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justsomewritingsandshit · 4 years

Text

The Struggles of a Male Veela - (Part 6 - What A Revelation!)

Louis Weasley x Soulmate!OC

Length: 3926 words

Warnings: soulmate!au, altered ages of next gen, female OC, Hunter Parrish as Louis, mostly about Selene, jEaLoUsY

Part 6 of this series | Masterlist | Part 5

Three weeks after her awkward date with Mari Singh, Selene felt the first sign.

The young woman was mid-conversation with her friends, whilst they all sat at the Slytherin breakfast table. Well, it was less of a conversation and much more like an unnecessarily heated debate. Today’s (debate) topic was the correct pronunciation of the word ‘gala’. Ben Boot, a well-travelled young man, had informed his three closest companions that he’d recently discovered that many Americans pronounced the word as ‘gay-la’, rather than ‘gah-la’. Which was entirely wrong in Selene’s opinion.

Emery took a dramatic breath before she bravely announced that she too pronounced the word as ‘gay-la’. “It sounds right that way!” At her friends sneers, she defended herself, “Well it does to me!”

“Disgusting.”

“Absolutely.”

Emmaline pressed her fist over her eyes, looking away from her sister, “You think you know someone!”

Their friendly razzing of Emery went on for a bit. Eventually though, it faded out as the students needed to finish their breakfasts before they went on to their morning classes.

Glancing across the Great Hall, Emmaline commented, “It looks like lover-boy’s fan-club is getting bigger, huh?” She sent a rather sneaky glance towards Selene, who was chewing on her toast, as she spoke.

“Huh? What club?”

Ben mimed to Selene that she had crumbs clinging to the side of her lip, “Oh, you know! Your boy-toy’s little fans. Oh, no, no, on your left side.”

Successfully ridding herself of the clinging crumbs, Selene’s eyebrows drew into a furrow, “What are you lot on about?”

Emery sniggered, “You’re little Gryffindor, Sel.”

“Huh? You mean Louis?”

“Oh,” Emmaline teased, “So she does know who we’re talking about!”

Selene was a little stunned by their teasing remarks. A part of her understood why her friends must have assumed there to be a romance forming between the two. After all, Selene was not the type of person to immediately latch onto a new friend, especially in the way she had with Louis. Did she become casual acquaintances with people? Yes. Did Selene seek them out, then spend hours talking and laughing with those new acquaintances? No. Like most people, the young girl could be considered a creature of habit. Not seeing much need to branch out, Selene tended to stick with her tried-and-tested friend group. To add a new person into the role of friend meant something to her, growth. But, to her overly hopeful friends all of whom wanted only the absolute best for their friend; this friendship looked more like a potentially blossoming relationship.

And that was the wrong assumption…

“Okay,” She took a sip of her water, before she turned to look at them, “First of all; Louis and I are friends. He is not my ‘lover-boy’.” She ignored Ben’s ‘but you want him to be’. “Second of all, yes I’ve heard about his fan club. They’re… uh, they are…” Selene struggled to find a kind but straight-forward word for ‘a little bit scary, but mainly weird’.

“Creepy? Yes.” Emery answered, blasé. “Like, I would be the first among us to admit that Weasley is super fit.” An uncomfortable ripple raced through Selene’s gut. Briefly, the girl wondered if her monthlies (as her mothers’ called it) were making an appearance earlier than usual this month. “However, I agree that this whole club thing is very weird.”

Ben nodded, “Yeah! I mean, Louis is cute. And yes! I think we all would let him slap our arse, should he so choose to!” Emmaline and Emery both nodded at his words, and Emery even lifted her glass of pumpkin juice in toast. “But, lovey, dearie, sweet love-child-of-mine, just put the school out of its misery, and claim that Adonis as your own!”

Inwardly, her stomach rolled again at his first statement, stopping suddenly once speaking had trailed to a finish. Outwardly, however, Selene cheekily rolled her eyes as if she was amused by Ben’s exasperation on the subject. “Whatever.” She dismissed it all nonchalantly, before standing up from the bench. “Let’s get going, I want to stop by the hospital wing before class. My stomach’s not feeling right today.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Emmaline swiftly rushed her friend out of the Great Hall, the Slytherin girl’s worry-wort nature taking the reins.

There is an old muggle saying, once could be a coincidence but twice suggests a pattern.

The uncomfortable turn of her stomach – the one that had made Selene previously think that she wanted to be sick, or that she had cramps early that month – appeared again. And the sensation appeared as suddenly as it had before…

And, with the holidays approaching, it felt like everyone was getting progressively more excited for the end of term. The entire castle had begun its descent into excitement for the upcoming holidays.

Like in muggle shopping villages and districts, Hogwarts began the festivities almost as soon as the calendar switched from November to December. The corridors were decked out with red and green coloured wreaths and garlands. The house elves worked diligently, silently completing their work in a single night.

Tiny first years had started to gather together with older students. A portion of them prepared gifts and played games for Hanukkah. The students who celebrated Solstice and Yule were already marching across the school’s lawns for items they wanted to use in their altars – this particular group was an interesting mix of muggle-born ideologies of wicca and witches, as well as the magical version of wizardry. Those who celebrated Christmas were doing their best to stock up on papers for wrapping, they were ordering rolls of it by owl ready for their last few Hogsmeade trips before the 25th. Even the professors were getting into the spirit – Professor Longbottom had his singing tulips (which were a rare find of his from a trek across the Scandies in his late twenties) hum seasonal songs whilst he taught.

And as the term wound down, most of the students were gearing up to take the train back down to London. There were a few who were eager to be left (relatively) alone in the quiet castle. Selene happened to be undecided on the subject, tossing up whether she should stay or to go home and celebrate Yule with her busy mothers’.

The Slytherin was mulling it over when she was heading back to the common room. She only had one class left for term, but the textbook she needed was in her dorm. For a moment, she thought about sneakily using the accio charm, but knew it was banned for a good reason – flying objects can be hazardous when not charmed to fly above people after all. She weighed the pros and cons; she’d have more things to do in the castle, more people to talk to, her parents would probably have to work on Yule… Eventually, she decided to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday. When she got to her dorm, she would owl her mothers to let them know.

She turned the corner that lead to the grand staircase, thinking about asking if Ben was going to hang around the castle too this year. Selene had seen that the girls had already packed their trunk to leave, so she didn’t feel a particular need to ask them the same.

Unfortunately, Selene’s next turn into the adjacent corridor had led her to be the sole witness as an older girl (from the year above) slid her claws over the forearm of a familiar-looking blonde boy.

That stomach turn happened again.

Selene swiftly turned around, deciding to walk to the common room the long way. Also, she had suddenly decided to return to her home for the holidays.

Yule celebrations came and went early in her home.

Selene’s mothers were very apologetic when they told Selene that they’d have to work on the day of Yule. Still, the three of them had held a smaller, more intimate celebration a few days before.

The earlier celebration left the young girl to aimlessly wander around her own home on the actual day of Yule. She was bored out of her mind. It was approaching the late morning and Selene had already cracked onto her holiday homework – all part-the-way-done, apart from a Runes essay, which required a lengthy reading of a textbook that she had left behind whilst franticly packing.

The Slytherin had decided she should finally owl the school, to see if they could let her off on the Runes essay, or at the least send over her the textbook. She had made her way up to family attic, where her great-great-grandparents had set up a make-shift aviary for their business owls years ago. Apparently, back then they had run a small mail-order potions business. It was a Morgenstern family rumour that they sold an illegal werewolf suppressant potion, before wolfsbane had even been invented.

Selene’s owl hooted softly to the girl, making its presence known. It sat on rigidly on its perch, a pile of letters and small boxes on a tall table to its immediate left. Selene pet the owl carefully, slipping the bird two treats. Then, she arranged some more water and feed for it before she gathered up all her mail.

“Thank you, Soot!”

The first few letters were Christmas cards from her various muggleborn friends, some including cute non-moving photographs of their families. One had a Father Christmas who was drawn to be surfing on a beach, from her friend whose family spent the holidays in Australia. Another was a sexy version of the red-clad man, the words asking if she’d been ‘naughty’ that year – that one was from Naomi Gardner, who had written in thanks for setting her up with Mari.

Ben had done what he usually did and had written her a lengthy letter. He opened it with a greeting, as well as some well wishes to Selene and her mothers. Then Ben informed her that he had decided to stay at Hogwarts that year (which was usual for Ben, as he kind of hated his extended family, who had a tradition of gathering together this time of year), and that he loved the gift that she’d left for him under the Slytherin common room tree. At that point in the letter, the boy demanded that Selene open the gift he had included. It was a gorgeous goblin-made quilt set in her favourite shade of mauve.

Ben went on in his letter to detail the latest gossip going around the castle, ‘It turns out that wench in the year above, you know the one! The absolute wench Julie McNamara, that swish! She was seen trying to flirt with your mother-missing boy before term ended! I cannot believe the gall of the wench! Everybody knows that he only has eyes for you, I swear!’

Last year, Ben had been gifted with a spelled pen. It automatically censored his cursing. It had been a joke-gift from Emery but ended up being his favourite writing utensil to date. As such, Selene had fitted it with a never-ending ink-well, and Emmaline had spelled it to be impossible to lose.

He went on; ‘Apparently, he had to have his family step in! The wench just wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. I’m telling you Selene; everyone said that it was absolutely disgusting! She had to be formally warned away by the professors too. In this day and age!’

Selene felt an unclear anger suddenly rush through her body.

She could easily see how Julie McNamara would make Louis uncomfortable. He was such a lovely guy, but he got awkward when anyone even jokingly flirted with him. In fact, the first time she ever jokingly winked at him, his face went fuchsia for three-and-a-half minutes. Poor Louis! Selene could picture in her mind how her Louis would try to uneasily shift away from her, but…

Her hand released Ben’s letter. It fluttered to the carpeted floor silently.

Oh.

“Oh,” Selene breathed, tears springing to her eyes for no reason. Her thoughts were now cleared like the sky after a storm, “I like him.” That explained so, so much. So much. “Bollocks.”

The week following her realisation, Selene was working on autopilot. She went about her days like nothing was out of the ordinary. Dinner with her mothers, doing her school reading, finishing up the assessments she’d started before… Selene did it all, without a single complaint.

That worried her mothers.

“Sweetheart?”

“Hmm?” Selene looked up from her plate to see her mother, Dorothea, looking at her in concern. “Sorry, did you ask me something?”

The woman shook her head, dark curls bouncing as she did. “No, sweetheart. We just, you know –”

“The point your mother is trying to get to,” Her other mother, Appoline, sent her wife a cheeky glance before her expression melted into a concerned one. “Are you feeling alright, Selene?” At her daughter’s furrowed brows, she went on, “Your mother and I have noticed that you seem to be a little spacey, dear.” Her tanned skin pulled taut around her pursed lips, “Are you having a disagreement with the girls?” Appoline was referring to Emmaline and Emery, as well as Ben.

“No, I…” Selene wasn’t even sure what to say. Her teenaged brain told her to lie to their faces. Letting her parents know too much about her school life, her social life, might lead to a lecture Selene did not want to sit through… Although, “I just realised that I, uh, fancy one of my friends. A lot.” The Slytherin had been stewing in the idea all week and was now desperate to at least speak the words out loud. “I, um, I didn’t realise until, like, last week.” She paused, pushing her vegetables around on her plate, avoiding their surprised eyes. “So… yeah. That’s it really.”

There was a moment of awkward, confused silence.

Clearing her throat, Dorothea spoke to her daughter sincerely. “Is this something you want to discuss with us further, sweetheart?”

Selene mulled over how to answer. Did she want to talk about this? Maybe. Until now, she didn’t realise how pent up she had begun to feel. Did Selene want to open up to her married parents about this, though? Two lesbians (well, one of her mothers is bisexual), who had been monogamously together for longer than ten years? Not really.

The teen smiled awkwardly at her parents, “Actually, I think I want to talk to the girls about it. I might send them an owl, or-” Selene stopped herself, to think on it for a moment longer, “This is probably something I want to say to them in person, though.”

“Okay.” Appoline nodded in understanding, before she tactfully changed their dinner conversation, “So, I was listening to this Korean band yesterday.”

She brought it up with her friends when they were all corralled in the safety of the common room. Selene waited until it was late, as there would be less people around to hear them discuss something so personal. Slipping it into the already flowing conversation, “I realised I fancy Louis.”

All speaking stopped. Ben, who had been using his personal copy of ‘Hogwarts; A History – Volume 24’ to prove a point, loudly snapped it shut. Emery had paused mid-chew, and there was a gummy serpent still hanging from the corner of her parted lips. Emmaline, who was sat next to Selene, stared at her friend in complete shock.

Selene shuffled nervously in her seat, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“Girl, what do you mean–?”

“’Just realised’?” Emery finished her sisters thought, the gummy falling into her lap.

Selene sighed, the sound tinged with embarrassment, “Well… When you lads were making fun of me, saying that ‘of course I liked him’.” The three nodded, knowing the instances she was talking of, “I, uh,” She let out a breath chuckle, “Well, I didn’t know. I thought I only liked Louis as a mate, you know; a friend.” Her head tilted, “I mean, I’ve always been attracted to him,” Her head tilted the other way, “I just did not know that I, uh, you know… fancied him. Like proper fancy, you know?”

Ben’s mouth was agape.

“No. I don’t know.” Emmaline disagreed. “How did you not know?” To Selene’s friends, it was so clear – her feelings had been so transparent to them, so see-through. “You were undressing him with your eyes, for Merlin’s sake!”

“I was not!” Selene argued indignantly.

“Oh, you were too!” Ben argued back. “The two of you are always looking at each other, starry eyed. Frankly, it’s a little sickening. And not in a good way!” He flung his book behind him, leaning closer to Selene. “We told you, as well!”

Emery nodded, “We did!” She viciously bit the head of her now-retrieved gummy serpent, “And,” She paused to quickly chew, “You basically go on study-dates, nearly every bloody day.” Emmaline nodded in agreement with her sister. “Babes, when you said you were going out with Mari, on Halloween, we were so confused!”

Ben sighed, “Ah, that’s right! Ugh, we were convinced that you had been courting Weasley before that.”

Selene scoffed, “Courting him? I barely know him!”

In wizarding society, courting was serious. It was like a person screaming their personal commitment to another in a court of law. There was no way to go even one day without another wizard finding out about the commitment. Firstly, because every child was taught about the process in their first year of education at whatever school they attend. Secondly, every couple entering into courtship had to be witnessed by three other witches or wizards, as a testament to how serious the process is (and also because three is a deeply important number to magic-users). Young witches and wizards could date to their hearts content, but courting meant a true declaration of intent – the intent being marriage or a binding, of course. There had been times where dating had led into courting. And they were also rarely broken, due to the gravity of the whole process.

There would have been no way for Louis to be in a courtship with Selene – her heart ached in joy, at the thought of being in anything with the blonde Gryffindor – without any other person knowing.

Emmaline scoffed back, mocking Selene, “’Barely know him’?” She smacked Selene’s shoulder, “You spend everyday in each other’s presence, you should know everything about each other by now!”

“Well, not everything!”

Emery butt in, “You definitely know enough!”

“What are his sister’s names again?”, Ben challenged her.

“Victoire and Dominique,” Selene answered automatically, before rolling her eyes, “That’s a basic thing to know about another person!”

Emmaline nodded, “Alright then, what are his cousins’ called?” Selene looked away from her, not wanting to see the smug look on her face, “You know them, don’t you?”

“Wow!”

“It’s not private information!” Selene argued with them, “We do go to school with half of them!”

Ben gave her a disbelieving look, “I bet you couldn’t name the collective five cousins that we,” He pointed to himself, then the twins, “Have had at this school.”

“Daisy, Marcus, Kipper, Damien,” Selene struggled with the last one, “I, I want to say Humphrey…”

“Oh, honey…”

One moment she was completely oblivious to these feelings she had, and was living her life perfectly normally, the next moment she’s almost paralyzed – with what she wasn’t completely comfortable in calling fear… but it was an emotion closely related.

Also, there were questions clogging her thoughts now… Should she tell Louis of her feelings for him? Should she leave it be? Most importantly, how is she to act around Louis now?

Her mind shouted many ways not to act – and the dozens of reasons why she shouldn’t act in those ways. But how could she maintain their previous easy camaraderie? That camaraderie, and their ability to instinctively know what the other is thinking, was so comforting before. A small pit of dread pooled in her stomach, at the thought of losing that friendship with Louis.

When this dilemma was brought up to the girls (which again, included Ben), they told her to act as she had before – mainly because they knew she liked him even then, so there shouldn’t be too much acting involved for her.

“So, how were the holidays for you?” Louis had joined Selene at their study table, as usual. He quickly slung his bag off his shoulder, before plopping down onto the wooden chair. “Anything exciting happen?” The Gryffindor leaned over the table to whisper conspiratorially, “Any fights?”

Selene’s pulse spiked at his proximity, but she quickly composed herself to the best of her resting-bitch-faced ability. Once she was normal again, she realised that the question made no sense to her, “Like a physical fight?”

Louis choked trying to hold in his raucous laughter at her question. Although, he was not as successful as he might have had hoped for. Even though the blonde covered his mouth, hushed chortles managed to escape. Louis’s eyes even watered. After a moment, he forced himself to take deep breaths, to compose himself. “Sorry. I forgot you’re an only child.” Selene’s confused look did not fade, “You know, there’s just a certain level of craziness that having siblings brings. Plus, the high tension of the holidays... With my family, there’s more than enough sparks flung about to start a fire.” Louis paused as he remembered, “In fact, two years ago; there was an actual fire.”

Selene’s eyes widened, “No!”

“Yes.” Louis leaned forward again, excitement and humour plain on his sweet face as he remembered the absurdity of the situation, “So the twins-”

Purposely, the Slytherin guessed one name wrong, “Rosie and Fred, right?”

Louis beamed, oblivious to her purposeful mix-up. He was just overjoyed that his mate was putting in effort in remembering his extensive family members. “Roxanne and Fred,” The blonde softly corrected. “Well, they decide one afternoon, that my grandpa Weasley’s Christmas tree was not festive enough.”

The dark-haired girl tilted her head, “Is that your grandfather who is obsessed with muggles?”

“Yes!” Louis did not think he could be grinning more – surely, his face might split in half if he even tried. “So, every year he brings out this ancient fake Christmas tree – it was a gift from my Aunt Hermione’s parents, probably about twenty years ago.” He paused, to duck his head when the librarian glared their way, with her penetrating, evil eyes. Louis waited until she turned back around before he went on, “The twins knew that most trees had lights on them, but grandpa Weasley didn’t… They managed to convince him that he should use candles.”

Selene’s eyes sprung into wide-eyed shock, “They didn’t!” At Louis confirming nod she pressed, “At least he charmed them, right?” The blonde’s face turned mischievous. “No! He forgot?” Her gasps had been quiet enough, but they always had an audience when they were together.

Two first year Hufflepuffs (who had twenty-four textbooks piled between their arms) got to watch firsthand as Selene dissolved into a fit of laughter. It began with a loud snort, which left Selene trying to cover her face. To no avail it seemed, as her giggles were audible all the way from where the first years were lollygagging. One of the Hufflepuffs decided that they way Louis was gazing at her – his eye lit up at her enjoyment, not daring to look away for even one moment – had to be what true love was.

TAGGED:

@iamwarrenspeace, @itsnolongerteen, @stilesloverdaily, @immortalmurphy, @fandomsandotherstuff, @mcheung0314, @aw-hawkeye, @glimmering-darling-dolly, @thenodmonster, @realgreglestrade, @seninjakitey, @theshortegg, @gqlqxies, @footballiskillingme, @romance-geek

#louis weasley #LouisWeasley #louis weasley imagine #louis weasley x oc #louisweasleyimagine #next generation #nextgen!#next generation harry potter #next gen harry potter #harry potter series #harry potter imagine #the struggles of a male veela #the struggles of a male veela series #Harry Potter

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feferipeixes · 5 years

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Mizar doesn't exist in heavy Quarantine. Mabel prefers not to get involved, aside from helping children Dipper will bring back. She never makes a name for herself, at least not one associated with Alcor, and the Woodsman wouldn't exist either. Twin Souls wouldn't exist, and many thing like RRR or SYWTBAD would never happen. Dipper is almost always in a 12 year old form, and his alias, Alcor, was something he had come up with while held in the basement, as a way of giving up.

YO GET READY FOR A LONG-ASS POST

Goshhhhh I could so easily see this being the case? Especially if you don’t consider Dipper to ever really make a recovery (like in this post’s version of events). If he’s forever trapped in that “more demon than human” state, if his mind is too broken to make a full recovery, then absolutely.

Mizar doesn’t exist because going with Dipper to enact vigilante justice isn’t really an option. Dipper is too rogue to be good at that kind of thing, and to be honest, in this version, there’s a part of Mabel that screams at her that she can’t trust Dipper not to let her get hurt. It’s not like in main TAU where the two of them knew from the start that they wanted to use Dipper’s newfound magical powers to go around helping people. Here, Mabel gets reunited with a crazed brother who seems to care more about hurting bad guys than helping innocent people, and that makes her very uncomfortable. She’ll help the children he brings back, but to be actually involved with the action is quite a different matter.

