#it's not a question this or any show can satisfyingly answer

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Marcille Takes Charge!

You know what, this is actually a very fair answer to my earlier question of "why couldn't the ancients just kill the demon?" Points to you again, Ms. Kui.

Truly I can't wait to see, like, every single Mithrun fight scene in the anime. The whole First Floor Incident is presumably going to be Episode 1 of Season 2, and I'm sooo excited.

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At first, I thought the Lion was being snarky here, but in retrospect, knowing its whole story and nature, I think it genuinely is just fond of all its former dungeon lords. What wonderful meals they gave it!

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That said, the Lion DOES have enough personality to Judge Marcille for her aesthetic choices; and I think that's beautiful :) <3

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MARCILLE, NO! You're showing how corrupted you've become/how you were never suited to this role in the first place by acting directly contrary to explicitly stated themes of the story!

There is, however, something very satisfyingly country-ruling foreshadowy about Laios (and Kabru!) looking down at all of this spread out, though.

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It IS painful watching Kabru try desperately to play both sides, keeping Laios safe from the Canaries without letting him go side with Marcille. Bud, I'm sorry but you HAVE lost control of this situation. And Laios is smart enough to have put everything together about what happened while he was unconscious, even when you deliberately didn't tell him.

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[whispering sternly to myself] It's not fealty. It's NOT fealty. It's the start of a beautiful best-friendship which just so happens to include 1 guy looking at another guy and deciding that yeah, he has good potential to fill the king-shaped hole that guy #1 has been searching to fill - but just, like, on principle; genuinely NOT for any personal emotional need. The best-friendship is a completely unrelated emotional need. The ONLY fealting in this story is, so far as I can tell, between Shuro and his ninja squad, because they're from a completely different culture and, tbh, genre of anime.

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But Laios, conversation is his means and mode! His sword and shield! If he can't talk it out, how is he possibly going to convince you to do anything, including save the world and be his friend?!

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God I love this. It's this perfect combination of "You are my polar opposite; you love the thing (monsters) that I'm terrified of, and I want to know how so I can do that, too, because I'm so tired of terror" and "You love a thing (monsters), understanding it to the point of being very good at killing it, the same way I love a different thing (people); we are the same and I just want you to recognize that like I do so we can happily vibrate on the same frequency forever."

It's very tragic-funny that Kabru genuinely try to introduce himself to Laios in a normal way, before resorting to taking his entire party to stalk him to dangerous levels of the dungeon and eating monsters. It's not his fault that Laios is completely immune to small talk.

I DO think that every pair (or throuple, etc) of narrative foils in every piece of media ever should at least try making out. At a certain point of narrative foiling, you might as well, you know?

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Note: Pattadol says she's "reporting" to Flamela, indicating that she's subordinate within the greater Canary structure even though she's 2nd in command of the most superior hunting party.

Also, it seems that the Canaries we know, the senior-most party, are genuinely the badassest of the badass and meant primarily for advanced dungeons including confronting dungeon lords and the demon directly. Tier-3 groups have less experienced guards, maybe criminals as well, and go on more scouting-type missions with no serious combat expected.

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She's not wrong, she's just a jerk about it!

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I get where the elves are coming from, I do. It's impossible to tell people people that there's a demon underground who'll grant their every wish while also communicating the dangers of this sufficiently that nobody goes searching for it. Even we the reader, don't entirely understand how bad it can get, how fast, until we watch Marcille do All Of That under the demon's active influence.

HOWEVER, it IS human nature to respond to this sort of thing with "well I/my friend won't go insane." There's gotta be a compromise wherein at SOME POINT far down the 'everything is going wrong in this dungeon' line, they just fucking tell people. They at least TRY. Otherwise they're just rolling their eyes at the short-lived races dangerous ignorance while actively refusing to reduce that ignorance.

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Again: Shuro is living in a slightly different, much cooler genre of manga than the rest of us. Also:

TEAM TOUDEN LET'S GOOO!!

The best part of this is that earlier, when our heroes were trying to figure out who might help them eat Falin's dragon half, I was like, 'hmm...they liked you, sure, but eating dragons is pretty weird...'

But now we are outright ALLYING AGAINST THE ELVES!

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Lmao. Classic adventuring party members, baffling NPCs as a team.

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oh this is cruel. this isn't fair.

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boys, focus.

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the comedic timing...

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lookit, that 30 seconds of desperate verbal flailing actually did help! Kinda!

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yeah, I DO really like that everyone looks to Chilchuck for his opinion on Marcille's 'make everyone live to 10,000' plan, as the guy with the shortest present lifespan and also the most age-wise of all of them.

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I Do Not Like This Visual. I Do Not Like the disproportionately large lion with human arms and hands shoving himself out of this book.

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Not to be pedantic, but I think if you're trying to entice a team of people into doing your will by calling out each of their individual strengths, I think you shouldn't make 2 of them as repetitive as "curiosity" and "inquisitive mind." That's not really what Senshi is bringing to the table anyway - I'd say "care" or maybe "sense of balance." Also, sorry Izutsumi but how tf is her "wildness" contributing to this mission?

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oh, Marcille, no...

[skayafair]

I've just noticed the longest season we had was 12 episodes and it's been 10 in S4. So, are we getting closer to the end of it? Can the whole Scratch situation resolution be the season finale?

Also the pacing this season is so slow - or rather the attention is so dispersed between the Order of the Fallen Star search, the Butcher, Scratch, Daniel and other new characters that there has barely been any progress plot-wise. I'm totally for it, why not, except we've been told there are only 6 seasons planned. Leaving us with just 2, which are about 24 - or maybe 30, if we're lucky, - episodes.

I've reread that post with questions from the previous seasons and I don't believe we are going to have most of them answered. But what's worse, I'm very not sure the story can be ended properly and satisfyingly in a span of just 2 seasons the way it is now.

Especially if John is going to end up as a villain. I can even see a few ways he could, but the 1st one would suck because it's pretty stupid and I hope HG doesn't go down this road, and the 2nd is that John has been growing more codependent over the course of the 3rd season and that may result in some very nasty things. Which I honestly don't like either because this whole character has been about a totally different thing for the most of the show, whatever HG could be saying. So driving him down that path and be done with it would be just bad writing. And HGs writing is often inconsistent, but I wouldn't call it bad. To me it looks rather good storytelling and characters-wise. So I have some hope it'll end... even if not well - with a show like Malevolent a happy ending is the most unexpected, that's what all the fics are for, - but in a satisfying manner.

Then I recall The Deviser and how I hated the ending again and the hope gets unstable.

[i-luvsang]

ꔛ ⦂ 𓂃 don’t even know your name — boo seungkwan

based off of @imagine-svt's imagine (thank you for the lovely idea !!) , gn!reader , nonidol!au, fluff , cw: none , wc: 1.3K ！！ @luvhyun3 thanks for wanted to be tagged for this one <33 hope ya like :))

you’ve always found the idea of having a public transport buddy to be a small and subtle delight, but it seems the opportunity has never fully presented itself. you suppose that he’s the closest you’ll get, and considering him, you’d never complain. it’s true, the two of you barely speak, save the small moments; soft greetings, offers to sit in the chair beside him when there’s no other room, or apologies when you bump shoulders due to the rocking bus. even so, you like to pretend there’s an unspoken friendship between the two of you due to you getting on and off at the same stops on the way to work. plus, you can tell he gives a small smile under his mask each time you happen to make eye contact.

he seems bright and sunny, though sometimes you overhear him on the phone with his friends and his extravagant complaints against waking up so early are rather entertaining. at this point, you’re quite used to his presence each morning, even expectant of it. maybe, just maybe you look forward to it too. you must be a hopeless romantic, as to you, his expressive features and the loud laugh he tries to suppress to avoid disturbing others are like some dose of humanity that’s small, but precious beyond belief. sometimes you laugh at yourself for caring so much about someone you barely know, but you know it’s your way of hoping and holding on to a love for humanity in a world where things often fall apart. regardless, there’s no harm in loving something bright.

it comes as a surprise, though small in size, the first time the bus pulls away from the stop without him inside. often, he’s there before you, his satisfyingly crisp button-up shirts and brown briefcase a welcome sight each morning. so when the bus pulls up to the stop, and he still hasn’t rounded the corner at a jog the same way he does on the occasional days he’s running late, you frown a little as you board the vehicle. but you let thoughts of him pass by after considering that things just happen. alarms don’t go off sometimes, and people take the day off to visit a family member or friend for something special. maybe he’s caught a cold early this season, though you hope not for his sake, and a little bit for yours. it’d be a shame to miss his presence another day.

such a shame, that you frown and furrow your eyebrows as you approach the stop the next morning and his warm presence is missing from the scene. you dare to hope he’ll still show up, but your luck falls short when he never does. you were hoping to sit somewhere near him today. 

you experience the same exact disappointment the next morning too. the bus pulls up in front of you and the others waiting, so you spare one more glance in the direction he normally comes from before standing with a small sigh. once in the bus, you're greeted with a crowd, forcing you to stay standing near the front. people jostle around you, trying to find a place, so you hold firmly to the bar over your head. 

once settled, you’re surprised the vehicle hasn’t begun to take off. you wonder what the driver could be waiting for, stretching your head to examine the street for an answer to your question.

the answer comes a moment later, but not from the direction you were looking at all.

with windswept hair, a familiar figure all but stumbles through the bus doors, panting out a thank you to the driver for waiting and paying the fare with his phone. he continues to rush forward towards the seats before registering the lack of empty space, and skids to a rough halt right in front of you when he finally looks up.

“so sorr–” he doesn’t even get to finish his apology when the bus lurches forward, practically launching him into you before he could gain any sense of balance. in an effort to keep you from toppling over the people sitting around you, he manages to grab the bar above your heads and wrap an arm around your shoulders. you find yourself gripping his bicep with one arm, while the other finds purchase on the wrist that holds the bar, as your hand was ripped from its own hold when he crashed into you. your face immediately flushes with heat at the proximity of his body, no matter how awkward a position you’re in, and it takes several long seconds for the two of you to untangle your limbs from one another.

“are you okay?” you ask, just as he begins to profusely apologize. “it’s alright! it’s not your fault,” you insist as the apologies continue to tumble out of his mouth.

“no, no, i’m so sorry. are you okay?” he asks, out of breath and almost panicked at the thought of having hurt you in some way.

“i’m completely fine! don’t worry, you saved us both from trouble with your reflexes, so i should be thanking you,” you insist. “are you alright, though?” you almost comment on his appearance, but refrain for fear of bringing up some touchy subject. his face is haggard and worn out, with deep eye bags showing clearly from above his mask. his hair is unkempt, probably from running all the way to the stop, and his button up shirt is wrinkled and unevenly tucked into his pants. you’re sure most of that is due to the tumble the both of you took, though it’s clear some of those wrinkles were there before. he’s only been gone two days, and you can’t help but wonder what the hell happened in that time.

“yeah, yeah, i’m alright,” he reassures you, though his tone comes out flat and unconvincing. but it doesn’t feel like your place to pry, so you send him a smile instead.

“good. that’s good.” you wish desperately to mention his absence on the bus the last two days, or to strike up some sort of conversation. he looks so tired and beyond embarrassed for having knocked you over, and all you want to do in that moment is to make him feel at ease.

you clear your throat awkwardly, hoping that the words you settle on are alright. “it’s good to see you today.” you almost hope he doesn’t hear you, because you’re already getting embarrassed. god, who says that to someone who’s name you don’t even know?

“oh. oh, i– i, it’s good to see you too!” he’s clearly taken aback by your words, and now you fight the heat that rises up into your cheeks because you feel as though you’ve monumentally messed things up. and yet, it sounded as though he meant the words he said back, and his eyes look just a bit more relaxed. it’s his turn to clear his throat as a way to try and break the awkward silence between the two of you. “um. kinda random, but i hope you don’t mind my asking– you know, just because we see each other every day– or almost everyday.” he pauses, his breath catching when you dare to look him in the eyes. “uh, can i ask your name? i’m seungkwan, by the way, if me telling you first makes it any less weird.”

“i– no, no!” a sigh of relief exits your lips when you realize you must not have freaked him out by your previous words. “it’s not weird at all. it’s nice to formally meet you, seungkwan! i’m y/n.”

“nice to meet you too, y/n.”

you’re afraid you've fallen for the way he says your name. and by the look in his eyes, maybe he’s fallen for the way you say his.

[idontbeatgames]

It's Time To Talk About The Missed Potential of DC's Titans

Five years and four seasons later, DC’s Titans has officially come to an end and admittedly, saying that kind of leaves me with a bittersweet feeling. I think a lot of people will agree with me when I say that Titans is the superhero genre’s Riverdale. Everybody knows that Titans has hit or miss writing, everybody knows that the showrunners had almost no idea as to what they were doing with a majority of their characters and everybody knows that the show refused to learn from its mistakes. However, that never changed the fact that whenever a new season of Titans was announced or a new season of Titans concluded, people consistently found themselves binging Titans despite its flaws. I’d like to think that it’s because unlike some of the late Arrowverse shows, Titans always had a ridiculous amount of potential. Since Season 1 of Titans, Titans fans have always found themselves asking the same exact questions every single time a new season was about to come out. Is this the season that the Titans finally turn things around? Is this going to be the season that’s finally consistent from start to finish? Is this the season where Titans finally dedicate time to growing its core cast rather than introducing a ridiculous amount of characters? 

As frustrating as it is to say this, the answer to those questions was a resounding no, and yes, that even applies to the last season as well. The core reason this is frustrating is that Titans got everything else right. For instance – the superhero suits made for every single season of Titans were legitimately incredible, the cinematography has always been great, the action scenes were more than good enough despite some dodgy CGI and even the casting was pretty much as good as it can be for a superhero show. Since the first season of this show, fans such as myself have had the same complaints or criticisms, and I truly mean this. You can rewatch every single one of my videos about DC Titans and you’ll notice a trend when it comes to this show. This show has consistently suffered from poor writing, inconsistent storytelling, an unequal amount of screen time for every single character, and finally, constantly adding way too many characters every single season – which to me hurt the show way more than the showrunners probably thought it would. There is a thing as too many characters in a show, movie, or cinematic universe and Titans is a prime example of this. To give an example that showcases what balancing too many characters should look like, let's look at the Arrowverse. The Arrowverse has always had a massive roster of characters from its very inception starting with the cast of Arrow. Unlike Titans, the Arrowverse fleshed itself out enough to allow the user to slowly become accustomed to understanding and remembering its massive cast of characters along with their core traits or storylines associated with those characters across its multitude of shows. Outside of the Titans Core Four — Nightwing, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Raven — you never really got to actually be acquainted with any of the side characters introduced in the Titans Universe. Those side characters always felt more like they were taking away time from the characters we actually want to see and spend time with. The writers behind this show also had an annoying tendency to write these side characters as solutions to avoidable conflicts.

For a show that focuses on the key premise of an ensemble cast growing into their own across multiple seasons, you’d think that the Titans would eventually be able to get things done without needing outside help from other side characters for a single scene in an episode. That never happened. None of the Titans ever grew into the mantle of a superhero nor did they ever shine satisfyingly, outside of Beast Boy. And I say that despite Beast Boy spending three full seasons being nothing more than Raven’s boyfriend and barely transforming at all despite that being his superpower. As for the other Titans, let's do a quick rundown to see just how good they ended up being by the finale of Titans. Dick Grayson spent four seasons knowing a guy who had the answer to every minor inconvenience that came across the Titans' way because that was the only answer the writers ever had when it came to progressing a season’s storyline. Raven spent the majority of this show being a damsel in distress with inconsistent power scaling because the strengths of her powers depended on what the writers wanted for any given particular scenario. There are so many scenes with Raven in them that could have easily been solved if someone said “Hey Raven, help us out here”. However, since that was too easy for this show apparently, Raven would just sit back and do literally nothing when she wasn’t forced into being a damsel in distress for the sake of a plot line. Starfire is the only character that actually got to find herself and got to find her purpose by the end of the show. I can’t believe I get to say that since the showrunners shelved an entire Starfire-centric plot that was planned for season three for unknown reasons after spending two full seasons setting that massive storyline up. Superboy was introduced as the lighthearted character who was the unintentional but much-needed comedic effect. And then, in typical Titans fashion, the show pivoted from that direction. Superboy pivoted towards embracing his inner Lex Luthor for the entire final season, only for him to realize he no longer wants to be that anymore and he reverts back to his regular self. 

