#look at my film with thin lines and shading and cute characters.

[scoliwings]

I MADE A CAPSTONE FILM!!!! IT'S ABOUT A DEAF WOMAN ORDERING A SANDWICH! AND ALSO GHOSTS AS A METAPHOR FOR SOUNDS. CHECK IT OUT

(mirror at scoli.zone)

[whereisten]

The New Kid

A Mark fic that’s part of our Halloween Series!

Summary: the new kid in town is nerdy, quiet, and cute. The two of you grow close, but could he be hiding a secret that might put your life in danger?

Pairing: Spider-Man!Mark x female reader (Mary Jane?)

Other Characters: best friend!Haechan, Ex-Boyfriend!Jeno, Villain!Taeyong

Genre: Superhero! Sci-fi, fluff (enemies? more like awkward classmates to lovers), some angst and violence, comedy, a little suggestive?

Warnings: a little cursing, minor mentions of verbal abuse, gun usage, some violent acts, blackmail, hostage situation

Word Count: 10K

(A/N: alright well..this shouldn’t have been this long but I had a lot of fun with this one so I hope you enjoy it😂, Spider-Man Mark is just so adorable my heartssnsjksjsjksk. Also..barely proofread, so mistakes, I know they’re there, but I pretend I do not see them😌)

—————

“Good morning class! Everyone please welcome our new student, Mark Lee!”

Your teacher held her arm out as she welcomed Mark in your Chemistry class.

Your head snaps up from your notebook. 

A boy with round eyes and short brown wavy hair walks in.

“Hi..” he gives a thin smile and a small wave.

Your first thought is of how adorable he is. Your second thought is of how he looks nervous to enter a new school just a month after the year has started.

The class is silent with the exception of a few sniffles and music blasting through headphones.

Please don’t sit here, please don’t sit here. 

You didn’t really have anything against him, you just loved having a table all to yourself.

“Please..sit beside y/n, for now.”

Damn it. 

Mark pulled the chair out and sat beside you.

“...hi.” He said as he placed his backpack down.

“Hi.” You raise your eyebrows and open your notebook.

You just had to sit next to the awkward new kid. Perfect.

———

[Two Weeks Later]

You and Mark worked on your first project together. You had to come up with a presentation for the fall science fair, so you had to work well together.

“It’s a chance for you guys to get to know each other and build yourselves!” Your teacher said excitedly but the truth was that you weren’t thrilled to be working with anyone.

You rolled your eyes and turned to Mark.

“Alright..where do we start?”

“Well, the instructions say to combine water and salt first, so I guess we’ll start there.” Mark puts his round glasses on and smiles at you, but you frown.

“Okay, you’re the nerd so..” you raise your brows.

Mark chuckled. “We barely know each other.”

“Come on, who in the world wears glasses like that, You look like Harry Potter.” 

“I love that movie, is that a bad thing?” Mark asked with genuine confusion.

“Harry Potter is great and all, but what horror movies do you like?” You started to doodle in your notebook.

You loved horror movies, you loved autumn and everything dark and dreary about it.

“Hmmm..I don’t watch horror movies..”

You gasp and drop your pen. “You don’t..watch horror movies?” Your eyes widened like you had been hurt deeply by his lack of taste.

He returned the same look of shock. “They’re not my thing.”

“Aish..what a loser..” you say under your breath.

You turned back to your notebook and continued to doodle.

“So where are you from anyway, Potter?”

“I’m from Toronto.”

“I see, and this little town looked appealing to your parents, didn’t it?”

He nods and looks at the side of your face, noting how under your bleak persona and poor attitude, was a pretty face and gentle touch. He could tell from the way you delicately drew in your book.

His senses also picked up on your relaxed blood pressure and steady breathing.

He saw every pore and heard every breath you took, your lashes looked extremely long as well, bringing about a dazzling gorgeousness to your eyes.

The very surface of your round lips was soft and plump, there was a shade new to him that rested at the center.

“Mark?” You turned to him.

He quickly looked away and shifted in his chair.

“Y-yeah..I’m living with my aunt here..my parents passed away a while ago.”

“Oh..I’m sorry..” you looked down at the table.

“Hey. You don’t have to feel bad about it..”

Mark smiled softly as he heard your heart rate speed up from nervousness.

“Mark..I-“ the bell rang and you thanked the heavens for it.

Mark turned and grabbed his bag before you could say anything else. “Well, I’ll catch ya later.”

“‘CaTcH yA LAtEr’” you mocked him to lighten the mood. “Yeah, Potter, I guess we’ll work more next time..”

He laughed.

His eyes became small lines and his cheeks puffed up, he was adorable, like a kid in a candy store.

You turned away before your face became hot.

———

[1 Month Later]

“The new kid is kinda cute..” Haechan took a sip of his juice while the two of you ate lunch.

“God, I wish I was in your class, do you think the counselor will change my class schedule now if I come up with a dumb excuse?”

You rolled your eyes. “Nah, I don’t think she will, and even if she did, why would you want to be in a class with that nerd?”

Mark was sitting by himself at a table in the corner, he was reading a book while chewing chicken tenders.

Haechan pouted. “But just look at him..I bet he’s the best kisser, do you see those lips?”

“Ew Haechan! He’s my partner in class, I don’t want to think about his lips!” You gagged and started to peel your banana.

Mark could hear you, he could hear everyone’s conversations in the cafeteria for little did you know of his secret.

“So you’re telling me you wouldn’t give him a chance, even though you gave a notorious school douchebag named Jeno one?” Haechan glared at you.

You kicked his shin under the table. “We don’t say that name here anymore.”

Haechan hissed. “You’re closer than I’ll ever be to that cutie..you better take advantage of that, I bet he’s super nice too.” He rested his chin in his hands as he swooned over Mark.

You rolled your eyes then locked eye contact with Mark just as you stuffed the banana into your mouth. You were frozen. The banana was about halfway in and Mark never let your eyes go.

You chomped on it and looked away.

Mark giggled and went back to reading his book.

“You open your mouth pretty wide for a girl that doesn’t know how to use it..” Jeno snickered as he walked by your table.

Your mouth was full so you couldn’t come up with a quick comeback, but luckily, that’s what Haechan was there for.

“Oh, shut up, big head. Like you could fill anyone’s mouth with that chicken nugget of a wee wee!”

You nearly choked and covered your mouth as you laughed.

Mark, who was over 30 feet away, laughed too.

Jeno quickly turned around to walk back to your table, but ended up colliding into Taeyong, the scary and filthy rich senior that everyone stayed away from.

Him and his posse, complete with Yuta and Johnny, were tall seniors that gave everyone death glares. Even the teachers weren’t safe. Taeyong’s father was the wealthiest man in town, he was a kingpin so he possessed a lot of power.

Jeno raised his hands. “Whoa, bro, I’m sorry.”

Taeyong steadied himself and pulled his hands out of his pockets. The entire cafeteria froze, you all had never seen anyone get in their way. Taeyong walked around in black clothing and never took his hands out of his pockets for it ruined his nonchalant attitude.

The black haired boy crossed his arms and stepped towards Jeno.

“If I were in the mood..I’d tell you to get on your knees and beg for my forgiveness..” his intense gaze made Jeno tremble. Hell, even you swallowed hard from fear.

“I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

Taeyong’s mouth tilted into a smile, he rubbed his thumb along the side of Jeno’s face. Johnny and Yuta stood behind him while they smirked and chuckled at Jeno’s subordinance.

“I know it won’t.”

He walked away and out of the cafeteria.

Jeno scurried back to his group of friends while the rest of the students resumed their lunch. 

Mark didn’t like the sound of this guy. He knew who his father was and he knew that he would be the only that could stop him and save the innocent lives threatened by him.

Later that day, you were getting ready to leave school when Haechan popped up behind your locker as you closed it.

“Shit!” You jumped when he popped up.

He cackled. “You know, for someone that watches a lot of horror films, you sure do get scared pretty easily.”

You huffed and swung your backpack over your shoulder. You didn’t notice Mark behind you and your bag nearly smacked him in the face, but thanks to his senses, he ducked quickly.

“Y/n!” Haechan saw Mark behind you.

“What?” You said as you turned.

Mark was there behind you, squatting below you awkwardly and looking up at your face.

You furrowed your brows. “What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get a peak of something down there?”

Mark shot up straight and shook his head. 

“N-no, no I’m sorry I was just..I know we are a little behind..but I was wondering if you wanted to work on the project together after..school, or-or something..” he looked nervous to talk to you. He kept looking to the side to dodge your eyes.

“I can’t today..I’m-“

Haechan butt in excitedly. “Oh! That works perfectly! Y/n, I was actually coming to tell you that I can’t go to the movies tonight! I have to do some extra work with my partner too! We can all study at Starbucks!” 

You turned to him and glared. ‘What the hell’ you mouthed.

His eyes grew. ‘Just say yes’ he mouthed while nodding towards Mark.

Mark still looked to the side.

“Fine..meet us at the Starbucks on 10th at 5..loser.” You gripped the strap of your bag while walking away.

Mark chuckled at the nickname you gave him. He thought you were different, cute, but different.

At Starbucks, Mark was there before you were and ordered coffee for you.

“For me?” Your eyes widened.

Mark nodded and smiled widely. “Yeah! I don’t know if you like cream or sugar, so I got it black but everything is over there if you-“

You giggled and Mark swore he saw heaven when you smiled. “I know how it works, Mark, thank you for this.”

You rarely said his name, but he felt weak when you did.

Haechan and his lab partner joined the two of you. You did some more research for your project and talked about it while Mark jotted down important notes.

Haechan and his partner, Renjun, were supposed to be doing the same thing, but Haechan was too busy staring at Mark’s eyes.

“Haechan..Haechan!” Renjun tapped his hand.

They continued to work and as everyone got more tired, you noticed that Mark wasn’t jotting down notes like he did in the beginning. He was watching you talk, he liked watching your lips move and hearing your soothing voice. His eyes were locked on your face; it made your heart tremble.

“Mark?” You raised your brows and bit your bottom lip. 

“Yeah..yeah!” He shook his head to come out of his daze.

“Did you catch anything I said? You've been staring for at least five minutes now..”

“I was..focusing.” Mark averted his gaze to the ceiling.

You shook your head. “You’re weird, Potter.”

Mark licked his lips and looked at the table. “I’m sorry I’m just a bit tired..” 

“Me too! I think we should call it a night!” Haechan stretched his arms out and up high.

He cleared his throat as you all started to pack your things away.

“Mark..so we’re all going to the movies to see that new horror film, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” tomorrow. Wanna come?”

You kicked his shin again.

“Mark doesn’t like horror movies.”

Mark scratched the back of his head. “Well, I only said I don’t watch them, not that I don’t like them..”

You sighed.

“Perfect! So we’ll see you tomorrow at 8! This is so exciting, it feels like a date!”

“Haechan!” You stood up from the table, glaring into his skull once again. 

He shrugged his shoulders and stood up too. The four of you walked towards the door.

Mark only laughed awkwardly.

“Hey.. y/n..”

You paused and turned around. “Yeah?”

“Will you be alright..getting home at this time?”

You laughed out. “I’m fine..I take the bus at this time all the time!”

Mark nodded.

He was caring and it was strange for you, for someone to genuinely care about you for the first time in a while.

He had his own car. An old Hyundai that got him where he needed to be. He had parked it outside of the Starbucks.

He waited with you at the bus stop right outside. Haechan took Renjun home.

“We can wait in my car if you want..it’s kinda cold out here.” He asked as you pushed your hands into your hoodie and shivered.

“My mother told me to never get in cars with strangers.” You turned to him and smiled.

He chuckled and stepped forward on his toes.

“Well, if that’s what you consider me to be then..I won’t push you..”

You shook your head. “Mark..you’re weird..I was just teasing, take me to your chariot before I freeze to death, please.”

You got into his car and the two of you sat in silence.

You checked your phone and saw that your bus was running about 20 minutes late.

You sighed and leaned back into his car seat.

“Do you like this town so far?” You looked out the window as you spoke.

Mark loved being near you, you calmed him down and his senses didn’t go crazy like they usually did. Sometimes everything was so unbearable, but not when he was around you. He was happy that no one was in danger while he spent the evening with you.

“It’s..alright..” he spoke honestly, finding it difficult to lie about how he struggled to adjust to his new life, without his uncle, without his hometown friends, without his “normal, super power-less” life. He had been bitten by a spider and given these powers just a few months before moving.

“Do you miss your friends?”

“Of course..” he swallowed hard as he remembered playing basketball with his buddies.

“And your girlfriend..”

You let it slip out before thinking. Why did you care?

“Oh, I don’t have a girlfriend..”

You turned to him with bunched up brows. “Boyfriend?”

Mark giggled. “I don’t have either..why do you ask?”

He smirked as he tilted his head.

You scoffed. “Oh, Potter, don’t give me that look..I just wanna know more about you.”

“What about you? Tell me about yourself.”

You swallowed hard. “Well..I think this town is boring..my parents are divorced and missing half the time..I broke up with my asshat of a boyfriend, Jeno, before school started..and now I’m stuck here with the school loser.”

“Stuck?” Mark raised his brows. “You can jump out any time you want and stand in the cold.”

You put your hand on the door handle but he quickly leaned over and placed his hand on yours. Your breath hit his neck. He turned to you with wide eyes as he realized that he was actually touching you.

You froze.

He froze as well. “I’m..I’m kidding, you shouldn’t leave until your bus gets here.”

He sat down in his seat and cleared his throat but you still felt his soft hand on your skin.

You chuckled. “You’re so strange, Mark. I guess it’s a Canada thing.”

“I like..spending time with you, if I’m being honest. I don’t have many friends here but you’re..cool.”

You turned to him. “Cool?? You think I’m cool?”

Mark put his head on the steering wheel and sighed, realizing the mistake he made. “Why did I say that?”

“Haha! Potter! You can’t take it back!”

The two of you spoke about music and entertainment. You told Mark that you were happy to see that he was going to try a horror movie with you tomorrow. You finally opened up to him as he did to you also.

You both laughed and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company.

He was a breath of fresh air in this town.

————

[The Next Day]

“It’s going to start in 5 minutes, where is he?” Haechan huffed as he looked at his watch.

You stood at the front of the movie theatre and looked around for Mark, but he was nowhere to be found. Was he really ditching you? You bought him a ticket and popcorn which had gotten cold by now. The ads that played before the movie were almost done. Haechan gave up and went into the theatre with Renjun. You stood there alone, awkwardly waiting like someone that was being stood up for their date. You looked at your phone but there were no texts or calls from Mark.

“Hey, I know you..” a voice spoke out from behind you.

You felt a sense of relief.

That was, until you turned and saw him.

Taeyong stood there with his hands in his midnight black trench coat, his hair was neatly parted to the side and two gold chains dazzled around his pretty neck.

“Are you alone?” He stepped towards you, a chill ran through your body and it wasn’t because of the temperature outside.

Your face fell, you stepped backwards away from him.

“I’m—I’m fine, thank you.”

Taeyong smirked when he saw your face of worry. He looked smug, dangerously handsome and cool.

“Whoever it is you’re waiting for...they’d be a fool not to show up..” his voice was deep, giving you goosebumps as you stared.

Was he flirting with you? 

You laughed awkwardly.

A girl in a thin black body con dress walked up to him and grabbed his arm.

“Ready, babe?” She flipped her hair as she stared at him, but he still looked at you.

You felt bad for her. Yeah, she looked good, but at the cost of freezing in 20°F weather? Not even a gorgeous man like Taeyong was worth that.

“Sure..” he said smoothly.

They both walked into the theatre. You followed soon after. You found Haechan and Renjun and joined them. Haechan gave you a questioning look but you shook your head.

Mark never showed up.

