#it has the word gay in it TWICE so far and I’m only like a third of the way through the book

[djullyreviews]

Why doesn’t anyone talk about Dr. Stone anymore?

Text without spoilers!! Text with adapted translation from Portuguese Brazil to English! Text with personal opinion!

Text revised in 15/03/2025

I decided to rewatch the anime when I realized I really wanted to know how it all ended! From the very beginning, I was intrigued by the mystery that ties the whole story together: why did everyone in the world turn to stone?

Since then, I’ve ended up watching the entire first season, and now here I am, following the release of the fourth season. It’s amazing to see that the story continued far beyond the first season, but then I remembered one key factor working in its favor—it’s a shounen anime, after all!

I loved Cassanova Posse so much, thks ALI !!!

IT PROMISED NOTHING AT FIRST, BUT IT’S DELIVERING HOT MEN AND FUN.

Well then. I don’t think I was the only one who considered dropping the series after that scene where Ruri took the antibiotic. It was downright bizarre—even hardcore shounen fans seemed to find it odd (really???). I vaguely remember people on social media trying to "cancel" the series for a few reasons: the way the bodies were drawn and those hypersexualized scenes at questionable moments.

I suspect that scene caused some backlash. Word must have reached Boichi, the writer, and the anime’s production studio. A drastic change is noticeable in the first season—those strange camera angles on female characters, which were everywhere in the early episodes, were almost completely toned down.

That’s not to say the anime doesn’t have sexy and sexualized female characters. It still follows the classic shounen formula: big breasts, thin waists, curvy figures, and beautiful women. However, they cut so many of the unnecessary hypersexualized scenes of female characters that they were left with… hypersexualized male characters instead. And that trend clearly continued throughout the seasons—cue the diving scenes with sunlit, bare male butts (and much more).

It made me wonder if this is just Boichi’s artistic style—sexualizing both male and female bodies. I have no idea what kind of hentai or adult works he’s drawn before, but this tendency is noticeable in Dr. Stone, even though the series itself is far from adult content.

This excess of male nudity must have felt strange to some viewers—especially those who were watching for the female characters. If that was the main appeal for them… well, tough luck. The anime seems to have shifted away from its original target male audience and ended up captivating the female audience instead.

Each new character is a man with a handsome face (with a few exceptions), a perfect body, and a striking personality. Meanwhile, very few new female characters have joined Senku’s nerd club.

"There's no heterosexual explanation for this"

The straight couples were confirmed by the authors but received little attention. Meanwhile, the number of scenes featuring men doing and saying brotherly things… well, let’s just say it only got more intense with each new season. I started this anime thinking the target audience was men, but by the end, I felt like I was the target audience.

Gen's entire existence feels almost too sugary for a shounen series—especially with that velvety voice every time he calls out "Senku-chan"… And then Stanley and Xeno show up, delivering gay-coded content faster than the last BL series I read.

Ryuusui has openly stated—twice—that he’s bisexual (at least according to Crunchyroll’s translation). Honestly, I’m surprised that wasn’t censored on Japanese TV.

Too many events to mention here...........

THE APEX OF ABSURDITY IN THE WORK

One of the goals of this post is to encourage everyone to watch Dr. Stone and give the anime a second chance. Let’s gooo!!!

The authors fully embrace the height of absurdity in the events:

Do you know DanDanDan? That’s right, a popular shounen with a supernatural theme where totally absurd events unfold, and the author uses the bizarre to drive the story and draw his manga.

Dr. Stone isn’t all that different in this regard. The theme changes—science, physics, mathematics, chemistry, and the like are the weapons used to write these events. They’re so absurd that they end up being ridiculously funny.

Watching Dr. Stone is almost the same experience: silly, light, and funny at times. It’s something you watch without needing to think too hard to understand what’s being proposed (and you usually get a few quick science lessons from Senku).

The protagonist isn’t boring by default; he’s a nerd:

Our onion-loving nerd is far from being the most boring protagonist I’ve seen in shounen manga (I’ve seen worse). While we have our darling Okarin, the ufology nerd, here we get Senku—living and breathing science in every single episode.

Unusual character design:

Boichi did a fantastic job with the character designs. He delivers the basics really well, whether it’s the villains or the protagonists.

I’ll admit, Boichi’s style isn’t my personal favorite, but I can’t deny that he does his job as a mangaka very well.

Stop being hypocrites about the bodies in Dr. Stone while still consuming other popular animes that do the same (or worse):

Let’s be real. Stop complaining about the character designs in Dr. Stone when there are other popular animes out there that do the exact same thing, if not worse. I don’t see people trying to “cancel” those.

I didn’t think the ending was bad at all (no spoilers):

I decided to look up the series’ ending just to prepare myself for any possible disappointment. After quickly browsing the internet, I’ll be honest: it’s not bad at all (I’ve seen much worse endings out there).

In this case, I’d recommend everyone do the same—research the ending at your own risk. Personally, it didn’t discourage me from watching the anime until the end. I’m already hooked on the characters, and now there’s no turning back (they’re also some of the hottest characters).

SO WHY DID DR. STONE'S AUDIENCE DISAPPEAR??

With each episode I watched, I kept asking myself the same question.

Maybe it was because of the initial choices made in the first season (the first arc), and many people ended up dropping the show right then and there.

It’s possible that the hypersexualized scenes involving girls in the early episodes turned people off.

Maybe the male audience found it strange to see so many naked male bodies and not a single naked female character.

I also suspect that the show’s shift to focus more on the female audience, which is likely the majority of those who buy and consume the show today, may have led to some silent treatment.

Another thing I didn’t get was whether the absurdity of certain events was intentional from the start. It was only in the second season that I realized it was. Many people must have dropped the show because of that.

Many viewers are also bothered by the inclusion of the possibility of gay, bisexual, lesbian, and asexual characters. There are a lot of predatory anime/manga out there where characters do homosexual things, but the authors will never make it official. Dr. Stone seems to fall into that category as well.

So why do I see such a small community around Dr. Stone on social media? Why doesn’t it get talked about more? Could it be because of the issues I mentioned above? Or is there something else I’m not aware of?

Many anime currently being released meet these requirements, and Dr. Stone does too, so it’s a mystery why it’s rarely discussed on social media.

In the end, Dr. Stone is this chaotic mix of science, absurdity, and character design that somehow makes perfect sense in its own quirky way. It’s not your typical shounen, and maybe that’s why it didn’t have the same impact as other series. It’s eccentric, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a show where you learn chemistry while watching handsome guys argue about whether humanity should go back to its old ways or forge a new path after the petrification? Sure, the hypersexualized scenes and occasional weirdness might turn some people off, but if we’re honest, Dr. Stone delivers something a lot more refreshing than the usual predictable clichés. So why isn’t it taking over social media? Maybe it’s just another case of the reasons I mentioned before—or maybe, just maybe, the otaku crowd isn’t ready for shounen with a more scientific focus. Either way, I’m here for it, appreciating when shows step outside the "usual" in the shounen category.

I appreciate any and all support for this blog I created. Likes, reblogs, or recommending it to others are a huge help. See you in the next post!

[thetarttfuldickhead]

Okay, so while aware!Roy and oblivious!Jamie isn’t necessarily my main hc for these two, never let it be said I’m not prepare to play around with notions for the funny hell of it. So when I saw the above-linked post by @roykentschesthair, I immediately started thinking about post-S3 Roy knowing that he’s attracted to Jamie, and knowing that Jamie is attracted to him as well.

Jamie knows neither of these things.

Eventually Roy starts to nurture the idea that maybe him and Jamie should act on their mutual attraction, just to, you know, see where it leads? Given that they’re already best friends and that they’re obviously very into each other physically (even if only one of them realizes it that at this point), getting together could well lead to something pretty amazing, yeah?

Only, there’s the fact that Roy is Jamie’s new gaffer and while there’s strictly speaking no rules about a coach dating his player, Roy strongly feels that it might be just a little bit iffy for him to proposition Jamie. Like he’d be taking advantage. Putting undue pressure on the lad. Now, if Jamie were to proposition Roy, however… Well. It’d still be iffy, but Roy can live with that.

Unfortunately Jamie is utterly clueless about being into men in general and into Roy in particular. Cue Roy trying, with mounting frustration and desperation, to rouse Jamie to the fact that he is in fact not just vaguely appreciative of the male form in a stricly professional manner. Attempts might include choosing certain films for their occassional movie nights and dropping less and less subtle comments during them, as well as increasingly suggestive exercises during the private training session they still do twice a week. Roy has, however, already been far too weird about those exercises, so nothing he throws at Jamie seems to faze him even a little, or lead to any revelations.

If it weren’t for the fact that she’s already been very clear on never wanting to mediate their bullshit, he’d ask Keeley to have a word with Jamie, bisexual to bisexual. Maybe he’ll even brave it, because he. can’t. do. this. for. much. longer.

In the meantime, Jamie is pleased as punch that Roy is giving him even more attention than before, and no, Isaac, of course it ain’t weird that he tied me up like that, it’s to strenghten my core, yeah? Felt dead good, too, you should try it.

(Bonus point if Jamie once the other shoe finally drops immediately goes to Colin for help on downloading Grindr and maybe taking him to a gay bar and act as wingman while Jamie explores this new side of himself. Colin looks up to meet Roy’s death stare across the dressing room, and immediately invents like a million excuses why he can’t, not tonight, and probably not tomorrow, or ever, actually, sorry, Jamie.)

[vamperondev]

† sell me candy | rafebarry

minors dni | contains: porn lol, dubious consent, oral sex (rafe blows barry for coke)

“You gon’ suck my dick?” is what Barry asked, an eyebrow quirked and his face betraying not an ounce of humor. Okay, he was a little entertained but he wasn’t joking. Not at all.

Rafe was floored, which of course he was. Stupid boy with his big, watery eyes and pouty, pink lips. It’s like he was born to suck dick—not that he realized that. He’s just got an aura about him, combined with this sort of naivety that makes Barry’s heart twist and his dick twitch at the same time.

Anyway, Rafe wasn’t expecting Barry to respond like that when he showed up on the front step of the trailer, face sweaty and hair tousled from grabbing at it and pulling hard enough to rip strands out. He didn’t have any money so when Barry laughed in his face, he started begging.

“Look, man, I��I don’t have cash but I’m good for it. Just a couple lines, y’know? Let me give you something else, man, like as interest. Anything you want, bro, you got it,” is what he said, stumbling over his own words in his desperation for a quick fix.

He said anything, didn’t he? Really, he should have seen it coming when Barry blinked at him and considered the offer for a moment before letting Rafe inside, shutting the door, and grabbing at himself through his basketball shorts.

Rafe only weakly insisted that he’s not about that gay shit once or twice before he let Barry knock him down with a shove at his shoulders.

He kneels there almost pitifully as Barry snorts and pulls his dick out of his shorts, wrapping a hand around the back of Rafe’s head to force him onto it.

Rafe gags almost immediately, spluttering around the head of Barry’s cock and pulling a face, looking up at him with watery eyes like he’ll do anything except force him to take more.

Barry laughs as he does, cruel fingers gripping tightly onto the hair at the back of Rafe’s head to push him further onto his dick. Rafe gags again, his eyes welling up with tears and his hands forming into fists that beat weakly at Barry’s plush thighs.

