#i actually hate roy so much stop making art of him

[oblisker]

stop shipping lesley and roy lesley is way too good for his ass. start shipping roy and shrignold

[xarrixii]

I just reblogged that game from you so if you still want to do it I would love to know if you have anyone who would get along with Cyan Silverwood. You can think of her as having a very old-school socialite kind of vibe. She was a famous stage actress who is now retired and owns a theater, so she's very glamorous and often in the public eye and basically at every major party and/or social event. She's still a Silverwood so she is of course also a criminal, she is heavily involved in organized crime, and owns an underground bar where a lot of shady business and gambling takes place. But all of it is totally fine, I promise.

Naturally she's interested in theater but also other forms of art like painting and literature.

Cyan is very good at not revealing information about herself while still feeling like everybody's friend. She's witty and charming, a great hostess and a great party guest in equal measure. Do you have anybody who would want to party with her or who would attend something she hosted?

My first gut feeling was Amaterasu Wolford. I don't know if it's widely known but she canonically goes to a lot of parties, but a lot of them are above the table and I'm pretty sure they might clash instead of get along because Amaterasu is very blunt and likes to say what she means. Amaterasu might pretend to hate Cyan, but deep down respect her in secret though.

My second bet is Liam Bauer. As long as he keeps his telepathy on the down-low they'd probably joke around a whole shit ton. Liam is a very 'funny dad' type and follows Amaterasu to all of the parties she attends as a sort of bodyguard type, but in reality he's allowed to run off and do whatever he wants as long as he keeps a telepathic eye on his boss. He'd absolutely do some gambling on the way and I can see a little bit of theater kid inside of him. I think he would definitely party and make good chat with Cyan.

Now, which of your characters do you think would get along with Alph Roy? (they/them) Responding to this is open to all who see it (I don't know any individual people to tag).

Alph is very passionate and really sociable, they were actually popular in their high school despite the stigma against their pyrokinesis. Alph is definitely someone who wouldn't much think twice about helping a good person, spending their teen life destroying public property until it was more accommodating for the homeless. They've talked someone out of doing something irreversible and permanent and sad when they were twelve and now that person is their best friend. A bit sarcastic but as long as you aren't an asshole or someone who deliberately chooses to hurt people this wannabe cop in the shape of a criminal will probably be talking for hours with no other commitments to attend. They spray paint walls and are into cars and racing and video games. Good with hand-to-hand combat. It's not easy to change their mind on things sometimes. They're not afraid to do a crime if in the end it stops hurting good people.

Know anyone who'd get along with them? Alternatively, know anyone who would do a good crime with them?

[albatmobile]

The Art of Rehabilitating Snowbirds Chapter 2

𓅪 Navigating the present is hard when your past refuses to die. 

𓅪 After not hearing from Roy or Jason for five years, you suddenly find yourself taking in extra income as a babysitter for Roy and Jason's child.

𓅪 Rated: M | 9.8k fem!Reader x Jason Todd x Roy Harper [masterlist]

Chapter Two: The Wilder Mile | ao3 - wattpad

THEN

Being new (and poor) didn’t help your situation. You figured this out early on.

Somehow, you could all be wearing the same prissy uniforms, but these rich kids could sniff out that you didn’t belong.  

Because of this, you spent your first day of freshman year at Gotham Academy with your head down. You only briefly stopped to chat with your locker neighbor, a raven-haired sophomore, about who you knew in common from your old school. 

As it turned out, you both had the misfortune of knowing Bart Allen. You had smiled when he said that but didn’t linger much longer as you needed to get to class.

It had gotten out by your second day that you were there on scholarship from Star City, “which makes so much more sense, poor thing!" and, “I knew she didn’t belong.” You heard the whispers in each hall you passed, heard the laughter during each period you attended. Not even in the fucking bathroom, were you safe from the gossip mill. 

By your third day, you'd made peace with the fact that you’d be a leper for the rest of your four years. No, really, you were fine with it. 

Nothing you weren’t used to at home anyway.

You sighed and snuck to the back corner of the library to eat lunch. 

You’d found the spot whilst roaming around in between class periods. Once you’d seen no one go near it, you decided to hunker down and make it your new hideaway, hoping the other students would leave you the fuck alone.

Every now and then, you’d feel a certain scratching feeling on the back of your neck. It was almost as if someone were watching you, but you highly doubted it. The towering bookcases surrounding you did a pretty decent job of concealing you. 

You chalked it up to still being paranoid on account of your shit first days at the academy because each time you looked around, all you saw were books.

In the days following, you’d try to talk with your locker neighbor more but ultimately didn’t want to make him feel like he had to talk to you. The number of times you bumped into each other at your lockers was uncanny, but he didn’t have to force himself to talk to you every time. 

Ah, yes. The burden of anxiety.

“What’s your name?” the raven asked you on Thursday of your first week. You told him. “Star City, right?” You nodded, retrieving your books silently, giving him the chance to dismiss you, but he prodded on. Did he actually want to talk to you? Maybe he was the weird one- not you. Or maybe he didn’t actually hate you like everyone else apparently did? “Sorry,” he said sheepishly, flashing you his abashed blue eyes, “I never introduced myself and I keep pestering you.” 

Damn, should you be asking him about more stuff in return, then? 

In your reclusive state at Gotham Academy, you'd somewhat forgotten what normal, friendly (emphasis on friendly)conversations were like. Ultimately, you'd come to the assumption that no one wanted to talk to you, so it was best just to keep quiet and to yourself.

“You’re good.” You gave him an awkward double thumbs up. Damn, that was fucking lame. You cursed yourself internally. The first person who actually wanted to talk to you was, you noted with a slight blush, hot as fuck, and here you were, screwing it all up. “Do you play any games?” 

You can't help but cringe. What the fuck was wrong with you? Yes, you should be asking questions, but you didn't need him to know you were a loser this early on.

Instead of looking at you weirdly, the sophomore just nodded excitedly, “For sure. We should game together sometime.” The bell rang soon after and you instantly realized his proposition to be an empty invitation. He shut his locker and stuck his bony, pale hand out to you. “I’m Tim, by the way.”

“Cool.” You nodded, losing yourself in the depths of his hypnotizing blue eyes. “I’ll see you around, I guess,” you said as you motioned around both of your lockers, lamely referencing the fact you’d see him next period to switch out books just like always.

“For sure.”

You stared after his retreating form and sighed, leaning your back against your locker to shut it, “Can I just have one normal interaction for once?”

“Do you talk to yourself a lot?” 

You startled, turning immediately to the source of a new male voice. 

Your eyes traveled up the form of the skinny, short kid standing next to your locker. His neatly combed ink-black hair contrasted starkly against his tanned skin.

He squinted at you, seeming to recognize you were acknowledging his lackluster stature with distaste.

You blushed at having been caught and hugged your books closer to your chest as if they would somehow help conceal your embarrassment. “No,” you spat out too quickly to be believable. 

“Loon,” he responded boredly, continuing to block your path. 

You squinted at him. “What do you want?” You attempted to step around him, but he swiftly stepped in front of you again, causing you to huff and back up. “If you want lunch money or some shit, you picked the wrong girl.” 

At Star City, sure, people had picked on you, but it was nothing ever violent. This kid, though? This kid looked like the definition of violence. 

This time, instead of waiting for his response, you spun on your heel and went, what you realized too late was, in the opposite direction of where you actually needed to go. At least, you thought… You were still very much in the process of figuring out the layout of this giant, castle-like school. Hogwarts and those moving stairs had nothing on Gotham Academy's labyrinth-like hallways. 

You heard his light footfall gaining behind you and wondered worriedly if the dude really was going to give you trouble. 

“You’re going the wrong way,” he said tonelessly after you’d rounded your third random corner.

What the fuck was his problem? 

“Yeah,” you said shortly, “some little twerp was blocking my way.” 

“Hey!” he hissed before mumbling something under his breath. "You're the little one here, dumbass."

You quickly spun around to face him. 

From this close, you could see the annoyance trickling out from his deep honeyed eyes. You hadn't been able to see the extent of their color by your locker, but near the huge glass window you were both facing, you could clearly see the intricate layers of yellow and green hidden within their depths.

You snapped yourself out of it. 

Now was not the time to be checking this creep out. 

Before he could say anything else, you continued straight from where you’d been heading, hoping you might end up circling back around to your locker. As the environment around you continued to look completely unfamiliar, you began to doubt your logic completely. 

At this point, you were totally lost.

The kid appeared noiselessly behind you to grab your lower arm with a sure, strong grip. 

You glanced up at him uneasily and your eyes danced with his in some sort of weird battle. With how young he looked, he had to be a freshman like you, though his strength was something someone way out of high school might have. 

Definitely weird. 

You weren’t going to go cross-eyed over this kid and he could tell. He was the one who ended up breaking the silence. “You’re going to art, aren’t you?” It didn’t seem like a question, but you nodded anyway, already wanting this interaction to be over and done with. “Follow me.” 

You sat there for a few seconds as your indecisiveness kicked in.

Stay lost or follow the kid psychopath?

You begrudgingly went with the latter, noting again just how young he looked. 

No matter how young he was, the fact still stood that the kid was aggressive and cryptic- something you didn't appreciate in the slightest. You supposed it should be reassuring he knew the way but, if anything, the kid put you on edge.

“I didn’t know they had a middle school here, too,” you jested as payback for his odd, if not hostile, introduction. 

“That’s a horrible insult,” he said matter-of-factly, not missing a beat while glancing at you out of the corner of his eyes. “There’s also an elementary where you should clearly be right now,” the kid sighed as if unimpressed with your attempt to sass him.

"Please," you continued on, waving him off unperturbed, “my tits would say college, easy.” 

You'd been expecting an eye roll or some kind of 'as if' comment, but, instead, his cheeks stained dark red against his dark skin. He soon looked anywhere but at you. You clearly weren’t ready for that reaction as you quickly followed suit, turning your gaze to the polished granite floor below. 

With one more turned corner, you finally started to recognize the art wing hallway. “There’s a restroom over there, too, just so you know,” he pointed at a wooden, unmarked door as he broke the awkward silence once again.

“Okay,” you replied blankly at his random advice. 

He seemed as sheepish as his RBF would let him as the two of you closed in on your classroom. 

He instinctively held the door open for you, something you noted gratefully, though surprised nonetheless. You nodded to him, making brief eye contact again when you walked past. 

As soon as you entered the room, the pre-period chatter dulled. 

It was a phenomenon you'd become accustomed to at Gotham Academy, though your stomach still clenched subconsciously at the unwarranted attention. As much as you hated to admit how much it affected you, it was hard to have everyone in the school judge you like this without ever talking to you. 

You wouldn’t blame the brooding asshole sitting next to you for not liking you after you'd insulted him, but everyone else? They could all straight fuck off. 

You brushed off the silence as you sat down at the only empty table left, figuring this was better than the harsh insults and accusations you'd been getting. 

The stool beside you scraped horrifically against the cement floor as the creepy kid from earlier took a seat next to you. 

You gave him a confused glance, but he merely pulled out his phone and began tapping away at it. In response, you faced forward to stare down at your empty sketchbook. 

“I heard she’s not even smart,” one girl said. You look up hesitantly to see her sneering at you with morbid glee. 

Oh, great, you thought. Here comes the usual shit.

Just one day. Was it too much to ask for just one day of peace?

“I hear she gave a bunch of blowjobs to get that scholarship,” another kid said. 

The kid next to you shifted in his seat, but you didn’t bother to see if he was glaring at you or not. He’d surely heard the ruckus by now; how could he not?

“Her? No way. Who would want… that?” Soon, the entire table and the one next to them were chiming in.

“God, I bet she stinks. Talk about a fucking charity case,” a blonde loudly exclaimed.

“What a whore.” 

“She's literally a slut!” 

Everyone at the tables flanking yours had joined in at that point, adding to the cacophony of slander. 

You weren't surprised but disheartened to hear the name-calling and rumors getting so aggressive. You still didn't understand what you’d done to make these people talk about you in such a way. 

After all, how could you help being poor? 

The tanned kid beside you seemed to agree with your internal train of thought. When you finally bothered to look over at him, you saw him sneering at the other tables.

“Elliot,” he barked in a way that made you lean away from him. His tone demanded attention and everyone was quick to oblige. “You have no right to talk after the 8th grade graduation party this past May.” 

People around the classroom quietly giggled and 'ooo'ed.'

The corners of her mouth instantly dropped at the dig. She gaped at him while her friends, who, in turn, glared at you. 

“Big mistake, newbie.” 

You were pretty sure her last name was Elliot, not her first, but then again, you knew nothing about Gotham after spending your entire life in Star City. 

“But I didn’t say shit!” you exclaimed helplessly.

It didn’t matter anyway. 

You hesitantly looked up again to see the entire group still sneering in your direction. 

There was a sudden bang and your table shook in its wake.

“You’re a pathetic waste of space.” The kid stood up so abruptly he knocked over his metal stool, leaving it to crash and clank to the ground below. “All you’re good for is spewing slander, you annoying-ass cretin!”

Your eyes widened at the commotion he was causing on your behalf. 

Why was he sticking up for you like this?

The teacher appeared out of nowhere, effectively shutting the class up as he finally started the lesson. 

About fucking time, you thought to yourself.

“Damian, sit down,” your teacher said exasperatedly. 

The tanned kid, no, Damian, you corrected yourself, muttered to himself. 

He picked up his seat and aggressively dropped it upright to stand again. The stool screeched obnoxiously as he situated himself with all eyes in the class on him. Most, you noted, looked fearful, while others looked downright offended at his presence.

The gossip continued, albeit in hushed whispers, as the teacher reviewed basic watercolor techniques, something you were already good at. 

You zoned out the lesson, only to be brought back into the moment by Damian's huffs of frustration. 

Damian, you’d noticed from the corner of your eye, kept peeking over at you occasionally, squinting calculatingly, then would slump as he went back to his canvas. That was how it continued until the bell rang to release you to next period.

“Those inbred, trust fund fucks don’t know what they’re talking about,” it was all Damian said about the incident as you both left the art room. 

You laughed at his savageness, "Thanks." You thought you were odd? This kid was way up there with you. 

“Are you headed to the library to eat?” he asked nonchalantly. 

You raised an eyebrow at him and he blushed in response, completely avoiding eye contact with you. “Uh, yeah,” you hesitated, “I hadn’t realized my lunch spot had been spotted, I guess,” you said, rubbing at the back of your head. 

You felt completely off guard, knowing that someone had been watching you. No, not someone; Damian had been watching you. 

He looked at you expectantly, but you were unsure as to why. Wouldn't a kid like him have friends already? It's not like he'd be waiting on an invitation to lunch with you. Not like anyone would, for that matter, you thought bitterly.

You continued back to the hallway where you’d met an hour ago and tried to part ways once again. 

“See you in class,” you said, going to dial your locker code and grab your lunch.

You added your copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray to the growing pile of supplies in your arms before finally making off toward the library. You wouldn't need anyone's help finding the way, considering you’d already memorized the way... Or so you thought.

You felt Damian’s presence behind you the whole way. You only acknowledged him by thanking him when he’d grabbed some falling textbooks of yours and when he corrected you on which turn to take. 

What a fucking creep.

You settled into your hidden lounge area with your newfound friend(?) in complete silence. 

He single-handedly slipped your heavy textbooks onto the table in front of you with inhumane ease, reminding you of his strong grip on your arm from earlier. He looked at you with an intensity you were beginning to realize was natural for him as you bit into your sandwich. 

“What?” you asked around a mouth full. 

He simply tsk’d at your comically stuffed cheeks and began meticulously setting out the compartments of his bento box, then his napkin, then utensils on top, then another napkin to set on his lap. 

You rolled your eyes at the cumbersome display before cracking your book open to where you’d last left off.

It was a sad book. One that made your stomach twist in the morbid realization of what true darkness lies within everyone. The dark and the light. The kind and cruel. There was balance and consequence. You’d realized Dorian’s plights against himself are what ultimately caused his undoing and, subsequently, the desecration of who he once was. 

“Are you on an internal nerd rant or something?”

You immediately snapped out of your conclusion. You bit off another bite testily. “At least I’m old enough to read chapter books.”

“I do not look that young,” he exclaimed with a hint of exasperation. 

You shrugged and held up your book. “Maybe not, Damian Gray.” You wiggled the cover at him condescendingly, much to his chagrin.

“You're a nerd.” Whatever you’d said, it was enough for him to finally be comfortable enough to start eating. You wouldn’t pry. “Besides reading basic literature and being a watercolor Van Gogh, what do you do.”

“Did he even do watercolors?” you questioned his odd logic.

“No, I don’t think he did them,” he said while rolling his eyes. “He used them in over a hundred paintings.” 

“So, you like art then?” you asked, half-interested, mostly trying to get back to your book. 

“Sure.” It seemed like an understatement, but you waited for him to continue. “I’m not very good at it, though.” 

You tried to think back to class earlier, realizing you hadn’t been paying attention to his work as you'd been more occupied with keeping your head down. 

“Anyone can do anything,” you said with a tiny shrug. He nodded appreciatively at that and dug into his lunch with more gusto. From there, you sat in companionable silence up until the lunch bell rang. “See you around, Damian,” you began picking up your things and collected both of your trash.

Normally, you wouldn’t do this, but after he'd stuck up for you earlier, you wanted to show him in some small way you were appreciative. 

“Would you want to show me watercolors after school?”

You turned around to see a somewhat shy, no, uncertain, looking Damian. You shifted around your books to look at him at his odd request. “Uh, sure.”

You felt a bit anxious being social outside of school for who knows how many hours. Especially with this kid you really didn’t even know. Sure, you’d spent less than an hour with him at lunch and it had been fine, but your social anxiety, coupled with being a social outcast at school, made you extra wary of students here. However, you begrudgingly reminded yourself that you shouldn’t be turning down friends.

That was for sure. 

“I remember your locker from earlier.” You smiled at that. “It’s right by Tim’s,” he clarified, somewhat embarrassed.

 “Oh, yeah!” you said with a nod as the two of you walked out of the library doors and into the bustling hallway. “He was the first person to talk to me.” You winced as soon as the words came out of your mouth, not knowing if you should’ve revealed that kind of information. 

Hell, Damian had seen just how bad it could get in art earlier, so who really cared?

He merely glanced at you out of the corner of his sharp eyes, revealing no hint of emotion beneath them. Creepy. “Tim will walk home with us,” he said. “Probably bringing his annoying friend Brown, too.” 

“That’s a weird name.” It reminded you of shit.

“It’s because she’s shitty,” he said simply as if it were obvious.  

You laughed at him having practically read your unspoken thoughts. “I’m sure as long as she’s not like the girls in our art class, she shouldn’t be too shitty.” 

He smiled at you, leaving you to blush a bit at his odd, somewhat off-putting charm. 

“You may be right,” he said your name. “I’ll meet you by your locker. Try to find a good piece of literature in the meantime.” 

You gawked at him, leaving him enough time to exit before you could formulate a response, “Hey!” you yelled after his retreating form, earning you multiple dirty glares in the hallway. You sighed and shrugged to yourself as you headed off to your final classes, nothing you weren’t used to at this point. 

At least it was looking somewhat up?

•

True to his word, Damian met you by your locker, but not before Tim.

You greeted him kindly as you opened your locker to deposit your books and take home the workbook you would need for water coloring with Damian. Out of nowhere, a blonde girl appeared beside him and began blatantly sizing you up. 

“Brown, right?” You smiled as you reached your hand out to shake hers.

She snorted, pointing to Damian, who'd silently snuck up from behind, startling you somewhat more than you’d care to admit. “You’ve been hanging around little bird too long, huh?” 

“Hardly,” you both said at the same time in completely different tones. Damian’s annoyed, yours dismissive.

Tim and Stephanie exchanged an amused glance. 

She winked at you and nudged your shoulder as you fell into step with them. “It’s Stephanie, by the way.” 

“I was completely off,” you laughed sheepishly, but you were glad that she seemed to warm up to you so quickly. “So, you guys are sophomores, right?” you asked as the group exited through the main doors and into the affluent courtyard entrance. 

“Hells yeah.” Stephanie nodded from in front of you. “Worst year EVER! Tim already knows that, though, dontcha?” She turned to the raven-haired man and urged him to reply by poking at him until he finally shook off her pestering. 

“What does that mean?” You tried to keep the conversation going. You already felt intrusive tagging along; the last thing you wanted was for it to be awkward, too.

“Technically yes, technically no,” Tim replied modestly, finally giving in to Stephanie’s little pokes, “I’m in all junior classes right now, but, yes, I’m almost 16.” 

“We get it, Drake,” Damian had his arms crossed as he walked behind him, next to you. You were starting to notice his habit of calling people by their last names, “you’re a lame nerd, and so is she.” He threw a thumb your way, which you quietly protested. “Can we all shut up about it now?”

You’d already seen Damian get hostile in art, but you were starting to see a habit. 

“Jeez, Dami.” Tim turned around to ruffle Damian’s dark, perfectly placed hair. “I’m sure she’s not,” Tim said, smiling at you. In that moment, you swore you saw Damian’s eyes flash red. 

You didn't know much about your new friend, but you knew enough to know this wasn’t going to end well. 

“Fuck you, Timothy.” His voice turned ice cold as he pushed at Tim’s slender back with an unreasonable force. Tim didn’t seem phased in the slightest, yet again, by Damian’s aggressive nature. Instead, he shoo'ed him off like an incessant bug. 

It made you chuckle a bit. 

Their bickering raged on and you quickly realized, after passing the main streets, that you were headed deeper into Bristol where the super-rich lived. 

What the fuck had you gotten yourself into? Yes, you should have realized that they probably lived somewhere nice since they attended the academy, but the richest area in Gotham? Come on now. 

The trees were plentiful in this area and the sidewalks weren’t deathtraps like the rest of the city. There were even people jogging alone with headphones in- what?! In your dangerous side of town, you could hardly walk with your phone in your pocket without becoming a mugging target. 

The group made another turn onto a long, grand street where the huge mansions loomed dauntingly over each side of you, snickering that you didn’t belong here. 

You looked ahead, straight down the middle, where a giant foreboding… castle? No, mansion?  sat affixed with a gigantic monogrammed metal gate. 

Tim and Damian were still smacking at each other when Stephanie randomly and quickly decided to turn around to walk in the grass beside you. “You’re new, right?” 

You nodded. “It’s still my first week.”

You were expecting the normal ‘how are you liking it?’ or ‘who’s your homeroom teacher?’ type of question, so you weren’t at all prepared for her next question. “I heard.” You tensed instantly, but she either didn’t notice or didn't care. “So, what’s your deal anyway?” 

“Please, Brown,” upon hearing what she said, Damian abandoned his bickering to intervene in your conversation. “You may very well be dumb, so don’t pretend to be.” 

Stephanie ripped her glance from you to Damian and pinched her face together. “The hell does that mean, asshole?”

“See, you really are an idiot,” he let out an exasperated sigh. 

Tim seemed extremely uncomfortable and focused his attention strictly on the insane mansions you were passing. You felt like doing the same, but your eyes refused to leave the pavement to avoid the conflict raging on- something you were having to get used to in Gotham.

“Feel free to explain, baby face,” she taunted. 

You felt Damian stir angrily from beside you. “You know what people have been saying.” Damian glared at her menacingly enough to make you glad that you weren’t on the receiving end of it. “Don’t play dumb,” he said simply.

“This is why no one wants to hang out with you except the new girl, hellspawn!” Stephanie spat coldly. “With your angry little outbursts and shit. Makes sense your only friend would also be the only other social outcast at GA,” she added with a huff, deflecting Damian’s attacks that he’d already begun throwing her way. 

Damn, that's really what people thought of you? 

It had been a mistake to come. 

You desperately wanted to tell Damian that you’d just teach him during lunch tomorrow so you wouldn't be intruding, but he was too busy getting up in Stephanie's face to notice you trying to get his attention.

“I should say the same for you, you nosey hag! Why I oughta-”

“It’s true,” Tim said quietly from beside her, causing her to turn quickly and Damian to cease his verbal (and physical) assault. 

Now, you felt infinitely more embarrassed. This had definitely been a mistake.  

Stephanie perked up at the sound of Tim taking her side, but you felt like complete and utter shit. All those times at your locker, Tim was just being nice to you because he felt like he had to. 

Your legs hesitated in an attempt to retrace your steps and go back to your shitty, empty apartment to be alone. 

"What does that mean, Drake?" Damian growled, redirecting his assault toward the raven-haired sophomore.

"I mean, what you said is right, Damian." Relief flooded instantly with the realization that, no, Tim was actually just being nice to you because he wanted to. 

"Oh." Damian relaxed at the same time Stephanie huffed. 

"Whatever." She flipped her blonde hair in Tim's expectant face, though he made no move to dodge the attack.

You didn’t know these people and even though Damian had actually seemed kind, you shouldn’t have accepted a group hangout with people you didn't know after the extreme bullying that had been going on. 

The spat then moved from Stephanie and Damian to Stephanie and Tim. Damian used this as an excuse to focus his attention back on you. 

“What’s wrong?” You’d never heard his voice sound so soft. 

You looked up from the ground. “It’s just,” you paused, not sure if you wanted to continue. Maybe it was the fear of rejection, maybe it was what Stephanie said, or maybe it was something else entirely. “If you have all these friends,” you gestured between the three of them, “why are you being nice to me?”

“Don’t ask dumb questions. It makes you sound insecure.” He seemed to mean it in the kindest way possible, but even still, it did nothing to put you at ease.

Damn, if he hadn’t hit the nail right on the head, though. 

You had been feeling insecure recently. It was hard not to with the constant attacks. Not to say you were anybody at Star City, choosing mostly to operate under the radar, but here, not only were you on the radar, but you were a lone dot. These rich kids seemed to get off on treating you like some kind of taboo sideshow.  

You'd somewhat expected Damian to act like Bart: say hi in the hall and make sure to give you notes to catch up on when you’d been out sick, but that was it.  

That was all you’d known as far as real kindness, even at Star City. 

You’d never hung out outside of school, let alone in it. You always focused more on your novels and comic books rather than the petty drama unfolding in middle school. 

Damian was basically your first real friend, you realized. 

“Okay,” you said, wanting to appease your friend. 

It seemed to work because he knocked into your shoulder lightly. In response, you did the same back, this time with more force.

“Careful,” he said your name deeply. He then dug his bony shoulder into your fleshy one, leaving you to yelp. “I won’t go easy on you just because you’re a girl.” 

“Damn, Damian,” Stephanie interrupted with a Cheshire grin. “You’re soo smooth with the ladies.” She nudged at him, but he didn’t seem to fall for the bait this time. 

He sighed dramatically, distancing himself from beside you, “You’re not worth my time, Brown.” 

Tim glanced back between the two of you with a casual calculation that made you wince. Why couldn’t they see you were just friends? More specifically, only friends because everyone else in your grade and others seemed to hate your guts if Stephanie’s reaction was anything to go by.

As you passed the last few houses on the block, you quickly realized you were approaching the biggest one. 

Just who had you befriended? 

Actually, how were these three even friends? It seemed like all they did was hate on each other and argue about dumb shit, you noted to yourself as you attempted to keep in step with their fast pace. 

“How did you guys become friends, anyway?” you asked. 

“You mean she doesn’t know?” Stephanie giggled mirthfully. 

You were starting not to like this Stephanie girl. First, being called an outcast and now acting like you're dumb? Yeah, not the greatest first impression. Maybe it was just an off day for her, you shrugged internally.

“Shut up,” Damian scowled, glancing between the three of you.