He was too busy stopping a robbery downtown. It was him against 7 heavyweight champions trying to rob a bank. They were Kingpin’s men, but Mark used his web to bind them to the counters until police came.

By the time he finished, the movie was almost halfway done.

He sighed and grabbed his mask off while in a dark alleyway. He unlocked his phone.

You to Mark: where are you, loser? The popcorn is getting cold.

He smiled to himself. You got him popcorn, one of his faves.

You to Mark: gonna eat this by myself if you don’t show..

The next text message was a picture of Sour Patch Kids candy, the watermelon kind that he also loved.

You actually remembered him telling you he liked watermelons one day in class.

He closed his eyes and cursed quietly. He wanted to get close to you, but he was already messing things up.

————

[The Following Monday]

You threw your backpack down and sat in your seat in class.

Mark walked in soon after.

“You ignored my texts..” he said softly.

You ignored him and put your Bluetooth earbuds in.

He sighed then looked at his notebook.

“So you’re just not gonna talk to me?”

You bobbed your head and started writing as music played.

Mark looked around. Everyone had their heads down, they were either writing in their books or reading. So he put his hand behind his back, he quickly shot a web out to your ear bud. It malfunctioned and suddenly stopped working.

You took it out and looked at it.

“What the hell..” you whispered, genuinely confused as to why it burnt up while actually in your ear.

“Listen, I’m sorry I didn’t show up on Friday, but something happened..I wanted to be there, and—“

You finally turned to him. “Yeah, you chickened out. I’m sure you had better plans for your Friday night than to watch a stupid horror movie with me.”

Mark frowned. “No, no it’s not like that at all.” He wanted to be there with you and watch your face as you enjoyed something dear to you, he wanted to share popcorn and gummies, but those moments are a part of normal life for a normal teenager. He couldn’t have that.

“Really?” You raised your brows and placed your head in your hand. “I know what being second place in someone’s life feels like, Mark. It’s the same crap my parents and my ex put me through..I won’t go through it again.”

Mark shook his head and leaned towards you.

“I’m not like them, I’m here for you, give me a second chance..”

“Hey! Less talking about the weekend, more writing about science!” Your teacher called out.

When class ended, Mark followed you through the halls.

“I had something personal to take care of, y/n. Can we see a movie tomorrow or something?”

You shook your head and gripped the strap of your backpack. “There aren’t any movies out right now that I’m interested in..”

“Okay, umm how about a pumpkin patch?!” 

You turned to him with wide eyes. “What are we? 10 years old?” You scoffed and turned to walk then bumped into someone’s broad chest.

You looked up slowly. It was him. “Oh..I’m sorry.” You exhaled.

“Be careful, I might just bite next time..” Taeyong’s smile gave you the creeps. It bothered you that you were seeing him more frequently.

Mark took your hand suddenly. “Hey..we’re gonna be late.” He spoke firmly and glared before taking you out of Taeyong’s sight.

Mark kept pressing you for a second chance as you continued to walk to the cafeteria.

“Okay, fine. Umm there’s this Halloween party this Friday, I don’t really want to go, but-“

“Let’s go! We can get something to eat after, my treat!”

You nodded quickly just so he’d leave you alone. 

“Okay, Mark, let’s just get through this week.”

———

[Friday Night]

Haechan helped you out of his car when you got to the party. You wore a tight white dress and a feathery halo along with a small pair of wings.

You looked amazing with glittery makeup and white heels as your accessories.

Haechan dressed as a zombie and did a spectacular job on his makeup. He looked like he had really been bitten on the neck and the virus had spread throughout, leaving him grey with purple and green veins throughout his face.

You pulled your dress down and waited in the kitchen for Mark.

You grabbed yourself a beer and cracked it open. 

Haechan drank with you as well.

He swallowed hard. “The nice refreshing taste of piss.”

“Yup, seems about right.” You winced and put the can down.

“Well, well..it seems the Virgin angel has arrived.” Jeno walked in behind you and grabbed a beer. He was dressed as a devil. The two of you had long since talked about dressing as the angel & devil pair  for Halloween as a couple, but now that you had broken up, you didn’t think that he'd still do it.

You rolled your eyes. “What happened? Were your natural horns not enough?”

Jeno chuckled and tilted his head. “We’re playing 7 minutes in Heaven next..I’d ask you to join, but I know you’re just a teaser, never a pleaser.”

You scoffed, but Haechan jumped in.

“That’s what your little friend over there said last night when you pulled your pants down.”

Jeno flipped him the bird and walked away.

You went to the bathroom and checked your makeup. You looked wonderful, your boobs stuck out and your dress hugged your curves perfectly. You rarely dressed like this but it was nice to look and feel..pretty., you quickly fixed your lipstick and left. 

As you turned the corner, you ran into him again.

“Ahhh..perfect timing, I did say I would bite you the next time we ran into each other.” Taeyong’s eyes widened.

You backed away and laughed. 

He was dressed fittingly as a vampire. He was dark and mysterious like one, so you weren’t surprised. He looked even more handsome than usual in his dark eye makeup complete with black liner and red eyeshadow. 

But the way he stared made you..uneasy.

His gaze trailed from your lips to your cleavage as he eyed you up and down.

You stood there in silence.

“Do you—“ he started to pose a question as he stepped forward but his girl walked up and hugged him from behind.

She squeezed him gently, but Taeyong looked annoyed. “Let’s go upstairs, baby…” she said lowly while looking into your eyes with an evil glare.

Haechan came and grabbed your hand. You turned away from the two love birds and followed him, never once worrying about what Taeyong had to say again.

“He’s here!” You heard Haechan gasp.

Mark walked in. He was wearing a...Spider-Man costume.

You giggled at how cute he looked in it. You saw his cute little butt as he spun around looking for you through the crowd in the house.

You raised your hand. “Mark!” You called out to him.

He finally saw you and started to walk over.

You couldn’t stop yourself from grinning. He was adorable as he giggled.

“Why Spider-Man?”

He shrugged. “Eh—I like the way my butt looks.”

You laughed and took his hand to the living room where a few people sat on the floor a circle. 

They spun a bottle and whoever it landed on would be placed in a closet for 7 minutes in heaven.

Two members from the group were missing so you and Mark took their spots as they did whatever they were doing in the closet. He helped you squat down while pulling your dress down your thighs.

You rolled your eyes as Jeno held his new girl crush close to him. If he wanted to be with her in the closet, why did he sit beside her? You thought to yourself.

Everyone took turns spinning the bottle and when it got to you, you spun it fast, hoping that it wouldn’t land on someone that you knew, that way it would be just as awkward for the both of you.

Mark watched the bottle spin and based on the speed and rotation of the beer bottle, he knew that one end would end up pointing to you and the other would point to..Jeno.

As it spun, he placed his hand behind his back. 

He looked up and pointed to the kitchen with his other hand. 

“Oh my god, what is that?!” He yelled, causing everyone to turn to look at whatever he was pointing at.

You turned as well, so Mark quickly shot a small squirt of his web to increase the speed a little.

“What are you talking about?” You asked when you turned back to him. Everyone else turned back too.

“Oh, I could’ve sworn I saw a rat..maybe it was a decoration.” He shrugged his shoulders.

The bottle slowed down to a halt and just as you dreaded. It landed on you and..Mark.

Jeno laughed out loudly. 

“What’s so funny?” Mark gave him a look of annoyance.

“It’s just that..she’s the biggest prude I know, good luck bro, she doesn’t give it up.”

“Maybe because she doesn’t want to..I mean, have you thought about how much of an asshole you are?” Haechan spat out.

Mark looked at you as you stared at him with wide eyes.

“Y/n..you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to..” 

Jeno chuckled again.

You didn’t really want to be this close with Mark, but you had to. You had to prove Jeno wrong, even if you and Mark did nothing but stare at each other. You wanted Jeno to know that you weren’t a prude like he thought.

You stood up and nodded. “Let’s go..”

The two of you stood in the tight closet awkwardly.

The light was dim, but you saw Mark’s features clearly. His dainty nose and high cheekbones, his wide eyes and cute lips. He looked to the side nervously.

The truth was, you looked amazing in your dress. He felt his face become warm when he looked at your cleavage. The glitter made your skin sparkle even more than it usually did.

“So…” you stepped up and down. “I’m glad you came..”

“I’m glad I came too.” He swallowed hard. “Oh.. that, uhh, sounded weird, I’m sorry..”

“Mark..” you giggled. “You don’t have to be awkward, it’s me..it’s just that I’m wearing tight clothing for once..”

He chuckled and looked into your eyes. He raised an eyebrow, making your stomach weak.

“It’s not just that..” his voice is lower, quieter so no one can hear the two of you.

“What is it then?” You smirk.

He stares at your lips and as he’s about to answer a red alarm blares out in his head. His senses are tingling, someone is in trouble.

He squints and turns away. “I-i have to go…”

You step forward. “What? Are you..okay?”

You place your hands on his shoulder.

He loves the touch but can’t stop this nagging feeling. He had to go where his mind told him to go, he had to tend to whatever needed him or else he'd go insane from the noise.

“I can’t explain it, it’s like a migraine, I..just have to go.”

He turns to head through the closet door but you step in front of him. 

“Mark, if you leave it’ll just prove Jeno right. Please just 5 more minutes, I’m sure you can stand being with me for just that.”

“I can’t. I have to go.”

You scoff and continue to block the door. “What? Do you have to run home to your aunt or something? Are you out too late?”

Mark shakes his head. “Y/n..it’s not that, I just—“

“Gotta be a good boy and go home now?” You teased him to buy time. You really didn’t want Jeno to gain any satisfaction from learning that the two of you did nothing.

“Y/n..” he looked intensely into your eyes. His eyes then floated down to your lips as he watched you nag at him.

“Mark, what is it with you? You bailed on me last time! Do you hate being around me or what?”

He took your face in his hands and kissed you hard and sudden.

Your back hit the closet door causing it to swing open.

But Mark didn’t care, he still held your face close to his and caressed your mouth. You closed your eyes and enjoyed the feeling of him on you. The way his tongue traced over your bottom lip for permission to enter, the way his nose poked your cheek.

You opened your mouth and turned your head to deepen the kiss.

Sparks flew between you and you both felt giddy. Blood rushed through your veins. Mark’s senses were calmed for a bit as they focused on what he felt right now with you. The building tension and the satisfying release. 

You fell into him more and more. Even as the others cheered while watching, the two of you were consumed by each other.

You feel butterflies flying around without any intention of stopping and then..he pulls away. Your eyes open and you see your red lipstick all over the handsome boy’s mouth, confirming that what felt like a wonderful dream was actually a reality.

He stares at you through low eyes and licks his lips while panting.

Your lips are still parted while you too breathe heavily.

Your eyes are round and beg for more. Mark wants it too.

You look at his lips and lean forward, but he backs away and swallows hard.

“Catch ya later!” He runs out of the house as you stand there in shock.

Haechan’s mouth falls open.

“Oh...shit.”

———-

[The Next Day]

Taeyong listened to his father complain about the new superhero in town while at dinner.

“I don’t know where this little shit came from but he’s ruining EVERYTHING. We can’t get a simple delivery done without him popping up.”

Kingpin slams his fork down.

“He shoots a web here, he shoots a web there, and suddenly, my men are down and out! Tell me how that makes sense?”

“I’m sure they will stop him soon, he’ll get tired and give up.” Taeyong’s mother continued eating.

“Christ, I’m stressed and then we get a call from your teacher saying that you’re not showing up for class?!”

His father turned his attention to him while pointing a finger.

Taeyong shrugged.

“What the hell you moving your shoulders for? Answer me!”

Taeyong puts his fork down and sighs. “That class is a waste of time..”

“No, the only thing that’s being wasted is MY time and MY effort to get you to good college, you think I want you to end up like me?” His father’s voice rose.

“Is that such a bad thing?” A smirk fell across Taeyong’s face, irritating his father.

“Listen to me, boy, you could never handle the shit i handle, so DONT even think about it. You take your sorry ass to class and you graduate and go to college. Make something of that pea-sized brain of yours.”

“Honey..” his mom placed her hand on his father’s, but he lifted it and waved her off.

“Don’t! He’s like this because you spoil him. He’s a spoiled little brat.”

Taeyong continued eating, he was used to being insulted by his father.

“Dont speak like that, you’re just stressed because of Spider-Man, dear.”

“Shut it! You know that it’s true, you know he’s worthless!”

He stood up and gave Taeyong a frightening glare.

“You got one chance to prove me wrong, boy, make one more mistake and you’re out and on the streets with the druggies!” He huffed and left the dining room.

Taeyong sat quietly, gripping his fork in his fist and thinking about what to do. How could he prove to his father that he would be able to take over the business?

———-

[Monday]

You didn’t say a word to Mark for the first few minutes of class.

It was awkward but Mark didn’t seem to be bothered. He simply did his work in his notebook while listening to his music.

While the teacher was busy, you turned to him.

“Mark?” You whispered and leaned forward to get his attention.

“Mark?”

He still moved his head to the music.

You tapped his shoulder.

He turned to you with large eyes and took his headphones out.

“Yeah?” He said innocently.

“What do you mean by “yeah?” Are we not going to talk about the party?”

Mark smirked. “Do you want to talk about it?”

You nodded. “Mark, what was that about?” You knew what it was, you felt it every time you looked at each other. You had a developing crush on the boy you called a loser, you were just trying to hide it but it was becoming difficult as he was perfect in every way.

His cute eyes, nice lips, beautiful brown hair..you loved it all.

But most of all, you loved how sweet and caring he was, how he spoke to you and made you feel like you were the center of the universe as his entire focus rested on you.

He licked his lips. “I...did that to help you prove your boyfriend wrong.”

You blinked rapidly. “That was the only reason?”

“Um..yeahhh.” Mark looked to the side and moved his head in a “duh” motion.

“Oh..okay..” you looked down at your notebook and continued writing, feeling disappointed. But what did you expect? For Mark to confess his love for you? What a bizarre thought. You shook it off.

Later that day when you were at lunch, Haechan asked you about Mark.

“So what did he say?” He asked with his mouth full.

“He said he was just covering for me.” You shrugged your shoulders.

“Ahhh..I doubt it though, you guys made out like..really made out, it was sexy. If I knew you could kiss like that, I would’ve kissed you a long time ago.” he raises his eyebrows.

You made a look of disgust. “Ew! As if!”

You and Haechan giggled and continued eating. 

You looked over at Mark’s usual eating spot in the cafeteria, but he wasn’t there.

“Where’s that big head, Jeno?” Haechan tilted his head when he realized that Jeno didn’t pass by for his usual snarky comment session.

“Hmm that’s a good question, I don’t see Mark either.”

“Oooo..are you waiting for a round two with him?” Haechan teased, but something didn’t feel right.

You stood up. “Hey, I’ll be right back.”

Haechan nodded and you turned away to walk around the halls.

You peaked down all of the corridors looking for him.

You eventually went outside to the soccer field and heard whimpering behind the bleachers.

You walked towards it and saw three boys gathered around another boy in the middle. The boy in the middle was crouching down and holding his stomach.

You walked faster.

“Give me his glasses!” You heard one of the boys say.

“He had these ugly things on and still couldn’t see us coming..”

You recognized the voice.

It was Jeno. As you got closer you saw Jeno raise his foot to kick at the boy on the ground, and to your surprise, it was Mark.

“Shit…” you ran closer, but Mark grabbed Jeno’s foot and threw him to the floor.

Your eyes grew as Jeno’s back pummeled down into the ground with so much force, you swore the floor shook. How was Mark that strong?

Jeno groaned in pain. The other two boys stared in shock before turning back to Mark and delivering blows to his chest.

Mark couldn’t take on the two of them.

“I don’t want to hurt you!” He called out to them, he was holding back for their safety.