It’s not good, really, on a technical level. But the sight? The reality of what Barry’s got this country club motherfucker on his knees doing? That’s what makes him groan, because the thing about Rafe is that he could fight back. He’s bigger and stronger than Barry is, so he could win. He just doesn’t want to.

“Calm the fuck down, aight? Just take it,” Barry says, shoving Rafe’s head down so far his nose is pressed to his pubes and all either of them can hear are the wet noises of him spluttering and crying around some dick.

“Yeah, work for your coke, baby boy, you’re doin’ fine,” Barry continues, only getting closer the more Rafe suffers.

Rafe sort of gets the hang of it after a while, willing his throat to loosen up and submitting completely to Barry’s assault on his throat. He gives up on shoving at Barry’s thighs, opening his fists and digging his fingers into the meat instead.

He’s still messy about it, drooling around Barry’s cock and getting snot in his pubes. His own dick is hard too, has been for a while based on the way it’s aching and leaking pitifully in his khaki shorts.

Rafe is overwhelmed again when Barry cums without warning, dick lodged all the way at the back of his throat as he finishes. Barry holds him there too, grunting and making him take it all before finally pulling back. He tucks his dick back into his shorts as Rafe collapses onto his ass, trying to catch his breath through all the coughing and crying.

“Get me my fuckin’ coke, bitch,” Rafe says hoarsely, trying for assertiveness even after what he just let another man do to him.

Barry laughs at the watery glare he’s given and flicks Rafe’s sweaty forehead before turning and leaving him there, hard and kneeling on the floor of the living room to go get his coke.

[sleepy-hyperfixations]

Can I just say. I have the worst fucking gaydar on the planet, that being it’s only went off twice in my whole life and it was absurdly right both times. Stubbornly rare, but good at its job. I saw that clip of Mack trying so hard to stutter out his fucking words about a jersey or something. I’ve seen another of him, that one where he visibly turns so damn red it looks like he got a really bad sunburn in the span of two seconds. I’ve never watched hockey in my life but I am well aware of the homoeroticism of sports, and that. That. That is just gay. Very very gay. Nobody who has got this far into fame will stutter that goddamn much in an interview. He followed up his mess with an awkward ass smile and I just know he was thinking “what the fuck was that?” Because, yeah, what the fuck was that, Celebrini? Never in my life have I actually visibly tracked someone blushing, either. Please tell me everyone is under consensus that this is so fucking gay and we’re just shutting our mouths for the sake that it’s a little fragile for them to have this kind of thing in the environment they are in. I swear to god. This is the gayest thing I have ever seen in my whole life. Now on the other hand at least Will knows how to keep his composure in check when he’s under 7 cameras and 15 microphones from what I’ve seen. But my fucking god does he slip. Especially when they’re around each other. Can’t help it can you? Disgusting behaviour, both of them. Every new thing I learn my gaydar just keeps beeping louder and I think I’m hardly at the surface here. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Please give me the most incriminating fact about them so I can be further shocked. I will probably be back to be further upset with how obvious this all is

anon i just woke up and this is quite possibly the funniest fucking thing, like the actual highlight of my day 🤣.

anyways, my personal favorite willmack moments are mack looking at his bro like this on ice in front of hundreds of people, then probably them subjecting their father figure teammate to deal with them for a whole night, then whatever tf this was

[theweirdgoodbyes]

Last Line Challenge

Thanks for the tag @ventresses!

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you like)

——this is a snippet from my fake dating au for luztoye week that is nowhere near done but has taken me hostage——

“I gotta,” Joe takes a small sip of his coffee, shivering as the cold liquid hits his tongue. He prefers hot, but it’s not like this guy knows that and he’s not gonna complain about a free drink, “hmm, I gotta know what this is about before I commit to anything. ‘Cause as of right now, I think you’re over the hill and far away.”

George throws back his head and laughs like it’s the funniest shit he’s ever heard, a loud, genuine thing that has Joe biting his lip to keep from smiling. He looks back at Joe, smile still glued to his face as his chuckles subside.

“You’re not wrong, pal. So, uh,” George sniffs, quickly wiping at his nose with the back of his hand before pointing at Joe with both index fingers, “let’s start with a little background. I’m one of ten kids, ranking in at number six but by far the best looking.”

“Jesus Christ,” Joe mutters, shaking his head. Although he never liked being an only child and always longed for a sibling or two, he couldn’t imagine having nine. George just grins, those fingers wagging in unison.

“Catholics love two things: Mother Mary and fucking without a condom. Anyway, all my siblings are married or engaged and my mother’s been on my ass for years about settling down. ‘Georgie���,” George says in a falsetto so realistic Joe has to blink once, twice, before it registers that the words came out of the man’s mouth, “‘I’m worried you’re gonna die alone. Why won’t you give me grand babies?’ Woman’s already got sixteen, mind you.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“I know. Anyway, at Christmas I got so damn fed up with her pestering I finally came out, not like she didn’t already know. ‘Ma, I’m gay’. I think that’s the end of it and she’ll leave me alone.” George slams his palms down on the table, forcing Joe to reach out and grab his coffee before it tips over from the impact. “Nope! Now she’s pestering me about when I’m gonna get a boyfriend. And she’s got my sisters texting me about it, those turncoats. So, Easter rolls around, and she’s so far up my ass I could just about shit her out. ‘Georgie’,” he says in that falsetto again, “‘God loves the gays. But you gotta get married to make it right’. So I started a little lie. Said I was seeing somebody. Picked the most common name out there and said his name is Joe, y’know, Joe Shmo who likes to blow. He’s a good Catholic boy like myself, he doesn’t live around here, and that’s the end of it.”

“But it’s not the end of it,” Joe says slowly, unsure if he wants to know more. If he was feeling more sane, or wasn’t about to get one hell of a fucking fine for not paying off the ticket in time, he would have grabbed his crutches and been out the door by now. But there was something about George that was almost hypnotic, making the world around him fade into a blur, only able to focus on this stupid yet charming man before him. Joe takes another gulp of his coffee for strength, hardly registering the cold temperature anymore.

“It sure as shit ain’t. This woman, my God, she’ll never be satisfied. She wants pictures. She wants details. She wants to meet him. You know what the problem is? Guy doesn’t fucking exist.” George takes a sip of his own coffee, iced like Joe’s and double the size, impish brown eyes glinting with something Joe isn’t sure he wants to understand, “Until now.”

Tagging @lamialamia @bast0gne @antigonenikk and anyone else who wants to do it heehee

[domesticated-rocks]

Goodbye MHA

Spoilers for MHA up to chapter 430

I just read the final chapter of MHA and cried. I have never followed anything for so long and this work is incredibly special to me.

I started reading MHA in 2018, when I was in my first year of uni, and it was exactly what I needed. While I might not have always kept up with the anime since I caught up with the Manga I have read it every week. It has been a rock for me during a lot of different times. It helped me through Lockdown, losing my friend group (twice), and starting my master’s degree. Reaching the end of this manga, of this story one thing that has stuck in my head is: What do I do now? The Anime is still coming out and there are some spin-offs I can read but MHA is over and as far as we know there is nothing else. This world is finished and it has ended.

Was MHA perfect? No, fair from it. It had a lot of problems that are unfortunately staples. But, was it good? Yes. It was very good. There are a few times where I wish it had had more room to breath but and the ending still feels weird to me. It felt like that Horikoshi was setting up for a long epilogue and then suddenly switched to only a few chapters to finish. But I like how the Manga ends. I like how despite none of the main cast die and we get to see them become heroes and we get to see how being a hero has evolved and changed. I love that in the end the message isn’t just that Deku became the strongest and solved all the problems but that systemic change needed to happen - would I love to seen more of how that happened. Yes, but did I need to - probably not.

It’s interesting but at the end I’m left thinking of Hero All-mights final words “次は君だ” or “you’re next”. So, MHA fandom, now it’s our turn - what are we going to do? Where are we going to take what Horikoshi has given us?

Finally, though I know you will never see this: 堀越先生ありがとうございます。

Ps. Red Riot Gay confirmed! /lh

[kitty-box-101]

I don’t tend to do Post where I’m just talking but today I think I needed to talk about something The phenomena of guilt some people have over shipping

TLDR: Komamiki enjoy yours are the strongest soldiers of the fandom

In a server it seemed that a few people share this common feeling because God forbid you like something different than what’s popular

Then I mention a rare pair that I know a few people like had it as a discomfort to the point where I censored the word (using the Discord spoiler thing and btw it’s komamiki so ajshhs) especially for a friend who is in the server who I know it’s his discomfort

Despite that my friend notice and joined in the conversation, at first, it was joking around like haha your my enemy haha “you’re the reason I don’t talk about this ship” I said that jokingly but looking back this came off more like I had a grudge against him 😭lol

Then my friend explained I quote “ it’s problematic so not too surprising” (in a fandom like dr throwing that word around is not good at this point it’s lost its meaning and has so much nuance that it simply is a black-and-white)

Probably the fact that it was my friends discomfort clouded his judgment, so it makes sense that he was gonna be sort of bias, he explained why to him it was problematic and a lot of it was up to personal preference. The only moment I can see being a problem was when in one of the manga mikan is on top of Nagito (my friend says that she s/a him and I heavily disappeared. It did not seem like she was doing anything to him other than pointing needle at him, which you know now that’s just a different thing)

It also had to do with her habit of making her patient sick so they stay longer, as far as I remember in the game, it was definitely the opposite, and wanted to make sure that he was alive more than anything before she got infected with the disease. This goes with all the other patient characters, I think a pretty good example would be fuyuhiko who stayed at the hospital and came back and it’s not like he stayed for so long so it’s not like she was planning that.

Would Mikan normally go that extreme just for a classmate to stay sick and with her? No i don’t think so

I didn’t exactly bring up my opinions and points exactly I just kinda nodded, but didn’t necessarily agree with anything, there was another person involved in the conversation mainly asking a lot of questions like why they think it’s problematic ect. I guess it was hard for my friend to explain since he was in school and couldn’t write out his thoughts properly ( he explained it to me later that he has a hard time detecting tone on text, but like still wondering what made him think I wasn’t listening to what he was saying

(and I was starting to think he was getting uncomfortable since it seemed like he was made up to be the bully cuz I ship them) and he said at least twice that he wanted the conversation to stop, but it kept going ??? Hell people were even backing me up, saying what I was doing was harmless and just letting me be a silly goobre and hell I even found someone who ships it that as well  eventually he genuinely said “I give up 💔” which I found funny in a kind of “could you not be the dense!?” Way 

After a while, I decided to check up on friends since In his insta note it said he wasn’t feeling well. I decided to check up on him and he said he was fine and explained more of why he doesn’t like it. Just like I thought it had a lot to do with projection, which I completely understand. You’re going to project to your favorites a lot and seeing a contradiction of your personal hc we’re gonna hurt just a little if you do take them personally.

Now here’s something. I’m definitely going to ask him about; and his Twitter he had a post that was just “Komaeda is gay” over and over again and sure I drew him a little drawing to show good faith, but I wonder if it was done out of spite? not because of me, but because of hc(and in his own words the bi hc for Nagito makes him vomit)

I very much have an issue with that kind of language because obviously someone who hc him that is going to feel like shit and that’s literally not what you wanna do ever

There’s definitely a lot to sort out ? I’m in good terms and everything Hell love the guy/p but it’s those little things that I gotta get out of my system and the only way I know how is My talking about it in a social media he doesn’t have ajhsgsgs don’t wanna feel like I’m shit talking yk?