Tim looked back at you with an intensity in his blue eyes that you couldn’t place. “You’ve never heard of Bruce Wayne?” 

 “I don’t live under a rock,” you said, rolling your eyes lightly, “but what does he have to do with anything?”

“Oh, man,” Stephanie laughed, “this is good.” 

You couldn’t tell if you liked her or not yet as you didn’t see what was so funny. Hell, you couldn't tell if she liked you or not as she went from insulting you to messing with you- it was confusing the fuck out of you. 

Damian could sense your annoyance. “Tim and I live with him.” 

You’d thought back to what the news said about Bruce Wayne. He was rich, a playboy, and he adopted a fuck ton of kids, so WAIT... Did that mean...?

“You live with him, or you guys are family?” You’re shocked at the revelation, looking between the two boys for similarities you’d missed. You noted that, aside from their dark hair and aptitude to bicker, they truly bore no resemblance to one another in the slightest. 

“Sure,” Tim said just as Damian replied, “Hell no.” 

 “They love each other, though,” Stephanie assured you with a snort and a devilish smirk. “Don’t you guys?” 

“You are on my last nerve today, Brown.” Damian’s eyes bore menacingly into the back of her head. “That’s not a place you want to be.” 

“Seconded,” Tim added, flicking her nose playfully.

You nodded at the information and figured you would do your research once you got home. That and treat yourself to the latest issue of your favorite comic for dealing with this social shitshow. Maybe a face mask, too. 

“Jeez, what is this? Hate on Stephanie day?” She swiveled to give everyone her best version puppy dog eyes, but much to her chagrin, your sympathetic smile was the only positive response she was met with. 

You’d always been a people pleaser. It seemed Damian was definitely not that and Tim? Tim seemed more distracted by your presence than anything. 

“It is now,” Damian muttered as your group approached the daunting gates of what you now knew to be Wayne Manor. 

Tim kept glancing back at you sporadically, which had you checking over your uniform and hair. Did you look like shit or something? 

Even Stephanie seemed to notice his incessant staring. “You good?” Tim blushed and swatted at her fingers, which poked him all over. 

Maybe earlier you’d mistaken her forward behavior as being rude like the rest of the people you’d encountered at Gotham. Maybe she was treating you like this because she liked you? 

Girls were too complicated.

“I think for once,” Tim said as Stephanie backed off enough to let him enter the gate code, “Damian and I can agree on something.” 

She gasped as your group continued up the expansive driveway, “BITCH!” 

You tuned out the screaming as you thought about all the parties you’d read about in the paper. Each of them taking place quite literally where you were stepping. All the elegant gowns and cars that had crossed this very path over the years and now you in your Gotham Academy uniform.

You’d realized that the group was a lot of energy to deal with about halfway through the walk here. Not that it was bad, but after the week you’d had, you already felt so drained. 

It sucked because you knew hanging out with people did nothing but benefit everything you’d been experiencing since the move, yet, at the same time, it was so, so much. You reminded yourself of your comic and face mask and persevered while trying not to let your energy bring the group down.

Damian said your last name as you walked into the house- manor, “Let’s go to my room.” 

You hadn’t been able to take in… well, anything before Damian was pulling you by the arm like a rag doll. 

“HEY!” Stephanie whine-screamed from the foyer. “What if we wanted to hang out with the new girl, too!” You cringed internally at her use of the nickname that others had used as an insult against you all week. After your rocky start with Stephanie, you weren't sure you necessarily appreciated it coming out of her mouth either.

As if her wish had been answered, Damian, along with you in tow, ran right into something- no, someone- as you rounded the corner to get to the stairs.

“Woah there, Dami!”

You and Damian looked up at the most gorgeous, ripped human ever. Your eyes followed a chiseled path upward. 

The man’s olive skin glistened wet from whatever pool he’d been swimming in. You had no doubt that this place had a ridiculous amount of them. The man's bold choice to wear a royal blue Speedo was making it difficult for you to swallow, let alone maintain normal, conversational eye contact. 

He casually wiped his dark, wet locks off and flipped the matching blue towel he was holding over his muscled shoulder. Who knew you could be so attracted to that shit? A shoulder? Come on, girl, this was too thirsty even for you. One thing was for sure, though; this guy looked like he’d popped straight out of one of your comic books.

“Grayson, move,” Damian demanded with his signature glare. "I'm not kidding." 

“Okay, baby bird.” He made to move out of the way, then winked a cerulean eye and quickly shifted back. "After you introduce me to your girlfriend.” 

At that, you and Damian both looked disgusted enough that the man burst into a fit of teary laughter. 

Damian tried to use the distraction to move past him, but the older man still refused to move, even with tears completely shrouding his eyes. 

At this point, Tim sprang up from behind you and Damian to mediate, but Grayson, as Damian had referred to him, barely acknowledged him when he came into view. This all changed when Tim opened his mouth.  

“She knows Bart,” it was all Tim said, but it had evidently been enough. 

The man let out a long and excited 'ohhhh!' and smiled softly, completely shifting from a menacing annoyance to a charming puppy.

“I don’t think I introduced myself.” He’d crossed his arms to fend off Damian, meaning it now meant that you were face to face with his rippling biceps. Even as he unfurled them, you could still see the full power of their aggressive definition. You were definitely blushing now. “I’m Dick,” he said as he offered you a titan-sized hand to shake. 

You took it lightly, not that it mattered with his strong grip while telling him your name. You wouldn’t be able to think of a dick joke until he was way out of your vantage point, let alone say anything intelligent until then. 

“You probably never met his cousin, but Wally and I go waaay back, if you know what I mean,” Dick sighed and moved from the front of the staircase as he reminisced. “We used to sneak out on the weekends together to… do homework.” He caught himself quickly enough as he nodded to you and all the rest of the high schoolers in the room. “Oh man, and during prom when we,” he said with a smile before seemingly dropping back into the present again, “danced. Sober. And did nothing else.” He looked pointedly at you and Damian. “Maybe don’t do what I did?” he muttered to himself, lost in thought as he suddenly took off deeper into Wayne Manor, still in a Speedo, you might add, but damn, you were not expecting what was behind him at all.

Your eyes bulged at the juiciest ass you’d ever seen on anyone, regardless of gender. 

Damian rolled his eyes at your incessant staring and insisted you follow him. “Now that the troll isn’t in the way.” 

"Yeah, troll," you said distractedly, letting Damian lead you up the stairs and down a hallway of dark, wooden doors. 

He shook his head at your entranced state as he reached a random door and pulled you inside. 

The room was warm and quaint, with light leaking from the undrawn cream curtains. Easels and half-finished work were somehow in an organized clutter about the floor and took up nearly the rest of the room.

He said your name immediately, snapping you out of your thoughts, “Don’t look at my shit.”

You laughed and picked up the closest stack to you. “How can I not?” you said, gesturing down to the very angry acrylic scratches for lines on the thin canvases in your hand. “You fighting some demons, buddy?” you teased his aggressive art style.

“You have no idea,” came his cryptic reply.

You ignored his statement and continued your inspection of the room. “Do you even own a watercolor set?” You looked around and only saw the same types of paint tubes. 

He looked proud as he shuffled around stacks of his artwork. “I had Pennyworth order us some.”

Even more cryptic. Awesome. 

This family just got weirder and weirder the longer you stuck around. It was honestly a wonder you hadn’t run back to your apartment at this point. 

“Okay.”  

He smirked as he shoved a Schmincke palette into your face, “Tell me I don’t have the necessary supplies now,” he proudly said your last name. You ogled at the expensive palette, reaching out for it, which he regretfully obliged. “Don’t get your drool on it now,” he warned, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the thought.  

“Yeah, yeah,” you waved him off, “only in your dreams, twerp.”

“Enough,” he demanded sternly, effectively scaring the shit out of you. 

“Woah, there.” You used one hand to hold the $400 watercolors and the other to imitate a white flag. He’d used that same tone so many times earlier, but never towards you. “I didn’t mean anything by it, s’just a nickname.” You quickly handed him back the palette and made off toward an empty easel in an attempt to change the mood. “Do you want me to teach you or not?” 

He crossed his arms and huffed like a child, nay, a twerp, as he disappeared off into the hall to search for more supplies in lieu of a response. 

You stood in the room, unsure of what to do with yourself, when you heard the door open up again. 

Instead of Damian’s short stature, it was Tim. 

Your eyes widened at the sight of him. “Hey,” you said. Your hands fiddled anxiously behind your back as Tim's unreadable face scanned the room and you.

“So, you guys are really just painting?” He picked up some of Damian’s work, something you would never tell your friend, seeing as you liked Tim and wanted him to remain alive. 

“Duh.” After all those nasty rumors spread about you, suddenly, any proximity to a boy was considered promiscuous. You’d never even had your first kiss anyway, which was the most embarrassing part about the whole rumors ordeal. You glanced back at Tim to see him staring at you like he’d been on the walk here. “What?” 

He chuckled, running a loose hand through his dark locks. He looked effortlessly, yet somehow understatedly, gorgeous. “You owe me for earlier down there, by the way.”

“Sure,” you said, “whatever you say, Tim.” 

“See you around?” It comes out like a question.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” you laughed at his small frown. “We’re locker buddies. Of course, I’ll see you, loser.” You quickly smacked your hand over your mouth. “Sorry, I was just joking!” 

“You’re the nerd here.” He shot you a cheeky smile before moving towards the door. “See ya.” 

You waved back at him as he left, then immediately felt around your cheeks for any sign of heat. 

Damian reappeared moments after Tim left, plopping a pad of watercolor paper in front of you with an expectant stare. “Well?”

Damian really was a funny kid. Whether he meant to be or if this was really just how he acted, you didn’t know yet, but you couldn’t help the snort that erupted unexpectedly.

“Are you just going to stand behind me like a fucking voyeur?”

He blushed and tugged at his collar. “Of course not,” he said, referring to your last name—another quirk of his you were already getting used to. 

It was almost endearing. 

Almost. 

He snatched a nearby easel and set it down next to yours, noticeably not behind it, you noted with amusement. Damian then grabbed the pad of paper he’d stuck in front of you and split the thick book in half with an ease that left you speechless. Literally. What do you say after someone does something mundane so savagely yet so casually? 

“Uh.” 

He glared at you as if to warn you to drop the whole thing. “You may have talent, but I don’t have all day.”

“Whatever,” you dismissed him, still not over him ripping the book.

This must be how he bantered. You realized that, while you may have noticed some of his personality, you definitely were nowhere close to understanding the true breadth of it. Yet, you added hopefully. 

You both quietly fell into a companionable silence as you showed him certain tricks he would replicate on his half of the watercolor paper pad. You noted that the silence only lasted so long, as Damian’s aggressive style still wasn’t transferring to the watercolors. 

“This is bullshit,” he muttered as he scrapped yet another piece of paper. 

“Maybe it’s just not your style?” you tried, but the glare you were met with left no room for debate. “Okay, okay.” You moved beside him and put your hand over his to control the movement. His body wash or whatever cologne he was wearing smelled amazing, but damn, did the kid overdo it. “See how light I’m pressing?” He nodded as you did the movement again, releasing more of his intoxicating scent that you were forced to ignore. “You want to paint with the tip of the brush mostly and you can’t do that if it’s smushed against the paper,” you said. He replicated your light movement with your hand still on top of his, creating a thin, delicate line. “Come look,” you said as you stepped back to fully view his canvas and motioned for him to do the same. 

“You’re right.” He inspected his previous work to the one you had just worked on with him. He said your name suddenly, causing you to turn towards him. 

You hoped you weren’t blushing, but the close proximity, his scent and him saying your first name for once? It was a bit too much for you.

Before you could reply, a resounding bang crashed throughout the room, seeming to have come from somewhere downstairs. Damian remained perfectly still but seemed unsure of the comeuppance, which did nothing to comfort you. 

“Damian?” you asked, unsure of what to do. 

Then the yelling started. 

You couldn’t hear much of it at first, but it quickly became a booming screech, then even louder to the point the two of you couldn’t ignore the ruckus any longer.  

“Stay here,” was all he said. He got up swiftly to shut the door behind him, effectively leaving you to listen blindly to the crashes and bangs from below.

You easily could’ve listened to Damian's demands, but you didn’t. 

As soon as he left the room, you waited only a moment before opening the door to follow after his retreating form. Once you reached the end of the wall, you crouched down to peer through the banister down into the entryway below. 

You held back your gasp at the sight of a hulking Bruce Wayne, who was much larger in person than on TV and the papers, towering menacingly over yet another dark-haired kid.

You couldn’t see Damian, but you peered close enough to catch Tim and Dick attempting to intervene with the rampaging kid. 

Where had Stephanie gone to? You searched around with wide eyes but found her nowhere. You couldn't lie that you wished she were here to witness this crazy shit go down with you.

Speaking of Damian. 

“I told you to stay in the room,” he grumbled, suddenly appearing behind you to grab your hand. 

You stumbled as you fell into step with him while he pulled you back towards the direction of the art room. Instead of taking you back there, he stopped just short and tugged you down a different staircase from the main one. 

“Where did you even come from?” You hadn’t heard or seen him sneak up on you at all. He was like a fucking ninja. “Who is that?” That being the more important question to ask, you realized. 

Tim was already waiting for the two of you halfway down the stairs while an older gentleman waited down at the base. Tim looked haunted, but it seemed like, at the very least, he was holding it together for you. Damian, to the untrained eye, seemed as unbothered as ever, but you picked up on the way his actions bordered on robotic more so than usual, meaning he was also putting on a calm facade for you. 

You realized you wouldn't be getting any answers any time soon.

“Miss,” the older gentleman stated your last name as you came to the end of the stairs and found yourself in a huge kitchen that would be any chef's dream. “I will be the one escorting you home this evening.” 

The guttural screaming and banging sounded close, so you nodded and swiftly followed behind. All the while, Tim and Damian remained protectively on either side of you.

Flanked and covered on all sides, you made your way out a back exit where you assumed a car would be waiting. 

You don't know what made you do it, but you turned your head at the last minute to see the new raven-haired kid stomping directly across the hallway that led right to you. 

Your eyes took him in, trailing helplessly over his larger form while your fight or flight kicked in. 

“Another one?” he screeched, his seething green eyes locking onto your own with a fiery rage. “ANOTHER FUCKING REPLACEMENT, BRUCE?”

You startled backward into Tim’s chest as your eyes refused to leave the active threat in front of you. 

Bruce came into view, noting your presence briefly with a quick but sorry gaze. It was enough to make your stomach flip at the acknowledgment. 

You were shaking, you realized, just as Dick yelled at him to get back. 

He and Bruce had the kid held back by both of his arms as he attempted to come closer to you, but scar-face continued to struggle violently against their inhumanly strong grip. 

“TOO MUCH TESTOSTERONE, SO YOU HAD TO GO ADOPT SOME FAT BITCH?” From this close, you noticed the angry scars cutting across the fleshiness of his boyish cheeks and his odd white tuft of hair. The scars bent and morphed with every exaggerated expression. 

Damian snarled from behind you while Tim and Alfred both placed gentle, guiding hands on your shoulders to lead you outside and into a blacked-out sports car. 

What even was that dude talking about? Replacement? Adopted? 

After quick goodbyes to Tim and Damian, you were left alone in the back of a Rolls Royce, wondering what the fuck you’d just witnessed.

•

About a week after your first visit to Wayne Manor and only a few days into your second week at Gotham Academy, you were still finding a routine. 

Every morning started off by seeing Tim (and sometimes Stephanie) by your locker. The three of you would chat for a bit about classes until Damian would stop by to walk you to your first class, only because the rumors still hadn’t quieted. 

If anything, the gossip had only gotten worse after you'd started hanging around the Wayne family.  

You were a grade ahead in English and had confided in Damian after a few days of pretending like you didn’t know where the classroom was and him insisting you did, that you were actually just anxious. He’d looked at you like you were dumb until you explained your dilemma of having to cross through the older kid hallways to get to the classroom. 

He hadn’t needed you to elaborate further to understand that the kids were still making fun of you. Thus, he began to walk you to class every day. 

It wasn’t like Damian’s presence stopped the taunting; it just made it less directly aimed at you, which worked just as well. Plus, Damian ended up being funny as hell, so just having his presence helped keep you calm through it all. 

It was... sweet.

Another new routine was that you now had Damian to eat lunch with and Tim and Stephanie as well. After your first hangout, you started seeing more of them in the hallways and eventually at lunch. It turned out both had the same lunch period and, after discovering this fact, would try to sit at the lunch table with you guys most of the time unless they had projects and such to complete.

Long gone were your days of hiding out alone in the library.

Today had been much of the same.

You were at lunch with Damian and Tim (Stephanie had to stay over in chemistry to finish an assignment) when a familiar and not in a good way, green-eyed face plopped down. The force was enough to shake the entire table. 

His very being demanded attention, you realized with a gulp as you took in his messed-up uniform collar and, even more pressing, the deep-set scars that ran across the majority of his face.

Your fearful glance bounced between an annoyed Damian and tense Tim while the kid who’d screamed at you appeared sheepish. 

“What’s up?” he tried with a deep voice that sounded extremely different from the angry yells you'd heard during your first visit to the manor. 

When no one responded, he scoffed and pulled out a packed lunch that matched Damian and Tim’s sophisticated own. Though it looked insanely good to you, he pushed around at it. You looked down at the pathetic leftover pizza you’d ordered two days prior with severe disdain. Definitely not as appetizing as their gourmet sandwiches and pastries. 

As if sensing your envy, the kid from the manor pulled out a red Tupperware container and scooted it cautiously across the table toward you. 

You eyed the container skeptically before squinting at him. 

“I made you scones.” You didn’t bother responding once again, but, nonetheless, he continued, “I’m Jason.” 

“Okay,�� you drawled out, wishing he would just leave you alone.

He looked unsure of you now, eyes widened and searching Damian and Tim’s faces for the right thing to say, but neither offered any help, let alone return his anxious gaze. 

Why did he care what you thought of him or whether or not you accepted his apology?

“You’re not fat, by the way,” he added hastily, realizing too late that it had sounded a lot better in his head than it did coming out. 

You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped from your lips, not having expected his forwardness. You cleared your throat after catching the incredulous looks from everyone else at the table, but Jason seemed pleased. 

You rolled your eyes a bit, hesitantly accepting his peace offering, when your stomach growled, revealing just how disappointed with your lunch you were. You couldn’t deny that his scones looked fucking bomb and the piece of pizza you’d eaten left a lot to be desired. 

You took out a chocolate chip scone and toasted it in his direction. “Nice to meet you, Jason,” you told him your name before biting into the heavenly pastry. The insane taste alone had you moaning. “Holy shit,” you opened your eyes to see everyone at the table bright red and refusing to make eye contact with you, that is, aside from Jason’s stark green ones, “these are awesome."

You weren’t lying, either. 

You knew how to cook and bake and all (when you were able to get the ingredients, that is), but it never came out anything like this.

“I made them.” He smiled at you a bit hesitantly. You could imagine why after such a violent introduction (if it could even be called that) and now here he was with a complete 180, gentle disposition and scones. “I could show you too?” It came out as more of a question. 

“Careful, Todd,” Damian warned, “she’s my friend, not yours.” 

You would later ask Jason for his scone recipe and curse him when you realized that, of course, he hadn’t given you the exact recipe and your scones came out tasting like shit. All those wasted ingredients for nothing, the fucking asshole. 

You were going to get that recipe.

•

The same week Jason started school, you returned to Wayne Manor for the second time. This time, without all the hostility, though it seemed like any time the Wayne siblings hung out, there was some sort of quarrel. 

This time, it was over who kept dropping all the green shells. 

Damian was convinced it was Stephanie, who was convinced it was Barbara, who was convinced it was Dick, who was convinced it was Tim, but it had been you. Jason, who refused to play and insisted on posting up against the game room entryway, knew it'd been you.

What were you supposed to do when they were apparent Mario Kart gods while you were more like a toddler chewing on a console?

Finally, after Stephanie, Barbara and Dick had each won twice in a row, Mario Kart was rage quit by Damian, who demanded the group play something else.

You couldn’t help but laugh at his petulance, “At least you came in second once.”

“Yeah, well, someone has to be last place,” he said your last name. 

“Maybe not every time, though,” Tim teased you with a nudge from beside you on the couch you were both sitting on with Damian. 

“Well, then. Let’s play something I’m good at,” you said as you flipped through their virtual game library until you came across Injustice 2 and launched it. Everyone in the room boo’ed. “What?!” you asked incredulously. “You guys bought the game, not me!”

Luckily, Damian came to your rescue. “I want to play."

“You gonna be Batman, little bird?” Stephanie teased him. 

“Please, Brown,” Damian maneuvered his controller to click on player two just as you picked player one, “I actually want to win.”

You played as Catwoman, while Damian selected Robin. 

“They should have some relevant dialogue when they appear too!” You wiggled excitedly in your seat in anticipation. 

It'd been a while since you played the first game and you’d never had the money to buy the second game, so all the game content was all new to you.

The characters loaded in and true to what you said, they began to taunt each other. You tried to turn up the volume, but before you could, Damian clicked 'A' and skipped through the intro, leaving your mouth to drop at the audacity.

Stephanie and Barbara cackled at your offended face while Dick got up to try and smooth things over with a placating grin. "Woah, there." 

“Fucking asshole!” you cut Dick off, dropping the remote as Robin began beating the shit out of Catwoman before you could get a proper hold on your controller.

“Fuck your dialogue,” Damian said as he sat hunched over with his hands rapidly pounding buttons while you attempted to catch up to his onslaught of attacks. Stephanie, Barbara and Tim were hooting and hollering at Catwoman's whip assault while Dick sat back down to politely cheer for Damian, who quickly shut it down. "You're distracting me, Grayson."

You end up kicking his ass, but barely. Still enough of a beating for him to throw the controller out of the room past Jason's looming body. 

You laughed as he pushed into your shoulder, “So much for last place, huh?”

He stuck his tongue out and you don’t know why your first thought was to grab it, but you did. 

You stared at him while he stared at you, tongue still between your pointer and thumb, neither of you (or anyone in the room) saying anything. You were equally surprised he hadn’t reclaimed his tongue by pushing you or whatever Damian’s aggressive ass would normally do.

Jason, somehow, is the one who ended up breaking the weird, no, awkward tension you’d created by clicking on rematch. This time, you noted, without skipping the dialogue. 

You nodded appreciatively in his direction, but he just shook his head with a roll of his eyes. "Psycho."

You dropped Damian’s tongue immediately, flush with embarrassment you were desperately trying to quell into a cool nonchalance and joined the game. 

Within a few seconds, you used Catwoman’s whip to knock Robin on his ass with ease. "That's rich." You shot him a pointed eyebrow that you knew he understood.

“Jeesh!” Stephanie exclaimed now on the edge of her seat as Robin teleported behind Catwoman, but you dodged his sword attack and retaliated with a headlock followed by a body slam. She ended up blocking Dick’s view, leaving him to shuffle across the room near Jason in order to see past everyone who’d collectively gotten up from their seats. 

Jason, who was on the left side of the couch, didn’t seem too bothered by Dick’s presence, but you knew it was throwing him off a little. As soon as Dick entered Jason's personal bubble, he was no longer able to dodge your Super Move like he'd done countless times before.

In the end, Jason beat you with a wink and left the room, leaving you more confused than ever about your rocky relationship. 

From screaming to scones to winks, all in a few days. You were getting severe whiplash from this family when you weren’t even sure why they all even wanted to keep hanging out with you, least of all why you kept coming back.

Maybe it was a bit dysfunctional, maybe you were all dysfunctional for that matter, but for the first time ever, you felt like you kind of belonged. 

It was… nice.

A/N: hope ur enjoying so far!

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[yumeirochaser]

watched macross: do you remember love?

okay i literally just watched this movie bc i hated the show and wanted to watch the (better) sequels. it is a very well animated movie, with exquisite art and aesthetics. and really good mechanical and character designs.....

but it's also a total mess. a very, very sexist mess.

like man the gender essentialism in this thing is off the charts. it's also kind of a michael bay movie since it's about the cool military otaku guy getting hot chicks except it tries to say Something about women and men and like. it's bad

it doesn't help that hikaru starts bland and nicer only to become a slimeball and misa joins on his assholery later and there's roy whose entire character is hating women but wanting to fuck them and ughhhhhh. hikaru even falls in love with misa in a sequence where she literally stays in the kitchen and starts acting like a trad wife playing house and making fake food in the ruins of a town. it fucking blows. like i don't want to be too negative but this movie is just so mean.

but there's. one character. who is the highlight of it all. the one and only lynn minmay. she starts already tired and disillusioned with the idol business and mostly sees hikaru as a way to cope with her depression and escape the pain. being a normal girl from a small place, in a world too big for her. she's too naive to be with this guy she just met and she has been drafted far from home to do this idol gig and this is like. way too much for someone like her. she has a fling with hikaru...and then she gets kidnapped by aliens who force her to kiss her abusive cousin. and then she gets separated from hikaru and waits for him....while he starts cheating on her with misa when they both fall into the trad family delusion in a deserted earth. and when she meets them again they treat her like shit.they reveal he cheated on her, and don't even try to comfort her until it's time to use her singing as a weapon to stop the war. she says selfish stuff but she also just feels so tired, esp since she was made an ambassador for the galaxy during this. hikaru treats her coldly too. but then she swallows her pride, pulls her pants, and decides to sing with all her heart for the sake of the world and the family that she no longer has. she gave up her youth, an after this, dissappeared in the end and became an idealized image.....she's so tragic....

minmay was the only character who overcame the fantasy she wanted to live in at the start. bc hikaru and misa actually like, don't like each other that much, they just like the trad wife and husband fantasy they have with each other. but minmay, who initially wanted to use hikaru as a fantasy to escape her miserable life as a naive idol coming from nothing in an unknown place, actually grew up and moved on. choosing to live in reality, even if it's not perfect...she still sings.....

i don't think this arc of hers was like, intended? bc in the end it is played in the text as her having a tantrum. but like. the reframing of her character as being depressed from the start combined with the context of the tv show and HIKARU CHEATING ON HER makes her feel really sympathetic. in the end, everyone won and got to live their ideal lives but her. she's not a little girl anymore, but a woman who has to live in the real world. i do feel later shows noticed this and retroactively made her tragic but like. damn. the fact that she was supposed to be in the wrong, and that she was hated back in the day like, says so much about the era and type of show this is. truly rancid. i'm glad she got reappraised and reframed as a hero later on.....minmay deserved better.

sorry for the word vomit i just feel a lot for her. she was treated so badly in this awful, awful film. i came out of this really loving her character and i'm glad later stuff recognizes that she was sympathetic and influential but like. god, this is just too mean. too awful.

[bitchkay]

Roy in bondage and blindfolded. He's completely at your mercy, and all he can do is beg you to fuck him after teasing him to almost no end. That's it. Go crazy, go stupid

Anon you're flirting with me😍😍

Listen-

No cus why was I literally just thinking about how Roy looks like such a slut in the 2nd Anniversary art--

LISTEN-

The face card is definitely giving 'roy you notti notti boi😏'

One of those things where you're like 'yea his arch game stupid😌'

There was one event epilogue(?) where mc was "going down on him" not actually going down on him but kissing down his body in a way that made you think shorty was gonna suck dick but like cod writers hate cock apparently and never let mc suck dick- ANYWAY she was going down on him Roy was out here moaning and shit, I think he begged at one point and the way Roy was acting was like ouu boy I just know you submissive😏😏 you just had to be there man

Roy almost reaches Fenn level horny honestly

He been acting mad horny lately🤨

ANYWAY- tying Roy up???? That's some fruit for thought👀

Yall know how I feel about dominating men so whew am I all for it

And Roy is absolutely whipped for you, you think he wouldn't also agree???