That then leaves us with a multitude of characters who were previously important that eventually got shelved due to unknown reasons. Jason Todd, for example, was such a vital part of Titans but he eventually just faded into obscurity after his Red Hood story arc only for him to suddenly pop up for a single episode in the final season. Why? To train Tim Drake for Dick which was obvious fan service just like Beast Boy’s episode in the final season. Donna Troy, just like Jason, was also vital to the Titans at one point. She got killed off for dramatic effect and came back for one single episode in season three as a response to the massive but deserved backlash the show got for such a stupid decision. Finally, does anybody remember Jericho and Rose? You know, the two characters who played a massive role in Jason’s character development in Season 2? If you said no, I don’t blame you. Those characters got shelved for unknown reasons and never had their storylines addressed after Season 2, which is incredibly weird when you think about it. Those characters never got mentioned ever again after that point in time just like Hawk, who died, and Dove who retired as a Titan after simply not wanting to be a Titan anymore. The same even applies to Barbara, who I nearly forgot about as well. It’s like this show was so focused on trying to be this mini-Batman Cinematic Universe that it forgot to make almost anything meaningful. The constant habit of trying to name-drop characters as Easter Eggs and introducing characters who only end up being relevant for a total of like twenty minutes in a single episode actually ruined the show in the long run. And although it’s fairly easy to overlook how these characters were treated, I never found myself able to overlook how the Titans themselves were written. The Titans, as a whole, were terrible people. They weren’t heroes. They never had the moral compass of good heroes. They weren’t positive role models to any of the citizens they tried to protect in their universe and they weren’t good friends to each other, let alone a good team, either.

There are two reasons for this. The first reason is that rather than this show using its dark and gritty but semi-realistic theme in a meaningful way that allows this show to tell a compelling story that pushes its main characters through highs and lows that ultimately flesh out their characters for the better, it doesn’t do that. Titans use its dark and gritty but semi-realistic theme as a justification to consistently put its main characters through meaningless traumatic events without any intentions of meaningful character growth. The thought process behind this train of thought ended up always being “We can, so we should” instead of “We can, but how does this traumatic event affect the long-term trajectory of this character?” It’s almost like this show’s goal was to intentionally make the viewers feel bad for the Titans without ever offering any sort of logical long-term resolutions for these characters. A prime example of this is how Jason Todd was handled. Jason started off as a loudmouth member of the Titans that most Titans didn’t like nor tried to get along with because he was too immature and energetic, which was totally understandable due to him being one of the youngest members of the Titans. The Titans hated him so much that they treated him terribly and only felt bad for him after he went through a bunch of traumatic events with Deathstroke. And even then, the Titans were still confused as to why he started to act differently and as to why Jason would have even more arguments with the Titans. This naturally caused a massive rift amongst the Titans because only one person was willing to try and understand Jason and what he had been through – Dove. Jason being the immature kid he was, didn’t listen to anybody and gets killed by the Joker only for him to come back to life with one goal: becoming “the Red Hood” so he could get revenge on the Titans. The Titans were massively confused as to why this was his intention and how he came back to life, understandably so. The end result of this storyline? Jason and Dick Grayson talking outside in the middle of a street after Jason puts every Titan through traumatic events due to him also being manipulated by Scarecrow, who was an awful villain by the way. After this conversation, they come to the miraculous conclusion that they need each other for the greater good and decide that they should work together to take down Scarecrow. Are you going to tell me that this end conclusion couldn’t have been resolved much earlier on or in a much better way? 

It’s like those who were behind this show were so preoccupied with the thought of doing a Red Hood storyline for Titans, that no one asked the question: How do we naturally progress towards this Red Hood storyline? After watching the final season of Titans, I began to have the realization that you can also say the exact same thing about every other season of this show and their respective storylines, which brings me to the second reason why the team never ended up being a good team. Thanks to the way this show was written and thanks to this show’s structure, I’ve never seen a group of superheroes get together, split up to go on side adventures, get back together, realize that they should’ve never split up to begin with, and then split up again, like the Titans did. It’s always felt like the show was afraid to give the Titans any sense of downtime. Every episode happens to contain one of the following events — a random flashback that was never shown to us that explains something that’s going on in the present, the world is ending, the villain is planning the next step of their massive plan, a character goes off on a side quest to get some character only for them to not explain that to anybody or a couple of characters go off together to get a vital piece of information to progress the season’s overarching story. There’s never a point where the Titans are just being regular people together. Yeah, they’re supposed to be superheroes, but they’re people too and I truly do think this show would have benefited by having an episode per season dedicated to the Titans just hanging out and building their chemistry. Why do you think so many people happen to like Beast Boy? He’s one of the only kind-hearted characters in this show that actually tries to be a good person. He actually tries to put his best foot forward to be there for any Titan, especially Raven, and that would sometimes lead to some of the best scenes in this show – the scenes of people just talking things out. With a set of characters that are so young, this show had so much potential to make the smaller moments matter more. They had the opportunity to bring characters together and form unexpected friendships. They had the opportunity to create a team with inside jokes or callbacks that could’ve been unexpected payoff moments. And more importantly, they had the opportunity to humanize these characters if they were willing to give them the downtime to breathe and build their chemistry with one another. 

No, this creative decision or idea wouldn’t have taken away from the intentionally dark, gritty, and semi-realistic themes this show was going for. What it would’ve done is actually boost those same exact themes considering the fun, enjoyable, or humanizing moments in Titans were always so far and few in between. It would’ve made us care far more for the characters and find some level of appreciation for the plethora of dynamics across the show’s four seasons. And you sort of feel that in the final season of the show because the finale leaves a bit of a bittersweet taste in your mouth. The finale of Titans doesn’t feel like an ending. The finale doesn’t feel like we’re closing the chapter on a bunch of characters that have been through it all and finally got the happy ending they all deserved. The finale, in my opinion, felt like the showrunners had just opened the door and gave us a glimpse as to what Titans could’ve been. Seeing every character sitting with each other, laughing, talking about life, and simply appreciating each other’s presence was such a bittersweet moment. That heart-to-heart scene was exactly what this show was missing from start to finish – the Titans actually bonding over something that doesn’t relate to trauma. With the show being over, I still can’t help but question what Titans should’ve been instead. Should Titans have been a show set up by a single-season Nightwing show? Should Titans have been a single-season experience that sets up multiple spin-off shows for characters like Red Hood, or Beast Boy? Should Titans have been a show that primarily focused on one character per season so it could ultimately build up to a finale team-up season where the characters come together to take down a common foe? Should Titans have been a Bat Family show instead?  I don’t know if any of us will ever know the exact answer as to what the actual right direction for Titans was, but what I do know is that what we got clearly wasn’t the best choice (outside of the casting, of course). 

There’s a quote from one of my favorite movies ever made and I truly think that this quote entirely encapsulates the experience of DC’s Titans.

Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Yes, I’m seriously quoting Jurassic Park right now, get over it. DC’s Titans was a mixed bag. Watching this show more often than not left me with the same thought as we reached the end of every season –“But why? Why would you do that to these characters? Why would you use this as the solution to that plotline? Why didn’t you just do this or do that instead?” While that was a frustrating experience, considering I was constantly waiting for the show to finally learn from its mistakes, I’m still going to admittedly miss it. As I said earlier, this show was basically the superhero fandom’s Riverdale. It was a constant trainwreck but it was our trainwreck, you know? I’ve watched this show since the very first episode and I was even there for the World Premiere Titans Event during New York Comic Con in 2018 where DC even previewed the first episode of Doom Patrol along with the original DC Universe Streaming App show lineup as well. Watching this show has been one hell of a journey and while I’ve never agreed with a lot of the creative decisions in this show, I’m always going to have a soft spot for Titans no matter what. It’s a shame that the cast of Titans isn’t going to likely ever reprise their roles because there were some amazing choices with the casting. Like a lot of people, I would’ve easily been down with nearly any Titans-related spinoff TV show even if I fully knew that those shows wouldn’t have lived up to their potential deep down inside. I’ll always remember DC’s Titans. I’ll remember the massive cast this show had. I’ll remember the amazing cinematography and pretty good action in this show. I’ll remember the poorly done storylines and I’ll even remember the infamous Batman line that nearly caused everybody to immediately write the show off from its first trailer, too. However, what I’ll always remember the most from this show is the simple fact that Titans never lived up to its massive amount of potential. 

[marley-manson]

15, 20, and 23 :3

Thank you!

15 . pick a theme song for one of the characters . why do you think that song suits them ?

lmao okay I couldn't think of anything so I went scrolling through my gigantic amounts of music on my harddrive to try to find another song I could suggest for Hawkeye that I haven't already vidded, and found Can't Stop Feeling by Franz Ferdinand, which I think could fit Hawkeye reflecting on his friendship with BJ in the last few seasons.

The salt starts stinging again I can't stop feeling, no, I won't stop feeling The fun's not fun anymore I can't stop feeling, no, I won't stop feeling

And you leave me here on my own You leave me here on the floor You can't feel it You can't feel anymore

Also I wrote this last night, but have now just realized that the question doesn't ask for a song for your favourite character, but just for any character lol, so I could've answered this much quicker with someone else. But I'm gonna stick with it, because it took a lot of time to find.

20 . who would win in a fight , the character you deeply love or the character you cannot fucking stand ( this does not have to be a main character ) ( i will be realistic i promise . no bias 😒😒 )

This would be Hawkeye vs Potter, and Potter would win and does every time in the show. I don't know who would win a purely physical fight lol - I assume Potter has useful combat training and does morning exercises or whatever while Hawkeye has 0 technique and is not in any kind of shape, but Potter is past his prime and tiny compared to Hawkeye so idk how that shakes out. But Potter carries a gun, and Potter has the authority to prevent Hawkeye from fighting at all. If he loses a physical battle he can still win the war by having Hawkeye court martialed, or maybe sectioned, or if he's too nice to do either, he would still win the war by threatening Hawkeye into apologizing and doling out some kind of punishment, like house arrest or KP duty.

23 . a storyline you wish they’d gone a little deeper on ?

Oh man I'm gonna go with The Price. As is, it's an awful episode. But the smallest of tweaks could've turned it into an amazing episode - it just has to be fucking aware that Potter is the villain here. Just paint the war hero propaganda that sends the Korean kid skipping off to die in a sinister light rather than inspiring. It presents two irreconcilable plotlines that are basically Hawkeye (and the other swamp rats) and Potter unknowingly battling over this kid's life, and all it would have to do is present Potter's victory as a negative ending. But no, the writer tries to have it both ways, painting Potter's propagandic side as genuinely uplifting while trying not to condemn the draftees - but like I said, they're irreconcilable, so it doesn't work.

Truly the most frustrating episode because it could've easily been one of my favourites. It's so dark and satisfyingly, cruelly tragic in theory, just not execution. I crave more draftee vs volunteer plotlines, but the only ones we get post season 3 side with the volunteers :(

ask meme

[girl4music]

The character that doesn’t understand human emotion yet is always asking questions so that she can learn. Ironically and satisfyingly, her constant inquisitiveness always made her seem much more human than any character that always was human.

That was always played for laughs until it wasn’t.

WILLOW: “Because it’s not okay for you to be asking these things!”

ANYA: “But I don’t understand!”

So it’s like, in a way, she understood being human better than anyone else did. And that was so clever!

Because with being human there is no answer book to how to live like one. There is only ever constant questions. And navigating is hard. That’s the point.

And it’s always the “non-human” or “not-always-human” protagonist characters that actually act the most human because they’re not hardwired to.

No, of course they don’t understand being a human. But in the same way a baby doesn’t understand being a baby… yet performs like a baby anyway. It’s wisdom! The thing that comes most naturally never needs to be “understood”. It just is instinctively.

The joke is that non-human beings don’t understand being human. But isn’t THAT exactly what makes them perform as human? As supernatural beings, isn’t the understanding of not understanding humanity fundamentally what makes them be human? If they weren’t aware to it,… sure. Then you have an argument that they aren’t or can’t be human. But what if they’re the most self-aware characters? And not only aware of themselves but others as well?

That’s why both Spike and Anya, and yes, even to some degree, Angel are the most human non-human or not-always-human being characters. Because they carry the intuitive wisdom of “I know that I know nothing”. The very same intuitive wisdom a newborn baby has despite all their years and all their experienced history as human and non-human. They understand nothing, That’s precisely the point because at what point does nature understand itself? It doesn’t. Yet it functions perfectly fine anyway. It’s only humanity that thinks and believes that it MUST understand everything. But if they let go, they’d realize that they already do in the way that they always will. By just simply fucking existing. By being as they are. This is partially why I believe identity to be a hinderance more than it is a help. People get too caught up in it. And suddenly it becomes about performing an identity rather than actually being it.

Nature worries about no such nonsense as that. It doesn’t even identify that it NEEDS to worry about it. And like I said - that’s why it functions perfectly fine anyway. There’s no need to be performative.

Anya is most human because she is most naturally being. And part of naturally being is to ask stupid questions and to do the most absurd. To NOT UNDERSTAND everything. Least of all how to behave human when you’ve all but forgotten you once were and only coming to experience humanity again when you’re no longer human. Anya is never in a place or time where it’s easy or simple to be human. That’s why she’s the best at being human.

Suave Xander put it best in ‘The Replacement’.

XANDER: “You haven't been hurt like this since you became human. Maybe it's finally hitting you what being human means.”

ANYA: “No, that's not it.”

XANDER: “Yes, I think it is. You were gonna live for thousands of years. And now you're gonna age and die. That must be terrifying.”

FAITH VICTORIA: “Exactly! The world has always met Anya with "you don't understand" right from her original human life, and Anya has always responded with "so? Explain it to me." One of the only reasons I'm ok with Hells Bells existing is because it leads to in my opinion the second best Anya character study, and her only central episode, Sefless (her first best one is obviously her speech in The Body). Selfless shows that even when she was a human, before, Anya was naturally curious. She didn't understand a lot of the injustice in the world, but she was ready to try and understand it, only nobody explained it to her "take your furs and your literal interpretations to the other side of the river". I mean the girl figures out what selfless love and sacrifice are all on her own with no one's help - Xander is busy arguing with Buffy and Willow, Buffy is clearly exhausted and just wants to eliminate the problem, and Willow tries to reach out but using only her own experience which may not be applicable to Anya. But still, a vengeance demon understood the importance of selfless love, even after getting her heart broken. Which makes her one of the most deeply human characters of them all.”

Couldn’t have put it better. Absolutely agreed. 👍

I think a philosophical debate about what it means to be human in a TV show is a profound choice to make. But what is equally just as, or maybe even more, profound is to show how it is. Theory is great but it doesn’t work alone.

Showing it alongside saying it is what provides a far harder impact. It really hits! And ‘Selfless’ is one of the best episodes in the show, never mind just Season 7. Sadly, the rest of the season lets it down because it doesn’t follow it up with a satisfying conclusive end. Anya has a revelation that fighting like a human is what makes humanity great and worth it. But we never see how she even gets to this revelation.

It’s a shame. I don’t like tell and don’t show types of storytelling. I almost always prefer show alone or show equally alongside tell.

FAITH VICTORIA: “Instead they give her the worst speech of the entire show in Empty Places and then one of the best ones two episodes later "when it's something that really matters, they fight." Confusing to say the least.”

Please don’t get me started on ‘Empty Places’. I’ll be here all fucking day and I have a game to complete.

