wanted to do this without help-- kind of like s7 Alicia not wanting to answer to anyone-- that would be one thing. This just sounds petty.

Oh goodie! We get MORE BLUM in the future: he’s now working with RBL on the Second Helix case for the near future. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Maia’s packing up her apartment now that she can’t afford the rent, and another firm Diane set her up with tells her the soonest they can interview her is in a month. Well, at least she’s still trying. She throws her phone on the floor in frustration, and I do feel bad for her. Just, like, not that bad.

Lucca shows up at Maia’s door, since Maia’s now not answering her phone. Lucca explains her day and why she wasn’t near her phone-- and her reasons are, of course, valid-- and Maia just doesn’t care. You’ll remember that Lucca doesn’t have friends and that when Lucca shows up for someone, she’s all in. Maia, who is actually friends with Lucca, has not picked up on this (or is not willing to acknowledge it). Lucca offers to get dinner (and to pay), and to spend time away from her baby after a stressful day. She says she feels awkward about how things went down at work.

Maia doesn’t just decline the invitation or say it’s not a good time. She says she and Lucca were “work friends” and shuts the door. Well, that’s harsh. I don’t really fault Maia for feeling detached from her old workplace or awkward around her old work friends, or for needing time to herself. But wow, this is a phenomenally awful way to treat a friend. (And not that I need to pile on more, but Lucca and Marissa have both been FAR more supportive of Maia than Maia’s ever been of them.)