But ye that’s all just remember to respect other peoples ships and if you don’t like them, just say they’re not your cup of tea and go drink your cup of coffee ☕️

(if somehow you’ve made it this far in reading, you’re insane and that’s awesome)



[sewerratzz]

YEAH !!! i will always take an opportunity to talk about my little guys

NOW most of my ships are rarepairs and three of them are my absolute favourites, but i have to go with one, and i’m sure this will surprise no one;

weeball time !!

Richie Lipschitz/Jason Jepson, my beloveds, my sillies. THE POTENTIAL THERE ??? this ship needs to be more popular yesterday

here is my Canon propaganda for this:

I’ve made a post months ago about this one part, but Jason clearly not wanting to bully Richie in Flick-It Ticket [im talking sections in the proshot👍].

Max asks if he should let Richie off with a warning, in that way bullies do, and Jason goes "haha, yeah :D !" I talked about this being, on the surface, a dumb jock joke, but thinking about it more, it shows Jason not wanting to bully Richie [or people in general! Later, in The Parking Lot Of Pasqualli's, when Pete says Steph invited him, Jason says "Well shit, if she's cool with the kid, maybe I'm cool with him too!", but backs off and stands by when Max yells at him.]

Both of these instances show Jason trying to go along with Max's whole 'thing' to get him to not bully them either. Steph is one of the cool kids, so he thinks that if Steph is chill with Pete, Max would be too. He's an optimistic, hopeful little guy.

[OKAY im not getting sidetracked by Jason analysis i swear.]

We remember Kyle’s little speech to Brenda in “Two Weeks Later” when he says he sometimes thinks the cheerleaders are the real show and “we’re just there to support you gals☺️”.

Jason’s little speech to Richie in “The Big Game” is like. a Direct parallel to Kyle’s, is it not?

“I’d especially like to acknowledge a vital member of this team who’s gone neglected for far too long. ..Richie, get over here!!”

“Really? You want me in the huddle?” “We don’t want you here, we need you here.”

Jason immediately putting his arm around Richie’s shoulders AND squeezing his arm, looking off with him and saying, “Whenever I feel like throwing in the towel, I just look over at the sidelines and there you are, dancing, falling all over yourself.” [he says this SO fondly btw.] “Reminds me why i love this game!”

Like I am Bad at social interaction, but I feel like that's a little over the top if he was just being nice or trying to include him. And again, it is a direct parallel to previous dialogue from a canon couple.

Also why is he getting so close to Richie [like seriously, right up against him] when, in Jason's words, he "smells like an open asshole right now." No reason for that other than gay

"No offence!" "None taken, I have overactive sweat glands!" "We understand! We support and love you!"

[I'm never not thinking about how happy Richie looks in this scene. Shaking my fist at Max for ruining that.]

Richie is the only person in canon to call Jason, Jace. He has a nickname for him !! And Jason is clearly happy with it !! Really, not that we see much of the interactions of the side characters, but all his friends as far as we know call him Jason, except Richie. And he does it twice !! When Jason tells him to shower: "You got it, Jace!" and when Max calls for him in the locker room: "Jace? Kyle? Quit fooling!"

And a parallel between them !! A beautiful, wonderful parallel which I love. Jason dies in the reprise of the song in which Richie dies. Is that not Hatchetfield Tragic Soulmatism™️ at its finest?

Nerdy Prudes Must Die to Dirty Dudes Must Die

They're doomed to die to the same melody, and if that doesn't make for soulmates, I don't know what does !! [i stole this quote from @ratsarecute4 but she was RIGHT]

now i have written a few fics for these two, but I recommend this one written by @ratsarecute4 i absolutely love it and it is so well written !!

And to leave this off, I am 100% sure that if Richie had not died and they had more time, they would’ve at least started crushing on each other, if Richie wasn’t already !! just look at his smile in The Big Game !!