And yeah, the non-existence of Mizar has quite a ripple effect on the rest of Dipper’s future. Twin Souls wouldn’t exist because why would it – Alcor’s never been seen with a mysterious female companion. He doesn’t even have the playfulness he exhibits a lot at summons in main TAU, when he decides to mess with people by showing up at summons playing a sousaphone or carrying children. There’s much less of a reason for anyone to see anything good in him at all when all he is known for is murderdeath (although as we know from the real world, that doesn’t really stop people from loving those kinds of people…). RRR wouldn’t happen because, even if he ends up owning Mabel’s soul, he wouldn’t necessarily care too much about growing up with it again. Even if he did, I doubt it would go very well. He could end up stuck in a very childlike state even in his facsimile human body. (Orrrr it could even be bigger angst if you look at it from a nature vs nuture viewpoint and say that Dipper Sterling is pretty human, and that once he breaks apart and becomes Alcor again all of that is lost and his family is heartbroken).

There are so many other Mizar arcs too that just wouldn’t happen. He’d have a lot of other ways to entertain himself over the years, especially if he’s more comfortable with letting his demonic nature loose than he is in main TAU. And SYWTBAD wouldn’t happen because he’s just not whimsical in this timeline. He doesn’t think “oh it’d be fun to make a bunch of friends and graduate from school.” He wouldn’t already be friends with Lucy Ann, so no one would’ve been there to dare him to do it anyway. And yeah, the Woodsman wouldn’t exist. Why would he? Willow didn’t survive being born, so there was no one who needed saving in Caney Patch that day. T_T

And finally yesssssss “almost always in his 12 year old form” is suuuuper angsty and I think entirely appropriate, because it represents how he doesn’t feel like an adult. That’s a rather human concept, anyway, adulthood and maturity, and there’s not too much humanity left in him. He’s got the odd flight of empathy for children and Mabel, but he doesn’t truly feel it. If he ever takes on an adult form, it’d be only because he thinks it’ll help him con a summoner better. Naming himself Alcor while his mind is dissolving is also BIG ANGST. It comes at the point at which he knows he’s never getting out of there, when he knows Ford won’t trust him or believe him and even worse when he’s cognizant enough to realize that something’s happening to his mind, it’s deteriorating and he doesn’t know why and he’s scared. He thinks he’s dying, and in a way, he’s right.

—

All that being said, my hc is that Dipper is able to recover in heavy Quarantine. It’s a long and difficult road, but Mabel and Henry and Stan (especially Mabel) are able to regain his trust. They’re able to show him that it’s safe to be a person, that he’s still Dipper underneath it all, and moreover that he can regain all the love and humanity he lost. And in this version of events, I think things turn out very differently.

Mizar and cultbashing look very different here than in main TAU, but I still think they’d happen after a while. There’s just so much injustice in the world and so many cultists trying to do bad things. I hc that Mabel still gets into boxing and working out in this timeline even before she finds Dipper, so it wouldn’t be like she’s entirely unprepared to go cultbashing with him. He definitely wouldn’t want to do it at first but as he gains more access to his empathy again I think it’d be hard for him not to. There’d be a lot of close calls, and sometimes they’d face something that would set Dipper back a lot (a mean cultist with a binding circle that feels just a bit too tight around his neck) and it’d be another long night with him in his 12 year old form rocking back and forth and Mabel comforting him but not hugging him because when he gets like that he can’t stand to feel constricted.

Speaking of his 12 year old form, I really love the idea that he looks like a 12 year old when Mabel finds him. He’s had no template (Mabel) to age himself up with, and moreover he’s had no reason to change how he looks. He’s just trying to get himself out of this prison he’s been trapped in and as time goes on he cares less and less about his appearance. I hc that his demonic puberty coincidentally happens at the same time as his mind starting to deteriorate, and that Ford takes this as a sign that he was right and that this demon’s masquerade is falling. The awesome @diddlydarndoodles drew newly freed heavy Quarantine Dipper as having blackened hands/claws and his forearms having brickwork markings on them, like he’s a little bit into his void form, and I love this. He’s still Dipper, he’s still recognizably Dipper, but he’s so injured that he’s even starting to forget how to maintain his appearance. And it’s so horrifyingly angsty for Mabel to find him this way when she does. How he looks is a representation of his state of mind and it just goes to show both how small he feels and how injured his mind is. So to me, him starting to take on a more adult look as he makes strides in his recovery is massive. It represents him actually being able to feel like an adult, which, for someone as traumatized as him, speaks volumes and I love it so much.

Twin Souls would be different, considering how Alcor, in many early appearances, looks like a child whereas Mizar looks like an adult. I hope and pray that it would be less of a popular thing, if it exists at all, than in main TAU. The Woodsman might exist, because Willow survives in this version, but Dipper isn’t as involved in the triplets’ early lives (because he’s still recovering, still easily overwhelmed, and until he’s recovered enough to go out and about I’d say any time he spends with the triplets is supervised so that both he and them are safe), and because of this, there might be fewer pro-nats trying to take out the Pines family. Thus, the Caney Patch Massacre might not even happen. If it does, the Woodsman might happen (and I’m sure that would be a Huge setback for Dipper because now he’s scared of what he’s done to Henry), or it might not and everyone would just get a taste of how truly frightening and vicious this poor traumatized demon Dipper can be when his family is threatened.

SYWTBAD could still happen, especially because after he recovers, Dipper is pretty sad about all the stuff he wanted to do as a human and not only never got to do, but never even got to watch Mabel do. Lucy Ann might still dare him to go to college as a demonologist, and he might still do it and just be a lot meeker. He could still make friends, but gosh I think the whole scene with him and Elisabeth and Thomas getting kidnapped would go a lot worse. And finally, RRR? That would totally happen and I think it would be beautiful. He’d again be a much meeker child, but he’d finally get to have an upbringing where he feels safe and loved. I want all the happy endings for this sweet, hurt child.

Anyway! Hope you enjoy this HECK TON of HC’s for two different versions of the heavy variant. If you can’t tell, I love Quarantine AU a lot. ✨

#gravity falls #transcendence au #quarantine au #heavy variant #long post #my stuff #anonymous #although i'm pretty sure you're jinx :)#Anonymous

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kamari333 · 5 years

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I had to actually look back to see if I made any tumblr posts about these guys. I couldn’t find any??? So I guess this is my oppertunity to scream about these absolute fucking bastards.

Now. Um. Forewarning: I don’t actually know a lot about the original dreamtale. Or, I don’t keep up with it, at least. I read the first origin comic (and a bit of the cream ship comic) one time a while ago and... i dunno. found it lacking? I liked the premise but there was something distinctly missing in it for me. So these headcanons are more like an AU (an AU of an AU, surprise surprise, I’m on my shit again XD) that I thought up to help me enjoy the concept more when writing it. I’ve been calling it ‘Dr33mtal3’ in my head, but a friend named it ‘Dryad Dreamtale’ so either of those names work.

So. Dream and Night are tree spirits shaped like skeletons, born of the tree of duality to be its guardians. They were made to be more like monsters to better protect the tree and put its power to use.

Now, plants and gods (and especially god-plants) have very different ideals, morals, and expectations than mortals and humans and monsters. Dream and Night are half plant/god, but they are also half monster/mortal, so they cannot relate entirely to their tree mom or completely understand her. Likewise, she could not completely understand them. Thus, the twins understandably had a stressful, dysfunctional childhood and have long lasting mommy/daddy issues.

They also suffer from significant other kinds of trauma inflicted on them by their villager guardians.

So they are both psychologically fucked up.

They both have “wings” and “tentacles” but Night hides his wings and Dream hides his tentacles. Night’s wings are smaller than Dreams.

they aren’t actually tentacles though. they are roots and vines. because they are tree spirits. using those roots/vines, they can directly soak up energy and water. likewise, the “feathers” on their wings are actually leaves (except near the base and ridges, which are more like flower petals). they use these leaves to breathe in ambient emotions.

when injured, they bleed resin. that goop on nightmare? excess sap/resin he’s overgenerating thanks to consuming so many apples.

usually only strong internal emotions would make them do that. its only because of such strong internal emotions that nightmare continues to do that even after a thousand years.

i think that, being plants (which are terribly spiteful and innovative creatures) night and dream can control the consistency and nature of their sap and resin. dream keeps his sweet and sugary at all times, but nightmare switxhes between spicy-like-ghost-pepper-in-the-face caustic and rubber, and mild maple syrup, depending on his mood and how much he wants the person he is touching to hurt.

i think that dream is both terribly selfish and painfully selfless all at once, both kind and cruel. i think he is a very seelie fae who will never break a promise, but will not let you go unpunished for breaking yours. i think he has no problem breaking your legs if it means saving you from something else. dream will happily beat someone within an inch of their life, then nurse them back to health, if he thinks for a moment it is for the greater good.

nightmare goes to great lengths to make people hate him. at the end of the day he is as disgusted with himself as anyone else, but he does it and will keep doing it because if no one fears him, they will destroy him. nightmare is a terrible unseelie fae, but he will never speak an untrue word or break an oath once struck. it is not in his nature. he will rule with an iron fist, but he is just as capable of selflessness as he is of cruelty.

i think dream is so concerned with the big picture he sometimes forgets little details. i think he is the type to take in strays before he has a home to keep them in. he befriends ink and ink makes him a multiverse home to keep his people safe in. dream then takes it upon himself to make sure it stays operational, despite eventually accumulating a city’s worth of people in what was originally a 4 bedroom townhouse. lucky him that ink has his back, continually expanding as needed.

i think nightmare is far more artistic and clever than folks give him credit for. i think he enjoys making things. i think he is the type of man to take great pride in building everything he has himself. his castle is made out of his own power: stone made of his own resin, hardened into amber; wood grown from his own bones; tapestries woven of textiles made from his own leaves, pets, and processed wood. his castle of black amber is constructed of his own blood, sweat, and tears, lovingly handcrafted art for him to live in. all natural. all his. (such a shame he never got around to furnishing all of it, having only enough time and drive to do the first floor with how long handweaving the carpets took; such a shame no one noticed or cared because the fear for their lives overshadowed any awe they could have had upon seeing the delicate craftsmanship of the arching ceilings and looming statues).

i think dream and night both love fresh water and sunlight. they get incredibly sleepy if its too hot or too cold. they are terrified of fire, squirrels, fungi, and insects. they dont like birds much either. they easily get jealous of other plants (comically so, to the point of sassing or threatening or passive-aggressively insulting non-sapient rose bushes or fica or succulents they come into contact with). they are scared of mistletoe (being a plant that eats other plants, kinda).

i hc that dream with faint dead on his feet if he gets too scared, and nightmare screams like a white girl in a horror movie.

i like to think that because they are trees, they have a “season” (like heat, but for trees) where they are very pro-affection. their leaves turn pink and they involuntarily cover themselves in pink pollen that drives nearby creatures’ libido into overdrive. neither brother likes this, so when their season hits they hide away so nobody notices (night because he does not want to seem weak, dream because he does not want to inconvenience anyone else).

i like to headcanon that a holdover from their human attributes means each brother can only formulate one set of sex organs. i’ll give you a hint: nightmare is trans in my hc (be gay do crime). he takes great pains to make sure nobody knows this.

i like to think that both brothers hide all of this, hide all of their tree-ness as best they can, and instead hide behind the aspects of being an angel and a tentacle abomination in order to throw off anyone who might look for weaknesses. so nobody knows what they really are.

These are all superficial HCs of course. The big thing is that i wanted their natures to be... more complicated than simply good and evil. They believe and say that they are guardians of positivity and negativity (and in a way thats true), but only in its most simplistic of forms.

Dream is the aspect of Giving: he radiates pollen and magical influence to embue those around him with his power. He can give them emotions. He eats positivity, thats what sustains him, but his power is to give. He could just as easily give his people bad feelings as good ones (not that he knows this). However, Dream only knows and cares about giving positivity. So he does. He leaves his magic and influence on the souls of anyone who will give him the oppertunity, and once the door is open, he will continually feed them his power to make them happy. He will eat/breathe that happiness, converting it to energy, perpetuating the cycle.

But unmitigated mania has its drawbacks. There is a price to be paid in the end.

Nightmare is the aspect of Taking. He takes and takes, taking the emotions and energy of others for himself. He can even take the entropy out of an injury to heal a wound. Nightmare can take positivd feelings out of others, but for some reason his body doesn’t like him doing that and makes him sick/hurt. He has a much easier time taking negativity, draining away the hurt and fear and exhaustion, leaving a calming emptiness behind. Nightmare cannot process or use everything he takes for himself, needing to expell it as a waste product. He converts negative feelings (and the wasted energy disipated through entropy) into energy, which lets him continue his taking.

You cannot fill a hole that is already filled, after all. You must empty it first.

These two aspects are neither good nor evil in and of themselves. There are good and bad things about them. But these aspects have been oversimplified and misinterpreted by those around the twins that even they themselves do not fully understand what it is that they are.

and i think a story about them coming to understand themselves would be so much more interesting than a simple story of good vs evil.

#kamari333answers #kamari333headcanon #dr33mtal3

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reconditarmonia · 4 years

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Dear Chocolate Box 2021 Author

Hi! Thank you for writing for me! I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3. I have anon messaging off, but mods can contact me with any questions.

Elsinore | Fullmetal Alchemist | The Locked Tomb | Motherland: Fort Salem | Simoun

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one’s situational or ethical judgment with someone else’s, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes; focus on unrequested canon or non-canon ships; unrequested trans versions of characters.

Smut Likes: clothing, uniforms, sexual tension, breasts, manual sex, cunnilingus, grinding, informal d/s elements, intensity.

Requesting fic; open to art treats!

—

Fandom: Elsinore

Relationship(s): Hamlet & Ophelia; Hamlet & Horatio & Ophelia; Bernardo & Hamlet & Laertes & Ophelia

I found the friendships in this game, and the different ways that characters can reconcile or try to find a way forward together, to be really sweet and moving, and I'd love to read something that focused on those relationships of trust and support. I like how important Ophelia and Horatio's counsel and friendship is in timelines where Hamlet becomes king; I like Hamlet regretting how he behaved towards Ophelia and striving to live through his depression and find out what it is that he wants, not what everyone else wants of him; I like seeing childhood friends Bernardo and Laertes and Ophelia and Hamlet, whose growing-up has stretched them so far apart, taking time to catch up and enjoy each other's company a little.

So, futurefic in one of the timelines where everything doesn't go to shit? A timeline that we don't see? (There is something narratively interesting to me in Permanence/Passion in that the entire plot of Hamlet ends up as a distant backstory to someone's full life; I don't know how compatible that idea is with these requests, but if you want to write any of these groups fucking off to Italy or Constantinople or London and living until the Elsinore pressure-cooker is a distant memory, I'd be just as happy with that as with fic about them building some kind of future together still in Denmark, trying to make it better for its people and to hold on to who they are as individuals, and friends, beyond their roles.) If you want to write Hamlet/Ophelia, Hamlet/Horatio, or for that matter Horatio/Bernardo as shippy, I'm fine with that, but I don't want a focus on the romantic aspects of their relationship.

Fandom-Specific DNW: death of requested characters within the timeline being explored, or focus on death of requested characters. These characters die in this game a lot and I don't need you to pretend entirely that it's not a time loop game, but I would like them to be happy. If you write the Bernardo & Hamlet & Laertes & Ophelia request, I'm fine with either or both names/pronouns for Bernardo|Katherine, but I don't want to read a story focused on their gender or coming-out. Please don't include Peter Quince as a character (you do not need to retcon, you know, the existence of the time loop).

—

Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist

Relationship(s): Maria Ross/Olivier Mira Armstrong

I'll admit: I am a shallow, shallow person who loves the heartwarming and id-satisfying Briggs loyalty-kink complex (The watch! Buccaneer handing Olivier a clean pair of gloves after she kills Raven! Constant and deeply sincere saluting! Olivier’s explanation of why she wants Miles around and her lack of patience for anyone’s shit) but would like an f/f manifestation of it for actual shipping. Post-canon or AU where Maria is assigned to Briggs, or works for Olivier in Central? Does Maria foil a plot against Olivier, or Olivier save Maria's life in battle? Does Olivier order Maria into a firefight? Hit me.

Fandom-Specific DNW: Olivier/men, even mentioned.

—

Fandom: The Locked Tomb

Relationship(s): Abigail Pent & Dulcinea Septimus; Gideon the First & Matthias Nonius

Dulcie and Nonius were two of my favorite additions to the cast in Harrow the Ninth (and Dulcie in "Doctor Sex" via letter). I loved everything we learned about Dulcie - her wit, her quick thinking in a pinch when confronted by Cytherea and her secret to Harrow. I found her "The only thing preventing me from being exactly who I wanted..." speech both genuinely moving and very funny, and I love her thirst for revenge. What else might she and Abigail Pent, "independent research? it isn't even my birthday!" daredevil spirit-talker par excellence who has just conjured up a ghost out of an epic poem, get up to after Harrow's bubble collapses? Or what were they up to when they weren't on screen in Harrow's dream, putting together this whole, well, play?

Nonius's arrival, entire scene, and departure to fight the Beast made me very, very happy on levels I have trouble explaining. It was so heartwarming?! Because it was impossible, and because poetry won, and because they went off to do the best they could...I don't know, exactly. I'd love to read either more about his mysterious past with Gideon the First, or about their second encounter as allies (throw in Marta, Ortus and Pro if you like as well!)

Fandom-Specific Exception: to my unrequested ships DNW, Dulcie/Cam & Dulcie/Pal. I love their three strand thing.

—

Fandom: Motherland: Fort Salem

Relationship(s): Abigail Bellweather/Raelle Collar

I fell hard for this show and Abigail/Raelle is the ship I’m most excited about - they get off to a bad start for all kinds of personal history reasons and have problems with each other, but when it gets down to the wire Abigail would do anything for Raelle and is very gung-ho about having Raelle’s unconventional but extremely powerful magic under her leadership, regardless of Raelle being a loose cannon. She told her she loved her!! <3 And by the end, Raelle also clearly knows what Abigail's going through (like when she talks her down in "Citydrop"), respects her leadership, and cares deeply about her and wants to protect her in return. I love that loyalty dynamic, and their competence as fighters/witches.

Physical combat, strength in general, magical strength, ability to work magic together, knowledge of the magical canon vs. out-of-the-box techniques...what parts of their skills and their bond could be challenged in the weird dimension that the end of season 1 leaves them in? Or when they get back home and new challenges await? (In my head, the decision not to send them to War College is not revoked; the unit becomes some kind of special-forces secret strike team rather than cannon fodder.) Maybe something where Raelle goes/has gone into a fight as a berserker-type for Abigail and then comes back to her, or where Abigail protects/has protected her soldier (her girl!! I love her protectiveness of Raelle towards the other cadets, imagine it in a battle!)? Or an arranged marriage AU where it's usual for witch soldiers to marry to combine their magic power or something...

I would also be up for smut for them, especially something d/s-y where the loyalty-kinky dynamic of Raelle being Abigail's weapon, at her command, is echoed in sex!

Fandom-Specific DNW: sex solely for magical purposes without an emotional connection (sex for magical purposes is fine), focus on Raylla (I don't need you to retcon it, but please don't dwell either on Raelle still having feelings for Scylla or on her getting over Scylla for Abigail), Scylla bashing, Abigail/Adil (I would prefer to imagine, if he is mentioned in the fic, that they’re just friends).

—

Fandom: Simoun

Relationship(s): Aer/Neviril; Aer/Neviril & Neviril/Paraietta; Aer/Neviril/Paraietta; Aer & Floef & Neviril & Paraietta & Rodoreamon & Vyuraf

Aer, and Aer/Neviril, really grew on me on my recent rewatch. I appreciated her more as the determined bit-of-a-loose-cannon, who grows into a respected role in the choir, than the manic pixie this time, and noted Neviril's comments about how she was drawn to Aer's determination. (I've written a lot more about what I love and am interested in about Neviril and the show in general, her journey of figuring out what it means to her exactly to lead an air force, here.) I'd love to know what happens to them post-canon - what is the "new world" and their travel in it like? It's an escape for them, sure, but what are they escaping to, not just from? Are there problems there, too?

I'd also be up for a poly situation where Neviril is involved with both Aer and Paraietta, her long-loyal second-in-command whom she's blessed and forgiven, as a V where they're friends or as a triangle where Aer and Paraietta are also involved (I don't quite know what that leg of the triangle would look like but I do like how they work together in battle even when they're shown as having personal issues.)

If Neviril and Aer make it back to the main world when war is brewing again, as at the end of the series, but their old cohort can't fly anymore, what do they see their role as being? Does Neviril see herself as a leader for peace, for war, for something else? How do they interact with their former squadmates, whether as part of a more plotty piece or not?

I could be interested in explicit fic for this canon, as an option - the series is, on some level, about the contrast between the reality and physicality of their bodies and the general perception of what they do (which even in its non-spiritual military capacity is removed from a connection to their bodies via the Simoun aircraft), about becoming an adult, and of course about gender.

Fandom-Specific DNW: I'm not really interested in Kaim and Alty and would prefer for them not to appear or for their backstory to come up. I would also not like to see pre-timeskip Dominuura/Limone.

#dear author letters

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doctorhawke · 4 years

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all six of my oc hawkes in one big thing, i have an au where they are all a big happy family and run amok in kirkwall

below the cut theres “brief” bios for them all (including their names because my renditions of their handwriting might not be very legible) and a little chart showing more insight into their personality makeup

all the ages are from act 1, after a year in kirkwall, relative to carver and bethany’s 20 (fyi they both survive in this au and both become grey wardens. cannot IMAGINE that any of these hawkes would let one of their littlest siblings fight an ogre 1v1 when theres literally eight of them lmfao they tag team it like they do everything)

steve hawke- he/him, age 27, adopted by the hawkes at 8. steve is a mage, a healer, and a pacifist. as such when there are fights he will focus on incapacitating enemies without harming them (force magic and mind blast comes in handy) and especially on supporting the team through healing. he’s gay and immediately takes to anders, mainly because he spends a lot of time helping in his clinic.

he strongly believes in mage rights especially as malcolm imparted a lot of responsibility on him towards his younger mage siblings, nyx and bethany. he’s protective and a bit of a worrier, though as time goes on in kirkwall he becomes more and more exhausted, and starts to cope through making light of things. post-game, he and anders are on the run.