[griptape66x]

I have been a confused person for a long time, let's not say confused because, well my first active sexual relationship was with a boy, now having very committed Christian parents ,presents the obvious issues with the understanding that, well I really like this dude so we decided to keep it secret from them and any of my non queer "friends". Well I assumed because of my attraction to him, as well as an immediate and satisfyingly comfortable physical relationship, I am gay, after a year or two we kinda opened our relationship to some experimentation since we were both "virginish"

Well we had some fun and then he had some girlfriends that were privy to our relationship well one openly expressed she thought I was

Hot , I was flattered, I was surprised to find her arousing to I was baffled, I guess I'm bi I thought, I ended up testing out my do girls get my dick hard, yes , the answer was yes, I had to try it couple more times, Jake and I became a little jealous of each others side piece 🤣 so we went back to monogamous relationship, about two years later Jake died in car accident on the way to a rock show I was bassist in a metal band, so that fucked me up and I tried to commit suicide, developed one hell of a drug problem, but never came out with my assumed bisexuality. As time went on I faked it til I made it, there was girls drinking and following the band around so I just did that, vaginas were pretty cool I thought, the only problem is I'm in the closet, I've never grieved my lover, or his mom who I adored she died 6 months after he did, I ended up in the mental hospital, they had material on human sexuality and it was discussed openly in therapy, during a group session I came out I admitted I was queer, it felt amazing to finally be honest but it didn't last, I just had a fear that all these people and my parents would probably just start a collection and send me Jesus can make u straight camp, or whatever they call those places. I had a woman who had become my best friend she is eighteen years older than me and I don't know why but that's what I wanted she didn't know about me being gay but one step at a time she laughed me off for a year trying discourage my advances well we have been together 13 years in a few weeks, two years ago I told her about Jake believe me it blew her mind and also answered a few questions she had, I am pansexual 100%, I am probably never going to tell my parents unless I have to, with the religious handicap I don't think the response will be negative, but I am happy now

Im not sure why I'm telling this story but It feels good to get it out. Even the short

Peace love and chicken grease . B

[romiyaro]

💫Clingy Geto Suguru💫

Your phone rings, the alarm blaring for you to get up and get ready for the official mission reporting. But the heavy weight pressing you into the couch isn't budging however you try to shake it off.

When you finally manage to slip a leg from underneath the weight, said weight shifts, rough palm coming over your thigh to pull your leg back under it. "Stop moving, y/n. You're disturbing me." The voice is gravelly and so tired that you feel guilty for waking him up for a whole second.

"Get up, Sugu. We gotta report to the elders." You try reasoning. His head snuggles a little more into the chink between your neck and shoulder, "That can wait five minutes more baby. 'M too tired to move."

You hum, fingers raking through his messy bed hair, "Yeah, you took quite the hit back there," for me. The words remain unsaid, but you know he hears it by the way the corners of his lips curl against your neck.

"Best hit I ever took. I'd take that hit all over again if I could." You chuckle at his little declaration, "Will you also take the hit from the elders?"

He stiffens for a bit and asks, "For you? Absolutely."

Your cheeks heat up at that. That's the first time he showed any acknowledgement to this unspoken thing going on between you. You want to label it. But you don't want to come off as clingy.

Two long fingers snap before your eyes, startling you out of your daze. Your eyes meet a probing gaze. And a childish pout. "Eyes on me when I'm talking to you."

"I— how am I supposed to look at you when you have literally buried yourself in my neck?"

The smug grin is back on his face and it fucking melts your heart. "I don't know. Figure out a way, genius."

You roll your eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Now get up!" You hit his arms surrounding your form, indicating him to let go.

This time he lets go, standing up before pulling you up as well.

You stretch, bones cracking satisfyingly. You yelp as the arms come around you once again, squeezing you tight to his chest. His nose buried in your neck once again. "Suguru!" You admonish him.

"Sorry. You just smell so good." He rocks you both side to side for a minute. "Why? Why do you never ask me to label our relationship?" The question is so soft and muffled against your neck, you wonder if you imagined it.

You croak out anyway, "Uhh, just didn't want to seem clingy I guess? Hahaha..." You trail off.

The bite that comes to your neck next is totally unexpected. "Clingy? You don't want to seem clingy? Is clingy unattractive to you?"

You are dumbstruck, how do you answer it?

"Some people find it annoying?"

"Am I one of those?"

"Uh I don't know?"

"Then how do you know I don't like clinginess?" He tightens his arms around you for emphasis. Your eyes widen at his implication.

You always assumed Geto Suguru was someone who hated baggage and clingy people. But what about now? When he was acting like a big attention-starved puppy? You think back to all of his clingy moments with you.

You dare to ask him, "Then... Would you like to name this," you wave your hand, "whatever this is?"

"Hmm." He nods, "Be my girlfriend?"

You freeze, that was unexpected. Emotions well up inside you. So many suppressed emotions that your eyes tear up when you turn around to face him.

He still dares to smile at you like that. You nod your head, somehow getting a choked 'yes' out.

"Alright! How about we go report to the oldies, girlfriend?"

Tagging: @cuz-like-why-not (here it is hoe hit me)

[elysianslove]

could i req a hc for kita & akaashi where their crush is secretly a jujutsu sorcerer who goes to their school to undercover and to kill the curse but they didn’t know and what if one day, she saves them from the curse? what’s their reaction towards reader? thanks!

JBBSHJDJ JJK X HQ????? GOD BLESS. thank u so much for requesting this hope you like it!! <3

kita shinsuke 

kita’s not a nosy person. he always keeps to himself and stays out of people’s business, and he’s never been the type to encourage rumors or to dwell long on what if’s and theories and conspiracies 

but even he had to admit your situation was weird 

you enroll into inarizaki mid-year, and you’re a third year like him. at first he’d just assumed you’d moved from a neighboring high school last minute, but you never attempted to participate, as if you were only here for show. next, he’d assumed it had been familial issues, but he heard nothing of that, never saw you with a sibling or a parent or a guardian. it was all too. vague for his liking

of course, this amount of interest is unbecoming of kita. it’s just. there were so many questions to you and no answers. you really, really intrigued him, and okay, maybe he thought you were really pretty, and yeah maybe he did have a small crush on you, but that was besides the point! 

the main thing is that you were just. sus. 

he realized you weren’t really causing harm though, just quietly minding your business, so he did the same, and chose to ignore any nagging at the back of his mind 

until he picks up on another weird habit of yours: staying at school until the latest hours. as involved as he was with school activities, he hadn’t heard you being a part of any club, considering how late you’d enrolled in school. but here you were, without fail, every day, by the school gates as the sun sets 

the only reason so much attention was given to you from kita was because of how peculiar your case was. it frustrated him how he knew nothing, just your name after your brief introduction to the class, and the fact that there seemed so much to you. it’s not that you were simply a private, boring person. it couldn’t be, not with how secretive everything was 

one day, on accident, he lags behind in the boys’ gymnasium, cleaning every volleyball with extra care and without noticing, the sun had set. under the assumption he was the only one in the gymnasium, after ensuring every and all equipment was in its place and clean, he grabbed the keys and started to head out. the gymnasium was quiet and dark, save for the gentle stream of moonlight and —

hm 

whatever that thing was, it did not belong in the gymnasium 

okay let’s assume kita can see curses because what is there that kita can’t do 

i don’t think he’d panic outwardly, but he definitely would freeze up and just not know what to do

it didn’t look too friendly either. or sound friendly. or smell friendly 

your appearance comes all of a sudden for him, but honestly, when you come barging in through the doors and you start battling the curse, he’s? not surprised? 

like he figured you had a secret, just — who knew it would be this? 

he’s honestly a little mesmerized with how you manage to fight it off and keep him out of harm’s way simultaneously, until you finally exorcise it

you’re breathing heavily after you’re done, since the curse had put up quite the fight against you, so kita, with his captain instincts, and with mobile feet again thankfully, comes up to you and asks if you’re okay 

you look at him bewildered like??? am i okay??? are you okay???/

you’re a little concerned how unfazed he is by the curse tbh 

after the adrenaline fades away, and you’re left standing in this dark, empty gymnasium with this really handsome guy, you finally find it within yourself to introduce yourself, telling him your name, before lifting up your hand to shake it with his, continuing, “and i’m a jujutsu sorcerer.” 

kita smiles, there’s a part of him, an itch that’s been dying to get scratched, that’s finally relieved, and he takes your hand in his, shaking it firmly and saying, “kita shinsuke; pleasure to meet you.” 

“pleasure’s all mine.” 

he walks you home, and the entire time he realizes how you’re really the furthest thing from quiet, you’re just serious when you need to be, given your occupation. you explain the whole ordeal, about the manifestation of curses spiking in this area, how you’d been assigned this mission, everything. 

it is so satisfying to him finally understanding everything. it’s like finishing a puzzle that’s taken months to complete

you admit that that had been the last curse, since you’d eliminated the source, and you’d have to leave soon 

not without his number you’re not <3 

kita’s not the type to want to show off his s/o, but once you inevitably become that, he takes every opportunity he can to watch everyone’s eyes as they see you kick ass. it’s his guilty pleasure :)

akaashi keiji 

okay this one’s a little different because your arrival at fukurodani wasn’t so sudden. yeah you’d joined later than most students, but you’ve been here since the start of the year, so akaashi wasn’t suspicious of you, since you’d never given him a reason to be

he doesn’t see you outside of school often. honestly, he doesn’t even see you in school. you don’t share classes with him, so he doesn’t know if you skip classes or not, but he’s heard that you do. you’re also never like. anywhere. it’s most that he knows of you

he just assumed you were one of those careless kids that didn’t really give a shit about school, until he started seeing you. except, it was at the weirdest times, and the weirdest locations: sometimes it’d be behind the gymnasium where he practices volleyball, or it’d be in those sketchy alleyways where he was 90% sure people sold drugs there, sometimes he’d spot you on the roof of the school. it was so

odd? 

akaashi’s a very curious person. he’s not nosy, he just has a very overactive imagination (i mean, literature department akaashi keiji? obviously) 

so all this just made him unconsciously pay more attention to you. like, he didn’t want to, he just subconsciously did. any time he’d pick you out from the crowd, he’d find his eyes following you narrowly, or anytime he heard your name, his ears would perk up. he really didn’t mean it. you just kinda fascinated him, to the point of, maybe a crush? he wouldn’t really call it that, but yeah, he guesses the symptoms are of a crush

but anyways, this school was really boring! that’s why! 

not a crush >:(

so! he’d been walking home one night, let’s say bokuto was with his family and there was no training for that day. it was winter, so the sun had set pretty early, leaving him in the paleness of the moonlight and the occasional streetlight illuminating the pathway for him. there wasn’t really anybody around, and he figured at a time like this people were either already home or still at work

until he heard a low growling noise 

he didn’t really think much of it, only stiffening up a bit

but he told himself it was his mind playing tricks on him, or something he mistook for a growl, or maybe it was a growl and it was just some dog nearby. just tried to stick to rational thinking because what else would it be?? was there option for anything else? 

until, out of nowhere, you appeared from an alley he just crossed past, and curled up against him, one arm hugging him tight, before you raised a hand to your lips and silently asked him to stay quiet 

he was

very confused 

like what the fuck 

but then you shifted, spinning around him. curiously, he twisted around with you, and

damn

what the actual fuck

so it wasn’t a dog 

the curse lunged at you, or maybe it lunged at akaashi, but you quickly kicked it away, sending it spinning, before you raised your hands up above you, ready to exorcise it, until it twisted unexpectedly and aimed at akaashi 

it made you panic, and instead of focusing on exterminating the curse, you turned your focus on protecting akaashi, who was in momentary shock. or maybe it was awe. you weren’t sure. somehow, you fought with the curse, maneuvering your way around it and moving akaashi along with you. somehow, his hand was in yours, and he was letting you shift him right and left as you attempted to fight off the curse. god, what the fuck is going on

eventually, finally, akaashi ducked behind you, and you raised your hands above you again, quickly exorcising it. he watched from under his shielding arms as the curse — exploded? vanished? evaporated? 

and without even missing a beat, you were kneeling before him, hands on his shoulders, shaking him wildly, asking is he’s okay 

it kinda made him want to laugh at how panicked you seemed in comparison to how serious and scary you’d been a second before 

akaashi finally answers that yes, he’s okay, but he demands an explanation, please, because he’s never been more confused 

you continue to walk him home, with the lame excuse of “i’m your personal bodyguard now,” and explain everything to him. he’s. kinda. really amazed? like you thought he’d get thrown off at the reality of the world you and him live in but he’s actually really fascinated, and he listens to you talk the entire time, only speaking when he has a question 

when you come to school the next day, you smile at him knowingly, waving at him and when bokuto sees him wave back with a small smile on his face, he combusts. 

akaashi sorta really likes the idea of being the only one to know your little secret. something about it is so satisfyingly intimate, and the trust it conveys? he’s really honored, you know? 

as your s/o, he gets really worried whenever you’re sent out on missions, but you always remind him that what brought you two together was you saving his ass <3

and then he’s reminded of just how proud of you and amazed he is hehe

end note; i want to write a book. :D

[sleeping-on-cracking-ice]

ok ok, so i'm new at requesting lol. i absolutely adore your work ( and for some reason this is the only blog posting karube content? whats up with that, the barista needs more love ) but that brings me to why i'm here. something soft with karube, maybe he finally gets that farm in australia he wanted. slow dancing by moonlight. just an idea i had, totally cool if you don't do it lol.

Yes Karube doesn’t get the love that he deserves 👏😔 Such a cute idea, I hope you like it 💕

Moonlight Dance | Daikichi Karube

{Alice In Borderland Masterlist}

Character(s): Karube

Summary: You stay at your boyfriend Karube’s farm in Australia for a holiday together, and he asks you an important question.

Warnings: a suggestive theme (but it’s only one sentence)

Word Count: 2.1k

*reader is gender-neutral

Karube gif credit

You sat on the deck chair that was placed near the end of the porch. The dusk light of the sun covered you like a warm blanket, making you feel safe and at home. The distant sound of lorikeets cheeping in the trees together filled your ears, making you smile.

Karube had managed to buy himself a decent farm along the east coast of Australia. He had invited you to come over as soon as it was his because he was so excited to share it with you. And you couldn’t blame him, it was beautiful.

It was a far way from any sort of urban environment, so it was constantly quiet and soothing, leaving only the sound of nature to fill the air.

You were so proud that Karube was finally able to achieve his dream. Even if it was just as simple as this, you couldn’t be more happy.

You closed your eyes and relaxed in the evening sun. You wanted to enjoy the warm light just before it fell asleep behind the horizon, because night time did get quite chilly sometimes.

After a short few minutes, you felt a gentle hand on your arm, making you open your eyes. Your boyfriend Karube was sitting on the ground on a cushion next to you with a lit cigarette poking out of his mouth, giving you a loving smile. He was wearing his usual blue, faded jeans with a plain black t-shirt. “You tired love?” he asked, rubbing your arm soothingly.

You nodded. “A little bit. I might get an early night.” You sat up and reached your hands behind your back to stretch them. You sighed satisfyingly after hearing some bones pop in your back. You had only been at Karube’s farm for a few days, and you already feel more relaxed than anything.

You leant sideways and leant yourself against his broad shoulders, making him snuggle into you. The silence between you was so comfortable, making you feel at ease and at home. Karube always managed to make you feel that way no matter where you both were.

“Hey! Before you get anymore tired, can I show you something?” he suddenly asked, becoming all excited. He turned, making you sit up off him.

You nodded and chuckled at his excitement. He acted like a giant kid at times, which never failed to make you laugh.

He scrambled to his feet and ran inside through the back doors to the house. “Just wait there! I have to grab something,” he said.

You watched and laughed as he almost tripped on the carpet before regaining his balance and running again. You waited patiently while watching as the sun began disappearing over the horizon, making the sky fade to a soft orange.

You hoped things could stay this tranquil and calm forever. With Karube by your side, you didn’t need anything else.

You turned as you heard soft footsteps behind you. Karube returned having discarded his cigarette and was now holding out his hand to you. “Let’s go! We don’t want it to get too late before we get there cause we’ll get cold,” he encouraged.

You took his hand happily. “Where exactly are we going?” you asked curiously as Karube and you stepped off the porch onto the grass.

“It won’t be a surprise if I tell you,” he beamed, wrapping his arm around your waist and pulling you closer to him. “You’ll have to be patient and see for yourself.”

You huffed out an annoyed sigh. He always had such a thrill from surprising you with things, whether it be something huge like a holiday away or a small gift he bought you. He was full of surprises, so you became accustomed to his playful ways.

You both walked along the grass fields for a while, chasing each other and enjoying the time together. Karube picked up every flower he could find and kept adding it to the stash in your arms, insisting that you kept a hold of them so you could put them in a water vase when you got back to the house. You took your jacket off and used it as a makeshift bag, lugging all of the colourful flowers along as he brought them to you.

He kept relating some part of you to each one, like “This one would go well with your hair.” or “This one matches your favourite shirt.” It was so endearing watching him be so invested in such little things about life. It made you feel so lucky to have someone who enjoyed such minor yet beautiful things.

As the sun disappeared from the sky and the moon shone bright over the farm fields, Karube walked along behind you with his arms wrapped around your shoulders. He was kissing your cheek every few minutes and whispering sweet nothings into your ears.

“Are you getting cold baby?” he asked, concerned. You shook your head. “No. You’re like a human blanket,” you laughed, pulling him closer by his arms so his chest was against your back.