In the mood to get a little wild and start some positive ship discourse, so I would like to humbly ask you all: what’s your favorite rarepair and what do you like about them?

~~~

[sorry-im-paranoid]

I am losing my mind over the last Trials of Apollo book

[oxydiane]

sns is so fucking unhinged and nobody will ever be them i’m sorry. you start the series and it’s like oh haha look at these goofy angsty rivals! they hate each other! then sasuke dies for naruto thirty chapters in giving up his dream of revenge and naruto goes batshit insane. now you’re like ah they’re friends i guess that’s cute! and sasuke is trying to kill naruto because he’s the most important person in his life which is . ok and it becomes the driving force of everything or something. sasuke leaves and naruto dedicates the rest of his life to bringing him back and you’re still a casual fan so ur like he’s doing it for the promise right? then orochimaru says sasuke is his and naruto goes batshit insane feral homicidal (again) and after that sasuke reappears and they have ??? like five different panels dedicated to them staring at each other??? and he jumps off a mountain and hugs naruto for some reasons just to whisper some gay shit in his ear kishimoto frankly needs to be jailed drawing this and keep that best friend nonsense going. anyways. you have sasuke become a convicted terrorist to which the normal people response is “ok we need to hunt him down” and when naruto learns they’re gonna hunt him down he starts screaming crying throwing up he has a panic attack he can’t breathe he’s falling in the snow he gets on his knees and begs them to spare his BFF. after having a meltdown over the thought of sasuke dying what may possibly be the natural coping mechanism any stable person would adapt? of course realising that if sasuke dies he can die too. so he sees sasuke again and after he attempts murdering sakura twice and expresses the intent to murder kakashi he’s like. i will bear the burden of your hatred and die with you hehe and if we both die you won’t be an uchiha and i won’t be the jinchuuriki to the nine tails and we’ll be able to understand each other better in a different lifetime! WE’LL MEET AGAIN IN THE AFTERLIFE BECAUSE NOT EVEN DEATH CAN DO US PART! and sasuke (just as insane as him) doesn’t even flinch he’s like what the fuck is wrong with you but then ok let’s fuckingggf die together on my god i will kill your first anyways . then they find out they are soulmates and get cute matching tattoos on their hands and decide to fight to the death once more because sasuke is back on his i will shoulder all the hatred of the world alone and i need to kill you because i love you more than anyone else in the world actually you’re the only person i love so you need to DIE and naruto is like I WILL NOT LET YOU SHOULDER THAT HATRED ALONE I WILL FREE YOU FROM THE PAIN and they fight and despite all the whatever weapons used in the war it’s a fuckinggg fistfight in which just as sasuke is about to inflict what he thinks is the last blow says “farewell… my one and only…………………. (very long pause to accentuate how heteronormative this next word is gonna be) FRIEND” and fucking stops using his sharingan because not even then he can record the image of naruto dying especially by his hand but naruto STOPS HIM LIKE A f cHAMP and they end up blowing each other’s arms off (rip the matchies) and as they’re bleeding to the fucking death sasuke is like you’re the only person that has never tried to severe their ties with me why do you go so far for me and naruto from the depths of comphet hell is like because you’re my FRIEND and sasuke being absolutely done with this bullshit is like ok what the fuck does that mean to you then and this is where it gets even gayer and relatable because naruto is like i don’t KNOW i just know that when you hurt i hurt and i just can’t take it and isn’t that the most gay experience thing ever? naruto knows what it feels like to have friends but what he feels for sasuke is so bone deep and unconventional that he cannot make sense of it and can only describe the pain it brings. after that sasuke CRIES LIKE THEYVE GOT ME SOOO FUCKED UP but you know what got me even more fucked up?

naruto waking up bloodied and battered and half alive with one arm missing but still wondering if that was heaven because sasuke was next to him. sasuke looking so happy and peaceful when saying “i lost” as a stark contrast to him looking and feeling like half of his body was being torn apart when he “won” against naruto in vote1 and left him. the bitterness of victory vs the sweetness of losing if you will. AND HIM COMPARING WHAT HE FEELS FOR NARUTO TO PRAYING MY GODD. did i forget to mention that then we learn that Ohhh it was never a stupid shallow rivalry as we all thought! they have actually been watching each other from afar since they were little freshly traumatised children and have longed to hold each other’s hands since then! what was it sasukeeee you felt warm and fuzzy when you saw naruto to thought of it as a weakness? these two are so astronomically hopelessly desperately obsessed in love with each other it’s ridiculous i’ve had ENOUGH free me from this mental prison

[straight4joekeery]

Teach Me How To Love In Your Own Lyrics

(Part five)

(TWS ⚠️: mentions homophobia and domestic violence; If you want to skip I’ll put blue dots before and after the scene. I’m sorry if there’s any other areas I missed that talk about this!)

Prev. Part one

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So he dumped me! Get this! He said ‘is it that time of the month?’ Like he’s so wrong for that! I mean… he wasn’t literally wrong. But still. As a woman I feel attacked. Steve? Are you even listening?” See? Steve doesn’t lie. Very. Annoying.

“Yeah. That’s crazy.”

“What’s your problem today?”

“… nothing”

“Oh. My. God. Steve get over it. It’s been a month! Why would you even want to be friends with him? He killed Chrissy,” (OH NO SHE DIDN’T), “I think he should be behind bars,” (SHE DID), “he disappears for like a week and comes back with a brand new apartment. I don’t know Steve I think it’s kinda messed up-”

“JULIE,” The entire diner went silent. He waved and apologized to the workers before continuing a little quieter, “genuine question. Do you ever shut up?”

“I-“

“Let me finish,” she actually closed her mouth for once what a shock! “It’s not against the law for me to have a friend that I actually care for. You act like I can’t know people besides you. Plus to be honest, I’ve never even liked you. For one, you over share EVERYTHING. Yeah, sorry, news flash I could not care less about your dear dear Bradley boy and wether or not he loves you. And also I’m allowed to have opinions that differ from yours. You don’t have to argue about EVERYTHING. If I said ‘oh hey Julie look at the pretty blue sky’ you’d come up with a six page essay on how the sky isn’t BLUE.”

“You done?”

“Oh I could say more if you’d like,” he grinned. When she said nothing he went to continue his beautifully presented speech.

“Pass,” she interrupted, “I’m sorry Steve. I really am. But it’s not my fault you cannot form a sentence where the subject isn’t Eddie. You’d think you’re in love with him,” (OH REALLY??) the last words rang in his ears. He scoffed as he took the last sip of his shake. He aggressively stood up and thanked the waiter.

“Oh and thank you for paying Julie!” He smiled as he ran out the door. He jumped in the car and laughed. Laughed until he couldn’t breathe. He wondered where all this rage came from. Then he remembered that he promised himself to never yell at anyone…

• Suddenly he’s ten again. His dad had told him something stupid that Steve quite frankly didn’t agree with. He didn’t even yell at him he just said softly that he has a different opinion. But oh no. Richard wasn’t too happy about it. He yelled at Steve until he lost his voice. When he did he had to use the only other form of punishment he knew. He hit Steve. Once. Twice. Seven times. But no. That wasn’t enough. He grabbed Steve by the hair and slammed him into the wall. That’s how he got concussion number 1 (and 2,4, and 5). If you ask anyone else he knew at the time he fell of his bike (Which was believable considering that’s how he got the third one). He remembered going to school the next day and Tommy laughing at him because oh Steve, you’re so stupid. Oh. Tommy.

Now he’s back to age 14. There were two kids in his grade named Cory and Danny. They were both super nice kids. Got good grades, never did anything wrong. But one day Tommy wasn’t to fond of how close they were sitting at lunch. So as usual, he said something. Called them… the word. Now I mean sure, Steve wasn’t the nicest and called Johnathan a queer once. But that? He’d never do that. That’s way too far. He told Tommy to stop. He just pushed him away and said, “or what? Are you a little fairy too?” •

Thinking back on it so what? So what if he was gay? There’s nothing wrong with that. And yeah Julie, so what if he is in love with Eddie…Wait. Pause. What? He had to think for a hot second about that one. He thinks about Nancy and what it felt like to be in love with her. And yeah it’s a lot different actually, but not in the way he thinks. He thought about how he actually felt about Nance he loved her but no… the longer he thought about it the more he realized. He thought about Robin, and how yeah he obviously loves her too. In the same way he loved Nance.

But that’s like saying their whole relationship was a lie so no. He loved her. But… He was hyperventilating at this point. Okay well he’s obviously not gay because he hooked up with like 10 girls a month a while back. He did it in hopes for just the right girl. He hoped it ‘feel different’ with her. Different. Oh.

But he guessed that it doesn’t matter anyways, because Eddie doesn’t like Steve back. Right?

He had to stop thinking about it because he’s been sitting in the car for a while now and he can see Julie inside standing up finally. He pulls out of the parking lot and cranks down the window. Just breathing in the summer air. He makes it about half way home before he realizes that he drove Julie to the diner. Oops.

He turns on the radio. He still hasn’t changed the tape since the airport. He has to admit. This kind of music is growing on him. It’s loud he’ll give it that, but the more he listens the more he actually hears the lyrics. And they’re actually good. Like really good. He pulls up to his house and sits in the car for a bit longer. Just listening.

Once the tape is over he gets out. He unlocks the door and jumps onto the couch. He sees the copy of The Lord of the Rings that Dustin had gotten him after forcing him to watch the movies. He almost cried (but then he thought about his dads stupid words) when he got it. Mostly because it’s probably the best gift he’s ever gotten. But partly because he couldn’t read. After concussion number 13 (12? 14? He didn’t know. I wonder why he couldn’t remember!) he was never able to. The words blend together and make no sense anymore. Every time he picks up a book he gets an instant migraine. (Oh yeah because he gets those too now.) He picks it up anyway. He opens it and… yeah. “Pointless,” He sighed.

It’s the weekend for gods sake, and he just discovered the that his life was a lie (he honestly wasn’t even mad about it. He was happy. It felt like a 50 pound brick just got taken off his shoulder). He should be doing something fun. So he gets up and looks around. He could put on a movie. But then again he’s seen them all about 20 times since Eddie left. Yep he’s got nothing. He could… yeah nope absolutely nothing. He glanced towards the phone and shrugs. He dials the only number he has memorized.

“Hello?”

“Hey Vick!”

“Steve! How are you?”

“I’m good! Really good actually. Uh random question.”

“Hm?”

“Are you and Robin working today? Or just over the weekend in general?”

“I mean we are supposed to be but we can always just close up the shop. Why what’s up.”

“You guys want to go out for a drink? I’ll drive up there.”

Steve could practically here her smiling over the phone. She sighed, “I’ll go inform the wife,” she giggled.

“Thanks Vick, you’re the best.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. When will you head up here?”

“…now?”

She laughed, “yeah okay. See you in a bit!”

“Bye,” he put the phone back on the wall. He walked to his room to find a good outfit.

He put on his skinny jeans because in Eddie’s exact words, “they are very…Flattering?” He searched for a good shirt. Thankfully he expanded from his polo collection. He accidentally pushed a shirt off of its hanger and he couldn’t just leave it on the ground like a normal person because that would ruin “the image”. He picks it up and looks at it. It was a Nirvana shirt Eddie had bought him saying that, “this band will slowly ease you into metal. Grungey but surprisingly good.” He didn’t think they were to bad. He threw on the shirt for fun. It looked alright so he decided to stick with it. Plus it was actually very comfy. He went to walk out of his room when he saw it. Why did he still have it? It’s been seven years. But there it is in the corner of his room. The stupid battle vest. He thought he gave it back to Eddie. He picked it up and went to hang it up when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. I mean. He might as well. He threw on the jacket and… he looked good. Really good. He wondered why he never wore it before. He definitely pulled it off. He ran to the bathroom and grabbed the makeup bag he kept for when Robin came over (he swears it’s for Robin and Robin only). Go big or go home right? He pulled out three things: lipgloss (WHICH HE HAS NEVER USED AND IS ROBINS AND NOT HIS), mascara (WHICH HE HAS ALSO NEVER USED), and eyeliner. (Which he actually hadn’t ever used) He started with the lipgloss. Yep looks good like normal Wow Steve! He should have done this sooner. He put on the eyeliner. He had done this so many times on Robin it was practically muscle memory and… woah. It was… different to say the least. Then he put on the slightest bit of mascara on and checked himself out… for 5 minutes. He actually liked what he saw. He decided it was definitely time to go so he jumped in the car and drove up to his second home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next

