#kinda presumptuous and weird

[linecoveredinjellyfish]

normalize sexualizing that old woman without having mommy issues. maybe i don't want to be her pet because i'm traumatized. maybe i want to be her pet because she's hot. you ever think of that.

[snzluv3r]

No hate to your girlfriend, but does she actually take care of you? You always post that you’re sick and they don’t do anything? Seems kinda shitty

this is insanely presumptuous and weird and just because you slap ‘no hate’ in front of it doesn’t make it any less rude…

i don’t post about everything (or even CLOSE to it) so i don’t know how you would even KNOW if she’s taking care of me or not, but i’ve absolutely posted on here about her taking care of me when i’m sick multiple times already so i don’t know how you could’ve possibly missed that if you’re as concerned with our relationship as this message makes it seem.

she quite literally bought my dinner tonight and is the only reason i have tissues right now because she knows me So well and is so good at taking care of me. she sits on the phone with me every single night for hours and helps me sleep when i don’t feel well and keep waking up so fuck you. i know this was to bait me but i don’t want anyone to think you can get away with sending me nasty shit like this about someone i love

[danyvhell-writes]

Ais headcanons pt 2 ! (Touchstarved)

GN reader - no warnings | Ais, my beloved. My brain won't stop thinking about him, there's so much to say omg ! I need to draw him this is serious :')

+ Not really a headcanon but when I first saw Ais in the trailer I thought he would be a kinda pirate character :') don't make fun of me lmaouiadubgziu !! I really imagined our first encounter with him on the coast of the city/harbor and that his story would be based on pirate tales and marine legends. I'm still sticking to my idea that it would be fucking awesome to have Ais as a captain or something, traveling the seas and oceans with him and his crew. (let me dream) PIRATE AIS AU WHEN ????!!? (Helloooo sailor !!)

• Has really pretty hands for someone who fights so much ! Likes to be presentable in front of you.

• He's a simp in his own ways. Someone making a remark about how good looking you are, he's gonna brag "Damn right they are ! Look at them."

• If you're mixed or have unusual features for your ethnicity, he would try to guess your origins (and he's strangely good at it ?). And if you have a weird/rare mix it's even more fun to see him struggle a bit.

• Likes to share foods ! Please feed him, he loves it. He'll just watch your dish with insistance until you ask him "You want some ?" and lean opening his mouth. He'll gently make you taste his meal in return. You're his little sparrow after all, so of course he's gonna let you peck in his plate.

• If your gaze meets his, he'll wink casually. It's his way to say "Hi babe."

• Completely forgot to ad this in my last hc post but !! If you use ASL, he will learn just so he can talk with you. Teach him everything you know, he's a good student >:) And if you happen to know how to read lips, this man would be thrilled to learn how to do it ! I just know he'd love to spy on people's conversation and gossip with you hehehe

• When you guys go on a walk and see sparrows he's always saying stuff like "Look, your friends' saying hi !" "This one looks just like you, cute." or "Wonder who's the real little sparrow… Sure you're not an impostor hm ?"

• When he doesn't smoke, he smells like a mix of cloves, iodine, humid air & metal (you know what i mean ?)

• Ties up his hair in a little ponytail sometimes and it's the cutest thing ever !!!

• If you're sensitive to the smell of cigarette (I personally despise that shit), he'd be careful not to smoke near you or puff in your direction. Passive smoking is not an option ! When you tell him it's fine, he responds "I don't want to screw up your healthy lil lungs !" ↑ However if you take cigs too, he'll gladly share a smoke with you. Really likes to have a calm talk with you while you guys enjoy your stuff. (+ shotgun kiss grrr)

• If you trip on your feet or something while walking, no need to feel ashamed. He would simply do the same on purpose to reassure you and act like it's something casual. "Can't watch my feet either apparently :)" You can be clumsy around him, do not worry !

• We know he doesn't like easy fights and he's kinda into brats so… give him challenges. Dumb ones, hard ones whatever you want ! He needs adrenaline and what's better than a little dare. "Bet you can't climb that tree in less than twenty seconds !" "Oh yeah ? Don't be presumptuous, I'll show you." and there he goes, perching himself on a big branch.

• Related to that... You're a snarky little shit ? Good. He likes it. Be cocky with him, that's what he needs. Of course he loves your soft side but no bickering nor teasing would be boring. This man needs a challenge.

• Loves going on walks with you and his babies (soulless). He'd show you around, make you visit nice places you've never been to and you get to play with Princess + the rest of the pack ! Sometimes his destinations are a little perilous but it's worth the risk. Two whole hours walking in the mist to watch the sunset ? Okay let's go, handsome !

• You're a trans person ? Great. He is too. Now go makeout like the T4T couple you are. (My Ais is trans and I won't come back on this statement 🏃🏽‍♂️💨)

• Always rests his hand on your hip. Number one resting place, comfortable & perfect shape for it. Sometimes the touch feels almost ghosting against you, you wonder if you're imagining things. Please, do the same for him. His waist is literally snatched with that pretty belt of his, perfect place to put your hands on ! He would really appreciate.

• He's good with makeup. Let him put you some red eyeliner so you guys can match ;) Just imagine him holding your face gently while he's concentrated on making a cool pattern with the liner. "Don't move." "I'm trying sorry !" "Am I that distracting to you ?". He won't mind if you try some on him. Dark lipstick omg, he'll rock that shit !

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

Hi!! First of all thanks for doing god's work! This blog really helped me find some of my favorite fics <3

I was looking for fics where stiles is new to the town. I read Stilinski's Home for Wayward Wolves by owlpostagain and What I Did On My Summer Vacation by grimm and I'm kinda obsessed with it?

Thanks!

Hey @attentionzero! @kevaaronday found these for you.

Stilinski's Home for Wayward Wolves by owlpostagain

(1/1 I 35,197 I Teen I Sterek)

“At least your puppies knock first,” Stiles snorts. “Here I thought their alpha raised them to be well-mannered.” 



“There’s a sign,” Derek responds stiffly. 



Stiles, whose curiosity outweighs even his hardest of grudges, abandons his chilly façade of nonchalance in a heartbeat. He jumps right up and all but pushes Derek out of the way in his effort to get to the window, and sure enough when he leans outside there’s a laminated strip of cardstock duct taped to the vinyl siding: 



DON’T FORGET TO KNOCK Stiles gets cranky when we scare him

---

Or, in which Stiles Stilinski moves to Beacon Hills for his junior year of high school and accidentally adopts a pack of teenage werewolves.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation by grimm

(4/4 I 118,749 I Explicit I Sterek)

There's something weird about Beacon Hills that Stiles can't quite put his finger on. The way everyone in town knows his name the day he arrives. The way they insist the melancholic howling that echoes through the forest every night is just a dog. The way his dad denies getting a dog, even though Stiles comes home to find one sprawled across his bed, some big black thing whose eyes gleam red in the right light. The way that massive oak tree out in the woods vibrates under his touch, pulsing with sickly life.

There's something weird going on in this town, and Stiles is determined to get to the bottom of it.

***

A Teenage Love Story by HaleHathNoFury (26/26 | 155,834 | Explicit | Sterek)

Stiles is sick and tired of how much he fucks up. His dad is disappointed, his step-mom judges and his step-brother can do no wrong. It's not that he doesn't love them, he just gets so tired of being different. Now he's being moved lock, stock and barrel to Beacon Hills aka the town his mom grew up in so they can go live in his grandma's house and his father can get him back on the straight and narrow. 

It's going to suck.

487 by Finduilas (14/14 | 52,840 | Explicit | Sterek) Two years after graduating from the Police Academy, Stiles decides to transfer to the Beacon Hills Police Department, where his father is Chief. But when he gets assigned his new partner, Stiles isn't so sure if the transfer was a good idea. Derek 'Officer Grumpy Cat' Hale isn't exactly his first choice of partner. Then again, Stiles really isn't Derek's first choice either.

Northern Blues by kaistrex (12/12 | 40,682 | Explicit | Sterek) When Stiles steps into the room that the Hale house has conjured for him to stay in, the first thing he sees is a window already open, letting in a pleasant breeze. The second is a door in the right-hand wall.

Laura clears her throat, scratching at her nose. “That leads to Derek’s room.”

Stiles’ eyebrows shoot up and a laugh bursts out before he can stop it. Now he understands how the pack knew this room probably wouldn’t belong to his dad (which, gross).

He looks over his shoulder at Derek who’s glaring pointedly at everything except for Stiles with pink-tipped ears.

“Presumptuous. I like it,” he says to the house, patting one of the walls and throwing a wink at Derek hovering in the doorway.