Roy liking this more than you

Roy wants you to want him. Roy wants you to be obsessed with him so when you take the reigns in any context hes reeling

Now Roy being a submissive little bitch, that teasing glint in his eyes is no where to be found replaced by a doe eyed plea for mercy

Golden yellow eyes now dark round and wet, light pink strands of hair stuck to his forehead from sweat, streams of tears down his cheek and the lulling out of his tongue

Roy was already pretty vocal, now he won't shut the fuck up

Nothing but pleas for more, moans of pleasure, him begging for you to untie his wrists so he can reach out and touch you, he doesn't know how to be quiet

Imagine this☆:

Bound to a chair. Arms securely ties behind him at the wrists, bent at the elbows. Calfs tied to the legs of the chair, planted apart. Torso roped to the back of the chair keeping him in place. Can't have him squirming around to much. Roy butt naked and tied to a chair. You –in nothing but lingerie– laid delicate touches on his exposed body, tracing outlines on his skin. His dick stood on attention, stiff and leaking precum, burning red from lack of stimulation. "Touch me... please." Roy mumbled, probably the quietest he's ever been. He whined as you ignored his pleas, admiring his body and the way the ropes left red marks on his skin. "Please..!" You sat on his legs, thighs on either side of him, wrapping your arms around his neck. "Roy baby, you're so gorgeous," you cooed a hand on his cheek. "I- ineedyousomuchyourebeingmean..." With words slurred together he pulled at his restraints to no avail. "Mean? Sweetheart I'm just admiring what's mine. You are mine right?" You spoke sweetly running your hands down his chest, eyes trailing his broad body. "Right?" "Right... I wa- Ack!" Wrapping your hands around his shaft your slowly jerked him off in your hand. "Ha- ah! Heartspell that's- that's so good oh my-!" Having been worked up to this point, Roy was extremely sensitive, the drag of your fingers on his cock making his brain short circuit, shocks of pleasure going through him making his body twitch. "You're so sexy when you're like this~" Increasing your pace on his cock Roy threw his head back a guttural moan roaring up his throat, his body heating up. "Ugh! Creator! Please please please-! I'm- I'm so- Heartspell I'm so close!" "Close? You wanna cum?" "Mhm!" Using both hands to jerk him, Roy's head fell forward, mouth gaped a string of droll falling from his lips, so utterly bliss out from your ministrations. His cock twitched involuntarily right as he was about to shoot then- You stopped. "What? No! Please please I cannot- I need you-" "Stop it Roy." You stood up from his lap. His dick stood stiff, an angry red as precum drool down the side, twitching from his ruined orgasm. You unclipped your bra and drew down your panties. "... what are you doing..?" The chair tilted slightly as he leaned forward seeking you out. Returning to his side, you kissed his lips messily, pushing pink and yellow strands of hair away from his sweat stained forehead. Pulling away with a wet smack of your lips you sat on his lap facing away from him, pushing your ass against his hard cock. "What? Didn't you want me to fuck you?"

[ikroah]

Don't you know that she's had a bad, bad fall? And if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. —“If You Can’t Say Anything Nice,” Roy Orbison (1965)

It Keeps Right On a-Hurtin’ #20 - Freeside IV

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Read IKROAH on Archive of Our Own

Notes / Original Pencils / Transcript:

Notes:

Whewwwwww this one was a project. I’ve always wanted to experiment with doing a multiple-page spread like this, and I’m glad that I finally found an excuse! It basically doubled the amount of coloring work that I had to do, but as you can see the result was well worth the trouble.

That being said, IKROAH will be going on a sort of semi-informal hiatus (which just means it might be a while until the next comic) because I have some other non-fandom comics I want to work on before the end of the year and also I have been working so hard for so long oh my god I just want to hide in a hole and play video games right now. So I will.

Anyway! See you next ish! I’m gonna go beat Metroid Dread.

Original Pencils

Since I work traditionally, it actually took a lot of effort and precision to make sure the background spread lined up correctly on each page. And it still wasn’t enough because I had to correct the alignment a bit on each page anyway during digitization! You can also see my abundance of notes-to-self about little fixes to make during the coloring process, as well as some...uh...”cut dialogue.”

The unique grittiness of the flashback panel in which Agnes confronted Dixon was achieved by leaving it uninked. By scanning it as raw pencil instead of clean black and white, I got a much rougher-looking smattering of black on it during digitization.

You can see how large I drew the flyers on the original pencils at first; I shrunk them down digitally. It was easier to draw them bigger and I knew that I could just reposition them later.

Something that proved surprisingly difficult during the art process was thinking of things to draw in front of the Fort’s walls. On the original pencils here, you can see that I drew somebody tripping over a rock on Page 5 because I thought that it’d be funny, but I replaced him with birds during the inking process because on second thought it just seemed too distracting.

Transcript

JULIE: I can’t believe you...you killed Dixon?

INT. THE OLD MORMON FORT in FREESIDE, the Vegas-area headquarters of the FOLLOWERS OF THE APOCALYPSE. The director JULIE FARKAS is engaged in a shouting match with AGNES SANDS, while AGNES’ companion ROSE OF SHARON CASSIDY stands by beside her and JULIE’s associate ARCADE GANNON frets behind her.

AGNES: He attacked me! What was I supposed to do?

JULIE: I don’t know, not leave yet another murder victim out on the streets of Freeside, maybe?

ARCADE: Julie, please...

JULIE pinches the bridge of her nose, stressed.

JULIE: I thought you'd convince him somehow, not...this!

AGNES: We tried. He said we'd have to pay him off, but we didn't have the caps—

JULIE: You could have come back! And asked for the caps!

CASS: So what, then, the followers just open their wallets for any asshole selling on their block? Shit, Agnes, maybe we should start pushing and get our money that way.

ARCADE leans in to speak to JULIE.

ARCADE: Julie, I hate to say it, but she's got a point. Even if we did give Dixon the caps, it would have set a bad precedent...frankly, we can't afford to be extorted.

JULIE: And this justifies murder, Arcade?

JULIE turns her attention back to AGNES and CASS.

JULIE: Somehow I doubt Dixon just attacked you two for no reason.

AGNES: I told you. He asked for a bribe...that we buy him out, basically. And we, uh...we couldn't pay, and so...and so I improvised...and I threatened him—

JULIE cuts AGNES off, pointing at her furiously.

JULIE: —and so you started it!

AGNES: I...no, look, he pulled a knife—

JULIE: No. Stop. I don’t care. It's already taking all of our effort to keep tensions between Freesiders and NCR squatters from boiling over into all-out riots, and everyone's only been even more on edge since somebody took out the Silver Rush*. People are scared, and killing a dealer like Dixon no matter how scummy is only going to make things worse, not better. We've been struggling with our patients' withdrawal symptoms enough as-is.

(NOTE: Julie would know who if she'd read IKROAH #17—Lou.)

JULIE crosses her arms, immense disappointment and frustration on her face.

JULIE: And furthermore? I don't need your perspective on violence in Freeside. I live here. I know Dixon's type, and the Followers of the Apocalypse have worked with plenty of people just like him without ever resorting to threats and violence. Do you fucking get it yet?

AGNES seethes behind her sunglasses.

JULIE: Do you understand what you've done?

AGNES’ teeth clench tight.

JULIE: You're a murderer.

AGNES: I—

CASS (interjecting): Yeah, yeah. Nice lecture. But we did what you asked. That asshole won't be dealing where he's going, guaranteed. You're not happy at all?

JULIE looks at them hard.

JULIE: No. I’m not. I’m not happy that I seem to have put my faith in a pair of hitwomen. You and the Followers have no further business.

CASS: What about the caps for our trouble? Nothing?

JULIE (turning to leave): The caps you were promised will go toward Dixon's burial expenses. Arcade, please escort these two out of The Fort.

Exeunt JULIE as she enters one of the Followers’ medical tents.

ARCADE: I'm sorry about Julie. I mean, I agree with her, but...well, I don't actually know why I'm apologizing, then. Murder is bad, as it turns out.

AGNES: ...it’s fine.

ARCADE: And she really doesn't mean to be so harsh...things have just been really, uh, tense around here lately.

ARCADE smiles sincerely.

ARCADE: Listen, if you're ever in need of help, you can come back anytime. Really. Just talk to me instead of her. All I'll lecture you about are, uh, medicinal herbs. Haha.

CASS (turning to leave): Thanks, four-eyes. We'll keep that in mind. Come on, Agnes.

AGNES hesitates to follow CASS, remaining still. ARCADE turns to rejoin JULIE, but looks back at AGNES with a worried expression.

AGNES: Yeah...thanks.

EXT. THE OLD MORMON FORT, the STREETS OF FREESIDE.

AGNES: I’ll keep that in mind.

AGNES and CASS exit The Fort.

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 2x8 thoughts

I am so lucky that the creators of Ted Lasso decided to make this entire show specifically for me. #blessed

If last week felt like a bit of breathing room (albeit tense, poignant, character-progressing breathing room) with distinct narrative lines, this week’s episode was a chaotic yet tightly-written swirl of pain and hope and sadness! No neat subject headers for this one, y’all. Just my brain and heart in the inadequate form of a bulleted list. It is the medium available to me at this time.

I am going to remember the moment when Ted calls Sharon and tells her his father killed himself for the rest of my life.

(I could say a bunch of stuff about his face and what he says and how he tries to hide his tears from Beard right after and how insanely much I adore this character and ahhhhhhhh but I’m just going to leave that scene there in our collective memories.)

Jamie. JAMIE. Higgins has given some great advice about love on this show, but his musings about his up-and-down relationship with his own father were not helpful in the context of Jamie’s dad, who is an abusive piece of shit. I really adore that all of the main AFC Richmond staff members are realistically a bit hit-or-miss with their advice and life philosophies (some are mostly miss this season, of course).

And I am completely in awe of the moment when Jamie punches his father. The way he just stands there after Beard kicks his dad out of the locker room. The way you can hear a pin drop. And Roy—Roy who is learning in so many areas of his life about his influence on people, learning that the things he needs aren’t necessarily the same as the things other people need—is the one to cross the room and hug him. Hold him, really, with the tenderness Ted used when he hugged Rebecca outside the gala in 1x4. God.

I’ve thought a lot about how s1 was about giving people a soft place to land. There’s always an angel there when you need one. There’s always an opportunity to be kind. If you look for someone, you find them. If you look for the good in someone, you find the good. And as everyone works through their individual journeys in s2, that can’t always be the case anymore. But there are still so many moments of angels on this show, and it’s not about chance and serendipity and fate [not that it was about that in s1] but about the effort it takes to become someone who can be there for someone else. Or who can be there for yourself. I’m so proud of Jamie for physically fighting back against his father. I’m so proud of Roy for being the one who recognized what Jamie needed.

I have every feeling in the world about how Ted is almost totally frozen both times (s1 and s2) he witnesses Jamie’s father abusing him. In s1, he was still there for Jamie after, and I have every reason to believe he’ll be there for Jamie after this incident as well, but that frozen stance HURTS. He’s in so deep with his pain about his own father that it’s like he physically cannot snap out of it to act in the moment. It seems entirely outside of his control, and it breaks my heart, because Ted wants so badly to be a good father, a good coach, a good friend, a good partner, a good patient. He’s there for people in all kinds of ways, even in his current less-than-capable state. He takes care of Sharon post-concussion and even gets her a new bike! During the disastrous match at Wembley his coaching is ineffectual and everything is chaos but he’s the last one standing on the pitch! But this really awful thing keeps happening to Jamie and Ted is just…frozen in the face of it. Like one of those nightmares where you’re running in place.

The frozen-in-place nightmare also kind of applies to the way the total separation between Ted and Rebecca feels, too. I have never for a moment doubted the writers’ intentions in setting these characters up as soulmates on parallel journeys, and I’m actually really digging (on a story level) how disconnected they are right now. It is IMPRESSIVE that their absence in each other’s lives feels like such a glaring loss, one we cannot forget even as there are so many other things happening onscreen. It is 100% not just shipper goggles making me process information about Ted while thinking about Rebecca and information about Rebecca while thinking about Ted. I know there are a lot of really angry and frustrated people in the fandom right now (both T/R shippers and T/R antis and non-shipping fans who don’t get why s2 is different from s1) and while I understand being frustrated by choices characters make, and frustrated by the feelings the show makes us feel that we just want to feel more of or less of, I continue to agree with pretty much every narrative choice happening right now.

Agreeing with the narrative like this?! This is such a unique experience for me as a viewer—to feel like I’m on a ride that is at once absolutely wild and incredibly sensible and well-crafted, and to feel simultaneously completely invested and anticipatory and speculative but also totally willing to trust where it goes. I long for Ted and Beard to really talk. I long for Ted and Rebecca to stop missing each other. I long for Roy to have a serious conversation with Ted about what’s happening with him. I long for Keeley to find a vocation, something that drives her beyond her projects. I long for so many things! But I wouldn’t long for them if this show was less good. If the show was less good, I wouldn’t have a wish list a mile long because I wouldn’t be so attuned to the details and potential lurking in every scene. THIS IS SUCH A GOOD SHOW, I CANNOT HANDLE IT, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.

(To that end, a great deal of the Ted Lasso tag and so many Twitter reactions reactions to the show feel super stressful right now and I am kind of just trying not to look?! I love this fandom so much because of the amazing conversations that happen and because of brilliant fic and because there are some awesome people I never would have encountered were it not for this show. That little bubble is wonderful and I’d stay in this fandom no matter what in order to keep experiencing those things. But fans’ catastrophic reactions to every little thing that happens, every little choice a character makes that isn’t the “perfect” choice? The takeaway that the writers—on this show of all shows—wake up in the morning ready for another day of torturing shippers rather than another day of writing a beautiful story they genuinely want to write? I do not enjoy those parts at all. I would like to opt out of those parts. I’m having such a magical experience watching this show and talking about this show and listening about this show and writing about this show with a variety of people who feel all kinds of ways. I truly wish I could somehow transfer the energy of this experience onto all the people who are hating it right now. I don’t mind at all that people are having vastly different reactions to this show and are sharing their honest feelings, including the really angry ones (I can appreciate something and disagree with it!), and I get that sometimes the language of fannish reactions is intentionally, ironically hyperbolic. But there feels like this very serious trend of people legitimately thinking writers on this show are targeting shippers and have lost respect for their characters, and I just feel like an alien from another planet when I see that stuff. I guess I just feel like people make art because they want their art to be visible to other people and to themselves, but that doesn’t typically involve specifically catering to or torturing a subset of that audience?)

I am more fascinated by Sharon Fieldstone than ever before. I have been running through every single action with her and Ted so many times. The confirmation that she’s living in club-provided housing (that could not look more different from Ted’s club-provided flat). Ted clearly noticing the many bottles. Sharon’s face while she tries to casually recycle them. (Sharon could legitimately have a more problematic relationship with alcohol than Ted does, and I find that extremely interesting and am very curious to find out what happens there.) Sharon leaving him voice notes while she’s concussed, probably because she’d been thinking about him shortly before the accident. The way Ted calls her and does all the funny voices and it’s not frustrating like all the times he uses his silliness and allusions to deflect during their prior conversations because this time, those behaviors are just a part of him showing care for another person. The way they stretch each other, and Ted is still wrong about the things he’s been wrong about, but they both grow all the same.

While it is pretty much impossible for me to imagine that this show would include an actual romantic relationship between Ted and Sharon (it would be beyond unethical even if they could write it well, and Sharon in particular is so professional and committed to her work, and it would erase so much of the powerful message about the importance of seeking therapy from a professional who is not your friend or partner, and I would totally hate it), watching this episode was the first moment I had this queasy little feeling that it’s possible that Ted could end up developing really complicated feelings about Sharon since, at this point, he’s been honest with her about things he’s hardly spoken about before and you can really form an attachment to people you feel safe with in a new way. (I mean, I’m sure Michelle knows what happened with Ted’s father, but I’m not even certain if Beard does.) He’s so broken right now, and Sharon is such a great person and so different from anyone else in his life (even though Rebecca is also different, and Beard is also different, and Roy is also different, and so on), that I could see things getting really fuzzy for him. I continue to have faith in the way the storylines on this show are handled. I’m just. Putting this here.

(In saying that, though, I also wanna make it really clear that I don’t just automatically assume anytime a new female character is introduced that they’re going to end up becoming a romantic complication. Like, Phoebe is allowed to have a teacher who is an attractive woman and AFC Richmond is allowed to have a sports psychologist who is an attractive woman and Keeley is allowed to talk to Jamie Tartt without it threatening what she has with Roy and all these people can exist as human beings without the introduction of romantic drama.)

Isaac gives every player one haircut per season, OH MY GOD. The JOY during the haircut scene. YES.

KEELEY AND REBECCA. Their text thread. The affirming video call right before Rebecca goes into the restaurant. The way Keeley sits all snuggled up against Rebecca in her office.

I was pretty thoroughly spoiled for the Sam and Rebecca plot through 2x8, and I was bracing for something far more problematic and tortured than what happens in this episode. The words I would use to describe their scenes: awkward, cute, cringy, and understandable. There are a million reasons why this relationship isn’t sustainable, but I felt completely understanding of both their choices here. This show has a lot of thesis statements, but I keep going back to the idea from 2x1 that there are people who enter your life to help you get to the next point, and I think it’s entirely possible that Sam and Rebecca will mutually be that for each other.

I find comparisons between Rupert and Rebecca super upsetting. There are absolutely meaningful things to say about the irony of ending up in a situation with an uncomfortable resemblance to certain taboo elements of an ex’s situation. But that ex is abusive and manipulative and cruel and Rebecca has exhibited NONE of those behaviors, and it makes me really sad to think that people feel that the writers on this show have betrayed Rebecca in giving her this storyline.

As always, I reserve the right to keep blathering about this show. I’ve had a headache for a couple of days, but my head is also so full of 2x8 thoughts that I couldn’t keep them in even if the circumstances for writing this were not ideal. I kind of hate that I’ve included frustrated fandom thoughts within the analysis of what I felt was an absolutely gorgeous, complicated, heartbreaking, near-perfect episode of television, but if ya can’t be a little dramatic on your own tumblr while you’re feeling raw and under the weather, where can ya?

[retvenkos]

“would it be terribly cheesy if i said ‘it was always you’?”

requested by @biqherosix STRAP IN, FOLKS, BECAUSE TODAY WE ARE TAKING A LOOK AT WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE FOR EJ CASWELL TO HAVE A CRUSH ON A NORTH HIGH STUDENT...

so first of all, you and ej knew each other long before you ran into each other in high school. because, you see, you went to junior high together, and in those days, both you and ej were on dance company 

(you can pry dance company! ej from my cold, dead fingers)

you were arguably the better dancer, and seventh grade ej really wanted to prove himself. a baby competition sprouted between the two of you, but it was nothing big.

you both liked to show off in order to taunt the other, and you both got a kick out of trying to one up each other.

but at the same time, you were teammates. you did everything together.

so the bond between you and ej was strong. it was a competition, yes, but it was friendly competition and you both actually hyped each other a lot. 

plus, dance company does a lot of things as a group, so it was unavoidable. you were going to end up liking each other at some point. luckily, it happened sooner rather than later, and the two of you built up a nice rapport with one another - a closeness forged in friendly competition and last minute studying parties.

but all that changed when you went to north high and ej went to east high

now, since north high is completely fictional, i get to create the dynamic between the schools, so listen up everyone!

north high clearly has the better arts department, and they also have the better tennis and softball team.

east high has the better stem department as well as a better swim team and any other swim related sports.

west high has the better sport teams overall - basketball, football, volleyball, etc.

(that's why we never see any uber jocks at east high—)

now, clearly you have your boundary school, but people get on special permit all the time, and when you say you’re going to north high ej is like ???? but why ???

“they have a better arts department, ej, you know that!”

“well, yeah, but east high is the best. we always said we were going to be wildcats!”

“ej.... they’re actually leopards.”

it wasn’t a super emotional goodbye. you promised to stay in touch, and it wasn’t like it was hard. you still saw each other around the mall, you still followed each other on instagram and what not but.... time just got between you.

you slowly stop texting, you see each other less, when you see each other in public you do that thing where you give a smile but then don’t go over to say hi, because you’re wrapped up in other people. it’s not pointed things, you just... stop talking.

and you still like each others photos on instagram but you’re just... there. 

all of that changes, however, when carlos asks you to help him choreograph hsm.

at the time, the rivalry between schools wasn’t big, it was just a low simmer, and the reason carlos approached you was because once upon a time, you, ej, and him had all been in dance company together for one (1) year (it all comes full cIRCLE) and for one of your performances, you had done something hsm related.

carlos wanted to know if you remembered the routine and could help him come up with something slightly more advanced.

and while you and carlos hadn’t really kept up with one another, he jokingly brought up a time where he did something for you, and how you always said you’d pay him back one day and maybe now it was time to cash it in??

you decided why not? you’ve done a lot of stuff for north high’s dance company, but you’ve never helped out in a musical before (and as you can imagine, north high is very competitive in their arts)

so you joined the hsm cast as co-choreographer.

now, because you had your own north high dance company stuff to deal with, you end up missing a lot of rehearsals. you mostly brainstorm with carlos and add tweaks to the choreo. carlos is the one to really ~teach~ things.

which means that while you are present for ~the drama~ that was ej-nini-ricky, you actually miss a lot of it. you feel the tension, but exactly why it’s Like That is beyond you.

you tried to ask carlos once but he said he wasn’t going to get into that, thank you.

and honestly, you have competitions to keep up with, so you’re not fixated on it. you’re just hoping that they’re not still pissed at each other on opening night, when ej has to strap ricky in for “getcha head in the game”

and while you’ve chatted with ej a couple of times, you haven’t had much time to catch up.

you actually bond a lot with gina, who is on the same level as you in terms of dance. you end up talking and mention how ej was once on dance company, and that rocks her world because ej???

and that’s when you show her all of the old videos you archived on your instagram from your junior high days. carlos, ej, and you all in dance company. they’re precious.

and when ej’s friendships are strained and he doesn’t have anyone to turn to, he sees you and gina laughing and crowding over your phone, and he comes to say hi.

and thus, the friendship begins again.

it is, of course, slow going because so much time has come between you, and gina and carlos (the two you hang with the most) are not on great terms with ej, but you guys grow really close all over again. ej is glad to have another senior to talk to about college, and you’re glad you have an old friend to talk to because it’s easy to feel out of place in this school that isn’t yours.

and on opening night, you know ej gifts you something - maybe it’s a jacket or beanie with the wildcats emblem on it.

“it’s kinda stupid, but we always said we were going to be wildcats together, and we did it.”

“huh, i guess we did.”

and for some reason, you chest is really warm, and you can feel the heat sneak up to your cheeks.

“this is really sweet, ej.”

“well, you know me.”

“yeah, i guess i do.”

and then it’s his cue to get ready to go on stage.

“oh! and there should be another surprise coming, don’t hate me for not telling you!”

and you’re ??? but it turns out to be gina.

you all clearly go to denny's afterward to celebrate, and if ej feels his heart seize in his chest everytime you laugh or steal one of gina’s fries, it’s not an unfamiliar feeling. because really, it had always been like that, with you. you never cease to amaze him.

and once you’re on the east high theatre group chat, you never get taken off of it, so you know everything that’s going on with your theatre buddies, after hsm has finished.

and this is where a conflict of interest really comes in...

because, you see, once hsm is a hit, some of the theatre kids at north high think you’re a traitor. you gave east high their secrets, and now east high is an actual contender. uncool, (y/n).

so you kind of get iced out by a lot of north high kids. like i said. competition there is  s t e e p  and you’ve been accused of fraternizing with the enemy..

but when zach roy shows up and he hears about the drama surrounding one (y/n) (l/n), he gets an idea... so he approaches you one day after dance company practice...

“he asked you to do wHAT?”

you’re texting ej, carlos, and gina in a group chat

“he asked me to co-choreograph their show.”

“are you going to do it?” - carlos

“of course they are! do you think opportunities like this just fall out of the sky?” - gina

“i don’t know, though, i feel like he’s working some angle with me. there’s something about him that doesn’t feel genuine.”

“it’s those piercing blue eyes.” - carlos

“i have piercing blue eyes!”

“and you’ve never done anything underhanded?” - gina

“we did that together!”

“what should i do?”

“accept, clearly!” - gina

“i’d be careful, if i were you. miss jenn doesn’t trust him for a reason.” - carlos

“it’s up to you, (y/n). you’ll do great, and it’s a great opportunity.”

“but?”

and everyone can feel the pause - the conflict where ej doesn’t know what to say.

“but nothing! this is a HUGE opportunity! he’s dancer extraordinaire derek hough zach roy! i’d be the villain of your eventual documentary if i were to try to hold you back.”

“okay... i think i’ll do it. you know how competitive things are, here. this could really give me a boost.”

“hell yeah, (y/n)!” - gina

“spy on their production for us?” - carlos

“anything for you <3″

i imagine you clash a lot with lily, but you actually become really good friends with howie and antoine. but that’s beside the point.

and while things are on good terms at first, your bond with your wildcats stays strong, and you’re carving out a place in north high rehearsals, lily is quick to find out that you’re on the east high group chat.

and because this is hsmtmts, i get to have some fun with this premise.

lily gets some kind of tech nerd on her side, and she gets him to make it so that somehow, the text that you get from the theatre group also send to her phone, for maximum stalking of the competition. that’s how she always gets one step ahead of east high.

and as north high seemingly continues to have insider info on east high, someone suspects there’s a leak.... which leads to you. who else has access to north high? so they send a fake text and wait to see if north high takes the bait.

they do. so now east high thinks it’s you.

but at this same time, you keep noticing that suspiciously, whenever you get a text from east high theatre department, lily’s phone goes off to. literally at the same moment, you’re doing your own test to see if somehow she hacked your phone.

(you had your suspicions because lily is actually terribly bad at hiding her hand and constantly makes remarks that make you Think™.)

you confirm lily to have hacked your phone, and so you go old school and show up to east high, hoping to tell them what happened and find some fix (since east high is the mother of all tech schools in this universe.)

but when you walk into the auditorium, the cast is being really passive aggressive toward you? and you’re so confused? what happened?

of course, ricky is the only to confront you because these days, it seems like he’s always one (1) moment away from blowing up.

and you explain that you were played just as much as they were - it was never your intention to betray them. east high is your family.

“oh, yeah? i’ve never known an east high leopard to go to north high.”

and so now we’re in shambles! we’re divided! 

you leave, upset, and ej catches you in the hall. he tries to explain that ricky’s been on one, recently, that none of his anger was really meant for you, and that he believes you - truly. he knows you’re the last person to ever betray them. you’re not like that. that’s more him than it is you.

and you just give him the world’s biggest  h u g .

now you’re probably wondering why i insisted on this particular plot line, but let me tell you - ej never really understood completely what a complete breach of trust it was for him to steak nini’s phone and violate her privacy like that. now he can see how deeply it affects you - how it can really ruin people in ways you never intend. it’s about the learning curve.

anyway, it takes you a while to build up trust with east high again, but you say “hey, why don’t you guys continue to send false leads to this group chat? make another for yourselves, and continue to spread misinformation to me.

ej is like... do you really want to sabotage your own show? but you tell him something along the lines of “our show is still going to have superior choreography, lily is just going to waste her time doing pointless side missions. it has nothing to do with the quality of my work.”

and ej loves this competitive and devious side of you so much. but he’s also deathly terrified of telling you how much he cares about you, because he always manages to screw things up.

and gina finds hilariously endearing because of all people to be self conscious... ej caswell? the ej caswell? she would be his hype woman if she wasn’t so busy finding this all too Good to be true.

eventually, lily will find out, but when she confronts you and threatens to tell the cast that you’re the reason they’re so behind in their production, you tell her that to do that, she’d have to confess to stealing your phone, hacking into it, and using it to spy on you which breaks like 23 different school rules. but sure! tell everyone! you’d love to see how the principal reacts when you film it and show it to them on monday.