EEEEEE. YOU GO STEVE. Baddie era fr (I’ll never say that again I swear. Dw it pained me too). I feel kinda bad just giving him piles of trauma. This one’s gooooodddd tho. Sorry if it’s short, it was originally supposed to be combined with the next one but I’m hoping that one will be kinda long. Am I projecting Nirvana onto him? Yes. Ofc. Nirvana is great and deserves more attention in fics. I am stressing a lot over this. I have a post up on my page that like gives updates and spoilers and stuff. So I was saying how I stopped reading my English book for this. Oops. I also don’t even have another chapter written after this so it’s gonna be a fun little weekend project! Also crazy to think I’m most likely half way done. Anyways now the stuff no one cares about. Comment or reblog if you want to be tagged. (I am not being aggressive when I capitalize this I just need people to see it.) MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR TAGS ON GUYS!! Here’s the tag list!: @asbealthgn , @queerbeansworld , @bird-with-pencils , @vecnuthy , @artiststarme , @captain-winter-wolf-aehs , @piningapple @rowendyss @steve-themom-harrington @lfaewrites @azreadytodie @thequeenrainacorn @pastel-dreamscape @importanttimemachinenerd @jehneeg @swagaliciousmarie @mightbeasleep @krazyperson @milkshakeflower @fando-random @bumblebeecuttlefishes @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369

I am going to cry I just found a much easier way to tag people. ⬇️⬇️

[hahanamegobrrrr]

Discussions

This is a part two to this post. It was supposed to just be a oneshot but has turned into an au in my brain where Virgil is a lee, and Logan isn't in the t community but thinks it's absolutely adorable and is very willing to tickle Virgil loads.

1207 words

This is a tickle fic! (this is more talking than actual tickling, but still :P)

----

So, Virgil was in a bit of a lee mood at the moment. Like, a MEGA lee mood. It had been a couple weeks after Logan had tickled him for that first time. There had been several times since that first time where Virgil had asked Logan to tickle him. It was REALLY weird at first, with neither of them really knowing what they were doing. Virgil basically had to take Logan step-by-step through anything he wanted to happen, which was really flustering. But soon Logan got the hang of it, at least to the point that Virgil could ask to be tickled and wouldn’t need to act like an instruction manual anymore.

But this time, Virgil was in a MUCH worse lee mood. He didn’t feel like the normal softer stuff they’d both gotten used to would work this time. So, Virgil decided he’d talk to Logan about it. Talking had gotten them this far, it certainly couldn’t hurt at least.

Virgil made his way to Logan’s room. Standing outside the door, he knocked twice before Logan opened it.

“Hello, Virgil. What can I do for you?” Logan greeted him with a small smile.

“Can I come in?”

“Well of course.”

Virgil came into Logan’s room, and immediately flopped down onto his bed.

“So, I want you to like. Do the Thing.” Virgil said, already feeling slightly flustered. Logan made a noise of understanding, sitting on the bed next to him.

“Alright. Is there any particular place you’d like me to start?” Logan asked, already scanning over Virgil’s body in a way that made him feel all sorts of things.

“Yes. Could you do my belly?” Virgil asked, feeling a swarm of butterflies as Logan quirked an eyebrow.

“Really? Right at the start?” Logan asked. They both knew after some exploration that his tummy was by far his worst spot, at least that they’d discovered. They usually saved it for last, and only for a minute as a grand finale.

“Well, I kinda am in *more* of a lee mood than usual. And I’d like it if this time was more, uh, intense.” Virgil stammered, feeling his blush rise as he spoke. Why did it have to be such a big deal for him to talk about, huh?? Why couldn’t he just be confident in this and not have to trip over his words so much?

“Ah, okay.” Logan hummed. “Just tell me whenever you want to stop, ok? Since you are so sensitive there. I don’t want to go too far by accident.” Virgil’s poor little gay heart. It melted into simply goop after hearing how careful Logan wanted to be, to make sure not to hurt him.

“Yeah, I will.” Virgil replied.

“Alright, I’m going to start now,” Logan said, hesitating for a second before lifting up Virgil’s shirt. This alone led to another wave of butterflies. And then the fingers touched down on the skin, resulting in the now-familiar tingling sparks. Virgil immediately fell into giggles. For now, Logan was just gently skimming and scribbling the way they were both used to. And this was amazing, but after about 30 seconds, Virgil could tell he wanted- no, *needed* more. And Logan seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he asked, “So, how exactly do you think I can tickle you more effectively? We know from previous attempts that rougher tickles simply hurt you.”

Virgil actually wasn’t sure. Part of it was probably that it was hard to think with Logan’s continued scribbling on his tummy and sides. But how *could* they make it more ticklish without hurting? Virgil then had a thought. A horrible, awful thought that he cursed his brain for thinking. It would certainly amplify the tickles. But was he really desperate enough to give Logan this power?? ….Yes. Yes he was.

“Uhum, what i-if you. T-teaheased me.” Virgil choked out past the giggles. That was certainly not an easy thing to say out loud. He could see the cogs in Logan’s brain turning. Then there was the lightbulb.

“Ah! I remember reading about this. Verbal teasing adding to the feeling of being flustered and therefore increasing ticklishness.” Logan said, going into info mode.

Virgil spluttered at this, his blush absolutely skyrocketing into uncharted territory. “Y-you read up on this shit??” 

“Yes, of course I did Virgil. Did you really not expect me to even passively research something that means so much to you?” Logan stopped his scribbling fingers and stood up, the lightbulb expression back on his face. Virgil was somewhat shocked by the sudden loss of contact, and it took his brain a second to process what had happened.

“What- why’d you stop??” Virgil asked, already mourning the absence of even the soft tickles.

“You said you enjoy consuming written tickle content, correct?” Logan asked.

“Uh, yeah?” Virgil said, still confused.

“If you would share some of your favorite content with me, I can read it and try to emulate that. This would allow me to have a direct look at the kinds of things you’d prefer, as well as give me a sort of guide to work off of. I can do research!” Logan was now looking at him excitedly.

Virgil kind of just. Stopped working for a second. It made sense! It made perfect sense. But also, the thought of sharing his *favorite tickle fics* with *anyone* was mortifying. But this was Logan he was talking about, and it would greatly benefit Virgil in the future.

“Well, ok. It does make sense.” And so their session was paused, replaced instead with Virgil going through his tumblr likes and ao3 bookmarks to reluctantly send all his favorite, most flustering fics to Logan. As he searched, Logan would read any new fic as it got sent, making noises of affirmation whenever he came across something noteworthy.

"So, would you enjoy this type of teasing then, Virgil?" Logan asked, showing the phone to Virgil who almost immediately blushed.

The teases were along the lines of:

-"awwwwww, you're so cute like this."

-"Please? Please what? Please more tickles? Well of course."

-"You just love this, don't you?"

-"I'm gonna tickle-tickle-tickle you, and there's nothing you can do about it >:)"

A very strained, flustered noise came out of Virgil's throat just imagining Logan teasing him like that.

"Uh. Yeah. Like that. I mean, these are all my favorite fics so it's pretty safe to say anything you find will be fine with me. Otherwise it wouldn't be my favorite," Virgil admitted, deciding that the blanket was now the most interesting thing in the entire world, actually.

“That does make sense,” Logan said with a smile. “The common themes I am seeing in most of these teases are acknowledging the cuteness of reactions, and instilling a feeling of slight helplessness. Does that seem accurate?”

Virgil nodded. “Yeah, seems about right.” It was surprisingly getting easier to talk about this with Logan. Definitely *not* easy, but easier.

“So, do you want me to attempt to tickle you while also using these teasing techniques?” Logan asked, leaning closer to Virgil.

The blush that had died down on Virgil’s face had returned. “Yes PLEASE.”

Logan laughed at the eagerness. “Well, let us proceed then.”

[ncji]

Impossible

Chapter 1/?

Pairing: ShikaNeji, NejiShika

Rating: Explicit

Summary: Neji is rescued by Team Gai, which finds him in an impossible state: alive. He has no memory of what happened to him or how he managed to survive it. All he knows is it’s going to take more than his own genius to figure it out.

Warnings: blood, torture, non-con, character “death”, mentions of death

...

‘Blood.’ 

Everywhere. Not seen, but smelled. The foul odor was thick with decay, no longer sharp and coppery. Soon, it would be nothing but rot. It was nauseating, suffocating. 

‘Where am I?’ Opening his eyes proved impossible, his leaden eyelids far too heavy for his weakened body to lift. He was a prisoner of the darkness, and, slowly, it encompassed his mind, lulling him back into merciful unconsciousness. 

As he faded into the black, he heard the distant wailing of a familiar shrill voice, like a faint lullaby. “Give him back! Give him back!”

...

This is my gift to you.

“Neji!”

Heat washed through his veins, and a sharp gasp filled Neji’s lungs with noxious air. It left him choking, weakly gagging on the stench of rot. He was still surrounded by death.

“He’s alive! Gai-sensei, he’s alive!”

Where was he? A second battle against the darkness ensued, and Neji found the strength to defeat it. Through sheer power of will, he parted his eyelids and freed himself from his prison. A warm, dim glow greeted his weary eyes. It dyed the cold, grey stone overhead in a sunset gradient.

Stone. 

‘A cave?’ What was he doing in a cave? And why did the cave smell so heavily of death? There was no blood to be seen. Not that he was searching for any. Dull eyes remained upward, unmoving. The tiny act of opening them had been effort enough. Moving them seemed exhausting.

Without warning, Neji’s vision was violently invaded by the wide, alarmed eyes of his teammate, who assaulted his neck with trembling calloused fingers, probably searching for a pulse.

“Slow...Neji, stay with me!”

‘Where else am I going to go?’ Another fight, another victory. A weak finger lifted against the familiar spandex beside it, a small stroke against his teammate’s knee. It was supposed to be a gesture of comfort.

Lee blanched, though, and nearly fell over Neji then, jerking away from the unexpected touch. His panicked gaze shifted past Neji, past his fingers, and he waited. 

With another exhausting effort, Neji moved his finger again. Twice even.

The movement pulled Lee’s attention away from whatever he was focused on, and his expression softened. “Neji...” Tears welled up in his eyes, and he leaned back over him. ”Neji, we’re here. You’re safe now.”

���F-feel...safe,” the Hyuuga rasped out. It felt like his vocal cords were in tatters, like countless screams had ripped through them.

Thankfully, Lee didn’t seem to notice. He was distracted by something, a point just above Neji’s brow. Youthful features contorted in a mixture of concern and confusion. “Your forehead...”

‘My forehead?’ Focusing his vision, he found himself in Lee’s dark iris. In the reflective surface, he saw a face he only barely recognized. His eyes were sunken and circled in shadow, his cheeks were hollowed, and his skin was ashen and marred with dark bruises and dried blood. His forehead, though...It was bare.

‘The seal...’ The seal was gone! ‘How?’ His heart began to hammer at the back of his sternum. ‘I’m dead...I must be dead.’ Something warm began to pool in the center of his chest.

“Neji!” Lee’s scream echoed throughout the cave.

...

The journey back to Konoha was long, even with Maito Gai setting the pace. Already, Neji had watched the sun set and rise over them twice, and he wasn’t looking forward to another sunset. “Are we close?” he asked, tone as gentle as he could muster. After all, he didn’t want to seem like he was complaining.

“One more day,” Gai replied. “Just hold on for one more day, Neji.”

Honestly, Neji didn’t understand what he meant when he used those words, and he used them a lot. It wasn’t his grip on his sensei’s flak jacket that kept him in his arms, it was Gai’s strength, his protective hold on Neji’s battered body. Gai would never drop him. Neji’s own strength was growing by the hour, refueled by the food he had taken from his sensei’s pack, so it wasn’t like he was on the brink of death anymore either. 

Thinking of food, he wondered when the others planned to eat, if they planned to eat. Since they had left the stifling confines of the cave, the group had taken one break. One break. He didn’t know how Gai and Lee were managing it. The two of them were carrying the team, literally, with Neji cradled in Gai’s arms and Tenten riding on Lee’s back. It made sense, with their seemingly endless supply of stamina and unbeatable speed, but Neji wondered if the weight they were carrying was wearing on them.

“Gai-sensei...I need a break,” he pleaded softly. They all did. He knew his team wanted to get him home urgently, but they needed to rest. Besides, there were certain things he could not do in his sensei’s arms, necessary things, things that were a result of the gulps of water he had taken from Gai’s canteen.

After some hesitation, a nod was exchanged between Gai and Lee. Their pace slowed, and, from her moving perch, Tenten scouted for the nearest clearing with running water.

It didn’t take long to find a peaceful little spot. 

After some much needed relief, Neji sat with a boxed meal balanced atop his knees and a survival utensil gripped in his fist. Carefully, he nibbled at the meal Tenten had offered him, something nutrient-rich to refuel a travelling kunoichi. It was settling in his stomach like gravel, but he was intent on finishing it anyway. Even though his body had suffered what Tenten had bluntly called torture, the greatest of his pains was his hunger. He was literally starving.

At the edge of their little clearing, Gai and Tenten squabbled over their next move, while Lee lingered close to Neji, and watched him.

Neji understood his concern, considering the state he was in, but it still made him self-conscious. It made him want to drape his cloak over his head for some privacy, like a little tent, but he knew that would only distress Lee more.

“That wound,” Lee said quietly, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

‘Which one?’ he snorted to himself, but, sensitive to his friend’s emotions, Neji just hummed a, “Hm?” around his latest bite.

“On your chest.” He pointed to his own chest, right in the center.

It didn’t take a certain Hyuuga genius to know exactly which wound he meant, the one bandaged by butterfly stitches. “It’s shallow,” he reassured him, albeit a little dismissively. The whole team had fussed over it enough already, especially in the cave. He was fine.

“Your heart--” came the quiet protest.