“Hey!” You yelled as you got closer.

“Oh..look who showed up..the school slut..” Jeno said as he stood up straight and winced from the pain in his back.

“You gave it up to the new guy, y/n? Wow, I guess you are like your mother..”

“Hey!” Mark called out to him, but the other two boys held him up by the arms to keep him from hitting Jeno again. Jeno balled his fists up and was about to hit Mark in the chest.

“You’re an asshole, Jeno!” You ran up to him and swung hard, landing a clean punch to the side of his unexpecting face.

“Hey, what the hell is going on here?!” Vice Principal Kim called out.

“Shit.” You held your hand as a stinging pain shot through it.

The two boys let go of Mark and ran, leaving you, Mark, and Jeno to the mercy of the vice principal.

You sat in detention with a wrapped hand. Mark sat a few desks behind you and Jeno sat in front with a pretty black eye.

You are proud of yourself for doing something you should’ve done to him long ago.

You watched the clock tick for an hour as you sat there with nothing to do.

Mark felt terrible for getting you involved, he would’ve handled it on his own but you jumped in to help him and now you were hurt.

After detention, you grabbed your backpack and left without talking to Mark.

“Hey..” he ran up to you.

“Hey..I’m sorry..about that, I didn’t want you to get involved..”

“It’s not your fault, Mark, it’s just that..I’d rather be alone right now..” you had to walk home after missing the last bus.

“I’ll drive you home, it’s the least I can do.”

You turned to him and raised your brows.

“Without your glasses? Can you even see my face right now?”

Mark laughed. “Actually..I have something to tell you…”

“Go on..”

“I don’t need the glasses, I just like it when you call me Potter.”

A smile creeped across your face as you felt it become warm. You couldn’t help but laugh.

Mark drove you home as the two of you talked about Jeno’s look of shock. 

“His face was priceless!” Mark scrunched his nose up and laughed gloriously.

You enjoyed watching him laugh, and without his glasses, he looked even more handsome.

You reached home and sighed. “Ahh..great, now I have to explain to my parents why my hand is swollen..”

Mark lifted your wrapped hand gently. “How does it feel? Does it hurt?” He bunched his brows up.

“And if it did, could you take the pain away?” You smirked.

Mark nodded. “I wish I could..”

“It’s fine, I’ll be fine, I took boxing class in the 9th grade..” you teased him but his eyes widened.

“Boxing class?! That is so cool!”

You giggled. “Mark, you’re so gullible!”

“Oh..” he looked down in defeat and blushed. 

A moment of silence rested between the two of you.

You stared at his lips. “Well..I should get going..”

Mark parked across the street from your house so your parents wouldn’t see you coming out of a strange car. 

You unbuckled yourself seat belt.

“Hey..” Mark said softly. 

You turned back to him and watched his parted lips.

He leaned in closer as you swallowed hard. He was so close, just a few more inches.

Your phone rang out and you looked down.

Shit, Haechan texted you.

Mark smiled and leaned back into his seat. “I’m sorry, um..thanks again.” 

“You’re welcome, Potter.” You winked and got out of the car.

He got out of the car and watched you head home.

But his spidey senses started to blare, something was coming, but you were texting on your phone as you crossed the street.

Everything happened in slow motion. The pick up truck speeding towards you, the steps you took to cross the road. You were moving too slow.

He had calculated it all. If he ran to you, he’d be too late, if he jumped in front of the truck he’d be too late and he’d get hurt. 

There was only once thing he could do given the amount of time he had.

He stretched his arm out, flicked his wrist and shot a  long sticky string out to your back. Once it latched itself onto your jacket, he yanked you back hard.

The truck sped by right in front of your eyes as you gripped your phone and looked up. You didn’t know what was happening or why you were flying backwards all of a sudden.

Your heart races, but soon you were in Mark’s arms. The truck came to a screeching halt once the driver realized that he almost hit you.

He spun you around to face him, not realizing that you were now entangled in his web.

You look terrified. “M-Mark..what the—“ you were out of breath, you looked down and saw the strings coming out of his skin.

Mark’s eyes widened as he looked down as well. The truck sped off after realizing that you were okay. It was just the two of you now, standing there in shock.

“Y/n…”

You let out a shakey breath. “Y-You're..him..You're—“

He put a finger over his lips. “Shhh..you can’t tell anyone.”

“S-spider-Man? THE Spider-Man??” 

Mark nodded slowly. 

Your mouth dropped.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone.” Mark looked into your eyes and pleaded, his arms still held you tight to his chest.

You nodded but no sound came out.

He licked his lips and smiled. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

“Mark..holy shit, I’m gonna..”

“Please don’t pass out on me, I don’t want to carry you to your parents while you’re unconscious..”

“But Mark..I mean, you’re like.. a superhero..that’s so cool.” You grinned and still looked at him through surprised eyes.

Mark blushed. “You think I’m cool?”

“Oh, my God why did I say that?” You rolled your eyes.

Mark looked at your lips and it was your time to kiss him.

You placed your lips on his while taking his face in your hands. He hugged you tighter and kissed you back, diving into you like you were a breath of fresh air that he needed. You both closed your eyes and embraced the moment as your pulses ran fast and eventually matched.

You stood there for a few minutes while kissing and hugging like you were in a movie. 

Neither you nor Mark noticed a car that was parked 50 feet away. 

But not just anyone’s car, Taeyong’s car.

He had trailed Mark’s car after he saw the two of you leaving school. He had nothing better to do and just wanted to see what the two of you were up to, but then he saw how the web shot out of Mark’s hand quickly and how you flew back into him. He saved your life, all while thinking that no one would see him.

But he was wrong, and now Taeyong knew what he needed to do.

———

[The Next Week]

You and Mark hadn’t things official yet, you both were scared for what would happen to your friendship. But that didn’t mean that you didn’t want to kiss him for hours on end.

Mark felt the same way. You had been paired up with someone else at a different table in class. The two of you were now departed and he wasn’t happy about that so he made sure to keep an eye on you.

You finally ate together too. Haechan had his suspicions when he saw the two of you smiling at each other for no reason, but he didn’t say anything.

Then one day, you didn’t show up to class.

Mark texted you the entire night before and even sent you tik toks to laugh at. He knew you were fine and if you were skipping class, you’d definitely let him know. You didn’t respond to the texts he sent during the day.

His spidey senses tingled, he knew something was up.

He called you while at lunch. And to his surprise, you answered.

“Y/n? Where are you?”

There was silence over the line for a brief moment, then you sniffled. “Hey, Mark. I’m home today, I just needed..a break.”

Mark paused. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, Mark, I’ll see you later. Please don’t come and look for me.”

“H-“ he started but you had already hung up.

He pursed his lips and looked intensely at his screen. Something was definitely up and he wasn’t going to stop until he found out what it was.

So after his last class, he headed to your house and knocked at the door.

When you didn’t answer, he walked around the house, looking for a way to get in without causing any damage.

He eventually found an open window on the second floor and after looking around to make sure no one was watching, he climbed up the side of the house and entered through it.

He stood up straight and saw that he was in your room, but you weren’t there.

Then he saw what looked to be a body under the blanket on your bed. 

“Y/n?”

He quickly lifted the blanket and jumped in horror. It was a slide-sized Spider-Man action figure.

He had a sticky note on his face that pressed “press my belly button.”

Mark pressed the button and heard it speak through its fake mouth.

“Oh, hello, Spider-Man, or should I call you Mark?”

His eyes widened as the male voice spoke.

“Well..it doesn’t really matter..see, I’ve got your lovely girlfriend here with me..” 

Mark here’s your muffled screaming in the background.

He grits his teeth. 

“And she is here, waiting for you at the very top of the largest building in the city. I know you’re new here, but I’m sure you can find it.”

Mark curses to himself, he was caught with you and by some bastard that he didn’t know. Did Kingpin have his men follow him?

“Oh, and that nice friend of her’s, hmmm Haechan is it? He’s outside her house, but he’s probably all tied up.. don’t be late, Markipoo, we wouldn’t want y/n to hang out with me much longer..”

The recording stops playing. Mark runs out of the house, but stops in his tracks.

He’s too late. 

Johnny and Yuta stand beside Haechan’s car. Haechan has JI mouth covered by a piece of fabric but his eyes are open and wet with tears.

He lets out a loud scream when he hears Mark.

They tied him to the hood of the car while the engine runs. He was literally tied up.

“Hey!” Mark calls out and runs towards them, but Johnny places a brick onto the gas pedal and puts the car in drive.

Haechan screams even louder as the car rolls down the hill fast.

Mark runs after it, struggling to keep up as it speeds down the street.

Johnny and Yuta stand back and laugh.

Mark had to find a way to beat, he had to calculate his speed so he could overrun it and stop it. Or he could shoot webs out from the back and pull it towards him.

His mind runs at 100mph as it goes through every possibility while he pants and runs.

“Haechan! Don’t worry! I’ve got you!”

The car is too heavy, and it’s going too fast, so he can’t hold it with his spiderweb material.

He leaps forward and up into the air, landing just a few feet in front of the incoming car.

He puts his hands in front of him and braces for impact. He had never taken on such a huge task before, he prayed that he would be strong enough to take a 4,000 pound car going at 80 miles per hour.

He grunts and presses forward onto the top of the car, causing it to make a loud skrrt sound and a huge dent to form. He uses his legs for stability as he struggles to stop it from going any further.

But he slides downward in his two feet.

“Shit.shit.shit.shit” he murmurs out.

Haechan cries to the heavens for help.

Mark pushes forward even harder while gritting his teeth. He lifts the hood slightly.

With a loud groan and harsh grip, he tears the engine out to stop the car.

The wheels slow to a halt and Mark places the car down.

He stumbles on his feet and nearly passes out, but he had to keep moving, he had to find you.

So he quickly puts his mask on before people come outside of their homes to see what the ruckus is about, then he unties Haechan.

“Oh my God..oh my God, what the hell?!”

Haechan panics and shakes.

“Mark, you’re—you’re..the guy..”

“Haechan, we can talk about this later. What is the tallest building and where can I find it?”

Haechan points in the direction of the tallest building in the town. It’s 1,000 feet high and is owned by none other than Kingpin.

Mark’s eyes narrowed as he clenched his jaw.

He swings through town quickly to get to you.

Once at the building, he decided that it would be faster to climb.

Meanwhile, Taeyong has you tied up and gagged.

Tears stream down your face.

“It’s such a shame things had to be this way..I kinda liked you.” Taeyong strokes your cheek with his thumb.

His phone rings.

“What is it?”

“He should be there soon.” 

You hear a man’s voice say on the other line.

Taeyong gives a devilish smile and looks back at you as he hangs up.

“Perfect.” He winks.

He steps forward to you and takes your bound wrists in his hand. He takes your gag off with the other.

“Would you like to beg for your life now?” 

“Fuck you, Taeyong! I never did anything to you!”

Taeyong smiles when you curse. “You’re right. All you did was go to class and look pretty...oh and decide to date a superhero. You had to expect us to use you as leverage.”

You shook your head. “Taeyong, you’re not like your father, you’re better than him! Please don’t do this.”

Wind blew your hair back as Taeyong had opened one of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the top floor.

Taeyong’s smile fell when you mentioned his father.

“I know I’m better than him, sweetheart, I get right to the source of my problems.”

He strokes your cheek again. “You know..you’re a lot prettier when you don’t speak, but right now..I want you to scream for me.”

He suddenly pushes you out the window but grabs the end of the rope that has tied your hands up.

You let out a blood curdling scream as you stare down as the tiny people and cars so far below you. You cry even harder.

“Just like that, sweetheart, you sound beautiful.”

He smirks and ties the rope to a pole to keep your body dangling.

“Mark!!” You cry out when you see him in his Spider-Man suit climbing up the building towards you.

“No! Don’t come any closer! It’s a trap!!” You try to stop him but Mark doesn’t stop, you’re right there and he has to get to you.

“The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout..” Taeyong sings to himself as he picks up his father’s machine gun.

He aims it out of the window and at Mark.

“Down came the rain and washed the spider out.”

He pulls back on the trigger, allowing bullets to fly in the direction of the crawling Spider-Man. 

“Mark!!” You cry out once again as Mark let’s go with one hand and dangles with the other. He quickly moves from side to side to dodge the bullets.

He regains his position and continues climbing.

“Oh, he’s a stubborn spider.” Taeyong grins and unloads on him again, this time never stopping.

He moves it from side to side to catch him.

A bullet flies right over Mark, breaking his suit and cutting his skin. He curses then looks back up.

He had to pay attention, he had to get to you.

Taeyong goes maniacal with the gun but he just can’t seem to get him.

He stops when he’s out of bullets and Mark is just a few feet away.

You think he’s given up because he’s lost, but Taeyong got just what he wanted.

“Okay, sweetheart..” he unties the rope from the pole and holds it in his hands. “It’s time to fly like the beautiful angel you are.”

You look back at him with wide eyes. “Taeyong!”

He lets go of the rope. You fall out through the window fast and past Mark.

Mark throws his head into your direction and leaps off of the building towards you.

He tries to fly down fast but he can’t keep up with your falling body, he’s so close but he can’t get to you.

You cry and think about your life, you never imagined this would be how you’d die.

You see Mark coming after you with all his strength, you know he’s doing his best. But it was impossible, there’s no way he’d get to you in time.

And so you felt yourself lose consciousness.

Your head fell back and your body fell limply.

“No, no, no, no don’t give up on me!” Mark yells and stretches his arms out, he shoots two strings from his wrists.

They latch onto you, he pulls back as hard as he can, your body flying into his arms as he still falls down the side of the building.

He spins around and shoots another string onto the building. His fall stops abruptly and his body flings itself into the glass. He holds you in his arms to protect you from the shattered glass.

You both fall onto the floor of an office. People jump up and yell in shock.

“Oh my god..it’s Spider-Man.” a few people say with gasps.

But Mark is focused on you. He doesn’t feel the pain from the impact, for his heart breaks for you. He unties your hands and holds one of them in his own.

“Y/n..y/n.. please talk to me..” leans over you and shakes you gently. Your body lies limply. Your mouth is slightly parted and your eyes are still closed. He hears a faint heartbeat.

He starts to tear up when you don’t respond.

“Y/n, I’m sorry..” he lifts his mask off and kisses you on the cheek.

He doesn’t care who sees him and can possibly expose his identity.

“Please..just wake up..tell me you’re okay..” he then kisses you on the lips.

Your eyes flutter open when you feel his soft lips on yours.

You place your hands on the side of his face, the people in the office clap and cheer.

You breathe him in before kissing him back. He pulls away and smiles down at you. His wavy brown hair hangs over your face and his eyes are teary.

“Are you crying, loser?” You give him a small smile.

Mark laughs and kisses you again.

Once you assured him that you were okay, Mark hunted Taeyong down at one of his father’s warehouses. Taeyong, Johnny, and Yuta waited there for him with a gun and several weapons, but they weren’t  prepared for Spider-Man’s speed, strength, and agility, especially when all three were amplified by Mark’s anger. He gave them all an ass whooping they’d remember for the rest of their life, then had the cops come to arrest them. Mark didn’t go into much detail, but you knew that Kingpin, disappointed and hurt, disowned Taeyong and left him on his own to deal with his own actions.

When Taeyong tried to tell him who SpiderMan was, Kingpin called him a fool and deemed him mentally unstable, for a scrawny and nerdy kid with Harry Potter glasses couldn’t possibly have been the Spiderman that was kicking their asses.

Everyone thought Taeyong was crazy and Mark was never identified by the people in the office room.

Johnny and Yuta gave Taeyong up and admitted that they didn’t know who Spider-Man was, for if they had gone along with him, they’d only look crazy too.