(this is getting really long, let me see if i can wrap it up, quick)

clearly, ej is an Idiot when he’s in love, and even though he’s deathly afraid of telling you his feelings, that doesn’t stop him from expressing them.

both of you are in your respective musicals, and your rehearsal schedules align really nicely, so a lot of the time, ej will drive up to north high afterward so he can give you a ride home. (you don’t have a car, okay?) you guys always stop to get fast food or a drink at starbucks or something, and you have little “dates” where ej parks the car and the two of you eat in his car, just chatting about your day.

or on weekends, you and ej go and drive up to the state college that ej was admitted to, and you walk around campus, trying to envision him there. and if you’re also going to a school nearby, you do the same for you. (bonus points if you’re going to the same college, so you walk around and pick out the places where you’ll chill together.)

and if these little excursions of yours are the highlight of your week, and all you want to do is hold ej’s hand forever, singing in the car with the windows down and driving into the sunset... well, you just hope that ej wants the same.

and since ej is in av club, and he’s really trying to dig in and figure out what his story is, he’s always got a camera of some kind out, and some of his best work, he swears, are pictures and videos of you.

anyway, at some point, you confess to ej that you have a crush on him (howie probably pushed you to do it because he was tired of seeing you pine).

it’s a weekend and the two of you are procrastinating on your respective school assignments (study sessions being interrupted with senioritis? sounds about right) so instead you’re just sitting on the floor, staring at the ceiling, talking about whatever. and i think it just slips out, and when you realize what you’ve said, you’re vvv embarrassed, and you don’t even want to look at see how ej reacts, but he calls your name and you turn to him, a deadly mixture of dread and hope rooted in your stomach and shaking you to your core, but ej is smiling and in his eyes is something brighter than the sun, and when he tells you he’s feels the same, it’s like that dread in your stomach blooms into pure joy and when he tells you he’s had a crush on you since you were eighth graders and you were a better dancer than him, you can’t help but laugh until all of that warmth in your stomach has escaped into the air and hangs around the two of you like low hanging stars - so close, you can reach out and touch them.

anyway, cue lots of sneaking around north high - not because it’s a secret but because it’s fun hiding in the back of the auditorium and sneaking into the empty dance room.

cue cheering for each other at the menkies and congratulating each other when east high gets best musical, and north high gets best choreography (amongst others).

cue going to denny’s to celebrate and laughing until your sides hurt, stealing each other’s fries, and holding hands under the table.

(also... ej 100% would kiss your fingers when your hands are intertwined and that’s truly a blessing)

cue going to pool parties together for no other reason than i want all of the east high kids to do an impromptu rendition of “all for one” and ej gets to hit ricky with one of those blow up beach balls “for revenge” on the basketball moment in season 1.

plus, a pool party would do wonders for destressing, don’t lie.

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

taglist: @maybanksslut, @theletterhart, @brokenandheadoverheels, @neelia-thedaughtherof-athena @kitsdeadwife, @amortensie // add yourself to the taglist here!

[vecnawrites]

Two Flavors Of Delicious Chocolate

Jaune Arc was a normal guy, if one asked him. He was moderately strong, reasonably intelligent at most things, skilled at a few. If one had asked him if he would have two girls fighting for his attention, he would have laughed. However, the fact of the matter was, he DID have two women wanting him. And they would do what it took to get that fact into his head...

(Hooooolllllyyyyy Fuuuuucccckkkkk...this one got away from me! This is my second commission, from The-Wayward-Arc. I loved the idea, and it became this! An art piece is connected to my AO3 page for this one, and more should be coming when I can commission the artists!)

Jaune Arc liked to think that he was a reasonably intelligent individual. After all, he always scored at least middling in both Grimm Studies and History, and the highest in Tactics and Situational Defense and Assault. Even Weiss was admittedly (and more than a little begrudgingly) impressed by that.

...so how in the name of any God or Gods listening did he not notice this!? He looked back and forth between the two, admittedly extremely beautiful women glaring at one another before him.

One was Emerald Sustrai, a chocolate skinned, carmine eyed, mint haired beauty, with thick curves that drew the eye of every male, and even some of the females, as she walked (even him. What? He treated women well, like he had been taught. He wasn’t fucking blind), her hips swaying back and forth and bringing attention to that absolute shelf of a rear end she had. That wasn’t to say her chest had nothing to offer, as her breasts looked perfectly sized for his hands, perky and firm.

Her personality was confident, and a bit sarcastic and snarky, although that usually came out only when faced with people she wasn’t too fond of, like Cardin or her own teammate, Mercury...although in the latter, he was pretty sure it was part of how they acted with one another. Like how Yang teased Weiss.

The other was May Zedong, another incredibly beautiful classmate of his, with muted maroon colored hair styled in a way that covered her left eye, leaving only the right gray-blue orb visible, and a black beanie keeping her hair in place. She had that wallflower air about her, generally going around unnoticed by most unless a teacher asked a question, even by her own teammates (something that made him seethe), but he had always noticed her and sought to talk, even if it was only some minor casual conversation over class notes. He wasn’t going to let her feel as alone as he did before coming to Beacon.

One would think that the girl was nearly flat, maybe a double-a cup (like Weiss supposedly was, don’t ask how he knew), but that was a lie. The girl was more stacked than Yang and even Professor Goodwitch were! Her breasts had to be as large as her own head! Again, it wasn’t like he was a pervert, but having seven sisters made him able to tell when a woman was binding or stuffing her bra to either remove attention or gain it.

And he could understand why, honestly. May was almost cripplingly shy, more nervous than Ruby or Velvet when called upon by staff or someone else. She seemed to revel in being invisible and unnoticed.

But now they were both before him, glaring at one another; Emerald looked like she wanted to, as his elder sister Saphron liked to say, “Slap A Bitch”, and even the shy and bashful May looked ready to try and claw out Emerald’s eyes with her fingernails.

“If you think your shy ass can make him happy, you’ve got another thing coming! What are you two going to do, hold hands while hiding in the shadows?” Emerald snorted, popping her hip and placing her hand on it, smirking darkly at the beanie-wearing sniper.

May glared, only one being visible doing nothing to hide the intensity. “At least I didn’t have to flaunt myself like a whore to get Jaune’s attention! He always noticed me, even without knowing about my tits!”

He could see them about to fight, and his body moved before his brain did, placing himself between them and giving them both a stern look (something perfected by dealing with mischievous younger twin sisters), silently telling them both to stop.

Both huffed, curling into his sides and glaring at one another, static seeming to form between their gazes.

He tugged the two girls who had captured his heart over the semester close to him and closed his eyes, recalling exactly how this started…

Start Of The Week

Emerald Sustrai had known little in the way of happiness or of comfort for most of her life. Growing up an orphan in Vacuao, she had lived on the streets and been forced to scrounge and steal in order to survive. She had been tempered and hardened by such a thing, her heart steeled to do what was necessary, even if it wasn’t right.

She had managed to steal, scrimp, and save enough to catch a flight to Vale, and apply to Beacon. She hated Vacuao, and wouldn’t set foot in Shade for a second if she could help it. She knew that they held a ‘survival of the fittest’ ideal, and after living it for most of her life, she wasn’t going to be going through it at school, where she was supposed to be able to trust the people who she teamed up with to watch her back!

Getting to school and getting through initiation, she had been partnered with Cinder Fall, an enigmatic, but intelligent and resourceful woman who used a bow and arrows and Fire Dust. Her other partners were Mercury Black, a silver haired smart ass with prosthetic combat legs, and Neopolitan, a mute midget with a weird ass reinforced parasol for combat of all things. But even Emerald couldn’t deny that they were skilled and effective at killing the Grimm in the forest.

But she was still missing something...or rather, someone. She wasn’t an idiot, she knew that she was more likely to die before retiring, so she wanted to find someone...maybe they would last, maybe they wouldn’t. But before the year’s end, she would be free of this pesky virginity!

But...surveying the available males made her wince. Mercury? No, it was a bad idea to have sex with a teammate. She had enough to worry about, she wasn’t going to have to worry about her own teammate as well.

Brawnz Ni? Arrogant, and full of himself. She wasn’t going to give him a bigger ego. Roy Stallion? He was okay, but not her type. Nolan Porfirio? Too passive.

Lie Ren? Nice, but taken, going by the ginger with the hammer constantly hanging off of him. She would not ruin a relationship, thanks...or risk having her kneecaps obliterated by a combination War Hammer/Grenade Launcher.

Team CRDL?...Pfft, she’d sooner stick a slim teasing vibe in her pussy and seal it up to be tormented for the rest of her life before letting one of those slimeballs touch her.

But Jaune Arc...he was interesting. Kind, but not to the point of being walked over, as evidenced as he corralled his (possibly certifiably crazy) teammate, Nora Valkyrie. Not the strongest, but not the weakest, reasonably intelligent, although his strongest points were tactics and applied strategy, being the only student to be actually acing the class. He...he would work. He was handsome, in that goofy, awkward way, messy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, awkward, charming smile...and always doing small acts of kindness, even if he never got thanks for it.

The one problem? His partner, the Invincible Girl. She couldn’t tell if they were together, hell, she couldn’t tell if the redhead even liked him in that way! She looked at him softly, but it wasn’t seemingly the way that a lover looked at another lover.

An elbow nudged her, and she looked to see a head of multicolored hair, heterochromic eyes and a cocky smirk. She deadpanned at Neo. “What is it?” she asked, scowling as the shorter girl wagged her eyebrows as she glanced over at Jaune, making her scowl deepen.

“Don’t even, Neo…besides, aren’t you a card carrying member of the ‘Lady Lover’ society?” she asked, knowing that Neo much preferred females, having seen her eyes roaming over the stacked blonde on Team RWBY, Yang Xiao Long. She couldn’t see it, but she wouldn’t mock the pink, white, and brown haired girl for her interest.

Neo shrugged, almost saying “I can appreciate looks, can’t I?” before nodding over to the corner. Following, she felt her heckles rise almost instinctively, lip curling up in anger as she saw what Neo was referring to.

In the corner was the quiet May Zedong. Now, Emerald had nothing against the quiet girl who hid herself in the corners and hardly ever spoke up unless she was directly spoken to. One would think herself a complete and utter wallflower, non-threatening. But, May Zedong was a sniper. She preferred to wait and strike when it was best for her. And right now, her lovesick blue-gray eye was locked right on her future man. This would not stand. “I’ll be back to the dorm later, Neo...I have to...talk...with someone.”

Neo tapped a finger against her lips as she watched her teammate stalk off, an intense look in her crimson eyes, before shrugging and heading back to the dorms. On one hand, she hoped her teammate knew what she was doing...on the other, she would take her amusement where she could get it.

May Zedong was used to going unnoticed among a crowd. She knew she wasn’t the beauty that most huntresses-in-training were, feeling as though she had really plain features. Slightly narrow face, only one eye (a grimm attack when she was young taking the other one), she felt even her hair was limp and unappealing, even if it was a unique maroon color. Even her own teammates paid her no second glance, instead preferring to fawn over the likes of Yang Xiao Long, Cinder Fall, and Pyrrha Nikos.

A small, extremely bitter part of her knew that she could get any boy’s attention if they knew what she hid under her hoodie or uniform top. She had been extremely ‘blessed in the chest’ as it were, going from almost flat bee stings to Double-G cups in the span of her teenage years, and was only able to hide the damned things by an expensive, dust enhanced binder that made her look like she was barely a B-cup.

But while she could easily get any guy, she didn’t want to rely on her tits to do so. She’d only attract creeps to her, who only wanted her for her breasts. She’d never let that happen. She wanted to be liked for who she was, not her chest.

She had come to Beacon with her clothes, some personal items and her Sniper Rifle/Climbing Axe, Opening Gambit, hoping that she could find some happiness with a boyfriend while at Beacon, the risks of her survival until she was thirty drilled into her head by her mother.

So far, she had dealt with nothing but disappointment. Her own teammates glossed over her as a woman without so much as a second glance, even her own partner, Nolan. Hell, Brawnz had thought she was a boy until she had said otherwise. CRDL were assholes. Mercury Black gave her the creeps. He just...stared at people sometimes. Without blinking. Lie Ren was cute, but he was claimed, even if he didn’t know it yet. Nora Valkyrie clung to him like a baby koala did to its mother.

But Jaune...he...he was nice. He was kind. He noticed her, always went out of his way to talk to her, even if it was a simple ‘hello’ in the halls! Her heart beat faster and she could feel her cheeks heat up as she thought of being held in his arms, just being accepted for who she was-

“Zedong.” May was cruelly ripped from her fantasy by the curt voice of Emerald Sustrai, a dark skinned beauty that turned more than a fair few eyes with her teasing smile and swaying hips. But currently, there was no smile on her face, instead there was a severe look that made her heart race, this time not from a happy fantasy with a potential boyfriend, but from adrenaline flushing through her body as her fight or flight instincts went wild. She swallowed.

“Y-Yes, Emerald?” she asked, cursing internally as she stuttered, despising the weakness. She flinched as a cocoa skinned hand slapped right on the wall next to her.

She leaned close, allowing her to smell her scent (cherry blossoms, very pleasant), and carmine eyes narrowed. She leaned even more forwards, until May could feel the verdette’s nose poking her own. “What are you getting at, staring at my future boyfriend like that?” she growled.

May blinked, before the words registered in her brain. She scowled back, her body making more adrenaline and scowling at the surprised looking Sustrai. “You. Don’t. Own. Him.” she growled angrily. “I know he’s not dating anyone right now.” despite her anger, she felt worry when she saw a glint appear in Emerald’s eyes, her lips turning up in a smirk.

“Really…?” Emerald murmured to herself, tilting her head, “I figured, but its nice to have confirmation...that will make it much easier...especially since I don’t have to worry about potentially ruining a relationship…” she licked her lips. “Thanks for the information, wallflower. Do yourself a favor: stay away while I go for him. I’m not cruel, but you’re honestly bound only for disappointment if you go up against me.” she smirked. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a boyfriend to go claim.”

Pulling away from the beanie-wearing girl, Emerald turned and walked away, making sure to sway her hips and let the girl know what she was dealing with.

May breathed harshly as the adrenaline slump kicked in, not unlike when she was out of combat. She flushed, not only from shame that an altercation from a fellow student made her feel like she was going against a Grimm, but from anger. To be told, ordered, not to pursue the one boy that gave her the time of day, that held her interest...that wouldn’t fly. She obviously couldn’t use her tried and true method of waiting for the right moment to strike. She would have to go out of her comfort zone and attempt a strike normally…she glared at the retreating Emerald, her blue-gray eye narrowing. It was on. Tomorrow, the battle would begin!

~x~x~

Emerald smirked as she looked herself over in the mirror. She had ‘borrowed’ a few skirts from both Cinder and Neo, who were both smaller in the hips than she was, and loved the effect it had when placed on her thicker frame.

The material of the skirt clung to her ass nicely, even coming up a bit and showing off just a bit of her plump cheeks. A quick sway of her hips made her chuckle, as it showed off more of her ass, just enough that it could confuse...and arouse...those who saw her. Especially since she had forgone normal panties, instead wearing one of her thongs, the string being swallowed up by the split between her cheeks.

Sure, she had only one person in mind, but teasing others was good fun too. She knew enough that Jaune didn’t have the best self-image, either, so when they got together, it would do his ego a bit of good that he had a girl on his arm that everyone else lusted after.

“So this is what you wanted to borrow our skirts for…” a dash of red dusted Emerald’s cheeks as she looked up to see her partner, Cinder, leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed over her chest, watching her.

Emerald cleared her throat and forced the redness away from her cheeks. She knew that she had nothing to be embarrassed about. Cinder wasn’t loose, but she had shared her bed with a few boys before, generally civilians from Vale on the weekends. That way, she didn’t have to worry about them ‘getting attached’.

“So, who’s the lucky boy that managed to catch your attention, my dear Emerald?” the inflection of Cinder’s tone was more that of ‘leader’ than ‘friend’, meaning that Cinder wanted to know to make sure it didn’t affect the team. They may not be number one team of the year (that belonged to JNPR), but they weren’t far behind it.

“Jaune Arc.” she replied, her tone soft, watching her dark haired team leader close her eyes and nod, lips tilting upwards a bit. “Hmm, not a bad choice...you could certainly do worse…” opening her golden eyes, she smirked. “Best of luck. I know many others have been eyeing him, not just the girl you spoke to yesterday. If rumors are right, even a second year is interested in him...that rabbit faunus, Velvet something.” she hummed, her smirk growing a bit even as Emerald stiffened. “Go get him, girl.”

~x~x~

May Zedong stood in Team BRNZ’s locked bathroom, gathering her courage. She knew that this was going to be risky, but the potential payoff was worth the potential discomfort.

She stood naked in front of the mirror, looking over her body critically. Her large breasts, larger than her own head, jutting form her chest proudly. Most girls would consider it a point of pride, she however, considered them a point of shame and embarrassment, to be hidden away.

Carefully, she gently cupped the heavy swells, hefting them and contemplating them. The skin was smooth, not a single flaw to it, not a blemish nor a beauty mark. Her nipples were large and puffy, a horizontal slit showing that they were inverted, another oddity of her body that she disliked, along with how brutally sensitive her chest was. She always got wet simply by rubbing them, and playing with them intently could make her cum.

Letting her breasts go, she slid her hands along her sides, trailing them along her flat, toned belly and to her hips, twisting her upper body this way and that, glancing at her breasts from profile, a weak smile forming on her face as she saw the jiggle.

Glancing between her legs, she looked at her freshly waxed core. She had never liked more body hair than necessary, something she knew was shared by almost all Huntresses-in-training. Turning around fully she looked over her shoulder and pushed her butt outwards, taking a look at her rear. She knew it had nothing on Emerald’s, or even several other girls, like Velvet Scarlatina’s from second year, but it was a nice shape and firmness, something that maybe Jaune would like to grab? Spank it as he played with her sensitive tits and fucked her soaking pussy, turning her into a gooey puddle of lust in his skilled hands?

She shook herself out of her fantasy and straightened up, grabbing her panties and slipping them up her legs and covering herself, then her uniform skirt. Turning back around, May gnawed at her lower lip as she looked at her binder. She glanced at it, then down at her chest, before sighing and grabbing it, beginning the process of flattening herself down to look ‘normal’.

But as she did, a naughty thought, a wicked thought, filled her head. She would gradually start loosening her binder, until she could proudly go without the damned thing...or at least have it loosened enough that people-that Jaune-saw her as the young woman she was.

Strapping it on, she tightened it until she reached her normal almost flat state, before loosening it a bit, her breasts pushing the material a bit more outwards. Grabbing her uniform blouse and tie, she put them on, looking at herself in the mirror.

A hint of redness formed on her cheeks. She looked...she looked feminine. Her shirt bulged a bit, going from nearly flat to respectable. Was...was this what she could look like? She smiled softly as she brushed her hair, making sure her bad eye was covered before putting on her beanie to keep her hair down.

“You can do this, Zedong.” she whispered to herself, steeling herself for the day, and the battle, to come. “It’s no different than combat...time to hunt.”

~x~x~

Jaune Arc woke up feeling odd that day. Not like he had forgotten to study for one of Oobleck’s tests (thankfully, Pyrrha and Ren helped remind him and Nora of those), but more that something...interesting...was going to happen to him. He wanted to hide in his bed and just believe the world outside the dorm room didn’t exist, but knew that he couldn’t do that.

“Jaune?” he glanced to see Pyrrha, his partner in arms, and closest friend at Beacon, looking at him worriedly. He gave her a weak smile. Both he and Pyrrha knew each other’s darkest secrets. For him, it was his falsifying his transcripts and sneaking into the school untrained.

For Pyrrha...it was a more touchy subject. She had been forced to be this perfect girl, someone untouchable, indomitable...she hated it. She also feared how people would react when they learned that she had never felt any type of romantic feelings nor had ever felt sexual desire. Never even found joy in masturbation, even. They had both been blushing hard as she admitted that.

The reveal to one another had only brought the two closer as both friends and partners, and they both felt comfortable telling one another everything. So, he decided to tell her the truth. “Just have this weird feeling that today is going to be interesting…”

Pyrrha hummed. “Interesting? Or...interesting?” she asked, sending a look over at Nora, who was happily chatting with Ren. Jaune shuddered. “It feels between that, but I hope to god its not the latter…” he said softly, making Pyrrha nod. They both loved Nora dearly, but she was a handful, and they didn’t need more than one of her.

Shaking their heads, both redhead and blonde gathered their things, preparing for the day.

~x~x~

Jaune sighed as he made his way to Study Hall. Once again, Oobleck had managed to speak so fast during his class that he was going to have to do extra studies for it. As he was about to enter, he stumbled a bit, his arm lashing out to catch whoever knocked against him, although his breath still left him when he hit the wall, and (the bigger reason) something soft pressing against his groin. Opening his eyes he glanced down to see one of his year mates, Emerald Sustrai, pressed against him, her...ample...rear settling between his thighs perfectly, pressing against where his cock was sure to bulge if she kept moving like that, wiggling that ass of hers! He watched as her eyes opened (a beautiful red shade, he thought), and she looked back at him, a small gentle smile forming on her face.

Emerald smirked to herself. Step One was complete, ‘accidentally’ stumbling into Jaune and making it so her best ‘asset’ was pressed against him. Now for Step Two, Teasing.

Putting a small smile on her face, Emerald made sure to subtly shift her backside against him, wanting to see what he was packing. She knew he wasn’t small, god knows that she heard Winchester bitching about how that size ‘couldn’t be possible without drugs’.

“Thank you for grabbing me...your name’s Jaune, right? I’m Emerald...sorry for being so clumsy!” she chuckled awkwardly, inwardly loving the red hue to his cheeks...and the pressure she could feel start being placed on her ass. She was surprised. From what she could tell, he wasn’t even truly hard yet, but she could feel him pressing quite firmly between her ass cheeks! Redness seeped into her own cheeks, this...this was something special.

Before she could say anything more, her world spun as she was picked up and gently placed onto the floor again, hearing Jaune frantically apologize before taking off in almost a sprint, leaving her there, shocked and soaking her thong.

A smirk formed on her lips. “Stage one and two, complete...now for stage three later on…” she hummed happily, knowing that she could have great fun with that. She knew what fun she wanted to do next...and her semblance could surely help with it…turning, she walked away with a skip in her step, already plotting how the second phase of her plan was going to unfold…

Jaune darted into the Library, holding his books in front of him to hide his straining erection, face flushed as he made his way to the back of it, to his preferred table for studying. That had been mortifying. He desperately hoped that he wouldn’t be getting looks later due to his ‘perversion’. It would be his luck.

Setting his books on the table, he took a seat and sighed, willing his erection away so he could focus on his studies. Jaune cracked open his history text, knowing that the dry words within would slaughter any arousal ruthlessly.

“...Jaune?” he lifted his head, hearing the voice of May Zedong, a girl that he was reasonably well acquainted with. Her voice was soft, and he didn’t know if it was because they were in the library, or because of her natural shyness. But he smiled softly.

“Hey May, how are you…?” he blinked as he noticed that she had loosened her binder (he knew she wore one, but he hadn’t known it was that tight), her chest protruding more outwards, giving her a generous looking C-Cup. He gave it the barest glance (he wasn’t going to apologize for being a guy. He knew girls looked too) before locking eyes with her. He could tell she was embarrassed, but her smile was genuine.

May’s heart was beating faster than it had ever had. She felt all the eyes on her as she moved around her day, and she had only loosened her binder a bit! She could only imagine how people, how Jaune, would react when they saw her true size. She felt her heart skip a beat as he glanced at her chest, but her feels swelled even more as his eyes were only there for a second before locking on her face. “Do...do you mind if I sit here?” she asked, nervously fumbling with her own book for Tactics class. It was Brawnz’s, but she had ‘borrowed’ it so she could actually have something to talk with her crush about.

Her heart warmed as her crush nodded with an affirmative, now, it was time to make her initial chink in his armor. “W-would you mind helping me with Tactics? I could help with History in exchange?” she offered. Fortunately, she was a fair hand in History, being in the top five of the class.

Jaune swallowed. “S-Sure!” he stuttered a bit, his nerves jumping a bit at being alone with a pretty girl. Hopefully this would go better than just before he entered the library?

Jaune was wrong. It was worse. May had always felt comfortable around him, and it showed; she sat next to him, scooting her chair as close as she could get it, practically leaning against him, squishing her chest against his arm. This had the additional effect of getting him to notice that her blouse wasn’t buttoned all the way, giving him a tantalizing view into her cleavage, something he knew no other man saw.

He hated himself. He knew that May was afraid of being objectified, just like Pyrrha, but here he was, having the urge to stare at her. Every glance he made not only made his cock twitch, but his embarrassment and shame grow.

May was pleased, very pleased. She could see the subtle shifts in Jaune’s body, his cheeks flushing like her own were. She wasn’t going to make her final strike now, that would come later. She pressed herself more firmly against him. “...thank you for helping me, Jaune. It helped and I really enjoyed spending time with you.” she said honestly. “...can we study together again?” she asked hopefully, looking into those startling blue eyes.

She smiled as he nodded. “Thank you!” she grabbed him in a hug, although she failed to immediately notice that she pulled his head down to her chest, pressing his face against the exposed tops of her breasts. But even when she did, she only hugged him tighter, despite the redness on her cheeks.

Jaune stiffened, in more ways than one. For not the first time, he bemoaned being so large. Why couldn’t he have been more normal sized like Ren was? Her scent invaded his nose, vanilla and cinnamon, and his cheeks burned, even as his cock swelled and began making a distinct shape down the inner thigh of his uniform slacks. He had to act fast, before she thought him nothing more than a complete pervert!

May squeaked as Jaune quickly slipped out of his arms (unknowingly putting a delicious pressure on her sensitive nipples, making her panties soak. In a flurry of activity, Jaune collected his books and notes, rapidly saying, “It’s been great, May! We should study together again sometime! Sorry, I just remembered I had something important to do! Talk to you later!” he blurted out, before dashing off, leaving an aroused May sitting at the table.

She licked her lips, having seen the distinct ‘manprint’ that her crush had running down his inner thigh. She rubbed her thighs together. She knew that he was big, but not that big…

She swallowed and grabbed her things, standing and deciding to head back to the dorm. Walking away on slightly shaky legs, she knew she would be taking a long personal shower when she got to the dorm room.

Reaching the dorm, Jaune threw himself face first on the bed, face red and eyes wide. Had...had that really just happened? Did two beautiful girls just...what had happened?! Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he forced his aching cock to calm. One good thing about being surrounded by so many beautiful girls all his life, he gained an almost semblance-like ability to force his cock down.

He sighed as it thankfully shrank down and calmed, even though his balls still felt the effects of the arousal that had flooded through him not too long ago. He closed his eyes and sighed. Hopefully, this would just be a one off thing...something that he could laugh about year later on.

Poor Jaune. He had no idea what he was in for.

~x~x~

Two days had passed since the initial incidents, and Jaune had attempted to put them form his mind. Granted, it was impossible really when the two subjects of his thoughts were constantly there, smiling, waving, greeting him.