Inwardly, Neji cursed him for being so adorable. It was impossible to stay annoyed at Lee. “It’s fine, Lee...” Gently, as it was all his strength would allow, he pat the ground beside him.

Lee crawled the short distance to him and, despite how repulsive Neji knew he smelled, pressed against his shoulder. He was heavy, but he was also a soothing warmth Neji could not deny.

The meal box was set aside momentarily so Neji could guide his friend’s hand to his chest. There, he could feel the steady rhythm of his heart through the bandages. It was fine.

Lee was not comforted, though. Instead, he broke down into soft sobs. 

That ended the break.

...

"Hiashi-sama, before today, I would have told you it was impossible.”

“How do you explain it then?”

Neji wondered if they knew he could hear them. The door was a solid barrier between them, yes, but it wasn’t soundproof.

“My guess, and that’s all I can offer you, is that it’s some kind of trauma response.”

‘A trauma response?’ Unconvinced, he looked at the clipboard again. The list of his injuries was longer than his official medical record and the one kept by his clan combined. What the doctor was talking about, though, was the medical impossibility circled in red. 

Puncture wound through the heart. 

While many had survived a stab wound to the heart, no one had survived a puncture wound through it without intervention for at least sixty hours, which it had taken for his sensei to run him back to Konoha. Two and a half days. Before his surgery, he had lived with a hole through his heart for nobody knew how long, with his broken sternum grinding against the wound.

He should have been dead. Team Gai should have brought home his body.

Neji took a breath, inhaled deep into his diaphragm and exhaled slowly. He was alive. He was fine.

“I can’t explain it, Hiashi-sama. One of my team had to leave for the day because she couldn’t believe her own eyes. I don’t blame her. I’m still not entirely sure this isn’t all a dream...”

“I’m hoping I can convince my nephew it is...You said he doesn’t remember anything?”

‘Not a thing,’ said nephew confirmed to himself. It was another--what others would have called--blessing, besides the miracle of his survival. He couldn’t remember why his body was broken and mutilated. He couldn’t remember how he had survived a fatal wound. He couldn’t remember why his curse was gone...He couldn’t remember...

...But he wished he could.

“That’s what he reported...I hope it’s true. If he survives his injuries, I don’t know how he’ll survive--”

“If? You told me he was stable!”

Annoyance pinched Neji’s features. He was stable. He was fine!

“His body has yet to react to its own trauma.”

“Are you saying it still could?”

“I’m saying we don’t know. If this is a trauma response, it could end once he’s aware of it. We’d like to keep him here for a while, in case his body suddenly realizes it should be dead.”

...

The hospital was torture in and of itself. The polluted silence when he was alone was unbearable, but most of the visitors were worse. 

They were mostly investigators inquiring about his condition. Yamanaka Inoichi had offered to open the door to his memories, a thinly veiled excuse to probe his mind for answers. Hiashi had sent him halfway across the village with one strike. An unwelcome defense of Neji’s mind, but an admittedly impressive one. One man had accused him of being a reanimation of his own corpse, which Neji had answered with a pudding cup to the man’s head. He didn’t like pudding anyway. Another man had grabbed at his bandages to check for who knew what. Some evidence he had used a forbidden jutsu on himself, he guessed. Neji had tried his hand at launching a man halfway across Konoha then. Unsuccessfully. When he recovered, he was going to beat Hiashi’s feat.

The other visitors were his team and his surprisingly ever-present family. Hiashi tended to sit silently by his bed, guarding him against those who would hurt Neji, but Hinata and Hanabi usually spoiled him with gifts, which he wasn’t used to. Lately, his cousins’ gifts consisted of solid food, though nothing too tough or heavily seasoned for the sake of his healing insides.

Early that afternoon, both of his cousins had brought him lunch, much to Hanabi’s annoyance. It had caused a one-sided argument, with Hinata apologizing repeatedly. 

“I-I’m sorry. I really didn’t know...”

Hinata wouldn’t have stolen Hanabi’s idea had she known, Neji was sure of that, but Hanabi was convinced she had. 

“I was in the kitchen all night with Natsu! You had to know!”

“I-I didn’t...I was at Kurenai-sensei’s all night...” Hinata explained weakly.

To bring peace to his clan, and to satisfy his endless hunger, the Hyuuga prodigy opened both of the containers and set them on the tray before him. Chilled soba with a muted sauce and salmon onigiri. His cousins were too kind. Eager to eat, he pressed his hands together, recited a respectful, “Itadakimasu,” and stuffed himself with their loving gestures.

That seemed to satisfy the warring Main House Hyuuga sisters, who watched their cousin enjoy their gifts.

Even though the hospital was feeding Neji well, his body had yet to accept it wasn’t going to starve. Every meal that was set before him, Neji finished it. Every snack he was provided, Neji ate it. His binging had caused minor digestive issues, but it had one consequence that Neji didn’t mind at all. In fact, he preferred it over his mundane hospital existence.

Food comas. 

After eating the two full lunches, Neji drifted into a pleasantly deep sleep, with the sunlight warming the blanket over his feet and the light breeze cooling his face. 

...

The blanket shifted near his leg, waking the slumbering Hyuuga. Cautiously, as he was wary of how the sun might have moved during his sleep, he opened his eyes. What he found was not a blinding beam of light, though. Sitting in the chair at his bedside was Nara Shikamaru. 

Glad to see him, Neji greeted him with a sleepy smile, which widened a bit when it was reciprocated. He never would have expected him to visit, considering their past, but there he was.

“Your uncle is trying to have your medical record redacted.”

Neji rolled his eyes at the information. It didn’t surprise him. “It’s incomplete anyway.”

A thin eyebrow arched at his statement. “Your clan has the full record?”

“You know they do.” He had told Shikamaru more about his clan than anyone else. After all, they had once been close. Really close.

“Does it have more information about this?” The Nara tapped the clipboard by Neji’s leg.

“You read it?” Of course he had. He should have expected as much.

“I didn’t want to wake you up to ask you how you were doing.” Judging by the way he avoided eye contact, Shikamaru was lying.

Neji couldn’t blame him, though. “So you know what the gossip is all about.” He had heard the hospital staff talking about him among themselves, so he was sure they were gossiping about him with others outside of work.

“Is it another Hyuuga scandal?”

Neji’s brow furrowed. “No...I don’t know what it is. You’re the real genius,” he accused.

“I’m not a medical genius.”

That had been a reasonable response, but Neji was still disappointed. “No ideas?” he asked.

After a shrug, Shikamaru answered noncommittally. “Forbidden jutsu comes to mind.”

Again, Neji was disappointed. “A waste of one if it is.”

“...I wouldn’t say that...”

Surprised, Neji searched for a hint of something from the past in Shikamaru’s eyes, even the tiniest of sparks. All he found was sorrow in his downcast gaze, though.

“I’m sorry...” Shikamaru finally said.

Confused, Neji probed for more information. “For what?” Surely, he didn’t feel guilty for not knowing.

“It was my mission.”

That sounded awfully cryptic. He prodded a bit more. “What mission?”

“To find you.”

‘I see...’ Bringing himself closer to the other boy, Neji sat up in his hospital bed. “I didn’t know there was a mission.”

Shikamaru was intent on talking to his hands, which were turned over in his lap like they were tainted. “I was given the mission...and I gave it up. I had a plan, I had a team, but I gave the mission to your team because I thought...I would want to rescue my teammate.”

It sounded like a confession, like Shikamaru had done something unforgivable, but Neji understood. He would have done the same thing. Anyone would have. Honestly, he wondered if Shikamaru could have found him any faster than his team. He knew he couldn’t have gotten him back to the village faster than Maito Gai. “It’s not your fault,” he assured him, offering a warm smile to prove his sincerity.

Shikamaru never saw the smile, though. “It wouldn’t be the first time I almost got you killed.”

Shock parted his lips. Was he really still holding on to that guilt? No wonder he was acting like there was blood on his hands. The Sasuke recovery mission had been a complete disaster, one that had almost gotten multiple genin killed, including Neji, but Neji had never blamed Shikamaru for that. “That wasn’t your fault either.”

When the silence stretched on too long, Neji reached out and rested a hand over one of the Nara’s, squeezing it gently. To his surprise, Shikamaru squeezed back.

...

Shikamaru's visits became a daily occurrence, and, during those visits, Neji felt like he was fifteen again. There was always a familiar warmth in his cheeks when Shikamaru was near. It made him nostalgic for the time he had spent lying atop that hill on the Nara property, pinky discreetly linked with his younger crush’s.

Even now, he felt his face heating up as he watched Shikamaru search through the pack he had brought to the hospital. It was cute how his face scrunched up at not being able to find what he was looking for. 

“You’re going home today,” Shikamaru told him distractedly. “Hiashi is arranging it at the front desk. He’s not taking no for an answer.”

Neji’s face fell. He didn’t know how to respond to that. The hospital was a constantly beeping and bustling nightmare, yes, but the compound hadn’t felt like a home to him since his father’s death. It was the reason he took such long missions.

‘I don’t want to go back to that cage...’

At least he was free from one Hyuuga cage. Since he had gained the strength to stand on his own, he had made the short journey to his bathroom every morning to check beneath the bandages on his forehead. The seal had yet to return, and he prayed it never would.

Luckily, his clan was none the wiser about its absence. The medical staff had apparently been too distracted by his injuries to notice a seal that wasn’t there, so they had never informed Hiashi about it. The only people who knew it was gone were the members of his team, and he was already working out a plan to convince them it was back. Those who knew would no longer know, and those who didn’t know would never know.

Suddenly, Neji was snapped out of his thoughts by a cascade of documents onto his bed, both scrolls and papers alike. To keep the scrolls from rolling off the bed, he set them between his legs. “What is all of this?” 

“It’s all of the information I was given for the mission and everything else I could find about your disappearance.”

‘Oh.‘ In his mind’s eye, the documents fused into a single item, a key. They were the key to unlocking his missing memories. Despite the trembling of his fingers, he reached out. He had to know.

Looking over the scattered information, Neji didn’t know where to start, but the mission scrolls seemed to be the logical answer. The first scroll he chose happened to be the reason he had left Konoha, the perfect starting point. 

It was a mission complicated by uncertainties, one that was reserved for jounin. There was a small village in the Land of Wind where a mercenary had taken the people hostage. They had refused to pay him for an unspecified service, so he had taken over and was terrorizing them. Officially, it was a B-rank mission, but, because the village had theorized the mercenary was a missing nin, there was a possibility it was an S-rank mission.

'It must have been an S-rank mission...’ Neji decided. “This mercenary...tortured me?”

Shikamaru shook his head. “You never made it to the village.”

So he had been taken en route to the village. With a nod, he set the scroll aside and reached for the other one, the one he knew held the mission to rescue Neji. Opening it felt like peeling a protective layer away from his mind, leaving him vulnerable.

Hyuuga Neji. Missing for 

“Twelve days...” he read aloud. Twelve days. “From when?”

“Your mission was supposed to take a week at most. Hiashi raised a stink when you didn’t come home by the seventh day. That’s when it started counting. You were abducted on the second day of the mission, though...”

As he read on, he saw no mention of being taken on the second day, just proof of Shikamaru’s deductive reasoning. There were four reports of possible sightings of him, but three of them had minor details that ruled Neji out as the victim, like the mention of a struggle when Neji would have fought or the description of his hair as brown when his hair was too dark to be recognized as brown from a distance. The last witness, an elderly man who had described his memory as “not what it used to be”, had reported a suspicious figure carrying a long-haired corpse. He was the least reliable witness, the one who had reported the least detail, but it was the only report that couldn’t be invalidated. The date of that sighting? Two days into Neji’s mission. ‘Brilliant.’ 

“So I was with my captor for fifteen days at this point...” Fifteen days of torture. Not only could he not remember it, but it was unfathomable to him.

“At that point, yeah...”

That witness had been travelling from Kusagakure at the time of the sighting, but the shady figure had been heading towards the Land of Earth. 

“They found me in...the Land of Earth?” he asked. The first day of the journey back to Konoha was a memory of nothing but Gai’s determined face and the sky above. Details of his surroundings had eluded him.

“Yes...”

So Shikamaru’s deduction had been correct. “In a cave...”

“In a cave,” Shikamaru agreed. His answers were almost distractedly short.

It made Neji uneasy. What was he waiting for? Was there something in the pile that he thought Neji wouldn’t be able to handle on his own? Swallowing that nagging fear, he pushed aside sheets of paper to find a folder at the bottom. Paper was spilling out of its sides, but it was sorted with a few strategic pats. It was strange how it felt so heavy compared to the denser scrolls. Flipping it open, he found a copy of the report that listed everyone who had entered Konoha the day of Neji’s rescue, including Neji. It was dated twenty-two days after Neji's abduction. He had been gone for almost a month. ‘How much of that time was I suffering?’ Again, it was something he couldn’t comprehend.