Karube grinned and tucked his face into your neck and left a few light kisses on your skin. “You’re so cute,” he breathed out against you and tickled your waist slightly, making you squirm in his arms.

You both trudged along the long grass for a while, going to wherever Karube was planning. He had pulled out a torch from his back pocket when it got too dark to see where you were stepping.

When you both shortly arrived at a large field that was surrounded by a metal fence, Karube brought you over to the gate and unlatched it from the fence, motioning for you to step inside. The field was completely empty, containing nothing but long blades of grass and the moonlight shimmering off it.

You stared up at the moon, mesmerized by its light and fullness. You had never seen it that bright before.

Karube walked up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist and tucked his chin on your shoulder. “You want to have some fun?” he whispered into your ear.

You leant back to look at him in shock. “Here? We’re in the middle of a field,” you said, taken back by his bold words.

He laughed and placed his hand on your head, messing your hair up. “That’s not what I meant, naughty,” he chuckled. “Watch this.”

You watched in wonder as Karube started running along the grass with a sudden trail of fireflies rising up out of the ground as he jogged. An excited grin painted across your face as you laughed at your boyfriend, loving seeing him happy.

“Come on!” he yelled after a while of you watching him. You lifted your legs and followed, looking behind you as fireflies sprouted from the long grass, chirping and singing while flashing their lights.

It was such a gorgeous scene. You and Karube chasing each other and tackling to the ground as little stars scattered around you, making the moment almost seem magical. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

Once you both had grown tired, you leant against a small tree that was planted in the corner of the field. You were tucked into his chest, breathing in his scent to relax you.

“Thanks so much for inviting me here babe,” you mumbled against him, earning his soft hand stroking your hair gently. “Why wouldn’t I? I love you so much, I want to share my life with you.”

His words made your heartstrings dance in your chest and your face heat up. Even after being with him for several years, he still knew how to make your heart race with simple words.

You pushed your head even closer to his chest so your cheek was squished up against the cotton material of his shirt. You could feel his heartbeat, rapidly pulsing at a mile a minute. It was almost banging against his ribcage. You frowned and leant back to look into his eyes with concern.

“Are you okay baby?” you asked worryingly. You rubbed your hand against his chest, over his heart. “You’re hearts beating very fast.”

You saw Karube look to the ground to avoid your gaze while he answered you. “It’s probably just from running around before, I’m still a bit out of breath.”

You glanced at him for a little longer before shrugging it off.

Both of you observed the grassy field in front of you in a comfortable silence. Your eyes widened as you saw the ground blossom in bright moonlight, seeing as the clouds had separated to let the moon’s shine through. You smiled and turned to Karube excited.

“Come here!” you pressed, grabbing his hand and pulling him out to the small patch of shorter grass where the moon was shining. “I want to dance.”

“Dance?” Karube repeated. “Baby, you know I can’t dance,” he laughed nervously. You shook your head at his claim and grabbed his hands to place on your waist while you wrapped yours around his neck. “I don’t care, I’m not the best dancer either.”

You slowly began swaying your bodies, spinning in slow circles while keeping your foreheads pressed together and looking into each other’s eyes lovingly. You swore every time you looked at Karube, you felt yourself fall for him more and more.

You saw in your peripheral vision some fireflies beginning to make their way out of the grass again and buzz around the two of you as you slow-danced in the moonlight. You chuckled to yourself, it must have looked like the cliché romantic Disney movie scene, but you wouldn’t have asked for anything more or less.

After a few minutes of silent swaying and feeling the cold breeze on your skin, Karube stopped his movements and pulled back from you. You looked at him confused as to why he stopped.

“Well, I guess there isn’t a better time than now,” he started, making you frown.

Karube gazed into your eyes with a big, goofy smile on his face. His breathing was a bit unleveled. He seemed very nervous.

“Uh, Y/N. I just want to say that, over the past few years I’ve known you, you’ve made me the happiest man I could have ever hoped to have been. You’ve made me a better person in myself, and also have taught me really valuable lessons through our relationship,” he stated, fiddling with the material of your clothes. You smiled at him, a smile spreading across your features as he continued. “I want to thank you for always being there for me, through both the good times and the bad times. I honestly don’t know where I would be without you. And that is why I am doing this.”

You watched in wonder as Karube separated himself from you and slowly knelt down onto one knee. Your heart stopped, there’s no way he was doing what you were thinking he was doing.

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small violet box before holding it out to you in both hands. “Y/N L/N, will you please make me the happiest person on earth for the rest of my life and marry me?” He opened the box to reveal a gorgeous ring.

His hopeful eyes glistened in the moonlight up at you. You were covering your mouth in shock, tears filling up your eyes. You couldn’t believe it.

You nodded your head yes, and knelt down to Karube to give him the biggest hug you could ever give, head tucked into his neck and arms wrapped around his shoulders tightly. You heard him let out a big sigh of happiness and wrap his arms around you, squeezing you just as tight.

You leant back and crashed your lips onto his in a heated kiss. You held each other close underneath the moonlight, being the happiest souls that the moon would see for the time it would be awake.

You squealed as Karube suddenly broke the kiss and lifted you up into his arms with your legs clinging around his waist. He had tears of happiness rolling down his cheeks, making you reach out and wipe them away with your thumb gently before giving him another loving kiss on his lips.

“Thank you so much Y/N,” he whispered against your lips happily. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more in my life than you for the rest of it.” You couldn’t speak, so happy and emotional from the event. Your expression said it all to him.

As you slowly made your way back to the house to spend a happy and romantic night together, you and Karube were glued to each other’s side, laughing and cuddling in the cold night air.

He now had everything he ever dreamed of, and he couldn’t have been more happy about it.

[janekfan]

Saw you were looking for some Jon Tim prompts so here's a few! :D 1) Tim decides to stalk Jon to show him what it feels like. Jon is satisfyingly frazzled; then a fear shows up. 2) Jon protects Tim from the Distortion Michael. Tim's confused. 3) Jon get lost in the tunnels. Perhaps Tim can hear him from the trap door and ends up pulling him out. They're both in bad shape and Martin is ticked. 4) Tim finds Jon after he gets stabbed by Michael. Happy Prompt Hunting!

I went with number 4! :D All are very good though

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28436451

Jon was being shifty again.

Not like that was anything new, and Tim had caught wind of a bread knife rumor?

But whatever. It was no concern of his and he’d rather go the day withouth seeing him if he could. Avoid the hot spike of poisonous anger that followed after every infuriating interaction and seeped, staining, into all other aspects of his life. Better to leave him be. Let Basira and Daisy and Melanie and Martin deal with him and leave Tim to work on his high scores.

So of course it would just be the two of them in the office today. Martin dropped off Jon’s tea like clockwork and strode bitterly out of the Archives without so much as glancing at Tim. He’d delivered his warnings earlier when he’d been assigned this field research and Tim would follow the instructions to leave him be to the letter.

“He’s exhausted, Tim.”

“Don’t care.”

“I. I know. What I’m trying to say is don’t make things worse.” Tim scoffed at that. Yes, he would be the ones making it all worse. Because it wasn’t worse already. Sasha wasn’t gone, they weren’t trapped here because of Jon who definitely hadn’t turned into some paranoid stalker armed with evil powers.

But yeah. He wouldn’t make things worse.

The makeshift pad of gauze and bandaging was soaked through with his own bright blood and staring at it brought a wash of dizziness over him and flooded his mouth with salt. Before he could faint dead away he reached for his dwindling supplies and prepared to change the dressing. If it didn’t stop this time, he’d have no choice but to ask for help.

If they’d spare any.

Jon hissed through his teeth when removing the compress served only to break the clot, pouring a hot runnel over his skin that caught and welled and spilled over the ladder of his ribs. Blacked at the edges, his vision tunneled, and nausea coiled sour in his stomach. It hurt. It hurt to breathe, to think, to move, deep, deep, deep and aching in the very core of him. Graceless and bumbling, Jon struggled to cover the surprisingly small incision and wrap himself tight enough to please, please stop bleeding. Holding himself close and careful, Jon staggered to his feet only to knock his hip hard against the desk as he went woozy.

He’d stood for something. Risked toppling over for something but the pounding of his pulse in his temples made everything that much harder and the room was spinning around and around and he nearly joined it, teetering a half turn before lurching to a stop, pressing his arm against his throbbing side.

It hurt.

One of them must have painkillers of some sort. Sash--

She. He.

How could he’d have forgotten? A bolt of fresh sorrow struck him so hard in the chest it stole his breath away with it and he sagged beneath its gravity, gripping the cool metal of the door handle painfully for support, looking down and seeing it as though it were the first time.

Where…? He needed something. Needed...because it hurt. He hurt and he needed help.

“Jesus, Jon!” Tim’s whole body flinched violently when he realized Jon was hovering near his desk like a wraith, sallow and with shadows like bruises lining the sharp planes of his face. “What?” His silence was petrol on the fire of Tim’s always simmering anger and it flared brightly, blinding, such that Jon staggered a step back, lifting a trembling hand only to drop it back to his side.

“T’Tim.” He swallowed with a click, and Tim watched his throat work, lashes fluttering like moth’s wings, brows knit together in effort and confusion.

“Out with it!”

“D’you‘ave pa, para…?” Even with his tripped up tongue, the compulsion found a way to thread through the question and Tim saw the fear fill up Jon’s glassy eyes when he realized a beat later what he’d done. Resisting was painful, the static filled up his ears, his head, his blood with its continuous hiss, rising higher and higher as he tried his damndest not to answer what really was a simple question. It wasn’t about that though. It wasn’t alright for Jon to take like that, to use whatever the hell this was to pull what he wanted to know from the inside of them without a thought. To hurt them just to Know.

In the end, he had no choice and coughed up his elucidation like a mouthful of razors, slamming his fist against his desk and using the leverage to stand and confront him.

“S’sorry. Din’t...” slurred and barely intelligible, the empty apologies only made Tim angrier and for one awful moment, he wanted to hit him. Give back just a fraction of the pain he’d caused all of them with his selfish ignorance. He wrestled it down with difficulty, clenched his teeth against the residual ache of Jon’s power.

“What’d you do to yourself?” Because the man looked hungover, sweaty and sick, paler by the minute and he wouldn’t blame him for crawling into a bottle. Might even be inclined to join him if he ever extended an offer.

“H’hur’s.” Jon’s overture broke open in a sob, his clawing, grasping fingers twisted in his dark jumper over his stomach and it looked as though he was considering lurching for the bin.

“Are you pisse--whoa!” Instead, Jon stumbled into him and reflexively, Tim shoved him away, like he was something disgusting, watching him trip over clumsy feet and land hard on his side in a sprawl of uncoordinated limbs. Tim yanked him up roughly, ignoring the sharp intake of breath, and tugged him back to his office by a bony elbow, muttering unkindly, “just sober up or whatever.”

The door slammed behind Jon and reverberated into his aching bones. He’d forgotten what he needed and the pain was so bad now it had removed any remaining will he had to stay awake. After Tim pushed him and he hit the ground, (clumsy, stupid, can’t even walk on your own) it was like being stabbed by Michael all over again; a burst of bright white twisting, turning, contorting agony that wasn’t easing so much as it was spreading all the way to the tips of his fingers.

Maybe if he sat down, got off his feet, he’d not feel so ill. Yes...yes that would be good. It would be nice to rest for a moment, just close his burning eyes, just for a little while. Then he could get back to work, finish up those statements he was working on. He was working on statements? When he went to step forward a sharp pain rocked through him hard enough that he had to brace himself on the unforgiving hard wood of the desk.

What--

Suddenly weak in the knees, Jon all but collapsed into his chair, curling into himself, every harsh and hollow gasp of breath like the bite of a knife.

Half five and Jon still hadn't emerged a second time from his office. Tim was the only one left besides him and despite how adamantly he refused to care he does not want to draw Martin’s temper. This had nothing to do with his own concern and armed with the distance that afforded him, Tim knocked loudly, obnoxiously, rudely.

There was no response.

“Oi, Jon!” Shouldering open the door, he’s got a rant on the tip of his tongue and is looking forward to using it. “Drunk at work, whatever will Marto say? The scandal…” With no reaction forthcoming, no moaning or groaning or yelling Tim took a second to actually look at him, lying collapsed over his desk, cheek pillowed on one folded arm. He’s passed clean out, and Tim touched his forehead only to find it cold and clammy. Something was far from alright if Jon’s rapid, shallow breathing and nearly grey lips were anything to go by. “Boss?” He was slack and loose when Tim shook him none too gently, mouth falling open with an almost inaudible whine. Alarm bells were ringing, red flags cropping up the longer stayed in here with him and the weighty feeling of being watched made him shiver. Very suddenly he wanted out of there but when he pulled Jon upright his eyelids barely shifted and what little color remained drained from his face so quickly Tim barely got the bin in place for him to lose what little he had in his stomach, no more than a little tea really. If the moisture hadn’t glinted in the low light coming in from the other room, Tim wouldn’t have noticed the dark wet blotch blending with the fibers of Jon’s jumper or the red and rust staining his trousers halfway down his thigh.

“Jon!” He wasn’t awake, not really, body reacting with wretched whimpers and the sluggish shifting of his arms when Tim eased him out of the chair and onto the ground. “Shit. Shit!” 999. 999 and following their explicit instructions; elevate his legs, keep him warm, don’t let him aspirate on his own sick. He lifted the sopping and soaked fabric of his borrowed clothing and his hand flew to cover his mouth when he saw the damage and he thought back to Jon’s plea for paracetamol, the apparently accidental compulsion.

“H’hur’s.”

His whole flank was black with the blood pooled beneath his skin and smeared with crimson above and when Tim applied his own crumpled up button down over top of the drenched bundle of gauze Jon cried out, writhing weakly under his punishing hands, eyes rolling wildly under bruised lids.

God. What was the point of being angry with Jon for not being honest, for not reaching out, if this is what happened when he did? If Tim was going to be rough with him, accuse him of being soused when really--

When really he was bleeding to death behind the closed door Tim put him behind so he didn’t have to look at him.

“T…”

“Hey, hey buddy.

“Hur’hurting me…” Slicked with weals of blood, Jon’s thin fingers slipped against Tim’s wrists, no strength to shift him, to stop what was happening, to stop him from hurting him like everybody else had hurt him, even though he was trying to save him. Jon didn’t understand, couldn’t, and he sobbed helplessly, keening cry lancing through Tim like the sharpest spear as yet again he was at the mercy of someone with more power. Catching up his hands, holding both in just one of his own, the hot blood was a painful contrast with Jon’s icy skin.

“Hush, I’m sorry, you’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay. I’ve got you, Jon.”

“Nngh…ah!” Tim lifted his hands to his chest, cradled them there in all their scarred roughness and fragility, deadweight and limp.

“Soon now, just stay awake, bud. Stay with me.”

“T’T…” rapid breaths choked him off, left him gasping, fingers spasming in his hold.

Pulled gently away by unfamiliar hands.

Strangers’ voices muffled in his ears.

Jon’s half-lidded dull brown eyes filled with sharp fear.

All so slow Tim wasn’t sure any of it was happening at all until suddenly, a dawning of crystal clarity. Numbers and instructions and bodies, shouting, changing, moving.

Jon begging them to stop, stop--

“Stop hurting him!”

A firm grip pulled him to the side, forced him to look away from the red, red, red rising like a tide in his eyes until he couldn’t see anything else.

“We’re going to help him, but you need to let us.”

“...Y’yeah…”

“Are you coming?”

“Hm?”

“Sir?” Tim took in the sight of Jon’s blood still wet on the tile, the papers and folders in disarray and stained with drops like poppy petals plotting a course of ache and agony he didn’t want to travel.

And then Jon. Strapped down, held in place, fluids being forced into his collapsing veins. Face grey and lined with pain and streaked with red and--

“N’no. No.” The paramedics were already hurrying away. “I’ll. Someone will be there.”

It didn’t deserve to be him.

“Martin.”

“Tim, I swear to god--”

“Martin.”

“--get a hold of yourself for pity’s sake--”

“Martin!”

“What?!” An irritated huff passed over the line. “If this is just--”

“Jon’s in hospital, i’in surgery.” Stony silence run through with the vaguest hum of static fell between them.

“Tim--”

“I. I. I don’t think it was a bread knife.” Tim’s fingers were clenched around his phone so hard he thought it might crack as he kneeled beside the stain Jon left behind. Say nothing of Martin’s implication that this was his fault. That he’d done this to Jon.