Considering neither of them were screaming ‘pervert’ or spreading rumors about him, he guessed things were good between them, leading him to wave back and smile awkwardly. Of course, Yang had to make jokes about it, acting as though him getting female attention was something noteworthy…

...and he supposed it was, considering his luck with Weiss. That didn’t mean he needed to hear the jokes about how he was finally getting attention from the ladies.

Rolling his eyes, he sighed and stood. “Very funny, Yang...now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to head off and go anywhere but here.” he said, standing and heading off, distantly hearing Ren, Nora,  Pyrrha, and even Ruby going off on her sister. Bless them.

As he left, he failed to notice carmine eyes watching him, following his every move. And both failed to see the calculating blue-gray eye.

Jaune sighed as he placed the barbell back down on the rack, wiping sweat off of his face and neck with his workout shirt. His muscles burned nicely, and he felt pleased with himself. He had come a long way from the unmuscled noodle that had sneaked into Beacon.

Now, while he wasn’t the best warrior, he could certainly hold his own, no thanks in part to his wonderful Partner and teammates. He knew that he would have been dead by now without them.

“Oh, hi Jaune! You decided to get a workout in too?” his eyes widened as he turned and saw Emerald walking up to him. His mouth went dry and he bit his tongue to try and stave of the twitch in his shorts as he saw what she was wearing.

A tight sports top held her sizable breasts snugly in almost a shelf, while she wore sinfully tight black shorts that looked almost painted on. And he was only seeing her from the front. He both desired, and dreaded, seeing what they looked like from behind. ‘Danger, Danger, Jaune Arc! Abandon The Area!’ his mind screamed as the beautiful young woman walked forwards, her hips swinging.

“H-Hi, Emerald…” he mumbled, eyes darting everywhere for help, but heart sinking when he realized they were alone in the gym. He quickly scrambled for an excuse. “Sorry, but I have to go…”

Emerald pouted. “Are you sure? I need to do some squats, and it would really help if someone spotted me...would you, please? I don’t want to overdo it…” she bat her eyes a few times, not overdoing it, but still pulling the ‘sweet demure girl’ act.

She barely resisted the urge to smirk when Jaune nodded, instead cheerfully going, “Great, thanks! Only going to do a few sets today, since I know classes aren’t far away, but there’s enough time to get a quick workout in, along with a nice hot shower! That’s always nice after a workout to ensure you don’t cramp, right? Feeling the hot water running over your body...there’s nothing like it!”

Jaune bit the inside of his cheek as the beautiful girl put the image of her standing under the shower head, the steaming water running over her trim, curvy body...he could feel himself getting hard in his shorts.

Emerald smiled as she slowly turned around, making sure to highlight her ass in these sinfully tight shorts of hers. She had honestly outgrown them, but had kept them around for reasons even she didn’t know...until now, at least.

Bending down and grabbing the barbells, making sure to push her ass out, she smirked when she heard a stilted intake of air. “Ready?” she asked, raising herself up, not waiting for an answer before dropping herself, pushing her ass out hard, quickly falling into a rhythm of rising and falling, making sure to showcase her ass and thighs.

Jaune was hard, unable to stop his cock from getting fully hard and stretching out his shorts lewdly. As embarrassing as that was, he preferred that to it sliding down his leg and peeking out to say hello to the world. He was just very grateful she was facing away from him, otherwise he knew this would end badly.

Emerald smirked widely as she performed her squats. Jaune had apparently not noticed the mirror across from them, and she had a perfect view of how hard he was staring at her ass...and how hard he was in response. She licked her lips and her core tingled, warmth bubbling up in her belly as she imagined being speared by that cock.

Despite loving the fact that Jaune was captivated by her ass, she knew she had to finish up sadly. But she wasn’t going to let that end her fun, there would be plenty of chances to tease him later. So, as she went down for her final squat, she rocked backwards, letting out a squeak as both she and Jaune hit the mat, her ass squashing against his cock.

Jaune groaned piteously as his cock was pressed down by those soft cheeks, just like two days ago, as Emerald rubbed her head and-oh god-squirmed on top of him, his balls going haywire. He bit his tongue to avoid making any sound that could tell Emerald exactly what was happening underneath her.

Forcing his eyes open, he saw her rubbing the back of her head, before glancing back, although not down, much to his relief. He twitched as she shifted more, her ass rubbing against his cock. ‘Oh, fuck, she needs to stop!’ he thought, panicked.

Emerald had to hit Jaune with her semblance, she couldn’t keep the smirk off her face anymore as she subtly wiggled her plump ass on the thick meat stick underneath her. “Ow…” she whined piteously, rubbing the back of her head, “Are you okay, Jaune? I hope I didn’t hurt you!” she asked, forcing the weight of her ass on his cock more, loving the panicked look on his face. She was glad that they were alone and that her ass was facing him; she was soaked.

The groan that hit her ears made her smirk, more teasing to be had then. “Did I hurt you?! Hang on, let me see where I landed!” she slowly dragged her ass down Jaune’s cock and placed herself on the mat, turning around-

-only to see Jaune up already and rushing to the showers, hunched over. She blinked, before she smirked, standing up and slowly following, intending to find him and watch what she knew he was doing. Maybe even ‘help’.

She herself failed to notice her follower, the blue-gray orb narrowed in anger.

Jaune groaned as he stood naked under the shower spray, one hand on the wall and the other performing what was known as a ‘tactical jerk’, rapidly tugging at his cock, trying to bring himself to orgasm before anyone else arrived.

“Fuck...why...how did she not notice?” he groaned, his cock and balls aching terribly as he pumped hard on his cock. “She can’t have not felt it…” even now, he could feel the warm squeeze of her ass on him, almost a phantom sensation that drove him wild.

He moved his hand for a moment, only for his eyes to snap open as a warm squeeze seemingly did envelop his cock, a tight warmth that made pre spurt from his tip. Looking before him, he saw nothing, but sniffing, he smelled the scent of cherry blossoms, just like the girl who he had been spotting. The sensation began to move, confusing him utterly, but the pleasure made him quickly forget thinking about it too hard.

Emerald smirked at a job well done. Jaune was wrapped in the throes of her semblance and she had stripped and slipped in front of him, capturing that massive cock in her ass. She hummed to herself as she began to rub that hot hard flesh, her ass moving along it, her own honey leaking down her inner thighs. She knew they would have to be swift, after all, people could come into the gym or its showers anytime. But she knew enough that Jaune had to be close. She just needed to...make...him...cum!

Jaune released a broken sound as his balls finally began to release, his cock spitting his copious seed all over the wall in front of him, much to his shame, his cock throbbing and balls pumping out a massive amount of cum, utterly painting it white.

Shame filled him, and after a quick rinse, he swiftly dried off, dressed and made his way out.

Under the spray of the water, Emerald hummed to herself as she rinsed herself clean. While she couldn’t see how much cum was on her backside, she could definitely feel the warmth that coated her. She chuckled. “Step three, complete…” she murmured. She would hunt him down again and next time, she would ask him out. She was sure he’d be all for it.

Hidden in the shadows of the corner, a tear-filled blue-gray eye stared at Emerald in rage. May knew about Emerald’s semblance, and she knew that Jaune didn’t see what had really happened. Slipping away, she wasn’t going to give in. No, she was going to fight for Jaune!

Creeping back, she May skulked out of the showers, already preparing for her next move. She needed to do something special.

~x~x~

Jaune sat in Survival Class, an elective course, but one he found damn useful. Even as he looked over the diagrams that they were working on today, he knew his mind wasn’t in it, it going back to the scene in the Gym earlier with Emerald. Glancing around, he supposed it was okay, though...after all, there seemed to be low turnout for the class today. As an elective, you came when the class had something you wanted to learn in it.

He sighed as he felt his cock, still semi hard, twitch in his slacks. He still felt phantom feelings of her rear on his lap, like when he was in the shower…

“Hi, Jaune! Can I sit with you?” he looked to the side, hearing May’s voice, only to choke as he turned. May’s chest had grown again, and now matched Yang’s size. He quickly shook himself though, knowing that she would hate gawking. “S-Sure, May.” he stuttered, watching as she happily took the seat next to him, her breasts bouncing slightly as she settled. Glancing around, Jaune noticed that they were the only two in the classroom, which filled him with a bit of trepidation, but he trusted May. He knew she wouldn’t do anything to embarrass him.

He heard the door opened and a flush filled his cheeks as he saw Emerald enter in her uniform, looking up and waving at him, although her smile seemed...dimmed. He didn’t know what caused that and would have thought more on it, but he was distracted-incredibly distracted-by May leaning into his arm again as she pointed out something in the book. If anyone asked, he wouldn’t be able to tell them, since his entire focus was on the softness pressing against his arm.

While Jaune was...preoccupied, both Emerald and May were having a stare down, giving one another very ugly looks, unimpressed with the fact of what the other was doing or did. Their eyes were cold, and if one looked closely, it would seem like lightning was crackling between the two beauties. May was happy that she had arrived first and foremost and was able to sit next to Jaune, while Emerald was incised for the same reasoning.

After a moment, Emerald smirked, immediately making May stiffen, wondering what the devious verdette had in mind.

Heading over to the table that held the books they used for the class, Emerald wasn’t going to let Zedong get in the way of her snagging her future boyfriend. She’d just get the sight that Jaune was going to be able to enjoy whenever he wanted, too! She laughed to herself as she stretched straight out over the table, feeling her skirt rise and rise, cool air brushing over the skin of her ass...the dual gasps made her smirk and glance over her shoulder, using her semblance to hide the blatant action, her cheeks red, even though she thought this was so hot…

Both Jaune and May stared in shock as Emerald’s skirt moved up more and more, until the entirety of her ass was completely exposed, the smooth chocolate skin taut and unblemished. More to the point, she was lacking underwear, letting them see everything.

May was horrified. She had no idea that Emerald was going to be that blatant with her wants! She knew that it wasn’t an accident, either! She could see her shifting her stance (subtly, of course) to arch her rear up and make it spread a bit! Glancing at Jaune, she was disheartened to see him staring with a dark blush on his cheeks, although she could understand it. Acting quickly, she did the first thing that came to mind to get his attention back.

Jaune’s mouth went dry as he saw her cheeks spread, allowing him to glimpse the darker circle of skin between the half moons, and the plump, pouty lips just beneath. He lost his battle keeping his cock soft, the shaft swelling with blood and pitching a massive tent in his slacks. He didn’t know how long he stared at the enticing image before he heard a squeak, and the wind was knocked out of him as he fell out of his chair and onto the floor, something warm landing on his crotch, making him freeze in horror.

Glancing down, he saw May, planted face down on his crotch, her cheek rubbing up against his hard shaft, her warm hand on his thigh, her breath seeping through his clothes and brushing over his balls; his cock ached.

May had attempted to put her hand over Jaune’s eyes, but slipped and slammed into him, taking them both to the ground. As the dizziness faded, she felt something hard poking her cheek and noticed that she was taking in a wonderful, musky scent. One that made her pussy clench in her panties. Opening her eye, her face burned as she realized somehow she had ended up face first in Jaune’s lap. Her eyesight grew hazy and stung as tears of humiliation filled them. She hadn’t meant for this!

She threw herself up and back, looking down at the ground and tried to take in a breath to calm herself, but all that came out was a loud ‘Hic!’ as burning hot tears began to stream down her face, falling onto her skirt. She couldn’t bring herself to look up at her crush, knowing that she would see the most disgusted look on it-she froze as strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her close to his chest. “It’s okay, May...its okay...it was an accident…”

May buried her face into her crushes chest, taking deep breaths of his scent, her emotions settling and her love for Jaune growing as he comforted her after that humiliating experience. She snuggled against him, letting herself relax to the powerful thump, thump, thump of his heartbeat.

Neither noticed Emerald stomping out with a scowl.

~x~x~

Another two days had passed, and while things had been slightly awkward between him and May, it wasn’t bad enough that they couldn’t interact with one another. However, today was an off day for classes (something about a staff wide meeting? He didn’t really care enough to confirm it), so he was planning on heading to one of the indoor pools. Oddly enough this meeting coincided nicely, since the team had reserved it today anyway. Now, instead of a few hours after classes, they had the entire day to laze away in it if they wanted. Which they were going to.

Nora laughed as she changed into her swimsuit in the middle of the room, uncaring if her teammates saw her naked. None of them batted an eye, used to Nora’s wild side by now. “This is going to be great! How often do we say that we get to just sit by and swim in a pool all day?” she asked.

“We don’t, since the pools are always filled up on the weekends, and we don’t want Pyrrha in a swimsuit appearing in the tabloids. Its bad enough people are taking photos of her in classes, for God’s sake.” Jaune sighed, shaking his head as his closest friend and partner blushed.

“I’m sorry!”

“No, Pyrrha, don’t be sorry that other people don’t know boundaries.” Jaune said, patting her on the shoulder. His partner looked very attractive in her modest two piece bikini, but he knew that people would only be able to admire from a distance. After all, most of them never had the nerve to speak to her, and even if they did, Pyrrha, being on the Aromantic Asexual side of the spectrum, wasn’t cruel enough to lead them on.

A knock on the door drew their attention, and glancing to make sure his teammates were decent, Jaune moved over to the door, opening it to see…“May? Hey, what’s up?” he smiled as he saw his shy friend in front of their dorm room.

May blushed brightly as she saw the boy she loved without a shirt and wearing only swimming trunks, her mouth going dry as her eye roamed over her muscled form. Feeling warmth bubble up in her belly, she cleared her throat and spoke, hoping her voice didn’t crack. “I...I came to see if you wanted to hang out...but I can come back later?” she asked hopefully, hoping that she got some time with her crush today...without her trying to muscle in.

Pyrrha blinked. While she may not feel it herself, she could see that May was attracted to Jaune. Hell, she likely would be attracted to Jaune if she was capable of feeling those types of emotions. He was a great man. She smiled and moved forwards. “We’re going to the pool, May. Would you like to join us? The more the merrier?” seeing the beanie-wearing girl’s surprised look, she winked from behind Jaune’s shoulder.

May had to bite the inside of her cheek to avoid the face-splitting smile she wanted to reveal, instead managing to say, “A-are you sure? I don’t want to be a bother...or get in the way of team time.” she nearly winced, since most of the time she was left out of ‘Team Bonding’ stuff in BRNZ, since she was the only girl.

She didn’t see Jaune’s eyes soften, but she did hear him. “It’s not bother to spend time with a friend, May. You’re welcome to come. We’d be glad to have you.” she couldn’t keep the joy off her face this time as she smiled wide. “Thanks! I’ll go get my suit! Which pool are you heading to?” she asked. This could be her chance! And it looked like Jaune’s own partner, Pyrrha freaking Nikos, approved of her going for him!

“The smaller one on the West side of the dorms. More private.” left unsaid was they chose that one to make sure Pyrrha had peace, since it was one of the few of them that didn’t have windows to the outside, meaning no loiterers attempting to hide with cameras. It may have been against the rules and punished harshly, but that didn’t stop perverts in their attempt to get pictures of swimsuit malfunctions.

“Thanks! I’ll go grab my suit!” in a burst of emotion, she hugged him, before darting off back to her own dorm to get her suit. She had thankfully bought one in case she ever had the courage to do something like this.

Granted, it wasn’t ideal, since preferably, it would just be her and Jaune, but at this point, with what Emerald had been pulling, she couldn’t afford to stay her usual self anymore...besides, worst came to worst, she had her semblance to fall back on.

Entering her empty dorm, she dug her bikini out of the bottom of her dresser, blushing at the thought of Jaune seeing her in it, wondering what he would saw when he saw how large her breasts were, before shaking her head. Now wasn’t the time for talk, it was time for action. She wouldn’t allow anything to stop her.

May was pouting. Honest to god pouting. Why? Apparently, Team RWBY had overheard Pyrrha and Jaune inviting her to the pool, so they invited themselves! And what’s worse, Emerald had found them and gotten an invite too! But she wasn’t going to let an extra five people stop her! She was going to get Juane’s attention!...right after her knees stopped trembling.

She stood before a mirror in one of the small changing rooms, wearing her bikini. The bottoms were a pretty lavender color, and a modest side-tie in style. The top, however...well, it was a bikini...in theory. The two tiny triangles covered her puffy, inverted nipples for sure, but a good portion of her pink areola was still visible.

Her blush was dark, almost taking over her face, but she wasn’t going to be deterred! She was going to go and show her crush what she had to offer!

Knock! Knock! May looked at the door, seeing the outline of someone’s shadow underneath it. Part of her hoped it was Jaune, but she knew he was too much of a gentleman to do such a thing unless someone else was there. “Hello?” she was proud her voice didn’t crack.

“May? Are you okay?” her shoulders relaxed when she realized it was Pyrrha and not Emerald here to taunt her. She had seen the smug look that the verdette had on her face as she went into one of the changing stalls herself.

“Yes, thanks! On my way out!” she called, gathering her clothes and putting them into her bag, making sure that they wouldn’t go ‘missing’ mysteriously. Standing and moving to the door, she opened it to see the redhead standing outside.

Despite the embarrassment, she couldn’t help but feel amused when Pyrrha’s eyes went wide, the normally reserved girl blatantly staring at her chest. She chuckled, making her breasts bounce. “Take a picture, maybe?” she teased, getting the redhead to rapidly shake her head and back up, looking incredibly flustered.

“I’m sorry!” Pyrrha yelped, before calming and taking a deep breath, looking May in the eye. “May, are you sure you feel comfortable wearing that? I mean, there’s more than just Juane out there…” May felt her eyes widen. “I can tell you like him, and honestly, on some level, I think he likes you too, but Juane...he’s not unintelligent, but he has a very low sense of self-worth.”

May nodded. Anyone could honestly see it. The blonde seemed to hold himself to an impossible standard. “But, I think you’re good for him, so let’s go and you can make his eyes pop out.” Pyrrha chuckled, and May nodded, her heart rising as she realized she had a great ally in Pyrrha.

As they headed back to the pool area, they could hear voices, Yang talking predominantly. “Damn, Em. How do you hide that? It’s bigger than Blake’s?” May’s expression soured, knowing exactly what Yang was talking about.

Emerald had happily shown off her thong bikini to May, revealing the same amount of ass that she had shown off in Survival Class the other day. She knew that Jaune was likely just as embarrassed as he was then...but he was likely to be more when he saw her.

“Oh, its a bit difficult, but a good skirt or pants does wonders!” Emerald’s voice was cheerful, but she could hear the hidden dislike within it; then again, May knew that Emerald had no real respect for those who flaunted themselves. Hell, she could honestly say that she had never seen Emerald act like this before until she decided she wanted Jaune.

As Pyrrha reached for the door, May took a deep, calming breath and nodded. Showtime.

Emerald smiled to herself. It was so easy to tease Jaune like this! And with the little wallflower out of the way, she had full access to him! Just a little longer and she was sure he’d be interested in spending some time alone with her on their free day…

The door opened and her jaw, and she was sure everyone else’s jaws dropped. Where had the shy little wallflower gotten the courage to wear something like that? Off to the side she heard huffing and jealous murmurs from Schnee, which at any other point would make her laugh, if she wasn’t so shocked.

Instead of being downright flat, like she had thought, the mousy girl had tits bigger than Xiao Long! When the hell did that happen?

May ignored everyone’s expression, from Yang’s shock, to Weiss’s not so little amount of jealousy, to even Nora grabbing Ren by the head and shoving his face into her own sizable chest; her attention was solely on Jaune, who was staring at her with awe. Filling her with strength.

Walking up to him, she sat down next to him. “H-How...how do I look?” she didn’t care what the others thought of her, Jaune’s opinion was the only one that mattered. If he didn’t like it, she had wasted her time!

She watched his throat bob as he looked over her body, making the warmth bubbling in her lower belly grow, wetness beginning to form in the bottom of her swim bottoms. “Y-You look wonderful.” she smiled as his voice cracked a bit.

“Thank you.” she said, relieved. She was happy that he wasn’t disgusted by how lewdly...large...her breasts were.

Time passed, the group having fun, or as much as they could have while stewing in jealousy over Emerald’s and May’s attributes.

Both Jaune and May were swimming together, making Emerald frown. There were too many people to use her semblance effectively, but maybe she could make it so they were misdirected...a smirk appeared on her face as she moved slowly through the water, weaving her semblance.

May was enjoying herself greatly, she and Jaune had stopped for a few moments and relaxed, Jaune sitting on the edge of the pool, and May floating before him in the water. She smiled at him, happy that this was going well. But now, she needed to talk to Jaune. “Jaune...I need to tell you something.”

Jaune looked down at May with a smile. “Yeah? What is it, May?” he asked. This...this was very comfortable. He truly enjoyed spending time with her, and even Emerald; she had sat with her and May and they had just talked. And despite the embarrassment of all this week, he found himself attracted to Emerald, just as he was May. It had been a very pleasant day.

May looked up at Jaune. This was it, she was going to do it! “I wanted to tell you-” her eyes widened as she felt her top slipping. Cheeks turning dark she saw Jaune’s eyes widening so she knew he noticed it to.

Before panic set in, she activated her sembalnce and pushed herself closer to Jaune as her top slipped off and began to float away, pressing her breasts onto his lap. She took several deep breaths as her heart rate calmed down. Looking up, she blushed more as Jaune was definitely noticing her now, especially if the poke on the underside of her breasts told her anything.

Jaune glanced around rapidly, waiting for the laughs, the shrieks, the mocking, the perverted jokes, but nothing came. In fact, none of them were even looking their way. Looking back at May (doing everything he could to not stare at those magnificent breasts, massive with puffy, inverted nipples, the flush from her face extending down to the top of them), he gave her a confused look. “H-How?”

Emerald agreed with Jaune. ‘Yes, how?!’ pulling off her top was supposed to embarrass her! Not basically make her set her tits on their crush’s lap!

May blushed. “I...it’s my semblance. When activated, anything surrounding me is...normal, for lack of a better word. It helps during combat, or in embarrassing situations like this, but I really don’t like using it much...but I left you and Emerald out of it...because…” she swallowed. “We both like you, and Emerald used her semblance on you in the gym showers!”

Jaune’s head spun. “I...what? You...you like me?” he asked, stunned. A nod from May. “Emerald does too?” another nod. “Sh-she used her semblance on me in the gym showers? How?” he asked. He was fairly certain he would have would noticed her doing something to him…

May blushed. “Her...her semblance is Hallucinations...she made it so you didn’t notice her in the shower with you…” his cheeks burned as he remembered the incredible heat and tightness that wrapped around his cock, bringing him to a swift orgasm. “Th-that was her?” he asked, mortified.

May bit her lip. “She does like you, just like I do...she just doesn’t...well, neither of us have ever...tried to get a boy, you know?” she glanced to her side, seeing a shocked Emerald looking at her, holding her top in her hand. Looking back up at Jaune, she smiled weakly. “Can we talk? We...we can go to one of the empty study dorms?”

Looking between the two beauties, Jaune swallowed and nodded. “Y-Yeah...I...I think that would be a good idea.” he said, quickly reaching over and plucking May’s top from an unresisting Emerald’s hand and handing it to the maroon-haired girl to put back on.

After May’s breasts were covered up (a part of Jaune mourning the loss of the beautiful sight), the trio gathered their things and left the room, uncaring that the moment that the door closed and May dropped her semblance around them, the room descended into confusion over where the three went.

~x~x~

Now, here the three of them were, in a student study dorm, the girls having swiftly gotten into another argument when they settled in here before he stopped them. He wasn’t going to let this ‘competition’ for him go on any longer. He wouldn’t deny that the two girls were beautiful, and he felt for both of them...his eyes hardened. It was time to take charge. Clearing his throat, he looked between the two of them.

“Now, both of you have been enjoying teasing and tormenting me this past week...that means, both of you are going to be fixing this.” he gestured to his tented pants, his hard cock jutting outwards. “Are we understood?” Jaune growled. “Now, don’t waste my time...clothes off.”

Neither Emerald nor May would admit it out loud, but they were soaked. Jaune taking charge and demanding that they finish what they had started by teasing him so was...hot. Instantly, they began tugging at their own clothes, shirts being tossed to the side, bra and binder falling to the ground, skirts, thong and hip hugger panties following, leaving both naked and dripping before their lover’s, hopefully boyfriend’s, eyes.

Jaune licked his lips, his cock straining in his pants as he looked over their bodies. They really were beautiful, and some part of him still couldn’t believe that they were truly interested in him...but the eager looks on their faces...those weren’t fake. They were real.

He walked around them, close but not so close her touched them, reaching out and just brushing his fingers along her backsides, watching with lust as goosebumps rose up from their skin. Jaune’s nostrils flared as he smelled a sweet fragrance wafting up from below, making his cock throb.

While Emerald’s ass was larger and more soft, his fingertips sinking into the fat cheeks, one couldn’t that deny the firm heart shape of May’s rear end was delightful as well.

Moving around to their front, he hummed, placing a hand on each girl’s hip, slowly and teasingly drawing his callused hands upwards. He chuckled at their their trembling, smirking at their needy whines. “Really?” he chuckled, “You two are begging for it already? I mean, you both tormented me all week...maybe I should leave you both on the brink for an entire week before finally taking you?”

Jaune didn’t know where all this confidence was coming from, but he did know that he felt empowered by the looks of panic and fear the two girls had, followed by immediate pleading to not do something so cruel to them, that they couldn’t take a whole week of being on edge-

“Like you had no problems letting me?” he asked. “You have a weeks worth of teasing and blue balls to make up for. I’m not cruel, so...if you promise not to tease and then refuse to follow through anymore after tonight, I can forgive you.”

Both May and Emerald breathed a heavy sigh of relief as they realized they weren’t about to be as teased and tormented as Jaune had been. It would have been hell! They were both already dripping down their inner thighs with need! Both shivered, releasing keens as Jaune’s hands moved down again, cupping their soaking cores. He did nothing, just cupped their slits. It didn’t take either of them long before they were grinding themselves shamelessly against his palms, shuddering and moaning as the callouses on his fingers and palm rubbed over their slick, sensitive skin.

It didn’t take long for them to break, both keening and trembling as they came hard, squirting along his palms, faces flushed darkly as they both realized they had cum in less than three minutes, but Jaune looked...he looked amazed, not amused.

Both slowly came down from their intense orgasms, watching with flushed faces as their lover contemplated their juices on his fingers, before tasting them, licking them clean and making their pussies clench.

The girls looked at another, and nodded. For now, they were on the same page. They had drove the man they both wanted to fits, and it was up to them to make it up to him.

Jaune blinked as he saw Emerald whisper rapidly to May, who blushed fiercely, but nodded. Before he could ask, both acted, moving him and having him sit on the bed. Glancing between them, the both looked at him softly. “We did you wrong, Jaune...we treated you as though you were a prize to be won, although among all the men here, you are one…” May began, looking ashamed, her blue-gray eye looking down, before it snapped back up as she realized what she was staring at.

Despite the situation, both Jaune and Emerald chuckled, before Emerald sobered and continued. “We’re going to make it up to you...be the best girlfriends we can be. We promise.” seeing Jaune’s shocked look, she smirked. “You heard right...you hit the jackpot, tiger!”

Glancing at May, Emerald nodded again, and May slipped down onto her front, her upper body held up by her elbows, while the verdette girl turned around, setting her plump rear on his thigh. “We couldn’t decide who would get to please you first, and well, our assets are quite opposite to one another, so I thought, “Why shouldn’t our forgiving boyfriend get the luxury of a titjob and an assjob at the same time?”...oh! I can tell some part of you likes that thought!”

Both May and Emerald giggled from how hard Jaune’s cock was twitching, obviously imagining what they were about to do. Locking eyes with their new boyfriend, both moved, sandwiching and engulfing Jaune’s large shaft between their impressive endowments.