Taeyong was arrested for attempted murder of both you and Haechan and sentenced to life in prison. He was tried as an adult and without the assistance of his wealthy father, didn’t stand a chance at getting away.

———

[December]

Finals were over and you could finally celebrate with Mark. 

You joined him for the Winter Dance while dressed in a long, sleeveless icy blue dress.

“You look beautiful, like a princess.”

Mark blushed as he took your hand and led you to the dance floor.

You smiled and laughed out. He too looked dashingly handsome like a prince in his black suit and a bow tie that matched your dress. His hair was parted to the side and smoothed back, he didn’t have his glasses so he looked older, more mature.

The two of you swayed side to side. You laid your head on his shoulder and drank in the scent of his cologne. He smelled like flowers, his touch felt warm on your bare back.

There were stars decorating the dark gym in order to set the mood. White snowflakes also danced across the ceiling.

“I...have something to ask you..”

His low voice vibrates against your chest.

You raised your head and looked at all of the beauty marks on his neck and jaw. Funny enough, they were in all the places that you wanted to kiss.

“Yeah?”

Your soft voice makes him weak, he wants to hold you like this forever.

“Will you..” he clears his throat and glances down at you nervously. “..be my girlfriend?”

Your face lights up, you smile widely.

“I thought you’d never ask, Potter.” You kiss him on the lips and spend the rest of the night together.

[emsartwork]

i forgot to add: how do design ????!?!??????

So I’m not expert but this is how I think of character design! (also sry if you were asking about clothing/outfit design thats a little different)

under the cut because this is long im so sorry

So in my opinion there are three really important aspects for character design!

AESTHETIC: obviously everybody’s aesthetic is different, but this is more about what vibe the character has, what makes them THEM design wise. 

INTENTION: who is the character supposed to be? this can range from their personality, their back story, their occupation, or their role in the story, but the design need to fit that intention.

COHESION: does the design go well together? or do certain aspects clash too much? obviously you can have disjointed parts of a character design, and if those serve a purpose then thats fine, but if its so disjointed its distracting from the character as a whole you might need to tweak things. 

AESTHETIC: the contrasting part of the design (white flowers in dark hair, dark trim on dress, and dark shoes) provide interest to the eye. The mixing of round and sharp shapes also keeps the design from feeling “boring” even though its relatively simple. 

INTENTION: so what role would this little doodle character have? according to her design elements, shes cute and friendly with her round shapes (bouncy balls, babies, etc), but could have a sharp/fast/active or even dangerous edge to her with the triangles (arrows, knives etc). of course the design doesn’t limit her possible roles. She could be a bubbly younger sister who teases the older protagonist, or maybe she’s the villain hiding in plain sight. the shape this character design doesn’t really have is squares(think bricks and rocks), which communicates that she might not be really strong, steady, or reliable. 

COHESION: repeating the curves across her whole design builds cohesion, it communicates that “yes, these are all part of the same character”, it also allows the eye to “rest” on a familiar shape or line. 

NOW LETS LOOK AT SOME DESIGNS

(Boku no Hero Academia) so both of these characters are super heroes, but have vastly different design elements. so lets analyze them.

OCHAKO(the pink one) is all rounds, with a few pointed shapes in hair mostly, but a little on her costume as well. Her personality is cute, bubbly, and friendly which perfectly suits her soft and bouncy design. Howevre she also has a very slight edge to her, which is seen her determination and drive to improve herself over the course of the anime. 

KIRISHIMA(the red one) at first glance, seems to be super pointy!! shapes that are usually seen on villains or really dangerous characters, but while he IS sharp(literally sometimes) and sometimes aggressive, he is also made of squares, which perfectly suits his loyal “i gotchu bro” attitude towards most of the other characters in the anime.  

ISSUE AREAS: so the only problems i have with Ochako and Kirishima’s designs is that their costumes each have one area that clashes a little too much for my taste. With Ochako, the belt over the color blocking stripes down her crotch are......questionable taste wise. I think the design would be better if the pink chest ended above the belt in a shallow v. not only would this mirror the triangle aspects of her hair, it would fit the belt outline, and continue the trend her costume has of being “grounded” or “heavy”. Kirishima has those.... gears??? around his shoulders??? and while the gear teeth are technically squares, the gear shape itself is a circle, which is a shape that isn’t present anywhere else in his design. I think changing the gears to something similar to his boots or his mask/headgear would create a more cohesive design(also the gears just look hard to move in)

These two characters are presented as individuals so their costumes don’t have to match at all even though they are still seen as “connected” because of the art style for the face, hair, and body. 

In a group giving the outfits cohesive motifs is an easy way to present a strong team image! In Yuki Yuna is a Hero, the girls all have colored lines(usually princess seam placement), armor or fabric hip accents, covered arms, and similar flower shapes in their hair. The Aesthetic of each girl is strong in a monochrome signature color, but not over whelming as the black+white connects them even in color so they aren’t out of place. 

Speaking of color! if your characters are all similar looking (like same body for all of them) you can communicate their personality and aesthetic just with color! (only gonna talk about a few of the ponies) Pinkie Pie (the really pink one) is energetic and playful, so her color scheme is a variation of the primary colors(happy, child like), and have one of the more saturated colors(high energy, intense) of these characters in a large quantity. Apple Jack (the orange one) is a down to earth farm girl, and her color palette is accordingly, mostly earth tones, its also warm analogous colors, which makes her appear un-complicated and warm personality wise. the pop of red is a nice touch to add interest, but notice that its uses sparingly in her cutie mark and tail accessory. Rarity on the other hand is elegant and fussy, her high contrast scheme of white and dark blue/purples gives her more visual interest and is something that makes her appear more “complex” in addition to the gradient thats included in her hair. the colors are also all cool colors, bringing to mind cool glass or water which both have connotations of grace and beauty.

however all the characters here are unified by their colors being on the pastel side, which is also important for a cohesive cast.

another, short, note on color; making the color/line/shading of your figure different from the background can help them stand out, this is used ESPECIALLY in children’s media, but can be applied to any illustration or animation as needed.

Color can also help your characters “read” quickly on screen, the powerpuff girls are a prime example, of having a distinct color blocking and silhouette. even the color blobs at the top and my crappy hand silhouettes STILL read as the characters despite being broken down into abstract elements. I also really enjoy the thick outline in the powerpuff girls, it really makes the characters pop to the foreground even though they have pretty simple designs and are often in a colorful setting.

Also, for a lot of animation, silhouette is INCREDIBLY important for your characters, some designers sketch silhouettes and then design the particulars its so important to nail the shape. These examples from Coraline are some of my favorites (though Laika wins in my heart every time no matter what lmao) because the simple shapes are SO CLEAR and indicative of the character, you literally don’t need to have watched the movie to know these are each different characters with different personalities and roles. 

silhouette can also help tell the story. In Kubo and the two strings (another Laika film) the above three characters are sisters. One has chosen to leave her home in the heavens to live on earth, and the other two stay in their roles as “heavenly” warriors. This is even shown through their designs, the two sisters are weighted on top and their cloaks don’t even touch the ground, while the first woman has trailing, heavy sleeves, hair, and robes all grounding her and emphasizing her connection with the earth.

another example of shape/silhouette reflecting the story, In The Croods, the family of cavemen are for the most part very top heavy, with large torsos and arms, usually in a more hunched over position, while the newcomer, Guy, is bottom heavy with thin arms and stands more upright. In the plot, the family represents the old ways, the strength and rules that have helped them survive, they look like very stereotypical “cavemen”, while Guy resembles the modern man, and appropriately is associated with new ideas and forward thinking.

MORE SHAPES, in DC super hero girls each girl has a distinct personality emulated by her shape language. Zatana is dramatic curves and edges, Super girl is hard, straight edges against curves, giving her a solid muscular shape. Wonder Woman, though also strong, is taller and leaner, lending to a confident leader type. Green Lantern is slim, her lines all flow into each other giving her a go with the flow look. Bumble Bee is, of course, tiny, but her boots and gauntlets add weight and strength to her otherwise small frame. Batgirl is lanky and has a lot of pointed style lines, reminding the viewer of a skinny cat (ironic what with cat woman i know) or weasel which mirrors her preferred “sneaky” crime fighting style.  (also yes this was just an excuse for me to gush abt how much i love the dcshg designs shut up)

so in my opinion, Cartoon Saloon’s The Secret of Kells is PERFECT in aesthetic, intention, and cohesion. Kells focuses very strongly on creating silhouette WITHIN the larger figure shape via color and line, most of the characters pictured here have no neck, the one who does, Brendan, is the main character and the use of negative space that cuts into his shape is used to draw attention to him. Kells is also very strongly inspired by Medieval Illuminated manuscripts (namely, the book of kells lmao). The characters still manage to stand out against outrageously detailed backgrounds via their simple shapes and strong color blocking. 

Aisling, a secondary but very important character, is not human, and has a totally different shape language from the rest of the characters. She is thin and pointy, while most of the others are round or square. Aisling also has the most negative space making up her silhouette, compare the triangles made by her arms and legs in the above picture to the figures in the first image where everybody’s body is self contained with no negative space. She is also very different color wise, very pale and cool colored, as opposed to the warm saturated colors of the human characters. (yes this was another excuse to gush abt one of my fave pieces of media deal with it)

hopefully that wasn’t too rambley and actually helps? if yall have more specific design questions lemma know lol

[its-ya-boi-autumn]

Hey if you’re still interested in taking requests I definitely have a few that I want you to write since everything you write is so in character and I’m honestly in love with your blog 😳 I was thinking like the story “A long drive with Hisoka” but the reader has been needy and thinking of the clown daddy the entire ride and eventually it gets too much- thanks for ur time 💕🥺

Sure can do! I wrote this as a kind of part two to the long drive one, hope that’s okay! I noticed a lot of people liked that and I actually really loved writing it. Also thank you so much it’s much appreciated, I do try to keep them as in character as possible, even with writing the cute affection and stuff (its really difficult sometimes but hey it turns out good) 😊 also, thank you for your time in writing the request, happy to receive them~

The house was freezing when you opened the door, a gust of chilly air spitting back at you. Your body shivered violently as you mustered the strength to walk through the door. How had it gotten so cold? You’d thought you had left the heat on before you left for work. It had never been like this before. You wrapped your arms around your chest, curling your body forward in an attempt to get some sort of warmth.

You had nearly forgotten Hisoka had followed you in, the sound of the door shutting and locking making you jump. He cocked a brow.

“It’s quite cold in here. Did you forget your heating payment?” he joked, a smirk playing on his face. You rolled your eyes.

“No... I don’t know why it’s this cold...” you mumbled more to yourself that to him. You flipped the switch on so you could see. Light flooded the room for you to see everything still in place. For some reason you thought it wouldn’t be, or that something would be missing. Whatever the reason, you quickly pushed it out of your mind. All you needed right now was something to warm you up.

A thought crossed your mind.

Hisoka

Your cheeks brightened to a pink shade immediately. Oh God, not now. Not him. You turned to face him. He wasn’t looking at you, instead admiring your living room. He had to of noticed your eyes on him, though there was no sign of this. His pink hair fluffed down into his face in an attractive manner. Your eyes drew to his lips. What could they do?

You turned your head away again, your face now on fire. You quickly paced over the hard wooded floors, forgetting to take your shoes off. Hisoka’s eyes burned into your back, curious. You rushed to turn the corner into the kitchen. Your hands reached up for a mug to start making some hot cocoa. It wasn’t winter, but the sound of the chocolate drink made your mouth water. Bonus points for it being able to warm your now cold body.

The sound of shoes being dropped onto the floor startled you again. You didn’t know why you were being so jumpy, maybe it was the sudden arousal building up in your stomach. You felt a chill run up your spine, but for something other than the air.

“Is everything alright y/n? You seem a bit off.” a smirk played on his lips as he turned the corner. Did he know? Oh jeez how could he know? Hisoka was rather perceptive but he couldn’t read minds, right?

“Uh, y-yeah just a little chilly... I guess... do you want some hot chocolate?” you offered, trying to push the thoughts in your head out. He wasn’t wearing his regular tight-fitted clothing. Instead, he donned a grey zip up hoodie and some probably random sweatpants. The jacket was open to show the light blue t short he wore underneath. His sleeves were rolled up to reveal the muscles in his crossed forearms. His head tilted, thinking.

“Hmm... sure~ sounds sweet.” he licked his lips while keeping his eyes on you. Taking a deep, ragged breath, you made to pick up another mug from above you.

“Here, let me get that.” he was behind you so fast you didn’t even realize it, taking the mug from the rack and setting it down for you. It wasn’t like you couldn’t reach it, you’d gotten the other one by yourself just fine. Something about the way his arm came around you as he set the glass down made you nearly squeal. He didn’t move it either. He kept it there, caging you in. You pressed your lips into a thin line. Hold. It. In. Another breath washed over you, not calming much of your anxiety.

“Mmm... what’s the matter? Did I do something again? You don’t have to worry about me leaving dear.” Hisoka made an effort to comfort you, but it didn’t work. He had to of known what was going on. He was sensitive to others aura, he had to feel the lust driving through your veins right now. Maybe that’s why he pressed himself so closely. You inhaled for another deep breath, then turned, ducking under his arm to make for the fridge. You didn’t reply. Hisoka sighed, obviously annoyed that you didn’t answer him again.

You grabbed for the chocolate milk so it would taste better when you heated it up. To most, it sounded like way too much chocolate, that and the fact that you used two packets from the box to make it. You liked it that way though, a lot of chocolate was good. Sweeter. Hopefully Hisoka would like it too.

You poured both glasses and set them in the microwave, ready to heat up. Hisoka stayed in the same spot, nestled into the corner of your countertops, leaning on his elbow. He kept his gaze on you. He was still waiting for that answer.

“You wanna watch a movie or something? I’ll probably be up a while so I figure it might work well.” you suggested. Hisoka seemed to consider this.

“Depends on the movie.”

“Well, what do you like to watch? I assume nothing ‘boring’ like rom coms or some random adventure movie.” you felt yourself giggle near the ending of your words. Hisoka hummed, standing and moving closer to you. Now you felt the shift in his aura. It wasn’t quite the same as yours, though it seemed he wanted to bring whatever you were feeling out more.

“Whatever you wish, y/n.” his stupid smile spread over his face again. Why was he so attractive all of a sudden? This was dumb. You should have pushed harder for him to not come home with you. Part of you hit yourself mentally for even thinking that though. You were lonely. You lived by yourself and didn’t even have a pet to accompany you. Who were you kidding? You needed this right now...

“I guess something dramatic will work...” you decided while taking the mugs out from the microwave to stir in the hot chocolate powder you’d readied. Hisoka remained behind you, watching you intently. You paid no mind to his eyes on your back.

“We’ll have to watch in my room though, the platform I use doesn’t work out on this tv... I hope that’s alright with you. If you want to we can do something else if that makes you uncomfortable.” you explained without turning around, focused on stirring. A chuckled sounded from behind you.

“It’s quite difficult to make me uncomfortable, you know that by now right?” he had leaned down next to your ear and mumbled. His breath tickled your skin, goosebumps raising all over you arms and shoulders. He smelled sweet, just as you’d thought. Vanilla radiating through your sinus. It was nearly intoxicating, sugary sweet. You pressed the front of your hips against the counter to try and move away from him with what little room he provided. You wouldn’t cave this time. Not like this.

Turning around, your back being forced somewhat painfully into the edge of the countertop, you handed him the mug you’d made his hot cocoa in. He took it from your hand, his nails grazing over your hand gently, ticklish. He sipped the mug quietly, standing up fully to tower over you again. You stared up at him, taking a sip from your own mug. The warm cocoa washed down your throat, welcome. The thickness reminded you of something else. Hisoka.