But hadn’t he driven him to it?

Hadn’t he driven Jon to keep his pain and terror and sadness and secrets to himself when he turned on him? When he blamed him? When he came to him today, tried to reach for him, to reach for help, and was again denied?

“Tim!”

“M--”

“Where?”

“Wh’happen’...?”

“Jon?” This wasn’t the first time he’d been awake but it was the first time he’d done more than weep with confusion. Perfectly normal, Martin had been assured, between the anesthesia, the medication for pain, the massive internal hemorrhage they’d had to go in and repair, somehow saving his spleen of all things.

“Mmartin?” The effort to speak was dragging him back out to sea with exhaustion, heavy lashes struggling to part under the weight of it and only offering glimpses of glassy brown.

“Shh, go back to sleep.” Gently, Martin brushed back through his curls taking note of the too-cool temperature of his skin and the ink-dark bruises like kohl under his eyes. “It’s alright, I’m right here.”

“I, I…” Somewhere between his protest and a damp sob, Jon dropped off the edge of the precipice and Martin thumbed away the tears lining his cheeks before taking up his hand to resume his attempts at rubbing the warmth back into it.

“You should go home.” Tim was quieter than he’d ever heard him before, still likely cowed from their earlier conversation where the only thing Martin could look at was the copper embedded under his fingernails, smeared across his wrists and gone dark with oxidation. “He’s in good hands.”

“And how would you know that, Tim?” Bitter. Frustrated. Angry. Jon should have been in good hands before. Trusted hands. Hands that may well be spiteful, resentful, but hands that wouldn’t let Jon slip through the cracks regardless.

“I just meant.” Martin wasn’t able to look at him, afraid of what he might say next, afraid that he might physically throw the other man from the room for daring to deny Jon the slightest support.

“Last time I left you with him, he ended up here.”

“That’s--” Voice raised, shouting, and even down deep Jon flinched, arms shifting in an attempt to protect his face. Martin was livid, settling Jon with a few whispered words before turning to confront Tim.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be here.”

“I didn’t…” Tim was small, folding into himself and sharp at his corners, bristling and contrite.

“I’ll text you with an update if there is one.”

“I. I’m sorry, Martin.” But he neither needed nor wanted an apology. He wasn’t the one Tim wronged today.

A week later saw Martin helping Jon up the narrow steps to his flat, concerned by his pallor and the trembling in his limbs and when he finally dropped him onto the lumpy sofa, saw that he was sweating.

“I’ll make some tea.” He’d purchased a few essentials to go along with his prescriptions. It wouldn’t do if he made himself ill on an empty stomach. If he listened closely he could just hear Jon’s panting, making certain to bring water along with the mug and a few chocolate digestives to offset the loss of blood still exacerbating his fatigue.

“M’quite alright, Martin.” He had yet to sit up, still laying back among the cushions, one scarred forearm laid above his nose. “Don’have to coddle me.” Martin didn’t rise to his bait, instead ignoring him in favor of sitting beside where his greater weight tipped Jon gently into his side. He didn’t resist, instead embracing his vulnerability and sinking deeper into the warm wool of his jumper with a sullen hum.

“I’m not “coddling” you, Jon.” Steeped to his preferences, Martin pressed the tea into his hands, lingering to be certain he could hold it on his own before tucking a biscuit between his forefinger and the porcelain and then another when he polished it off, probably not thinking about it.

“Have you heard from Tim?” Barely audible over the rim of his mug, Jon kept his eyes downcast and Martin couldn’t see under his long lashes from the angle he was at. He’d asked a few times, understanding his disappointment was aimed at Tim and not at Jon, at least not this time. They’d discussed the incident and Martin got the sense that he wanted no part in a repeat performance though he’d explained his attempt at asking for help was the last time he was cognizant enough to think in a somewhat straight line. After that it was pain and cold and shadow and Tim crushing him into the floor and he didn’t understand.

“Yeah.” Martin sipped on his own tea, encouraged Jon to do the same, but he was a dog with a bone.

“Is he. Uh. Cross? With. With me?” He looked up, tired eyes wide and round. “I mean, more than, than the usual?”

“Jon.”

“I know! I.” Falling silent, Jon nibbled absentmindedly on the last biscuit and accepted the tablets to swallow with the dregs of his tea. He’d be out like a light soon with that painkiller and Martin tugged him up when he hissed through his teeth at the agony of trying to move and caught him when he listed on his feet. Rather than hovering, Martin decided instead to keep an ear out as he put away the groceries and filled a glass of water for his nightstand, meeting Jon back at the sofa where he held a stack of bedding topped with pillows.

“I know.” He swallowed, “you’re here out of, of obligation? Kindness? But. But I’ll be fine on my own--you don’t have to stay.” Martin shook his head, a sad smile spreading over his lips as he relieved Jon of his bundle, longing to pull him into an embrace and relieve him of the invisible burden he carried alone. Compromising, he settled for cupping a slim shoulder, not missing how he melted under the soft touch.

“I’m here because we’re friends, Jon.” Unexpected tears welled in his eyes, spilling over as his staid expression crumpled. “Oh, oh, Jon, come here. It’s alright.” Spent, Jon let his forehead collide with his chest, crying silently, and Martin abandoned the duvet in favor of folding him up. “It’s alright.”

“S’sorry...just.” But he couldn’t get any more words out and Martin ran a hand up and down his taut back, rubbing circles over the sharp blades of his shoulders.

“You don’t have to be.” In a few moments the energy began to ooze out of Jon’s bones, the meds kicking in full force and taking his strength with it. “Okay, time for bed.” With a bit of cautious manhandling, Martin was able to get him tucked in between the sheets, meeting eyes blinking slow like those of a cat. “Comfy?”

“Mmyeah…” slipping out on an exhale and it brought a grin back to Martin’s face to see him so relaxed and more than a little loopy. “Hey Martin?” Graceless, Jon’s clumsy fingers tangled with his. “Thank you.” Cross eyed with the effort of sincerely conveying his gratitude, he spoke earnestly, if marble-mouthed and Martin felt his own cheeks flush hot in the velvet dark. He allowed himself to tuck stray and greying flyaways behind Jon ear before sweeping a thumb over the bone of his cheek and watching him drift under. Martin slipped away, keeping the door open in case something happened, and made up his own bed, listening to Jon’s soft and sleepy sounds.

“Good night, Jon.”

[shreddedleopard]

10 Reasons it would make narrative sense for Levi and Historia’s character arcs to conclude together.

I’ve been wanting to do this for ages, but I’ve been nervous of the backlash. Feels like it’s now or never though, and theorising for/analysing stories is one of my favourite things to do - I’m clearly missing those literary analysis essays from university days. So please excuse me if you think I’m deluded - I probably am - but the analyst in me won’t let me be until I’ve got this all out of my system.

Beware, it’s a long one. There's some thoughts on chapter 130 nearest the bottom!

1. Childhood Parallels - The Abandoned Children

Levi and Historia’s childhoods mirror one another - there are striking similarities, but then also sections that fit together to complete each other, as though they are matching jigsaw pieces. The characters start out in worlds that are opposite - Historia has the comforts of a safe home, food on the table, and fresh air and sunshine. She has all the physical nourishment she needs, but she does not have her mother’s love. On the contrary, his mother’s love is the one thing Levi does have, otherwise living in poverty underground. Both their mothers, however, appear to be using sex and the idea of love as a means to survive or way to try and improve their circumstances, and it is out of this necessity that both end up being born.

Levi is clearly affected when he first hears Historia’s tale of her childhood - Isayama shows this through the fact that Levi’s plate is the only one left untouched at the end of her story. He has been so sucked in by what she’s relayed, and probably saddened, that he hasn’t been able to bring himself to eat as the others have. Historia’s story rings true with some of his own experiences, but also highlights the world he may have found himself in without his mother’s love.

Remember, Isayama consciously thinks about each panel he’s drawing - he wouldn’t include a small detail like that without reason. We see more of these instances of small but significant stylistic choices and minor details as we progress. Isayama stated in an interview that he wants to give fans an ending that fans would never guess, but that when they look back, the clues were there all along.

Continuing on with the theme of their childhoods and Isayama’s stylistic choices, let’s take a look at two significant moments:

Both characters, although experiencing different forms of deprivation initially (Physical vs. Emotional Nourishment) were abandoned at crucial moments in their lives - when they were looking for validation from their primary caregivers and the people who should have been responsible for demonstrating affection. Historia was abandoned when, after reading and taking onboard information she read in books just like her mother, she reached out to hug her, and Levi was abandoned at the moment he demonstrated that he’d absorbed everything Kenny had taught him. The parallel between these images is very powerful.

Kenny is a character that highlights more parallels between Historia and Levi.

Kenny’s words highlight the literal lack of growth in height for both Historia and Levi - both are particularly short, and also look youthful - but we can also take the words to suggest that the characters are still very much defined by what happened to them in their pasts, and have yet to step away from their demons and achieve closure on what has happened to them as children.

At this point, we can definitely say that Isayama has chosen to tie both Historia and Levi’s stories together through their childhoods - their backstories are revealed alongside each other, in the same arc of our story, and in terms of experiences, they are both identical and mirror opposite at different points.

2. Shared Values

Despite being deprived of affection for large portions of their childhoods, both Levi and Historia appear to have experienced glimmers of kindness in their darkness as well, and this has shaped some of their values and behaviours.

Levi experienced his mother's love for a short while until he lost her - we know how deeply she cared for him from her refusal to give him up despite Kenny’s advice to her when she fell pregnant. Historia had Frieda’s kindness instilled in her, even though she's not able to consciously remember her actions until later. 

Both display an affinity for animals, with several manga and even anime-only scenes where we see them being affectionate and kind to their horses. We don’t see this as prominently with any other characters.

But one of the biggest shared values is their desire to protect children. I've posted on this before, but here are a few examples of Levi being driven by this value:

It’s clear Levi has a soft spot for children. And Historia? We know her feelings on children from her first action as Queen - realised with the support of Levi.

3. Kenny’s failure … Levi’s success?

These next scenes we’ll focus on represent the moment that Levi and Historia are set up to undergo that ‘growth’ Kenny was referring to earlier in the uprising arc. Note Isayama’s choice of words here, and the symbolism of the whole scene. Kenny doesn’t tell Levi, ‘I couldn’t be someone you looked up to,’ or ‘I wasn’t fit to act as your father figure,’ he literally says ‘I can’t be some kid’s dad.” What does he do then? He shoves the titan serum at Levi.

Isayama pays great attention to this - dedicating several panels to the weighty moment, and Levi’s expression. It’s very dramatic. Notice how the word ‘Dad’ even has it’s own speech bubble. It’s almost as though Kenny is passing the mantle on to Levi - passing that responsibility on to him. It feels as though the passing of the serum replaces the missing words, ‘but you can.’ Isayama didn’t have to have Levi ask that question in the moment before Kenny passed the serum on to him. He could have positioned it so that the discussion about dreams was the precursor to the serum being passed over - which in my head, for the context of the scene, would make more sense. But he didn’t; he chose to have Kenny say that exact line to Levi - to admit his inadequacy as a father figure, with that focus on the word dad - and then hand the item over to Levi.

By itself, the scene could be seen as highlighting the ways that Levi is already a better father figure than Kenny. He has been somewhat paternal in his role as a Captain. But it’s the very next scene that brings Historia immediately into focus.

Historia looks suddenly so much maturer here, and the way the scenes sit immediately after one another feels too much like foreshadowing.

If you want the full effect of what I mean here, just rewatch this section of the anime!

We are presented with parallels between them once again. The focus of the crown and power of the monarchy being bestowed on Historia parallels the gift of the serum from Kenny to Levi - drawing on the ‘titan science’ element of the Ackerman heritage, perhaps?

Let me take a moment here, while we have these two visual representations of the Ackerman and Royal bloodlines side by side so perfectly, to point out that Isayama chose to answer a question in Bessatsu Shonen Magazine regarding the nature of a child born of both these bloodlines in 2018:

Q: If a child were to be born between two people from the royal family and the Ackerman family, which blood would take precedence? 

A: I think that both [of their bloodlines] would be reflected.

4. Blood Lines, Identity and Destinies - the Acker/Royal connection

We are still missing some information about the Ackermans, and Mikasa’s own Ackerman powers and behaviours have been a focus in recent chapters, prompting more questions. This suggests that the role of the Ackermans will be important in the story’s finale. With that said, lets have a look at what information we have about them so far in relation to the Royal Family:

- They worked closely with the Royal Family at one time, even being described as their sword and shield until they fell out of favour.

- They cannot be controlled by the king’s vow or have their memories tampered with. For this reason, they became enemies of the crown and the two bloodlines became at odds with one another.

Do either of these scenarios sound familiar in a romantic setting? The knight and princess trope has been hugely popular in fiction for as long as stories have been told - Lancelot and Guinevere is a well known classic. And two feuding families finally brought back together through love by the younger generation? Romeo and Juliet, anyone?

Okay, so maybe I’m reaching here. But Isayama has opened the discourse around this connection between the two bloodlines without concluding it, so I am certain it will have a part to play in upcoming chapters. Why create two characters from said bloodlines with such satisfyingly parallel but awful childhoods, if not to use them in some way to conclude this part of the narrative in the future?

5. The Beast Titan.

Another common plot point that Levi and Historia have is Zeke. The Beast Titan is a defining element in both their arcs. Levi is driven forward by his vow to kill Zeke, and this is repeated to the point where we expect this to be realised, or at least to see some satisfying resolution between the two. Historia’s situation is defined by her vulnerability to being turned into a Titan in order to consume Zeke. This threat to Historia’s life as a normal girl is also repeated across the later story arcs, just as Levi’s vow and apparent destiny to face off again with the Beast Titan is. If we link back to the knight princess trope, we could suggest that Historia is the metaphorical princess, Levi is the metaphorical knight, and The Beast Titan is the metaphorical dragon. The dragon must be slain in order to protect the princess, and the one to do this is always the gallant knight, or the hero. We know that Levi has been labelled Humanity’s Strongest, and even a hero, before.

It has been Levi’s destiny from the start. What's more, what is the crux of Zeke’s plan for Eldians? 

Euthanasia by preventing reproduction. Zeke’s ideology basically directly opposes the values of Levi and Historia - who wish to save as many children as possible.

6. The Smile

If there is one scene Levi fans lost their heads over, it’s this one. The Smile. Who was responsible for getting the sullen Captain to smile? None other than Queen Historia. The one time we get to see a genuine smile from him, in all 131 chapters of SNK, is when Historia playfully punches his arm. I think by this point, it is absolutely fair to say that Levi has a soft spot for her, although I’m not suggesting this is anything romantic at this stage due to her still being a child. What else is interesting about this scene? Let’s look at it from Historia’s point of view. She’s still a 15 year old girl. I’m hardly suggesting she’s got deep, meaningful feelings for a Captain so many years her senior. What I am suggesting, is that clearly there is the beginnings of her seeing him in a different light, and feeling some sort of fondness towards him too. This is also the stereotype of innocent, youthful infatuation - how many times have we seen teenagers play-fighting or bantering with the object of their affections? Something might just be stirring in Historia towards the Captain as she begins her transition into adulthood.

7. THAT (deleted) Scene

Okay, so we can’t very well talk about the smile in the context of this topic without addressing this scene:

There were a few scenes cut to make the uprising arc in the anime more streamlined. This is one of them, and again, has been one of the most talked about. People either love or hate this scene. In the manga, it absolutely sets up some major character growth for Historia, when she goes from being scared and allowing Levi to threaten her into taking an action, to standing up to him atop the wall at Orvud district, throwing his own words back at him. In contrast to Historia’s willingness, Levi becomes more receptive to her perspective and backs down, which also shows his growth. (More on that shortly!)

So, if it adds to the narrative around Levi and Historia, and is a key part of their development as characters, why did Isayama let the studio remove it? It must be because their influence on one another’s growth is no longer important to the story, correct?

If you ask me, that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Isayama has stated there were some elements of Uprising that he was unhappy with. Just, for a moment, think how this scene would fit into the bigger picture of a relationship (whether that be deeply platonic or even romantic) between Historia and Levi. Could people get behind that knowing that once, he handled her so roughly? Does keeping this scene as canon for the anime open a can of worms in terms of what is and isn’t acceptable (even more so than the age gap already does) when it comes to a relationship? Could Isayama be seen as glorifying abuse and suggesting that female characters are likely to develop feelings for men who have treated them so poorly in the past? I completely understand Levi’s reasoning for acting this way in this scene, and I loved the set up and pay off later in the arc. However, I do believe that animating this, and then having them become much closer later in the story, could make a backlash likely.