_

When the Hale pack transitions to a new Alpha, Stiles is thrilled to be assigned to Beacon Hills to try out as their new Emissary. He and his dad are immediately enamoured with the idyllic little town, fitting right in with the rest of the Hales – except for Derek. The new Alpha shows no signs of welcome, but it will be hard for him to stay stubborn in the face of his family’s encouragement and a sentient house that has plans for the two of them whether Derek likes it or not.

The Wonderful Mess We Made by haleonwheels (12/12 | 34,619 | Explicit | Sterek) Derek is Scott's rude older brother. Scott is Stiles' new best friend. Stiles is in a really hard situation (in more ways than one).

Or the one where Stiles Stilinski moves to Beacon Hills from New York City and immediately befriends Scott McHale. Scott tells Stiles he's an only child--except he really, really isn't. So how was Stiles supposed to know Derek From The Jungle is actually Derek McHale, Scott's older brother that he kept secret for a reason?

Not Who You Think I Am by GrimReaperlover11 (17/? | 28,611 | Mature | Sterek) Stiles Stilinski is the new kid at Beacon HIlls HIgh. Derek Hale finds himself wanting to be friends with the new student. however, will these feelings change when Stiles reveals himself to not be exactly who he says he is?

Maidens, Mothers, and Crones, Oh My! By Panicitsamelon (14/? | 22,760 | Teen | Sterek) (aka)

Hunters, Wolves, and Sparks, Oh My!

(aka)

Psychos, Brooders, and Not-Quite-Damsels In Distress, Oh My!

(I could keep going, but I'm gonna stop before it gets worse.)

Stiles Argent lost his mother at a young age. He continued to live with his stepfather, Chris, and eventually stepmother, Victoria, and stepsister, Allison, as they traveled across the country for his stepparent's work. 

Everything is normal... until it isn't. 

When they move to Beacon Hills, Stiles discovers there are a lot of secrets his family has kept from him, especially about his mother. 

Or

Magic? Like more than herbs and manifestation... that shit's real, apparently and Stiles isn't exactly sure why, but his is leading him to people and places all over town. He's just a high school student trying to make friends (and maybe get laid) at his new school. He didn't plan for comatose uncles, scary-hot siblings, and people trying to kill him.

True Love’s Kiss Isn't Always The Cure by nicole135 (19/19 | 22,037 | Explicit | Sterek) Stiles isn't normal, well at least on the inside. He's a Spark, a trait he inherited from his late mother; it's something that has run in her family since before her Polish ancestors first inhabited America's soil when America was being colonized. Now when Stiles' father moved to Beacon Hills for the job opening of Sheriff, Stiles follows six months later after spending time learning from his Gran, only to dive head first into the towns deadly secret, one that has affected the town since it was first founded. It's a curse that affects the whole town, and when Stiles finds out, it's the same one his mother told him about in bedtime stories, one that has haunted every generation of his mother's family ever since the curse was cast.

Just A Moment Too Late by gremlins-came-and-got-me (7/7 | 13,164  | Mature | Sterek) Derek Hale is fourteen when he is murdered. Instead of that being the end of his story, he watches life go on for the people of Beacon Hills, until one day he sees a new family move in. Stiles Stilinski doesn't mind Beacon Hills. His dad is the new sheriff, so everyone treats him well. However, Stiles is a detective at heart, and Beacon Hills has a secret: Derek Hale's murder.

Of course, Stiles can't leave well enough alone. He's going to solve Derek's murder if it's the last thing he does.

It just might be.

How are you so bad at this? By thornconnelly (11/ | 6,242 | Gen | Sterek) Stiles moves to Beacon Hills at the start of senior year of high school. Before class even starts, he bumps into a very cute and flirty werewolf who happens to be in almost all of his classes, and who is seemingly TERRIBLE at hiding his werewolfy traits.

Moving to beacon Hills by hufflepuffbaby (1/1 | 1,453 | Gen) Stiles moves to Beacon Hills after his dad is offered the Sheriff's job. He's only been there three days, but he's pretty sure he's already found his best friend.

[acupofqueercoffee]

“Make me proud”

Requests by @anonymous

Not sure if requests are open but I may have a fun one! 🤍 How about a Lesso/Reader where the reader gets placed into the school of evil, thinking and trying to convince everyone she's actually evil. But she's more of a "wholesome" evil. Not wanting to like... take over the world but more of a "hey... just curious... what's your favourite flower?" *the next day a person finds their favourite flower in a bouquet on their desk* kind of evil. Like "evil but the motive is you're happy". Technically very manipulative which is probably what ended her up in the school!

Umm you're literally sooo talented, I was just reading a Lady Lesso fic I'm crying you write angst so well 😭 I loveee angst. Would you be willing to write someday for a Never reader whose parents were Evers so they're like kinda abusive? (you don't have to go in detail since the reader is in school anyway). So maybe there's holidays and the reader doesn't want to go home or something like that and Lady Lesso comes to the rescue. Ofc it would be platonic. 💕 If you can't write it I completely understand btw! I looove your work!

i hope you guys don’t mind that i combined your requests. i just thought they would go well together. i honestly couldn’t get into detail for the first prompt. i hope you’ll still find it satisfactory! my god, seriously, genuinely thank you so much for all the compliments 🥹🫶🏻 i’m literally all over the moon 💕

────────────────────

Evermore. A family famed not only for having the quintessential traits of an ever, but also for always being enrolled into the school for good.

They have been upholding this tradition for generations upon generations. In the course of history, never have there been a case of an Evermore becoming a never.

Well, at least, not until you, the only Evermore child of your parents, find yourself drenched like a rat and floating in the moat, the hauntingly dark castle of the school for evil standing before your very eyes. The black water surrounding you splashes and ripples as more and more students keep plummeting.

And just like that, you are absolutely royally fucked.

It has started out rough, your journey at the school for evil. Everyone has given you a weird look on the first day. Oh no, it certainly has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that you have been sticking out like a sore thumb amongst cool goths with your flamboyantly fancy gown. During the first assembly alone, you have caught the evil dean rather blatantly burning holes into you with her scalding gaze, nose wrinkled and brows furrowed as if repulsed by your very presence. If looks could kill, you would have definitely perished right then and there.

It does not take you, a goody two shoes as your peers like to tease you, long to prove yourself.

Although it has not been ideal for a confetti bomb to be an evil student’s choice of weapon, it has splendidly done its job of distracting your opponent. That little distraction has been all you need to catch them off guard, avoiding their impending attack by sliding through the gap between their legs, and from behind, striking the back of their head with the heavy hilt of your sword. In the twinkling of an eye, they fall to the floor unconscious.

And that is that. The end.

You do not want to be presumptuous but you swear you have seen your dean’s lips curving into the faintest hint of a smile. As your eyes trail further down, you catch her fingers tapping against the back of her hand, that is maintaining a firm grip on her cane, almost as if she is clapping for you in the most subtle of ways.

As far as you are aware, the last time your eyes have wandered off to the direction of the dean just before your confetti bomb explodes, she has been looking positively stressed, fingers on her forehead as she shakes her head disapprovingly. The knowledge that you must have made your hardly sway-able dean proud makes you tremendously proud and all gleeful.

Your little triumph has left you surrounded by your fellows the rest of the day. The next day, a girl in your classroom has miraculously found a big bouquet of flowers on her desk. You are just minding your own business when she comes up to you, asking if you want to hang out with her that afternoon. You have agreed, and just like that, you have gained a new never friend.

Adjusting into your new life has been relatively easy for you. You have even done a good job at it. To be unreservedly frank, from the very beginning, you do not mind being sorted into the school for evil. You have always found yourself never fully fitting in with your family, but, since your parents have always appeared so jolly reminiscing about good old days at their alma mater, and subsequently, stubbornly convinced that you will be following their steps, you have thought it best to keep quiet, not wanting to disappoint, or argue with them for that matter.

Honestly, you have never really quite understood why your family is so obsessed with upholding the tradition of always being evers, but you have believed, you have foolishly, naively believed that your parents will understand, that they will, for once, hear you out, that they will accept you for being who you are, ever or never, because at the end of the day, you are still their flesh and blood. Their only child.

“You are a disgrace to the Evermore family.”

Those words have come out of the very mouth of your own mother who has once called you her sweet little sunshine. You have been immediately declared the black sheep of the Evermore family just because you become a never, and the reality that you are but a mere pawn even to your own parents gives you the blues. It has been a bitter pill to swallow. For a while, the sadness follows you around like a shadow, but surprisingly, quicker than you can imagine, you have found tranquility in the darkness, and by the end of the week, all you see when you think back on the incident is red, a bright, burning red.