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kit hawke- he/him, age 24, bio kid, and a dual-wielding rogue. he’s bold, charming, and a bit of a pessimist- all of which kirkwall amplifies by virtue of being a crazy fucking city. kit is also pretty business minded and usually spearheads bone pit related shenanigans. varric (who deeply cares for all the hawkes of course) immediately takes to him and the two are inseparable.

kit is bi, and likes to have fun, though over time he falls for both isabela and fenris, and over time the three get together and become the most impressive trio you ever saw. all kit’s siblings are kind of like “are you serious dude, we have a limited number of friends and you end up with two of them? what about the rest of us” but considering the amount of drama and heartbreak kit undergoes over the years in relation to his love life, they all kind of figure he’s earned the happy ending. post-game the three of them become pirates on isabela’s ship and free slaves in between tracking down hidden treasure or whatever it is that pirates do, and they eventually have adorable baby twins.

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syl hawke- she/her, age 26, bio kid but only leandra’s, she actually is varric’s half sibling (though she does NOT know this and the sibling rivalry that develops upon them meeting is incomprehensible to the both of them). so syl is the shortest of the bunch, and looks a lot more like varric and bartrand than kit, carver, or bethany, despite them all being related.

syl’s the only warrior of the group (other than carver- a dynamic duo), fights with hammers exclusively, and has a tendency to be super intense. she doesn’t really get humor at all, in the rare case that she accidentally makes a joke and people laugh she assumes they’re laughing AT her. she’s also very shoot first and ask questions later, and the only hawke more protective than steve is. her big sister energy is off the charts and she’s prepared to kill any templar that so much as looks at her family. as such she’s staunchly pro-mage.

she’s a lesbian and has massive game despite not really being any good at flirting- it’s probably her sheer intensity. she and isabela have a brief fling, tallis is very taken with her, and she has a rivalry-fueled sexual tension with aveline for ages (the long road is a VERY fun quest to play through with syl). however she was always very supportive of and close with merrill and eventually the two fall in love. once they’re together they’re insanely sweet and have mega chemistry and i love them so fucking much. post-game they’re forced to leave kirkwall but end up living in the denerim alienage.

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lith hawke- she/her, age 25, adopted by the hawkes at 9 along with her twin nyx. an archer rogue, with speed taking precedence over power or precision. lith is a lot to take in okay. she’s the only one who’s pro-templar in the group, and is a rabid andrastian. back home in lothering her chantry beliefs were instrumental in keeping her family safe, as she not only knew every templar by name (as the whole family did) but also is endlessly trustworthy to them and to all the chantry sisters and mothers. countless times a templar might have come calling to take away one of her siblings or her father, but was dissuaded by lith- after all, little lith hawke would NEVER help hide apostates, right?

she supports her siblings because she believes that in the end their souls will be saved. (the only thing that freaks her out more than nyx’s blood magic is when syl casually drops that she’s thinking about converting to merrill’s religion.) she doesn’t trust mages if they aren’t related to her, and always advocates for the circle when given the chance. she’s best friends with fenris and they hang out a lot, more and more as the years pass. since merrill and anders both move into the hawke estate (which was already a bit of a circus, can you imagine the chaos?) lith finds herself more and more outnumbered ideologically and often escapes to fenris’ mansion for some quiet.

during the endgame, she sides against her family and the mages. she basically has a villainous breakdown. she helps them kill meredith and once it’s revealed that meredith had been influenced by the lyrium idol, lith’s whole worldview is pretty much shattered. post-game she leaves the city and seeks out her cousin, ash amell (i have eight wardens so im not going to get into this but basically my amell and my cousland (eve) are in a gay throuple with leliana and its dope as all hell). spending time with ash, eve, and leliana is very healing for her, but all her siblings assume she’s dead and she doesn’t see them for years after kirkwall.

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nyx hawke- they/them, age 25, adopted by the hawkes at 9 along with their twin lith. nyx is the blood mage of the group, and is an absolute icon quite frankly. they’re very chaotic, and especially close with kit, merrill, and isabela. nyx has a ton of fun fighting, and they and syl make an especially good team in combat. nyx always looks up to syl and its very sweet, and syl is the only one in the family who never once messed up nyx’s pronouns (everyone is very good about this of course, and by kirkwall its a non-issue, but even lith slipped up once or twice early on).

they have very noodly arms because they’ve never had to worry about fighting hand to hand when running out of mana, because of the blood magic. this leads to quite a bit of teasing but tbh they pull it off. nyx is bi and has a thing with isabela for a short while but in the end they’re better as best friends.

nyx and lith are very close. they’re often perfectly in sync when doing things, especially in combat, and have that twin esp thing going on which can get spooky at times. however they also bicker a lot, and obviously clash on ideology pretty much constantly. though this is the norm nyx always assumed they would have each other’s backs no matter what when it came down to the nitty gritty, and lith’s betrayal during the endgame is really heartbreaking for them.

over the years anders and nyx do a lot of collaborating when it comes to mage rights. they help him polish his manifesto, and smuggle mages out of the gallows. the only real reason nyx isn’t brought into the loop on the chantry explosion was a mixtures of anders’ crushing guilt and his knowledge that if he told nyx and not steve, steve would be really hurt. (however he couldn’t tell steve because he didn’t want the deaths to be on steve’s conscience- anders knows he definitely would have helped if it came down to that). post-game nyx goes on to be one of the leaders of the mage rebellion.

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lou hawke- he/him, age 22, adopted by the hawkes at 10. hes a cowboy and i love him. an archer rogue, he prioritizes powerful firing over speed or precision. he’s a massive sweetheart, terminally polite, and has massive ears that he’s self-conscious of and tries to cover with his hair. however whenever his hair gets long enough to cover them leandra starts poking and prodding him to get a trim and he’s always too soft to refuse for long, beginning the cycle again (and after leandra is murdered he always keeps his hair to her liking- he gets weepy if it grows too long). he’s the only hawke i’ve drawn without his in-game outfit because this fucking game doesn’t have cowboy hats or cute shirts with tassles and i do what i want.

lou also plays instruments, he’s got a guitar and a harmonica and plays the piano passably. he IS the piano man in the eyes of the hanged man’s patrons. sing us a song, they tell him, etc. he manages ten minutes of harmonica in the deep roads, citing excellent acoustics, until anders tells him to stop because the darkspawn will hear. when the hawkes get rich lou buys a horse and goes for morning rides out on the wounded coast.

lou is bi, and runs around for years with a massive crush on isabela but that doesn’t exactly work out. he ends up with jethann (theres a lot of lore here but suffice it to say its extremely tender) and post-game they leave kirkwall and end up owning a ranch not far outside denerim. lou hires lots of farmhands that end up looking to him as a father figure and its super sweet, and jethann refuses to do manual labor.

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this got insanely long i am SO sorry flkjsdlkgjlkcxjglsfkd

feel free to send any asks relating to them because i really love this family so much and could talk about them forever dlfskjlxcjglskd if you couldnt tell from this diatribe

#six fanarts #six fanarts challenge #dragon age #dragon age 2 #custom hawke #hawke #steve hawke #kit hawke #syl hawke #lith hawke #nyx hawke #lou hawke #extended hawke family au #my art #my posts #oc lore

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xfanfics · 4 years

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Destiel Fic Rec List Part 1

Last Updated in October 2014. Posted in May 2020 for posterity. Listed in no particular order - the total rec list will have ~250 fics. Header graphic used with permission.

This part of the list contains: 48 fics.

Other Destiel Rec Lists: [1]. [2]. [3]. [4]. [5]. [6]. [7].

For Science! by pm_lo E | 21k | ABO, Omega!cas, Alpha!Dean,

Selected transcripts and supporting materials from Dr. Castiel Williams and Dean Winchester’s seminal study on physiological and psychological sexual response by gender designation.

Even though this is a dialogue/email text only story, I still very much enjoyed it and found it ridiculously hot. Maybe I'm just easy. (No I'm not. This fic is good, read it.)

Forget-Me-Not Blues by noangelsinthegarrison E | 68k | Firefighter!Dean, Professor!Cas, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining

Sam and Jess are getting married and Dean couldn’t be any happier for them. Honestly, they’re kind of disgustingly perfect for each other and Dean’s pretty damn excited about staying with them the week before the wedding. He’s Sam’s best man, of course, and he doesn’t even mind that Jess has her own best man to share in all the organizational duties. The more the merrier, right? Except Dean must have done something to epically piss off the universe because Jess’s best man just happens to be Castiel friggin’ Novak. He’s got even hotter since High School, but apparently no friendlier and if Cas wants to spend the week pretending like they’ve never met before? Fine. Two can play at that game.

THIS WAS SO GOOD I'M TEARING UP. tropes abound and I love it!

Cops and Robbers by kinkstiel E | 53k [WIP] | Detective!Dean, Criminal!Cas, Top!Cas, Bottom!dean

They locked eyes for a minute and then Cas leaned back as far as the cuffs would let him go, spreading his legs obscenely wide. “I want you to suck my cock, Dean.” Dean balked, mouth going dry in a second, eyes slipping to the now visible bulge in Castiel’s suit pants. “Um,” he said stupidly, face flushing red, eyes unable to pull away. Cas hummed. “Depending on how well you suck me, I might just tell you everything you want to know.” He licked his lips, smirking slightly when he caught Dean’s gaze. “And with sinful little lips like yours,” he made a low whistling sound, “I don’t doubt you’ll get every last name out of me.

So very good. Love the dark and dirtiness of it. It does get lighter and sappier towards the end tho.

Cursed or Not ❤ by Ltleflrt E | 115k | witch!Cas, shapeshifter!Dean, switching

While experimenting with magic when he was a kid, Sam accidentally cursed Dean. Now, Dean is forced to wear a spelled amulet constantly, or he'll turn into a random animal. For a little over a decade, he's learned to live with the curse, and has even found it useful in some cases, but he sure would be happier without it. When he meets a witch named Castiel, he's offered a deal. Instead of assuming all witches are bad, Dean can spend a season getting to know him. If at the end of the season, Dean still thinks he's evil Castiel will send him away with his memory wiped of the whole experience. But if he learns that Castiel is not the monster Dean assumes he is, he'll lift Dean's curse. It's an offer Dean can't bring himself to pass up.

Literally perfect. Enthralling world, magical relationship.

Surprise Package by wannaliveindeansdimples E | 3k | Hot, , Dom Cas, Sub Dean, Light BDSM

When Cas' roommate Meg has to go out of town suddenly, she leaves him an unexpected gift.

So so hot. Non extreme Dom!cas and sub!dean.

Never Have I ever by sweetdean M | 78k | Fluff, High School AU, top!cas, bottom!dean

When Jo drags Dean along to a game of "never have I ever" with her friends, he finds himself getting caught up in a lot more than just a game. “Never have I ever hung out with such an asshole,” Dean countered, positively shocked at his own sass. Cas smirked again. “Oh, are we hanging out now?fricken adorable

Road Signs by gemmiel E | 9k| Canon!verse, true form

Dean is curious about how angels have sex. Castiel shows him.

Damn. True form, soul sex, and regular sex. Yes please.

It's Brilliant, Really by snarkymonkey E | 15k | Fluff, AU, Professor!cas, Stuntman!dean

Castiel Novak is a History adjunct at Stanford University. He's also the most patient younger brother. When his older brother, Gabriel, decides to start *wooing* one of his younger waiters, Castiel reluctantly agrees to double-date with the intended paramour's older brother. What he didn't expect, however, was how much his own life would flip over such a careless decision.

Adorable. Hot, and adorable.

Gabriel's Unfortunate Mistake by JackHawksmoor E | 8k | Hot, AU

an answer to a prompt: Gabriel decides to hire a prostitute for his virgin brother Castiel as a joke, but instead accidentally hires Dean, a professional Dom. The moment Dean first lays a hand on him, Castiel knows he is lost. Dean/Castiel AU.

Um mm.... Damn. That was hot. Newbie sub!cas and pro dom!dean

Well-Beloved Unto Me by Moorishflower E | 3k | Alt!Canon, tentacles

The Winchesters don't get rewarded for all the shit they go through, so Dean is understandably wary when a few recharged and promoted angels offer him and Sam the vacation of a lifetime. Title comes from the Song of Solomon.

True form. And sex. MY FAVE.

How to Date an Angel in 12 Easy Steps by Fourthduckling E | 23k | Fluff, Alt!canon

It's not that hard to date an angel. All Dean has to do is fight off hordes of vampires, research gay porn, get sucked into a crappy Narnia, endure Sam's comments, creep out on Dr. Sexy, get harassed -- oh, and that's right-- figure out he's into Cas. Easy, right?

SQUUEEEE. Perfect and cute and cuddly.

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right But Three Rights Make A Left by the0voice0from0above E | 45k | High School AU, Dancer!Cas, Welder!Dean,

The beautiful Garrison Ballet School becomes home to a reckless bunch of misfits after the Colt Welding Academy is severely damaged in a fire and has to close for repairs. Needless to say, Castiel and his friends clash with their unwanted guests but there's one boy in particular who infuriates him.

Dancer!au. Love it love it love it!

Rest My Angel by cobalt_wings E | 86k | Fluff, Season 9 AU

Angels are falling from the sky, and Dean is losing it. Sam is dying in his arms, and one of those burning, twisting figures blazing through the night air might be his very own angel, Castiel. What can he do to help those he loves?

Sex and domestic and lots of fucking. My fave.

One Species Too Many by wallmakerrelict E | 21k | Fluff, Alt!canon

While Dean is laid up for a month after breaking his leg on a hunt, Cas decides that it's a perfect time to adopt a litter of kittens. But even though he's gotten better since Purgatory, Cas still isn't quite the same as he was before fixing Sam's head, and being trapped in a cabin with him for weeks on end is making that all the more obvious to Dean. When Sam takes off on a hunt, Dean has to figure out on his own how to navigate his new relationship with Cas while also helping to raise a bunch of fuzzballs that aren't even cute. Not even a little bit. (Well, maybe a little bit.)

Team free will with kittens!! So fluffy and domestic but also a touch of angst.

It's A Bet by vitamindesi E | 34k | College AU, top!cas, bottom!dean

Destiel College!AU in which freshman Dean is dared by his best friends to hit on senior Castiel at a party. He wants to say no but then someone starts a bet and Benny bets a sum that is ridiculously high for a student and Dean can’t disappoint Benny, right? I deviated only, but hopefully it suffices.

So fabulous and smutty I want to cry. Literally perfection.

Your Call Cannot Be Completed As Dialed by eBob, K_K_TiBal T | 66k [WIP] | Fluff, College AU

AU in which Castiel accidentally sends a text message to the wrong number and befriends the person at the other end of the line. However, accidents don’t just happen accidentally, and sometimes two completely different people are exactly what the other needs.

LITERALLY THE BEST. So many feelings. I WANT IT TO BE COMPLETE SO MUCH. Abandoned WIP.

Equinox by luchia E | 12k | Alt!canon, time travel

In which Castiel is the weird time-traveling freak who just might be the love of Dean Winchester's life.

Confusing but perfect time travel fic.

If I run by betty days E | 4k | Hot, AU, sexting, long distance relationship

"Dean Winchester is a red-blooded American male. He lifts all the things. He aims for functional strength. He counts his macros and makes fun of curlbros. He is not a member of the Tarahumara tribe and he will not read Born to Run, no matter how many times Sam tells him to, because Starting Strength is the only book Dean will ever fucking need." Wherein a friendly competition with the mysterious ThursdaysAngel turns into a sexy selfie-trading spree that motivates Dean Winchester to train for his first marathon.

Soo. Hot. Makes me want to actually exercise?

The Little Things by Alreadypainfullygone T | 2k | Angst, Cancer, Major Character Death

Au based on 'the big C' in which Dean gets very sick, and deals with it the denial way. Meeting a homeless man on the way. Dean/Castiel Angst. Warning for trigger - Cancer. sorry if you think I dealt with it badly.

This is only 2.8k words, and yet it managed to make me cry.

Do What Feels Good by Catchclaw, cymbalism E | 12k | Hot, Alt!canon, PWP

Castiel learns to love alone time in the shower. And then he learns to share.

Fuuuuuck that was hot. Castubation and shower sex is just so hnnnggg.

All That Is And Used To Be by MisaChan E | 26k | Alt!Canon, wing!Kink

Dean never even knew anyone was living in the old estate outside of town until its mysterious occupant contracts his shop for a very specific job: a custom piano bench with grooves cut into the back. He finds Castiel and his terms to be eccentric with a capital E but the money is too good to turn down and anyway, Dean can't help indulging his curiosity about the guy and his secretive, isolated life. There are secrets that will not stay hidden and stories that refuse to be forgotten. Especially when they happen to involve Dean Winchester and the angel Castiel.

Ugh, I love this story. Concept, execution, and characterization are all perfect.

Do I Have Something Like That? by MysticMoonhigh E | 2k | Hot, horn!kink, wing!kink

based on the tumblr post I made: Does anybody know any demon!Dean fics where Cas makes Dean climax by basically giving his demon horns a hand job because I want this so badly out of lifE | I'm. I've read this about three times and I think I'm finally coming to terms with my alien biology kink. Hot. Wink!kink and horn!kink. Yes.

The Doctor Will See You Now by PetrichorPerfume E | 7k| Hot, PWP sub!dean, gentle dom!cas, wing!kink

Dean has a medical kink. Castiel is more than happy to oblige. Starring Castiel as the slightly unorthodox Dr. Novak who enjoys prescribing enforced chastity and daily tease and denial sessions, and Dean as his needy, submissive patient who will do anything for a chance to come.

Wowowwowowow. Um. This was super hot. Nnnghhhh.

Into Your Hideaway by thepinupchemist E | 176k |Angst, a/b/o, omega!dean, alpha!cas, mpreg

Driving down a deserted road in the Rocky Mountains, Castiel finds something unexpected: An omega. Not only an omega, but a naked, injured, pregnant omega. Dean doesn't talk much at first, but that doesn't change the brightness of his soul. It also doesn't stop Castiel from falling in love with him.

I just... Wow. This was an amazing story. Beware that it is possibly very triggering, because of rape, assault, violence, and general bigotry. But perhaps because of all of that, you get a story that is almost painful in its reality, and it is all the more loveable for that.

The World Crashing All Around by thepinupchemist E | 36k| Alt!canon, best friends wing!Kink, kid!fic

During a storm in September of 1987, Dean and Sam hear something hit their roof. When they brave the backyard to investigate, they find a fledgling angel. A story about best friendship, spoiled plans, and love, in four parts.

OH MY GOD. This was perfect all the way through. From soul bonds, to slow burn, to growing up together as best friends, it's all my favorite. And it even has wing kink, which is literally the best.

Share Your Burden by aTimeOfMagic E | 3k Hot, PWP, Sub!dean, dom!cas

Set at the end of 'Are You There God? It's Me Dean Winchester.' 4.02. Castiel shows Dean that he deserves respect, and Dean comes to see that Cas is not, in fact, just a 'hammer'. He also learns that his 'people skills' are definitely not entirely 'rusty'.

Damn. Um, really hot. Also, unexpectedly sweet.

Flawless by Vaerin E | 69k | a/b/o, accidental bonding, sub!dean, dom!cas

A contract is out on the Winchesters, a large sum of money the reward for throwing them off their game. A witch in the town they happen to be passing through decides to collect. She sets her sights on Dean, trying to seduce him into leaving his job to stay with her. When she can't even convince him to warm her bed, she decides to turn her job into his punishment. Knowing he fears commitment and can't stand the thought of being with a man, she works a spell between him and Castiel... the one friend he can call a safe haven. When they end up mated the next morning, not only does the Winchester family business suffer... but so does Dean's friendship with Castiel.

Cute long soul bond fic. Contains sabriel.

Chasing Normal by Donovanspen M | 16k | Fluff, First time, Cuddling & Snuggling

Dean reevaluates his definition of an 'apple pie life' and what that means for him, personally.

This is the definition of domestic fluff and smut. There's a wee bit of angst because hey, it's set in the canon verse. But so worth it.

Hold On by somuchforbaggles E | 92k | Fluff, Angst, mental illness

Castiel is sure that nothing in his life will ever change. Everything that happens to him is predictable, from the stability of his job to the unrelenting sporadic anxiety attacks, he can rely on his life to stay the same forever - until he saves Dean Winchester from the path of an oncoming train. From then on, everything changes for both of them, and the only way they can deal with it is together.

Woww. This was an amazing ride. Angsty and fluffy, then angsty again, then back to fluffy. So good.

I said to myself again by avyssoseleison E | 2k | Fluff, Praise!kink, Self-esteem issues

Dean finally lets himself be appreciated and cared for by his angel.

