#look. I think it’s status as a pg show is killing it

[la-stelle]

I’ll say it. PJO should not have been adapted by Disney.

[my-favourite-zhent]

New Tricks - Chapter 19

Status: Work In Progress

Version: 1.01

Pairing: Rugan x AFAB!OC

Rating: NC-17 (This chapter PG-13)

Genre: Adventure/Romance

Summary: Misadventures of Rugan and the original Zhentarim Gate's crew before and during the year of three sailing ships.

Notes: When one chapter becomes three. The main scenes for the next two upcoming chapters were written way back when I was struggling with chapter six. It was meant to be chapter eight but the plot got away from me a bit. This chapter started out as a little extra tidbit at the start but ended up growing into its own thing and for once I didn't delete an Izzy POV chapter.

Thank you to @fistfuloftarenths, @captainsigge, @dustdeepsea for always being my wonderful betas and providing me with encouragement. If it weren't for you all I think I would've deleted this chapter.

Dust also had the great suggestion of including the clip from Izzy's notebook and showed me how to do all the lovely formatting you will see in this chapter <3. (Check the AO3 link for that and additional footnotes as it's not in the tumblr post)

Also a shout out to @coreene for having such a treasure trove of lore on her tumblr! Always super helpful for fleshing out the background world lore.

Table of Contents

Read Here on AO3 or below the cut.

By now rotten luck had coloured most of Isolde’s life. 

It seemed to her that it had all begun after her parents' untimely deaths when she was sixteen.

What had begun as one bad year became two, with her exile to some gods forsaken farmlands and her first heartbreak at seventeen. 

The following year had appeared to break the trend—she had been offered the position of sizar at the university where her parents once taught. Only in reality it had simply been a year spent building the framework for a truly devastating nineteenth year and an end to her academic aspirations. Her first lover came and went. First friends came and went. Corra was the only good thing to come out of her short-lived scholastic career.

The jobs had been like that too. Someone would turn traitor or stupid. Load bearing beams would give way. Priceless urns would be full of fucking venomous spiders. Only now she had been prepared for rotten luck. Moulded by it.

Now she always slipped a spare trinket under her blouse or in her boot just in case the job didn't pay. Now she kept her valuables in a safe deposit box on the off chance her room got ransacked again. Now she slept in her road breeches with a knife under her pillow, and while she'd never been trained to kill, jabbing someone who wasn't expecting it gave you a good head start on an escape. 

Seventeen years of bad luck had taught her to be prepared and to be persistent. She had survived and even sometimes thrived because of it.

So now, as she watched the sailors drag her chest up onto the deck of the ship, she felt especially stupid.

“My tools are in there! I've paid you good coin to transport those!” She screamed, but her voice could barely be heard by the man next to her over the crashing of the waves. 

The ship rocked under another violent tumult of wind. The tempest had come upon them without any warning, clear blue skies had become turbulent greys streaked in black and white in mere moments. There wasn't even supposed to be storms like this on the Sword Coast for another month. It was just her luck. 

Distantly she heard cries to cut the main sail.

The sailor looked as contrite as one could in the midst of a squall. “Sorry lass, bitch queen needs her offering!” 

And despite the pelting hail and whipping winds it was the word lass that made her flinch. 

‘Should have never gotten aboard a ship out of Neverwinter,’ she thought bitterly as she watched them tip her chest into the sea.

The contract she had taken in Baldur's Gate was an easy forgery job. She could've sat nice and safe in a room at the Elfsong scribbling away before meeting Rugan. She would've made a mint for doing hardly anything at all. But now her seals were gone and with it the contract.

Standing on the docks, Isolde weighed her options. It was alright. This was manageable. She still had the clay impressions of her fake seals in her pack. The sheep’s bladder she kept them in had protected them from any water damage from the storm. A half-way competent smith could recreate the seals from the pressings easily. But just how much would halfway decent cost her? More than she had left, it turned out. Most of her coin was now at the blacksmith's, and that was only the first half of the payment.

Her hand strayed time and again to where her insurance necklace would be, but she had pawned it. Pawned it for the same reason she had come to the city. The same reason she was flat broke. At least she could make that bastard buy her a drink. Blame him heartily for her misfortune. And if he smiled at her even once her fool heart would find the whole venture worthwhile.

“Sorry, miss, believe his caravan is on the road right now. Haven't seen him in a tenday.” The man behind the bar at the Elfsong shrugged.