Other documents contained details he already knew, his intake form for the hospital, the medical report, and a report from the lead surgeon to the Konohagakure Intelligence Division, which explained why Inoichi had made a visit to Neji’s room. At the bottom of it all, there was one last report, the mission report in Tenten’s handwriting. “This is--...”

“I thought you would want to see that,” Shikamaru interjected. His mouth opened again, remained open for a moment, but, then, it just closed without another word. The but never came.

‘Genius,’ Neji thought. Hiashi was undoubtedly going to have the report redacted, so it was a relief to have an unedited copy. 

As relieved as he was to have the copy, he found it difficult to actually read it. Somewhere past the first line, he knew there were details he knew but hadn’t properly acknowledged yet. He hadn’t faced it yet. Another swallow pushed down something stronger and far more complicated than fear, something that felt like a weight on the center of his chest.

Our Team left Konoha with the intention of following every lead until one led us to our teammate, but we found a pattern of footprints that looked like the Gentle Fist on the way to the Land of Wind.

‘Every lead?’ Brow furrowed, Neji read on, about how a trampled pattern of footprints on the ground had prompted a search of the area, how they had decided to follow a path determined by a strand of hair caught on a low-hanging branch, and how they had split up several times to search for more clues that might not have been connected to Neji at all. Had Neji been there, he would have slapped some sense into his team!

We couldn’t find anything in the Land of Earth, so we split up to search everywhere. I was searching a hole, it might have been a burrow, when I heard Lee scream.

Chance, pure dumb luck, had led to his discovery.

You could tell there was something dead in that cave before you walked in. It was bad. The smell is still on my clothes. It’s on all of us.

The memory invaded his nostrils, twisting his stomach.

There was a cavern past the long entrance. Most of it was just rock and dirt, but there was one area that was stained black. There were restraints bolted into the stone--

Just as he read those words, he was assaulted by the pain of metal digging into sores on the sides of his hands, just above his wrists. Struggling had torn his skin open, but the constant weight of his arms had kept them from healing. Neji rubbed at the bandage covering his left wrist to ease the ghost of a pain. It was just a memory, but it felt so real. The smell too, its memory lingered in his nose. It was so much more than death. That dark stain left on that cave floor was what he had been forced to sit in for countless days, the blood his captor had drawn from him and his own bodily waste.

A comforting weight on his knee brought Neji back to the present. It was Shikamaru’s hand, which squeezed gently. Looking up, he was met with concern, but Neji eased it with a small smile. “I’m fine. Really, I’m fine...”

“You don’t have to read it all now.”

“No, but I want to,” he reassured him, resting his hand over Shikamaru’s. “I’m fine.”

The Nara seemed torn between his own judgment and trust in Neji’s judgment, but, eventually, he nodded. “Alright...”

A deep breath calmed his heart, and Neji carried on, this time with a grip on Shikamaru’s hand to keep him grounded.

We found Neji in a smaller cavern. I’m guessing that’s where the sicko stashed the bodies. There were a lot of them around him. Most of them were really young.

The lifeless gaze of a young face appeared behind his eyelids. Literally, it flashed into his vision in just a blink, but that split second of it pushed his lunch into his throat. For the sake of his stomach, Neji closed the folder. “I just...ate,” he told Shikamaru.

If the Nara didn’t believe him, he didn’t say it. He just gathered the documents back into a neat pile to place back in his pack.

It was then that Hyuuga Hiashi made his entrance, the bringer of bad news.

“You can finally come home.”

The announcement received little more than a nod. It wasn’t worth anything more.

...

While the Hyuuga compound was a glorified cage, it was Neji’s cage. There was a familiarity to it, some peace. He would never voice it, but it was nice to be back in his little home on the edge of his family’s land. There were no distant screams of suffering nin, there were no beeps or hisses of equipment, and, best of all, there was privacy. As much as one could have in the Hyuuga compound at least.

It all made it so much easier to rest.

Ivory eyes opened to a blurry vision before him, the shadow of a man in a dimly lit room. Neji greeted the figure with a dangerously sharp glare, but it only earned him a hard yank of his hair and a slap that made his ears ring. His fists clenched above him, and Neji jerked at his restraints, to no avail. All his struggling did was injure him more. “Coward!” he spat.

Maniacal laughter bounced off the stone walls, making him feel surrounded. His assailant grabbed him by the face and pushed him back hard, ramming his head against the hard rock behind him, once, twice, three times, and Neji watched the image before him distort, blur even further. He was on the edge of consciousness. Then, the man stepped back and kicked him square in the jaw. The double impact of foot and stone blackened his vision.

Neji came to with a painful ache in his jaw, not from the kick, but from the fingers stuffed into his mouth and pushing down on his jaw. Blunt nails dug into the soft flesh beneath his tongue, a tongue that was trapped between the digits and something thick, something pulsing. He gagged as it pushed into his throat.

“Hngh-ack!” he protested against the invasion. It was no mystery what was happening. The bastard was fucking his throat. His eyes finally opened to the sight of a man’s lower abdomen and sperm-crusted pubic hair. His assailant had already finished once. Enraged, he jerked against his restraints, intent on ripping the meat off his hands if he had to.

The grip on his hair twisted, though, nearly yanking the strands out in a massive clump, and the toe of a sandal grinded down on his exposed penis. It was a warning Neji heeded. 

Thrust after thrust, his throat was raped until he was left choking on thick semen. Violently, he coughed to hack it up. It did come up, with the contents of his stomach.

Above him, there was another laugh. “Was that true pain?” the voice taunted.

The Hyuuga gasped between coughs, bile or semen dangling from his chin. “You don’t know...true pain...”

The morning light brought him back to the calm of his home. Outside, songbirds chirped their simple melodies while a breeze rustled through the leaves. It was so peaceful. 

And, unsettlingly, Neji was part of that calm, his mind undisturbed by the memory that had plagued his slumber. He should have been drenched in sweat, gasping for air, but he was...

Fine.

[idy-ll-ique]

Sweet Little Love.

Pairing: Bodyguard!Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

Genre: Fluff, Lil Angst

Warnings: brief mention of violence

Requested: nope

Summary: The Y/L/Ns are a well-off family in New York, and are good friends with Sam Wilson. One day Y/N is threatened by a stalker and needs a bodyguard, so Sam suggests Bucky. Bucky doesn't want to do it; the last thing he wants is to deal with a spoiled, bratty rich girl for a whole month. The only thing is, Bucky has terribly misjudged her and now he can't help falling in love with her.

Author's Note: Hiya peeps! the last scene is just a small bonus crack!scene sjsjsjs lmao, enjoy!

---

If there was one type of person Bucky liked, it was someone who was kind, polite, helpful and caring… and Bucky knew the person he was going to work for was going to be none of those things. "Sam, come on, man, I don't want to do this," Bucky groaned as he followed his best friend down the street. "I already promised, Bucky."

"Why did you?! I don't want to spend my whole day around spoiled little brats, they're the worst!" Bucky threw his hands up in surrender. "Okay, number one: You have to look after only one person and number two: Why don't you just meet her once? Then you can decide for yourself, how about that?"

Bucky had been hired by one of Sam's friends, Mr Y/L/N, as a bodyguard for his daughter. He didn't know the daughter at all; but the one thing he was sure about was that she was going to be a pain in the ass for him, like in every single movie about rich girls and bodyguards. Mouthy, petty, sassy, rude…

He was in no mood to deal with someone like that.

Ms Y/L/N, he assumed, had been sent some threats over a week ago by a stalker and so the poor father was worried sick as he frantically searched for bodyguards. Sam was also informed and before he knew it, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was hired. To be honest, the Y/L/Ns were paying a lot so… since he had given up Avenging, the income would be great.

Plus, she only needed protection for around a month or so. Speaking of the daughter, how old was she even going to be? Maybe a child below 10? A rebellious teenager? Who knows? "Alright, stop here. She's supposed to be here somewhere, let me call Y/L/N." Bucky huffed and looked around the crowded streets as Sam contacted the father.

That's when his eyes landed on a lady. She was beautiful; wearing what looked like a tennis skirt and a university hoodie, along with sneakers. Her hair was pulled into a braid and she had a bright smile on her face. Bucky blinked twice and watched. Her body or clothes didn't catch his attention, but her actions sure did.

She was chatting with another, older woman who had coffee spilled all over her white tee. The young lady was holding a baby in her arms, bouncing the sweet child as the older woman hurriedly tried to clean her clothes. Through his super-soldier hearing, he caught their conversation. "I'm so sorry to bother you like this," the woman sighed.

"It's okay, ma'am, you are not a bother. You were clearly in need of help and you know how New York is…" Both women giggled. The older woman soon left with her child but the young lady continued standing there, looking around, as if waiting for someone. Probably a boyfriend, Bucky thought.

"Why is he not picking up?!"

Bucky rolled his eyes at Sam before looking over at the pretty lady again, who had started bouncing back and forth on her heels, glancing everywhere. That's when a loud wail echoed above the already busy street. The lady's eyes snapped towards the voice before she took off running towards a little boy who had tripped over.

The little kid was blond and scrawny, reminding Bucky of a little Steve. He smiled fondly at the memory. "Are you hurt, bubba?" Y/N asked the kid adoringly as she helped him stand. The boy's lower lip wobbled as he tried to hold his tears in but was unsuccessful. "Aw, come here…" Bucky gulped when the lady got on her knees and hugged the child.

She's so kind.

The kid hugged back just as eagerly, sobbing into her shoulder. Soon, two adults approached her; a gay couple, the parents of the kid. They, too, watched with appreciation as the lady easily calmed the kid down with her soothing presence. An involuntary smile bloomed on Bucky's face; if he was in that kid's position, he'd have stopped crying too. The lady was wonderful.

"Thank you so much, honey," one of the men grinned when the lady stood up, dusting her knees and giving the kid a smile. "Oh, it's not a problem! You know what?" She dug around in her purse and pulled out a lollipop. "I always have some on me. I'm a big fan. You?" The boy giggled and eagerly accepted the candy.

"Steve, what do you say?"

Bucky almost laughed. The kid's name was also Steve? Amazing! "Thank you!" Steve exclaimed with a bright smile, making the lady laugh. "No problem! Have a good day!" She waved at the family of three before returning to her original place, standing outside a café. Bucky was enamored at this point.

"Any luck?" he drawled, glancing at Sam who shook his head. "That dick," he grumbled under his breath and Bucky grinned, getting back to watching the pretty lady but she was nowhere to be found. He looked around until he saw her crossing the road, an old man holding her arm with one hand as the other held his walking cane.

She was on his side of the street now, just a few feet away from him. "You are an angel, darling," the old man crooned as he patted her cheek, letting go of her arm once he was safely on the other side. An angel indeed, Bucky smiled to himself. "Oh, sir, I try…" she spoke bashfully, turning in his direction as the man left.

Bucky quickly averted his gaze, he didn't want to look like a creep. "Sam? Sam, is that you? Wilson!" Bucky froze at the lady's voice, her footsteps nearing the place where he and Sam were standing. Wait, is that...? Sam looked away from his phone, eyes lighting up as they landed on the lady. "Y/N? When did you arrive?" Bucky watched as they hugged.

"Been here for a long time, dad said you were going to introduce me to my bodyguard today. He's a good friend of yours, right?" Sam turned and motioned towards Bucky. He stepped forward. "Hi, I'm James Barnes," he introduced himself, holding his hand out. He couldn't believe he had called this angel a spoiled, rich brat.

I'm never gonna forgive myself.

"James, nice to meet you! I'm Y/N Y/L/N. Thanks for doing this, I'm probably going to be a burden—" He immediately shook his head. "Oh, no no no, don't say that! I can tell we're going to be good friends." He winked and she couldn't help but giggle. Bucky didn't even correct her on the name, something about the way she said it made a shiver run down his spine.

"Well, um, do we start now, or…?"

"Your choice," he interrupted, hands shoved in the pockets of his coat as he stared at her, heart swelling with affection. "I already feel safe," she half-joked, "Start now. I have a few places to go to…" He was ready to follow her to Hell and back. "Of course." Both of them turned to Sam, who had a knowing smirk on his face.

If it were anyone else Bucky would've given him his infamous glare but Y/N? He was hoping for a connection. "You two enjoy your date— I mean, day. Anyway, what's up with your dad, girl, he's not picking up my calls." Bucky rolled his eyes at the slip up. "He's not? Maybe he's in a meeting. If you want you can go visit."

"Gonna do just that, tell him that his precious little daughter is in safe hands." Y/N looked at Bucky with a huge smile. "No doubt about that! It's getting late, I'll see you later!" Y/N started walking away and Bucky immediately followed with a nod towards Sam. "Hey, um, I saw you, you know?" he blurted out.

"Saw me? Doing what?" Y/N blinked. "You helping the lady with the child, the kid who tripped over— Steve, his name was? And the old man you helped cross the street. I just wanna say that was amazing. You're a great person, Y/N, I'm honored to be your bodyguard." She gasped softly and looked away, chewing her bottom lip as she grinned, cheeks heating up.