Praise kink is my ultimate weakness

The One Thing You Can't Lose by MajorEnglishEsquire T | 4k | Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling

You know what I like a lot? The thought that Dean can just tug Cas anywhere at any time and Cas, who can lift tons without effort, who can demolish things with the light of his grace, who has battled and gone to war, has defended and broken, will just let Dean do it.

fluffy love

Spit Slick by VeraBAdler M | 1k | Fluff, , First Time

[no description]

A super cute fluffy little oneshot :3 (tags say 'happy sex' and 'sexy cuddling' if you need more to go on)

Late Bloomer by somuchforbaggles T | 7k | Alt!Canon, Wing!kink, Wingfic, Soulmates

On every child’s seventh birthday, a celebration is held to mark the beginning of their journey as a fledgling - a sprouting ceremony. It doesn’t matter if the child hasn't shown the symptoms of emerging wings yet, for it is scientific fact that every child grows wings in their seventh year, sometimes even earlier. Castiel is not every child.

A coming of age wing fic. With mates. Basically, I'm in love.

Sleight of Hand by aileenrose M | 64k | Angst, Human AU, psychic cas, journalist dean

Dean Winchester has interviewed them all--mob bosses, serial killers, crooked politicians. Next he plans to unveil the con-man who markets himself as Castiel, a reclusive and secretive "healer" who claims to heal the sick in return for thousands of dollars. Dean's expecting a challenge, but he never expected Castiel to be so clueless or sweet...or that he might be telling the truth.

I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS AU. The one where Dean is a skeptical journalist/professional idiot and Cas is a socially inept healer and mind reader. There's lots of angst, but the payoff is so worth it.

Leaning In by Anonymous T | 15k | Hospital AU

Castiel never changed out his scrubs, Dean had a way of getting himself injured and Sam seemed to think it was a good pairing

Even though I have no idea who actually wrote this story, it's worth a read. I'm always up for a good medical AU.

Someone I Forgot to Be by MatildaMavis E | 36k Fluff, Angst, Human AU

Castiel is content - sort of - with his quiet life in Boston...at least, until his new neighbor moves in. It's Dean Winchester, the cliched long lost love of his life. Can these two idiots find their way back to each other after eight years, after fame and loss and heartbreak? After Dean has found love again with Cas' neighbor, Lisa? Fate can be a sadistic bitch, they've both learned that, but maybe they've matured enough to be able to handle it this time. The sparks, the attraction, the tension...or maybe not.

I thought this would be extremely painful, and it sort of was. But it was so worth it.

Didn't Get That Particular Memo by Snarkymonkey E | 5k

Dean has worked with his best friend for years and maybe it's a bit more than that for him but not for Castiel, right? Right. And really, he'd feel so much better if Castiel would just get a companion already. Because it's not like Castiel actually wants him, right? Right.

Damn, that was fucking hot.

Cas, You Had A Baby? by allthebeautifulthings9828 M | 132k | Fluff, Alt!Canon, Kid Fic, Slow Build

At some point in every angel's life, raising a fledgling is required. Castiel's turn comes rather unexpectedly when his superiors hand off a newly created infant angel to him and leave him to raise it with all of Heaven's principles of blind obedience. He's not sure what to do, so he tucks the fledgling in his coat and goes straight to Dean and Sam Winchester. Together, Dean and Castiel hatch a plan to raise the fledgling away from Heaven's control. And soon, the angel Hael arrives with news that, after Castiel disappeared, she and four other angels ran from Heaven's oppression with their fledglings. Castiel finds himself the unwitting ringleader of angels choosing to raise their fledglings with the principles of free will. Is angelic parenthood too much for his deepening relationship with Dean? Who can they really trust? (Disclaimer: This story depicts fledglings consuming honey for the nourishment of their undeveloped graces. Human babies cannot consume honey, so please do not feed it to your infants. This is fiction.)

Oh. My. God. I admit that I was skeptical at the beginning about this story, but let me tell you, it sucked me in. Sometimes, you run across a story that has wonderful OCs that you get attached to. This is one of those. And of course, the baby is adorable.

Healing by Jacqueline Albright-Beckett M | 2k | Fluff, Canon!verse, PWP

Castiel can heal more than just physical wounds.

Sensual and romantic.

Better Late Than Never by whelvenwings G | 23k | Fluff, Alt!canon, friends to lovers,

When Dean first sees Castiel, he's clinging on for dear life - and things never really get any easier. In fact, they get a lot harder; Dean's worst enemy isn't always the monkey bars. Bound together year on year by the ritual pact of being a Guardian Angel, Dean and Cas grow close, showing loyalty and bravery in the face of danger. But will they ever find the courage to admit their true feelings for each other - and will it be too late by the time they do?

i LOVE best friends to lovers fics! and this delivers on that perfectly.

Like A Candle In The Window On A Cold Dark Winter's Night by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel T | 6k | Fluff, Canon!verse, asexual Cas

In which Castiel saves Dean, Dean saves Castiel, there is beer and TV watching, and if it weren't for the monsters and assassination attempts, life would be almost perfect.

A cute little fic I've read multiple times :)

How many slams in an old screen door? by dandelioness T | 15k | Fluff, Theatre AU, Asexual Cas

In which Castiel is a theatre major terrible at first impressions; Dean is a set designer who likes Cas anyway; and the most chaotic production of Les Miserables in history somehow manages to go off without a hitch. Or, just as you should never give a moose a muffin (because he'll want some jam to go with it), you should never give a blank check to a university theatre department.

This is perfect. I can't speak for the accuracy of the information and feelings given about asexuals/asexuality, but I enjoyed this fic nonetheless.

Breath of Heaven by solacesnake18 E | 9k

When Dean is wounded and dying in Purgatory, Castiel returns from his self-imposed exile to help him.

Wow. True!form cas and metaphysical sex that somehow manages to be poetic, emotional, and erotic all at once. I approve.

The Mirror by CloudyJenn M | 24k | Canon!Verse,

When Dean touches a strange mirror, he's whisked away to one alternate reality after another and it doesn't take him long to realize the universe is trying to tell him something.

One of my favorite fics, and a fandom classic. So beautiful. It's a trip, but you'll love it. The ending makes me really emotional.

Rock 'n' Roll Queer Bar by chasingrabbits E | 121k | Fluff, Human AU

Ellen and Jo Harvelle run Harvelle's Roadhouse, a bar that unintentionally becomes a beacon for wayward queer souls. Her employees: Dean, the smartass runaway with a big heart and bigger mouth; Castiel, the college drop-out turned hippie; his (surprisingly heterosexual) trouble-making brother Gabriel; and Charlie, who has been told several times that the back room is not to be used for after-hours Dungeons & Dragons games. But there's a lot of love in this place, and a new family for anyone who may otherwise be without.

Sweet little (well, not so little really) universe. Link is to the series.

A Million Ways to Go by chasingrabbits E | 91k | High School AU,

Castiel Novak is a preacher's son living in a world of black and white. Pragmatic and dutiful, he doesn't understand why anybody would want to make waves. Then the Winchesters move in down the street. Soon many of the skeletons in the Novak family's closet are exposed, and as the family faces them, Castiel begins to understand that there are many ways to see the world and so many more ways to live than what he's been told.

Wow, this was a ride. Set in an alternate!canon where Cas is a repressed preacher's kid and dean still grows up a hunter. Also, lots of Sam and Gabriel brother!feels. Not sabriel.

Like That Foreigner Song... by DevilMadeMeDoIt E | 5k | Hot, Alt!Canon, Deancest, Time trave

Dean and Cas have been together for a while now, but Dean always regrets that he has been with so many people in the past. He wishes he could go back in time and tell his 15 year old self that there is someone worth waiting for. Cas gives him the chance and the outcome is one that neither of them expected.

Oh god, this was a perfect little story. So much love.

TutorMate by faeryn M | 21k | College AU

Sam leaves Dean's laptop logged in to some app called "TutorMate" and Dean meets his brother's tutor. Cas helps him with his own work and they strike up a friendship. Before long Dean finds himself growing attached to the cute, clever Cas and flirtatiously suggests they go on a date if he applies himself to his college work. Cas agrees, but Dean discovers his online friend is not quite what he expected. (Or, in which Dean thinks he's met a cute girl and finds out he's actually met a cute boy.)

Wowowwowowow adorable. Perfect little college AU.

More recs coming soon.

#destiel #deancas #spn #spn fic rec #destiel fic rec #*#list

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commentaryvorg · 5 years

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Danganronpa V3 Commentary: Bonus 4.2 - UTDP (Still Mostly Kaito Edition)

This is postgame content, so people shouldn’t be reading this without having already finished the main game anyway. But just to be safe: while this is non-canon character stuff, I will sometimes be mentioning events that happened in the main story, so there will be spoilers for the main game.

Last time in the first half of my Kaito-centric Ultimate Talent Development Plan coverage, it was all about Kaito helping people! Kaito encouraged Shuichi to use his detective skills to help out his schoolmates, and Shuichi passed some of Kaito’s advice about relying on people onto Kyoko. After some incredibly stubborn persistence to even get her to open up in the first place, Kaito nudged Maki into letting Kaede play piano at her orphanage, and Maki also bonded a little with Chihiro over keeping secrets and projecting their issues onto a dead bird. Then, after a brief sports festival interlude, Kaito helped Mondo be more positive about his future, and I lengthily compared Mondo and Chihiro’s relationship to Kaito and Shuichi’s one in canon, because both had similar issues and dynamics going on.

There’s still a bunch more Kaito-related stuff to cover in this mode, so let’s start off this second half on a high note, shall we?

Ryoma (featuring Kaito’s issues)

Another of Kaito’s friendly events is with Ryoma, so you can bet I’m interested in it. Remember, Kaito’s fondness for tennis meant he looked up to Ryoma as a hero, and as a result, all of Kaito’s unreasonably high standards for heroes that usually only apply to himself also apply to Ryoma. Ryoma therefore provides a delightful look into Kaito’s hero issues that can’t really be found anywhere else in this AU, since Kaito hasn’t been dying, and nor has Shuichi been saving everyone’s lives in class trials without seeming to need Kaito’s help.

This scene also features Usami – yes, she’s also here in this mode, as is Monomi, though never at the same time. I don’t even know, just go with it.

Usami: “I just came to talk to Ryoma! I’m everyone’s teacher… so if you ever wanna talk to me about something, please feel free!”

Ryoma: “Thanks, but there’s nothing to talk about. Don’t bother with me. Go back to your students. It feels… wrong for such a cheery mascot like you to be around someone like me.”

Kaito: “Really? I think talking about stuff will help. Come on, just talk to her.”

Of course Ryoma talking about things will help! And it’s… actually rather surprising to see Kaito doing something that amounts to trying to help Ryoma get stronger, by encouraging him to do this. Kaito is usually so hung up on Ryoma being weak in the first place that he can’t even get as far as suggesting some kind of help for him. So I can only assume that the reason he manages to do so in this instance is because Usami was the one to suggest it first, which made Kaito actually briefly see Ryoma as someone in need of support for once, because she was treating him that way, and agree with her.

Ryoma: “Hmph… is being nosy your talent or something?”

In my Kaito-isn’t-into-tennis AU, I wrote Ryoma’s POV describing Kaito as “nosy” for reasons I couldn’t quite place, but it seems I was subconsciously remembering that he does so here, even though I didn’t recall the details of this scene back then. Kind of like how Maki considers anyone worrying about her to be “gross”, “nosy” may well be Ryoma’s way to refer to people who are going out of their way to help him, as a way to try and brush off their help because he doesn’t consider himself worth it.

(In that sense, yes, being nosy practically is Kaito’s talent. Or at least it is with everyone except Ryoma.)

Kaito: “What did you say?”

Usami: “Hey! Fighting’s a no-no!”

Kaito: “We’re not gonna fight. There’s no use butting heads with him anyway. Because this guy’s a total sad sack now. He used to be an amazing athlete before.”

Being called nosy probably wouldn’t normally rile Kaito up, not when he considers it a good thing to be invested in other people’s wellbeing. But apparently something about it coming from Ryoma in particular gets to him and causes him to snap right back to his Ryoma-specific mindset of “he’s not worth helping because he’s supposed to be a hero but he’s weak”. Specifically, I think it might be because the “nosy” comment was essentially Ryoma brushing off Kaito’s attempt to offer help. That refusal to even try and get stronger is another kind of weakness – and a more meaningful kind, one that it makes more sense to be upset at someone about, because it’s a choice.

Not that that’s a thing that usually stops Kaito from trying to help someone, of course! He openly called Maki a coward for running away from her issues at first, but that didn’t change the fact that he knew she had the potential to be brave enough to face them, if he just pestered her stubbornly enough to convince her. It usually takes a lot for Kaito to conclude that someone really is beyond help and isn’t ever going to decide to change, as we saw with Kokichi in canon. But not when it’s Ryoma, apparently. Even though Usami got Kaito to temporarily see past Ryoma’s initial weakness and try to help, refusing that help even once and not wanting to change is even more weak of Ryoma, and is therefore again disgraceful for a hero and sent Kaito’s opinion of him right back to square one.

Which seems quite relevant to how Kaito was in canon, considering how much he refused any help with his own weaknesses. Particularly in trial 4, where it was very apparent that he was struggling to face the truth and should have reached out for support, and he was only making himself look even more obviously weak by not doing that.

This moment here with Ryoma, thanks to Usami letting Kaito get as far as offering help at all, is essentially illustrating to Kaito that if a hero does do the unacceptable and be weak in the first place, then refusing help for it when people can already see that he needs it only looks even weaker and even less heroic of him, and he should at least cut his losses and accept help. I would say that if only a moment like this with Ryoma had happened in canon then it might have served as a lesson of How Not To Be A Worse Hero (When You’re Already A Bad One) and taught Kaito to actually accept the support he needed. Buuuut I still very much doubt that, because Kaito here definitely seems to have fallen too far back into his general frustration of “heroes shouldn’t be weak at all!!!” to be using this as any kind of example.

Ryoma: “You knew about me?”

Kaito: “A little, yeah…”

Ryoma: “So you get it now. The Ultimate Tennis Pro… I’m not that guy anymore. That’s in the past.”

Kaito: “Yeah, I guess not… The Ryoma I knew was invincible and would go up against any opponent.”

Oh, Kaito, why am I so right about you. Throughout all of the lengthy rambles I’ve written about Kaito’s unhealthily unrealistic standards for heroes, including the fact that he also applies these standards to Ryoma, I had basically forgotten about this scene and didn’t use it to help me figure any of that stuff out. And yet here Kaito is, describing the Ryoma that he looked up to as invincible. Of course he saw him that way. Kaito’s writers have always known exactly what they’re doing and I love it.

Usami: “K-Kaito… Is everything okay!? Please calm down!”

Kaito: “My bad… I’m gonna go cool off.”

[Kaito leaves the room]

I like how Usami managed to notice, even though it wasn’t showing that much in his face based on his sprites, that Kaito was beginning to get really worked up about this. And credit to Kaito for actually acknowledging this when it’s pointed out, apologising for it (a more worthwhile apology than like 90% of the ones he ever gives) and leaving to calm down. Kaito can often react to things that upset him with a cycle of getting more and more riled up until he snaps in some way. At least in this case, he realised that he doesn’t want to end up lashing out as that doesn’t help anyone, and that the best thing for him to do is to just step away from the situation before he reaches that point. This is Kaito actually showing decent self-care! That’s rare.

…It’s probably only because Usami pointed it out to him. I said it’s ridiculous that she’s even here in this AU, but… Usami actually subtly did a lot for Kaito in this scene. Maybe he ought to talk to her. (You know, because Kaito is so good at talking to people about his issues.)

Usami: “The air feels so tense… It’s all my fault… I shouldn’t have said anything at all…”

No, Usami, you did a good. If you hadn’t been here and it’d just been Kaito and Ryoma, Kaito wouldn’t have even vaguely acknowledged the possibility of helping Ryoma and might have actually lashed out at him. This is a scene about Kaito’s issues with Ryoma, but it seems the writers included Usami in it for a reason.

The scene ends with Ryoma acknowledging that Usami cares about him, but also saying that he’s still not planning on actually talking to her and accepting her support. Damn it, Ryoma, you aren’t helping yourself either. He needs someone a lot more stubborn than Usami to really get through to him, but… yeah, there’s an issue with that, isn’t there.

There’s also a final year seasonal event that somewhat follows up on this. Ryoma heads to the gym to help Himiko set up for her Christmas magic show and finds Kaito already there.

Kaito: “Oh…”

This is Kaito’s evasive face. This particular kind of reaction rather reminds me of Kaito’s reactions to Shuichi’s presence in early chapter 5. Which is only appropriate, since this is a similar situation of him awkwardly not really wanting to talk to someone who sets off his issues, but not wanting to admit why either.

Ryoma: “Did Himiko get you to help her out, too?”

Kaito: “Well, something like that. You too?”

Ryoma: “Yeah. I may not be as fit as I was back in my glory days, but it should be enough…”

Kaito: “How pathetic… An athlete at your level should say stuff like, ‘I’ll take on any challenge!’”

Heroes like Ryoma are meant to be full throttle, larger than life, all the time, with no half measures. That’s what Kaito’s like when he’s setting an example for his sidekicks and anyone else he’s trying to inspire; Ryoma’s supposed be like that too!!

It’s not even acceptable that Ryoma is saying he’s still strong enough to get the job done and is going to do his best. Simply admitting to any kind of weakness in the first place isn’t allowed and will definitely prevent anything else he says from ever being inspiring. (Won’t it?)

Ryoma: “Hmph… Don’t bring up such an old story now. Those days are long past.”

Kaito: “I don’t care about your past!”

Kaito, you extremely care about his past. Not about the past of him being a murderer that led to all his self-loathing, because he doesn’t have to let that define him and can move on from it and do better in future. That’s a lot like Maki’s situation, and obviously Kaito doesn’t care about her past in that sense, so I can believe he also wouldn’t do so analogously with Ryoma. But here they were actually talking about Ryoma’s past before the murders, when he used to be a superstar athlete. Kaito very obviously still cares about that past, because that’s why he can’t deal with Ryoma properly. If Kaito was capable of seeing Ryoma as nothing but the person he is today, then he’d be able to help like can usually help anyone.

Kaito: “There are plenty of tennis players that look up to you. They’re trying to surpass your memory. One of them might become the next Ultimate Tennis Pro! So quit it with that mopey face you’ve got on all the time! When you see a tennis fan, can’t you just smile at him and say, ‘Tennis is pretty great, huh?’”

Kaito is kind of giving some reasonable advice here, but only on the level on which he looks up to Ryoma as his tennis hero. He’s managing to encourage Ryoma to be a little better at being that hero to people who look up to him, even if he’s not necessarily ever going to pick up a racket again. That’s something, but it’s not remotely what Ryoma really needs; it’s really more just what Kaito wanted from him.

Kaito: “That’s all… I just wanted to say that to you before we graduate.”

Apparently this really has been bothering Kaito on and off for the past three years such that he would have regretted not getting to say it in the end. But still, “you should be a better hero” is not remotely addressing the real problem here, Kaito. Three years and Kaito was still too hung up on Ryoma being a disappointment of a hero to actually be able to figure out how to help.

Ryoma: “Were you… just waiting for a chance to talk to me about tennis?”

Ryoma, perceptive as he is, does seem to have picked up that this whole speech Kaito just gave him was really more for Kaito’s own benefit. He just did it because he wanted Ryoma to become someone willing to talk to him, or at least others like him, about tennis.

Ryoma: “Well, even if I agreed to… do you really think you’re qualified to talk to me about tennis? Well… you’d probably say that something like that didn’t matter.”

Kaito: “Heh, so you do get it after all!”

Kaito has a point here, though. Someone shouldn’t have to also be a superstar with ridiculous anime tennis superpowers to be able to have a conversation about tennis with Ryoma, and if Ryoma’s trying to claim that just to avoid talking to people genuinely interested in tennis, then he’s only making excuses. (And I like how Ryoma’s perceptiveness lets him realise Kaito would say that to him before he even said it.)

Apparently Ryoma and Kaito do then end up chatting about tennis with each other as they set up the stage, which is at least some level of progress for both of them. Ryoma would probably have refused to talk about tennis if this’d been earlier on, but by now it seems he’s mellowed out enough – for reasons that have nothing to do with Kaito, of course – to be up for it if pushed. On Kaito’s end, though, this is still only him interacting with Ryoma as a fan of his and a fellow tennis enthusiast. He hasn’t stopped being incapable of properly seeing and helping with Ryoma’s real problems because of his own messed-up standards for heroes.

But even though Kaito still wasn’t able or even really willing to help him, we don’t have to worry about Ryoma in this universe. We can see this most clearly in one of Mahiru’s third year winter scenes in which she’s giving him some photos that he asked her to take as keepsakes of his time here…

Ryoma: “I won’t let it end so easily. During the three years we spent in this academy… I found something I don’t want to let go of. Something I thought I’d never find again… And your pictures… have captured their smiles so clearly. These pictures will always remind me that the time I spent here was worth every second.”

…so, Ryoma’s going to be okay. He’s found his new reason to live.

Year 2 seasonal events

Year 2’s seasonal event is the school festival in which a lot of the students are doing shows or exhibits displaying their talents. Kaito isn’t doing anything like that himself and only helped set up the stage, but then he can check out one of the shows afterwards.

- Can’t miss Kaede’s recital

Kaito’s POV wording for this option is great. It’s not just that he’s checking out Kaede’s show because eh why not – he actively doesn’t want to miss it!

Kaede: “Huh…? You came by yourself, Kaito?”

Kaito: “Yeah, my bad. Shuichi’s not here yet, but he’s on his way.”

Kaito, why are you apologising just because you didn’t bring Shuichi when she didn’t even ask you to? The fact that Kaito apparently on some level feels like this counts as doing something wrong suggests that he assumes Kaede doesn’t think much of him on his own and only ever cares about seeing him if he has Shuichi with him.