My conclusion to this particular section is - if their influence on one another as characters was unimportant, and the payoff of them reaching a stage where they bring out the best in one another wasn’t relevant to the rest of the story, then The Smile shouldn’t have made it in, right? So much of the set up was removed that it would have been far easier to scrap the scene than to try and figure out another reason for Historia to punch Levi, and make him smile.

That punch was important. It remains for a reason.

8. Levi’s Echo

So, since we discussed the impact of Levi’s words on Historia in the previous point, and how Isayama uses them to illustrate her character growth, let’s jump ahead all the way to chapter 130. We’re now post time skip, where Historia is nineteen. She’s matured now into a young woman - a woman old enough to acceptably conceive a child. This is the chapter which caught everyone’s attention due to Historia’s words to Eren regarding the idea of said child. But first of all, I want to focus on a scene which appears a couple of panels before her question:

‘It’s not as if I’ve just been tending to cattle all this time.’

What does this line mean? The only thing we know in terms of what Historia has been doing in the time skip is that she set up an Orphanage that Levi was also very much invested in and supported her with. So she’s not only been tending to cattle, but ... tending to orphans? With the Captain’s help?

Remember how we said that Isayama doesn’t include subtle details unless there’s a reason. Having Levi support her with the orphanage as a way to show how much he cares about the poorer children wasn’t needed - we already know from several instances discussed earlier that he cares about that topic deeply. So surely this must have been a small detail to set up for a later reveal?

This line alone is interesting, but not necessarily enough to suggest a big influence from Levi. But it’s the next line that grabs attention:

‘There’s no need to fight or run.’

What does this echo?

In my mind, the reason served by this dialogue in 130 is twofold. It works with both the literal events of the deleted scene, and also with the reader’s knowledge that the scene was disregarded later:

1. There is no reason to run or to fight, because Levi is on her side now. When he originally spoke those words to her - run from me or fight me - they were used in reference to what he and the corps were going to make her do - ie, become Queen. Now, they are not forcing her to do anything - they aren’t making her comply with the 50 year plan of producing as many royal children as possible and turning herself into a titan. Instead, she’s empowered by them, and very importantly, him, to make her own decisions while they try to figure out an alternative. (Why do I say him? I’ll cover this in the next point). And yet ... she still chooses to bear a child. A child born of love, not necessity. This is the difference between the birth of her child, and her own birth. And funnily enough, Levi’s birth, too. 

The cycle of history is being broken.

2. Her words serve as a reminder that in the revised version of events, Levi never even forced that choice upon her in the first place. He’s always been her ally and treated her with care and respect. Even more reason for her to value and care for him in return. There really is no need to run or fight - from the military police, because she will bear a child, stopping them from turning her - or from Levi, either. 

9. The Hooded Figure

As promised, let me explain why I say that Levi empowers Historia (yet again) to make her own decisions. My good friend Key made a wonderful discovery regarding the hooded figure panel, and honestly, based on the evidence I’ve seen, I’d be prepared to bet a whole lot on this next claim:

Levi is the hooded figure who warned Historia of the plan to turn her.

I’ve shared Key’s original post previously, but here’s the gist, with some added observations.

Levi from the hallway; Levi from that iconic scene, fits the dimensions of the hooded figure perfectly, without having to adjust the panel sizes. 

The jacket worn is lighter in colour than Eren’s standard black one, but is reminiscent of the jackets worn by the Levi Squad in the uprising arc. The only other clue we’re given to work from is that the figure has their hands in their pockets.

Hmm ... you know who else has a habit of stuffing his hands in his pockets?

So if Levi is the one who warned Historia, is that why she subtly uses his words when talking to Eren?

Let me return to chapter 130 once more, and just invite you to read the following panels from a different angle.

10. Mikasa-Eren/Levi-Historia Parallels

Alright, so this is a bit of a head-mash, but just consider what I’m about to say. In our panels with the Historia-Eren-Zeke conversation, Mikasa is never mentioned by name once. Zeke mentions ‘this Ackerman girl,’ however there is no confirmation that Eren was in fact talking about Mikasa when he asked Zeke about the Ackerman traits ...

Isayama only shows us the conversation with Zeke after Eren has just spoken to Historia about her fate and what the Paradis government want her to do in terms of bearing children. If these are just all memory fragments of Eren’s, why would discussing this with Historia suddenly make Eren think of a conversation about Ackerman traits with Zeke?

In this conversation, Zeke puts two and two together and gathers that Eren is asking these questions because of Mikasa. He then tells him how much Mikasa obviously cares about Eren, regardless of any ‘ingrained behaviour.’ What does Eren then link this with?

The conversation where Historia asks him what he’d think if she was to bear a child. What does ingrained Ackerman behaviour and Mikasa’s true feelings have to do with Historia’s child?

I want to suggest this possibility: this conversation has nothing to do with Mikasa’s feelings for Eren, and everything to do with Levi’s feelings for Historia.

Eren even confirms that Zeke has the wrong end of the stick with asking him how he will respond to Mikasa’s feelings.

What are you even talking about?

Here, he is not considering how he will respond to Mikasa, because he can’t even contemplate that with what he is about to do, and how long he has left to live (although this may have then prompted his later conversation with Mikasa after the market - where he sees Levi save the boy that he will later kill - do you see how this is all linking together?)

Here he means the lives of Historia, her child, and potentially even Levi, as well of course as Armin, Mikasa and the rest of his friends. Want to know why I think that? Isayama hinted it. Again.

We have the image of Historia, suggesting the idea of bearing a child, followed by the image of the child Levi saved, followed by the image of Levi himself.

Isayama draws every detail in every panel for a reason. If part of his conclusion to this manga involves Levi and Historia intertwined and the birth of an Ackerman-Royal child, it won’t be a massively random idea.

It will contribute to an ending where the clues were there all along, but we never really considered them.

(There’s more, so much more, but I have to stop somewhere or I won’t leave my computer. If anyone wants a part two because you’re thirsty for more of this crap, drop me a comment!)

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

A lovely person prompted me with not much more than the word “cooking”. You know how it is, it can get spicy in the kitchen... (2897 words, rating somewhere between M and E, I guess, see for yourself...)

Read “Take hold of the flame” (yes, BG lyrics, again) under the cut or on AO3.

The bed was significantly smaller than what he was used to. So it was hardly surprising that when Emhyr awoke, he found himself lying half on top of Geralt. A whole bundle of white hair tickled his nose. Oddly enough, it smelled faintly of hay. Horse stable, he thought, amused. Apart from that, it just smelled like Geralt, an indefinable, somehow spicy (irresistible) scent. Not quite tangible, not quite real. Like the whole man, actually, which was exactly why he loved him.

Emhyr noticed that his right leg was resting rather uncomfortably on Geralt's hip, somehow entangled with him. Still, although he had pinned him somewhat down with his body in sleep and he was buried in his pillows, Geralt just slept on peacefully. Amazing, how this man could sleep in the most inconvenient positions. As if it was precisely Emhyrs weight that he needed to be comfortable. That wasn't true; he knew that – Geralt was just used to taking advantage of any sleep he could get, even if he had to do so sitting up. Still, Emhyr liked the thought that his husband would sleep better beside him. He did, that was for sure.

That wasn't why he found himself in this ridiculously narrow bed (which Geralt claimed was a perfectly standard size for two people). At least it wasn't the only reason. The fact that they were now married did not mean that they were free of their obligations, and they both seemed to cling to them with unusual stubbornness. So it happened that they didn't see much of each other, especially when Geralt was away on a contract for almost two weeks, as he had been recently, and eventually stopped off at Corvo Bianco to check up on things. But for this case, they had an agreement, as silly as it was touching at the same time. They called it a kind of hiatus, and there was only one person in the palace who was in on it – the court sorceress, and she was necessary to make it work at all.

In this way, Emhyr occasionally spent a night in Touissaint (without his troublesome cousin knowing). Although they usually didn't stray far from the house (the bed), starry nights under Touissaint's sky were always the closest thing to a honeymoon. Now it was morning, and in a few hours, he would be picked up again just as discreetly as he had come here. Carefully, Emhyr tried to untie their entwined legs. Getting out of the tangled hair was much harder; he liked the smell and how savage Geralt looked when the unkempt mane fell over his shoulders. With that hair and all the scars on his body, he was a unique, wonderful sight that Emhyr could never get enough of. Even when he realized, as he did now, that the only reason he saw so much of it was that he had snatched the entire blanket during the night. However, he had warmed Geralt for it with his body, which was probably somehow a compensation.

The golden eyes opened just as Emhyr lifted his head.

"Fuck," was the first thing Geralt said, his voice still hinting sleep.

If there was a way to show amusement only by lifting the eyebrows, Emhyr had mastered it.

"If that is really the first thing you want to do?"

"Not funny," returned his witcher, growling. "You filled me up with your wine last night. I'm having a hangover. Who brings wine to Touissaint anyway?"

"One fine day, maybe this dead vineyard of yours will bear fruit, and then you can retaliate. Besides, you can't actually get a hangover."

"I can get a headache."

"That's gone in a couple of minutes."

"You're heartless," Geralt muttered from somewhere under his tangle of hair. "What time is it? Are you leaving already?"

"No, we still have some time."

Emhyr bent down, wiped some stubborn hair from Geralt's face, and kissed him gently. He still tasted of wine, and they both had to rinse their mouths, but he couldn't help touching those lips with his first thing in the morning. He always earned a smile, as if the sun rose twice. Geralt just lay there, looking at him, regarding him with that mixture of wonder and admiration that hadn't left him in a long time. The wedding hadn't changed that; perhaps it had only intensified the amazement in particular.

"We could still have breakfast together," he suggested. "Although... I told Marlene not to drop by until around noon."

"I suppose you had a slightly different breakfast in mind?"

Geralt grinned, but his traitorous stomach decided to use that very moment to growl.

"That can wait if you want to satisfy another hunger first," he said at Emhyr's skeptical look, grabbing his neck to get another kiss.

But to his surprise, Emhyr replied, "You know, we could actually have breakfast together. We're usually never alone when we do that. I could cook something. It would be peaceful."

Geralt gave him an incredulous look.

"You want to do what?"

Emhyr's lips curled into one of those little cocky smiles.

"You don't believe it? Well, my dear, until my childhood dissolved so rudely into a curse, I did indeed enjoy an excellent upbringing. Strict, but effective. I can in fact do a few small dishes."

Geralt narrowed his eyes, unsure if this was another of Emhyr's strange jokes.

"You want to cook me something," he repeated, without it sounding like a question – more like a not-quite-serious statement.

He should have known better than to challenge Emhyr, of all people.

There was a flash in the latter's eyes. Not only did he love being right, but he also loved each and every one of his little victories over his spouse – each war of words, each stare that he held out longer. So he got up with grace, dressed in no time, and was already halfway out the door when Geralt untangled his hair with his fingers and said in confusion, "You're serious."

Emhyr turned around, the doorknob already in his hand, and replied without any irony, "I'm basically serious about everything. You should know that by now."

Sometime later, Geralt stood in the doorway to the kitchen, wrapped only in the bedspread, still tousled. It was a rare sight: he was completely relaxed, and not just because he was in his own home. Moreover, it was also quite a stimulating sight, but Emhyr was not easily distracted. He had quickly gained an overview of the kitchen, and now he was slicing apples with extreme precision while heating a pan over the fire.

Geralt watched him skeptically as if he still couldn't believe what he was seeing. In fact, he had never seen him like this before: barefoot in a kitchen, modestly dressed in the same black pants and black shirt he had appeared in yesterday. Yes, the shirt was elaborately embroidered with not very modest gold threads, but by Emhyr's standards, he made a very casual impression. He also hadn't combed his hair yet, which was why some of his little black curls were still visible. Emhyr indeed appeared utterly relaxed as well. And that was even rarer than with Geralt, who stood in the door frame and gave him a look that now trulyindicated a completely different hunger.

However, neither the look nor the sight could distract Emhyr. There was a small bowl in front of him, and he cracked some eggs in it. Then he added flour, grabbed a jug, poured milk into the bowl, and stirred the dough carefully. Checking, he opened a couple of jars on a shelf by the wall, smelled them, stuck his finger in one, and licked it. He gave Geralt a quick glance. He was still standing there, his arms crossed over his chest, and his smile had something moonstruck about it. Finally, Emhyr found what he was looking for and added a pinch of salt to the bowl.

"It looks like you know what you're doing," Geralt said, his voice slightly hoarse.

Emhyr shook his head.

"If I had known how stimulating you would find this, I would have done it sooner," he replied, slightly amused, as he added some lard to the pan.

A slight sizzling sounded, and a pleasant smell filled the room. Something was satisfying about this: an immediate, visible result. An actual change for someone who often had to plan his strategies months in advance. Now he added some apple slices to the pan and sprinkled sugar on top. The smell became sweeter, more intense. Emhyr rummaged in some drawers and sniffed at several small jars until he triumphantly held up one of them.

"Cinnamon," he said, sprinkling a tiny amount into the pan before adding some batter.

Geralt didn't care what he poured into it; he simply liked the sight of his husband, who seemed to be wholly absorbed in his current activity. Who would have ever expected the Emperor of Nilfgaard to be able to make pancakes? There was something satisfyingly meditative about how he baked out one after another and lifted them onto a plate.

"You'll have to eat these quickly; there's no oven here," Emhyr remarked.

Geralt didn't answer; he continued to look at him. The warmth of the fire had reddened Emhyr's cheeks. Eventually, the bowl was empty, the plate filled, and Emhyr said, "Make yourself useful and set the table."

Geralt, who seemed to have been waiting only for this announcement, stepped forward, grabbed Emhyr's hand, and replied roughly, "Oh, I'll set the table," and pulled him along, pushing him against the small sideboard. Almost unexpectedly – for himself – Emhyr did not resist; he allowed himself to be pulled, uttering only a feeble, "I thought you wanted to eat."

"I'll eat, don't worry."

"Obscene."

"Maybe, but you'll still like it."

Emhyr did not doubt that, even more so when Geralt began to capture his mouth with a tempestuous kiss that betrayed his passion almost as clearly as his sight – for now, he dropped the blanket he still had wrapped around him, presenting his hard-on.

Emhyr raised a brow in one of his meaningful, typical gestures.

"This is what you get for watching me cook?"

"You have no idea. But don't worry, no one goes hungry in this kitchen."

"No more kitchen jokes," Emhyr groaned while Geralt was already in the process of relieving him of his clothes.

The room was neatly heated up, and the old house with its few windows was rarely cool anyway. However, the fire's proximity was not the only reason why beads of sweat stood on Emhyr's forehead after a short time.

By now, the whole place was a mess - there lay his shirt and trousers, the blanket, and some stuff Geralt had unintentionally thrown off the sideboard, as he had pushed his husband against it. Emhyr couldn't care less, for now, Geralt had gone to his knees, and he did his utmost to make Emhyr raise his arousal to the same level. This was not difficult – as usual, the sight of the witcher was nearly enough. The golden eyes, half-hidden under all the tangled hair, which he could hardly stop himself from reaching into, sparkled when they looked up at him. And his lips were shiny too, moistened by his tongue, which was now already so close. It was part of the game to hold back a little longer, and he put his hands on Emhyr's hips, also to savor the feeling for another moment. But everything about this made it hard to resist – the warmth of the kitchen, Emhyr's very own smell, now mixed with apparent arousal, that surprisingly soft down of pubic hair for such a large and imposing man, now right before Geralt's eyes. He didn't try any longer.

The heat grew stronger, but now it came from within, rising directly from Emhyr's abdomen, moving upward, spiraling up in lustful waves. The feeling enclosed him, like Geralt's mouth, and his fingers clawed into the wood of the furniture behind him, knuckles almost as white as the hair below. The tongue was a pure provocation, just like the looks. A challenge, the attempt to break through Emhyr's composure prematurely, always in vain. After all, he'd been playing this game much longer than Geralt, at least in this way.

It was time to turn the tables. He leaned forward and placed his hand on the back of Geralt's neck, neither gentle nor firm, his fingers performing a sole impression of possessiveness. It was a power that had nothing at all to do with his status, and it was the only one Geralt had followed – ever since he had first decided that there were situations in which he would deliberately kneel before him. He did not do it for the Emperor; he did it solely for the man Emhyr was besides.