In the wee hours of the night, the school is hauntingly quiet, but today especially more so, bar the swooshes and whooshes of the arrows being released from your bow, for many have returned home for the Christmas holidays. The moon is in her prime, high on the sky. Courtesy of her soft ethereal glow, you are made aware of the presence of another, as a new shadow is casted on the ground.

“Hello, Lady Lesso.” You greet without turning, releasing another arrow that, yet again, embeds itself in the bullseye.

“Evermore.” When you turn and smile at her, she acknowledges. “You’ve been at it for hours.”

“Have you been stalking me professor?” You challenge, wiping the sweat off your forehead with the back of your hand.

To your surprise, she hands you a towel that seems to have appeared out of nowhere, but after a second thought, you conclude that she must have brought it with her.

“I was simply keeping an eye on you.” The dean points around with her cane as if to emphasise her point. “It’s an ungodly hour to be practising archery.”

After a moment, she asks. “What’s bothering you?”

You sit on the grass, lies down. The stars look awfully pretty tonight.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Hmm.” With a hum, she approaches you, once again surprising you by sitting down beside you. “I see that you’ve stayed behind for Christmas.”

“Yes, well, let’s just say I’m in a bit of a sticky situation.”

“Do you want to talk?”

At this, you look at her, and find that her eyes have never left your face.

“Will you listen, Lady Lesso?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to listen, would I?”

A smile forms on your lips while a sigh escapes your lips.

“My family, that’s what’s bothering me. Scared as I was, I was also hopeful at first that perhaps they would understand. But then, I was devastated and sad when they rejected me instead of encouraging me for finally embracing my true self.” Unable to hold her gaze any longer, you aim yours back at the sky. “Now though, all I feel is anger and,…and bitter resentment. Frankly professor, I don’t think I want to do anything with them anymore. It was not me but them who shunned their own flesh and blood. I don’t want to go back to a family that can’t even accept me for who I am.”

Once you are done talking, it feels as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders.

“You are not wrong, Evermore. I do however want you to know that you can always talk to me should you need anything. I may be evil but I’m still a teacher. I care.” Your dean’s words of encouragement have been like a soothing balm on your strained soul.

Even though you like to believe that you are not hurting anymore, when all is said and done, it, of course, is not entirely true. You have been your parents’ little sunshine after all. It baffles and wounds you all the more just how easily they can become indifferent to you. It is as if everything they have said and done, all the things that the three of you have been through together after all this time means as much as rubbish to them.

Without your parents in your life, some things can, and will never be the same again.

Which is why your dean’s words truly, truly mean a lot. You can feel that they come from deep within, uttered with sincerity.

“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, but can you promise me one thing, Evermore?”

You gaze follows her as she moves to stand, cane returning back to its rightful place by her side.

“Make me proud.” She says, thrusting a hand out for you to take. There is a smile on her lips, a warm, easily discernible smile, and witnessing it makes your lips stretch into a bright, beam.

“I will.” Your hand slips into the dean’s. She holds it tight, helps you onto your feet. “I promise.”

“You know Lady Lesso, you’re surprisingly very kind and considerate for someone so evil.” You remark while gathering your things, uttered without even noticing yourself.

So, by the time her cane lands on your buttocks, it has caught you off-guard. Jolted into puzzlement, you stare at her, wide-eyed. “Say that again and I’ll chop your tongue off.”

“Yes ma’am!” You make a show of zipping and locking your mouth before dramatically throwing the imaginary key into the pond.

Although the dean has shaken her head at your silliness, she has smiled at it all the same.

“Come.” And go, you do, like a lost puppy being guided into safety. “I’ll make you a cup of hot cocoa. It’s Christmas after all.”

You may have decided to spend your Christmas away from your own flesh and blood, a family of evers, who cannot even appreciate you for who you are, but your Christmas has never been warmer, spent under the wing of a practical stranger, your wickedly evil never professor who cares infinitely more about you than your ever parents ever can.

────────────────────

[alicole-sideblog]

I think what happened with Rhaenyra and Criston, minus the rape aspect, is a pretty good template for what would happen between Rhaenyra and Alicent if either ever made a move. What I mean by this is Alicent would be like, "We're running away and getting married now, right?" and Rhaneyra would be like "...this is just for fun? Why would you expect anything more? That's kinda weird and presumptuous tbh." and "So what I made comments that would imply I might be open to leaving. Why would you take those at face value?" And she would drop her for Daemon in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. Like Rhaenyra cares about Alicent more than she cares about Criston, but still not enough to stick up for her even one time in the entire show that I can recall.

And I'm pretty sure Alicent knows this, intellectually. But I also think she harbors a naïve hope in her heart that I think is best articulated with the "my toxic trait" meme. My toxic trait is thinking it would be different if it was me.

[not-terezi-pyrope]

It's kinda bullshit how publishers will churn out pulp-mill celebrity biopics and vile screeds from right wingers with minor name recognition, but that whenever I get my monthly urge to be like "maybe I should try sending a version of my book manuscript out to see if anybody wants to publish it" I realise that the process of doing so would be literally a full time unpaid job and that even so, nobody would give me the time of day because I'm not "marketable", whatever that means. Can't right weird gross fiction these days I guess.

I could do self-pub but why bother when all that would mean is I put in a lot of effort to produce a sub-par Amazon listing to only be read by friends and family who I could equally just send a pdf to. At that point it's pretty much just a vanity thing, and I can't help but cringe at the thought.

Feels like it's probably pretty bad for the world that industry is only interested in publishing a bland median or inflammatory trash, but what do I know.

(I mean most of this is just me being annoyed in a sort of presumptuous way because of course there's no way anyone would publish by shitty hobby novel but it's like. Damn the world is mean).

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 102 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: putting up a new fence

ELIAS: "But you have a job to do, and I cannot fight your battles for you." JON: "As far as I can tell, the only battles I’ve been fighting have been yours and Gertrude’s." Yeah, that's basically what I said last episode when Michael said it wants revenge. That was not Jon's battle. As well as Jude. Or the gorilla skin. Or Prentiss!

ELIAS: "I should have thought preventing the horrific transformation of our world is not solely my concern!" Unfortunately Elias has a point there (to some degree...).

I said in MAG 92 that I wasn't completely convinced Elias is the big bad on my first listen because I didn’t know his motivations yet. Wasn't convinced at this point either and that sounded like he did have some beneficial motivations to humankind. I mean, Michael said something about not wanting the Archives to win either but, ehhhhh??

ELIAS: "There is a possibility some of them were misfiled." What? Gertrude misfiling statements? No!

JON: "How do we – How do I stop it?" Still the lone wolf. Still trying to fight this war alone. Still trying to keep the others safe by not having them around him. Still thinking the fate of the world is his responsibility to bear alone. (I mean... it kinda is... But not in the way he thinks of it.)

JON: "Is there anyone else who might know what it is, or, or where? Aside from Leitner, or Gerard?" ELIAS: "Sorry, Gerard Keay?" Yes, Jon, or Jared Hopworth? The way you pronounce it nobody knows! XD

ELIAS: [Sighs] "Melanie is on her way up here with a knife. Could you talk to her for me?" Meaning, could you please let yourself get stabbed by Melanie so I can cross off that Slaughter mark on my trauma-to-do list for you?

MELANIE: "No! But the way I see it, the police seem really keen not to investigate crimes committed here." ELIAS: "That’s actually fair." JON: "Shut up!" I mean, comedic relief and all, but in canon also provoking Melanie even more?

I admire everyone who can read French as a second language because I am utterly lost when it comes to French pronunciation.

Excuse me, is the statement giver roasting all everyone over the age of forty working at a bar just because he thinks of it as an dishonorable job?

"I am deeply grateful it was rare that we had children in Le Papillon, as the one time they came in while he was on shift with him, he vanished for almost twenty minutes and, when he returned, it was clear he’d been crying." And that, my dear readers, is the reason why you never ask people about their family planning. You never know what the other one has been going through or had to deal with.

"something to the smell itself, some memory of a childhood spent in the country around Lyon, of wandering out in the damp heat after a summer rain, of turning over logs slick with moisture, to reveal the crawling underbelly beneath them." Is it weird to say that this description fills me with nostalgia and I wish it was a rainy, but bright day so I could to exactly that?

"At the time I thought he was your son. His French was significantly better than yours, and it took some time and some difficulty translating before I could fully explain to you what had happened." I'm guessing this refers to Gertrude and Gerry making their intentions known, as understanding the statement giver was no problem for Gertrude I assume.

"I should have been more suspicious of this man, too old for his poorly dyed hair," This statement giver and their presumptuous views of how people have to be when reaching a certain age really pisses me off.

JON: "Statement ends." From the tone of his voice is looks like he still said it under the influence of the statement. He only starts to stutter after this, like blinking awake after a trance.