You began to become annoyed with the constant thought of him, especially since this time it was sexually. You didn’t want to imagine these things, not when he was here standing right in front of you. Not what you knew that it was even possible. You grunted lightly, moving past him to make for your room. He followed close behind you.

Hisoka sat down first, actually careful not to spill the contents all over your newly washed sheets. You set your mug down on the white dresser to turn your tv on, snatching up the remote in the process. Once the tv was on you placed the remote back onto the dresser. You figured you wouldn’t need it after a while considering how tired you may be. If you needed it you’d just get up again. You picked up the cup and sat down next to him against the pillows. You set the mug back down on the side table, leaning back against the soft comfort of your sheets and pillows.

For the most part, the two of you paid attention to the film. Neither you nor Hisoka made any move to start anything other than slight movements to adjust your comfort. For some reason, near the end, something in your legs felt warm. You adjusted again, shifting to try and get rid of the feeling. You knew what it was and you knew it was best to ignore it. Once again, Hisoka seemed to take notice of your change in aura.

“Is there something wrong? You’re tense...” he made the comment as he removed his jacket, letting it fall to the floor while he leaned back against your bed frame, eyeing you mischievously. You turned your attention to him. Well, more to his biceps than anything. The sight made your thighs clench tightly.

“I’ve just got something on my mind.” it wasn’t entirely a lie, though you were afraid to tell him exactly what. Though you were almost positive he already knew. Hisoka hummed, sitting forward more to look at your face. His expression was playful, making your cheeks tone red again. His brow cocked.

“And what might that be?” you knew he’d ask that question. You honestly didn’t know how to answer. Did you just flat out tell him? Did you tease it out? Hint at it? Before you could think of a way to tell him, Hisoka had already caged you under him with his arms. You weren’t quite laying down, but you noticed your body had slumped and your legs parted slightly. Enough room for him to get between despite his size.

“I think I know, but I don’t want to be wrong and have you get upset with me~” he set himself up on his elbows so his face was closer to yours, a smirk playing on his lips like usual. This time it was different though. It wasn’t playful like normal, it was lust filled, hungry almost. His tongue swiped over his lips. You only managed a nod for him to do something. Hisoka smiled more now, sitting up on his knees to undo the button and zipper of your jeans. He wasted no time in teasing them off of you. Once they were removed, his hands pressed down onto your thighs, moving upwards and inwards with obvious intent.

Your shirt came off next, with you not wanting to have to wait too long. You were already feeling needy from the start and Hisoka was as impatient as you. His hands felt up the fabric of your bra, cupping your breasts nicely. The undergarment was thin enough for your nipples to perk through, allowing Hisoka to run his thumb over them without much barrier. You were already squirming under him.

“Hisoka...” his name fell from your lips without much thought. You liked the sound of it. He chuckled, continuing to work on the sensitive buds. Your back arched ever so slightly to push up against his hands more. He took the opportunity to move his hands under your back to undo the clasps. Ridding you of the garment quickly he made work of using his mouth to satisfy your growing need. His warm, wet tongue glided easily over the soft skin of your nipple. You had no idea why he was being so gentle, you’d taken him as the rough type.

While he used his mouth to suck at one breast, one of his hands moved back up to grasp your other, his fingers pinching the nipple and tugging lightly. His free hand trailed down your heated stomach over the thin fabric covering the most sensitive spots. His fingers traced against the slit, more of your wetness now evident beneath his fingertips. Instead of taking them off, Hisoka moved them aside to allow a calloused finger to pass over your clit, barely grazing the bundle of nerve endings. More goosebumps popped up on your thighs, the action sending little shockwaves through your legs all the way down to your toes. There was so much going on and you felt so sensitized.

“Tell me what you want~” he let off of your now swollen breast to look you in the eye. You still weren’t accustomed to making eye contact during sexual encounters, so you gaze naturally drifted down to his hand between your legs, watching his long fingers hover over where you wanted him most. You thought for a moment, unsure of what it was exactly that you even wanted.

“I want... you to touch me...” shame was muffling your voice. You turned your face away from him to escape whatever his eyes held. His face pressed up against your jawline, kitten licking the sensitive spot by your ear. A gasp left your mouth. 

“You don’t have to be so shy~ just tell me, I won’t bite. Unless you want me to.” the last words resonated in an almost growl. Hisoka took your skin from your collarbone between his teeth, nipping gently. You were surprised to find a part of you liked it. Your hands moved down to his and pressed it down against your core.

“Th-there...” you uttered to him. You could feel the smirk against your skin. Hisoka let his fingers work against you. Friction lit sparks all over your thighs making them shake against his hips. He took your chin in one hand to make you face him. His thumb traced your bottom lip and he snickered again.

“How lovely. Such a pretty face.” his praise only added to the heat inside of your body. His fingers picked up the pace a little for you to move with. The same hand that held your chin cupped your cheek. Naturally, you pressed against it comfortingly.

It was sudden when you felt your walls stretch over his fingers. Nothing too much to handle, just surprising to feel at first. The curl of them as they passed over your tight walls made your body curl as well. Your lips parted in a moan when he dragged his fingers back out.

“Oh? So you do like things inside of you. Well, allow me to assist you~” Hisoka took his shirt off, throwing it to the side as well. Your hand went to pull down his sweatpants. He had gone commando that day, of course. There was no worry of his briefs being in the way. You pumped him lightly while he made to take your panties off. It seemed you had done too much, since instead of finding the way around your legs, he simply ripped them off your body. You hadn’t expected that in the slightest. Your hand squeezed his member gently due to the surprise. A groan rumbled in his chest and throat. A warning.

Hisoka quickly pulled your hand off and forced your legs up over his shoulders. He took your hips in his larger hands and lifted you up so you aligned better with him. Your own hands gripped onto his fingers, something to hold onto. You glanced up at his face. He was staring down at you. The head of his cock brushed against your weeping hole, dripping down onto the bed. So much for your clean sheets.

Hisoka held onto you tightly, making absolute sure you wouldn’t move when he pushed in. It proved useful of course, for when he did go all the way, you tried to squirm away, not used to the feeling of something that big entering your cunt. Your fingers wrenched themselves onto his as he pulled back out only to thrust into you again. He was trying to let you adjust while still moving. Hisoka’s own moans started sounding as he picked up his pace. It burned slightly at first but over time things became slicker. Every movement slid nicely in and out of you. Pretty soon you were crying out for him, which you had expected to happen. You couldn’t feel the burning sensation anymore, just the pound of the tip of his member bouncing off your cervix. In a way it hurt, but it was the type of pain that made you feel even more turned on. A deep ache that let you know just how deep he would push into you to get you to come for him.

Curses left your mouth and your hands came up over your head. You refrained from covering your face again, though it was tempting. You felt a twitch inside of you, signaling Hisoka’s near ending. He let your legs fall off of his shoulders only to forced them back so your knees nearly touched your chest. He somehow managed to go even deeper, really pressing himself against the very back of your core.

“I apologize in advance if I hurt you dear~” his voice was heavy, slurred from arousal. You could barely let out a response before Hisoka set a punishing pace into you. You clawed at his biceps and shoulders, your nails digging into his skin for some form of coping with how hard he was pounding into you. It did hurt. A lot. Yet somewhere in that pain you found some sort of pleasure. Something that sparked your body in a way you hadn’t felt in a long time.

By this point your voice was nearly just squeaks and whines. You felt yourself getting closer and you were a little surprised that Hisoka hadn’t finished yet. Though his closeness came to a near end as his moved faster than your body could really comprehend. His breathing was labored now and he couldn’t even moan anymore, just grunt aggressively next to your ear. Normally the sound would have made you laugh, but right now it was probably the hottest thing you’d ever heard him do. The sound pushed you over the edge, hot liquid spilling past your folds and squirting all over both you and Hisoka. He forced a few more deep thrusts into your quivering body and let himself release onto your stomach, not risking coming inside of you. The liquid from yourself still hadn’t halted either. Hisoka parted your folds and watched as you squirted for him, a smile creeping over his lips.

“I didn’t know you could do that~” he complimented, rubbing over your sore cunt with care. Your legs clamped closed even with his hand still between them. Soon he took his hand back, laying next to you on his side. You were actually happy to see that he was flaccid now and you wouldn’t have to endure it again. You enjoyed it in the moment, but you legs already started to throw and bruises started yellowing wheee his fingertips had bit into your soft skin. You couldn’t even reply to his comment, completely out of breath.

His body moved closer to yours, an attempt at comforting you. You felt a surge in your stomach and legs, telling you to move away from him, but you were to tired to even try. So you just let him pull the blankets over you and coddle you quietly until he eventually turned on another movie for the two of you to watch. You didn’t see which one he turned on though due to your consciousness falling completely.

[insfiringyou]

BTS - Your first time having sex with V

Contains: Fluff. Smut. Vaginal sex. Sex outdoors.

AN: Although this is marked as reader, this is imagined with Taehyung’s OTP, Cassandra. Find our more about our headcanon universe and original characters here.

To read each member & their girlfriend’s headcanon universe fics in order, follow the links here: RM   /   Jin /   Suga /   J-Hope   /   Jimin   /   V   /   Jungkook

Our full masterlist can be found here :) & this scenario can also be found on Ao3 here

(Photo credit goes to: https://bangtan-sonyeon-scans.tumblr.com/)

Rated content below the cut

You saw him from a distance, leaning against a broad-trunked tree, facing the ancient palace and watching as small groups of tourists walked by. You felt your heart thud in your chest, despite yourself, and took a deep breath as you approached him, tugging down the hem of your plain white camisole and adjusting the strap of the fabric tote bag on your shoulder.

“Hi.” You called from behind him. He turned around at the sound of your voice, away from the crowd. He looked a little dazed for a moment, before he smiled softly.

“Hi. I’m glad you came.” Without warning, he leaned down and kissed you gently on the lips. He had pulled away before you had time to register what had happened, but you felt your heart thud once more and you had to force yourself to close your mouth. He laughed gently at your reaction as you looked away from him to the floor. It wasn’t like you had never kissed him before. In fact, you had done a little more than kiss in the past. It was just that, until he had texted you yesterday evening asking if you wished to go for a walk in the woods by Changdeokgung Palace, you had not spoken for three weeks. If you were honest with yourself, the fault also lied in yourself. You had decided not to text or message him until he did so first and so the stalemate began. You didn’t even know whether or not he was your boyfriend. You had been seeing each other for the past three months, yet he had never said as much, and you had never asked.

“I like your skirt.” He nodded towards your long, floaty skirt. It was decorated in jewel toned embroidery; greens and purples and oranges. You smiled and thanked him.

“Shall we walk this way?” Taehyung indicated down a narrow, winding path which led towards a cluster of trees. You nodded and had to stop yourself from letting out a mutter of surprise as he reached down and took your hand in his. You walked towards the park in silence, passing several other couples and families before you met the thick line of trees.

Eventually, he spoke. “I liked your play.”

You frowned, confused. “Which one?”

“Hamlet. At the Jeongdong.” He shrugged. “You made a great Ophelia.”

Your forehead wrinkled even further. “You saw my play? When?”

“Last Thursday.”

You let out a small laugh, without much humour. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going? We could have done something afterwards.”

He looked at you. “I thought you were probably busy.”

You shook your head as you turned a corner and passed a small, stone carving by the side of the path. “I could have at least seen you...said hello.” You sighed before deciding to let it drop. “I’m playing Honey in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf next...at the National. We start practising in two weeks.”

“Oh.” You turn another bend in the path and find yourself passing a small fish pond. “I’ve never seen the play. I enjoyed the film. Elizabeth Taylor was great.”

You glance at the small body of water and watch the shimmery gold and piebald yellow carp as they swim just below the surface. “I suppose you’ll be away again by the time it is on.”

“Away?” He turned to glance at you.

“On tour. You’re going to America.”

He paused. “Oh yeah. I forgot.” He sounded a little sad. The pond ended and you passed a group of wooden benches, scattered between the trees. There was an elderly couple seated at one, holding hands as they watched the fish in the pond from a distance. Without really thinking, you squeezed Taehyung’s hand tighter. He looked down at you as you smiled.

“Look.” You made a small gesture to the pair on the bench but kept your voice a whisper. “Cute old couple.”

His expression was incredibly gentle beneath the canopy of green trees. “They look so content.” He held your hand tighter.

“I hope I'm as happy as they look when I’m their age.” You said quietly, passing by them. They dissapeared from view as you turned another corner. The path branched off into three lanes. You chose the left strand. You became aware that the number of people you passed was growing less and less every minuite as you walked deeper into the parkland.

Taehyung moved your hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to your knuckles. “I’m sure you will be.” You continued walking for another five minutes in silence, evetually letting go of his hand and walking side by side, before you finally broke the quiet.

“I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me again.” You admitted as you turned down another path. “I thought maybe you didn’t like me that much.” You shrugged.

There was a pause before he spoke. “Of course I like you.” He sounded confused.

You glanced at him. He looked beautiful in the shade. “I just thought...since we haven’t spoken for a while.” You gathered your thoughts. “I wasn’t sure what I meant to you. Whether we were dating, or...?”

He looked puzzled, his gaze dropping to his shoes as you both subconsciously slowed your speed. “I’d have said we were dating.”

“Oh.”

“We’ve been intimate.”

You felt your cheeks redden. “Yes.” You agreed, remembering how you had taken him in your mouth and how his fingers had pressed against your opening, sinking into you until you gasped into his open mouth. You didn’t question his reasoning. You thought plenty of people would be happy to be intimate with someone without dating them. You took a quick glance at Taehyung and noted how, unlike yourself, he didn’t seem embarassed. His warm, caramel coloured skin seemed to glow in the sunlight as the trees parted into a clearing. There was another small pond surrounded by a low brick wall. There was no one else in sight. You hadn’t seen another person now for over half an hour.

He reached over to you and took your hand in his once more, leading you around the edge of the pond and back into the canopy of trees at the far side of the clearing. Another minute passed before you spoke. “Do you know where we are?”

He shook his head softly. “No.”

“Oh.” You briefly looked around you. “Do you think you can get us back?”

He thought for a moment. “Yes. I’m sure I can.” He turned to look at you. “Are you worried?”

Your eyes met his. “No.” He looked incredibly beautiful. You sighed, leaning in to meet his lips. His mouth touched yours gently as you turned your head and pressed yourself closer. In unison, you parted your lips to allow your tongues to meet. His right hand came around the back of your head and brushed through your hair, holding you against him. His other hand left your own and moved to brush your cheekbone as his tongue brushed against yours. You quickly felt your breath increasing as he kissed you like this; it felt incredibly sexy and, had you not been completely confident that you were alone, you would have felt exposed and indecent. As it happened, having him confirm his feelings for you after months of uncertainty had been enough to make you ache for him. You had forgotten, in the three weeks apart, how good he had made you feel the last time you were alone together. You thought that every time his eyes moved across your features, he made you feel like Helen of Troy. You had never felt more desirable with someone before.

You moaned into his mouth as his palm left your face and brushed the white strap of your camisole down your shoulder, causing the strap of your tote bag to drop to the crook of your elbow. He paused to caress your upper arm gently before repeating the motion with your other strap. You both moved off the loosely marked path without thinking, him leading you backwards until your back pressed against the trunk of a tree. You moved your hands to tug the thin, white material of his shirt from the waistband of his linen trousers. They were tucked in loosely and the shirt came free easily. You ran your hands along his bare stomach, over his bellybutton and delighted in the small sounds he made as your hands came in contact with his skin. Slowly, you moved your palm lower, not really thinking about what you were doing until your hand skimmed along his clothed erection. Like the shirt, the linen pants were very thin and, you fancied, you could feel every vein and groove through his underwear. He groaned loudly into your open mouth before pulling his lips away from yours to look at you. He gazed down through thick eyelashes and you felt your own breath hitch in reply. His desire for you was obvious but he moved his eyes from yours to briefly look around the open space, cautiously. You were no longer in view of the small path but the trees here were still widely spread out.