(I’d be surprised that he doesn’t know Kaede better than that, but… maybe what other people think of him is another inherent blind spot in Kaito’s intuition. I never quite thought about it in that way before, but that really does make a lot of sense and is kind of heartbreaking to think about. Oh, Kaito, you idiot.)

Kaede: “I-I didn’t mean it like that! It’s just… I’m a little surprised you came to listen to classical music.”

But of course Kaede didn’t mean her comment in the way Kaito assumed! Instead, however, it seems that she similarly assumes that Kaito doesn’t think much of her on her own and would only ever come to her recital if he was tagging along with Shuichi, rather than for his own enjoyment.

Kaito: “Hey, of course I’d come. You’re the one playing, so there’s no way I’d miss it.”

Obviously, though! Kaito respects and admires Kaede a lot, so of course he’d want to see her doing the thing she’s best at and loves so much! Classical music may not be personally Kaito’s area of interest, but that doesn’t mean he can’t appreciate Kaede’s passion for it and get excited about it anyway!

Kaito: “I know you’re gonna do great! As far as I’m concerned, you’re the best pianist out there!

Everyone is supposed to think Kaede is the best pianist out there; that’s literally the point of her being the Ultimate Pianist. So I love how Kaito doesn’t care about that, and instead he makes a point that her being so great at this is his opinion of her.

While it’s less prominent in this AU, Hope’s Peak tends to do the rather unhealthy thing of putting people’s talents first and acting like that’s the only thing about them that matters. If Kaede is the Ultimate Pianist, then that means that her being so great at the piano is just the baseline expectation for someone with that title and not really anything special at all. But Kaito doesn’t see her as an Ultimate who’s already destined to be good at her thing – he sees her as a fully-rounded person first and foremost who just happens to have an amazing talent that deserves to be praised and admired rather than expected of her. And he does this despite spending all day every day surrounded by Ultimates and being one himself to the point that someone being talented at a particular thing should be difficult to see as anything special any more. He’s so good.

Kaito: “Be confident and knock their socks off. I’ll be watching from the seats!”

Kaede: “Hahaha, thanks. That’s so Kaito of you.”

I love Kaede using “Kaito” as an adjective, much like I’ve done many times throughout this commentary. His personality is so impactful and distinctive that sometimes there’s no better way to encapsulate it than that. And the fact that Kaede does this goes to show that she also appreciates Kaito’s outlook a lot, because she wouldn’t describe it in this way that expresses just how uniquely him it is if she didn’t.

Both Kaede and Kaito assume that the other doesn’t think much of them or see them as anything more than another close friend of Shuichi’s, but they’re so wrong! You should be better friends with each other as well, you two! You have so much in common other than just being Shuichi’s friend!

Kaito’s other two options for the festival aren’t especially noteworthy. He can talk to Ibuki before her concert and see that she’s already plenty hyped up about it without his help, or he can check out a fashion show featuring the class 1 girls and have “Junko” (really Mukuro) accuse him of being a perv when he’s genuinely just interested in the show. (Why wouldn’t he be interested? There’s nothing unnecessary in this world!)

However, Kaito’s appearances in other people’s events for this school festival are all quite noteworthy in one way or another.

One of these festival events is with Byakuya. This is not someone you’d expect Kaito to go out of his way to talk to, because he’s empatically neither someone Kaito respects for being invested in helping others, nor someone who might benefit from Kaito’s support. But apparently there is one reason Kaito is interested in him, and therefore approaches him after a speech he was giving at the festival…

Kaito: “I’ve got a question for you! The Togami Corporation funds all kinds of stuff, right? What about space exploration?”

…Which is, of course, SPACE.

Byakuya: “That is within our power. The Togami group, and myself, can move mountains. We are obligated to spread our grasp into space. A loser like you wouldn’t understand.”

Byakuya, you asshole, you are talking to the Ultimate Astronaut; if you actually cared about a Togami space program then he’d be an incredible asset to that. Evidently Byakuya does not actually care about space travel itself and is only interested in doing this as a way to make his name seem even more big and important.

Kaito: “I’m no loser! I’m Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars!”

…At one point in the main commentary I mentioned that Kaito never actually responds to being called useless (which “loser” is pretty analogous to) in this overblown way. But that was because that kind of overblown response would have sounded like an obviously-desperate defence during the times when he actually was afraid he was useless. Here in this AU, though, Kaito has no such issues going on, so all that’s happening here is his genuine overblown confidence. Being called a loser just bounced right off him; he knows he’s not.

(Also look at how Kaito would rather inform Byakuya that he’s the Luminary of the Stars, even though him being the Ultimate Astronaut is pretty relevant to this conversation. His luminary title is so much more important to him.)

Kaito: “But I see you understand how great outer space is.”

I am kind of surprised though that Kaito didn’t pick up on the fact that Byakuya doesn’t understand how great space is, at least not in any meaningful way.

Kaito: “Alright! I’ll make you my sidekick!”

…Kaito? Clearly Byakuya is not a potential sidekick, what are you doing.

Kaito then apparently spends a while following Byakuya around and pestering him about space despite his protests. Given this, I can only assume that in this instance Kaito means a somewhat different kind of sidekick, one that only applies in the context of space travel. Obviously Kaito is the foremost authority on space around here, so he wants to teach Byakuya all about space exploration and how he can make the Togami corporation the best at space. Maybe Kaito does realise that Byakuya only “understands” how great space is in the sense that he superficially recognises it’s big and important, and so Kaito wants to teach him exactly why it’s so great so that Byakuya will definitely decide to throw all of his money at it.

Kaito, cut your losses, dude. You could do so, so much better than him for a space sidekick.

On a similar but much more interesting note, Kaito can also interact with Izuru Kamukura. (Yes, he’s in this mode like it’s no big deal. Hajime is also in this mode. They’re never both seen or mentioned in the same scene, so I guess we’re just running with two alternate universes here?)

Kaito: “How about it? You wanna become my sidekick, too?”

And Kaito just casually offers this out of nowhere after they’ve done nothing but help set up the stage together.

Izuru: “It wouldn’t make sense to have a sidekick who is better than you at everything, right?”

Oh, Izuru, you don’t get it at all. Kaito absolutely can have sidekicks that are better and more capable than him. The only thing required for them to be his sidekick is that there’s something standing in the way of them reaching their full potential, something that Kaito’s support can help with.

Kaito: “Heh, Ultimate Hope? That’s nothin’! I’m Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars!”

Heh, there’s another instance of him seeing his luminary title as far more meaningful than any of these Ultimate talents, even the most Ultimate one of them all.

Izuru: “I can analyze everything about a future you would follow.”

Kaito: “Analyze? You’re just talking about predictions. My destiny’s too big to be predicted! Plus… I’ve got Shuichi and Maki Roll as my sidekicks. If we include their strengths, the possibilities are endless.”

Silly Izuru, assuming Kaito has limits, that there are things that might just be impossible for him. That’s not how Kaito works! And I love that Kaito brings his sidekicks into it, too; he believes in their potential so much! More than that, he believes that when people work together, they have unlimited potential that could never be predicted!

Izuru: “As I predicted, you are an idiot. How boring…”

Kaito: “That’s a bad habit. If you keep saying that, you’ll start to think everything’s boring. Are you okay with that?”

…See, Kaito gets it. He knew exactly what he was doing in this instance when he asked Izuru to be his sidekick. It doesn’t matter that Izuru is infinitely more talented than him – he still has weakness that he needs help with. After nothing but a brief session of helping each other with some manual labour, Kaito managed to pick up on that. His intuition is incredible.

This weakness of Izuru’s – to see everything as boring because he’s such a super-genius that he can predict every possible outcome – is, as far as I understand it, ultimately the reason he ended up contributing to the apocalypse in his canon storyline, because Junko convinced him it was the least boring thing he could do. But it didn’t necessarily have to be that way. If he’d only had the right help, he could have ended up using his talents to do far more productive things than ending the world.

If anyone could teach Izuru how to have more passion for life, to see the value and excitement in things even if he already knows everything about them, surely it would be Kaito? If anyone could let him realise that people are inherently unpredictable and he’s never going to always know everything that will happen, surely it would also be a beautifully reckless doofus like Kaito?

Plus, Izuru was supposedly implanted with every single talent imaginable, but only insofar as he’s one person. He evidently doesn’t have Kaito’s talent, because that’s all about teamwork and co-operation. Izuru is already a super-genius, but he could be so much better than he is. If Kaito could convince him that this interpersonal kind of talent is worthwhile to have as well, then he could teach him that, and Izuru would learn to value other people’s strengths no matter how predictable they are! There’s just so much Kaito could do for him.

Unfortunately, Izuru brushes Kaito off as boring again and ignores continued attempts to sidekick him, so we can only assume that Kaito eventually backed down and decided it wasn’t worth it because Izuru wasn’t willing to try and change. Which I’m only begrudgingly accepting because if Kaito did succeed in making Izuru listen to him then that’d be the beginning of a whole storyline that this side mode just doesn’t have the capacity for. Otherwise, I really do believe Izuru had the potential to change, and that Kaito would believe that too and not give up so easily.

Just… man, imagine Kaito being a part of actual Hope’s Peak canon and just casually averting the apocalypse because he saw Izuru’s weakness and did his usual Kaito thing and it worked.

At some other point during the festival, Nagito approaches Kaito and is disappointed to hear that the Ultimate Astronaut isn’t putting on any kind of show about space today.

Kaito: “Oh, are you interested in space, too?”

Nagito: “Of course I am! The vastness of space… that’s the only stage suitable for your talent, right!? There’s no mistake that you’ll be able to bring hope to the world from outer space!”

Kaito: “Hmm… something feels off.”

Nagito: “Off? What do you mean?”

Kaito: “You’re not interested in space… Or me. That’s how it feels. Like it’d be weird for you to cheer me on…”

Kaito’s intuition is so good. He barely knows Nagito, but he can sense well enough just from a few sentences that Nagito doesn’t actually care about Kaito himself or his interests at all and is only obsessed with the “hope” that he thinks Kaito represents. (Not that Nagito’s concept of it is anything close to the actual meaning of the word “hope”, but let’s not go into that again.) Kaito hasn’t seen enough of Nagito to know for sure that this is the kind of creep he is (like I imagine Nagito’s classmates are probably fully aware by now), but even without that, he can instinctively pick up on it straight away.

Kaito would probably have a lot of very interesting things to say to Nagito if he was exposed to him more and got to know his deal better, especially if it’d been in the context of an actual killing game. …But really, Kaito’s already had to do more than enough giving a piece of his mind to a selfish asshole who keeps making the killing game about himself and his own bullshit philosophy, and there’s so much more to Kaito’s character than just being stuck doing that all the time. Let’s give him a break.

Nagito: “Hmm… did I get too excited? I’m sorry if my blabbering made you uncomfortable… But it’s true that I want to cheer you on, Kaito…”

Kaito: “Well, I guess you’re not lying… My bad.”

No, Kaito, not your bad, because you were right! Just because he really isn’t lying about “wanting to cheer you on” doesn’t necessarily mean he cares about you.

This shows something neat about how Kaito treats his hunches that never really came up in the main storyline. If Kaito’s hunch about someone is negative, then he won’t act on it without further proof. Despite how much faith he puts in his intuition, he’ll give someone the benefit of the doubt if they deny whatever negative thing he suspects about them. (We saw this kind of thing very briefly in trial 2 when he picked up that Kirumi was trying to save an “everyone” who wasn’t here but then stopped pushing the subject when she denied it, even though she was lying and he probably still suspected that.) After all, it’s just a hunch. Kaito doesn’t want to form firm negative opinions of someone based only on that, because that’s not fair. That’s just being a dick to someone for what’s really no good reason, especially if it then turns out he was wrong about them and they didn’t deserve it.

Of course, Kaito is quite happy to act upon unfounded positive hunches about people, because why shouldn’t he? There’s nothing wrong with being nice to someone for no reason! Maybe it’ll turn out he was wrong about them and they didn’t really deserve his kindness, but then, still, no-one was hurt; he was just being a bit too reckless by believing in them is all. Kaito is so often recklessly kind like that – yet we can see here that he also tries not to be recklessly unkind. He’s so good.

Elsewhere in the school festival, Mikan is working as a receptionist for the haunted house exhibit. In an attempt to attract more guests, she tries inviting passers-by… one of whom happens to be Kaito. As you can imagine, this does not go down well.

After his initial freakout over the idea, which rather startles poor Mikan, Kaito tries to calm down and talk himself into it.

Kaito: “Wait, wait… I’m not scared. Everything in there is just fake, right?”

Obviously he doesn’t want to be seen as a coward, but this could also be partly because he feels bad for freaking out at Mikan when she was genuinely just trying to be a good receptionist for the exhibit and doesn’t want to disappoint her.

Mikan: “Yes… they’re all just props for the festival. So it’d make me happy if you tried it… sorta…”

Kaito: [looking ill] “Sorry… I still can’t.”

But I’m glad he realises that he’s not going to be able to handle this and backs out before actually forcing himself through the exhibit and fucking up his health a lot more. Sometimes these things just can’t be helped, and that’s okay, Kaito. Looking after yourself is more important than saving face or preventing someone from being mildly disappointed. (And don’t apologise for it, you moron.)

Since Kaito already did make himself feel a little ill just thinking about it, at least he happens to be with Mikan, so she’s able to take care of him.

What interests me the most about this scene, though, is just the fact that it’s here at all. I went over at great length in the main commentary how I’m absolutely convinced that Kaito’s phobia only existed as something that Tsumugi deliberately wrote into him so that she could weaken him when she wanted to. It didn’t make sense for Kaito to have that phobia for any other reason – it was in-universe bad writing that was justified in an out-universe sense because Tsumugi was a lazy writer.

But in this AU, Kaito is not a fictional character written by Tsumugi and nobody is trying to nerf him. There’s no in-story reason for Kaito to have the phobia in this AU – the only reason is that “he had it in canon”, but the reason he had it in canon does not apply here. Every other one of his character traits is here in this AU not only because he had them in canon, but because they’re all a part of what make him Kaito. But I think it could be argued that his phobia is not a part of what makes him Kaito – it sure as hell isn’t connected to anything else about his character at all – and therefore that it doesn’t need to be here.

So it honestly would have been entirely plausible to me to see Kaito not have the phobia in this AU. They could have instead had a scene of Kaito excitedly going into the haunted house exhibit with absolutely no explanation as to why he’s okay with this, because why should there be an explanation for something he’s never had a problem with in this universe? It would have been a delightful subtle hint as to the reason behind his phobia in canon. I’d have loved that. Alas.

Instead, it seems the writers just decided to take the in-universe bad writing that gave Kaito his phobia originally and make it a part of the out-universe writing for Kaito in this AU. Which I guess is acceptable if we consider that Gonta is also here at all.

Gonta had by far the most obviously-fictional backstory – raised by a race of creatures from a videogame? – and so that shouldn’t be a thing in this universe where he’s not made from fake memories. However, they also can’t just briefly edit it so that in this universe his forest family really were wolves, because wolves don’t have a proper language. Apparently, if a human child is isolated from any kind of language for a prolonged amount of time at the ages Gonta would have been at, it severely fucks up their ability to grasp language at all and they become basically non-functional. This is not an issue with fictional-Gonta, because Reptites are sapient and have a language that he’d have learned instead, so his backstory is perfectly consistent with the person he is. But if some kind of sapient non-human creature is not able to be part of his backstory… Gonta’s entire character falls apart and does not make sense. So Gonta existing as the Gonta we know in any non-fantasy universe in which he wasn’t made from fake memories is bad writing.

The writers had Gonta exist in this AU anyway, of course, because obviously they didn’t want to deprive us of our lovely gentleman friend in this mode, and if that means there’s technically some bad writing here, then so be it. So I guess with Kaito as well, they used that same philosophy of keeping him exactly as he is in canon, even including the parts that make a lot less sense when he’s not made out of Flashback Lights for Tsumugi’s story. Hence Kaito’s phobia still being a thing even when it kind of actually shouldn’t be.

A few more miscellaneous scenes

Kaito’s last friendly event isn’t nearly as interesting to me as the rest of them and I’m not covering it in full, especially because it features Leon and Teruteru and I refuse to quote a single word that comes out of Teruteru’s mouth. But it’s still at least a little worth talking about. The gist of it is that Leon and Teruteru begin to discuss going after girls and are shallow and gross, but they’re vague enough about it at first that it somehow spurs Kaito to start talking about “a man’s passion” and sound like he might be agreeing with them.

Kaito: “I never said I wanted to peep! I’m talking about chasing after unknown worlds!”

But he was never agreeing with them; they were actually having two entirely different conversations at once without realising it. When Kaito said “a man’s passion”, he was talking about going to space, obviously, what the hell did they think he meant?

Kaito: “Listen up! I’ll teach you what a man’s passion really is!”

Kaito’s concept of manliness does not and never did have anything to do with gross sexualising misogyny, and if anyone thinks that is what being a man is supposed to be about, then he’s going to set them straight, dammit!

…Okay, admittedly that is probably not what Kaito’s about to do – presumably he’s just going to try and tell them how great space is, incidentally sidestepping the actual problem with how they were behaving. Danganronpa’s occasionally-shitty writing is thankfully not so shitty as to directly include Kaito in it (except for the literally four single lines in the main story in which he is still nowhere near as bad as these idiots and which are out-of-character outliers that should be ignored). However, it’s unfortunately still bad enough to not go and actually have the dudes who are shitty be called out by another guy for being like this. But if Danganronpa’s writing wasn’t Danganronpa’s writing, I really feel like this is the kind of thing Kaito would absolutely do.

While the writing isn’t letting Kaito properly acknowledge how gross those two are being, it is otherwise at least having him be very Kaito about this. Even if the other two were being legit and non-gross about it, Kaito would still rather talk about going to space than getting a girlfriend, obviously; space is way more exciting! (…Which, actually, means that this scene is some actual evidence supporting that that one line in one of his Salmon Team hangouts about crushes on girls is likely to be out of character for Kaito. And the one about reading dirty books, for that matter. Ha! Take that, clueless intern!)

Anyway, thankfully this is the last piece of Danganronpa shittiness that goes anywhere near Kaito that I am ever going to have to defend him from being seen as a part of. Let’s move onto something better.

The final year’s seasonal event is less of a specific school event; it takes place in winter close to graduation (the Japanese school year ends in March) and generally involves characters reflecting on their time here over the past three years. I’ve already covered a bunch of the ones I find interesting in conjunction with friendly events they’re connected to, but here’s a few of interest that are a bit more standalone.

Shuichi happens to come across Maki and Himiko on the morning of the winter closing ceremony. This is an unusual trio to see together in this universe and definitely has no particular out-universe reason behind it at all.

Shuichi and Maki are both feeling rather sentimental about the fact that graduation is coming up soon, but Himiko is having none of it.

Himiko: “Ugh, don’t make that face! It’s not like we’re graduating today!”

Shuichi: “H-Himiko?”

Himiko: “Besides, we can still see each other after we graduate! I’ll invite you all to my magic show! My magic can still improve. The next time I show it to you, it’ll be even more amazing! See? Why don’t you guys try to think of the future in a more fun way? Look forward to it!”

Look at her go! She’s been spending enough time with Tenko over the past three years to have reached basically the same point in her development that she reaches in canon in terms of how upbeat and optimistic she’s able to be. This is just the kind of thing that can help cheer Shuichi and Maki up when they’re feeling down, and also exactly the kind of role she’d be playing in this trio in canon as they’re trying to get by and deal with their trauma in the outside world. Since this scene rather pointedly has these three together (when they’re otherwise not seen together in any other scene in this mode), it’s got to be a deliberate nod to the canon ending, so it serves to show us that this is the kind of thing Himiko would have been doing for them there, too. In this universe she’s not been specifically inspired by trying to fill Kaito’s shoes or anything, but she’s doing this anyway simply because she’s a performer and this is what her magic is all about.

Shuichi: “Hey… Kaede played a performance at Maki’s orphanage, right? Why not have Himiko do a show at the orphanage too?”

Himiko: “A show for orphans, huh? Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

Aww, that would be adorable! Both Kaede and Himiko perform to make people smile, and those kids definitely deserve to smile. Also it’s lovely to see confirmation that Kaede really did end up going to Maki’s orphanage and it went off without a hitch.

Himiko: “I might even get an apprentice. How about it, Maki?”

Maki: “…I can’t imagine you as a master. I think you’re moving too fast.”

Nah, Maki, I think Himiko would be great at that. She ended up greater than her own master despite seeming to be the apprentice on the surface, so I think that makes her plenty qualified to be a master herself and train her own apprentices now.

(Since Himiko’s master actually exists in this universe, I am Very Invested in her reuniting with him one day. She needs to help him realise that having messed up in front of her one time doesn’t mean he’s failed her because she still looks up to him and cares about him even if she’s become greater than him, and he was being an Idiot to ever feel like she’d be better off without him because they are not just master and apprentice but also friends.)

Meanwhile, for Kaito’s final year event, one of his choices is obviously the most correct and worthwhile, but I’ll save the best for last. If he instead chooses to go for a walk on his own, Kaito bumps into Kokichi and has a predictably infuriating conversation with him, most of which I’m not going to bother covering, but there’s one part of it that I find interesting enough to talk about.

Kaito: “You haven’t changed a bit in these last 3 years…”

This seems at a glance just like a general way to express exasperation, but it is very like Kaito to focus on Kokichi not having changed. After all, Kaito’s watched his sidekicks grow and change so much and is generally invested in the idea of people changing as they meet and form friendships with others. But of course none of that happened to Kokichi over these three years, because, as ever, he refused to let himself change.