Jaune groaned darkly, his cock feeling as though it was being utterly smothered by four large, warm pillows. Opening his eyes, he saw both Emerald and May looking at him with equal amounts of lust, and glancing down...he barely saw his tip emerging through the twin cleavages. He huffed, his fingers digging into the sheets by his body. He could feel his balls churning already, but knew that he was nowhere close to cumming.

He took deep breaths, as they started to move in tandem, in such a way that he was wondering if they hadn’t practiced this beforehand. “Fuck...you two…” his voice was almost a growl, something that disturbed him, but he could see the effect that it had on his two new girlfriends. Both were looking at him with lust in their eyes, their movements getting even more frantic, his cock slipping in their cleavages, his tip popping up and out between them as they fell, Emerald’s rear and May’s breasts squishing against his thighs.

“Like it, lover?” Emerald asked, eyes hooded halfway. “I...I won’t lie...I’m getting wet just feeling this thing between my cheeks...how about you Zee?” she asked.

May blinked at the nickname, but smiled softly. “Y-Yeah...this...this is really turning me on…” she was mortified at saying that out loud, but she wasn’t going to lie about the fact that her juices were streaming down her inner thighs. It didn’t help that her sensitive nipples were dragging along the soft skin of Emerald’s rear end.

Jaune groaned as both of them worked harder and faster, getting him closer to his end, growling as both stopped their movements, leaving him on the brink again. He scowled lightly as both moved off of him, although it lessened a fair bit as they leaned over and kissed him. “Don’t worry, baby…” Emerald smirked, “We’re going to get you off, we just don’t want to waste all that’s in here,” Jaune hissed as two different hands cupped his large balls, rubbing the swollen and packed spheres gently. “by letting it spit out onto our tits or ass, that’s all. We want it in us…”

May hummed softly, kissing Jaune again and getting lost in the addictive feel of his lips. Pulling away from his lips, she rubbed her nose against the blonde’s, pressing her tits against him. “We want you to fill us up...I tasted it before, I want it in me. No condoms, I’m on the shot...I...I want to feel it raw…” her cheeks burned, but Jaune only smiled softly, reaching down and cupping her cheek.

“If you’re sure...is it alright that she goes first, Em?” Juane asked, giving the cocoa-skinned verdette a glance, knowing that May had far more self-image issues than she did. The carmine-eyed girl pouted, but nodded. It would give her a chance to contemplate her own problem.

Emerald hadn’t hadn’t renewed her birth control. She hadn’t bothered resuming the shot; after all, why get something that you weren’t going to use at all? Now she was kicking herself. She’d figure out something. There was no way that May was going to be the only one fucked tonight!

Jaune kissed May again, which the buxom beauty accepted eagerly, moaning softly as Jaune’s tongue prodded at her lips. Clutching at him, May slid her body over his, enjoying the feel of his body pressing against her own. A small whimper escaped her lips as her sensitive nipples rubbed against his chest. Her pussy clenched around nothing as she pulled back from the kiss, a thin line of saliva stretching between their lips several inches before breaking. “Make...make love to me, Jaune...please don’t make me wait…”

Jaune kissed her again swiftly, rolling them over so May was on her back and he was looming above her.

May blushed, completely exposed before Jaune’s gaze. Her GG-Cups were on full display, her areola puffy and engorged, although her nipples were still tucked away in their little slits. Her trim legs were spread wide, exposing her soaked core. Even her milky, scarred eye (a testament to a Grimm attack when she was young) was uncovered from its hidden shield of her hair. She should have felt mortified. But with Jaune’s hungry gaze on her...she only felt...desired. Like a woman. She released a keen as Jaune leaned down and pressed kisses along her neck and collarbone, his fingers roaming her sides.

A squeal erupted from her mouth as Jaune’s firm hands grasped and toyed with her breasts, the callused digits almost sinking into the soft flesh. She squirmed and shook beneath him as his fingers rubbed over her sensitive areola, teasing the sensitive nubs.

Pulling back, Jaune stared into her visible eye as her face scrunched up, feeling her hips arching and rubbing up against him. He chuckled. “Sensitive there, are we?” he asked letting his index fingers and thumbs trace around the protruding flesh, his hard cock throbbing hard as he watched the busty girl squirm and writhe. This was breathtaking.

May was mortified! She couldn’t cum from just having her nipples teased! She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t, she wouldnnnnnn’t-a shameful keen escaped her mouth as Jaune’s fingers pinched, her nipples popping out of the small slits they hid in; her core clenched, her pussy squirting her fluids onto her thighs and on the sheets. With a whimper, she covered her face with her hands, not wanting to see the laughing expressions that she was sure both had.

Jaune was the furthest he had been from laughing in a while. He had never remembered be so hard in his life. Sharing a glance with Emerald, who looked just as shocked, Jaune grinned and slipped his hands down to May’s toned thighs, gripping them and spreading them a bit wider, slipping between them, the tip of his cock a hair’s breadth away from her soaked core.

Emerald, sick of being left out, leaned down and gently pulled May’s hands away from her face, looking into her embarrassed...sister-girlfriend?...she looked into May’s eye. “Come on, Zee...Jaune’s about to make you his...don’t hide behind your hands for this…” she smiled as she watched May’s eye immediately shoot down to see Jaune’s cock moments away from breaching her core.

Jaune smiled softly as he moved just a bit, allowing his head to touch her sticky lips. “Are you ready? I want confirmation…” he looked May directly in the eye, refusing to move further without her okay. He watched May nod, staring directly down at their potential joining.

That wouldn’t do. “I need you to tell me with words, May…” he said softly, rubbing his cock along her soaking lips gently. “I want to hear your beautiful voice telling me you want me to fuck you…” he hummed, turning his head and planting kisses on her toned calf muscle, running his nose along the smooth skin as May released small squeaks of sound, but nothing resembling words. He was patient. He had waited this long, he could wait until she found her ability to talk.

Fortunately, Jaune didn’t have to wait long. Emerald hummed and gently cupped one of May’s tits. “If you don’t tell him, he won’t fuck you. If he won’t fuck you, there’s no need for him to be where he is. It will be my turn. He’ll be fucking me. You wouldn’t want me to go first, now would you?” she asked, seeing May’s eye widen in panic.

“NO! Fuck me, Jaune! Don’t fuck her first! Please, I want it! I need it! Fill me with your cum!” May cried out, bucking her hips upwards, trying to take Jaune’s cock into her core. There was a beat of silence before her her lightly tanned face turned dark red, her cheeks resembling dark cherries.

“Heh, such a naughty girl, and a screamer to boot!” Emerald chuckled, gently fondling May’s breast, feeling heat flow off of her. “Don’t worry about it sweetie, its just us. But you heard her, stud; fuck her and fill her up!”

Jaune took a deep breath. While both had used their semblances to please him before; Emerald giving him that assjob in the gym showers while hidden from him and May had used her own to rest her breasts on his lap in front of everyone at the pool, he had never done this. He wanted it to go well.

“Looking at May, he smiled as he slowly began to push his way into her core. Huntress-in-training she may be, but she was a virgin and he wasn’t small. So he was slow to enter her and spread her open. He watched her face as she mewled and squirmed underneath him, digging her fingers into the sheets, gasping for air and whining for more.

Finally, Jaune bottomed out, his hips pressing against May’s, his own face tense as her walls were rippling and flexing tightly around his cock. She was hot, scorching even. Combined with her internal movements, it felt like she was constantly cumming around his cock. The look on her face only made him think more that she was cumming.

Slowly he pulled back, watching May’s face pinch and hearing the weak mewl coming from May’s mouth, feeling her thighs trembling in his hands. He watched her arch as he thrust back in, pleasure hitting him hard as well.

Seeing May starting to relax, Jaune knew it was time. Shifting his grip in her thighs, Jaune began to move faster, making May’s visible eye widen as he suddenly began to pound into her, loud smacks and claps filling the room as flesh smacked against flesh, pale hips colliding against tanned ones, Jaune’s swollen balls smacking into May’s toned ass.

Emerald stared jealously at May’s ecstatic face, before deciding that May shouldn’t be the only one having any fun. Sitting up, she carefully shifted so she was kneeling over her face. “It’s only fair I get off too, you know…” she teased, before plopping down and placing her pussy on May’s mouth, her ass covering the rest of the girl’s head. She moaned as May immediately started lapping away at her core, her tongue surprisingly skilled for a girl who had never eaten pussy before. She smirked as she saw Jaune’s eyes fill with lust, but she had to readjust herself as she nearly rocked off of May’s face as Jaune began fucking her even harder, his grip on the maroon-haired girl’s legs shifting a bit more.

Her eyes widened as Jaune lurched forwards, almost bending May in half, locking her legs down, putting her into a mating press and slamming into her. She threw her head back, a choked cry escaping her mouth as May screamed into her pussy, sending vibrations along with the sensations of that surprisingly wicked tongue. She released a choked cry as she came hard, squirting over May’s face.

May could see and hear nothing, could only smell Emerald’s intense scent of cherry blossoms and natural musk, could only taste her sweetly tangy arousal, and feel...oh Gods above, could she feel Jaune fucking her, bending her in half, making her his breeding bitch-her slick pussy clenched around him in sudden orgasm, a wail of pleasure leaving her mouth, being muffled by the slick flesh that hadn’t moved from her oral cavity. She thrashed underneath her two lovers, bucking upwards and trying to get more and more pleasure, to receive Jaune’s cum and become his woman.

Jaune growled as May clenched and flexed and squirmed around him, her juices leaking around him and dribbling down onto his pulsing balls. He knew that he wasn’t going to be able to hold back too much longer. This was, these two were too erotic to maintain calm. “C-Cumming!” he groaned, hearing May squeal eagerly as his balls rose and fell, his sack squeezing as his thick cum spurted out of his tip, forcefully filling up the maroon-haired girl’s core.

May cried out into the soaked flesh above her, heart singing as Jaune filled her up, claiming her body as his, and his alone. No other man would stretch her out, would fill her up...no other man’s seed would ever take root within her.

Feeling Emerald slip off of her face, she inhaled deeply the sweet air and stared at her lover. Feebly, she raised her arms, wordlessly asking for a hug. She moaned as she found herself scooped up into strong arms and smelling Jaune’s musky scent, her core flexing and rippling around his still twitching cock. “...Love you…” she moaned, nuzzling against him. “Love you too, May…” he hummed.

Jaune slowly, very slowly slid his still hard cock from May’s body, both staring at the veritable waterfall of semen that spilled from her pussy and onto the sheets. May managed a giggle. “You really did fill me up…” she whispered in an awed voice. Looking up at Juane, she kissed him. “You’re going to be doing that again soon...”

Emerald let the two have their moment, before she pouted, reaching down and gently squeezing Jaune’s balls, quickly gaining his attention. “I...I haven’t renewed my birth control yet, but I want it raw too…” she pouted. She cursed herself at the fact that she hadn’t thought of something as simple as birth control. Her eyes brightened. “You can fuck my ass.”

The blunt manner of speech made both May and Jaune gape at her, although Jaune’s sticky, twitching cock told Emerald that he really liked the idea. She slowly spun around on the bed, pushing her ass out and giving it a wiggle. “I know you want to~” she teased. “I don’t mind...after all, it is my best feature~”

Reaching back, she grabbed her cheeks and spread them, revealing her winking little pucker to her audience of two. Glancing over her shoulder she smirked, seeing both her boyfriend and fellow girlfriend staring. “You’re nice and lubed up due to Zee, so c’mon, lover...claim what every boy’s thought about!”

She watched with amusement as Jaune reached out for her almost zombie-like, his hands grabbing her ass and squeezing tightly, making her moan as his strong fingers sank into her flesh. “Yeeeasssss…don’t be afraid to get rough with it…” she groaned, getting wetter and wetter from Jaune’s rough handling.

SMACK!

A guttural moan spilled from her lips as Jaune’s strong hand slammed against her bubbly backside, making the cocoa-colored flesh ripple and sending a pleasant sting through her body. SMACK! Another one on her opposite cheek made her juices start sliding down her inner thighs.

Repeated spanks covered her ass, falling in a random pattern, sometimes going from cheek to cheek, other times he spanked a single cheek several times, the sting building until it became almost painful, the fire between her thighs growing and growing and growing until-

Jaune stopped.

A piteous whine escaped her lips, looking over her shoulder desperately at him, seeing him smirking. “You’re not going to get to cum that easy, Emerald…” she felt a slick feeling, and knew that it was Jaune’s cock. It slid between her cheeks, the cum slicking up her crease and covering her tight little pucker. A bit of adjustment and she felt his tip poking the small circle. Her pussy quivered. “Please…” she keened.

Jaune thrust.

Emerald’s eyes widened as Jaune bottomed out in one go, hips slapping her stinging rear as all ten inches of cock spread her wide. “Fuck!” she groaned, gripping the sheets as Jaune drew back until just his tip was still inside her, then plunging back in again. Smack!

Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Jaune’s thrusts were rhythmic, and every time he bottomed out her ass cheeks were spanked hard by his hips. Broken moans spilled from her lips even as her own juices dripped down from her pussy and onto the bed, dark spots forming and growing in size.

Seeing May looking at Emerald hungrily, Jaune smirked and spun them around, much to the dark-skinned girl’s shock. Her carmine eyes widened as May spread her legs, revealing her cum stuffed pussy. “Eat me, Emerald...you made me do it to you, so its only fair...and hey, you get to taste Jaune! Won’t that be great?” she teased.

Emerald could smell it, the tangy, slightly bitter scent of their mixed arousal, her mouth watering as she found herself leaning forward…

...only for May’s legs to wrap around her head and drag her in, smushing her face against the maroon-haired girl’s cream-filled core. “MMMMMPPPHHH!” she whined, only making the one-eyed girl moan and Jaune rail her ass even harder.

May watched as her boyfriend railed her sister-girlfriend, and said sister-girlfriend sucked and licked and slurped away at her soaking pussy, sending pleasure through her body.

Jaune slammed into Emerald’s ass, enjoying watching the ripple of her flesh jiggle as his hips slammed into her, watching May moan and clutch at the Verdette’s hair as she was eaten out. He fucked her hard and powerfully, giving her all of the aggression that he hadn’t given May. He could tell she loved it, just like he did. She was already cumming, her anal walls squeezing bearing down on his cock, her juices spilling down her thighs.

He knew that he was close too, but he wanted to wait, hold out for May to cum again...lurching forwards, he began to slam himself against her, his balls slapping against her pussy, sending droplets of her cum flying as he slammed his lips against May’s.

“MMMMMMHHHHPPPPPHHH!!!” the trio moaned in unison, their screams of passion drowned out by their flesh.

May squirted hard, covering and almost drowning Emerald in a mix of her cum and Jaune’s, while Emerald sprayed the sheets with her clear cum as they came in unison.

Jaune, however, growled as his balls snapped taut and he began to pump his cum deep into Emerald’s backside as he devoured May’s lips, their tongues tangling against one another.

Slowly breaking the kiss and moving away, all three panted for air. “F-Fuck…” Emerald gasped, her head slumped on May’s inner thigh, licking her lips of May’s and Jaune’s cum. May was speechless, her massive chest heaving as she fought to get back her breath.

Jaune rolled his hips slowly, letting the last drops of his cum side from his cock as he slowly pulled back, watching in awe as Emerald’s ass gaped, his cum spurting out as the formally tight little hole struggled to close.

Grabbing his lovers and shifting them, Jaune slumped in the bed, followed by two female bodies, May and Emerald each grabbing an arm and pulling it close, his limbs being swallowed up by May’s massive cleavage and Emerald’s more modest one. Their legs entwined with his as they relaxed, their heartbeats finally calming down and breathing returning to normal.

“Ah, hah...that was...that was…” Emerald slumped against Jaune, trailing off, unable to come up with the words necessary for what she honestly was feeling. May hummed, nuzzling against Jaune’s shoulder. “...Perfect…” was the only word she said, and despite the fact that she had been Emerald’s worst enemy not two hours ago, the mint haired girl found herself agreeing.

“Yeah...perfect…” she hummed, closing her eyes and resting against her new boyfriend as fatigue finally hit her. She knew that she wasn’t done, not by a long shot. She may have agreed to work together with May tonight to make sure they both got what they wanted, but that didn’t mean that she was going to be passive all the time...the next morning, she was going to wake her boyfriend up with her mouth.

...little did she know, May had the same idea, dreaming of driving Jaune wild with her own talented tongue.

A Week Later

“Jaune? Are you okay?” Pyrrha asked, looking at her closest friend in concern as they studied in one of the study dorms. His face was flushed and a fine sheen of sweat was on his forehead. He looked at her and smiled, although it seemed strained. “I’m just fine, Pyr. T-Thanks for asking!” he said, although his voice was tense. Tilting her head, Pyrrha nodded and going back to her work.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, despite the immense pleasure that flooded through him. Looking down, he narrowed his eyes at a naked May beneath the table as she swallowed the head of his cock in her mouth, while her breasts swallowed the shaft, eyes bright as she looked up at him happily.

That wasn’t the only thing happening. Before Jaune in the middle of the study dorm, on top of the table he and Pyrrha were sitting at, was a naked Emerald. She had changed positions several times already, from doing exercises in booty short that showcased her magnificent ass, like Yoga and squats (reminiscent of the teasing she did to him in the gym), to belly dancing, to stripping herself of her bottoms and twerking, clapping those fat cheeks together, to the position she was in now, sitting on the table before him, legs spread lewdly and cupping one of her breasts as she openly fingered herself in front of him.

Jaune wondered how he had gotten so lucky. He had two beautiful girlfriends, both of them surprisingly adventurous...to the point of Emerald using her semblance to keep his partner from noticing anything odd as they both played with him...and each other.

Jaune bit his lower lip to contain the groan as he came hard, coating May’s face and tits in a thick, gooey mask of his cum. Eyes brightening, Emerald turned and hopped off the table (making sure to wiggle her ass in his face as she did so), crawling underneath it and immediately attacking May, kissing her deeply as they both began to scoop up his cum, moaning happily as they devoured his seed.

His cock, having lost none of its rigidity even with the massive cumshot he had painted May with, twitched. As he watched, both his girlfriends leaned forwards, pressing their lips to the head of his cock. Right next to his partner. Who remained oblivious due to Emerald semblance.

God...he loved his life right now.

[mysticprofessoralienhumanoid]

Maribat ideas I will probably never write

Now, before we start.

I realize that those may have already been made but I've never seen them and everything here came from my mind. But if you remember the titles, please tell me them or send a link to the stories, I'd love to read them.

This can be whatever ship you want Connorette, Daminette, Cassandra x Marinette, Brucinette... Any ship.

Here I'll refer to them just as the bats or one of the bats, or just choose a random one of them simply because I don't know the exact person that'd fit in the au with Marinette so I'm just leaving it up to you but... yeah.

[And yes, I know I said it could be Connor or Jon or anyone else, and I know they are not part of Batclan but for the lack of better word, just roll with it]

Yes, you can use any of them, but please tag me (i really want to read what you came up with) and include the link to my post so maybe someone else could use any other of these.

And if want to add anything or just brainstorm in the comments I'd love to do it with you, so don't be shy and say what you think (constructive critism only).

Maybe i will update this, but for now feel free to use any of these over 20 (i think at least) ideas I came with in these past 2 weeks cuz i was bored.

And before you start, I'm thinking of making mafia boss! Marinette AU, but i don't know what ship it should be... Suggestions? (Just not the love square please)

Hope you like it.

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Violinist Marinette. The Waynes got invited to a concert in which Mari played a solo. And they're all just enchanted with her talent.

Marinette a Badass Dancer. None of the bats is a dancer in this AU and I don't really have any direction where this would go, but i just had a scene where she kicks their asses even though she doesn't have much (or any) exprience in martial arts. Just her spinning and kicking one of them mid-spin in the face or... somewhere else...

So the scene is a Wayne Gala, right? Jagged Stone dares Marinette to sing a song on a stage (there’s live music band, i guess?). Everyone’s mesmerised by her voice and Jagged can be heard screaming “That’s my niece!” in the backround. I really want her to sing Creep , a cover by Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox ft. Haley Reinhart or Crazy in Love , also a cover made by Sofia Karlberg, though any other song is fine too

Bats and Marinette in a band. That's it. That's the whole AU.

One of the bats is sitting under a tree, all peacefully and relaxed, but then they look up to see a random girl with dark blue hair (??) just hanging upside down from a branch like an actual freaking bat. She gives them a heart attack.

Another Au with singing Marinette lol. In this one Marinette likes to sing in a park every other day and Damian comes here one day and hears her and is like “wow.”, and since then he comes there everyday in hopes of hearing her sing and getting her number. And maybe Luka or Adrien play while she sings, that’d be cool

Guys, Marinette and the Waynes being neighbours. No, but imagine. Them seeing some girl watering plants every week for a month or two and then not seeing her for a long period of time, and they're kinda worried, but then she's back and they're confused, because where the hell she'd been, the house looked like not used and just where the hell was she? Marinette seeing some... Weird things happening in the Wayne backyard. Balconies being in front of each other, so they're balcony neighbours too (the romance, the fluff, even the angst, guys). Marinette going to them with baked goods and introducing herself as their neighbour. Them going to hers and welcoming her with a basket of Alfred's cooking. 

Jason has to participate in a dating show because he lost a bet and Mari's one of the participants too...

Duke needs a date to a wedding (i don't know whose, your choice) and Marinette's his best friend, so be my fake date to this wedding?

Marinette as Tim's daughter??

The greatest showman AU. (Sibling dickinette. On the trapeze-)

Forget rouges, superheroes and vigilantes. Underground dancers. Because it's what i need, y'all

So in this, WE is a dance company, and Marinette's maybe an intern in a fashion department. One day Dick's going to one of the practice rooms where's been scheduled a meeting with a designer for his costume for the next show. Instead he's met with a girl he sees for the first time, practically flying on the dance floor. Just as he's about to reveal himself the rest comes and it turns out this is the fashion designer and it seems as no one knows she's an amazing dancer too

Teachers AU + Rivals AU = utter chaos. Them teaching the same subject and competing for their class' loves and/or arguing whose close is better. [Bonus points if everyone's thinking they hate each others guts, but they're secretly dating]

Fencers AU - on the same team on different teams, your choice. (And this honestly suits with Kagami too. I'm up for kagami x bat/marinette)

Damian in the park with Mar'i, but he's having trouble, because this kid has so much energy. How?? Just when he thinks he can take a breath, he notices Mar'i has wandered off and is talking to a young woman, so he rushes there and try to apologize, but she says it's no problem at all. Suddenly this gorgeous girl offers him her help. It looks like Mar'i has taken liking to her and he's so tired, so he agrees and for the rest day watches two Mari's play together and falls in love with the older one. Plotwist: this was plan all along. Mar'i is the ultimate wingwoman.

All the Wayne siblings decided to go to one of those haunted houses for a halloween and there's this petite girl who tagged along their group somehow. They didn't expect to see this tiny girl punching the worker dressed as a monster and knocking the daylight out of him. But it was so worth getting kicked out.

Marinette's a ghost and these four men came to her house and apparently they're doing a ghost investigation?? I mean, she was getting a bit lonely and bored, maybe it's time to "gain some friends" (read: scare the living out of them).

Pretty much the above but with bat/s as ghost/s and Marinette as the paranormal investigator with her team (i honestly want one of them to be Kagami, i don't know why). In both you need to decide who's a skeptic and who believes. It's fun, the ghost is trying to scare them off, but they're stubborn.

Sibling dickinette where Marinette calls her older brother everytime she wants to get out of a date and so he pretends to "arrest" her. (And then maybe dick decides to play a matchmaker and sets her up with one of his adoptive siblings)

Marinette as a lawyer. Her going against LexCorps who framed Wayne Enterprises for something. Or maybe Bruce was accused of murder (that he obviously did not commit) and now she has to prove his innocence. I just really want to read about badass lawyer Marinette, guys

Merlin AU. Is there any AUs with Marinette being Merlin and saving Arthur's ass (I honestly think it should be Chloe, no joke)?

Mominette where she adopts Cassandra. I just imagined them going to ballet lessons together and cooking and now I'm soft.

Marinette got dared by her friends to set a trap for the passerby that involved eggs, toy train and glitter and to then to pretend they're her ex and they cheated in her, and Jason had the misfortune to be that passerby. (Yes, this is probably crack lol)

Tim can rap. Marinette can rap. What could go wrong?? (Yes, this is probably crack too)

There's this girl they see every year when to go on trick-or-treating and she always has the most amazing or scariest costumes. But Damian will not go without a fight and so every year they compete over who has the better costume. This year they just so conveniently dressed up as the famous Halloween couple.

Jon is 17 now and it seems as no one is interested in him. He jokingly tells Damian he supects theres a ghost that's in love with him and they keep away any potential lovers from him. He doesn't know how much he's right. Marinette though, is freaking out.

Marinette decided to take a part-time job at a local pool as a life guard. There's a sudden increase in people coming to said pool but also a dramatic increase in people pretending to drown. Conner is one of them.

Marinette plays a therapist to all of the batfam. The amount of the ridiculous problems she had to listen to... She could write a book and she would make millions out of it, she swears.

"Some say "revenge is a dish best served cold.", then i read "revenge is sweet", so i came to conclusion revenge is ice cream." Huh, so that'd explain the sudden disappearance of ice cream in whole Gotham Jason had been hearing about for the past week from Bruce. The question is, what that petite bluenette is planning to do and who is going to be a victim of her ice cream revenge?

Tim had been in coma for a month after the drug bust, and he has just woken up. The first thing he does? He picks up the argument he and Marinette had been having before he's been put into a coma.

The couple at the place Jason had been at, started making out loudly, so he started making loud noises while eating his ice cream. They stopped. And he got this cute barista's phone number when she was walking past him.

Marinette's at the spa when she overhears two guys betting who can eat more slices of cucumber (that were supposed to be put on their eyelids) and she decided to participate. Safe to say they were all banned from all the spas in Gotham

Can i please get Jason/Duke/anyone making up a bedtime story for Marinette after she woke up from a nasty nightmare? I need it

Every morning and night Marinette pretends to be asleep just so she can feel Damian pull her closer, kiss her temple and whisper how much he loves her

Roy listening to Jason complaining about each first encounter of her girlfriend with his siblings and Bruce. Each is more ridiculous than the one before. He listens to it, after he and Marinette had gone through their own weird af first meeting.

Dick was so busy laughing at the bluenette who'd just walked into a post, he ran into the same post minute later. She asked him out... After she finished laughing and telling him karma's a bitch

Dick likes to think he's the reason Jason and Marinette got married. To his last days he will brag about how at his and Kori's wedding Marinette caught the bouquet, tripped and Jay caught her.

Jason asked Marinette on a date to one of the restaurant the WE owned. Then as a test, he told her he couldn't pay for all the expensive dishes they ordered. She took his hand and they ran out of the building. He's convinced he's going to marry her.

[presumenothing]

fmab (+03) fic masterlist

because even i’m starting to lose track of what i’ve posted so far. all writing is eventually crossposted to ao3, individual tumblr posts linked below the cut because it’s lengthy as hell 

(this is like 85% post-promised day fic with the occasional canon-divergence au for flavour, ft lots of resembool kids, riza, and roy. basically gen with near-zero ship content because that’s how i roll)

update: total wordcount has now broken 20k 25k 30k 35k 40k 45k(!!!!) 

update 2: now with crumbs of 03 content because yeehaw

april

“Actually, Winry – can you do something for me?” 