Slowly, he reached down for your hand and led you over a small incline in the forest floor. The hill soon levelled out before dropping again. You followed him back down until the ground was level again. You thought that even if somebody did walk past on the main path, they would not be able to see or hear you from their vantage. His hands and mouth were back on you as you allowed yourself to be lowered onto the floor, dropping your canvas bag to the side. The ground was mossy and a little spongy, supporting and cushioning your body surprisingly well. You moved your hands beneath you to push aside a few twigs as he joined you.

You thought he might protest as you hitched up the hem of your long, loosely fitting skirt and tugged down your plain, pink panties. After all, this was not the most comfortable place to be fucking, even if it wasn’t your first time together. He simply kissed you passionately in return, however, as you ran your hands along his waistband once more. The air was warm and everything felt still and silent; you would have been able to hear a pin drop in that moment. Despite everything, you thought it felt right that you should do it here and now. You didn’t think you would be able to wait to find your way back to the tourist site anyhow, and you certainly didn’t think you would be able to recapture this moment of utter stillness and silence later in his third story apartment in the middle of Gangnam.

He ran his hand along your right leg, starting at your calf and ending at your upper thigh as he leaned over you. You reached over to the colourful fabric of your bag and unlatched the magnetic button. You felt inside with one hand, the other slowly pulling the white cord of Taehyung’s trousers until the small bow came undone. You found your wallet amongst a few cosmetics and an empty plastic bottle of Coca Cola and pulled it out, quickly snapping open the button which held it closed and reaching inside of the flaps for a condom. Taehyung raised his eyebrow, briefly, a small smile playing on his lips as you pulled out the small square foil and tore the edge. Reaching forward as he balanced himself above you, you pulled down his white linen trousers and plain, cotton underwear to free his erection. As remembered, he was both longer and thicker than you had initially anticipated and you found yourself admiring him through your eyelashes, your mouth lulling open as you pinched the tip of the latex and rolled it onto him slowly. He moaned as your hand grasped him, guiding him to the space between your thighs.

He sank into you slowly. It felt a little uncomfortable due to his size and the lack of preparation, but he anticipated this as he paused.

“Is it too much?” He whispered.

You shook your head and pecked his lips, once. He moved one hand to your face and stroked your cheek a little roughly with his thumb before burying himself fully. You gasped together, pressing your faces close.

“It’s good.” You reassured him as he gazed down at you. “You feel good...” He hesitated for a moment before moving his hips against you, pulling almost all of the way out before pushing back inside. You felt him stretch you; could feel the tip of his cock pressing and brushing against your sensitive walls as he fucked you slowly, all the while watching your expression with slightly parted lips. You moved your head upwards to meet his lips. His hands trailed to your hips as he pushed his pelvis against the backs of your thighs; thrusting into you as far as he could go. You moaned breathily as he increased his speed. You suddenly heard the flapping of wings somewhere above your head, in the canopy of trees as a bird took flight. You thought Taehyung might have suddenly become aware of his surroundings as he pushed against you, now practically slamming into you in an attempt to reach his high. You held onto his shoulders tightly as he moved his mouth towards your chest and began to kiss along your breasts, above the fringe of your camisole; in wet, open mouthed kisses.

You felt him shudder against you as his hips snapped against you frantically. His lips met yours once again and he moaned loudly into your open mouth as you held him. His eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks like the delicate wings of a moth as he came. You felt him twitch inside you and he held you still for a moment, savouring the sensation, before slowly pulling out of you. He reached down, between your slightly damp thighs, to grasp the condom as he withdrew. You exhaled in a long, deep breath as he moved away from you, turning away from you to remove the condom. You took a moment to gather yourself, suddenly feeling a little ridiculous as you looked at your surroundings and a little ashamed at your lack of self control. You sighed and reached for your discarded underwear, slipping them back on and rolling your skirt back down over your bare knees.

Taehyung had knotted the condom and held it in one hand. He reached for your hand with the other and, with a sweet smile, pulled you to your feet. You brushed your cami and skirt down, smoothing out the fabric as you looked at him, your cheeks and chest flushed. He flashed his teeth in a grin as he reached with his spare hand and pulled a few twigs and leaves from your brunette hair.

“Thanks.” You said, reaching down to pick up your wallet and tote bag. “Here...” You reached into your bag and produced the empty bottle of Cola. “I don’t want you littering.” You kept a straight face, still feeling a little bashful as Taehyung took it from you and discarded the used condom in the bottle. You hid it back in your bag, promising yourself that you would get rid of it as soon as you passed a litter bin. He took your hand gently in his as he lead you back up the gentle slope and towards the deserted forest path.

“Does this mean I can call you my boyfriend?” You asked after a few minutes. You had once more passed the small fish pond and thought you would be able to make it back to the tourist path before it got too late and started to get dark.

He turned to look at you and grinned. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he flashed his teeth. You felt your chest ache once more at how sweet he looked, in the warm light of the afternoon. “I hope so.” He squeezed your hand tightly. “I hope I get to see your play...”

You paused. “Hmm?” Questioning.

“Virginia Woolf. I hope I get to see it before I go to America.”

You smiled and nodded. “I hope so too.” You stood on your tiptoes and kissed his cheek, inhaling his gentle, vetiver scent as you walked along the quiet path, hand in hand.

***

Thank you so much for reading. Please leave a like/comment.

To read each member & their girlfriend’s headcanon universe fics in order, follow the links here: RM   /   Jin /   Suga /   J-Hope   /   Jimin   /   V   /   Jungkook

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[hiyo-silver]

"What's Up You Guys It's Me, Bdenbrough!" - Totally An Art Channel

Summary: Bill finds love in creating a new type of content, deciding it may become more part of his regular posting schedule.

Chapter 1 2 3 4 + ao3

Taglist: @hazelash @fuckboykaspbrak @thesquidliesthuman @rachi0964 @beepbeep-losers @bigbilliamdenbro @jalenrose11 @sleepygaybrough @itandstrangerthingsfanfic @boopboopbichie @peachywyatt @aizeninlefox @sockwantstodie @ahoybyeler @yooonbum @coffeekaspbrak

A particularly blustery and rainy day brings a rush of blue creative energy to Bill’s mind. It’s October again, like when Georgie had gone missing. He doesn’t want to go outside or even have any of his friends over, so he decides the video he must film should be different than his normal ones, a different tone filling him.

He sits at his desk with some of his watercolors and colored pencils, ready to create something like he hasn’t in a long time. His art has been on the backburner for a while, school started a month ago and stripped him of his time and even his own personal way of thinking. It was all Algebra and Shakespearean sonnets. But now, he’ll really try and get himself back into it.

He ties his red locks back with a gray scrunchie, pulling on a sweatshirt to keep warm against the cold and the way the heater in the house has been failing for several years, it just hasn’t gotten around to being fixed. Space heaters and extra layers have always been enough for Bill and Georgie. They would never dare complain, Sharon and Zach try their best. And now Georgie isn’t there to complain to either, and Bill just goes quieter.

He really has been questioning himself recently. He wears a lot of hoodies and sweatshirts, especially the thick ones that sometimes even go down to his knees. Bev says he’s just going through a phase all girls do, having some body insecurity, it goes away after you try your hardest to like what God has given you.

He also really likes the look of his hair tucked up into beanies, a faux pixie cut. He still has to ask Sharon if he can get his hair all trimmed off, he wants it at least up to his ears, it’ll be out of the way then and he won’t have to put it up whenever it gets in his face. It’ll only be beneficial, even if Sharon doesn’t think it’s so cute.

Bill isn’t so sure it’s the same insecurity Bev has been feeling. She’s excited about growing a chest and her hips widening, but Bill can only feel fear for the impending changes of his body. He thinks it’s wrong. It hasn’t been so much of a problem before, but middle school has jump started deep feelings of discomfort with every piece of himself, except maybe his own mind.

He never has his nails groomed, but since he’ll be recording a view of his hands for this video he at least trims his nails off, shaping the squared out edges with a nail file, wincing at the sandpaper-y feel so close to his skin.

He finally does get that done though, washing the dust from his fingers and returning to find a way to set up his tablet for the angle he wants to have for this concept. It’s going to be a draw/sketch with me, hopefully turned paint with me when it comes to the watercolors he got recently. He hasn’t gotten to use them yet.

He gets his phone tilted to the paper, the camera not good enough to pick up on the subtle bumps and grooves in the paper, made for peak paint performance. He starts the camera and picks up his charcoal pencil, the one he picked up at the hobby lobby the other day when he went with Beverly so she could get some thread to embroider a design on her new denim skirt for school. He aunt had brought it for her from Portland when she came down for a week in summer, Bev just hasn’t gotten to customize it quite yet.

He starts the video with a shot of him sharpening the pencil with a small handheld pencil sharpener. “Whatup! It’s m-me bdenbrough back w-with your Saturday entertainment. Today I-I’m taking it a little slower than usual, calming a l-little. We’re d-doing a draw with me, I’m gonna b-be trying to keep a cool color sch-scheme here, and we’re just gonna have a l-little chat,” he says, smiling wistfully even though his face isn’t on camera and they wouldn’t be able to hear it.

He starts drawing out a general shape, small ovals to start out some sort of human, “I th-think I might draw a m-mermaid, get some mythical cr-creatures up in my sketch collection,” he decides out loud, drawing out a few ovals to create a torso shape and then a longer one and triangle for the fins on the bottom of the tail.

Then he starts making lines around the shape, creating smoother curves around everything until it looks almost more like it could be closer to human, sans the tail of course. The last thing he leaves in the sketch is the face. “So d-don’t mind m-my inability to make faces,” he says with a small chuckle.

He draws one eye closer and larger than the other, making sure the perspective of the facial expression matches how he made the angles of the body work. Drawing lips is always fun for him, they never look the same as the last pair of lips. He makes it more symbolic than it is. “All m-my characters lips look different. They all h-have unique things to say, and the words fall fr-from unique mouths.”

He continues adding more life to the eyes, erasing a little shine in the pupils from the side where the lighting is going to come from. He’s been working more on his shading, he’s pretty proud of how far he’s gotten in his art journey. He definitely needs to work more on anatomy, but at least he can blame bad anatomy on his art style.

“I don’t h-have a name for this ch-character yet, but maybe you g-guys can suggest some! D-down in the comments let me know what her name and story sh-should be!” He announces, he just desperately wants for his subscribers to interact more, they’ve been slowing rising and it almost worries him, becoming known would be great to him, but he also doesn’t want this to become more of an actual job to him than it already is.

He pulls out his thin tipped sharpie to line it, trying to be up like one of the big art youtubers with their fancy lineart and good coloring skills. He lines it the best he can, though his hands are often shaky and it makes for difficult art. He plans to fill the empty space with some soft music when he isn’t talking. Just to make sure it’s not too boring.

He doesn’t start talking until he uncaps his blue marker to color in her details. “So I-I’m gonna be coloring this dr-drawing in with mostly cool t-toned colors,” he explains. He gets started on coloring in the darker tones, a colorless blender can be used to remove anything that gets too intense.

He drags the tip around in thick, long, and even strokes, covering her tail evenly with the deep blue, to contrast how bright blue he’ll color in the ocean. He fills her hair in with some strokes of violet among some lilac.

The completed drawing comes out nice, not the best he could do, but he did have the pressure of filming as he did it. “Okay so sh-she seems to be completed,” he says, tilting the camera up to show his smile, “So th-that concludes our Saturday video. I-it was kinda short and quiet b-but I had fun filming it!” he finally presses the camera off, letting out a sigh of relief.

[costheticbabe]

Nobody But Me

Nobody But Me (Tom Holland x Reader) Warning: This is cute.

My second fic!! I’m mostly just writing to appease the gods that are @infamous-webhead and @cosmetologynerd y’all can stop yelling at me to write it now-

*Tom’s POV* I sat on the bed of the hotel room facing the balcony, the phone to my ear. “You promise this’ll all work out?” My leg shook frantically as the voice on the other line chuckled lightly. “I promise, we’ll make sure this all goes off without a hitch Mr. Holland.” “Please Mr. Fallon, just Tom is fine.” “Then call me Jimmy. Everything is all set up, we’ll see you all tonight.” “Right. Thanks mate, we’ll be there.” I stood and walked towards the sliding glass door pushing the thin curtain to the side to view the New York scene below me. “I should hope so, we can’t pull this off without you two being there!” I laughed and said goodbye before hanging up. This had better work or I won’t ever be able to live this down. ——————————

*2nd Person POV* “And now, ladies and gentlemen, Robert Downey Jr, Tom Holland and (Y/n) (L/n)!” The crowd cheered as the trio stepped out from backstage, all smiles and waving to the audience. Jimmy Fallon smiled and clapped as he shook hands with all three, you being the last, and the last one seated next to Tom on the the plush couch provided. Your hands instinctively folded in your lap, twiddling with your fingers and Tom’s arm came over the back of the couch casually. Robert rested a foot on his thigh and leaned on the other arm of the couch, all three of you facing Fallon. “Thank you all so much for being here tonight guys.” Jimmy leaned attentively against his desk as you all smiled and nodded at him. “Of course!” “Anytime.” “We wouldn’t miss it!” The crowd beamed as the stars settled in and started talking. “Now,” Jimmy started, “we’re all very excited about the upcoming film aren’t we folks?” At his prompting the crowd erupted into cheers once more and you and Tom laughed as Robert smiled contentedly. “The new Spider-Man film has long been anticipated by your fans hasn’t it Tom?” The crowd turned to the man in the middle as he shifted in his seat and grinned. “Yes, definitely. Everyone is very excited for this movie.” “And you haven’t spoiled anything for it!” Jimmy quipes and the whole room practically quakes with laughter and clapping. Tom’s ears turn the slightest shade of red and you hold back your laughter as you placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly. Tom coughed. “Yes well you can all thank (Y/n) here for that. She is eighty-five percent of my impulse control to be perfectly honest.” More laughter from the crowd. “Speaking of (Y/n)- (Y/n) your character- Cindy Moon - she’s trying to kill Spider-Man in this movie yes?” “Ahahaha, yes. Quite the divergence from canon at this point.” “Yea can you tell us a bit more about that?” You scowled teasingly at Jimmy, “Who do you think I am? Thomas? I just got this job I’m not too keen about losing it so quickly.” You had the crowd eating out of your hand at this point, several of them were holding their stomachs from laughing so hard. Tom jabbed you in the side causing you to shriek and curl into your side away from him. As a reflex he reaches out and latches onto you pulling you to his side by your waist eliciting even louder cries from the crowd watching you. Jimmy laughed in his seat before leaning towards you again. “So is there any…tension between your characters that we should expect to see on screen?” The unsaid “sexual” part hung in the air as you hunched your shoulders grinning sheepishly and Tom rubbed the back of his neck. “Is that a yeeees…?” He and Robert were like the cats that ate the canary, both sporting matching grins. “There’s…scenes… where we are uncharacteristically mean to one another-“ you started, hoping to divert the conversation to a different topic.

“Oh like this one?” Jimmy cut you off and a screen started playing a clip from the preview which showed you and Tom in skin-tight suits. You, as Silk, were swinging wildly at Spider-Man, and landed a rather nasty right hook to his jaw, sending him staggering back and landing on his butt with a shout. “Oh no!” Your hands flew to your mouth and Tom chuckled. “What? What, what?” Jimmy looked at you with ever-so-slight concern. “That scene! I accidentally hit Tom while shooting it! I felt so bad!” There was a mix of gasps and laughs from the crowd. It was now Tom’s turn to rub your shoulder in comfort as you leaned into him. “I am so so so sorry about that!” You placed a hand on his chest and scrunched up your face. “It was fine!” Tom spoke to you and the crowd. “I didn’t really get hurt, I could take it!” “I still feel bad!” You huffed and crossed your arms. Jimmy smiled knowingly as he shifted in his chair, “You know (Y/n), aside from winning fights, a little birdie has told us about some of your other talents.” A wink at Tom told you exactly which little birdie would feel your wrath after the show. “What sort of talents…?” You raised one eyebrow and leaned back in the plush couch.