It was just her rotten luck.

In weaker moments of her life she had considered leaving offerings to Beshaba at those little roadside shrines made of antlers and twigs. But no, fuck that deer-headed bitch. And fuck Umberlee too, while she was at it.

The barkeep looked apologetic, just as the sailor had, but that wasn't going to help her out in any way, shape or form.

She would need to find another job to take on. Isolde considered the other local contract she had ignored on account of the risk. There was nothing for it now. She leaned back in her stool and sighed. So long and low and frustrated that the man gave her another sympathetic look.

“Drink might help with that, miss.”

She opened her coin purse and eyed the few bits she had left.

“Give me the strongest thing you've got for two silvers.” She said sliding the coins across the table.

The man nodded and exchanged them for a pitcher of wine and a tall glass.

“If it's not a pressing issue,” he added as he poured the first glass full for her. “Could leave a letter with me if you like. He's in here every night when the caravan’s not on the road.”

Isolde perked up at that. “If you wouldn't mind.”

“Half the point of an inn is to have a place to send letters. I even mail some out if you've got a coin for the ship’s captain.”

Isolde almost took out her pen and ink right there, but then thought better of it. No sense trying to hastily scribble a note at the bar where some other patron would knock their elbows against hers and make the barman regret his offer.

Scooping up her glass and pitcher, pack slung over her shoulder, Isolde tipped her head in thanks and made for one of the alcoves at the far end of the taproom.

The Elfsong was much nicer than she had expected. The floors were worn but well-maintained, the drapes were not frayed and had minimal patching. She had been told more than once this place was a tourist trap, but when Rugan had called it his local she had presumed it to be something more akin to a dive bar. Had that been unkind of her? The Blackstaron and the Prow in Waterdeep had both been nicely kept inns, even if they had managed to get themselves kicked out of the first one.

She was broken from her train of thought when another patron collided into her, the wine from her glass sloshing over her hand.

“Sorry, love.” The man offered though he didn't even bother to meet her eyes as he and his date brushed past and grabbed the seat she had been eyeing. The date gave her a look that was half amusement, half pity, and Isolde muttered a curse under her breath as she stalked down to the next alcove.

Carefully she placed her wine down on the table, mindful of how it still undulated in its confines. With her clean hand she withdrew a rag from her pack and wet it with her waterskin, wiping clean the other before finally seating herself. 

As she unpacked her writing tools she wondered idly if this was the same seat Rugan liked to frequent. Would he have a regular seat? She should've asked the barman. No, on second thought that was a terrible idea. Isolde had seen and chosen to ignore the pitying look the man had given her when Rugan's name had slipped her lips. Didn't need to let him know how badly besotted she was, admitting it to herself was embarrassing enough.

She drained her first glass before setting pen to paper. This one was easy enough to write, and feeling a bit bold she applied a thin layer of vermillion to her lips as the ink dried. She marked the page with her lips and hoped it would make Rugan suitably unhappy about standing her up.

There was another letter she should write, though she wasn't too pleased about it. 

‘It might not be necessary.’ She tried to tell herself. 

She pulled out her leather bound notebook. It was a tiny thing, worn at the edges, about as wide and long as her hand but maybe two finger-span thick.

The contact information for the job had been hastily scribbled on one of the thick pages, just in case.

It had been Isolde's father who had taught her how to bind books, but it had been her mother who had taught her how to spot traps.

There were many things to take into account, but it came down to a few large considerations:

Was this culture known for booby-trapping tombs? Was this a place or person of importance?

An Imaskari noble would have a much more dangerous mausoleum than a Tharrian peasant.

Was there irregular wear on the ground that might suggest its builders walked a specific, safe path?

Pressure plates were a simple trap and thus effective trap. They stood the test of time better than more complex machinery.

Were there intricate patterns on the structure that could conceal glyphs?

Metal lasted long but magic lasted damn near indefinitely and could do far more damage.

One should be wary on any job, but if the answer to any of these questions was yes then doubly so.

Isolde had a similar list of tell-tale signs when it came to selecting jobs.

Was this client known to her network?

One tended to see the same familiar faces handling these operations. Sure muscle and labour would be locals, but the showrunner was usually one of two dozen folks who had the training to identify a site or the connections to fence the goods. Some characters were more trustworthy than others.