“Lieutenant. Would you ever consider learning alchemy?”

“I guess I just – want to figure out who I am. Me, not the Fullmetal Alchemist.”

Besides, the scars on his palms have been – pardon his language – hurting like a bitch ever since he woke to this gloomy weather this morning.

Ishval had given him plenty of practice at that soldier’s art of taking even the lightest of naps whenever circumstances permitted.

[au] Ed has never had reason to hate how swiftly his mind works, not until now.

It’s just simple clerical error that leads to Edward Elric retaining his title and pay as a State Alchemist, even after the Promised Day. No, really.

may

He’s just tired, not about to collapse.

These days Ed’s journals are actual proper travelogues, no coded shit or anything.

[au] It doesn’t even start until after they arrive in Resembool. 

(can’t have been the more socially-adjusted brother, obviously.)

[au] “I don’t,” Ed bites out, “know any damn alchemists.”

Maes raises an eyebrow and sloshes his near-empty cup pointedly. 

august

[wip] “Is this about Al, or you?”

“–of course I know these aren’t the most efficient routes!”

Ed seriously considers dyeing his hair more than once, in the After.

Winry only needs a glimpse of red to know what it must be.

Rush Valley talks. Winry listens.

Much as Al loves his brother to itty-bitty-and-very-shouty pieces,

The first time someone mistakes Al for the Fullmetal Alchemist, 

+ The thing is, Al gets it.  

“Brother told me that you told him about Ishval,” Alphonse says.

It’s an honest observation – as honest as he can ever get, at least –

[au] In another world, she is never named the Hawk’s Eye.

“Somehow I doubt your place is much better, sir.”

would it be the most impossible thing to have happened to the Elrics?

“I can’t believe he didn’t tell us,” Ed growls,

a minimum age limit on all candidates for the State Alchemist exam.

“There’s gotta be a shark somewhere around.”

The Elrics make transmuting without circles look easy.

The problem, if Riza is to put it into words,

Al completely botches the first dozen or so transmutations

(Ed? Talking about automail? Over food?)

[au] in the end it’s Al who really takes after their father.

“Fullmetal realising his celebrity status? Woe betide us,”

The tea is actually well-made, first of all, not burnt 

“Not like– I mean, personal about me, not you!” 

[au] “Huh,” Al says.

Still less work than getting entropy-murdered by Olivier, he decides.

[au] It’s not every dead person that he sees.

[au] They weren’t even meant to stop in Resembool.

Jean just wants to make one thing – okay, a few things – very clear.

Ed knows this firsthand from too much Winry exposure.

The lump on the couch lets out a string of wholly intelligible noises.

september

“Take me out to dinner,” Riza says.

“We’re not even in Amestris, though.”

[au] Riza had been angry too, when she had let herself be, but hers is a cold ire, locked beneath glaciers and the burn of frostbite. Wrath makes no such pretences.

[outline] But in the case of Fullmetal – more specifically in the case of Fullmetal and Youswell – Roy mostly wishes he could unknow things.

[au] Roy forces enough air into his lungs to get the words out. “You’re dead.”

[outline…?] winry’s gonna like this, al says.

Alphonse flaps a hand. “Oh, because it’s complete bullshit.”

“Y’know, you really aren’t that tall, Brother.”

getting to finally keep a cat hadn’t been very high on his list of priorities.

[au] “Edward. Get out of here, take Envy with you.”

[wtnv au] “Welcome to Resembool.” 

october

just because you’re immortal doesn’t mean you can’t die from food poisoning, young man.

[au snippet] It’s sort of a belief, in the eastern parts of Amestris,

[03] Al’s hug is the first real thing he’s felt in years.

[03] Never thought you were, Ed retorts lightly, and lets Alfons turn away with a huff.

“When you said to come visit you in Rush Valley this is not what I was expecting!”

(and jeez, only Ed would manage to make it necessary to keep a kit on hand for actual minor-to-major catastrophes during a semi-honeymoon trip)

november

[03] Except the sight of his brother only serves to make everything worse, for once.

[au] The worst thing about this is that it’s not even equivalent. 

[au] “You wanna know why? The real reason, not the quantum bullshit I fed Mustang.” (+ more in the tag)

[snippet] And just for that I won’t be leaving Wrath any.

“I shall finally exact the decisive vengeance that I have always dreamed of,” Scar booms right back before Armstrong can even ask, 

Al knows from the moment he wakes up that it’s going to be a good day.

[snippets] The real disaster comes when Ed learns how to weaponise his height.

[03 au] The man in the brown overcoat. That’s all anyone ever seems able to recall of Edward.

[au] They say the Elric house is haunted. Of course. Empty houses are always haunted.

Of course, this assumes that said person is an alchemist of some ability, and that said life has been one of some loss and strife. 

“Are you alright? Nod for yes, swear at me for no.”

from the intervening pause he surmises Riza is jotting something down on the notepad she keeps by the phone.

She’s been looking forward to the day when her hair finally gets long enough to – well, no longer be short.

“Remind me of this the next time I decide to trust Ling any further than I can throw him.” ( + xing tag)

december

Ed’s almost twenty when he realises that Hawkeye must’ve been around his age when she was deployed to Ishval.

[au] At least this far out from Amestris Ed could mostly brush the first one off as an interplanetary translation fuckup.

bonus textposts and assorted nonsense

the Better Alchemist™️

on the topic of ed’s scrawl

al, defender of cat

*csi miami theme but with cats*

on the topic of flat affect + 200000% turbo by default

on the topic of pain tolerance + further thoughts

ed @ mustang’s problem solving skills

ok but about liore…

terrible TERRIBLE ideas (three of them)

putting the SHORT in SHORT-TEMPERED

clap reflex

you’re retired, ed, r e t i r e d

and by “ambidextrous” i mean “confused”

protip: you can’t

YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAH (aka csi miami theme, riza redux)

feral ducklings, the continuation(??)

does THIS count as elric telepathy

honestly, y’all

too much fire?? sounds fake

on the topic of academia

sometimes the stars align

on the topic of riza hawkeye

terrible idea, berthold version

immortal troubles

THE CHURCH OF EDWARD ELRIC

PRIDE (& WRATH): one, two, three (4koma)

objectively the worst post-cos timeline

serious stuff: fma drama cd, daughter of dusk

asks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 aka izumi pwns roy, 9 aka not coffeeshop au, 10 aka legalities, 11 aka autograph woes

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1968

The X-Men, those ever-so-slightly exhausting mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men!

(X-Men 40 - 51) - written by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich and Arnold Drake. Drawn by Werner Roth, Don Heck, George Tuska and Jim Steranko

Did you know Frankenstein’s monster was an android, sent to earth by aliens as an ambassador?

My English Lit professor LIED TO ME! (X-Men 40)

Whereas last year served up a cohesive narrative by making it all about Factor Three, 1968 gives us a hodgepodge of clumsy and confusing storylines. This might be due to the different writers at the helm: last year was all about Roy Thomas, this year we’ve got three dudes pulling it in different directions.

What doesn’t change is the prose. So much purple prose.

Anyway, this year is all about THE DEATH OF PROFESSOR XAVIER and THE RETURN OF MAGNETO! (If you think this is terrific foreshadowing and not something that kills all narrative tension, boy howdy, you’ll love reading comics from this era.)

The best kind of foreshadowing drags you into an alley, punches you in the nose and steals your shoes. Fuck subtlety and proper twists. (X-Men 41)

Anyway, Xavier is acting all out of character: cranky, angry, impatient, barely using his powers for immoral purposes… He pushes the X-Men to the brink and continually sequesters himself with a troubled Jean.

Meanwhile, Bobby and Hank’s date with Zelda and Vera is interrupted… again. At this point, I just have to believe that Zelda and Vera are embroiled in some torrid lesbian relationship, while Hank and Bobby serve as their beards.ANYWAY, their date is interrupted by the Grotesk, the last remaining heir to an advanced subterranean species who have recently been slaughtered by an earthquake machine of human making. Look, how many underground societies does the Marvel Earth even have? Did these Grotesks live next to the Molemen? I…

In defense of Grotesk, spinning him around like a fucking bola is one of the top three things I´d like to do with Angel too. (X-Men 42)

The X-Men try to stop the Grotesk from sinking the Eastern seaboard into the Atlantic, and in the end, the Professor sacrifices himself to stop him, paying pays the ultimate price!

OR DOES HE

To make it even more tragic, apparently Xavier was dealing with some mysterious illness that neither human medicine nor mutant powers could cure. But before he died, he somehow transferred his powers to Jean. (Either pretend this happened or retcon it him awakening Jean’s latent telepathy.) Anyway, Chuck wanted to prepare them for the return of… Magneto. (Also Pietro and Wanda.)

Quicksilver crashes Xavier’s funeral, unsure whether he should ask the X-Men for help. He doesn’t. Meanwhile, Magneto somehow has duped some hapless time-displaced TikTokker into filming the grisly affair. (X-Men 43)

What follows is a sort of confusing crossover with the Avengers where the X-Men mostly get sidelined in favour of some drama involving the House of M. Wanda has some temporary mental damage that only Magneto can cure? Also, Pietro hates humans now, which, given the state of the world in general, I can only concur with.

Magneto captures the X-Men in customized cages, designed to be unescapable, but Angel escapes by simply pushing the right button. He flies off to get help, stumbles upon a weird and ultimately meaningless side quest and finally returns with the Avengers!

But! Magneto turns the X-Men against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes! Just kidding: the X-Men pretend to go along with Magneto’s mind games, but this was all a plot concocted by the heroes to make Magneto feel like he’s winning. Instead, the heroes attack and drive Magneto back. Toad, who finally is fed up with Magneto’s abuse, emancipates himself and defies Magneto, kicking him out of the helicopter he, Wanda and Pietro flee in. Magneto seemingly falls to his death in the water.

OR DOES HE.

First of all: why would Magneto just make a non-ferrous aircraft? Second of all: why would he then BRING IT ALONG? Big mad. (Avengers 53)

Following Xavier’s death, Foggy Nelson reads his will. The Professor bequeaths the school to the X-Men! Fred Duncan, Professor X’s FBI liaison is also there! And then! Juggernaut briefly returns from the dimension of Cyttorak, stirs up trouble and is then sucked back into the ruby of Cyttorak thanks to a Professor Ex Machina from the grave. This somehow convinces Fred Duncan that the X-Men should split up, fearing they may be too big a target for evil mutants and thinking they might be better at responding to threats spread out over the continent.

Yeah, Angel will be so much more effective when he isn’t part of a team of much more powerful individuals. (X-Men 46)

So, the X-Men split up! In NYC, Bobby and Hank battle Warlock, the most forgettable villain ever, when he interrupts their date. They also get into a fight with hippies because of… poetry?

Yeah! Put the slam in poetry slam, odd beatniks! *aggressive finger snaps* (X-Men 47)

Jean and Scott ‘go undercover’ in California, with Jean becoming a model and Scott ‘pretending’ to be her superjealous boyfriend. So, instead of actually forming a relationship, they just pretend to have one? Fuck, these two are exhausting. Jean also forgot she attends a university, apparently. Which is just as well, because it means boring Ted and his boring brother disappear from the narrative.

They are attacked by an increasingly silly string of villains and it’s obvious that nobody really knows what to do with this book. They even skip an issue: the preview for issue 49 is something completely different than what we’re getting.

The year ends of a sort of high note, however, introducing two familiar faces. Mesmero,a hitherto unknown follower of Magneto, is amassing an army of would-be mutants by… hypnotizing them? Through their… X-Gene? Among them is a curious gal named Lorna Dane, who is rocking the brown hair. Bobby saves her from her drone-like state and keeps an eye on her while the rest of the X-Men investigate Mesmero.

Lorna meanwhile takes a shower, washed out the cheap dye and is revealed to have green hair. (Fuck yeah! But also maybe buy better dye?) Bobby and Lorna are captured by Mesmero and his cronies, and Bobby warns the other X-Men telepathically. They let themselves be captured by Mesmero too, figuring it’s the easiest way to find his lair. There, Mesmero awakens Lorna’s latent magnetism powers, and bestows on her two sweet titles:

Somewhere in Kenya, Storm is upset and doesn’t know why. (X-Men 50)

And, in another shocking twist (gasp²), Magneto’s alive!

You say ‘aura of unspeakable evil’, I say ‘prime dom top daddy’. (X-Men 50)

He fights the X-Men while Polaris tries to determine who she holds allegiance to: the father she just met or these other randos she just met. You’d think she would maybe not want to hang out with the raving demagogue, but hey. Maybe it’s magnetic attraction. The X-Men flee, forced to regroup, and we end the year there, with the ‘innocent’ Lorna Dane under Magneto’s thrall.

Didn’t you take Art History? Oh! Issue 50 has the familiar logo for the first time, created by Jim Steranko!

So one cape tassel goes over the shoulder and one goes under it? Why is there a little skull with horns in the middle? Why the strappy sandals? Mesmero, sashay away. (X-Men 50)

Ugliest Costume: It’s a toss-up between Mesmero and Polaris, but since I assume Mesmero designed Polaris’ outfit, we’ll just give it to him.

Best new character: I didn’t think she’d earn it, because I’m not the biggest fan of Lorna Dane (most writers use her as a plot device, rather than a character), but otherwise this would go to Grotesk and that’s never going to happen.

Most audacious retcon: Jean is able to psychically penetrate Juggernaut’s helmet, which used to protect him from Charles’ influence.

It’s also kinda funny how after years of retcons where Polaris, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver sometimes are and sometimes aren’t Magneto’s kids, how it is right now is the same as when it started: Lorna is Magneto’s daughter, the twins aren’t.

What to read: Nothing. This is not a great year.

Death proof: ‘Chuck’ kicks the bucket for the first time.

[thegeekerynj]

All Death Metal Review (And nothing from Sweden!)

Death Metal: Trinity Crisis One Shot 

Writer: Scott Snyder   Artist: Francis Manapul

‘And who are YOU supposed to be? I’ve faced enough Dark Knights that no Batman scares me anymore!

Ha! Then it’s a good thing I’m not a Batman! I’m his MOTHER!’

———————————————————————————————————

Sweet Christmas! That took me by surprise!

Harley kissing Jonah Hex, that was really sweet, and gods awful creepy, and kinda gross,  after the exchange, and some thought…

This is it, Gentle Readers… the Beginning of the End of the Beginning of… Oh, crap, now I’m lost… This is where the story starts rockin’!

The Gang’s all together, and the Black Lantern Bat has determined what they need to do.

The plan? Split up, naturally. That AL-ways works…

When we left them in DM #3, the Lanterns are protecting the Home Base, and taking out the Crisis Energy Antennae on the Earths left in the known Universes, The Flashes are off and running through the Speed Force, trying to find Metron, and stay ahead of the Bathattan who Laughs, while the Trinity (Superman / Antilife, Black Lantern Batman and  Warden Wonder Woman) along with Swamp Thing, Harley, Hex and Jarro, head for Castle Bat, to gain access to the Crisis Earths, where the Crisis Energy is being harvested for Perpetua.

**WHEW!**

Getting into the Castle involves getting past an army of Dark Knights… and we have a bunch of real winners here! 

Bat Monday - Salomon Grundy in Bat ears, I could have busted a gut laughing, until I thought about what kind of weapon a zombie with Batman’s training could be, and shivered…

Kull, the daughter of Batman and Wonder Woman, corrupted by the Dark Universe…

Ark, the living embodiment of Arkham, with all of the knowledge and abilities of ALL her worst inmates…

Chiroptor, the amalgam of Batman and Chemo (Great Elder Gods!!)… 

And the Pearl, Martha Wayne, in the equivalent of HellBat Armor, complete with her iconic pearl necklace.

This is a real mindscrew for Batman, and the panels depict it, most intently.

One nice thing about Scott Snyder… he is consistent about tying up loose ends. Once we are in Castle Bat, we find out what happened to Barbatos, the Big Bad from Dark Nights: Metal. Not that we were actually wondering, since we got Perpetual, and the Batman Who Laughs, but, like I said, it ties up the package nicely.

Then, we are introduced to the character I have been most happily waiting for… the Robin King, and his Utility Belt of Death!

Gentle Readers, this is the story we have been waiting for, the chapter which tells us what the Heroes Plan of Action is, and where the story has been going, for over 40 years. You see, the opening page of this book tells us where this story began… with Marv Wolfman and George Perez, and Crisis on Infinite Earths!

Not to spoil too much, but Crisis, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis, ]well… they have all played a part in getting us to this story. It seems, the “Crisis Energy’ has fed Perpetua while she was trapped within the Source Wall, and, now, she wants it all, so she can recreate the Universes in her image.

Great job, if you can get it…

I can’t say enough good things about this story and artwork, as Snyder and Manapul have put together a really tight, hard hitting bottle / lead story, bringing us to the next step in the saga… 

Jeebus on a popsicle stick, I hope no one lets me down… that will hurt!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Death Metal: Multiverse’s End #1

Writer: James Tynion IV   Artist: Juan Gedeon

‘Mr. Rabbit?

Yes, Young Lady?

Thank you for saving me.

What a kind thing to say! It was so scary out there, and you stayed so brave. I don’t think I could have done it without your courage.

You’re really, really soft.

I use a special carrot shampoo.

———————————————————————————————————

Once upon a time, about a million, bazillion years ago in cranky fat man years, somewhere around 1982, Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! brought Earth-C into the DC Multiverse, the earth of anthropomorphic animals… yes, they brought Super-Hero Cartoon Animals to the Super Hero Universe.

Our introduction to this Earth was Rodney Rabbit, a comics writing and drawing hare, who created the Just’a Lotta Animals comic by day, and was Captain Carrot, a Superman-esque rabbit, who got his powers from super charged carrots, when danger struck.

But, I digress… because I got really excited!

So, we have teams on the 6 Earths, each Earth holding a tuning fork, focusing the psychic pain energy of the population to Perpetual, powering her attempts to recreate the Multiverse in her image. The Earths in play, Earth - 3 (Crime Syndicate), Earth - X (Nazi Earth), Earth - 29 (Bizarroworld), Earth - 43 (Blood League World) and Earth - 50 (Justice Lords Earth) are all worlds of pain and suffering.

Their energy is the right flavor for destroying, and creating.

The heroes, organized and led by the Green Lanterns of Sector 2814 (Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz), are working to take down the Antennae before the energy can be fed to Perpetual to power her Cosmic Undoing. 

So, teamed with the Lanterns, we have Hawkgirl, Kid Flash (Earth-22), President Superman (Earth-23), Wonder Woman (Earth-6) and Captain Carrot, all hellbent on stopping the respective Antennae.

The problem… Each Earth’s inhabitants have been laced into the antennae, to directly feed the psychic energy to it..since the energy is effectively terror, well, what better way to induce some? Of course, this isn’t the only problem to be contended with…

Leave it to James Tynion IV to come up with a way to make a villain creepier than the Batman Who Laughs… How, you ask? Well, take the true polar opposite of Batman, and make him realize HE IS what Giggles says he is, and you have an interesting new ballgame.

You see, while the Batman who Laughs is the Ultimate CORRUPTED Batman, Owlman is the Anthesis of Batman, the purest EVIL to the Batman’s GOOD. And he plans to make sure that he continues to be the True Opposite…

Gedeon’s artwork is rough, but considering the story being told, and the pain portrayed by the characters, it fits, perfectly. Some times, I see Joe Staton and Nic Cuti in these pages, a little cartoony, but that’s not a complaint… The story concentrates a bunch on Guy Gardner and Cap, so, it seems to fit (and the art is reminiscent of the ‘A Guy and his G’Nort’ storyline from 1991). 

All in all, a very good story, and a fantastic use of a truly underused treasure.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶

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

Speed Metal #1

Writer: Joshua Williamson   Pencils: Eddy Barrow   Inks: Eber Ferreira

‘Hey, Flash Family, Is it true a Flash has to die in every Crisis?!’

———————————————————————————————————

And the levels of snark from the Darkest Knight have reached Epic Levels!

The first three pages of this issue give us a rehash of everything  having to do with Wally West, since the beginning of the Rebirth Era, from Barry pulling Wally out of the Speed Force, to Barry and Batman finding the Comedian’s Smiley Face button embedded in the Batcave wall, to the events of Heroes in Crisis and Flash Forward.

The action picks up as Barry, Wally, Wallace and Jay leave the Batman’s Vault, in search of Metron’s Chair, with the Darkest Knight hot on their trails. 

In the Speed Force.

With the Darkest Knight’s presence corrupting the Speed Force, Barry and Wally bickering the entire time, I’m reminded of why I hated the post Crisis Flash… Wally wasn’t mature enough to wear the mantle of Barry’s fame.

Sure, he had the speed, he was even faster than Barry, but he was still the same jealous little kid inside, the one who needed to be patted on the head, the one who couldn’t get on with the Titans, even though he was probably the most powerful of them. 

He was just an immature kid, and here, Williamson dragged that all into the foreground once again.

All so Wally West, the King of the Redemption Arc, could have another Redemption Arc…

Sorry, that did me in. 

The rest of the story is pretty good… the art is wonderful, the Jay / Barry / Wallace interplay is really kinda neat, and all the Black Flashes… well, I’m a sucker for Death icons, so a mass of Death Speedsters, well that’s fun with a CAPITAL F!

But, did we need another Wally gets to whine story?

Sorry, this wasn’t the finest arc of the Death Metal Saga.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶

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Death Metal #4 ‘Shot In The Dark’

Writer: Scott ‘Scream King’ Snyder   Artist: Greg ‘The Muscle’ Capullo  Inks: Jonathan ‘Bloodied’ Glapion

“So, ever wonder why you never see A Harley Who Laughs’?’

———————————————————————————————————

And, that Gentle Readers, is the crux of one of those puzzles about this series… Why don’t we ever see more twisted versions of the Villains who infest Earth Prime?

The Robin King (this is the character who rates SECOND on my memorable Characters list, especially with his own One-Shot—— Who’s First?? Time, Gentle Ones in time…) puts the explanation out there, and it is very simple.

And worth the read… But, I digress.

So, Issue 4 picks up with Sergeant Rock describing what has been happening on Earth - Prime, and we finally get to see who has been carrying him around… AMBUSH BUG! Yes, the character that made the Fourth Wall more transparent than an open Anderson window has been carrying Rock around as his own personal narrator…

Which, if you know the Bug, is a joke unto itself.

So, here we go, the ride is picking up steam, and we are now following 6, count’em SIX, separate story lines. A guy could get whiplash, or Bullwhip or some other third rate character… But, I digress.

We have the Trinity storyline, the SpeedMetal storyline, Multiverse’s End, and the Lantern Storyline from the last issue, the Justice League / Legion of Doom story… am I forgetting anything? 

Oh, and of course, the Robin King.

Where to start with this… I guess the simplest place to start is the artwork.

Greg Capullo’s pencils are absolutely wonderful. For anybody who it's to watch the process of drawing I want to watch so he's got a really wonderful touch I recommend Greg Capullo’s Instagram site. As he's drawing pages for these books, he posts the pencils as he finishes pieces of the process . Normally, he has six or seven photo panels showing exactly what he's been doing.  In man cases, this involves crowd scenes, with extensive detail. His work is beautiful, it’s easy to see why he is such a sought after talent.

Jonathan Glapion’s inks on Capullo’s pencils are comparable to Austin on Byrne, and Janson over Miller, Janson over Colan… Enhancing, and not hiding the intricate detail rendered in the pencils, adding that last flash of lightning to bring it all together. The balance struck between them is almost organic, a constant growth between the two, bringing them to levels bordering on the true Classic Art teams of the last 50 years.

I do not make these comparisons lightly

Now, to the story. Scott Snyder is powering a roller coaster with a rocket sled. The coordination between the different aspects of these stories is both intricate and daring. With all the different aspects of this story spinning like plates on sticks, Snyder juggles the plot lines, and what is left to him by the myriad of writers as Emmet Kelly did in the heyday of Ringling Brothers.

His deft touch, and subtle influences are balanced by lace covered sledgehammer blows, leaving the reader reeling, and wanting so very much more.

Scott Snyder, much like Tom Taylor, has pulled out all the stops, cut the brake lines, kicked out the jams, insert favorite euphemism for creating a high speed, non-stop mad ride to Hell!

And, much to my wallet’s chagrin, I am very happy about it.

Now, as it crosses to other books, and other writers pick up the reins, I am sure Snyder will still be the whip hand driving the story, not allowing some of these writers to go too far astray (unless it’s Tom King… then, well Woo Hoooo!)

I can’t say enough good things about this story, or the team creating it. I’m beginning t feel a little biased, but, what the heck.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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

Death Metal: Robin King #1 ‘The Robin Who Would Be King’

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi   Artist: Riley Rossmo

‘Aw! Come on, this is the fun part!

Get up and let’s FIGHT!’

———————————————————————————————————

Games, within games, within games…

So, the Batman who Laughs wasn’t infallible.

And the Robin King is going to be the bigger threat to the Darkest Knight than any combination of the Trinity, Flashes or their cohorts.

At least, that’s my takeaway from this issue.

We continue the story of the Robin King, as started in the Tales of the Dark Universe one shot.  Bruce has grown up, and grown into his sociopathy, and genius. He has used the family fortune to get all the training necessary, and to accumulate all the tools, to begin his reign as the true Evil Overlord of Gotham.

Utilizing his accumulated weapons, he has taken out Commissioner Gordon, Firestorm, Animal Man, Adam Strange Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), and the Red Tornado, all in truly spectacular and extraordinarily grisly fashion.

While the Black Hole Implosion for Firestorm was a particularly well thought out death, I think, so far, the ‘Mortal Coil’ Death, for the Red Tornado was the most imaginative… making his powers totally uncontrollable, while moving him closer to his ultimate dream, to be a real person, before his form totally destroys itself from the stresses of his own speed.

Marvelous! Fantastic! Gross!

Enter the Batman who Laughs, with the proposition to make the Robin King special, one of his own…

But, he’s a Robin, so, off to the Groblin Pit he goes!

Hence, his mistake, and possibly another chink in the boiler plate of his plans… since Bruce Wayne is NO Robin!

Peter Tomasi’s scripting for this issue is simply remarkable. The creep factor he brings to this iteration of Bruce Wayne is almost eviscerating. Reading this was painful to my eyes and psyche, feeling the levels of insanity drip off the page, and scratch across my mind like a little bird’s unnaturally sharp talons.

He really hit all the horror factors.

Then, there was the artwork for this story. Riley Rossmo’s artwork set the mood for this story. His shattered pencil / inks style, which can be distracting, was integral to telling this story. It allowed the Reader to view this story as if it were playing out in Bruce’s mind, its all the fracturing being how he is viewing the world.

For me, this story has been the highlight of the series… thus far. I am anticipating this, which is near the midpoint of things, is setting up the Wednesday Night Episode…so, - 

Tune In, Gentle Readers! 

Same Bat-Time

Same Bat Channel!

The Best Is Yet To Come!

Did I neglect there is a B-story, with Signal, Spoiler, Orphan and Red Robin taking on Quietus, the amalgam of Batman Ras’ al Ghul and Duke Thimas, from another Dark Universe, written by Tony Patrick and drawn by Daniel Sampere?

This story brings in a plot line for ‘What’s happening for the Other Bat-Family Elements’, as they try to find their way through Castle Bat’s myriad streets… 

I am guessing we will start to see more of these stories.

I am completely fine with this, rather than having to recap things later…

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

[letterstothemidnightsociety]

Alright, so if you've been following along with me, Supernatural season 3 starts out on a trio of episodes that are Really Fun, slides into some episodes that are Pretty OK, then takes a real nose dive into Bummersville. Hoo boy guys, I really hope that this season picks up. I mean, it won’t, but I can still dream. 2021 was maybe not the year to start watching this season. Fair warning.