Kaito: “You’re still like this at your age? Doesn’t it make your parents cry? Do you even visit?”

Some very good questions! What is going on with regards to Kokichi’s parents? Did he live with them? Does he visit? Are they in the picture at all?

All questions that like hell we’re ever going to get the answers to, of course, and I don’t have nearly enough basis to bother speculating. But I do love that Kaito has thought about this. He’s trying to make some sense of why Kokichi is this way, but he’s also thinking about what Kokichi being this way must be doing to the people out there who actually unconditionally care about him.

(At least, Kaito is automatically assuming that Kokichi’s parents care about him, even though them being assholes could potentially begin to explain a few things. Apparently Kaito considers parents being decent to be the norm, which is another indication that his own parents being assholes is not the answer to why they’re not around.)

Kokichi: “Hey now, you don’t really ask the supreme leader of evil such normie questions. Also, if you wanna know my origin story, you’re gonna have to bet two lives for it.”

Kaito: “Idiot, everyone’s only got one life and there’s no way I’d waste mine on your story!”

Kokichi: “Aw maaan, how boring. If you’re not gonna bother learning the truth about me…”

Kokichi, of course, responds with some evasive insincere bullshit rather than actually be honest about himself for a second, and then acts like it’s Kaito’s fault for not caring enough to want to learn. It couldn’t possibly be that Kaito really does want to understand him better and Kokichi is just refusing to open up because of his trust issues, nope, not at all, nothing is ever Kokichi’s fault.

For the other obviously-not-correct option for his winter event, Kaito goes to the dining hall and comes across Hifumi, who just finished submitting some fan comics of his before the end of the year.

Hifumi: “The crunch time for them was difficult for even my golden hand… But as you can see, I overcame it and triumphed! I’ve raised the bar for fanfic yet again!”

Kaito: “In other words, you wanted to show your manliness, huh? Good for you!”

While I’m not entirely sure why he decided to bring it up now out of nowhere, Kaito’s concept of manliness is still not inherently gendered. He’s just talking about Hifumi giving it his all and wanting to show how good he is at what he does. It’s about being true to yourself!

Kaito: “Alright! Then next you can make a manga about me, Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars!”

Hifumi: “Huh? A manga about you, Mr. Momota?”

Kaito: “It’s gonna be a legendary manga! If you make it about me, it’s gonna be a global hit! Cuz it’s gonna be filled with manga-style adventure before it even gets to the space part!”

What an absolute dork. What I can only assume he means by this is that he’s going to have Hifumi manga-ify the ridiculous make-believe games he played as a kid. Obviously that’s the kind of story that everyone’s going to be able to appreciate, children and adults alike, right? And in his narration at the end of this scene, he calls this his biography, because it’s all definitely true. Oh, Kaito.

Hifumi: “Well, that aside, if I’m gonna make it… It’ll definitely be a global hit! You’ve got a good eye for talent, Mr. Momota!”

Kaito: “Of course! I’m a hero with many sidekicks!”

Kaito is citing his status as a hero with sidekicks not as part of why his story will obviously be a global hit, but as a separate thing, in terms of why he’s good at spotting talent. Because he is! His hero-and-sidekick thing is all about seeing the potential in people and bringing it out of them, and he’s so good at it!

Reflections with the sidekicks

But anyway, speaking of Kaito’s sidekicks, let’s get back to the obviously correct option for his final year event.

The stars are especially pretty tonight… What will you do?

- Take a walk with my sidekicks

Kaito’s POV is again being wonderfully Kaito – of course he’d notice that the stars are pretty. He definitely goes for walks on clear nights all the time just so that he can look up at them. Space.

(How many times do you want to bet he’s tripped over something and made a doofus of himself because he was too busy looking up at the stars to watch where he was actually going? A lot. The answer is a lot, I will accept nothing lower.)

Kaito: “You can see the stars pretty well tonight, yeah? Before long, I’ll be up there with ‘em!”

Maki: “The stars are pretty, but… is this really the only reason why you called me out this late?”

Shuichi: “He does this a lot…”

See, he does do this all the time! And what better way to enjoy the beauty of the night sky than by sharing it with his sidekicks? This isn’t even a training session; they’re just hanging out under the stars.

Shuichi: “But isn’t it kind of fun?”

Maki: “…I never said this wasn’t fun.”

And Shuichi and Maki have come to appreciate Kaito’s impromptu starlight walks too! They are friends.

Kaito: “So many things happened in the last three years after I met you guys! We did some school stuff, went to Sonia’s country during the break and solved a case!”

This is indeed another thing that happened. One of Shuichi’s friendly events is with Sonia, in which she tells him about an unsolved conspiracy causing problems among the nobles of her country that ultimately boils down to a lot of missing pets. Since that’s his area of expertise, Shuichi offers to look into it for her, and Sonia takes him up on that. This is more of him trying to help people out using his detective skills, like Kaito was encouraging him to do near the beginning!

And while Shuichi didn’t mention his friends at all during that conversation with Sonia, apparently Kaito later heard about it and invited himself and Maki along. He probably just wanted the three of them to have an adventure together, didn’t he.

Maki: “Hm, I still don’t know why I had to tag along, though.”

Kaito: “You were great at wiping out all those assassins! That’s my sidekick for you!”

Maki: “Correction. I protected us from danger and Shuichi solved the case…”

It sure sounds like they did have quite the adventure, too. Maki used her assassin skills to protect her friends! She even seems to realise this! (Kaito’s wording doeees kinda imply that, while he’s trying to gloss over it, she might have straight-up killed those enemy assassins, though. That’s a shame if so, but it was probably the only way to keep her friends safe.)

Maki: “If anything, I don’t know why you’re tagging along, Kaito.”

Shuichi: “If Kaito hadn’t invited you, Maki, then Sonia and I could have been in big trouble.”

Kaito: “Issuing orders to sidekicks is the most important job a hero has!”

Maki: “Then your job was over before we even left the country.”

Kaito was helping, you guys. His decision to bring Maki was a good call, but then he also came with them for, uh, you know, moral support! …Which probably genuinely did help them, at least a little, because Kaito is the actual best at moral support. If Maki did kill those enemy assassins, they could potentially have been the first people she’s killed since enrolling in Hope’s Peak, which might have caused a setback in her growth that Kaito would definitely have helped talk her through.

Kaito: “After graduation, when I’m in space, I’ll look for you guys from up above!”

Maki: “Huh? You’d never find us.”

Shuichi: “Ah, well, he might be able to see the approximate area…”

It’s lovely how Kaito says this even though it’s extremely unrealistic to think he could actually see them from there. He wants his sidekicks to be able to feel, even while he’s gone, that he’s watching over them from space!

(This is also a sentiment that very much applies in canon when he really is gone. He died up there in space, which means he’s still up there and watching over them from among the stars, isn’t he?)

Kaito: “And then I’ll take you guys into space one day. After all, I need my sidekicks to help me out.”

Kaito pulls this out of absolutely nowhere despite how clearly unfeasible it is. And the idea that it’s because he’d need them to help him is obviously an excuse, because that’s not what the word “sidekick” actually means to him.

Kaito just… doesn’t want to be without them for such a prolonged amount of time. He’s so positive-minded that he’d always have thought of only the good things about going to space, so his comment just a moment ago might have been the first time it’s properly occured to him that going to space does have its downsides, because he’s going to have to say goodbye to Shuichi and Maki and leave them behind for months at a time. There’ll be video chats and such, but it won’t be the same. Kaito wants to keep being with them all the time not just for their sake but for his sake, because even if he still isn’t calling them this in this AU either, they’re his best friends and he loves them to bits.

So obviously that just means that they’ve got to come to space with him too, yep, that’s definitely plausible and definitely something they’d both want, and Kaito’s not going to think about anything else.

Shuichi: “You need us to save you, Kaito?”

Maki: “Well, yeah… We’re the only ones who would do it.”

Kaito: “Hey, Shuichi, what do you mean ‘save me’!? Maki Roll, what do you mean, ‘the only ones’!? Geez, what sassy sidekicks. I gotta teach you guys some manners.”

They are the best sassy sidekicks and I love the way they’re making such affectionate jabs at him like that. He’s an idiot in some ways, but he’s their idiot and they wouldn’t have it any other way. And they really would be there for him if he actually genuinely needed help, even though they’re making it sound like a joke on the surface and Kaito is bound to be assuming that they don’t mean it as anything more than that, goddammit Kaito.

Shuichi: “…How did we end up agreeing to go into space with Kaito?”

Maki: “There’s no way it would go that smoothly. You really are all talk, Kaito.”

Kaito: “Shut it! The impossible is possible, all you gotta do is make it so! It’s already been decided!”

Bad sidekicks, stop telling Kaito it’s impossible! And, okay, technically it isn’t completely impossible for Shuichi and Maki to potentially become astronauts and go to space with Kaito if they both trained hard enough. But that’d require them to put in far more effort than they’d be willing to do just to be able to keep Kaito company in space, considering that space isn’t their passion and they have their own lives they want to lead. Of course Kaito knows this – he just doesn’t want to think about leaving them behind, and so he’s trying to use his own line to tell himself that bringing them to space with him is something he’s totally allowed to imagine happening.

Kaito: “Both of you gotta keep up your training!”

Shuichi: “I don’t know if we’ll ever end up in space, but… I’ll keep on training.”

Maki: “…If I feel like it.”

But regardless of how unrealistic the space part is, they will definitely be keeping up their training, even while Kaito’s up in space without them! Including Maki, despite that she’s acting all dismissive about it here. (She’s smiling when she says that.)

You made a promise for the future with your sidekicks…

Kaito, no, that is not what you did. They did not actually promise to come to space with you. (It’ll be okay, though! You’ll be friends with the other astronauts too, because that’s what astronauts do! And you’ll get plenty of time to see Shuichi and Maki in between missions when you’re back on Earth, and plenty of video chats from space!)

Since this scene is only available while you’re playing as Kaito, it has more of a focus on Kaito’s perspective. Of course Shuichi and Maki also each have a third year seasonal event with Kaito that I’m about to get to, and theirs focus more on their perspective, namely what Kaito’s done for them. Because that gets covered in their scenes, Kaito’s scene is free to be about what Shuichi and Maki mean to him, beyond the purely selfless sense of him being proud of how much they’ve grown – and they’re his best friends that he wants to keep hanging out with and having adventures with forever! This scene isn’t really about them as his sidekicks. They’re more to Kaito than just that, even if he still won’t actually use the word “friend”, the big doofus.

Let’s move onto Maki’s scene, then, and talk about what he’s done for her. (Both Maki and Shuichi’s scenes with Kaito are only one-on-one, so Shuichi’s not here for this.)

Kaito: “It was a lot of work taking care of you guys these past three years. You didn’t even try to talk to people in the beginning.”

Maki: “Yeah. If you hadn’t annoyed me so much with your constant pestering… I probably would have never been able to talk to Shuichi and the others so casually.”

Kaito helped her relearn how to be friends! Here is confirmation that he very much did employ copious amounts of stubborn pestering to get through to her, not that that aspect of how it happened was ever in question. Kaito is even actually more or less admitting that it was pretty hard work getting through to her – he refers to both her and Shuichi when he says that, but let’s face it, he definitely had to put in a lot more effort in Maki’s case at first.

Kaito: “You’re being pretty frank today. It seems you finally understand how great I am!”

It is unusual for Maki to be openly admitting things like this – which is also a big sign of her progress! And it’s very like Kaito to respond to her genuine expression of how much he’s done for her by being over the top about it rather than just directly, earnestly accepting it. In this instance it’s definitely not that he’s having any issues that make him not truly believe he deserves such thanks. So I guess it’s instead just due to him feeling kind of awkward when it comes to heartfelt, down-to-earth things like this, and he’s more comfortable putting on the super-awesome-hero fiction for it. (More on this in Shuichi’s scene.)

Kaito: “Or… are you sad because graduation is getting closer?”

Maki: “…Yes.”

Kaito: “…That’s a bit too frank.”

It does seem that Kaito’s also kind of awkward just thinking about generally sentimental things at all. After all, we saw in his scene that he doesn’t like thinking about the fact that he won’t be seeing his sidekicks every day any more once they graduate.

Maki: “Well, there’s no point being sentimental. It’s not like we won’t ever see each other again.”

Looks like Maki could tell that Kaito’s also feeling more sentimental than he wants to be. At least Maki is capable of being pragmatic about it even while she’s feeling sad. (Kaito would of course be capable of being as optimistic about it as he can, but for his part he doesn’t even really like to think about the sad bits in the first place if he can avoid it.)

Kaito: “Yeah… you’re right. It’ll be hard for me to see you on a daily basis after this, but… it’s not goodbye forever.”

Maki: “What do you mean, it’ll be hard?”

Kaito: “Hm? Well, because I’ll be up in space, obviously.”

Maki: “Oh, yeah… You still want to go there.”

Obviously! Keep up, Maki Roll! Don’t tell me you ever thought for a second that he wasn’t serious about going there, or that he’d change his mind one day! I’m going to instead put this reaction down her just having not quite properly thought about what that means in terms of the future of their friendship, in that he’s not going to be able to be around as much. Kind of like how Kaito himself in his scene apparently hadn’t thought about it properly until now.

Maki’s looking distant and a little sad in her last line there, and it seems like Kaito picks up on that.

Kaito: “But you’re my sidekick! If something happened to you, I’d fly back here, right away! I look out for my sidekicks! Cuz I’m a hero!”

Therefore obviously it’ll totally be possible for him to do this if Maki needed him to! Aborting a space mission on short notice in the middle of it and zooming back to Earth for personal reasons is definitely something an astronaut can do, right? This is adorably like the previous scene in which Kaito insisted they could totally come to space with him. He really does not want to think about the fact that going to space will unavoidably separate him from his sidekicks for months at a time.

While the last scene was more from Kaito’s perspective and was therefore about what he’d want – his sidekicks in space with him! – this one is reversed. This scene has been about what Kaito’s done for Maki, and her talking about that has made him focus on what she’d want. So of course he would selflessly abandon space and come right back to help her if something serious happened and she really did need him! …If only he could. His reluctance at the idea of being separated from his sidekicks is, just as you’d expect, also partly out of selflessness for their sake, in terms of him not being there to support them like the hero he’s supposed to be. Kaito can’t bear the thought of Maki needing him and him being uselessly stuck out in space, not able to help her.

(She’d be okay, though, Kaito! Maki’s got other friends too who’d be able to help her in person. And if she really did need Kaito in particular, video chats would be enough, because Kaito always helps the most with just words.)

Maki: “Huh… that again? Well… I’ll be waiting, but I won’t be expecting much…”

Maki is of course fully aware of how unfeasible these claims of Kaito’s are, but it seems, based on her wistful smile at the end, that she at least understands and appreciates how much he genuinely wants to be able to do that for her if she ever needs it. He is a hero who looks out for his sidekicks, after all, and Maki knows this, no matter how ridiculous she might think that way of wording it is.

Last but not least, Shuichi’s scene begins with him waking up early on the day of the winter closing ceremony. (This is remarkable in and of itself, considering how emphatically not a morning person Shuichi was in canon. Perhaps that was partly for mental health reasons, though, and after three years of being friends with Kaito and Kaede and working on his issues, he’s got better at waking up in the mornings.)

Thinking about only having a short time left at this academy makes you sad… And from that comes restlessness. What will you do?

- Exercise is perfect at a time like this

It’s lovely how Shuichi thinks of this entirely by himself as something that’ll improve his mood. Kaito really has taught him well!

So Shuichi heads to the school field and finds that Kaito had the same idea as him.

Kaito: “Oh, hey there bro! Are you training too?”

Shuichi: “Yeah! It’s good to sweat some things out!”

Kaito: “Right on! That’s the spirit! It’s all thanks to your training with me!”

Of course it’s all thanks to his training with Kaito! Shuichi would never have even considered doing this kind of thing to help himself if Kaito hadn’t been his friend.

Shuichi: “…You’re right. You befriended me, and encouraged me, and gave me advice… You’ve… helped me so much, Kaito…”

Kaito: “Hey, hey. What’s all that about? Don’t dampen the mood, bro.”

…But Kaito still can’t quite just earnestly accept such heartfelt gratitude. This is kind of a reverse of last scene with Maki, in which he responded to her acknowledgement of how much he’d done by being kind of flippantly over-the-top about it. This time, he started with the over-the-top “well, it’s because I’m awesome!”, but Shuichi responding with an earnest “no, you really are, thank you so much,” still managed to wrong-foot him. And again, this isn’t the canon storyline where Kaito had heaps of issues and ended up with a gaping hole in his sense of self-worth, so it’s not because he doesn’t feel like he deserves any kind of thanks at all.

It seems bizarre to be using this word for Kaito, but… he might actually be kind of modest? Sure, he’ll act over-the-top about his achievements, but it’s like he only really thinks of that as a fiction for the sake of keeping up his usual luminary image, an image that people might buy into and play along with because it’s fun and it helps encourage them, but not because they really think he’s that ridiculously amazing. If someone takes his overblown words at face value and seems to genuinely feel that they’re true, then he’ll back up and try to brush it off, because nah, he’s all right, but there’s no way he could really be quite that awesome. (You are that awesome, Kaito. At least when it comes to supporting your sidekicks.)

Shuichi: “Ah, sorry… I was just thinking about what we’ve built over the years…”

Friendship! You built the best adorablest friendship, is what you did. (Also what are you doing apologising for this, Shuichi; there is absolutely nothing wrong in telling Kaito how amazing he’s been even if he’s too much of an awkward dork to properly accept it.)

Shuichi: “If I ever find myself in trouble, I can look back at my time with you for inspiration, Kaito.”

Just like he’s also able to do in canon even though Kaito’s not there any more!

Kaito: “That’s true, but… Graduation won’t be the end for us!”

But thankfully, in this universe, Kaito is always going to be there. (Just maybe sometimes only over video chats, from space.) He doesn’t ever want their friendship to end!

Kaito: “Listen up! Even if things get tough in the future…”

Shuichi: “Don’t bear it all by yourself, right?”

Kaito: “Oh… well if you get it, then it’s all good.”

Pfft, I like how Kaito seems almost miffed that Shuichi stole his line. But it definitely is okay so long as he understands that, and evidently Kaito has told him this enough times over the years that Shuichi has that well and truly ingrained in his mind by now and already knew exactly how Kaito was going to finish his sentence.

Kaito: “When things are bad, me, Maki Roll, or Kaede will help you carry your burdens. As long as you understand that, you can get stronger.”

And it’s good to see that Kaito isn’t just focusing things on himself as the sole figure of support (after all, he wouldn’t have any reason to in this AU where he hasn’t been having massive issues). He’s happy to remind Shuichi that he has other friends as well who’ll be there to help him.

Shuichi: “The same goes for you, Kaito. If there’s anything I can help you with, just say so.”

Shuichi is also so very good. Every time Kaito says something along those lines to Shuichi, I’m always burning with the desperate urge to tell him that goes for you too, Kaito, you selfless idiot, you deserve it – so it’s really lovely and cathartic to see Shuichi actually telling him that. He’s such a caring friend and really would be more than happy to do anything for Kaito if he ever needed it.

Kaito: “Heh, now we’re talking. Of course you’d help me! I’m the hero and you’re my sidekick!”

…

*tilts head almost 180 degrees*

Who are you and what have you done with Kaito.

This is not how Kaito works. He seems to be actually acknowledging that helping the hero is one of the roles of a sidekick, but no it isn’t, not in Kaito’s definition!

Okay, so. When I was starting to think about writing these UTDP bonus posts, I had one hell of a hot take in mind for this line. That take was that the reason Kaito says this here is because in this AU, he’s not “fictional”.

As I explain in greater length in my post about Kaito’s entire character arc from my main blog, it seems reasonable to assume that Kaito’s childlike black-and-white view on heroes and sidekicks comes from the fact that he was in-universely written to be the perfect ideal hero to inspire Shuichi. It’s somewhat unrealistic to think that if Kaito had actually experienced growing up, he wouldn’t have gradually gained a more nuanced appreciation for fiction, as he started reading more complex stories containing more fallible heroes who were still capable of being inspiring not despite but because of that. So I was going to say that Kaito not being fictional in this AU and having actually grown up meant he’d been able to gain that greater understanding of what made a hero inspiring, which’d mean that Kaito’s usual double-standard about heroes simply doesn’t exist in this version of him, and therefore that he genuinely means it here when he says of course Shuichi can and should help him out too.

…Except that clearly doesn’t track with some of the other scenes in this AU, now, does it. Mostly I’m talking about the scenes with Ryoma, in which Kaito’s issues about heroes clearly still apply to Ryoma in the same way they did in canon. There’s also that one scene with Hifumi in which Kaito is quite happy to have his ridiculous childhood games made into a manga and doesn’t seem to be aware of the fact that mayyyybe a lot of people wouldn’t actually find them to be particularly compelling narratives.

And while the scene with Kaito’s phobia isn’t about the hero issue, the point I was trying to get at there is related to this. It doesn’t quite make sense that Kaito has his phobia if he’s not “fictional”, just like it maybe doesn’t quite make sense that he has this view of heroes either. But ultimately, when writing this AU, the writers just decided to keep the characters entirely as they were in V3 canon, even including the parts of them that don’t actually quite make sense if they’re not made out of Flashback Lights for Tsumugi’s story.

So never mind, scratch all that. I only brought it up because I found it an interesting concept to think about, but it’s definitely not what’s going on here. Kaito not being “fictional” in this AU is not actually why he’s willing to admit that of course Shuichi would help him out as his sidekick.