And no, the folks named here were not known to her or anyone she had asked.

Was the site near a city centre?

They oft times were—cities tended to grow on the bones of their forebears, like Luskan and Illusk. This meant more secrecy was necessary, but also less violence. Harder to hide a body and its eventual rot. Out in the wilds you didn’t even need to bury a corpse for it to never be found.

This job was definitely not near a city.

Was the pay reasonable?

Too high meant this was a con, you were lucky if you only came out empty-handed. Too low meant whoever was in charge didn’t even know what their goods were worth, if anything, and they didn’t know the running cost of a black market archaeologist.

Too low, far too low.

She had already known all this, but somehow had hoped the details might have changed since she last looked at the notebook. Isolde groaned and threw her head back against the wall of the booth. She was going to have to write the second letter.

Isolde poured and downed two more glasses of wine before she was sufficiently over her shame of having to ask Corra for money. If the forgery job was still around when she returned she’d pay Corra back two-fold.

Maybe she could just wait till Corra’s letter of credit came through, there were cheaper inns in the city, certainly. Gods, maybe a flophouse? But no, after hunting around the lower city and Norchapel it turned out Baldur’s Gate was almost as overpriced as Waterdeep.

‘Should’ve sent the letter and waited before paying for the tools.’ She thought dejectedly.

There ended up being roughly enough coin for a night or two in a flop house, some food for the road and a ride on a caravan heading west. So that was what she resolved to do.

Hopefully, stupidly, she looked for his face amongst the various caravans on the morning she made her way out of Baldur's Gate.

The wagons outside Basilisk Gate were packed end to end—or end to horse as it were. Some people pushed handcarts, perhaps to visit the nearby farms. She also saw oxen hitched to sturdy wagons loaded down with heavier goods. Merchants with lighter goods like the one she accompanied had horses to carry them along faster.

It was a decently nice carriage. Nothing fancy like the wooden conveyances that nobles used, but it had a sturdy canvas roof which was more than most.

The air by now was rank with the dung of a hundred beasts of burden, idling while their masters impatiently waited behind the traffic of a several dozen handcarts.

‘Just like Crimmor.’ She thought with an amused sort of wistfulness.

Isolde noticed then a group dressed in that familiar black and yellow, and her heart struggled to break free from the confines of her ribs. She leaned out the back of the wagon to get a better look. Though she squinted hard there was no one she was acquainted with. Just some red-head with clownish hair, though he had a familiar sort of chin.

“Don't want to be looking too long, dearie. Not a friendly bunch.” Warned the old woman across from her, not unkindly. The merchant’s mother as she understood it.

“Of course, my thanks.” Isolde bowed her head and sat back down on the wagon floor. 

They began moving at last, just as the dawn's early light was obscured by heavy soot coloured clouds. A wry smile twisted Isolde's lips.

“Something funny, dear?”

Isolde turned to meet the woman's gaze. “Just my luck, that’s all.”

[madrone33]

I'm so glad the PJO show stuck the landing. I've seen a lot of shows lately that have a habit of, uh, not doing that, so I'm really happy I liked the finale episode!

(Also because I watched it with my mum, and she hasn't seen anything but the first two episodes and my rambling recaps, so I'm glad my show didn't disappoint me in front of her lol)

MAJOR SPOILERS for the PJO finale past this point!

There are only two things I can think of that I didn't really like, and that Gabe's- whole thing, basically, soz. I get why they toned him down for the visual format, and I'm not trying to undercut the actual abuse that is still happening, I just personally like Sally turning her piece of shit abusive husband to stone and then selling his statue to get money for a degree lol.

And then also the dropped police plot line is a bit iffy. They probs cut it for time or smth, but it just felt weirdly unresolved. Like, they set it up so well, and then they don't follow through at all, just straight up don't mention it again. Idk, maybe they'll bring it back for the 2nd season? Not sure how that'd work tho. It's a minor issue, but it did feel strange to me.

The rest of it was very well done though, imo!

It starts with Luke saying The Thing but different?? Giving The Last Day of Summer from The Lightning Thief musical vibes fr fr.

The fight with Ares was hella cool, with the awesome wave, and the choreography was pretty well done to my completely inexperienced eye. The ichor looked cool, very handy that it's gold so they can show 'blood' on screen and still keep it PG lol. I was cheering Percy on so hard.