JON: "Did he know already? That his life was ending?" Did Gertrude know about Gerry’s tumor? And if yes, did Gertrude choose him because of the fact, that he wouldn't live much longer anyway? A life that would end one way or another in just a short time and conveniently also holds a connection to the Eye.

JON: "In the meantime I… I have a new flat." Wait what? How much time is there between Jon popping up in Elias' office and him finish reading this statement?? I always thought Elias might have given it to him and he read it asap? But that would leave no time to find a new flat I guess? Or maybe did Elias organize a new flat?

MARTIN: "Look I’m, I’m so sorry, John, I – Elias didn’t even tell any of us that you’d been kidnapped. I didn’t know – No-one else was telling me – And there wasn’t any –" JON: "Oh. Hey. Hey, hey, hey… It’s alright, it’s alright." THIS interaction was such an unexpected punch to the gut for me. It's so raw and honest, of both of them. I think this might be my favorite non-canon-ship-yet interaction of them.

MARTIN: "But I’m sure that if you could have been, you would have." Always putting good faith in him.

MARTIN: "Are you alright? They didn’t hurt you?" JON: "No. No, no, I’m… I’m okay. Just – I mean my skin’s in better condition than… ever. Is that a weird thing to say?" Gallows humor to deal with a traumatic event. Classic!

JON: "Does the rest of the Institute know what’s going on down here? I mean, I never really paid attention, but…" MARTIN: "N-Not really? I think?" Mary mentions this in MAG 62. Some kind of dream logic that always happens around the Fears, making others blind to what's going on?

MARTIN: "I mean, they can quit." This kind of implies, that they are not tied to the Institute (and Elias) in the same way as the Archive staff is. Which will kind of come up by the end of S4 again.

JON: "E-Elias mentioned… he said you’d been… reading statements?" MARTIN: "Oh… uh… yeah. Um… He thought it might help." JON: "Right. I-I-I mean, they’re not… They haven’t… You’ve been okay?" MARTIN: "B-B… Yeah. I mean, i-it wasn’t fun, but… I mean, if it, if it helps then I –" JON: "Okay. If you’re sure, just… Make sure the others help you, alright? Statements can be… If you’re not used to them it can… be a bit weird." MARTIN: "Er… Sure." Oh come on, that whole conversation is just as much fan service as it is meant to show character development (on Jon's side, obviously. Martin's always been flustered when Jon showed him compassion and care).

JON: "I’m, I’m sorry, Martin. We haven’t… I know we haven’t talked much since… Sasha and everything." Taking this as further... substrate (does this make sense in this regard?) to rest my headcanon of S2 Martin and Jon spending more time together (lunch breaks) upon.

MARTIN: "Well, I mean it’s not too late, y’know. Unless the world ends." [LAUGHS NERVOUSLY] JON: "Yeah." ・_・ (I mean... he'll come around before the world ends?)

@a-mag-a-day

[shadamyheadcanons]

Submission #84

Ok, so hear me out.  We’ve all heard of Amy being jealous of Sally because Sally’s with Sonic—a tired take tbh.  But, we’ve got plenty of evidence in the older Archie comics of Amy supporting and defending their relationship from the public, so I’d like to think she’s actually pretty graceful about it (even it was always under the naïve and presumptuous impression that she’ll still be the one to marry him one day, but what can you do about Archie’s penchant for weird characterizations).  

Still, imagine if the primary reason Amy was so envious of Sally was because unlike for Amy herself, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles don’t ever leave Sally behind.  They’ll always slow down for her, and always listen to her (like how it so often used to be in the Archie comics).

I’m sure Team Sonic’s reasoning is founded in something supposedly harmless, along the lines of, “Amy’s more capable, so we don’t need to worry about her.”—which I imagine is a double standard that would hurt Sally as well, were she to become aware of it, but that’s another thing altogether.  

The point is, Amy would no doubt interpret this incredibly personally, the issue compounding over the years.  She’s always struggled with the notion that she doesn’t bring anything special to the table of Team Sonic.  She’s faster than Tails and Knuckles, but not Sonic.  She’s smarter than Knuckles and Sonic, but not Tails.  She’s stronger than Sonic and Tails, but not Knuckles.  She’s got plenty of special abilities on her own, but so do the other three, so as someone who struggles with self worth and has trouble seeing beyond her ability to be useful to others, she dismisses almost the entirety of her unique skill set—not even taking into account her proclivity towards proactivism and compassion.  She doesn’t bolster any archetype for the team, so she may as well not be apart of it.  And more often than she’d like to acknowledge, she isn’t.  

And the worst part is that she had convinced herself that she was fine with this.  She understood why she got left behind, and was never vocally upset about it, content to always play “catch-up”.  She always gets stronger, and always gets faster, and works tirelessly to expand her well of knowledge and skill sets—all to no real avail.  But it’s okay, because she doesn’t take it personally.  Team Sonic have always had a bad habit of leaving everyone behind in the dust, including her.  

But then Amy notices the one exception to the rule, and it’s Sally (for whatever list of plausible reasons there may be or that you may speculate in addition).  It’s honestly kinda heart-breaking for her.  

She’ll speculate endlessly about why this is.  Sally’s capable, so Amy never questions her abilities, and instead tries to figure out just why Sally isn’t ever excluded.  Is it because she’s older than Amy?  But Tails is younger than almost everyone, and even if his sheer intellect makes up for it, Amy has to reason that her own academic prowess relative to Sonic and Knuckles can fill the less aggressive gap in age.  Is it because she’s so level-headed and equanimous?  But Knuckles is known to have a temper that surpasses Amy’s fairly often.  Is it because she’s more mature?  But—and and as much as Amy tries to ignore the fact—Sonic is fairly immature and short-sighted himself, with others, Amy included, having to constantly check him and reign in his impatience.  

  So she erroneously concludes that everyone just likes Sally more.  Something about her personality, her character.  And why wouldn’t they all like Sally?  She’s logical and strong-willed, tactical and a born leader, stern but kind, sweet and pretty—and the list could go on.  Amy wouldn’t even realize that so many great things about Sally are things they have in common.    

Amy and Sally are actually pretty good friends in light of all the things they have in common too, so it’s less that Amy dislikes Sally for what she perceives as favoritism in their friend group, so much as Amy dislikes HERSELF for just not being up to snuff.  

And Amy feels like she can’t tell anyone without the guilt of it all eating her alive.  Cream is obviously Amy’s closest friend/sibling-figure, and would therefore be the most comfortable option for venting, but Amy acknowledges that Cream is far too young for her to dump her insecurities onto, and therefore just plain refuses to delve into the topic altogether.  

That is, until she and Shadow start to grow closer a handful of years into the future. 

She’s probably be the type to laugh off her pain and envy, thinking herself immature for being jealous over something that’s probably just petty—but I think Shadow would be genuinely shocked and upset on her behalf.  Because yeah, okay, people can have preferential friends, but combined with the fact that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles have an apparent history of being exclusionary towards Amy specifically, it all just leaves a bad taste in Shadow’s mouth.  He knows that with Cream being so young and having to devote a fair portion of her life to school and just plain being a kid, Big living his best life relaxing and fishing as someone who’s probably a pacifist outside of absolute necessity, and on-again off-again Team Rose member Blaze being a high responsibility princess from a whole different dimension—Amy doesn’t often have access to a dedicated assembly of Heroes that make up her own, independent team.  So she makes an effort to help people in any way she can on her own, often merging into other teams—or tagging along behind, in the case of Team Sonic apparently. 

No matter how big a miscommunication the situation may turn out to be in the end (if it even is one at all), and no matter the fact that Amy would always and inevitably forgive her friends for leaving her out of the crew at times, Shadow would probably endeavor to include Amy in SO many more of Team Dark’s missions—and not just because he has the softest spot in his heart for her.  She’s an incomparably versatile asset to any group she’s apart of, but also so much more, and he desperately wants her to see that and believe in herself just as much as she believes in him (I know and love how many times you’ve pointed this out in headcanons).

Ngl tho, I just kinda love the idea of the entirety of Team Dark being Amy’s hype man.  It’s what she deserves.  I like to think that there’ll be a period in the future where Cream goes through her formative years unburdened by continuous fighting, Big gets to retire from warfare at the ripe old age of mid-20-something, and Blaze can actually make more time to rule her Kingdom—which does sadly leave Amy without a proper team most of the time.  But she’s an optimist!  She’s a hero through and through, so she’d always find a way to help others.  If Team Sonic doesn’t step up their game, then Team Dark will just have to adopt her and absolutely dominate the hero scene!