Jimmy’s hand disappeared below his desk and reappeared holding a microphone as a Cheshire Cat grin crawled up his face as the crowd roared with cheers.

“Oh no. No no no no no. Tom I swear-“

“Oh c’mon Darling, give the crowd what they want, it’ll be fun!” Tom had one hand on your right shoulder and the other on your left forearm and the crowd clapped rhythmically. He knew you were a die hard for the fans, and always aimed to please.

Your resolve quickly crumbled under his sweet gaze and stood with a huff, “Oh alright!” You quickly took the mic from Jimmy who was practically giggling with glee. “Do I get to pick the song at least?” You shifted your weight to the side, popping your hip out, resting your elbow in your opposite hand, the mic dangling from your fingertips.

“Nope! I’ve already got one all queued up for you!” He stood dramatically and gestured toward the open space in front of the band. The music started up as the crowd cheered again and you instantly recognized it. Whipping around you stared Tom down as his lips pressed into a crooked line and his shoulders bunched up. (Think the face he made when they asked if anyone dies in Infinity War. That.) You looked to Robert for aid but he only smiled knowingly and patted Tom on the shoulder and nodded as if to say “Nice one kid.”

It was “Nobody But Me” by Michael Buble. You and Tom had joked that it was “your song” at the beginning of your relationship. What was he planning? Resigned, you exhaled and turned to face the crowd.

“Baby, I get a little bit jealous

But how the hell can I help it?

When I'm thinkin' on you”

You turned to look at Tom and the crowd clapped and shrieked as he winked at you.

“Maybe, I might get a little reckless

But you gotta expect that

What else can a boy do?

My momma taught me how to share

But I'll be selfish and I don't care

Cause I want you, I need you all for me”

With your free hand you reached out to the crowd and then placed your hand on your chest, lightly bopping your hip to the side in time with the beat.

“And I don't want anybody loving my baby

Nobody, nobody, nobody but me

And I don't want anybody thinking just maybe

Nobody, nobody, nobody but me”

Some in the crowd took up the backup vocals, loudly singing the lines after you, others sang along happily, swaying side to side to the music.

“And I know, when you got a lovely lady

It might drive the boys crazy

When she's lookin' so fine, whooooaaahh

I know-know-know, no one would ever blame me

The only thing that could save me

Is just knowing you're mine

My papa told me, once or twice

Don't be cruel but don't be too nice

'Cause I want you, I need you all for me”

You could see couples in the crowd, singing to each other and it made your heart warm. It reminded you of you and Tom, joyful and carefree, only the two of you. You really loved him.

“Cause I don't want anybody loving my baby

Nobody, nobody, nobody but me

And I don't want anybody thinking just maybe

Nobody, nobody, nobody but me”

Some in the aisles and the front rows started standing up and dancing, you even spotted an older couple -maybe mid forties- dancing in each other’s arms. God you hope Tom and you have that, a life together, like a real, solid, life together. Even without the fame and fans you’d want that with him, once this chapter of your life was done maybe you guys could even have a family.

“I'll know, I can be a bit jealous

But how the hell can I help it?

I'm so in love with you”

The energy of the room spurred you on and your body became more relaxed, swaying more and more, putting your full weight into the movement. Your free hand reached out to the side as you sang out proudly into the mic.

“I don't want anybody loving my baby

Nobody, nobody, nobody but me

I don't want anybody loving my baby

Nobody, nobody, nobody but me”

The crowd suddenly started cheering and screaming loudly, several people had their hands to their mouths, others were hugging each other and laughing. The surge of sound could be felt in your chest it was so loud, louder than any of the cheers before. Everyone was smiling so brightly you’d think Jesus had just entered the room. You must’ve been better than you thought. Not wanting to finish underwhelmingly you held the mic with both hands and moved to the music one last time.

“Oh my papa told me once or twice

Don't be cruel, don't be too nice

My baby needs no lines from me

Oh, and I know how to share

But I'll be selfish, I don't care

My baby don't need no one but me”

You brushed a stray lock of hair to the side and turned to return to your seat and dropped the mic in shock.

There, in front of you, was your boyfriend. But he was on the ground. On one knee. Holding a ring out to you. The crowd cheered even louder, if that was even possible, as Tom smiled at you. That same smile you’d been waking up to for a while now. The same smile when he told you he bought a king size box of Oreos or gave you an extravagant bouquet on your anniversary. That same smile that had been one of the highlights of your life shined up at you as the shock of the situation set in.

Tom Holland was proposing to you. You looked up and around at Jimmy, Robert, the crowd, the band and back to your boyfriend. “Is this for real?!” Your voice sounded so much higher, when did that happen? Jimmy had his hands clasped in front of his mouth, smiling widely and Robert was still reclined in the couch, grinning with pride at his son.

Tom laughed, beaming at you, “Of course it’s real Darling! (Y/n) when I met you, I thought you were one of the coolest members of the Marvel Crew. Certainly nicer to me than Anthony or Sebastian-” You let out a choked laugh as you felt the tears well up in your eyes. “When we started dating I thought I was dreaming. People thought it was just a publicity stunt at first, I was scared you were going to get sick of all the negativity and leave me. I asked myself ‘What are you gonna do if this ends?’ So I decided I didn’t want it to end and I would do all I could to ensure that what we have doesn’t end. I realized I don’t want you loving nobody but me, and I don’t want to love nobody but you. You are brilliant, charismatic, charming and talented and absolutely stunning. I don’t deserve you but I know Tessa loves you as much as me and she’d be pretty bummed if you suddenly left our lives. Which is why I’ve got to ask you Love. Will you, (Y/n) (M/n) (L/n), do me the honor of being your husband, and marry me?” The tears were pouring now and some people in the audience were moved to tears as well.

“God,” you sobbed out, rubbing your eyes, “how the hell do I say no to that? Yes! Yes, Tom of course I will!” The crowd screamed and Jimmy and Robert stood as everyone started clapping. Tom stood and lifted you into his arms laughing happily. 

“Whew! What a relief!” He chuckled as he set you down, still holding you in his arms. “I don’t know what I’d do if you’d said no.” His little lopsided grin set your heart on fire and left butterflies in your stomach as your hands found his cheeks.

“I love you too much for that you idiot.” Your foreheads touched as he looked at you, eyes full of nothing but love and adoration.

“And I love you.” You leaned in and his lips met your own. It wasn’t some gross, sloppy, obnoxious kiss nor was it just a peck for appearances. It was just like his smile, always there in your life, now and forever. Neither of you had to change for anyone, never had to hide anything from one another, least of all now.

The crowd cheered one last time as Jimmy stepped around his desk and walked with an arm extended towards you and Tom. “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the future, Mister and Missus Holland!” Your hand rested on Tom’s chest and his found the dip in your waist as you both smiled lovingly at one another then out at the adoring crowd before you.

You turned to Tom again, a thought having struck you. “How much planning went into this?”

“That’s not important Love, now how about another kiss?”

[hope-and-soap]

“Cover it up”: Ragnarok and the scars of history (2/2)

Find part 1 here

“It is I! Your saviour!”

So: hands up, those of us who were shocked/thrilled/horrifically excited etc when we were first presented with the prospect of seeing Loki on Asgard’s throne.

And now: hands up, those of us who were expecting what he actually did with it.

Loki’s a difficult character to deal with, largely because his motivations seem to be all over the place. In The Avengers he wants world domination and to not be killed by Thanos. In The Dark World he wants revenge for his mother and, in some small way, to get on a little better with Thor. These things, they don’t really line up, do they? And that leaves us, after all these films, still asking that question: what does Loki want?

When Loki took over Asgard, he didn’t take its armies on a campaign of conquest through the galaxy. He didn’t hunt down his enemies or murder his brother or invade Earth. He sat on a sofa and ate grapes and commissioned art in honour of himself – in honour of Loki, hero of Asgard, beloved of his father, forgiven of his crimes. Loki took over his country and then he took what he wanted: the love of Asgard’s people, his place in its history. Given the chance to have anything he wanted, this is what he chose. To be loved. To be accepted. To be remembered as one of them.

This, then, is what Loki wants: to be a hero of Asgard, rather than an outcast from it. To be someone they accept, not out of force, but out of love. This is, really, what he’s wanted ever since his first appearance – his villainous turn in Thor, after all, began as an attempt to win his father’s approval, and a large part of his snarling bitterness at his country and his family comes from the trauma of realising that neither is really his. Loki is haunted by the feeling of being other; what he wants, more than anything, is to be rid of that feeling.  

Read in this light, the appearance of the little blue kid at the end of The Tragedy of Loki of Asgard goes from being just a cute joke to something more significant: a reminder of where Loki comes from, and who he is. Not just an outsider, or an immigrant, but a hostage from a conquered race. If Hela represents the dark, violent imperialism of Asgard’s past, Loki represents the continuing reality of this imperialism in Asgard’s present. The Jotun were not victims of Hela’s violence, but they were victims of an impulse nearly identical to the one which Hela embodies – the impulse to fight, to conquer, to rule.

When I was sixteen I wanted to move to London. I wanted to write for the BBC; I wanted to be the next Steven Moffat. These are all reasonable dreams, when you are sixteen and a Doctor Who fan; to be honest, I still want to be Steven Moffat. But when I was sixteen I wanted more than that – I wanted to move to London and become British, to prove that I spoke English as well as any Englishwoman, to take the accent and the airs and dye my hair and change my passport and get an OBE from the Queen and forget where I came from and have everyone forget about that, too. To be a Singaporean who made good. To go to the people who’d conquered my people and make my place there, as one as good as them, as one of them.

I got older. I got better. I go to university in England now. Now and then I catch myself speaking with my accent from home and I rub it out before anyone else notices. I take the odd slang term and I hide it away. I work hard because I love my degree and I respect my tutors and I never learned how to not work hard when it comes to academia, and I work hard because one day I’m going to get a first and beat all my white brit friends and I’ll prove that I’m as good as them even though I’m Chinese. It kills me that there are cultural jokes my friends share with each other that I will never understand. It kills me that there is a form of humour over there that I was not raised to appreciate. I go to university in England now and I love that land and I love this land, here, where I came from, but it’s hard being home in two places, it’s hard being made in one and living in another, and sometimes that kills me too.

The place where I live during term time has been standing for a thousand years and it has a library with every book in the world in it and it is a beautiful city full of beautiful people who speak the language I love perfectly, it is a place of poetry, and home is a city full of squat practical buildings built in the last fifty years and advertisements on buses which have grammatical errors in and every now and then I think to myself if I had to pick one, if I had to pick one…

I am older, now. I am better. I tell myself I love my country. I tell myself I do not need to prove myself to anyone, especially not because they’re white, especially not because they would have been my masters, in another life. I am aggressively Singaporean now, aggressively Chinese, aggressively myself. I am no longer sixteen. Sometimes I catch myself wishing I had been born English. The very idea disgusts me. It’s still true.

When Loki takes over Asgard, he turns himself into Odin to do it. And if you’re anything like me, you thought that would’ve lasted for about as long as it would’ve taken him to quash all dissent, exile the strong and the loyal, and reveal his true self to the quivering, subjugated masses left with no other option than to submit to him. But here he is, years later, and he’s still Odin. He would, it seems, be happy to stay Odin for the rest of his life. Loki, remember, wants to rule, but more than that he wants to be loved. And if he can’t have both as himself, he’s willing to become a person who can. Odin, the symbol of every Asgardian ideal, the man who crushed Loki’s people, the man whose approval he was willing to destroy a world for – why wouldn’t he want to be him? Why wouldn’t he want to stay that way?

The tragedy of Loki of Asgard is this: that he becomes his own oppressor, just like I have become mine. We are the ones who set standards that we are never going to reach. We are the ones who are ashamed of where we come from, who we were, who we are now. We are the ones who look at a race of people we secretly resent and tell ourselves they are superior, that we will never be anything unless we can gain their approval, be like them, be them; we are the ones who will destroy ourselves trying. This is, you see, our own fault. Our own fault. We do this to ourselves.  

It’s no surprise, then, that Loki looks a lot like Hela – Hela, the conqueror, the colonialist, creator of empires. They are both tall, thin, pale-skinned; dark-eyed, dark-haired. Both wear horns. Their hairstyles are even similar, and their colour schemes – black and green, almost the same shade. The similarities don’t end there; both share a love of conquest, a desire for power, even certain turns of phrase – in ordering her brothers to kneel, after all, Hela is clearly stealing Loki’s line.

Loki is not just the victim of a history of violence and oppression. He is the inheritor of that history. He’s internalised it, let it take him over; let it dictate who he wants to be and who he is becoming – a creature of conquest, the embodiment of the very thing that did him damage. He becomes both his own oppressor and a symbol of his own oppression – both the victim and the villain of his own story. He takes on both sides of that history. He is scarred by both.

It is Loki, of all of Odin’s children, who has the best claim to Asgard’s history.

Which is, of course, why he gets to be the one to burn it all down.

“Get up. You’re in my seat.”

I just want to say two things about Thor.

The first is this: that Marvel’s filmmakers have finally found, in Thor’s arc in Ragnarok, the one storyline for which the protagonist needs to be a white man. Because Thor is the ultimate child of privilege – raised as royalty, heir to a throne, physically indestructible, with Aryan looks and a traditionally masculine personality. He is, both in-universe and out of it, the white-masculine ideal – the man’s man who oozes physical strength and (hetero)sexual appeal, a man with rank and status and money, handed power and authority on a silver platter. Thor is the one person who never had to fear all the things that Hela represents, because he is not the sort of person she conquers – he is the sort of person she conquers for.

And in this film, he comes to understand what it’s like being on the other side of that picture. This is not, of course, to say that Thor has never suffered before, or that he has never before been capable of compassion for those who are suffering – but he has never, till this point, been the victim of this particular form of violence. Before, he had always been a person with unquestioned agency, the hero of his own story, sometimes hurt but never at another’s mercy. He has been beaten; he has never been exploited. Until now.

In Ragnarok, Thor is enslaved, subjugated, kept in line by thinly-disguised torture. He has his throne stolen from him, his legitimacy questioned. He is used, abused, imprisoned not because he is recognised – as SHIELD recognised him in his first film – as a threat, but because he is property that must be kept in its proper place. He sees his people attacked. He loses his hammer and his agency and his hair – a loss which, though played for laughs, represents the violation of a body that has to this point been presented as absolutely inviolate and inviolable.

In this film, Thor goes from being a child of privilege to being a slave, a member of a victimised community, a sexualised object, a person without bodily autonomy. And because of this, he finally understands what it is to be these things. To be the victim of a system of power over which you have no control. To be the victim of violence which you are unable to fight. To be beaten and pressed down and thumbed under. To be powerless.

This is, ultimately, what makes his defeat of Hela powerful, and meaningful, and possible. Because Thor, as he was before, would never have been able to fight a system of oppression – he would barely have been able to comprehend it. Thor, the Mighty Thor, has no power in a world like this. We do not need mighty invincible champions who reach down from the heavens to save the oppressed. We do not need the child of privilege, given everything, lacking nothing. We need someone who will fight with us. Who feels this pain too. We need someone who understands.

The second thing I want to say is this: Thor is not the firstborn of Odin. Hela is. Thor is not the heir to Asgard’s throne. Hela is. In nations built on violence and cruelty it is not the children of privilege who inherit. It is history. It is violence. It is cruelty itself.