They did the flashbacks so well. Honestly, every episode's done the flashbacks well, but Luke? Oh yeah. As soon as he showed up on screen, helping Percy, preparing him, I knew the end of the episode was gonna hit so hard.

The trio is still amazing. They play off of each other so well, and all their actors are so talented!

The necklace!!

Ok, Percy had zero chill on Olympus. He straight up said his shit to Zeus, knowing he'd probably be killed for it and not giving a single fuck because that was his world and his friends and his mum that were going to be hurt if this stupid war continued, and he was going to make Zeus listen even if it killed him.

And then Poseidon steps in and surrenders and when I tell you I audibly gasped I'm not kidding. Like- The gods don't just back down when they're fighting, that's not how their power dynamic works, how the glory system works, how their pride and respect and status works. I'm probs not explaining it very well 'cause it's like 1:30 am rn, (I really should stop writing these essays at midnight lol) but yeah. Poseidon was giving up a lot. And he didn't care. Because that was his son, and his son was worth more than any glory could give him.

Also, funny side note: after they started speaking what I assume is greek, and then switched back to english, my brain for some reason decided to completely forgot my native language and just- didn't process english anymore. I kid you not, it just registered as sounds without meaning. Completely alien. I sat there without understanding the next four sentences they said until my brain clicked back in and I was like, ohhh, they're speaking english. And then I had to rewind and listen to it again lol.

Zeus smugly saying he'll announce his "swift and crushing victory" and Poseidon rolling his eyes was so sibling energy lol.

... So, does Poseidon yeeting Percy back to camp without answering mean he's too overcome by emotion to say 'yes' or that he's too guilty to admit 'no'?

I like how all the cheering and clapping is muffled out by the music at first, because Percy's still shocked that he's actually alive. It's only when Annabeth hugs him that he fully processes the fact that he's safe.

Gonna be honest, I'd completely forgotten that they thought Clarisse was the Lightning Thief. They did a good job of reminding me though.

Yeah, Luke's betrayal was executed better here than the books imo. First of all, the lighting is immaculate. The past episodes had an issue with night scenes and being super dark, but the fireworks lighting up selective scenes really works.

I like how Percy figures it out first, and almost challenges Luke to deny it. And Luke is- not prepared. He had a plan. He was going to ease into this. And it hurts all the more because Percy is scared and angry and betrayed and Luke never wanted to hurt him.

What's done so well is that you can see how Luke didn't want to fight- and then Percy mentioned Hermes and Luke just snapped. Trigger button. Wrong thing to say. Now, suddenly Percy wasn't the 12 year old kid Luke was trying to save and help, he was just someone who'd said the name of That Man and now Luke was just bitter pain and rage.

Also, Percy accidentally cutting Luke - with a sword that can't even harm him anyway - and immediately apologising, and then Luke only seeing a weakness to exploit and going in for the kill. That hurt.

Ok wait imma copy paste a small ramble I posted earlier to here because it stands true. Here we go:

A bit rambling, a might not make much sense, but had a thought about that scene when Annabeth saves Percy and reveals herself. There's two things that stuck out to me; she didn't let herself show any emotion but anger, and she'd been there the whole time but only interfered just then.

She'd been suspicious enough of something to go against the plan and follow them. She heard Luke confess his betrayal while invisible and alone. She heard his true feelings about the gods, about their parents, and now after everything - after Athena. After Percy - she understood him so much more and so much less at the same time. She'd been locked in shocked grief that froze her, and the only thing that snapped her out of it was seeing Percy beneath the blade of the person they'd both trusted, and the need to protect burnt away the numbness long enough for her to compartmentalise and lock away everything but anger so she could move.

Luke's face though. Oof. All I could think was "She's like a little sister to me." (Don't crucify me if that's not his exact wording, it's almost 2am now, I'm tiiiired.) But yeah, the fact that he probably could've taken them both if he truly wanted, but the moment he saw her and her betrayed, furious face, and then looked down and saw the kid he'd been about to kill- He just ran.

The parting of ways, with the trio at Thalia's tree, bright plans for the future, hugging and smiling and making a pact to come back to each other, no matter what- that was so toothrottingly sweet.

And then the cabin scene? Heartwarming af. The mother and son duo is just. You can feel their desperate relief and love for each other. It's so good.