–

((Can I confess something? I actually really like the way Archie handled it. Wanting Sonic to be happy above all else while still never doubting that she’s his endgame is great for her character IMO. Very fitting, and it averts the constant-jealousy alternative. Let her be hopeful, compassionate, and friendly with her “competition!” I think it’s a very clever way around the issue, and it gives us great scenes like this one:

That aside, I really like your analysis of the underlying problem. I hadn’t thought about it too much before because I love Sonally so much, but yeah, they really don’t leave Sally behind. And Amy sees it, too.

Literally.

Even if they left Amy behind because she’s more “capable,” I don’t think they’d tell her that unprompted, and even if she pressed them on it, the “capable” explanation wouldn’t jive with their constant devaluation of her potential input. This bothered me whenever I played SA2 as a kid, and it only got worse once I found out she held her own and had her own role to play in SA1. She already proved herself as a vital part of the team. Why did they drag her backwards like that? I think the writers intentionally wrote her as kind of annoying in SA2 so it’d be more “understandable” that they’d leave her behind, but as someone who was frequently ghosted and ignored for being “annoying” growing up, it just didn’t work for me.

Thing is, she’s not even faster than Tails in most iterations. He keeps pace with Sonic, but she has to catch up with him. Hedgehogs are naturally fast; her description in Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood states that members of her species have “innate hedgehog speed,” but she doesn’t stack up to Sonic or Shadow in that regard–or even Blaze or Tails–so if you extrapolate too far, that could even make her feel worse, especially because she isn’t spiky like other hedgehogs are, either. I sometimes wonder if she feels insecure about that.

But that’s all just angsty overanalysis.

It’s easy to feel insecure when it feels like you don’t have a specialty. One of my best headcanons (in my opinion) discusses that very dilemma, and Shadow has to reassure her. Her abilities, while powerful, are mostly very subtle and easy to miss. Vague psychic powers? She barely uses them. Invisibility? It showed up exactly once in an erased timeline. Hammerspace? It’s only pointed out in canon one time. Reforming villains? I don’t think she sees herself as special for being able to do that. She’s never been arrogant or even mentioned it. At first glance, she just seems like an ordinary girl next to her friends, just like Sally–but they wait for her. Not for Amy.

What a lot of people fail to see is that appearing ordinary is a superpower in and of itself. It makes for a great leader. Someone like Sonic is larger than life, but the average citizen will see Amy Rose, just a girl with a hammer and a positive attitude, and think, “If she can do it, why can’t I?” Sonic will never have that. Sally and Amy are similar, and despite what many in the fandom think, that’s not a bad thing. It’s just that leadership probably wouldn’t feel like a big deal to her. She wasn’t full of herself when she led Team Rose, she just saw herself as a girl on an adventure with her friends who gave a couple pep talks. Someone had to do it. I doubt it would even occur to her that that was impressive. The youngest team leader with the least experienced partners got them to their destination faster than anyone else? Do you think she cared about that at the time? I don’t.

Amy is remarkably resilient and optimistic, but chasing constantly is exhausting. Chasing and never catching up will burn anyone out, and I don’t think she’ll be immune to that forever. I mean that in multiple ways. She deserves people (especially one person) who won’t do that to her.

I agree with your assertion that Amy would turn her negative feelings inward rather than being bitter toward Sally. She’s not the type to blame others, particularly these days. And Sonic’s romantic history with Sally really would lend credence to her theory that he likes Sally better, and while Sonic is a very fair guy, there may still be some truth to it.

I love the idea of Shadow’s temper flaring up in the wake of Amy being mistreated. In fact, I wonder if this submission was at least partly inspired by my recent headcanon about her weighted bracelets, as that was a prominent theme there. I like seeing Shadow’s temper used for good. He’d validate her feelings, letting her know that yes, it is fucked up that she’s treated that way. There’s nothing like having someone who’s as passionate as you are stepping up to your level, letting you know you really aren’t crazy and it truly isn’t fair. Amy needs someone like Shadow by her side. She just does. If not now, then later for sure.

I can imagine Shadow taking her under his wing for missions at first because he thinks she deserves a place on a team so she can do good like she always wants to, but then he’s introduced to her ridiculous skillset, and he’s like, “Oh, shit, she’s got better mobility than I do...and she double-jumps...and summons objects out of thin air...and stops time...she turns invisible...she’s strong as hell–how the fuck do they ever lose her in the first place?!” And then once he actually helps her train and sees her rapid self-improvement, he’s somehow both smitten and threatened at how quickly her speed and chaos powers approach his level. It starts with something like this:

And before long, he winds up like this:

Amy being a part of Team Dark isn’t just popular for the sake of shadamy. It’s a legitimately good idea that I think would be great to explore if they ever aged up these characters, though I know Sega won’t go there.

Thanks for the submission!))

[angeygirl]

Dave Miller X reader: In which Dave and the author both embarrass themselves (Bad Ending [for you, at least. Dave's having a great time])

I promised I would write the Bad Ending to This One-shot Here if anyone asked me about it. Well, I got the request from @pudimbot to finish it like 3 weeks ago and I'm sorry it took so long I kept forgetting about it :(

Anyway, here you go, have fun walking right into danger :P

(Context is in the original fic since this is just a change to the ending)

 As you pack up your things to leave, Dave slides a note over to you and shuffles off. He hangs by the doorway a moment, watching to see if you’ll read it and then scurries away.

You unfold the piece of paper.

‘meet me outside freddy’s at 7’

Wait... what? Was that why he’d been so awkward the last few days? There’s no way this guy had feelings for you, right? Ok, maybe that was a bit presumptuous. Asking to meet up could really mean anything.

You feel a gaze on the back of your neck and realize Dave is still behind you. You shove the note in your pocket and head home. Once there you do some chores, make yourself dinner and settle down to watch TV. It’s almost seven when you remember the note in your pocket. You take it out and reread it.

“Maybe I’m overthinking...” Dave did seem pretty harmless. It was kinda hard to be intimidated by a guy who has days where he’s scared of his own shadow. Against your better judgment, you head back to the pizzeria.

It’s getting dark out by the time you arrive. As you pull into the parking space you spot a tall, skinny someone sneaking around the side.

“Hey Dave.” You call.

The figure perks up and scuttles over to you. “You came.” He says, stepping into the light of a street lamp. He peeks at the inside of your car. “And alone. Good.” He chuckles nervously and his voice rises in pitch. “I was, well, I was gonna tell you to come alone but uh... glad to see you already were doing that.”

“Yeah.” That wasn’t weird or anything. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Hmm? Oh, I don’t know. I haven't been on a date in...” He counts on his fingers and quickly hides them behind his back. “A while... heh, a bit of a long while.”

“A...a date?”

“Well, yes? I mean clearly you have feelings for me, saying I rescued you, sharing your lunch, you know.”

“That was just being nice.”

Dave’s eyes go wide with disappointment. “What?” He shakes himself. “Never mind that. Where do you work? Or, um, what do you do for a living? That’s less creepy, right?”

“I work at Freddy’s, Dave. Same as you.”

“Woah, uh... really?” He tugs at his collar. “Th-that’s crazy me too.”

“We only know each other because we’re co-workers.”

Dave gives another nervous chuckle. “Yeah... yeah I know. Uh I used to be a mechanic, actually and before that I slept under a bridge.”

“You what?”

“Yeah everyone assumes I’m either crazy or on drugs, well, I don’t have money for drugs or a psychologist so, you know!” He throws his hands up in an anxious shrug.

You nod unsteadily. “Right...”

He scuffs the ground with his shoe and stares at the sidewalk. His eyes dart around, as if he's intensely studying the cracks in the pavement. “You, uhh, want to come inside?”

You shrug. “Ok.”

Dave leads you in via the side door and closes it behind you. It’s too dark to see anything back here. You can hear Dave tripping on himself. “Sorry, sorry. Just looking for the light switch.”

He hums nervously to himself while you stand in total darkness. Your eyes slowly adjust, but it’s so cluttered backstage that you still can’t make much out. Your nose wrinkles as a nasty smell comes up behind you. You don’t need to feel the breath on your neck to figure out who it is. But before you can scoot out of Dave’s way, a pair of bony hands clap over your face.

It’s hard to tell what happened the next few minutes, but by the time your head clears, you’ve been tied to a chair with duct tape on your wrists. Dave leans on a nearby table, grinning at you. It’s not an evil grin, more of a shy, dorky pride. What?

“Sorry about that.” He says sheepishly. “I just got nervous, you know? Not really used to this. Anyway, where were we?”

“Wh-wha?”

“Hmm? Oh I just need to feel like I’m in total control of a situation in order to feel safe.” He giggles shyly before he hops up on the table and gently kicks his legs over the edge. “So, tell me a little about yourself.”