When Hela tells Thor that he is in her chair, she isn’t lying – she’s correct. The throne is hers, and so is the power, and so is the land. She owns it. It is hers. And none of them may remember, but it has always been hers.

And so Thor tells Loki to burn it down. He burns down his home, his life, everything he has ever known. But in the end, he loses nothing, because none of it was ever his, really. It is not his inheritance that he burns. It is hers.

Who really has your power? Who really owns your land? Can you let it live, knowing it feeds something darker and bloodier than you care to remember? Can you really cling to your gilded thrones, knowing you are usurpers, knowing that one day history will rise up to claim its inheritance?

Do you dare to burn it down?

What will you really lose?    

[cupkayke]

Cupkayke Rewatches/Liveblogs Boueibu!

Season 1, Episode 5

Hokay! Moving right along- and surprisingly I actually have a lot to dissect in this episode! (Well, mostly about a couple of key conversations). This ep is where we get introduced to the Press Society fuckers and the boys start to pick up on a base level that their monster fighting might have a bigger purpose- although most of that is glossed over in favor of focusing on the lack of privacy. 

Thanks again to those who keep commenting on/reblogging my liveblogs! I come to love this community more and more each day, it seems like. You all rock <3

THAT GODDAMN FISH I FORGOT THIS WAS WHERE HE WAS INTRODUCED

And from his first moment on screen I remember thinking he was going to be significant

And they aren’t concerned about the censoring?

Like that isn’t normal in real life, dude.

Ominous scene is ominous - I have more on this later~

Animation callout here- I could even notice Atsushi’s eyes scanning the pages here. A+ detail.

I agree En- I hate the rain with a burning passion. Makes me just want to nap. (Again- I have a strong feeling that En is my spirit animal)

Again noticing the color-coordinated cups lol- @nardaviel 8D

ATSUSHI WITH THE SASS AGAIN- similarly to Arima, why did I not notice how much fucking shade Atsushi throws (mostly towards En) the first time I watched this series? He has the best lines lol.

AND EN IS JUST LIKE ‘ORLY?’ LIKE HE ISN’T SELF-AWARE.

Not quite compliments there- but what does En say?

HE CALLS HIM “MY ATSUSHI” AND COMPLIMENTS HIS ENGLISH OMG I AM DEAD

Like... is there any doubt that they’re boyfriends at this point? Or at least getting there? Lol

Side note I just noticed that while En never wears his tie he keeps it in his jacket pocket at all times... c’mon En if you make it a point to have it on you why not just wear it?

I apologize in advance that I am basically screencapping this entire conversation but I am going to over-analyze it to death because A) My graduate degree is in English and B) Linguistics is fascinating. SO BUCKLE UP KIDS.

On this note- at first, I agreed with Io wholeheartedly that ‘naive’ and ‘sensitive’ are not considered compliments in English-speaking cultures and was a bit confused as to how they could be in Japanese.

However... then I thought about it again, and taking ‘naive’ as its definition of ‘innocent’ and ‘sensitive’ as its definition of ‘sympathetic/empathetic’, then the former can be seen as neutral, rather than an insult, and the latter can be seen as a compliment. So... culture differences are fascinating.

But definitely gut reaction is that you do not want to be called naive or sensitive in English so...

The way Ryuu says this makes me think he’s heard that phrase directed at himself on more than one occasion lol- which is probably why he brings it up.

Atsushi’s definition, however, is not one I commonly would think of when confronted with ‘naive’. It more to me means ‘childlike’ or ‘ignorant’, because ‘careless’ is a deliberate action, whereas ‘ignorant’ is simply passive. 

I have no reason for this screencap other than that I melted at Io’s English. Adorable- and I get the feeling from his pronunciation that he’s definitely got top marks in English.

Though it makes sense that he’d be pretty fluent in English due to his business transactions.

Then the fact that he pointedly directs this at Ryuu is hysterical for other reasons.

Well, Ryuu, you kind of had it written all over your face when you brought it up that you were thinking of a phrase that had been directed at you~

Love Io’s sutble teasing here, too haha. Look at his face.

Ryuu is so earnest in his defense of himself lol

But the word he chooses here- ‘guileless’- is interesting because when I went to the dictionary page for ‘naive’, ‘guileless’ is one of the synonyms

So they’re all basically meaning the same thing here, however- ‘guileless’ has a more direct definition of ‘honest, sincere, & straightforward’, which does describe Ryuu pretty well.

His demeanor in this entire scene as an example, and the phone call with a potential girlfriend we hear later (which is hilarious for other reasons) definitely contains that tone.

And Io continues with his gentle ribbing lol

The camera cuts away before we see Ryuu’s reaction but I would imagine he pouted at Io after that

In general, aside from the language discussion this scene just shows how the boys interact with one another beautifully and asdfgjlskjf;lkj they’re all so cute

En you just keep setting yourself up for Atsushi’s shade lol

Ummm Yumoto you okay?

That is not convincing me that you are okay at ALL

I LOVE THE PEANUTS REFERENCE

Smol fluffy child stop being creepy you are molesting an innocent creature

Like seriously I don’t care how cute you and Wombat look here it’s UNSETTLING

Yumoto says ‘feel so fine’ in English- but this one I’m stumped. I haven’t heard that used as a phrase, before. I mean, I get his meaning... does he perhaps mean to say “that feel good feeling?” Idk... I guess it can be said multiple ways but that particular phrasing seems weird to me

MOLDY TEACHER

Uhhhh I don’t think it works that way, Wombat

Psssssh En just gave Wombat the ultimate diss- you almost feel sorry for the poor pink creature

Side note- Press kids are creepy as hell

And then they don’t give a shit when Wombat falls THREE STORIES- or is it 5 stories?

Io how do you have such a calm face saying that- Atsushi looks like he’s about to shit himself with panic

No explanation other than their expressions are hilarious- NOW Io looks panicked

From their first like 3 seconds onscreen I immediately hated these assholes. Well, I suppose the smol asshole. The other one is just... there.

Also, how the fuck did they get up to the club room so fast from taking pictures down below just moments before???

Binan’s website is sophisticated as all get out like whoah

From this monologue, I get a couple of things;

1) Kinosaki’s hair is stupid

2) I feel like his true calling was drama club but he got stuck with newspaper/website instead

3) He just REALLY rubs you the wrong way with how he talks out of his ass like that- it makes me wonder exactly how much they know ahead of time about the DC

Like, if I remember right, it’s revealed later that they knew about them (because the fucking fish- Hireashi- is apparently their club mascot???)

But it isn’t clear at this point if they actually know their identities, or if Hireashi just told them about CIDE2 but didn’t tell them right away about the DC’s identities and Kinosaki just kind of deduced on his own that they should probably investigate the club that does nothing because they’re kind of suspicious now that this cosplay group thing has shown up

...but I suppose it makes more sense in hindsight that they’re in on the entire thing and they’re just trying to see how the DC react- their real purpose here instead of getting a story is getting better ratings for CIDE2

Regardless-

I agree, Yumoto

En once again picking on Yumoto.

Sometimes I get the impression En’s just doing it in a teasing, good-natured way and then at the same time I get the impression that En just barely tolerates Yumoto in the earlier episodes.

Hm. I can’t tell.

I wonder if this line is just more bullshitting on Kinosaki’s part or if he’s actually hinting at something here.

And now I can’t tell if Kinosaki just simply DOESN’T NOTICE Tawarayama is technically DEAD or he KNOWS because of the stupid fish and is blatantly ignoring it just to see how far the DC will go to get him the fuck out of there lol

Either way, he’s succeeding in freaking them out

Evil reporter is evil (THOSE EYEEEEEES)

I love their expressions here- and then the way they all look at one another, expecting someone to come up with a plan to get the annoyances out of there

Like idk it’s super cute how Ryuu and Io look at one another and then En and Atsushi look between each other and Yumoto and Yumoto just looks up at his senpais like “ummm”

And it definitely WOULD be Io who’s the one to come up with some loopholes or a ‘logical’ point about press responsibility in an effort to scare Kinosaki off

I have a feeling he’s well versed in these things because business

I sometimes have a hard time remembering he’s like 16/17- he acts MUCH older than all of the others.

Not quite sure what he’s implying here- though it’s definitely an interesting line if you take into account that he likely knows all about the DC and their true identities as the Battle Lovers

Perhaps he’s alluding to the fact that they should use their interviews with him to make themselves look better to CIDE2′s audience, which would be really interesting because potentially he’s operating under the assumption that the DC know they’re being filmed. Which is plausible because Hireashi could have told them anything.

Or on a more local level, it could be him wanting the DC to take him up on his offer to improve their position in the school (although I get the impression that some of them are already pretty popular as is? Ryuu definitely but potentially En as well)

Maybe he has heard rumblings of the conflict between Atsushi and Kinshirou and knows that the DC is on thin ice with their status as a club so he’s offering them a favor to make Kinshirou hate them less?

Oooh looking at him from these angles he’s a bit more likeable as a character

But this is all still speculation so I most probably am wrong.

En goes from adorable to annnoyed in .2 seconds flat lol

Snerk- he points out so easily that En an Atsushi are always together.

Everyone knows they’re boyfriendssssss

This conversation is a bit telling- definitely a lot more so than when I first watched it.

En doesn’t like talking about himself. He says as much in his next line, although it’s a bit sutble;

Give me some questions that are easier to answer.

I can read this scene as En nearly admitting that he doesn’t find himself remarkable- or he’d have to think about it a little harder if Kinosaki wanted a better answer. 

Talking about himself doesn’t come naturally- he doesn’t think of himself as anything special, or he has a hard time thinking about what does make him special.

Talk about a pointed question

Io just ignores him lol

Though that’s a bit on the nose. Io definitely finds the whole Battle Lover thing bothersome

Although that contradicts my headcanon that Io is secretly super into it even though he isn’t at first lolol

Money is SRZBZ

RYUU I HAVE A FEELING THAT’S NOT HOW YOU FLIRT WITH GIRLS

Though there is his self-described ‘guilelessness’ lol

Guys... stahp

Fffffffft RYUU WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT WHY DOES IT SOUND LIKE A VIBRATOR

I’m sorry I can’t picture anything else that he could possibly be talking about. Nope. Can’t do it. My mind is trash.

Though I have to say this is probably some of the worst foreshadowing. It was like the writers were like ‘shit we’re halfway through the episode and we haven’t foreshadowed what the monster is going to be here let’s let Ryuu talk about it suggestively’

Upset Pink isn’t getting laid tonight

Meanwhile Atsushi is still trying to rival Arima to be the Sass Master

I can’t with Tarawayama and Wombat it’s so silly

And all the kids have just ACCEPTED that their teacher now carries around a pink plush wombat that sort of seems alive all the time

Yumoto bby that’s not how you get to college...

WHAT THE FUCK GUYS THAT’S SO CREEPY

AND NO ONE EVEN NOTICES

That was the quickest exposition for a loveless character

Like seriously, 2 lines, a Zundar Needle and a sassy line from the CC

At least they all realize it’s just Kurosaki who is annoying. Tazawa just snaps pics in the background.

Wombat has spent too much time on Tumblr. I’m sorry I had to

Wombat’s Kansai accent cracks me up

So basically you’re admitting that Tawarayama is dead-dead and your ‘technology’ isn’t doing much?

WOMBAT! Is that anything to say to the character who’s mother is mysteriously absent? <.<

Nice callbacks!

NAKED HANG OUT

Tho why the fuck does he have a camera in the onsen?? INVASION OF PRIVACY MUCH?

SERIOUSLY HOW DO YOU NOT NOTICE HE’S DEAD

Wombat’s pissed and firing back the nonverbal sass at Atsushi

Another line supporting the “Press society knows too much” idea- it’s as if he was clued in on what to listen for~

Wombat’s little anxious dance is like wtf

I like how imaginary Yumoto is covering his shorts all ashamed lol

Is this Yandare simulator?

No srz tho Yumoto is savage af and everybody’s like “WTF”

Self aware “we are in an anime” joke featuring genre/time period awareness

I think someone on staff just really wanted to draw Ryuu like that lol

About here is where I realized I really liked Tazawa’s design- his ponytail is super cute

Yumoto is a very convincing actor in a pinch

Attempt at badass poses isn’t very effective when you all are naked

Side note I just realized they all tie their towels in the same manner- is that a cultural thing or are they all simply right or left handed???

Or is it just a lazy animation thing? hahaha

I swear Tazawa only has like 3 lines but he’s adorable AF

Also... he’s got a point

Ryuu does have a point

Because how else will we know that we’re true magical boys???

Okay, so I’m not a huge fan of the ‘remote control monster’. But I suppose its symbolism is twofold;

1) It directly represents the micro-conflict of the episode, the DC having their image controlled by the Press Society

2) It leads the way for the DC to put two and two together and realize that the monsters are being controlled by someone (although I feel like that’s obvious because they’ve been... y’know... members of their school spontaneously turned into monsters? Like that doesn’t just happen)

Idk tho I wish we’d gotten a smidgen more about this student; but I suppose the actual conflict is the one going on with the DC

This line made me giggle hysterically but I just realized how big of a culture gap there is because I have never even SEEN a bidet toilet. The quick google search I ran indicates they’re fairly common in Europe/Asia? Like WTF America you’d think we’d be more hygienic.

I love when they use physical violence lol it makes it more serious

It also serves a dual purpose in knocking annoying monsters down a couple pegs

ONE HIT KO

Srz though Yumoto that was epic

Though there definitely wasn’t much of a point for the others to be there which I know is a stab at the typical magical girl genre trope of the main character being OP’d but on the other hand that’s so frustrating that this happens ALL THE TIME

Like once is funny, the entire series playing it as a running gag is old

Though I wonder if we timed all of the monster encounters in this show if this one would be one of the shortest lol

But seriously though... this show HINTS at being a much deeper magical boy show and then it just subverts everything by having Yumoto be OP and they talk their way out of ridiculous, potentially DANGEROUS situations

Like exhibit A)

Like this COULD BE REALLY SCARY. Cliche remote control monster with the ability to control real people!

He could have ALL the battle lovers fight one another! Or like what’s hinted at happening- have Yumoto do the love attack on his friends!

Like it’s not outside the realm of possibility for Yumoto to fire a shot at the others. They could have dodged, and having him resist the control is a great tension device, but then-

DEUS EX WOMBAT

Like... so disappointing. Boueibu your narrative needs to go up a notch.

And this is where my crunchyroll app fucked up and couldn’t buffer anything over 240p long enough to take screencaps, so I’ll just summarize the last couple of points;

The monster before it turns back into the student is self-aware enough to exclaim that he was being controlled by someone else’s will- which is enough for the DC to pick up on the fact that the monsters are being controlled. I mentioned it earlier but I suppose it bears repeating that these poor boys aren’t necessarily too bright lol- or they just aren’t thinking too hard about the surreal monster thing.

The scene back at the onsen doesn’t have much- I just thought it was funny that Kinosaki was scared of Gora with his giant axe.

Kinshirou’s typical arrogance was typical; a bit more of his irritation towards anything having to do with Atsushi’s new crew but nothing major here with their characters.

And then the last scene- Kinosaki’s line about ‘our initial report went well, huh?’ and then the shot of Hireashi is an example of foreshadowing DONE WELL and not played for laughs. That definitely confirms that those two are in on the whole CIDE2 thing and are acting as agents for the TV network. Makes me wonder how THAT conversation happened- like those two probably would have been WTFing over a TALKING FISH.

But anyway! Another episode that’s a bit deeper with character development than at first meets the eye, and disappointing shades of what could have been a magical boy show that played at the tropes but ultimately subverted them. Sigh. I suppose this is what fanfic is for... and thusly I continue my research gathering!