Instead, presumably the reason Kaito is saying this here is that… he doesn’t really mean it, the idiot. It is at least not quite as bad as in canon where he knows full well he already has problems and is consciously lying when he insists that he’d totally ask for help if he needed it. Here, it’s more just that he’s never expecting he will need help and so he’ll never have to actually think about whether or not this claim is really true. Ultimately, it’s easier for him to just casually claim this here, because the alternative is being all “oh but I won’t need your help!”, which’d just make him sound like he doesn’t even appreciate Shuichi’s willingness to be there for him.

I do like to believe, though, that whenever Kaito does run into some kind of trouble in future in this AU (and I say “when” not “if” because nobody can ever go through life without having at least some problems here and there), he’ll actually be able, with Shuichi and Maki’s prodding and reassurance, to admit it and ask for help. Without the stress of the killing game making Kaito tunnel-vision into the fact that he needs to keep supporting his sidekicks and that the only thing that matters is how much of a difference he can make to everyone’s survival, I think he’d be a lot less completely and utterly averse to acknowledging weakness. Plus, hopefully his astronaut training will drill it into him that part of good communication is telling your teammates when there’s something wrong with you, because holy crap is it only going to make things way worse not just for you but for everyone involved if you don’t, you moron. And the more Shuichi and Maki grow and the less obviously they need his help and support most of the time, the more Kaito will come to consciously see them not just as his sidekicks but as his friends, and friends can open up to each other about anything.

One way or another, Kaito is bound to eventually realise what an idiot he’s being and overcome these issues of his. He just needs to live for long enough to get that far.

Kaito: “Alright then… wanna run for a while? Better hurry, or you’ll be eating my dust!”

Shuichi: “Ah, hey! No fair, Kaito!”

Working up a good sweat, you chased Kaito all the way to homeroom.

Aaaaa look at them racing each other off into the sunrise. They are friends and they are going to live happily ever after. Kaito is going to go to space multiple times under normal circumstances and come back alive each time, and also one day learn not to be a hypocrite about asking people for support. Shuichi is going to start his own detective agency where he exclusively takes on jobs that involve helping people and continue to have confidence in his talent in between relying on his friends for help when he needs to.

And Maki… I refuse to accept that she’s just going to have to go back to killing people in this universe when she’s come so far; that is Not Okay. Either Hope’s Peak really is going to somehow absolve her of being an assassin as part of its “set for life” policy, or Kaito and Shuichi are going to do something about it. Maki may still try to claim that assassins are necessary and therefore that totally justifies her being an assassin – there’s no real evidence in this AU that she quite got over that part of her issues – but Kaito would be having none of that. So Shuichi’s first job as a full-fledged detective may have to be to find evidence of her assassin cult’s awful deeds and report it to some kind of authorities that can take it down and take custody of all the kids from the orphanages and give all the other child-slave assassins some goddamn therapy because the rest of them don’t have a Kaito. Then Maki can rid herself of her awful past forever and get a normal job, maybe as an actual child caregiver, where she never has to think about killing anyone ever again and can live a relatively happy life after everything she’s been through, because I say so.

I just love these three so so so much and want them to get to be happy and keep being adorable friends for the rest of their lives, because they’re the best and they deserve it. So I’m glad we have this AU where nothing particularly drastic goes wrong at all, everyone is fully real, and their adorable friendships are still there like in canon, so that there’s at least one world in which we can imagine that they really are going to be okay.

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #ndrv3 #bonus content #ultimate talent development plan #commentary

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twofacedbelief · 5 years

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Thviceit Mythology AU

it’s plot time babes

thomas is human, virgil is a minor god (of anxiety, grief, misery, depression), and dee is a naga who has repressed the first ten years of his life due to trauma and may not actually know how old he is

Dee has been extremely lucky considering that he hasn’t starved to death, still have all his fingers, and haven’t been found by humans, so of course, that luck had to run out sometime (but 20-something years of luck were impressive)

He had been stuck on a construction site after they so nicely felled the tree he was sleeping in before going off to lunch. At least that gave him time to hide, but he was in pain, and he was grieving the trees. They had been very nice trees with good sturdy branches perfect for sleeping on.

He’s been hiding very effectively in a big mound of dirt - if you ignore the parts where his injuries are surely infected, not to mention worsened by the pressure and the fact that dirt gets pretty cold. At least he didn’t suffocate!

This mix of emotions that Virgil happen to be a god of, coming from a non-human being? It’s like a distress beacon once he’s actually walking past the construction site. He had been on his way home from the store, but he couldn’t just ignore what he was sensing.

Thomas, a somewhat sensible human, had been walking in the same direction as Virgil and decided to intervene when he saw Virgil jump the fence to the construction site. Intervening, in this case, meant doing the exact same thing and following Virgil to tell him how unsafe this was.

So imagine Thomas’ surprise when he sees the purple-haired person he had been following frantically trying to drag a half-naked body out from a mound of dirt! Wait, that’s a snake tail, not a pair of pants. Naked body? Half-person half-snake? What’s going on?

Dee is very much not aware of anything, and had he been human, his best bet had probably been a hospital. The second best bet is Virgil calling up Aceso and/or Asclepius.

The third best bet - and therefore worst option - is naturally the one that happens. Thomas pushes his shock aside long enough to help Virgil get Dee home to his apartment, and then does what he can with a First Aid Kit that Virgil may have used some godly magic to create. (He didn’t just have a First Aid Kit at home because once again, he could have called up his fellow Greek deities, but nope, not letting a human know that much)

Thomas thankfully doesn’t ask too many questions - mainly just how Virgil had known where the stranger was, and what was the correct term for a half-person half-snake, and would a veterinarian or a doctor technically be more helpful in this situation. Virgil answers as vaguely as he can because Thomas is a stranger and a human and Virgil would love nothing more than wipe his memory.

Thomas gets to keep his memory, and he gets Virgil’s phone number with a promise of updates on the naga’s health.

Virgil does actually keep his promise, after weighing the cons and pros of keeping this human in the loop. In the end, keep your friends close and your enemies closer won out. (He can’t have Thomas going around telling people that nagas exist!! There shouldn’t even be any in Florida, to begin with!)

It takes about a week for Dee to start waking up and actually remember what happens when he’s conscious. After the second week, he’s even up and moving for short periods of time.

While thankful that he’s alive, he doesn’t trust Virgil at all before he’s 110% sure that Virgil isn’t a human. Which makes Thomas visiting a catastrophe.

Virgil really wishes that he could vent to Logan but that’s hard to without either revealing the truth or omitting a lot of key details.

Thomas definitely wishes he could tell Patton and Roman but he also knows that this is a really big thing that is best kept a secret, so he won’t do so without Virgil’s permission.

And then Remy shows up out of nowhere to visit their brother and start chaos. (They’re chaotic lawful and they love it.)

Chaos, in this case, means telling more people that they’re real and not myths. More people being Logan, Remus (who still might be fae), and Roman and Patton (who are probably human but are they). Also Emile, the poor therapist that Remy fell in love with, and who just happens to know Patton.

Dee really misses sleeping in trees, Virgil really wants to go back to blending in among humans, and Thomas is just along for the ride.

#thviceit #character thomas #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #ts mythology au #when fleshing out the plot ends up being mostly how they all met #it was getting long #i should probably just write this at some point but it feels like it could be a big fic #there's also a really good chance that it ends up being crack tbh

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twitchesandstitches · 5 years

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Bowser: Actor, Not Actual Villain Concept

i was playing super mario bros 3 and i got to some random freethinking and i had a very interesting idea for this AU: I’ve mentioned Bowser/Bowsette’s whole ‘not a particularly bad villain’ thing, with the whole go-karting with mario thing, and then I thought about the official statement that they’re often considered actors playing various roles, so I thought: Why not take that all the way in Crossthicc?

What if in this AU, Bowser isn’t a real villain at all, but just plays one?

Consider this: Bowser is not a real villain in any way, shape, or form. He doesn’t kidnap princesses for reals, he’s never SERIOUSLY tried to conquer the universe, and absolutely none of his genuinely villainous actions are something he has actually done. Every single one of his villainous roles from the games is actually a role, as in a performance, he has done with Mario, Peach and the others.

They might all be actors, though I’m leaning towards the possibility that Bowser is, at least. One interesting idea is that Bowser is a pro villain and an actor; all the in-game adventures happened, in a sense, but were extremely well set up adventures specifically for maximum spectacle. (I’m not sure if that’s as interesting to take this as, say, them doing really elaborate productions or films.)

All their power is genuine; Mario and Luigi are some of the strongest heroes in all the universe, Princess Peach is a powerful enchantress with unparalleled knowledge of magic, and all of Bowser’s feats are totally genuine. None of it is special effects, they are all absurdly powerful, and they’re well known for doing it for entertainment. Possibly Bowser specializes in the special effects?

I’m leaning towards Bowser, in particular, being the one most invested in acting, while the others have genuine adventures unrelated to their entertainment exploits; the events of non-Bowser antagonists are GENUINE, to varying degrees. (Basically, if Bowser is being a serious antagonist, it was part of a production, or has been altered in this AU to accommodate Bowser’s status as a pro villain who does it all as part of a show.)

This also might lean towards Bowser being the show persona, the face worn for being a proper villain everyone recognizes. Bowsette might be the form she takes off the set, in her personal life and with her family. The different Bowsette designs can also be incorporated as multiple one-off villains she’s played, usually in the ‘evil sorceress queen’ vibes. She’s close with the Mario bros and Peach, and the rest of the cast, because she’s so invested in their work, she doesn’t have many friends but them.

The Mario bros can be fit into this easily; they are genuine heroes, and they also love putting on a fun show, and are great friends of Bowser off the clock. Peach might actually be more of a figurehead leader, or a magical keystone whose mere existence helps things along, and so she doesn’t actually rule the Mushroom Kingdom per se. Bowser IS legitimately a king.

All in all, Bowser can generally be used here not as a serious antagonist, but as THE pro villain, the one you get to put on a great show and give it her all, and with maximum consideration for colaterall damage, care taken for the heroes’ well being, and generally being a good sport. Bowser tends most towards the Super Mario RPG personality in his personal life: a boisterous tough guy who is really reluctant to admit his real feelings and is extremely concerned about how he is seen, he’s so tied up in his villain portrayals that he is genuinely distressed at being a hero.

Note that non-Bowser villains are exactly as they are portrayed in the games, unless its more fun for them to fellow pro villains as well.

(Bowser/Bowsette’s actions in Super Mario RPG can be a case of ‘a performance was interrupted and she took it REALLY personally’.)

#twitchy!super mario bros #twitchy!bowsette #queueud #crossthicc au

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jendarknight-blog · 6 years

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Bakudeku FFT AU, Version One

Because I think this is a more complete version than the other one. This also is wildly different from version two, especially as far as timelines go, so just bear with me.

To whet your appetite, things that are included in this version: -Bakudeku (OBVIOUSLY) -Unconventional class dynamics -Dealing with PTSD and war and re-acclimating to normal society -Bakugou eating the humble pie. He eats a lot of it. -Deku does not go to Ivalice. He sees the aftermath of Baku’s adventures. And he’s. Confused. To say the least. -Physical age gap romance and crossover ships -Deku getting smacked with a healing staff when he gets hurt.

This will be in a note format, taken directly from my notebooks (with some edits), so forgive the haphazard mess. First, though, I’ll give a short description of Bakugou’s Skillset, because YES I ACTUALLY DID GIVE HIM A FFT-STYLE SKILL LOADOUT DO NOT JUDGE ME.

He has multiple loadouts in this AU, but let’s first go over the classes he’s mastered: Calculator / Arithmetician - The user uses math to cast learned spells in specific areas against particular enemies at no MP cost. This is a great way to combine magic with a melee class.

Black Mage - What it says on the tin.

Chemist - Brews potions in order to cure ailments. Throws potions at allies on the battlefield.

White Mage - Again, what it says on the tin.

Dragoon / Lancer - Uses “Jump” skills and fights with a spear.

Summoner - Summons creatures to assist in battle.

Bard - sings songs to help allies. In the AU, this was mastered entirely in a bout of pettiness, due to one of his allies being an absolute shit. Skill Loadouts: Melee: Class: Lancer / Calculator Main Skill: Jump Subskill: Math Skill Reactive Skill: Counter Magic (when hit with magic, counter with the same.) Supplemental skill: Magic Attack UP Movement Skill: Ignore Height (can jump to any height) Attack Magic Class: Summoner/Black Mage Main Skill: Summon Subskill: Black Magic Reactive Skill: Counter Magic Supplemental Skill: Half of MP (uses magic at half the MP Cost) Movement Skill: Ignore Height Healing (Pure) Class: White Mage / Chemist Main Skill: White Magic Subskill: Item Reactive Skill: Regenerator (when hit, cast a spell that slowly recovers HP over time) Supplemental Skill: Half of MP Movement Skill: Ignore Height Healing and Damage This setup is the same as the attack magic setup, except the main class is White mage and the sub-class is Summoner. Ignore Height is a direct reference to his quirk, since he can use explosions to reach great heights in a way that most normal people can’t. He uses this to supplement his magic and physical attacks in a full-on fight. Now let’s go into the notes:

-If this turns into a fic, the main action will take place after the main plot of FFT, so Baku has already gone through the main plot and is sent back home disoriented and a shadow of the little shit that he used to be. -Katsuki shows up in Ivalice when he was 14. He stayed there, unaging, for several years. While he participated in the main plot of FFT (specifically a multilayered war that was both a war of succession and a fight against literal Gods trying to overthrow the world), time stood still in his world. Nobody even knew that he was gone. -Deku was the only one who noticed the change. It was simultaneously subtle and blatant; especially to someone who grew up with Kacchan and followed him so closely. Katsuki seems calmer, more mature, and far more commanding when he gets back. -His Japanese also has an accent when he gets back. Ramza and his sister, Alma, end up going back with him. -Katsuki arrived in Ivalice post-sludge villain, so Deku does, in fact, get OFA. In the FFT timeline, he shows up during Chapter 2, and is accidentally summoned by Princess Ovelia (the damsel du jour) when she messes with the Dimensional Summoning device that I can’t believe actually exists in canon. Normally, this device is used by Ramza in Chapter 3 by sticking a Zodiac Stone in it, so yeah, I’m messing with the timeline. -Ramza and Baku have a mutual attraction to each other, though there’s a huge age gap, at least physically. When Ramza’s physically 20 when they end up in Japan, Baku is physically 14 (mentally 18). Not a huge deal to someone in Ivalice, but it’s not exactly normal and kosher to someone from Baku’s world. -They still kiss in Ivalice, though, and end up having sex before the final battle. They both think they’re going to die, since they’re literally going to be fighting a deranged God in a pocket dimension, so they figure they have nothing to lose. Even if I write this in a fic, it will never be explicit, only implied. -The original notes imply that this will end in OT3. If I wrote this as a fic I’m STILL not sure if I’d have it end up like that. -Even while in Ivalice, living out a nerdlord’s fantasy, the Nerd keeps coming to mind. He doesn’t mean to, but he’ll pop in Bakugou’s head every now and then, with his thoughts sometimes moving to, without realizing it: “I wish the Nerd could see this.” He berates himself for it. -Bakugou’s chocobo -- a rare green breed, and a hardy bird skilled in mountain traversal -- is nervous but adoring, following him everywhere he goes. He, without hesitation, names him Izuku. -He misses his home. Badly. Even when he realizes the low likelihood of ever going back, and notes how he considers Ivalice home, he still wants, and tries, to find a way home (to his family and Izuku, but he never admits that out loud). -When he sees Deku again, he hugs him. Hard. He’s gone through literal hell and seen friends come and go, people die, and has nearly died himself multiple times -- he doesn’t give a fuck if he looks like a pussy holding him like this. He’s long realized he did him dirty, and through learning what friendship and companionship is in Ivalice, he doesn’t want to waste the time that he has. He also apologizes. Because he’s realized that Deku probably hadn’t been looking down on him at all back then (though there’s that doubt that’s still there), but he’s the closest thing to a friend he had in this shitty small town. -This freaks Izuku out. A lot. Last week Katsuki told him to kill himself by throwing himself off a roof, and now--this? His muscles are bigger, his skin is darker, and his hands are calloused and scarred. It’s like he vanished, spent a few years in a war zone, and then came back. -He asks Katsuki questions to prove he’s Kacchan, and to see if this isn’t just--something. Once he proves himself, he just--he doesn’t know what to think. Also, why the hell is he speaking with an accent? -Initially, Japanese is hard for Katsuki to read after coming back, since he hasn’t really used it in...uh. A few years. He manages okay, but...speaking and responding in his native language almost feels foreign to him. Nobody but Izuku, Inko, and Bakugou’s parents really seem to notice. -He even is kinder to his mother, and calls her Mom, because again, he realizes just how much he missed everyone. -Izuku sees Katsuki talk to Ramza in Ivalice tongue, and he isn’t sure what to think. He finds the newfound courage to ask, but he gets some really weird (but true, in hindsight) answers. -Katsuki is very reluctant to tell Deku about Ivalice, less for distrust reasons, and more for ‘I’m not sure if he’ll laugh or stalk me and I kinda don’t want to find out’ reasons. -Katsuki is still salty that he wasn’t able to kill one of the minor FFT villains, who was a canon rapist (no really; one of your party members was raped by this dude) before one of the other FFT villains did it for him. Yeah, he knows that heroes don’t kill, but it’s hard not to get his brain out of the old Ivalice mindset -- kill or be killed. Trusting strangers is hard for this reason (well, that and anyone could be a Church spy, and when you’re fighting the Church...). Deku is easy, Ramza is easy, Alma is easy. His classmates? Not so much. He has to learn to trust them over time. -Ramza and Alma both end up having to acclimate to civilian life in Japan, learning Japanese under Baku and blaming an errant quirk for their arrival. Dimensional travel wouldn’t exactly be out of the question considering the nature of quirks, but the truth of their existence (and magic) is kept very hush-hush. Out of the UA staff, only Recovery Girl and All Might really knows that Baku can use magic, and that’s because they caught him healing Deku after his fight with Todoroki during the sports’ festival. To utilize their particular talents, Alma ends up working in support and Ramza ends up training to be a Pro-Hero, becoming a sidekick midway through Baku’s first year at UA. -Deku is admittedly super suspicious of Ramza at first. Not just because he appeared out of the blue (he’s close to Kacchan, but he’s never heard of him? He’s known him all his life!), but because he’s a grown-ass man who is clearly throwing longing looks at a minor. He can’t prove his suspicions, but he thinks the situation is pretty sketch, and tends to follow them when he sees them alone together in hopes to catch Ramza in the act if he does something unsavory.

-During one of these spy sessions, he realizes that the two have serious history. And speak a shared language. But what is going on between them, Deku doesn’t know. So he tries to...investigate. A little. It proves fruitless. At first.

-He notices things, though. A white-and-red cloak (for non FF fans, this is the typical garb a white mage wears) in his gym bag. A white staff that vibrates softly when he touches it, also in his gym bag. The occasional weird calls to Recovery Girl with said gym bag after afternoon training. -There was also that time when, while fighting alongside Baku during an exam, he starts healing rapidly without warning (Regen was cast on him). -He finally puts two-and-two together...on accident, really. Initially, he sees Fairy (the only summon that Baku can even try doing without raising suspicion) as she fluttered above him to speed up his healing. She was muttering something about a “Master Katsuki” under her breath. He thinks he’s dreaming at first, but when he talks to Uraraka about it, Kacchan visibly stiffens up in the desk in front of him. He’s suspicious, but he’s figured it out now. -Once he figures it out, Deku won’t stop with the questions. I mean, holy hell Kacchan, when could you do any of that, how did he do it, and why did he have to smack him with that staff whenever he did something reckless (even if his wounds somehow healed afterwards)? He learns the truth, and always asks to hear stories about his adventures. At first, Baku says no, but relents after some stubborn insisting. At first, he only tells the far less bad stories. The funny ones (like the petty rivalry he had with Mustadio -- a major character in FFT proper -- over who was the better shot, or the time he and Ramza played wingman for him so he could score a date with the lovely Holy Knight they were partied with). As their school career moved on, he started telling the darker stories. -Also it’s nice that Deku knows he can use magic, because now if he mutters too much, Katsuki can cast a silence spell on him to shut the nerd up. Even though he’s grown, he can still be a petty little shit. -The two don’t become a proper couple until post-UA, after someone in Ivalice ends up summoning Ramza, Alma, Deku, and himself to Ivalice in an attempt to re-gather the Zodiac Stones to finish what the Church started. Katsuki had the Aries stone, he gave Deku the Cancer stone during their time at UA, and Ramza and Alma had the rest. -Deku is not well-acclimated to Ivalice. He has to get a crash-course on the language, learn how to not get his shit stolen or get them killed, and have his trusting nature curbed at every turn. He’s still a reckless shit, so he throws himself into bad situations all the time to save others, which nearly gets them killed more than once. -He ends up taming a red chocobo, though he is awful at riding them. If Baku had a gil for every time Deku fell off the poor bird when he was learning how to ride him, he’d be the richest fuck in all of Ivalice. -Deku and Ramza both order milk at the pubs they go to. Katsuki finds this hilarious, and sticks with his trusted honey mead. -Meeting the old friends that Kacchan had told stories about but he’d never met in person was a trip and a half, and made him more than a little jealous at how casual they were with each other. AND THIS IS ALL I HAVE OF THIS SO FAR. This is what I do in my spare time people. *sobs into the void* I hope you guys find it interesting, though! Thanks for reading!