“Is... is this an interrogation?”

He tilts his head. “What? No! It’s a date! I mean, here we are, alone together, talking, spending time together. There’s probably leftover food here if that would be better for you.”

“Wait... did you kidnap me?!”

He waves his hands defensively. “Oh no, no, no! Trust me, I know a thing or two about kidnapping and I can tell you this is not that. Well, ok, this is kinda like that I can see why you’d think that, but I’ll let you go once the date is over!”

You're in disbelief.

"Trust me, trust me. You're not in any danger, not as long as we're both having a good time. You, uhh... want some pizza? There's leftovers in he kitchen." He hops down from the table and scurries off like an anxious host trying to make you happy and not like you're tied to a chair, stuck with him whether you want to be or not.

A few minuets later, Dave comes back with a leftover pizza and some lemonade. He cuts one of your hands free and tapes the other to the leg of the chair. "See? This is a proper date. I mean, that's what teenagers do, right? Oh! That's it. We're just a pair of silly teenage hoodlums trespassing and stealing and not treading on work time. Isn't that more fun?"

"You think teenagers trespass and steal as a fun date idea?"

"I mean... yeah? I did it as a kid... ok I was actually thirteen when I committed my first arson, but no one ever caught me!"

You blink slowly. "You committed arson while on a date?"

"Huh?" He tilts his head at you. "Oh, no I never went on any dates as a teenager. All the girls at my school thought I was too ugly. Which, well," He glances at his dishevelled uniform that he's probably been sleeping in for a week. "I don't blame them. Cleaned up a bit in uni but then I had a... well, a workplace accident and lost my job and then I started sleeping under a bridge for a few months and then became a mechanic and then got hired here." He grins like just told an embarrassing secret.

He roughly clears his throat and sits on the table again. "So, uh, eat your pizza and why don't you tell me a little about yourself?"

So, you’ve just gotta survive ‘date night’ and you’ll be fine. Hopefully.

[ladyluscinia]

On the familiarity scale:

Lucius thinks anyone you've been friendly with for 5 minutes is fair game for cutesy nicknames and finds the idea of saying Mr. or Ms. to someone you are even passingly familiar with kinda weird

Stede at least has the concept of more formal address = respect nailed down, but he's a chronic "please call me Stede" because casual reads as friendship

Edward has a stage name / title for a reason and people using his first name without permission makes him uncomfortable and feels presumptuous, and nicknames start feeling disrespectful

Izzy thinks calling someone by a nickname that they did not introduce themselves to you with is basically a slur

[puffpasstea]

Matilda 

A/N: Thank you to all of you who've read/shared so far!! Lmk what you think

Warnings: Kissing (kinda)

Read chapters 1 and 2

Chapter 3

Walking into set was both exhilarating and overwhelming. I've always wondered how much it takes to shoot a film, from scratch, scene by scene like this. The answer, as it turns out, is, " a fuckton." The atmosphere was bustling with production assistants running around everywhere, cameras on wheels whirring, a bunch of people responsible solely for "lighting" the scene, other people quite literally building and disassembling parts of the set as needed, people with copies of the script in hand gesturing and discussing intensely. As I took in my surroundings, the thrill was slowly but surely turning into anxiety in the pit of my stomach. My palms felt suddenly sweaty and my throat dry.

I scanned the open space for signs of Harry. He was standing off to the side of the main stage area, hovering over someone in a chair -- presumably a cast mate?-- green juice in hand. As I watched him, he responded to whatever his cast mate had said to him with laughter, squeezing his eyes shut, head pulled back, a high pitched laugh just barely audible from the distance. I caught myself thinking about how dreamy he is.

I wanted to go say hello to him, but simply walking up to him and his friend seemed weird and presumptuous. Like I'd imply that I was a part of their group, or something. So I stood there, paralyzed with indecision, occasionally glancing at him, hoping he'd glance back and notice me.

"Where do you belong sweetie?" a tall woman approached me with an air of kindness and authority, like a mother, or teacher. She looked off into the distance as we spoke, keeping a watchful eye on something, or someone, else behind us.

I looked up at her, her shirt read 'House Manager.' Explains the authority. "I-- umm..." feeling unsure how to identify, I stuttered for what felt like an eternity. "Well, Harry Styles. I shouldn't call him that. Is it Mr. Styles? That makes him sound old and douche-y. I-"

"You're the library lady?" her eyes softened.

'Library Lady,' didn't have the same ring to it as 'House Manager.' I nodded, blushing.

"Come with me."

She walked me over (away from Harry) to the area where they'd built an artificial office, informing me that the books and props might have already been prepared, and that they'd need a definite list before they move to shoot 'later scenes on location.' I wondered if, by 'on location,' she meant the college, and I wondered, too, if that meant they'd utilize the library.

I was introduced to the director who requested I share my materials and ideas with her before I make any recommendations to the set design team so that she stays aware of what we land on and constructs her scenes meaningfully. This took all day. But, to my surprise, I enjoyed it. Everyone around me was kind and made me feel at ease. Besides, I liked talking about which books would most accurately represent or symbolize particular moments in the film. By the end of the day, I found myself offering to bring out some of our rare books collection.

***

"There she is! Our very own Matilda..." I heard a voice behind me and almost jumped out of my clothes. It was Harry. Finally.

"How long have you been here? How come our paths never crossed?" He asked.

"I- uh. I'm just about done for the day." That wasn't what he'd asked.

He frowned. "Well, I'll wait for you then."

"Oh," I realized I hadn't given him the research materials that he'd asked for. So I pulled a file out of my bag and handed it to him. "No need to wait. Here's your stuff. There's also some book synopses in there, as well as some background on a couple of the things that your character just casually references. I figured it might be helpful to know more about the words that are coming out of your mouth as you're expected to say them so...."

He took the file that I handed him and flipped through it. "This is perfect, thanks...but that's not all I wanted to wait for. A few of us are going for a drink in a bit, you should come!"

I attempted to mumble my way out of the invite but Harry wouldn't let me squirm away. "Nonsense. You go out of your way to do all this work for me, for us, and I don't even spend a second with you all day? unacceptable my friend! You're coming."

***

We ended up all going to the house that Harry's living out of for the duration of filming. They all decided that they would attract less public attention that way. Five of us squeezed into Harry's car as he drove us. He handed his phone over to one of his co-stars with the food delivery app open. "Let's get some dinner so it's on the way by the time that we get home."

A passionate debate regarding what they should get ensued. chicken curry was too similar to the sweet and sour chicken that they'd had a couple of days ago, "it's chicken and rice....again!" Pizza is universally appealing but sushi is healthier.

"Wait, wait, for fuck's sakes!" Harry screamed playfully raising his hand and looking at everyone through the mirror, his intervention cut through the noise and everyone fell silent. "We have a new group member. She should get to choose." He reasoned.

They all chuckled and agreed, eventually passing the phone over to me.

"Well? What do you say?" Harry smiled when I caught his eyes.

I went with burgers and milkshakes.

***

The night went by quickly. After dinner, we all gathered in Harry's living room. His female co-star invited me to sit next to her and whispered the context for all their inside jokes and funny stories. They took turns asking about me, my background, my job, sometimes even asking me to explain some book-related parts of the film.

"Alright quit quizzing her. She's not here to give you a crash course in literary history in one night." Harry shook his head at his friends.

"Oh, so you're the only one she's allowed to help?" one of them retorted.

"I don't mind at all!" I laughed. "But, speaking of work, it's getting late. I do have to work in the morning. And not all of it is movie-related, so...I should get an uber."

Putting his drink down, Harry stood up and fished his car keys from his back pocket. "I'll take you."

"No, no. you've done enough. I can just-"

He rolled his eyes and put his hand on my back leading me to the door. "I'm okay to drive. Didn't drink much, I promise. Let's go."

In car, he asked for my address. I thought about the empty apartment waiting for me and felt uncomfortable.

I Typed my address into his phone as he pulled out of the driveway "Here. even though, truth be told, I don't really feel like going home right now."

"Well, then, let's not go there. Do you want ice cream? I want ice cream. Know any good places around here?"

"Harry, it's late. Pretty much the only thing that's open right now is the 24 hour diner."

"Do they have ice cream?"

"Yeah...."

"What's their address?"

We got our ice cream to go and went for a long drive. We listened to music from Harry's extremely specific Beatles cover songs mixed with Hall and Oates albums and obscure Steely Dan songs. He pulled the roof down and turned up the speed until that, combined with the ice cream, made me nearly freeze to death. I laughed at what the wind had done to his hair and he insisted I looked just as ridiculous. He told me what he thought of the Oscar Wilde book so far and asked if there were any good film adaptations of it.