A bit wary when Kronos showed up, wasn't sure if the whole prior stuff was 'just a dream' but I'm guessing Percy was just remembering how they reunited, and Kronos hijacked his nice memory. That was well done, too. Percy was just so Done with this guy, like c'mon, give the kid a break. And then him waking up with his mum again - like I said; they're so sweet. The fact that this happens often enough for them to have a dedicated book lmao. Also, him calling Kronos grandpa was on point.

It exits out of the window Sally was sitting on! And it's raining!! (Also, another side note, but whenever something exits with a window I just think of The Last of Us episode 3).

Ok so they have to make a second season. It's the law. They gotta.

Hmm. Think that's everything I can think of saying now lol.

(Thank you for everyone who worked hard on this! Even if I don't like some stuff, I know that so many hours of work was poured into this and I appreciate it so much!)

EDIT: OH WAIT I almost forgot Ares completely out of pocket line about Percy's mum, and yeah, no way was he getting out of that now, asshole. Also, the way Percy and Luke's parents are a trigger. The character similarities are similying~

[randomprojectsbeforeidie]

23/01/2024

Heyooo! Feeling better today!

Today was honestly quite ok, you know? I'm glad I could complete my tasks for the day, actually.

So, let's go on about them, right?

Number 1: Study like Wade Watts

Got another day of studying done today! This time, I managed 1 hour and 30 minutes for the first time, yo! Doing good!

I was reviewing my Socioeconomics notes and noticed some stuff about me. I always heard about "pendular migration" (I think you guys call it "commuting"), that describes the movement people do every day from one city to the other, from home to work, in metropolitan regions. I was looking at it and a light bulb went on on my head "hey, I do pendular migration every single day!"

Ha! Somehow I keep seeing myself as separate of my studies. It's funny to see myself on them for a change.

So, today puts me at 15/184 days of study, which is 8.15% of my goal. Good!

Number 2: Fight like a Bene Gesserit

Yesterday I consumed 1222/1636 calories, which is... less than I expected. I've not been feeling that hungry these days, which is weird, you know? I noticed I also ate less today. Weird. I'll try to get closer to my calories for the day; I wanna lose weight, not become malnourished! I'll try to at least not go below 1200 calories a day.

Today I stretched my lower body. It was good!

Number 3: The NOBA Project

So, I've been reading this book called "Bad News: Why We Fall For Fake News", from this Rob Brotherton guy, and it's been quite interesting! I finished Chapter 1 today, and I'd like to show you my highlights from it.

"To be clear, I'm not saying that there's no difference between fake news and real news, or that journalists occasionally getting the facts wrong, despite their best efforts, is on par with intentionally spreading deceptive fake news. What I'm saying is that fake news mimics the form and function of standard news, leveraging our collective notions of what news is or should be to its advantage. Because of this parasitic relationship, we can better understand the problem of fakw news by exploring our complicated relationship with news in general" pg. 14

"It's not just the media that is viewed with skepticism. American, British and Canadian surveys have found that journalists are on par in trustworthiness with real estate agents, lawyers, and car mechanics. Only politicians are reliably less trusted." pg. 15

(HA, as a lawyer, I had to laugh at the fact that we are used as a reliable status of untrustworthiness. I trust you as much as I trust a lawyer is basically an insult! It is funny!)

"The data for the United States showed that in 2018 overall trust 'suffered the largest-ever-recorded drop in the survey's history', falling from 52 percent to 43 percent - meaning that people were more distrusting than trusting, on the whole." pg. 15

(It seems to me that this is quite a sign of a failed society)

"But to assume that our current struggles are new and imprecedent is to assume also that new causes are responsible and that new cures are required. This perpetual scramble for new solutions to ostensibly new problems blinds us to historical insights into current predicaments" pg. 16

(ok... but, if these problems are not new, this means they've been there for a while. So, it probably means that old solutions did not solve them. So, wouldn't it really be the case for new solutions?)