#Jen's AU stuff #Bakudeku FFT AU

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punch-you-with-friendship · 7 years

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Water for a Dead Rose Ch. 1

Hope I’m not too late for the #fandersmeetup! This is my first Sanders Sides fanfiction, and I’m super excited to share it with you all!

It’s set in the soulmate au where you write on your skin and it appears on your soulmate, with an untraditional plot structure. This first chapter is mostly exposition, and it probably qualifies as fluff, but, uh... Don’t get used to that.

I don’t have a tag list, but I can make one if anyone’s interested. @puns-and-patton @eequalsmcscared because they’re running the meetup. It’s also on AO3!

Overall Summary: Roman knows it wasn’t an accident. Virgil knows something isn’t right. It’s the story of a desperate search for a murder plot and a soulmate bond broken by tragedy.

Told with Virgil’s perspective in a chronological format (beginning to end) and Roman’s perspective in a reverse chronological format (end to beginning).

Chapter 1: Phone Calls and New Beginnings

Word count: 1.4K

Relationships: Logicality mention, platonic Analogical

Warnings: brief alcohol (Always let me know if I missed any!)

December 31st, 2018. 306 days before.

New Year’s Eve was, without question, Virgil’s favorite holiday. Nothing was quite the same as the night of new beginnings, the night of leaving things behind, and the night of true love, not that the latter mattered to a guy like him. It also happened to be Virgil’s birthday, making it a doubly special night. He only ever spent it with close friends and family, those who he knew cared about him. So, naturally, Virgil was spending it alone this year.

He was currently on his laptop, typing away at the new story he was writing. He really felt like he was on a roll—the tiny community of fans he’d garnered would definitely appreciate what he’d done with the foreshadowing. The hours blended together as the words spilled out of his fingers and onto the screen. It was a pattern Virgil could get lost in for the rest of his life if left to his devices. And with the TV on (open to the Times Square Ball Drop, of course), a cheap beer in hand (which he was now legally allowed to have, hooray) a blanket wrapped around his legs (once soft, now worn) and the tool of his trade on his knees (the laptop), he thought for the moment that it wouldn’t be so bad.

He decided to take a quick break, scrolling through Tumblr. There was plenty of incorrect quotes and New Year’s themed gifs, but none of his favorite writers had posted anything. It was probably because they were enjoying the holiday with friends and family.

He sighed and checked the clock. 11:24. Thirty-six minutes until it was 2019, and thirty-six minutes until it wasn’t his birthday anymore. It would simply be a normal day for a normal 21-year-old.

All of his friends, including his twin sibling and roommate Talyn, were at Dean’s party. And they all knew Virgil would never subject himself to some fraternity thing. The frat guys hated most non-frat guys, let alone non-college guys like himself. And besides, why go to a party and embarrass yourself with your lack of social skills when you could be at home writing?

Yep. Virgil wasn’t lonely at all.

He typed up a few more sentences before closing his laptop with a sigh. Maybe he should at least call someone, just to stifle his loneliness for a little bit. But who did he know that was awkward enough to not—

Wait, duh. Logan. Was that even a question?

And for once he wasn’t going to be busy studying. Virgil was fairly confident that no one studies over winter break.

Virgil went into his contacts and clicked Logan’s name. It rang twice before he picked up.

“Happy New Year’s Eve, Virgil. Can I help you?”

“Sure, Nerd. You can keep me company for a bit.”

“Okay. Is there a particular reason that you are not spending this time at Dean’s—“

“Is there a reason you’re not?”

“...Fair enough.”

The two chatted, awkwardly grasping for conversation topics before falling into a rhythm: question, answer, joke, question, answer, joke. They talked about the world, talked about Logan’s major, talked about how stupid in love their siblings were, talked about Virgil’s sketchy coworkers (what was their deal? They always acted like they were plotting something), and talked about… Patton.

“How’s the big teddy bear treating ya?” Virgil quipped, fiddling with one of his hoodie strings.

Logan chuckled. “If by ‘big teddy bear’ you mean Patton, then he’s treating me as well as ever. Things have been smooth for a while now. Can’t imagine it being any better.” Virgil was no social butterfly, but he could read people like a pro, and Logan didn’t sound like his ever-confident self in saying that. Virgil tapped his fingers on his knee.

“But...?” He prompted.

Neither one said anything for a long moment. Virgil let the silence work its magic, and after a few moments, Logan sighed. “I’m... I’m starting to think he’s better than I deserve. He’s truly wonderful, and generous, and kind, almost overwhelmingly so. I don’t know how to make it up to him.” Logan sounded pained.

Virgil frowned at the couch cushion below him. “Dude. You don’t owe him anything. From what I know about him, he’d be shocked if he heard you say that just now.”

“I know! It just—“

“Feels too good to be true, huh?”

“Precisely.”

Virgil took a deep breath. “Look.“

“Hard to do over a telephone call.”

“Really, Logan?” Virgil laughed a little, releasing some pent-up tension. “Listen, then. You’re his soulmate. It doesn’t matter who deserves what, you’re literally made for him. Do you love him?”

“Of course. I’m offended you would ask.”

“You give him your all?”

“Yes. As much as I can give.”

“And does Patton know that?”

“If he doesn’t, he’s incredibly dense.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I... When you put it that way, I suppose there isn’t—“

“Exactly.”

Logan simply breathed.

More than a year ago, Logan’s soulmate bond had started working, and the guy it had connected him to was exactly what Logan needed. He was sweet and sentimental, as opposed to Logan’s grounded and logical nature. They complimented one another, gave each other’s lives purpose. The two had rapidly fallen for one another, and had passed their one-year anniversary two months ago. They were the perfect match, as the soulmate bond promised. And Virgil was happy for them, he really was. But it made him wonder… His soulmate bond was still dormant. Virgil had never been much of an optimist, but the more time went by, the more he thought maybe the bond would stay dormant.

“Virgil? Are you still there?”

Oh, right. He was on the phone with Logan.

They continued to talk until Virgil heard shouting from the TV--it was officially midnight.

“Oh, would you look at that. Happy new year, Logan.” Virgil raised his beer and took a sip, an unspoken toast.

“And to you, Virgil.”

The two sat in silence for a moment.

“Hey… You know something?” Virgil said.

“What is it?”

“You’re good company.”

“Oh. Thank you. It helps me to talk to you about... Things.”

Another beat of silence.

“You know you can always call me when needed, correct?” Logan’s voice sounded concerned.

“Patton’s been rubbing off on you.”

“No, I mean it. You’ve been rather… Downtrodden as of late.”

“It’s just Christmas blues. Don’t worry your hyperactive brain about it.”

“Christmas blues? I was under the impression that Christmas is a time of joy.”

“Not when you’re spending it alone. Cool it Specs, I’m fine. I’ve got my writing to keep me company.”

“I’m sure you do. But your linguistic passions do not replace real people.”

“You’re one to talk, Mr. Can’t-Hang-Out-I’m-Busy-Studying. And hey, I called you, didn’t I?”

“That is… True. But--”

“Relax. We’re having a great time here. Don’t ruin it with another one of your lectures.”

“Remind me why I keep you as my companion?”

“Hell if I know.”

The two laughed.

Virgil stood up, distangeled himself from the blanket, and started walking to the kitchen, intending to get a snack or something. What did he even have to eat? He really needed to go to the store or something. He poked around for a bit, finally deciding to order a pizza when he noticed a strange prickling sensation on his palm. He ignored it.

“Hey Logan, I’m probably gonna order a pizza.”

“A… Pizza? Will a pizza place even be open at--”

“Pizza places are always open.”

“But on New Year’s Eve?”

“Did I stutter, Logan? Pizza places. Are. Always. Open.”

“If you say so. I’m assuming you need to hang up so as to use your phone to order?”

“Yep. Nice chatting with ya, Nerd.”

“Any time.” Click.

Virgil started to google what pizza place was open—despite what he’d said, he wasn’t actually sure where he’d have to call—and noticed the prickling again. Was that just an after effect of typing the night away? He passed his phone to the other hand and glanced at his palm.

And promptly dropped the phone.

Happy New Year, my soulmate!

Written on his palm in blue pen.

Virgil stared. And stared. And blinked hard, and stared again. It was still there.

When his brain reconnected to his body, he sprinted into the living room, lifting up the couch cushions in search of a pen. When his flailing hands finally found one, he uncapped it. The pen met the skin of his palm.

You too. Soulmate.

Looked like Virgil wasn’t ordering pizza anymore.

#fandersmeetup #fanders meetup #sanders sides #virgil sanders #logan sanders #soulmate #wfadr #wfadr fic

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imaginetonyandbucky · 7 years

Text

Unanswered Prompts

As usual, please remember that unanswered prompts aren’t bad prompts. Sometimes, our authors and artists just don’t get inspired, and after a certain amount of time it makes more sense to post them as unanswered.

If anyone wants to fill one of the unanswered prompts, go right ahead. And if you send us the link to it once you’ve posted it, we’ll even share it here on the blog!

Imagine Steve taking Bucky to Tony to fix his arm. And Steve is really sweet and gentle to Bucky and Tony doesn't really know what to do or say. And seeing the way Bucky reacts and is, that he's this vulnerable man with broken bits and is definitely not this cold robotic killing machine has Tony falling for him. And then having to pretend in front of Steve and Bucky that this is just another Tuesday for him and not the start of a deep emotional attraction. I'd love if it was from Bucky's POV

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Imagine Bucky got away earlier from Hydra and from lack of anything to do, took up with a bodyguard company. Pepper and the board of directors decide that Tony needs a bodyguard when the Mandarin sends a threat. After that job, Bucky keeps insinuating that there is another threat and another, just to stay with Tony. Then Steve sees him

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Imagine alpha!Bucky and omega!Tony are newly bonded. Then Bucky finds out that before he and Tony had met, also-alpha!Steve helped Tony through a few of his heats. Bucky isn't hurt or angry at either of them, but the revelation does make some primal part of his alpha brain click, and now every time Steve and Tony are in a room together, Bucky plasters himself to Tony and has a whole 'no-touchy-mine' thing going while he covers him in his scent, maybe even going into WS mode and scowling at Steve

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I really want a prank war to start between Tony and Bucky.

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Bucky is a demon that Tony summoned to find and take down Hydra. They fall in love along the way. When they finally take down hydra, instead of taking Tony's soul, he turns him in to another demon.

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Bucky joins the Avengers a while after CACW and Tony and Bucky seem to dislike but tolerate each other. In a fight, Tony goes after Bucky and attacks him. The other Avengers try to intervene, but then realize/are told that Bucky's the WS because of the trigger words and they capture Bucky. Later, Steve can be angry at Tony for just attacking Bucky and being rash and agressive. When Bucky is himself and awake again, he defends Tony and says they thought of it together (maybe secret relationship?)

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Ooooh, let's see. How about an MCU AU? Post Avengers 1, something goes horribly wrong on a mission to wipe out a HYDRA base, and Steve seems to vanish off the face of the earth. This is enough to get Bucky out of hiding, and in contact with the team. Up to you how. Tony and Bucky falling into a sexual relationship, more or less by accident, after that. And naturally both think the other only wants sex. Because they're dorks. Of course that's when Steve turns out to be alive after all...

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can i prompt 616!bucky and tony with a sprinkle of secret relationship? between assault on pleasant hill, bucky leading a band of misfits and adopting a cosmic sentient cube, tony searching for his biological parents, and then rhodey's death, civil war ii, bucky being arrested by shield, etc. they don't really have time to spend together. but when bucky finally has the chance to come to tony, to come home, he finds out that tony is not a person anymore, but an actual AI.

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Imagine something happens between Tony and Bucky and they end up getting in some big fight that somehow causes Tony to have an anxiety attack! Some angst and then love please!

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Mob AU where Bucky finds evidence that his husband Tony is a double agent for Hydra. He's devastated but furious and they all cut ties without even giving Tony a chance. Of course the "proof" turns out to have been planted by a newer member of the Avengers, but by the time it comes to light, Tony's already been taken by Hydra and tortured (unsuccessfully) for info. They find him and destroy the cell that was keeping him. Maybe throw in some mpreg as well? Somehow both Tony and the baby survive.

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post cw: tony gave steve BARF to help bucky. the team's back together after tony fought to pardon them. and tony hopes they can work again. but they dont. tony does everything for the team and EVERYONE treats him like shit: they ignore him at best, but also make mean, hurtful comments and tell him how wrong and stupid he was at worst. tony is visibly depressed, scared and lonely. bucky's the only one who sees that and he yells at the team during next 'tony berating' because tony deserves better.

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Non-Powered AU. Bucky and Tony enter a relationship and everything is good for couple of months, but Tony feels like he needs to tell Bucky that he's taking meds for both anxiety and depression. He managed to hide it from him and most of the world (only Rhodey knows), but he feels like he can't hide that big part of himself from Bucky. He goes to tell him, but he's really, really, really scared that Bucky will be angry that he didn't tell him, or that he will leave him because of his ilness.

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Tony gets stranded in the desert after taking out the ten rings camp. Up to you why. Maybe someone nails him with a lucky shot and his boot thrusters fail. Bucky, who happens to be on a HYDRA-assigned mission in the area and still mostly without his memories, finds him. Lots of bonus points for BAMF Tony. A bunch more for Bucky being intrigued enough to skip his mission for whatever reason (Tony). Up to you whether something Tony does triggers a few memories to come back.

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Imagine Alpha!Bucky and Omega!Tony were together and Tony became pregnant. Tony being excited because he had thought that he could not conceive, tells Bucky who doesn't take it well. Bucky is worried about his past, and how he will be a good parent. Angst and misunderstandings to start. Many thanks!!

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Imagine Bucky seeing the footage from the time Tony disarmed him during CW and it kinda turned him on. (Or alternatively, watching Tony handling weapons give Bucky the hots)

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Imagine that because of Loki or something that has to do with magic Tony and Bucky come to this universe and come set of Civil War or Infinite War and meet RDJ and Sebastian. Bucky is so jealous that RDJ is closer to Chris Evans than Sebastian. End to your choice

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Imagine Steve and Zemo in a very deep conversation about why the Avengers are not as bad as Zemo thinks they are and because it is f*cking cold in Siberia Tony turns the heating-unit of his suit on. When Steve turns around because Zemo starts laughing he sees Bucky and Tony huddling together to keep both of them warm. Tony and Bucky are pissed because it's cold and Steve and Zemo won't stop talking, also can't they just go home?

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While Bucky could flirt like a pro with the Dames in the 40's with the Fellas he was a shy babbling mess. Not much has changed in 70 plus years it seems. When the words "I forgot how to masturbate, could you show me how?" spill out of his mouth Bucky wants the floor to swallow him up, That WAS NOT what he meant to say AT ALL. What hes not expecting is Tony to take the question Seriously and gently guide him through the process. It's a wonderful kind of torture that Tony's willing to give Bucky sex lessons, so Bucky just sort of goes with it thinking its his only chance with Tony. Tony wants to make love to Bucky properly and be his boyfriend, but if sex lessons is all he can get then he will help Bucky wow the 21st century. With a Happy Ending?

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Imagine HYDRA manages to kidnap Bucky back from Wakanda. They do not have the Red Book of Nasty Codes, they do not have a functioning chair, so they decide to start the breeding project. Before they knocked him up, Bucky switched the donor material of their choosing with Tony Stark's, because he wants this kid to at least have a chance at good life and he refuses to carry some evil SOB's progeny. That is how Tony and New Avengers find him: 16 weeks pregnant and heavily sedated. Fluff ensues.

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Imagine a beauty and the beast au where one of them has to stay at a castle with the other, a "beast" who is shy and kind and gives them all kinds of thoughtful gifts and enjoys being read to as they fall in love.

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Imagine Tony and Bucky off on a multi-dimensional hop around multiple 'verses where they're with other people. Cue some relationship angst: are we right for each other? (Obvs they are, with their own HEA.)

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Happy Holidays! Thanks for all the lovely fills that you do! : ) For my prompt, I would love for Tony either to be under some sort of mind control, or brainwashed, or under a spell or something, and for Bucky to be the one to break him free from that control!! Again, thanks!

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Tony and Bucky as Jedi. Or maybe Tony was one once and decided he liked mechanics more and left their ways behind him. And maybe Bucky as Steves best friend (Steve the one fully living to their ways?) thinks Tony is a jerk and whatnot until he somehow finds out and man, Tony is really awesome, and strong, so why does he not fight anymore? Yeah, something like that, that would be awesome. But I would love some BAMF Tony, really.

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Imagine Bucky and Tony have been flirting around each other/just on the edge of being together. Then a visit from another dimension's Tony and Steve, who are a couple. Cue a lot of jealousy from Bucky, who starts micro-analyzing all of his Tony and Steve's actions around each other and worrying that they have feelings for each other and he's screwing things up. ofc Tony only has eyes for Buck, but Other!Steve & Tony decide to 'help' by making Buck really jealous in hopes he'll admit his feelings

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Imagine Loki being an asshole and putting a spell on Tony and the team. From now on they can enter his mind, but not in the 'reading his thoughts' way. They can see him for what he actually is. And now they all know that he is really depressed and very insecure. That he is scared shitless of abandonment and loneliness. That he thinks that they keep him around out of pity. And they see that he loves them all to death. They all confront him. Bucky is especially upset cause he is in love with Tony.

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Imagine an explosion at Stark Tower (terrorist attack? villian of the week? heck even an accident) Tony is involved and gets amnesia running across the winter soldier/bucky newly released from Hydra. Bucky has no clue who Tony is, Tony has no clue who Bucky is.

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Imagine while Bucky is on the run from Steve,he asks for help for something insignificant online and JarvT_S answers him,after which they strangely strike a friendship. Bucky gets the impression that his friend is very family-orientated because when he talks about his dad,Bucky can feel the love and respect in that relationship. Or JARVIS helps Tony and Bucky (because there is not enough JARVIS in fics and he is awesome)

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Oh please! Imagine Tony and Bucky both thinking the other is in a deeply serious relationship with Steve! Bucky thinking he's tagging along on Stony dates, and Tony continuously asking if those grandpas need time alone to "rediscover themselves". Both of them drowning in angst after an adrenaline-fueled kiss because "oh, no -- Steve!" Oh please!

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Obligatory new year kiss prompt: Bucky strategizing to get to the best position to be kissed at midnight by Tony, except the universe seems set on placing obstacles on his plans. Good thing he made countless fails ages after he failed at getting a mistletoe kiss. Maybe the avengers helped too after noticing his plans, even though Steve keeps telling him he should just ask the guy out.

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Yeeey!! Promps open!! Thank you for this blog, you all are amazing♥ // 'Oh, my God. That's Sir.' When the real work doesn't work, the Internet must have the answer, right? Right. They meet in an online D/s dating site. No D/s universe, just two guys who share a kink that haven't found someone who complements them yet. I don't care who doms/subs, up to your preference! (online relationship + surprise meeting?) Thanks!

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So, imagine that after Bucky has been cleared of the programming, he is still unsure of himself, like, he doesn't know what he wants and who he is and all that. So Tony takes him to the biggest mall there is, gives him a credit card and says "you are a free person, go, my young padawan, and buy whatever you want". An hour later Bucky returns clutching a shark plushie from IKEA. And that sets off a tradition of sorts: they go to IKEA and have fun (with new plushie to growing zoo everytime)

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Hiii, first prompt!! Can I have a Dad!Tony that has a teenager son/daughter but nobody knows but the Winter Soldier and he hide it from HYDRA to protect the family!! Then when Bucky is back to himself Tony's child would be like "yeah I knew of him, he was always here".

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Art prompt: Dom!Bucky slow dancing with a blindfolded sub!Tony, pretty please???

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Teachers au! Where Tony and Bucky are rival teachers and their students make a plan to get them together? Please ^^

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Medieval AU! Tony got lost when he was a teen and everyone on the village thinks he's dead everyone except Bucky but he can't find him. Ten years later Steve finds a red and gold dragon that's too small for his species and Buck just /knows/ it's Tony

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AU where Bucky and Tony both make really popular Vines and everyone is like “They should totally meet” and “Can you guys even imagine what would happen if they met?” The rumors get so intense that Tony decides to put an end to it.

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PROMPT: Tony is a masseur, very highly recommended, very friendly, very good at his job. Bucky is newly back from service, very tired and sore, very skittish, very much aware of how cute Tony is. James manages to get an appointment for his shoulder and back. Tony is VERY good at his job. Not sure who's teasing who.

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Prompt: Tony is really carefree with physical affection and exaggeratedly flirts with everyone all the time. Bucky is horribly jealous and is terrible at hiding it, but Tony mistakes Bucky's glowering looks and surly attitude for homophobia. So Tony avoids flirting with Bucky in an attempt to avoid making him uncomfortable. Which of course only makes Bucky's jealousy worse.

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Tony and Buckys week alone is off when they have one of those fights where theyve forgotten what started it (dumb misunderstanding) but it escalated into shouting hurtful words. Bucky leaves and comes back when everyone else does from missions/etc. Somethings off when FRI/JARV isnt responding/been messed with and they realize no one has heard from Tony in days. Trails nearly cold but its Hydra and they rescue him from being wiped just in time. Bucky and Tony never part w/o at least an ily again.

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Can we have one when Tony goes back in time and actually met Sergeant Bucky Barnes pre-Winter Soldier. They'd both be so witty and would probably be going at each other while falling for each other at the same time. But then, Tony would soon have to go back to his time. He and Bucky would meet in the modern world again (post-WS), and Bucky would actually remember yay!

#winteriron #tony x bucky #unanswered prompts

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