When we eventually pulled up to my place, Harry put the car in park. "There you go, Matilda." He turned and smiled at me.

" You know, I've actually never read Matilda." I said giggling.

"WHAT?!" he clutched his pearls. Literally clutched at his pearl necklace in shock make me giggle harder.

"You realize the levels of irony in that, don't you?"

I nodded.

"Well, I had a really nice time, Harry. Thank you." I said unbuckling my seatbelt. "Seriously, I haven't had a night out with people since I moved here, so...thanks for inviting me."

"My pleasure." he tapped his knee. "And thank <em>you</em> for all the help."

I placed my hand on the door handle to unlock it, but instead, I leaned over to Harry's side and kissed him.

He froze up in surprise momentarily, but his eyes quickly fluttered shut and he leaned into the kiss, reciprocating.

My cold fingers wrapped on either side of his face seeking control, but he flinched and moved away, breaking the kiss.

Panting and out of breath, I asked if he'd like to come upstairs.

"I-" He paused.

I had my answer.

"Oh god. Well, this is mortifying. I- Look, I didn't realize you- you know what? forget it. forget this ever happened. I have to go."

He reached for my hand but I pulled out of his grasp running out of the car and slamming the door shut. I could hear the echoes of my footsteps in the stairway as I ran up to my apartment.

[girlwithfish]

sorry idk if u literally wanted someone's opinion so if not u can ignore this:

imo he's mostly in the wrong but i can see where he's coming from to an extent? not that i condone his behavior or words at all, bc it seems pretty shitty and tone deaf of him from what you've revealed. rather i think it's bound to be messy to rush into a relationship directly after ending a previous one, especially an abusive one. from his perspective i can see that it's probably a lot of responsibility and pressure for a partner to take on so early in the relationship. like u guys are still just getting to know each other, u know what i mean?

but i think that kinda falls on him and he should've known better, bc it seems like he wanted to move things very quickly and rush into gf/bf territory knowing your recent past and vulnerability. and now he is getting annoyed bc it's not the cake walk he thought it would be. i believe u mentioned he's older too which makes it worse. i can't help but be confused by how he's acting... like i agree w/ u that he is unnecessarily making it about him and expecting you to magically get over your trauma after only a few weeks. what did he think would happen?

i wouldn't blame u if u broke up with him bc i think u deserve to be drama free and heal and live ur best life rn. wishing u the best and i hope u don't mind this message.

thanks for the input! yeah i was actually asking haha. just weird bc ive been pretty transparent and open about still dealing w stuff and not being "over" my trauma. i feel like hes underestimating the effects of abuse and thought id "get over it" even saying he thought id get over my ex the more i was with him which is weird. especially in the beginning when he seemed understanding and presented himself that way. and i think that hes conflating me not being over trauma w not being over a typical breakup which is strange to me and i felt he hasnt been very empathetic toward me. i get its a lot of responsibility but idg why he wanted to date me then or he thought itd just be easy.. just weird mixed signals from him and lack of understanding. like him suddenly being upset w me for sleeping when hes repeatedly told me he doesnt mind. and i feel im not asking him for much or i dont use him as emotional support much or really even talk about my trauma or ex this month (in the beginning we both talked abt our past relationships a lot but stopped) besides the one time a few days ago when my exs mother reached out to me and i was upset for maybe 30min to an hr when we talked abt it and he offered his input which i found unhelpful Idk. and this was triggered all by him asking how i am ystrdy and i said im not doing the best but im getting by and said i didnt need to talk abt it tho and then he said hes seeing me decline bc i still ruminate over trauma and said some weird stuff abt how he feels hes contributing and idek i said im just in a weird place rn and im working through it and then also brought up relationship stuff btwn us how i feel hes not putting as much effort to show he cares and he kind of blamed it on my sleep schedule then went on a whole thing abt me and my trauma and how hes realizing its serious trauma i "need to sit with" and idk i dont feel hes being very kind or understanding and just presumptuous about my own situation. if he didnt wanna be w someone in my situation he shouldn't have dated me and acted like he wants a relationship and "loves" me when he barely knows me. also hes the same age as me

[fictionfixations]

All of your assumptions start to look presumptuous / If you only took a look around | BSD x MHA | Ranpo POV

He was incredibly smart, and it wasn’t a quirk or whatnot.

After his parents had died, all he had was the police academy they wanted him to go to. Of course, his smarts were noticed and he was taken in to be trained to become a detective instead. Thus, he was taught that, what he’d like to summarize as, ‘everyone was dumb’.

People didn’t notice as much as he did, and so no, adults were not monsters that did weird things, and not pretending that, say, this one guy wasn’t totally abusing his wife. Safe to say, he held the record of solving the most cold cases.

Tsukauchi only stared at him, before groaning. “Fine, come here, take a look at this,” and held up a folder.

Ranpo gingerly snatched it, opening it wide and reading about a paragraph in, before frowning. “Why’s it so lengthy?”

“Big corporations, you know the kind. A whole lot of it feels like filler, but kami forbid they make it short and concise for the detectives who pull all-nighters over it.”

“The USJ incident? Seems pretty blunt to me.” -- OR, instead of Ranpo meeting Fukuzawa, he stays at the academy and kinda gets pulled out to be a detective idk how it works. hes quirkless btw BSD x MHA

when you end up planning out a multi-chapter story and somehow end up cramming it into a oneshot:

[hermannsthumb]

For the summer prompts I’ll take a number 16 and a number 9 with extra sauce :^)

9. Stargazing + 16. Weddings

from the summer prompts meme here

another little summer prompt as a break while I work on zine stuff and do a million other things, WAHOO

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

One of the most annoying parts about Hermann is that he actually makes for decent company when they’re not forced to stay within a two-foot radius of each other in the confines of the lab. Even more annoying is that Newt actually enjoys it. (Ugh.) He enjoys it even more now that they don’t have to share a lab at all and Hermann has started being kind of nice to him. And, you know, does other stuff with him. They’re not really boyfriends yet, because Newt is too afraid to use that term in front of Hermann—he knows Hermann would probably call him juvenile or something—but they’re inching towards it. Slowly. Very, very slowly, like the two emotionally inexperienced academics they are.

Newt’s fine with it, mostly. He wishes someone would invent a word between boyfriend and partner that he could use that doesn’t make him want to curl up in agony. It does make social situations pretty weird sometimes, though, like when he took Hermann to dinner with his dad after one of their big lectures and he couldn’t exactly say this is the guy from work I hooked my brain up to and like to make out with, or when he met some of Hermann’s family at one “we didn’t die!” gala or another and Hermann stiffly called Newt his companion (somehow more weirdly suggestive than literally anything else he could’ve said?).

It’s made this one in particular kind of weird.

They’re at the wedding of a mutual—well, Newt’s not sure if he would call the guy a friend, acquaintance maybe, research collaborator (which also sounds like something Hermann would introduce Newt as, to be honest, but Newt means it for real)—and he clearly assumed there was more going on with Newt and Hermann than just some humble companionship when he sent out their invitation. Singular invitation. Both of their names at the top, no mention of an allotted plus one(s) anywhere on it. It was more understandable than presumptuous, at least, since they are kind of joined at the hip and still very slightly at the mind. Newt and Hermann met the kid (okay, he was well into his twenties, but that's basically a kid) when he interned as a research assistant in the lab for a few months, back at the start of Newt and Hermann’s tenure with the PPDC when they still had funding and willing participants for that kinda thing. Newt always privately suspected that he had a little bit of a thing for Hermann—and seeing the incredibly dorky groom today all but confirms that. Definitely has a type.

Newt has also always suspected the kid was assuming things about Hermann’s relationship with Newt the entirety of his time under their supervision, which, you know, this also kind of confirms.

“I’ve never liked weddings much,” Hermann says, stirring a straw aimlessly through his cocktail. Their former-intern has tucked them away at a private table in the very back of the reception hall, out of sight and out of earshot, which would probably be an insult coming from anyone who isn’t one-hundred-percent aware of how bad Newt and Hermann are at socializing. It works out better for everyone this way—Newt and Hermann don’t embarrass themselves or the wedding party. “Seems like a lot of fuss over nothing. My brother’s had two now, and neither of them have taken—just a waste of time and money. ”

Newt likes the open bar at weddings, and he likes getting tipsy enough for it to become socially acceptable to dance like an idiot with strangers, but the rest of it is, yeah, pretty boring. He hasn’t been to a wedding since his cousin got married a couple years back. Newt flew all the way back to Germany for that, and all by himself, because he couldn’t bribe Hermann into being his totally platonic(/vitriolic, since they still pretended to hate each other back then) plus-one for the night. Still, he loves being a pain in Hermann’s ass, and the need to be a contrarian majorly outweighs the fact that he, you know, agrees with the guy. “Weddings are fun,” Newt says, mock-defensively. “I’m sorry you’re not romantic enough to appreciate them.”