The next three episodes for this season are just, like, real downers. First we get “Fresh Blood,” which, aside from the terrible title, starts out on a high note. Gordon (gross) somehow manages to catch up with Bela (HOW??) and threatens her if she doesn’t hand over the Winchesters. Bela, in all of her class and grace, won’t give them up because she has a high price point and Gordon is really lowballing her here. Just like, yes, ok, please stay forever, you’re amazing and I love you. And what a scene this is! You have two characters, one with a strict moral code (albeit one that allows for violence and winning at all costs) and the other with almost NO moral code, but an allegiance that can be bought with the best price and it’s such a fun back and forth until Gordon pulls out a gun. And then she pulls out her phone and just has Dean on speed dial and that’s maybe my fav part. Bela has run into the Winchesters twice and they maybe legit hate her but she’s very much like, oh yeah, my BFF’s the Winchesters, I love those idiots!

I love that we come back to this moment later in the episode when Bela, like, three days later, is like, Oh! I guess I should warn the Winchesters that some crazy guy is after them! She’s just so casual about it you kind of get the feeling that, even though technically Gordon was threatening her life, she doesn’t view him as A Threat. She gives the Winchesters a heads up just to be like oh yeah, you might want to watch out for this mild inconvenience, and she seems legit shocked when Dean freaks out. There’s this moment that plays across her face like, oh shit, did I...did I fuck up? And it adds a nice bit of depth to her character. She’s seems honestly worried, both for the lives of the Winchesters but also that Dean won’t like her anymore and that is just a charming bit of A C T I N G!

I am gonna miss her SO MUCH when she dies at the end of this season. WHY did we CANCEL HER???

But despite the fun beginning, this episode is about monsters and how people become monsters and how other people are probably the reason. Because our main baddie is a vampire who hunts to...well, listen if we look at the facts that he lays out in his monologue, it’s a little more tragic - he’s trying to replace the daughters that he lost hundreds of years ago, cool motive, still murder. In practice though, he goes around turning hot blonde coeds into vampires and then ?????? Who knows. I’d like to believe that this was a problem with the CW executives or maybe casting/directing and not with the writing, but it’s SPN and you really can’t be sure with anything. The fact is, this is a CW show from the early 2000’s and a lot of their extras are cast to type. And that’s maybe me exhibiting some girl-on-girl crime, but there are other episodes that did a much less blatantly gross job casting their extras/Very Special Guest Stars.

Anyway, the POINT of this guy is that he’s a monster because someone killed his daughter and he’s just been trying to fill that grief hole inside of him for centuries. This is not unlike Gordon, who ALSO has been trying to fill a grief hole that he’s had for decades, except he’s not killing people and resurrecting them as blood suckers, he’s just killing them. And then, when the Vamp decides to turn Gordon it’s a real sweet moment of comeuppance for like, a HOT second and then you’re like, awww dude, ya done f’ed up. That was a bad idea. You’ve made a HUGE mistake.

More importantly, our Vampire In Question finally runs into the Winchesters and get’s to say things like “I was desperate! You ever felt desperate? I've lost everyone I ever loved. I'm staring down eternity alone. Can you think of a worse hell?” and also “I just ... I didn't care anymore. Do you know what it's like when you just don't give a damn? It's like ... it's like being dead already.” and Dean’s v. much like, THIS IS TOO REAL ROY.

Sam may ALSO be feeling Too Real feelings because he is DONE dicking around with Gordon and honestly yes, I like this, this is good Sam development. It’s nice to know that Sam has a breaking point. And I admit I’m of two minds about this moment because 1) I love the idea of Dark!Sam this season and that maybe Sam’s decision to actually kill Gordon is just one step in that process but 2) I ALSO love the idea of Sam Lite finally having a breaking point and Gordon is IT. I don’t know which theory I like more in this scenario, but they are both good theories.

I think as much as this episode wants to draw parallels between the monsters and Dean (thank you artful editors), you can’t look at the “I’ve lost everyone I ever loved,” line and not think of Sam? Cuz he’s got one (1) person left in his life that hasn’t died horribly, so how desperate is he about to get through the end of this season? I’ve definitely been watching this season with eyes on all the ominous Dean foreshadowing, but the Sam foreshadowing is also there, just buried under the heavy weight of a thousand smulders and suicidal levels of denial.

And also, FUCK the tag on this episode! Guys, it is CUTE but it is also HORRIBLE. Dean starts teaching Sam how to fix the Impala and at first it’s all, “Oh! Adorable Brothers Being Brothers!” and I loved it but then I almost immediately hated it because you realize this is about making sure Sam can get along without him once he’s gone and Dean just accepts his own death with such casual ease that it’s just...INFURIATING!

This scene was rude and I HATE IT!

Cut to - “A Very Supernatural Christmas” Special!

Guys, I was so excited when I got to this episode. THIS is Classic Supernatural Shenanigans. Plus, you know a Holiday Special is the ultimate sign that this show has Made It, right? Or it could be a sign that they’re selling out, who knows, but I think we can say that at this point in the series, SPN is established enough to start having fun with their fans. That’s what this says to me. BUT THEN what we get is like...oh boy.

First - like, I’mma beat this horse to death, but what is WRONG with this FAMILY? John Winchester very quickly devolved into the sort of father that forgot about every single holiday and did not ever, even a little bit, make up for it. It’s not a surprise, but it kind of wrecked me seeing a flashback where Baby Dean is just so attached to a father who can’t be bothered to actually care for his children. I know he’s not in this episode because Jeffrey Dean Morgan was tied up in other projects, but the fact that John doesn’t show up at the end to button the flashbacks with a But then he DID show up for Christmas! just makes this plot line that more gutting. And despite Dean’s hero worship of their father, this is maybe the Christmas where Baby Sam stops believing in his own father. The only bright side to this is that it continues to enforce the fact that Bobby should have sued John for custody. Bobby should maybe STILL Sue for custody so that Dean at least would feel like someone wants him for once in his life, damnit.

And then we wrap this episode up with the Best Worst Christmas of all, because we see Sam start to...also?? accept that Dean is about to die? Cuz that’s what this episode is really about - Dean’s Last Christmas. And everything about that makes me ~ u p s e t ~.

So Sam decides to put his curmudgeonly grinchy attitude aside in order to make it a special day for Dean and ugh. UGH. UGHGHGHG. Season three is the worst guys, and I can’t believe I didn’t realize that until right this second now.

So let’s wrap this up with "Malleus Maleficarum", honestly an episode that is mostly forgettable until we get to, like, the last five minutes. Sure, witches and curses and selling your soul, woohoo whatever.

But then we get some real Ruby centric reveals and like, WHAT is happening?? First off, the scene where Ruby and Tammy have a moment is a real Moment. There is some baggage and tension here and it is heavy. And then Tammy drops the mic when she reveals that Ruby used to be human.

THEN, Ruby legit saves their asses by killing Tammy with a fancy magic knife. Ok, Dean does the actual killing, but Ruby brought the fancy magic knife. So between the hot and heavy tension with “Tammy” and her repeated attempts to keep the Winchesters alive, we’re left wondering what IS Ruby’s deal? I personally wonder how much of the show’s mythology the show actually has figured out at this point? Because interviews with Kripke definitely walk the line between “Oh we definitely have this whole thing worked out,” and “yeah, we’re sort of finding things as we go along,” which is maybe why it’s able to last as long as it does. More on that later.

Of course the big kicker is the final scene between Ruby and Dean. Dean is almost on board with Ruby at this point in the season, and much like his scene with the demon in “Sin City”, they share a kind of vulnerable moment together where Ruby admits that, yeah, she was human once and yeah, Hell will destroy you, body and soul, and yeah Dean’s worst fear will probably come true - he will become the thing he hunts, no ifs, ands or buts about it. And Dean knows that Ruby knows that Dean knows that there’s no way to save Dean from his fate, but they both agree that they can’t take Sam’s last ounce of hope away from him because, for both of them, Sam is their hope. Ruby and Dean both see the war happening around them and they know that with Dean gone, Sam’s maybe the last guy holding back the tide to save all humanity.

Which, honestly? Bull shit. Do you know how many hunters are out there? Neither do I, but this season seems to indicate that there are a LOT. We have barely scratched the surface on the hunter community and it’s a damn shame that they are all weirdo loners because there is a war going on. You know what works great in a war? An ARMY. Buncha mentally unstable, martyr-complex ijits who can’t put their differences aside for one damn MINUTE so that maybe, JUST maybe, the could actually defeat the evil they’ve spent their entire lives dedicated to fighting. And if Ruby and Dean wanted to help Sam, what they should probably do is get him plugged in to that community. I do believe that of all they backasswards, self-obsessed, painfully anti-social crazies out there, the Winchesters are THE WORST.

Listen tho, this was like, a solid scene between these two. Just a lot of work goin' into this and it paid off.

Anyway, back to the mythology for a hot second - This sort of loosey-goosey stumbling into your own world building is probably another one of those things that you’ll only really get in a show with this many episodes per season? It’s that room to play and experiment and just make stuff up as you go along. I think the slow drip method of releasing episodes ALSO helps in this scenario because you’re able to see what fans are reacting to in almost-real time. When viewers are binging episodes, I think you're less likely to see what specifically they’re reacting to and more wholistically they’re reacting to. And that’s not to say you won’t see those specific things that they like/love eventually, but by the time you get there, your season’s been produced in its entirety and you’ll have to bear that in mind for (hopefully) next season. But with SPN, they were writing and producing the show at the same time that some of the episodes were airing. That’s why they were able to make decisions on the fly, based on what fans responded to. And definitely by this point in the show, there was a sizeable and vocal fan base that made their feelings VERY well-known. We’re only in season three, but they’ve already had a number of con appearances and a pretty active online presence. That kind of feedback has got to be helpful, from a writing perspective, but it also allows for things like characters getting cut because nobody liked them for some dumb reason. BUT, if you’re fighting to stay on the air for 100 episodes or longer, responding to fan reactions is what’s gonna do it and that’s a fact.

[violetsmoak]

Untitled JayTim WIP

Happy Evil Author Day! 

Here’s a WIP I’ve been considering for a while for a one-shot (I know, shock! A non chapter fic from me? Will wonders never cease!) but haven’t really been giving a good amount of attention to because I’ve been focused on finishing Philtatos and the other fics I already have posted. 

Pairing: JayTim

Rating: M for language, sexual themes (not nsfw tho)

Summary: Years from now, they’ll make up a story about how it really happened. After all, how do a series of autocorrect fails lead to a relationship?

________________________________________________________________

T: Wanna bang?

Jason stares at his phone for a full ten seconds trying to connect the words to the contact name.

Logically he knows Tim probably meant ‘hang’, since they have been doing that more often lately. Something about brunch and commiserating over Alfred’s waffles established a tenuous friendship that’s continued in the form of intel sharing and the occasional team-up on cases when they both happen to be in Gotham at the same time.

The relationship is about at the level of shooting each other the occasional meme or gif via text, and ‘hey, let’s grab a chili dog but you’re paying, Mr. Moneybags’. Even if Jason were inclined toward trying to get into his replacement’s pants—which, he’s not thank you very much even if he recognizes as a completely objective equal-opportunity appreciator of the human body that Tim Drake grew up hot—he also knows that Tim Drake is depressingly straight.

So, their occasional meetups have been nothing but casual, family friendly (for this Family, anyhow) encounters with no hidden subtext or intent behind them.

(At least he’s 87% sure, because Tim’s the kind of awkward pretty or pretty awkward that sends out flirt signals without even realizing it.)

In any case, it’s probably the most functional relationship Jason’s ever had with another Robin.

Which is why he’s fairly sure that this text is one of those autocorrect fails.

And he could let it go.

But he’s Jason Todd, and when has he ever let anything go?

J: Depends. Are you going to buy me dinner first, or is this just a casual booty call?

He goes back to cleaning and checking his weapons on his kitchen table, more out of habit than actually needing to. He was taught the fine art of weapon maintenance by the most paranoid man in the world, his guns never jam.

His eyes catch a flicker on his screen and he glances over, watching the three dots indicating someone typing for barely a blink. And then,

T: Omg

T: Shit I meant hang. Autocorrect.

Jason grins, imagining the face Tim must be making, and decides mocking him is more fun than unnecessary gun polishing.

J: Should I bring anything? Condom? Lube?

J: Vibrator?

J: Ball gag?

T: Wtf? No!

J: Also, you’re clean, right? Only B really drilled the safe sex talk into me so

T: Oh my god Jason why are you like this

J: Would it be your first time?

J: Because I’m not sure I should be the one to take your v-card.

T: I hate you.

J: Guess that means sex is off the table?

At this point, Tim seems to realize that the best course of action is to ignore him, which works well enough for Jason. He’s gotten his laugh out of it, and there’s really no need to beat a dead horse.

Or dead bird, as it were.

He promptly forgets about the whole thing when Roy calls him from the front of the ship and informs them they need to pick up supper somewhere because Kori vaporized the hotplate on the ship.

*

The next time he hears from Tim, it’s the night after they save Gotham from a secret society of owls trying to make a creepy nursery rhyme prophecy come true. He answered his call for help against his better judgement since he’s still not on great terms with the Family and didn’t exactly linger to help with the clean-up.

(Barbie was just as unimpressed with him as he remembers, though it was nice to see her up and about again. There’s something cathartic in knowing the Joker couldn’t keep either of them down.)

He, Kori and Roy have just touched down on their little tropical getaway, and Roy’s already trying to get laid (although Jason’s not entirely sure if it’s with Kori or Kori’s ship at this point) and Kori’s smiling that ‘aren’t-human-males-so-quaint’ expression she reserves for the men in her life. Jason’s in the middle of trying to call that flight attendant, Isabel, to see if she’s interested in meeting up for drinks (“Yes, Roy, I know how to ask a woman out, now fuck off.”) when his phone chimes with a notification.

T: Thanks for the team-up. I know it’s not your favorite thing to do.

Jason makes a face at that, both the implication that he was contributing anything to any type of team, and the idea that he doesn’t enjoy beating the crap out of whatever creeper of the week is infesting Gotham.

He weighs the pros and cons of acknowledging that, but eventually texts back:

J: It’s my city too. Make sure you remind him about that.

There’s barely a breath before the kid replies.

T: Always do.

T: And since he won’t say it, if there’s anything you need in the future, just let me know.

And…well. There are possibilities to that. Having a Wayne—even an in-name-only Wayne—owe you favors is a hell of a thing. But it also carries with it the strings of staying connected, which he doesn’t want to out and out encourage.

His eyes flit to the open text to Isabel, and he reconsiders.

J: Know anywhere I can get a few decent suits? Not the Family reunion kind. J: And not so expensive I have to sell me soul.

J: Again.

If he’s going to try this whole dating thing again, he might as well make the effort.

Three dots over beneath his message, and then

T: Your sense of humor sucks. As usual.

T: I’ll set you up with my tailor’s contact info.

T: Gimme a sex.

Jason snorts, and before he’s even really thought it through, he’s typing back.

J: Nah, I don’t put out until the third date.

It’s several minutes before Tim responds—likely he’s gotten distracted by something; it’s the middle of the workday in his time zone, after all—and when he does it’s as indignant as Jason expects.

T: What? No! A sex!

T: A SEC!!!

T: Autocorrect.

J: Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

T: You’re an ass.

J: It’s okay, Timbers, you don’t have to lie. First step is admitting you have a problem.

T: Forget it. No favor for you.

Jason sniggers at that, earning curious glances from Roy and Koru, but he shakes his head. No need to explain the joker.

*

He still ends up getting in contact with Tim’s tailor. Turns out the kid even insisted on paying for whatever Jason wanted up front.

Which he’s not going to say no to.

Somehow, taking Tim’s money doesn’t feel as fraught as taking Bruce’s.

It doesn’t stop him from sending a needling message as he’s leaving the store after ordering several disgustingly expensive suits. (Seriously, what the hell is it with rich people?)

J: So are you my sugar daddy now?

He never gets a reply.

TO BE CONTINUED

[petork]

-105 please

NB i am told this was meant to say 1-50

thanks queen <3 here we go

1. Who is your favourite ghost?

lately? it's been kitty. and i'm contractually obligated to love the captain

2. If you could see the ghosts like Alison, which one do you think would come the closest to making you want to leave the house?

the obvious answer is julian but probably actually robin, i HATE being spooked (as the asker can attest xx)

3. How would you feel if you couldn’t see the ghosts, but knew they were there, like Mike?

i'd feel mad jealous even though i'd actually have it pretty good. the other person would be trying so hard to tell me how much it sucks and i'd just be like 'but... goast.....'

4. Would you want to see ghosts like Alison, or would you rather be ignorant to their goings and doings?

again my immediate answer is I WANNA SEE THEM but i also know that might suck in many ways. at least for a while. i am not a patient person so i don't know if i could learn to live with them like alison could. but on the other hand... the chance to actually talk to people from the fucking actual past... thinking emoji!

5. If you were a ghost living in the house, would you rather be upstairs with the main nine ghosts, or downstairs with the plague ghosts?

upstairs for sure, sorry to the plague ghosts but i do not want to hang out in a basement for eternity

6. If you were someone who died in the house would you rather be “sucked off” immediately, or would you like to hang around a bit and get to know some of the other ghosts before getting “sucked off”?

i would probably just end up staying forever because i'm scared of the void of death.... <3

7. Which ghost would you miss the most if they were “sucked off” in the next series?

UNBELIEVABLE question? i'd miss ALL OF THEM. but see question 1 also

8. Which ghost do you think you’d get along with the best?

it's hard to say. i think they would all get on my nerves because as said i am not very patient. but the one who would irritate me LEAST... maybe pat?

9. Which ghost would you say you’re most like?

captain. not to be a cliche but i'm gay and repressed. and also irritable and grumpy

10. Which ghost would you say you’re least like?

JULIAN

11. What is a (popular or not) fan theory that you love?

(pasted from prev answer) i don’t actually like ship it because he’s definitely older than her, but a couple of people have said kitty sometimes acts like she has a crush on thomas. which is cute to me even if she does need to get better taste (love u kitty xxx)

12. What is a (popular or not) fan theory that you don’t quite agree with?

(pasted from prev answer) not so much a specific theory but i disagree with the general idea that anything of consequence went on with the captain and havers. i think it was meant to come across as just a snippet of the captain’s poor sad gay life and, as several brain geniuses have pointed out, due to the timing of germany invading france + the captain’s medals the flashback must have been from a good few years BEFORE he died. and i think the flashback was the last time they ever saw each other, so i don’t think that a) havers has any link to the captain’s eventual death or 2) anything romantic ever happened between them

13. Favourite ship and why?

captain x my cute oc boyfriend because i've tailored it to my exact needs. why ship retail when you can ship bespoke?

14. Least favourite ship and why? (Please be nice though!)

patcap as we all know. like YES i'm a contrary bitch so i don't like things that are popular and i do think i'm better than everyone else... but really idk why exactly i just don't gel with it at all. and when i've tried to read fic in the past it feels to me like their characters are kind of flattened. and i think the captain is too much of a bitch. and i think pat is serving us normie heterosexual. it's the 'cinnamon roll' ship of this fandom and i can't STAND (metaphorical) cinnamon rolls. AND ALSO pat is not the simple soft dad cinnamon roll fandom often makes him out to be! like he is a very nice person but he's also fucked up and insane like all of them. anyway my brain charges extremely low rents

15. If you could go back in time and live in the house/on the property at the same time as one of the ghosts when they were alive, who would you pick?

captain. need to know wtf's going on with him

16. Would you rather inherit the house (and its ghostly inhabitants), or just visit?

realistically... visit. i think i would lose my mind eventually if i lived there

17. Do you think we’ll ever know how every ghost died? Do you think there will be anyone whose death we’ll never learn about?

i hope we do, but i also appreciate that isn't the sole point of the series, otherwise it would be kinda boring and discovering how they died wouldn't be as impactful. if there's anyone's death we don't find out about, i think it would probably be robin? lol what if it was so long ago he just forgot

18. What is your favourite Ghosts fanfiction?

so i'm stupid and i never use bookmarks on ao3..... i've read a LOT of different fics i like but do you think i can revisit them? no! because i'm stupid! so i cannot fairly pick an absolute fave sorry

19. What is your favourite Ghosts fan art?

THIS <3

all the babies and children on here talk about horrible histories the show being 'their childhood'........ put some respect on terry deary's name. and this artist did!

20. Tag 5 favourite Ghosts fandom content creators!

honestly i'm not good with like. knowing people. but here are 5 fanfics i've enjoyed (based on the author's replies in my inbox because, again, i am too stupid to use bookmarks)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28287567

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868645

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28653192

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28067277/chapters/68761830

https://archiveofourown.org/works/26957662/chapters/65795407

21. Are there any historical periods you wish we’d have gotten to see a ghost/ghosts from but didn’t?

(pasted from other post) not to be predictable but i would have liked to see a 1960s ghost. like a mod who crashed his scooter or something. we have enough 20th century ghosts though but i believe the us remake has some kind of hippie ghost…

22. What is something you’re hoping to see in a future series?

flashback to the captain getting some. like implied or whatever. i can't cope with him dying a virgin. he needs this

23. What is something you’re hoping to see in a future series, but know we probably WON’T get to see?

(pasted from other post) alison meets someone else who can see ghosts, and we get to see the ghosts at THEIR house…. i always love it when we see extra ghosts but i know they probably won’t make any recurring because it would come off as running out of ideas. but i still think they should add a 90s teenager named roy

24. Which lesser-seen characters would you like to see more of in future series?

tbh there's none i can think of that i think we should SEE more of, they get a pretty good balance. there are some i definitely want to learn more about though

25. Are there any characters you wish we’d see less?

don't make me pick a least favourite child </3 but also i think thomas could probably tone it down a bit.

26. Favourite one-liner?

I'LL WAIT FOR YOU, MY COMELY NUG - me whenever i order chicken nuggets on just eat

27. Favourite episode?

DON'T EVEN... i like 2x06 and 3x05 a lot

28. Top 5 headcanons for [insert character name here]?

i'm going to do the captain because obviously i am

- he may or may not have been lavender married

- he may or may not have had a drinking problem

- public schoolboy with domineering father, clearly

- IF he had a lavender wife then she spent all her time in the company of her 'odd' female friend who wore men's clothes, smoked cigars and drove a motorbike. the captain was obviously clueless

that's 4 so a cheeky one for fanny:

- she did a lot of medicinal coke

29. Whose costume is your favourite?

kitty. gotta love an ott ballgown

30. Whose costume is your least favourite?

that's an offtopic question. you have been stopped.

31. If you could do a complete redesign of one of the ghosts’ costumes, whose would you change and how?

i would give thomas his double denim

32. If you could play any of the existing ghosts, which one would you want to play and why?

i think i'd be good at playing mary. meek weird girl who says things that don't make any sense? omg she is LITERALLY me

33. Which ghost would you least like to play and why?

julian, i'm not getting my pussy out

34. What one thing would you miss most if you became a ghost and had to live by the same rules as the Button House ghosts?

FOOD. food. eating and food.

35. How do you think one or more of the ghosts whose deaths we haven’t seen died? Or, if we know the cause of death but not the reason for the death (like Mary being burned as a witch or Humphrey being beheaded), why do you think they were killed?

i think mary's execution might have had something to do with her husband's death and her being unfairly accused or something. also like, she just acts kinda weird, and we know how that often played out for women back then...

and i think the captain died in some really boring mundane natural causes way (congenital heart attack or something) but he's stuck around because a) he's never come to terms with the whole h*mo thing and 2) he was just really mad that he died so boringly

36. Favourite [insert character name here] moment?

CAPTAIN GETTING KITTY TO SMILE

37. What do you think [insert character name here] was like when they were alive? Do you think they were exactly the same as they are now, or do you think there were any major or minor differences?

ok i'll do fanny for this one. i think she was less domineering when she was alive, in death she clearly thinks of herself as above the other ghosts and bosses them around, and when she talks shit about george it's not like he can get back at her in any way. but it would be interesting to see how they interacted when both were alive

38. It’s your turn to pick a movie for film club! What are you watching?

(from prev post) i haven’t seen any movies errr….. maybe austin powers because it’s so sad that julian died just a few years before it came out because he would love it and get really annoying about quoting it all the time and it would be really funny for the captain (who thought the movie was unironic) to have to deal with that. and fanny would NOT COPE.

39. Would you rather share a room with Thomas (constantly sighing and reciting bad poetry) or Fanny (falls out of the window screaming every night)?

fanny. men be quiet challenge

40. If you could do some kind of historical swap (i.e. place a ghost in a different period from their own), who would you choose and what period are they from now?

i would like to give kitty the chance to be a 20th or 21st century girl. maybe an era like the 60s or 80s that was known for daring fashions, i think she would luv it

41. Let’s settle this once and for all. Who’s the real leader, the Captain or Pat?

fanny

42. If the ghosts could eat, what is one food you would like to share with them that they might not have tried before?

doritos tangy cheese, mountain dew baja blast, 4loko. i would make thomas try a jalapeno. i would also make them try my cooking experiments because i do that to anyone i live with

43. You’ve heard rumours of a tenth upstairs ghost who doesn’t often venture out of their room to visit with the other residents of the house. Who are they? (i.e. make up a ghost OC. I know i’m putting you on the spot. I just want to see what you come up with.)

it's george button and his bitch ass is too scared of his wife to come down. his downfall comes when he finds out there's another gay ghost and simply has to clap them cheeks (he fails)

44. Tell me a song you think [insert character name here] would like, or a song that reminds you of them!

i think alison's probably already introduced him to them but thomas + anything by the smiths. i would also make the captain sit quietly and listen to a tracy chapman cd (for my lover...)

45. What song(s) do you think would annoy certain ghosts the most?

the smiths would annoy everyone except thomas. literally they'd all be trying to re-kill him

46. Who is one actor you’d love to see guest star? What kind of character would you like to see them play?

steve coogan as like. anyone. preferably a ghost. a roman centurion ghost if you wanna get cultural. but seriously i just want alan

47. If you could have one Horrible Histories song in Ghosts (either sung by a ghost/ghosts, or playing on the TV or computer for them to watch), which one would you want it to be and why?

that song about how no 'british' stuff is actually british. like tea. i want julian to melt down

48. What do you think the ghosts’ jobs would be in a modern living-human AU where they’re all just chaotic housemates?

captain & kitty: have their own wedding planning company

julian: still a politician but instead of an mp he's like a parish councillor. handforth antics

fanny: headteacher

robin: cool off the shits teacher at same school who undermines fanny wherever possible. deals weed to students

mary: runs a shop selling like healing crystals and incense and dreamcatchers

humphrey: customer service supervisor who actually likes his job because he takes no shit and just fucks with every single customer

thomas: unemployed podcaster

pat: dogwalker

49. What is one modern invention you think [insert character name here] would be surprised or confused by?

fanny would be so baffled by any Feminine Products. when she discovers tampons it's all she can talk about for a week. the mooncup made her go into a coma

50. Name an AU you haven’t seen someone create content for, but which you’d love to read a fic or see some art for.

not to be the way i am but i'd love if anyone ever drew art or something about my au which is a modern-day au where fanny and captain are alison and kitty's divorced parents, julian and robin are captain's brothers and alison's wack uncles, mary is their childhood nanny, thomas is a student lodger at button house, humphrey is a cat and pat is just some guy. but yeah in the past i've had a couple of anons on here mention it and i did melt into a puddle... i think if someone did art i'd explode and die. in a good way like