"Oh, um, it's just— I like to help people. It's how my parents raised me. Yeah, we might be rich but I'm not spoiled. Lots of people think that when I tell them I'm Mr Y/L/N's daughter. It hurts sometimes, you know? People just assume anything about you without even knowing you. That's why I try to be good. I don't want to be a bad person," she rushed out, unconsciously voicing all her insecurities.

Bucky's heart sank in his chest as he let out a dry chuckle. "Ugh, just saying this is gonna make me throw up but I assumed that too. I thought I was gonna work with a spoiled, rich brat. I was horribly, horribly wrong, I hope you can forgive me, doll." She turned to him, but she wasn't mad in the slightest. She even started getting a tiny crush on him, I mean, hey, the man is eye-candy. "It's fine! I forgive you, you didn't know."

"No, it's not fine. I shouldn't have made assumptions, I feel like the biggest ass in the world," he scoffed, looking away from her. "James, please, it's okay. You know now, right? Don't feel bad! Why don't we stop for a coffee on the way?" How could he say no to that?

---

2 weeks passed. Y/N and Bucky became incredibly close friends; Bucky went as far as revealing the truth about himself, how he used to be an Avenger, how he lost his arm, everything. What he didn't expect was her to cry at his story. "You did not deserve to go through that, they did you so dirty…" she sniffled and he hugged her like his life depended on it. It kinda did.

God, if he didn't fall in love the first time they met, he was definitely in love now. "Doll, I'm here now, aren't I? All good— well, maybe not all good." And his face broke into the biggest grin ever when he heard a chuckle from her. "I'm glad you're here." Just those 4 words and Bucky vowed that he was never gonna let her go.

"I'm getting coffee, you wait here. Don't go anywhere else."

"Aye aye, Captain!" Y/N laughed and he smiled back as he entered the café. Y/N stood outside, typing away on her phone when someone suddenly grabbed her by the back of her neck, pulling her into the alley next to the café. She couldn't even scream, breathing was difficult with his hand around her neck.

"We finally meet, sweetheart." Oh, God, it was him. The stalker. Y/N whimpered, struggling to get out of his arms but he only tightened his hold on her. Bucky, Bucky please— Over time, Y/N had grown fond of Bucky. He still asked her to call him James, he said it felt good when she called him that. So she did.

He was so protective of her, almost like she was his girlfriend. He was also handsome; incredibly so, with his stormy blue eyes, his tall and broad figure and razor sharp jaw. His first priority was always her and it made her warm inside. She'd decided to ask him out at the end of the month, but it was looking a bit difficult now.

"Your bodyguard not with you today? What happened, lover's quarrel?" the man smirked tauntingly as Y/N's vision blurred due to lack of oxygen. She blinked back tears, crying again when he tightened his hold on her neck. "Scream all you want, sweetheart, no one's gonna hear it," he laughed.

"Try me."

The man's head whipped to the side only for Bucky's metal fist to connect with his jaw. He fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious at the first punch. Y/N slid down to her knees. Her hands went to her neck, coughing and dry heaving. "Doll? Doll, come here." Bucky felt immense guilt as he gathered her in his arms, carrying her bridal style towards his car.

He left her alone. That was the one thing he wasn't supposed to do. "James…" Y/N wheezed, curling closer to him when he tried to put her in the backseat. "Doll, you have to get in," he insisted but she shook her head. "Not without you. Please." Bucky sighed and got into the backseat, holding Y/N against his chest.

She was pretty shaken up. "I'm so sorry, Y/N." He felt himself tearing up. "No… not your fault… you… coffee… I wasn't… phone…" Bucky handed her a bottle of water when she wheezed again. "Drink up, baby," he whispered as he held the bottle to her lips because she refused to let go of his sweater. After drinking some water her throat felt better.

"Don't go, please, I need you," she sobbed as she completely curled against him, wetting his sweater as she cried in his arms. "You will always have me, doll. I'm not going anywhere. Not again," he assured her as he rubbed her back, wiping his own tears away. All of a sudden, she pulled away and pressed her lips to his. "I love you."

He pulled her in for another kiss, fireworks exploding in his head at the confession. Only two weeks had passed but they were both sure about their feelings. "I love you too, doll. You're mine now, only mine," he groaned against her lips. "Only yours," she agreed, burying her face back in his shoulder as he pulled her impossibly close.

"You're not getting out of my sight ever again."

And he kept his promise.

---

"And then I— where do you think you're going?" Sam blinked as Bucky abruptly stood up, eyes trained on his wife. She gave him a smile and walked out of the room, Bucky following her out like a puppy. "To the bathroom, Sam!" Y/N called out behind her and Sam turned to the parents, blinking in confusion as they roared with laughter.

"Why does she need him there?" Sam asked "Oh, haven't you heard? Bucky hasn't broken the promise he gave Y/N 6 years ago," Mrs Y/L/N explained vaguely. "What promise?" Mr Y/L/N laughed once more. "He told her she was never getting out of sight after the incident. And well…" Y/N and Bucky returned at the exact time as Sam made a face.

"Don't you get tired of him?" Sam groaned as Bucky sat down, pulling his wife on his lap. "Oh no no, it helps that she's as much in love with him as he is with her. They do not get tired of each other," Mrs Y/L/N shook her head with a fond smile. "It helps that he's handsome and aesthetically pleasing to look at," Y/N crooned, squishing her husband's cheeks as he laughed and swatted her hands away.

"Even in the bathroom?!"

"He stands outside as a guard," she shrugged. "Damn. Y'all are weird," Sam muttered, barely catching the book Bucky threw towards him. "Not weird. Just looking out for her, like I promised," he muttered, cheeks flushing. "You do know that the threat was 6 years ago, right? Six!" Sam threw his hands up.

"What if there's a new one?" Bucky countered exasperatedly. Sam only shook his head at the couple before a smile broke out on his face. "I've never seen a couple so in love. You two are cute," he commented as laughter filled the room. No more threats, no more danger.

Just a sweet little family and their sweet little love.

---

A/N: Leave a like if you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!

[aemiron-main]

in the honour of eight-fifteengate, I would like to offer the useless knowledge that the band OMD has a song that repeats on Mike's playlist called "if you leave". one of this bands most famous songs is Enola Gay, and in the lyrics it says "It's 8:15 And that's the time that it's always been We got your message on the radio" -- straight away for me, season two stands out because of hop with him coming home about 8:15 and leaving el messages over the radio. I feel like either that's a insanely freaky coincidence or writers/people who put together the playlist are crazy.

but the part that gets me, and admittedly is the most far fetched, is when you look at the other parts of the song, you have lines like "You should have stayed at home yesterday Ah-ha, words can't describe The feeling and the way you lied These games you play They're going to end in more than tears some day " - Mike should have stayed at home the night he went looking for will because now he is dealing with how he actaully feels with el and the lies he told her ("I love you" being the main one) the games he plays with emotions are going to destroy his relationships (more than tears- worse than the castle byers incident?)

"Is mother proud of little boy today? Ah-ha this kiss you give It's never ever gonna to fade away" mike wants his mom to be able to accept him and sees the only way for her to do that is by having a girlfriend. when he kissed el in season one, that was a catalyst for the end of their relationship. the kiss he gave will never be able to be taken back

(this was not meant to get long but um. whoops. Idk if this could actually mean something, I think it's more of interesting coincidence than anything but sure is interesting to think about)

ANON THIS IS SO INTERESTING THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS WITH ME OMG!! I am absorbing all of these fantastic thoughts into my brain, everything you’ve said about the lyrics fits in a really neat way!!

I think it’s either an interesting coincidence or very good attention to detail- and I’m actually inclined to think that it’s good attention to detail since the place that I got the idea for 8:15 gate/that theory is the official stranger things playlist , which has the track “eight fifteen” as the last track on the playlist! I noticed that was weird, then went to find where it played in the show and then noticed a bunch of other 8:15 stuff! So, I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that if they included a reference to 8:15 in that official playlist, that they would also include a reference to it via a band that’s on mike’s playlist twice!

[shanastoryteller]

(2) This is an example of a line from Rotten Work that only works in English: “He’s my uncle,” Jin Ling points out incredulously. “Of course he’s part of the main family.” If you use more precise familial terms, the line becomes, "He's my [mother's brother], of course he's part of [my father's family]," which doesn't actually make any sense. By disregarding things like that, it feels like you're trying to divorce the story from its CN cultural origins, or to say that they're not important.

*sighs*

part 1 didn't come through, so this is all i have to go on

but here's another example of things that it'd be real neat of you guys to send me off anon

for this example, you're really divorcing this out of the context of the story it takes place in.

the council and high level people know that wwx has been added to the register already because jin ling did it in ch 1, and references it several times later. now, this didn't get explicitly revealed until the last chapter, but it hinted at multiple times. no one else assumes jin ling has done this. including wwx

but wwx is very explicitly part of the jin clan in this story. he lives in jin tower. he wears jin gold. he advises jin ling about everything from how the library should be organized to who his first disciple should be. he attends council meetings with him ffs

jiang cheng doesn't do that. jiang cheng isn't even allowed to go anywhere outside of the main hall unescorted

because he's not a member of the jin clan

if what i was saying here was that obviously a mother's brother belongs to the father's family, wouldn't that then extend to jiang cheng too? except it doesn't. because obviously i'm not saying that

in this story, wwx is a member of the jin clan. established. the "reveal" here is that jl had added him to the family registry, just like he had li mianmian when he made her his heir, and therefore brought him into the main family

so the conversation here, in the context of the story and not just as a sound bite you've taken from it, is actually jin ling saying that since his mother's brother whom he loves and values has joined his father's family/clan of course jin ling would elevate his status to that of his main family

so in chinese, that line would still make sense

he's my mother's brother. he is close to me. now that he's apart of my clan/family, of course i've elevated his status to reflect that closeness

as far as divorcing things from their origins, again, that's still a question of translation. when you translate something, you're not just translating words, but also culture. whether you try to preserve the culture to bring the audience closer to it, or whether you translate it to make it more understandable in terms of your audience's culture, is a preference

here's an example that's obviously very small and low stakes, but i think is an easy way to explain this:

in the original version of the animated movie inside out, a little girl is grossed out about being forced to eat broccoli, a food that children in america stereotypically find gross. it's a narrative shortcut because the movie doesn't have to waste time telling you the girl doesn't like the food she's eating, or why she doesn't like it, and the audience isn't going to assume it's because she's being stubborn for stubbornness's sake or that she's allergic to it or anything like that. they understand immediately that she doesn't want to eat it because it's a food that children find gross

in the japanese version, the broccoli was replaced by bell peppers

this is because broccoli is not widely understood to be a food that many people find gross in japan, and bell peppers are

if they wanted to keep the original broccoli in, and they wanted the viewers to understand the original context it was being used in, they'd have to first establish that broccoli is a food that children in america are widely known not to like and it's common for them to refuse to eat it. the narrative shortcut that the film used disappears

so instead of keeping it in and adding exposition to explain it's significance and function, they switched it out for something else that would convey the same meaning to the audiences it was intended for, even though that thing would not have the same meaning for the audience that it was originally intended for

they "translated" broccoli to bell peppers

when it comes to things like real people and/or religious or culturally significant works, i think there's a lot more value in preserving the original intention and explaining the original culture as much as possible though translation. when this happens, translation has to work twice as hard, to both convey understanding and to educate

with things like modern fiction stories, especially ones featuring things like gay sword wizards, i think there's less of responsibility to do that, and it becomes a lot more acceptable to turn a broccoli into a bell pepper, because the purpose of the media itself is entertainment, not education, although of course that's not an excuse to ignore the stories origins

then, even further down, we've got fanfiction of the translated entertainment media written in the translated language for an audience of people who speak the translated language rather than original, who have all consumed the original work and have some sort of understanding of the country and culture it came from that they got from at least the original work if nothing else

not all things are created equal, and not all things have the same "responsibility" to explain the meaning of broccoli rather than just turning it into a bell pepper