Hermann snorts and nudges their knees together under the table, and Newt caves with a grin. “We could just leave,” Newt suggests. He steals a sip of Hermann’s drink. “I don’t think anyone would even notice. I can call us an Uber and we could be back at the hotel in literally thirty minutes.” It’s his turn to nudge Hermann. “We came, we said hi, we met the husband, we left them a gift—” A joint gift, with a yay congrats! card signed by them both, they were very much not dodging those relationship assumptions. “—so I’m thinking our social obligations are prettttty much done?”

The romantic thing to do would be to ask Hermann to dance. They could wait for a slow song, and Newt could hold his weight enough for them to sway awkwardly like two middle-schoolers for a little bit, and then Hermann would give him a furtive and equally awkward kiss. Very romantic. It would be fun to do that if it wasn’t so hot in here. July heat and a million people crammed into a tiny ballroom: not conducive to comfort. Newton took off his suit coat and undid his tie about an hour ago, and unbuttoned his shirt down past his collarbones (to Hermann’s scandalized judgement) not long after.

The second most romantic thing Newt could do is pay for the Uber. Hermann visibly wrestles with Newt’s suggestion before finally sagging in on himself. “We ought to stay a little longer,” he says, sadly. He does the unthinkable a moment later and actually takes off his own blazer and ugly quote-unquote dressy vest. Newt spots sweat beading his brow beneath his uneven bangs.

The third most romantic thing to do would be to help Hermann preserve his dignity before—God forbid!—he undoes his collar, which he's buttoned all the way to his throat in typical Hermann fashion. The glass doors to the patio adjacent to the ballroom have been propped open to let in a breeze, and though Newt can’t imagine it’s any less humid or muggy out there, any fresh air would be an improvement. Hermann doesn’t do well in large crowds for very long and Newt can practically feel the last of his patience ebbing away. If someone so much as tries to small talk with them Hermann might lose it for real. Plus—the venue is isolated enough that Newt suspects they might have a pretty nice view of the night sky, something that they've been sorely missing out on from all those years slouching around a damp basement.

He stands and holds out a hand in offering to Hermann. “Let’s go outside,” he says. “We can look at the stars.” Also, Hermann looks kind of cute all flushed and sweaty, and if Newt can't dance with him he'll see if he can snag a kiss or two. Hermann raises his eyebrows at this, but gropes for his cane and takes Newt's hand anyway.

The patio is thankfully deserted. Heat aside, it’s pretty nice out: the space is enclosed by tall, well-maintained shrubs strung with twinkle lights, and there are a handful of benches spaced around evenly. The night breeze is warm but better than nothing. Hermann primly dabs at his face with his handkerchief as he takes a seat at one of the benches, and Newt drops in a sprawl next to him. They can just hear the dumb early-aughts pop song the DJ had been playing through the crack in the door. Hermann says nothing when Newt tucks an arm around his neck. “We have an hour until the reception is meant to end,” Hermann says, glaring at his analog wristwatch, like he thinks that will make time pass faster. "Is there a socially acceptable time to leave before then? We could invent an excuse. Or—" A sigh. "Newton."

Newt has pressed his face to Hermann’s neck to leave little kisses at his jaw, and Hermann wriggles around, dodging further attempts with a wrinkled nose and another funny, whining exclamation of Newt’s name. “Ah, ah, not in public,” he says. “It’s—” Unbecoming, Newt thinks in his Hermann impression, and maybe he mutters it too. But Hermann kisses him properly anyway, toying idly with the loose ends of Newt’s tie before pushing him away. “Looking at the stars?” he echoes Newt sarcastically.

“I did mean it,” Newt says, with another goofy grin. “Kind of.” They're efficient men (sometimes) and he imagines they could very easily find a way to compromise and multitask.

“You should know you're hardly the only one to try that,” Hermann says, and Newt thinks, with a flash of hot embarrassment, of the number of times Hermann has talked about the stargazing dates he used to go on in college with the hot nerds in his chess club. Well, Newt’s paraphrasing that last part. Hermann actually said something like charming young men, but Newt thinks the odds of someone being in chess club and not being a nerd are pretty slim, which Newt (who was also in a chess club) has firsthand knowledge of.

"But," Hermann continues, his eyes dropping down to the curls of ink on Newt's semi-exposed chest, "I suppose we do have time to kill."

[aeoki]

Toyland - Epilogue 1

Location: Toy Stage Characters: Hinata, Touri, Yuzuru, Eichi & Wataru

Touri: “Everyone~! I know you’re focused on the toys but don’t forget to pay attention to the stage too!”

“I shouldn’t need to introduce myself at this point, right~?”

“I’m Touri Himemiya-sama from the top unit in Yumenosaki Academy! ☆”

“I’ll give a special introduction for the person who I admire with all my heart, so be sure to have a good look~!”

“Kneel down for the leader of ‘fine’ and the Student Council President, Eichi Tenshouin-sama ☆”

Eichi: “Fufufu. I wonder if idols have piqued your interest.”

“Your eyes are sparkling – how adorable. It would be troubling if you all were to be engrossed in playing in a land of dreams and forget about reality, though.”

“We’re not here as ‘fine’ today but as members of a unit who provide dreams to children.”

“I shall leave my post as ‘Emperor’ and act as a jester instead.”

“But there is already a master here so the best I can do is to simply follow in his footsteps.”

“I’m expecting great things, Wataru. I would appreciate it if I could learn even a small part of your tricks.”

Wataru: “I have a feeling you’ll steal my techniques without me ever teaching them to you, though?”

“In any case, I shall answer your expectations. I am Wataru Hibiki. It is my calling to fill the entire world with love and surprises – It’s a pleasure to meet you all…☆”

Yuzuru: “I have the honour of being a member of ‘fine’. I don’t think I need an introduction, however, I am in front of many people.”

“It may be presumptuous of me, but I shall introduce myself.”

“I’m Yuzuru Fushimi. I also shall introduce the other members who will be performing with us for ‘Toyland’.”

“On the right, we have Hinata Aoi-sama and on the left, we have Yuuta Aoi-sama. Please welcome them with a round of applause…♪”

Hinata: “Hey there~☆ I’m Hinata Aoi from ‘2wink’.”

“Oh but since we’re in a ‘temporary unit’ with ‘fine’, then I guess it’s a bit weird for me to say that.”

“Anyway, we’re gonna make ‘Toyland’ a super fun event, so I hope you’ll have a good time~♪”

Yuzuru: (...I don’t know what happened to Hinata-sama, but anxiety can be infectious.)

(He may have a smile on his face but he cannot hide how he truly feels.)

(Thankfully, it seems the others haven’t noticed but it should only be a matter of time before they do.)

(He may think me cruel, however, I must tell him this.)

(“Toyland” is a job the Young Master received from the Master.)

(If you’re going to make a mess of things, then I shall ask the two of you to leave at once.)

Hinata: (...Yeah, sorry. You’re right, Fushimi-senpai – I shouldn’t bring my personal issues into work.)

(I was trying to pretend I was fine but it didn’t work. I guess I’m still not good enough as an idol~ I’m still inexperienced.)

(Fushimi-senpai, can you casually support Yuuta-kun in secret?)

(We kinda had a fight and it’s pretty awkward between us right now.)

Yuzuru: (Hmm, so that’s why he was acting odd. The usual sharpness in his performance is gone.)

(If it was simply a combined performance with “fine” and “2wink”, then I wouldn’t need to pay as much attention.)

(But we’re in a ‘temporary unit’ right now and Hinata-sama and Yuuta-sama are friends of the Young Master.)

(If I were to make you two leave the stage, then that would affect the Young Master’s performance.)

Hinata: (So you were testing me. If I had to pick between having you or the Student Council President as an enemy, I think I might go with you actually~)

(It looks like you’ll do anything for Hime-kun and will think nothing of your actions.)

(...If it’s for Yuuta-kun, I wouldn’t even mind drinking muddy water. If he can live as himself, then I don’t have to exist.)

(I love my little brother. He’s the one I treasure the most in the world… and he’s way more important than me.)

(Fushimi-senpai must feel the same way about Hime-kun.)

Hinata: “Children’s dreams are stuffed everywhere in this toyland. Look, there are so many sweets in this present box!”

“I think I might be tempted by this sweet candy! Oh no ☆”

“But I can’t resist… Woah, it looks like a scary soldier has arrived. Run away, everyone~!”

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