With gentle pressure from his fingertips only, this man now ordered him to stand up. He wrapped his arms around that amazingly slender waist, pulling him closer, while at the same time, his eyes were locked on Geralt's, just as it was the other way around. Both locked onto, both lost in each other. Could it get any warmer in the kitchen? Slowly, very slowly, he bent over, seeking the wet lips, but his own taste on them was nearly too much for him.

Almost roughly, he whirled around, his arms still around Geralt, and with amazing strength (and perhaps some encouragement), he lifted him very briefly until Geralt was sitting on the sideboard. More things fell, kitchen utensils, garlic bulbs, a strangely deformed golden spoon.

"We need some...," Geralt began, a little out of breath from both the kiss and the arousal.

"It's a kitchen," Emhyr interrupted him as his hands roamed over Geralt's body.

He gave his fingers just as much time as his lips, for that was his part of their game, and as expected, his spouse responded with impatient little sounds. But Emhyr had already found what he was looking for. A narrow little clay jug contained oil that smelled very slightly of the olives grown in Touissaint. It was not an unusual tool for what he had in mind, though considerably simpler than anything they usually used.

"Someone's gonna need to clean this place up," Geralt commented as Emhyr yanked a bundle of herbs off a hook on the wall while trying to reach for the jar.

"If you want to make sure your housekeeper doesn't find out what happened in her kitchen, you better do that," he countered.

But then, the time for banter was over. A glance without words, a silent agreement they gave each other over and over again, despite all the passion. They smiled at each other in their inimitable way: a broad expression on one side, a mere sparkle in the eyes on the other. The time had come to stop holding back, and all passion channeled into a powerful first thrust, so hard that the back of Geralt's head hit a wall shelf. His suppressed scream might have expressed pain or pleasure at the same time; it didn't matter.

The kitchen was a furnace now, but most of the heat emanated from their bodies, less from the fire behind them. Emhyr's hands, still slippery from the oil, clawed at Geralt's ass, holding him steady while he kept a ruthless pace. All playfulness had fallen from them, and they pursued their lust with a kind of sacred seriousness.

The sweet whiff of the pancakes had long since been covered by a tangy scent of sweat and passion. Unfamiliar sounds filled the place, usually accustomed only to the hissing of frying food or the clinking of dishes. Now, there was the slapping of skin against skin. Lips, that met each other in the middle of a moan. A word, an invitation, a demand for more. Desire, increasing the more it was indulged, became sounds, became touch, until they indeed became one.

The release was like a fire that never loses its spark. And when it came, it came with a sigh and a groan, with laughter silenced by a kiss. After that, they just held each other until their hearts calmed down. When he had regained his speech - even if his voice still sounded a little flat - Emhyr said, "Your food is cold."

Geralt looked at him, a sheepish expression crossing his features.

"I hate apple pancakes," he blurted out.

A raised eyebrow was the maximum amount of astonishment Emhyr allowed himself.

"You eat them all the time. We have them for breakfast several times a week."

"I eat them because you eat them. You seem to like them; you're the one who keeps ordering them. And you seem to like it when I eat them. That's the only reason I keep doing it."

Emhyr hid a small smile that wanted to steal onto his mouth in Geralt's tangled hair and whispered close to his ear, "That' s idiotic."

"I know," Geralt returned.

"I like it," Emhyr said, and only a very, very careful observer would have noticed that his shoulders moved slightly. As if in a tiny laugh, perhaps.

"I know," Geralt repeated.

He did not hide his smile, and the sun rose for the second time that morning. It was going to be a beautiful day.

[coquelicoq]

i think there's a number of nuances to hash out re: dont/duquel/de quoi, but we've covered some ground. "de quoi" will only ever show up in a question. e.g. "de quoi s’agit-il?" or "en arrivant en angleterre, de quoi faut-il se méfier?" the answer to the latter question could be "il faut se méfier de la direction de laquelle surgissent les voitures."

for a direct dont/duquel comparison, there's e.g. "le village duquel il arrive est situé au nord" and "le village dont il provient est situé au nord". the latter has a sense of his hometown and the former more a sense of the village he just came from. another example we hashed out was "la loi dont il s’agit comporte cinq articles et l’article duquel provient toute la polémique est l’article numero trois." but this is where we're getting into nuances we hadn't quite figured out in full.

but the sense my father was getting at was that "duquel" is used for more specific or narrow references, so when you go from a broader topic "la loi" to a more specific element, it would be "duquel". this is not satisfyingly clear to me, especially given that i do remember learning the differences between the two, and this is not ringing a bell. i've got another full week up here, though, so you can bet we're going to continue to discuss this. i'll report back with updates.

ooh okay your village example is very interesting to me. i would not have any clue which one to use in that instance. do you think it has anything to do with "de" being an essential part of the phrasal verb "provenir de", whereas "arriver" can appear on its own without "de"? like you can say Il arrive. but afaik you can't say *Il provient. so the "de" is an add-on to arriver in a way that it isn't for provenir.

but then wait, in your later example you have "l'article duquel provient..." so maybe not.

i am also not really picking up on the difference between dont and duquel in the sentence with la loi and l'article. is your dad saying that "l'article" takes "duquel" because an earlier part of the sentence was talking about a broader topic? if we just got rid of the earlier part of the sentence, would it then become "l'article dont provient toute la polémique est l'article numéro trois"?

my college textbook says something else about dont/duquel that i'm having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around, viz.:

When a preposition or a prepositional phrase comes between the antecedent and the relative, then de + RELATIVE are used instead of dont. The relative dont must follow its antecedent immediately and therefore must stand first in its clause. Ex. : C'est un livre au milieu duquel il y a de jolies illustrations.

have you ever heard of this rule? it's not ringing any bells for me. if i think about it, i get it, but idk if i could ever spontaneously apply it.

i just broke out my notes from high school french and i now have before me a handout which reads:

LEQUEL et ses formes variées est précédé d'une préposition quand il s'agit d'une chose ou d'un animal, mais comme déjà mentionné quand il s'agit d'une personne il est préférable d'employer qui.

so far so good. it goes on to say about dont:

DONT est employé avec les expressions verbales qui prennent la préposition de comme: avoir besoin de, s'agir de, parler de, avoir envie de;

Exemples: Voilà les skis dont il a envie. (Il a envie de ces skis.)

Prends les livres dont tu as besoin. (Tu as besoin des livres.)

Voyez la façon dont il agit. (Il agit de cette façon.)

Voici le révolver dont il m'a menacé. (Il m'a menacé de ce révolver.)

La nappe dont la table est couverte n'est plus aussi propre. (La table est couverte de la nappe.)

this seems kind of similar to my instinct earlier about phrasal verbs? but i don't really understand how the last two examples would fall into that category. continuing on:

Dont exprime aussi la possession.

Exemples: Le garçon dont je connais le père est ingénieur. (Je connais le père du garçon.)

La maison dont tu aimes le jardin a été vendue. (Tu aimes le jardin de la maison.)

okay, this one feels right. i'm feeling good about it. but wait! there's more:

Dont ne peut pas être séparé de son antécédent. Si l'antécédent est séparé du pronom relatif dont, on emploie de qui, duquel, de laquelle, etc.

Exemple: L'océan au milieu duquel nous nous trouvons est très agité.

aha, this seems to be the same thing my college textbook was talking about! apparently i had been exposed to it at some point after all. how about that.

for what it's worth, i'm now looking at practice AP French exams and their answer keys and they keep saying dont and duquel are both valid answers for all their example sentences. so probably there's a fair amount of free variation as well. i would be curious to do some experiment where i put duquel/de laquelle/etc. in for dont in every single sentence with a de relative (and the other way around too i guess) and have native speakers rate how uncomfortable each sentence makes them. i imagine some of the sentences would seem just fine and for others they'd be like "oh no, that's definitely wrong," but i'm not sure which would fall into each category.

as far as i can tell, my current textbook pretends like duquel doesn't exist at all (auquel, sure, pour lequel, whatever, but duquel? never heard of it), which i'm interpreting as the author going "oh god i have no idea how to explain this. let's not and say we did." which like okay valid, i can see why she would make that choice, but also i would like to know about it. tell me about duquel, textbook author!!

what if i just say dont every time, unless there's one of these interrupting prepositional phrases (or unless it's a question)? would that be so wrong? run that up the flagpole for me if you're able and let me know how it goes.

[ladyherenya]

My favourite thing this year has been the Korean drama Crash Landing on You (2019-20).

It has something of a ridiculous title (I’ve ended up calling it Crash Landing or sometimes just Crash). But, to be fair, North and South was already taken.

“I can go to Africa and even Antarctica but not here. It’s a shame that you live here.” “It’s a shame that you live there.” -- episode three

To my great amusement, every month or so, Netflix has sent me an email that’s said: “Don’t forget to finish Crash Landing on You” or “Remember this? Watch it again: Crash Landing on You” or “Rewatch your favourite moments - Watch it again: Crash Landing on You…”

And I’m like: NETFLIX! Seriously, WHAT do you THINK I’M DOING?

I have now watched Crash Landing on You five times.

There are several reasons for this:

I successfully dragged other family members down this particular rabbit hole, and in a pandemic season, when things have been unpredictable (or cancelled), rewatching Crash Landing has been an appealing and comfortably-familiar distraction, as well as the source of many, many long, analytical fandom-y conversations, which has been fun.

I needed to watch it more than once to straighten out all the pieces of the story in my head. With 16 episodes, each over an hour long, it’s one of the longest stories I’ve ever watched. I’ve seen other TV series with more episodes, but nearly all have been much more episodic, rather than telling one continuous story.  

I kept noticing details that I’d previously missed because I’d been focused on the subtitles or that I hadn’t properly understood some cultural nuance. And some things are ambiguous in translation -- in a good way, a fodder-for-discussion way.

I have ALWAYS rewatched (or reread) my favourite stories. And Crash Landing fits right in with those. Someone in my family described it as: “Like Lord of the Rings on steroids!” However, I think it actually has far more in common -- visually and thematically, and also in terms of my willingness to discuss the characters as if they were real people -- with my favourite historical dramas.

In terms of story, Crash Landing is easy enough to summarise: A South Korean businesswoman is paragliding when a freak storm blows her across the border; she’s discovered by a North Korean captain, who hides her and helps her get home.

But I’m going to need more words to explain why I fell in love with it.

It is fascinating and, first time round, tense and unpredictable. It’s funny and very meta -- very aware of the tropes it’s playing with and of parallels and contrasts within the story. It’s visually and aesthetically pleasing, and the soundtrack grew on me.

There are a number of coincidences and a few ridiculous fight scenes, but the emotions are intensely real and so are the consequences. It has camaraderie and found-family and thoughtfully-complicated family relationships. There are characters I love, and characters who surprised me, and so much time given to character development!  It’s romantic. There’s a fake engagement (a favourite trope of mine) and while I’m not a fan of love triangles, I liked how this quadrangle-tangle is handled. And the obstacles to the romance are satisfyingly realistic; characters have sensible reasons for the choices they make.

I love how the story uses flashbacks, particularly the post-credit scenes.

The final episode isn’t perfect, but given that a perfectly happy ending would, realistically,  require the reunification of north and south, I thought it came very close.

Let me elaborate.

Cut for sheer verbosity, rather than spoilers. (I’m not allowing myself to list spoiler-ish examples or dive into analysing my favourite scenes, because then I wouldn’t just be here all night, I’d be here all week).

⬦ Fascinating, tense, unpredictable: I knew almost nothing about life in North Korea, so that was fascinating and made the story harder to predict, as I couldn’t anticipate what options the characters had or what obstacles might arise. And that isn’t the only reason I found it tense -- at different times, different characters are greatly at risk if discovered; there are occasions when characters are in danger of physical violence or are injured; and they have a couple of dilemmas to which there are just not easy solutions (See also: Obstacles for romance).

While I’m on the subject of the setting, although I cannot judge how accurate this portrayal of the north was, it’s portrayal of people as people was incredibly convincing. It’s a society where people have differences in personality and in circumstances. There are orphans begging in the market, people who can afford to stay in fancy hotels -- and a lot of people somewhere in between. In the military village, people have varying attitudes, tastes in clothes, privileges, standards of living, etc. Their lifestyle differs from that in Pyongyang, and also in other parts of the country. Amongst the military, some men are compassionate, some are corrupt and some are not obviously one or the other.

Moreover, it’s clear that corruption and villainy isn’t just in the north. In the south, as in the north, we see a range of humanity -- selfishness, good friends, complicated families, happy marriages, criminal behaviour, and so on.

I’ve read an article or two suggesting that the least realistic aspect is Ri Jeong Hyeok being such a sympathetic and honourable officer. I think it’s interesting that he clearly isn’t a typical captain -- he wanted a different career, he’s spent time studying overseas (in a democratic country), and, perhaps most importantly, his father’s position gives him protection from pressures many others face. He has the privilege of being able to afford to act with integrity, and of encouraging such behaviour in the men he leads.

⬦ Humour and meta: I’ve included these two together, because so much of the story’s self-awareness and intertextuality is humorous. I am very amused by so many things -- the village women’s interactions, Se-ri’s wit and banter, Jeong Hyeok’s facial expressions, the duckling's reactions, the way Ju Meok keeps comparing things to South Korean dramas:

Ju Meok: “I haven’t seen any drama characters that don’t fall in love in that situation. That’s how they all fall in love.”

(Because my knowledge of Korean drama is limited, there are a few cameos and references which I suspect would be amusing if one was in the know. The exception is the taxi driver singing, who was funny even without recognising the actor.)

I love the commentary that comes from all the moments when other characters witness the unfolding romance. Others’ reactions are often memorably hilarious -- some of my favouritest scenes fall into this category. (The customs officer! Jeong Hyeok’s dad!) They introduce humour and self-awareness into these moments, allowing the story to acknowledge “Yeah, we know these two are being ridiculous/sappy/emotional”. These moments reveal people’s attitudes towards displays of affection, particularly in the north, and their different attitudes towards Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok’s relationship.  

And as their relationship changes, Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok’s awareness of being watched and commented upon changes, too.

Which leads me to…

⬦ Contrasts and parallels: So many scenes which echo/parallel earlier scenes. Most obviously, this allows the story to compare and contrast the north and south, but it also shows changes in time, differences between characters, and differences in relationships too. Sometimes all at once!

 It means some plot developments weren’t totally unexpected -- it was Oh, of COURSE, we’re going to now see that character in this situation! or OBVIOUSLY we now have to see what this is like in the south!

But I thought it was really effective storytelling and I so much enjoyed spotting and analysing these moments.

⬦ Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jeong Hyeok: These two are the heart of the story and there are so many things I love about them. Like how, even though Se-ri is dependent upon Jeong Hyeok to hide and help her -- even though they’re initially hesitant about a romantic relationship -- they quickly become very protective of each other. Often to the point of willingly risking their own safety. Often to the point of exasperating the other. It’s great.

 That’s not the only thing they discover they have in common. They share some interests. They’re both highly intelligent, driven, successful leaders (he’s a captain, she’s a CEO) who are very private, lonely people carrying around grief about their family and their past. Neither of them likes to reveal their emotions -- he tries to conceal his by suppressing his facial expressions and avoiding answering questions, while Se-ri hides behind play-acting.  

I like watching Se-ri trying to get to know Jeong Hyeok. She isn’t deterred by his silences (unlike someone else) and she keeps the conversation going even when he doesn’t respond. She watches him closely, and says or does things to provoke a reaction. Poke, poke, poke.

And the time they spend together is really revealing. They share meals, they share a house. They see how the other responds under pressure, but also in various social and domestic situations. They see each other in a range of moods: calm, happy, grumpy, scared, tired, upset, unwell. Crash Landing takes advantage of spending sixteen episodes with these characters. Going through so many different experiences together, they learn a lot about each other -- about each other’s values, tastes and temperament -- and this means the audience gets a deeper, more nuanced understanding of who they are, too.  

Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok are also well-matched in how they show they appreciate each other -- she delights in giving presents, and he is quick to notice things Se-ri might need or like.

And it’s very satisfying when they open up, or when they cry in front of each other, because you know that they don’t do this lightly or easily.

⬦ Obstacles for romance, love triangle quadrangle-tangle: I appreciate that the obstacles in this story are not contrived or fueled by needless misunderstandings.  Se-ri and Jeong Hyeok have really solid, sensible reasons to be hesitant to first recognise, then admit to, and then act upon, a romantic attraction. Even once they realise that getting Se-ri home is going to take longer than they’d hoped and she’s pretending to be Jeong Hyeok’s fiancée, romance between them is still a road that leads nowhere. She isn’t safe staying in the north and he would endanger his family if he defected to the south, and they both accept that. And they’re reticent about sharing vulnerable feelings, and Jeong Hyeok is actually engaged to someone else.

But once they really open up to each other, the narrative conflict revolves around their circumstances, rather than doubts or misunderstandings they have about each other. Because the situations they face are dangerous and difficult, with no obvious or straightforward path to a happy ending, there’s quite enough tension to drive the story forward. They still have a couple of misunderstandings, but I like how they handle those, and I like that they don’t have more of them.

As for the love triangle, it doesn’t have the angst of someone torn between, or even attracted to, two people. Jeong Hyeok’s engagement has been arranged. Having feelings for someone else doesn’t change the foundation of that engagement, nor the pressure to please his family. He doesn’t love or know his fiancée -- not well enough to risk revealing Se-ri’s true identity to her. He’s honest with Se-ri and he makes an effort with Dan.  

(I have a theory that, if he had been in love before, he might be quicker to recognise how some of his behaviour towards Se-ri fosters intimacy and sends her messages he doesn’t intend, but this is all new for him.)

He tries not to mislead or hurt Dan, but she’s hurt nonetheless, and I like that Crash Landing doesn’t gloss over that. It explores why she’s hurt, why she’s so reluctant to let him go and why their relationship never really worked. (Neither of them are good at communicating with each other, and I think she takes some of the things he does for her for granted, rather than recognising them as overtures and as opportunities to get to know him better.)

Dan is not just a romantic rival, nor a narrative complication, but a person whose concerns and desire are taken seriously, and who is given space to grow.

Which leads me to...

⬦ Surprising characters, thoughtfully-complicated family relationships: As mentioned, Crash Landing takes advantage of the amount of character development 16 episodes allows, and not just for its lead couple. I was surprised by how much my opinion of certain characters changed, as I came to understand them better.

The character I was most surprised by was Gu Seung-jun.

Each time I’ve watched this, I’ve liked Dan more. I have a lot of sympathy for her now. I also like her mother, even though she’s embarrassingly over the top, because she cares fiercely about her daughter and about advocating for her.

Se-ri’s dysfunctional family are more nuanced than I expected, too. In particular, I love the attention the story gives to Se-ri’s relationship with her step-mother. I was expecting Se-ri’s father to play a larger role, perhaps because he’s nominally the one with the power and influence, and at first Se-ri’s mother seems so passive. But it was really interesting to understand where she’s coming from, why her relationship with Se-ri is broken and sad. The steps the two of them take towards rebuilding their relationship are believable.

(On a related thought, I appreciate a lot of the choices this makes in addressing these women’s mental health struggles. One or two moments arguably could have been handled better, but on the whole it’s realistically optimistic, with enough detail so that we understand the seriousness -- the impact it’s had on these women’s lives.)

⬦ Camaraderie, found family and the ducklings: Se-ri doesn’t spend as much time with the village women as she does with Jeong Hyeok and his soldiers, and when she does, she’s play-acting, in order to keep her identity a secret. But I like how they nevertheless support her, and how meeting her sparks change their dynamic with each other. They grow closer and become much better at supporting each other. It’s really heartwarming.

We gave many of the characters codenames, so we could discuss them when we were still learning their names. (I was surprised by how long it took me to learn some of the characters’ names.  Because so many were unfamiliar to me, they were harder to remember; I wasn’t always sure, from just reading the subtitles, how all of them were pronounced, and sometimes it was hard to separate the sound of the names from surrounding sentences, especially when, due to honorifics and titles and so on, subtitles don’t always match exactly what is being said.) Jeong Hyeok’s men are “the ducklings”, inspired by something I saw on Tumblr: Gwang Beom is “Handsome Duckling”, Ju Meok is “Drama Duckling” and Chi Su is just the sergeant.) I love how they function as a found-family, especially in contrast to Se-ri’s real family. They’re funny, loyal and caring, and in spite of their different personalities, work well together as a team. I enjoyed seeing the different relationships they have with each other, with Jeong Hyeok and Se-ri, and how some of those relationships change. And they’re so protective they are of Eun Dong!

Man Bok has an interesting arc -- I could have mentioned him under Surprising characters. I really like how he fits into this story, how he’s connected to the mystery Jeong Hyeok is investigating, how he becomes involved with the rest of the characters and has these moments when he plays a significant role. Or gets to be funny. I like the contrast and parallels too -- he’s in a different place in his life to the ducklings, and he gets opportunities to revisit past choices he regrets.

And I’m trying not to write essays about all the characters, and it’s ahhh, I have too many thoughts and feelings about them all!

⬦ Satisfyingly realistic: I like how -- one or two ridiculous fight scenes and an unrealistic paragliding scene aside -- things which happen have believable consequences. Particularly emotionally. We see men cry! A lot! And it always feels like a genuine expression of emotion, not gratuitous or overwrought. (Well, okay, there’s a very minor character who’s a bit over the top but he’s very minor.)

When one of the characters is gravely ill, she looks it, I found it oddly satisfying that she doesn’t have to be pretty all the time.

And I wasn’t sure if this belonged here or under “Visual details” but I love the attention given to Se-ri’s clothes. She cares a lot about fashion and in the north her clothing choices indicate that she cares a lot about her appearance, while making do with a limited wardrobe and still dressing for warmth.  (I’m happy to handwave that she seems to have more clothes than would realistically fit in those shopping bags.) I appreciated the practical streak, and, as winter wore on here, became envious of one of her outfits.

I don’t personally like the style of Se-ri chooses for work, but it’s different it is from what she wore in the north and from what she wears at home -- her power-dressing is like a uniform or a statement of persona she projects in her working life, and not necessarily a reflection of her personal tastes.

⬦ Visual details: I love so many of the visuals. Gorgeous scenery, interesting settings and clever framing for significant scenes. The sky, a place without borders, often becomes a focus and there’s a thematically-relevant flight motif -- paragliders, birds and kites.

I did not start noticing the   product placement until a rewatch, when I stopped to think about how often they went to Subway. The first time, it just seemed like a commentary on south-versus-north, and then I was just baffled-yet-amused by it all. (That sort of thing does not make me want to eat fried chicken...)

⬦ Soundtrack: The first time round, I liked the instrumental score and the presence of piano music actually in the story. As I kept rewatching, the rest of the soundtrack slowly but steadily grew on me, and I found myself liking the songs more and more.  

Now I not only recognise them by name, I can recall most of them well enough to hum them and know which scenes they’re associated with. Which is a lot harder when the lyrics are in a language I don’t speak and so I can’t use them as a prompt for memory.

⬦ Flashbacks: Instead of “previously-on” segments, Crash Landing employs lots of flashbacks whenever it wants to remind the audience of something.

Sometimes, instead of just repeating part of an earlier scene, it takes the opportunity to show the same moment from different angles or from a different character’s perspective,  or to juxtapose it with a different scene or to introduce new information. This was really effective. And when flashbacks were a simple repeat, I was usually happy to revisit important moments in the story (and sometimes, having a different person translating the subtitles meant there was a slightly different perspective on the dialogue).

Then there are the post-credit flashbacks, quite a few of which take places years earlier. I love how they’re puzzle pieces about the characters’ pasts and the connections between them.

⬦ The end:  The first time round, after watching the penultimate episode I was so engrossed in the story and so invested in the characters that I had trouble sleeping and I went around the next day with this tight, anxious feeling, unable to get the story out of my head.

The final episode is an emotional rollercoaster. SO. MANY. FEELINGS. There’s one particular scene which packs a powerful punch -- it’s exceptionally emotional and beautifully filmed. I love it, but I’m  glad we get the aftermath too.

It isn’t a perfect ending, but as I said, I don’t think there was a perfect ending was possible, not one that was both realistic and satisfying. But this comes very close. In the very final scenes, not everything is resolved or explained, and I like how that ambiguity is open to interpretation -- I like that there are some gaps for the viewer to fill in for oneself, however one prefers to imagine the characters’ lives going forward.

I know I could easily write another four thousand words about this story -- there are aspects I haven’t really discussed but this seems like a good place to stop. For now. I really like this story. I expect I’ll watch it all again soon.

[thepancakedetective]

Pinning Hell

Synopsis: Akira Kurusu has been pinning hard for his hot rival/friend Goro Akechi. He doesn't know how to deal with his feelings. And his friends are sick of hearing about it. So Futaba devises a devious plan involving blackmail. Rated M for Spicy.

Akira had no idea how he ended up in front of Goro’s apartment. Okay. He was blackmailed. Threatened over text by his mischievous ginger-haired friend. For a socially anxious shut-in, she was surprisingly vocal over text exchanges. 

Oracle (5:22 pm)  I hate to break this to you Akira.

Oracle (5:22 pm)  But if you don’t get your ass straight out of Le Blanc this instant, I am going to leak your browsing history to Goro. This includes the following: 

Oracle (5:23 pm)  “how to confess your feelings to your hot friend and not be rejected”, “how to know if your friend is gay”, “is quoting Hegel gay?”, “hot kinky gay bdsm” and so on.

Oracle (5:23 pm)  If you would like this to NOT happen head to this location and fucking confess your feelings pronto. Or ELSE!!! ((╬◣﹏◢))

Akira knew this was coming. Over the last few weeks Akira had barely seen Goro. Due to their conflicting schedules and Goro’s predisposition to overworking himself, Akira was currently suffering from Goro withdrawal. Goro plagued his every thought during work, school, and hangouts with his friends. And said friends were sick of his pinning. Now he was paying the price.

Akira’s hand hovered over the apartment door, torn between knocking or death because hey, he would rather be shot in the head than have his browsing history exposed to the one person he had been crushing on forever. The door handle turned before he had the chance to decide. A thoroughly surprised and alarmed Goro blinks back at him mouth agape. His work clothes peak out over a haphazardly worn hoodie.

Goro: W-what are you doing here?

Akira thinks to himself, okay be cool.

Akira: I was just taking a walk.

Goro squints suspiciously at Akira.

Goro: A walk that ended up right in front of my apartment door. A location, which mind you, I did not share with you prior.

Akira curses at himself. Now he looks like some crazy fangirl.

Akira: I have a good explanation for that.

Goro crosses his arms and pins Akira with a raised eyebrow.

Goro: Do come in.

Akira: W-what? Weren’t you just about to leave?

Goro sighs and opens his apartment door wider.

Goro: My business can wait. It looks like you have a more pressing matter to divulge.

Akira involuntary swallows hard. Was it too late to back out? As if sensing Akira’s hesitation, Goro pulls Akira inside and closes the door behind them. Akira glances back at Goro. Did he deadbolt the door?

Goro: Let’s take a seat.

Goro leads them to his living room couch. His apartment is well furnished just as Akira had suspected. What he did not expect was the ridiculous amount of Phoenix Ranger Featherman merch lining his bookshelf with figurines. They looked like they cost a fortune. Goro followed Akira’s line of sight. He coughs with a light blush.

Goro: A gift from fans. So Akira, to whom do I owe the pleasure for being graced by your unsolicited presence?

Akira’s mouth suddenly feels dry and he blurts out

Akira: Blackmail.

Goro studies him thoughtfully before giving Akira one of his signature Detective Prince smiles which nearly sends Akira into cardiac arrhythmia.

Goro: Oh? Well I do specialize in crime. How may I assist?

Marry me. Slay me. Step on me. Akira curses internally. Focus mind. Focus. Damn his lips look so soft and his lashes are so long. His traitorous mind was making speech a very difficult task. Goro smirks before ironing it out into a slight frown.

Goro: Your silence leads me to think that this blackmail is far more serious than I had first suspected. Perhaps we should notify the police.

Akira nearly jumps out of his seat in protest.

Akira: No, no. It’s really not THAT serious.

Akira tries to shrug nonchalantly, but instead looks like he’s doing a bad impression of the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Goro taps his chin, seemingly intrigued by Akira’s skittishness. Goro leans forward and the gap between two closes significantly. He looks up at Akira with a half-lidded expression. It was getting very hard for Akira to think.

Goro: Then, do tell what it is on your mind.

Akira’s lips waver only half a second before responding.

Akira: You.

And he dives in to press his lips against the brunet’s. Goro’s breath hitches and his eyes widen, but there is no protest. No. Instead, he closes his eyes and kisses back hungrily. His fingers lace through Akira’s unruly raven hair and pull him closer to deepen the kiss. It was Akira’s turn to be surprised as he found Goro’s tongue pressed against his lips. Akira accepts the invite with an involuntary groan. This seems to rouse something in Goro who pushes Akira down and pins him against the coach. Goro’s eyes are glazed and heavy with deep wanting. Akira knew exactly where this would lead and just that thought sent shivers down his spine in anticipation. But, this was progressing way to fast. And Akira had to get a handle on the situation.

Akira: W-wait.

Goro pants, his breathing uneven.

Goro: D-did I do something wrong?

Akira shakes his head.

Akira: No, no! You did nothing wrong. I just need to figure something out.

Goro gazes down at him with mild confusion. Perspiration lightly lining the top of his brows.

Goro: What is it?

Akira bites his bottom lip.

Akira: Do you like me?

Goro rolls his eyes.

Goro: Do you think I’d be tongue deep in you if that weren’t the case?

Akira: W-well you never know!

Goro scoffs.

Goro: Any other questions to interrupt our make out session?

Akira: How are you so good at kissing? Did you have prior experience?

To this Goro’s blush deepens.

Goro: No…I didn’t. This was my first time. I’ve just been reading up on it.

Akira laughs as he imagines Goro pouring over literature and scouring the internet for techniques and tips for kissing. There must have also been videos.

Goro: S-stop laughing!

Akira: Sorry that was too good to resist. But yeah, for your first time that was amazing.

Goro smiles satisfyingly.  

Goro: Does that mean we can continue where we left off?

Akira: One more question.

Goro sighs in exasperation, but there is no malice. He gives Akira a look to elaborate.

Akira: Are we dating now?

Goro kisses the corner of Akira’s lips.

Goro: Only if you want to.

Akira: Hell yeah I want to.

Goro: So there are no more objections.

Goro snakes a few more kisses down Akira’s jawline towards his neck. His hands travel underneath Akira’s shirt tracing his well-defined torso. Akira is on cloud nine. And to think he was suffering for all these weeks and all it took was blackmail to get together with his crush. As Goro places a wet kiss over his clavicular prominence, Akira gets a thought.

Akira: Wait.

Goro groans against Akira’s shoulder.

Goro: I’m starting to think you get a rise in continually denying me of your body.

Akira: Why were you in such a rush to leave your apartment? I’ve never seen you wear that hoodie before.

Goro chuckles.

Goro: You wouldn’t believe it.

Akira: Try me.

Goro: I was blackmailed.

And it all suddenly clicks in place for Akira.

Akira: Oracle.

Goro: Oracle.

Akira: Browsing history?

Goro: Yup.

Akira: Wow. I don’t suppose yours included “hot kinky gay bdsm.”

Goro just stared wordlessly with a raised eyebrow.

Goro: I haven’t gotten to that part of my research yet. But…

Goro’s eyes shine with a mischievous glint.

Goro: I do legally carry handcuffs on my person for work.

Akira: I love you.

Goro laughs.

Goro: Let me show you the depths of my love.

The evening grew older as the two explored and deepened their bond together. It wasn’t until a few hours later, Akira noticed a few new messages on his phone.

Oracle (7:36 pm)  Did you do the deed peasant? Or shall I leak all your filth for the world to see?

Oracle (7:36 pm)  Answer me peasant!

Oracle (7:36 pm)  I can see your GPS location. Don’t make me tap into your mic fool.

Oracle (7:37 pm)  JGU@*(%#(FKKK

Oracle (7:37 pm)  I’m just going to imagine you two are having a very deep conversation.

Joker (11:21 pm)  The deed has been done and I am thoroughly satisfied. Goro says hi btw.

Oracle (11:21 pm)  EWWW. Freakin TMI DUDE. Tho I’m happy for you two. Too stupid and gay to realize how much you two were pinning over each other for like forever.

Joker (11:24 pm)  Thank you Futaba, what would we have done without you?

Oracle (11:24 pm)  Likely be suffering in pinning hell.