"The just rewarde of him that is accustomed to lie, is, not to be believed when he speaketh the truth. So just an occasion may sometime bee imposed upon the pamphleting presseres. And therefore, if we receive the same rewards, we cannot much blame our accusers' (The author went on to tell the tale of a 'Strange and Monstrous Serpent, or Dragon' troubling the English countryside)." pg. 20

(I'M SORRY BUT THE PARENTHESIS KILLED ME)

"(...) Society is a good-natured giant with no memory, and it is always safe to print a petulant article on the degeneracy of the press." pg. 22

("a good-natured giant with no memory" sounds like an... adequate description of humanity through the ages, to be honest)

"Some of the language and more obert prejudice aside, there are hints of the same kind of thinking about fake news today. Stories about the problem are usually about how someone else is falling for it." pg. 25

"It's not that we think ourselves completely immune to influence; we just tend to think we are less gullible thatn everyone else." pg. 26

(It's me. I'm the clown does this. You didn't have to strip me naked while I was reading you, but here we are)

"W. Philips Davison, a Columbia University professor of journalism and sociology, coined a term for this: the third-person effect. When we think about the effects of a communication, he wrote, 'it's greatest impact will not be on 'me' or 'you', but on 'them' - the thirds persons." pg. 26

"We tend to think of other people as less rational and more conformist than ourselves. Our own beliefs, we think, are based on objective knowledge or experiences. Other people's beliefs are more likely the result of mindlsessly fllowing the group." pg. 27

(I'm already a naked clown, you don't have to keep EXPOSING me!)

"Recent research has taken the third-person effect into the territory of fake news, and the pattern holds true. We think ohter people are more likely to fall for it than us. More generally, we think other people are more vulnerable to the risks of social media than we are, such as falling for extremist propaganda. The problem is perhaps exarcebated because fake news so often latches on to hot-button issues. The angrier we are about an issue, and the more personally invested we feel, the more we assume the best of ourselves and the worst of others." pg. 27

(STOP, STOP, I'M ALREADY DEAD)

"The most important lesson to take away from the hoopla over Orson Welle's 'War of the Worlds' is, perhaps, to beware of stories that appear to confirm our worst assumptions about the people around us. When it comes to the news - fake or otherwise - things are often more complicated than they appear." pg. 31

(noted)

"Some critics accused radio of weakening people's attention spans." pg. 31

(haha. Tale as old as time)

"The tendency to share news before substantiating it, and to belive trusted sources, still gets us into trouble today. Fake news is at its most dangerous when it becomes socially contagious." pg. 32

"And when we're presentede with a string of anecdotes, we can't help extrapolating, turning a handful of extreme and exceptional stories into an assumed reality." pg. 32

(This reminded me of my rhetoric classes. We learned that story-telling is an exceptional mean of convincing someone of something; way better than just showing the data. Just like thIS BOOK HAS ALSO DONE, HOLY SHIT, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS ANECDOTE IS JUST THIS OH GOD)

And that was it for today, folks! See you tomorrow!

[romioneficfest]

I knew it would be you

Title: I Knew It'd Be You

Prompt/Day: 9 - Head Boy/Head Girl

Tumblr Name:

Rating: K+ / PG

Brief Summary: Seventh Year AU when Ron and Hermione receive their final Hogwarts letters.

******

Hermione’s hands shook as she held the Hogwarts letter in her hands. Her nerves were bubbling up, threatening a wave of nausea that would empty her stomach of the light breakfast she’d just consumed.

Just open it, Hermione. What’s the worst that can happen?

Sitting on the camp bed in Ginny’s room, she tried her best to summon her Gryffindor courage to open the letter. She could hear shouts from the garden as the massive tent was raised for Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Giggles filtered through the wall as Fleur and her family were getting ready for the impending nuptials later that day. It was ironic that Professor McGonagall chose today to send out the materials lists and assignments for the upcoming school year.

The whole thing was a miracle, really; the fact that the trio were able to return to Hogwarts. Sure, Dumbledore had perished in the final battle with Voldemort, but it was all so Harry could defeat him once and for all. It was pure luck that they could recover and destroy the locket, cup and diadem, but they had.

So, after all the material Horcruxes had been destroyed, Dumbledore lured Voldemort to the castle, sacrificing himself to kill the snake so that Harry could face Voldemort one-on-one. The details were still murky, but Hermione promised Ron she wouldn’t push Harry to tell them until he was ready.

“You know, I should be the one who’s nervous, considering my O.W.L. results are in my letter,” Ginny’s voice brought Hermione out of her reverie.

Hermione sighed heavily. “I know, I know, but what if—”

“You won’t know until you open it, but if you ask me, McGonagall would be mental not to give you Head Girl.”

Hermione felt her face flush red with embarrassment at Ginny’s words. She knew she was being ridiculous over the whole thing. With a deep inhale, she slid her finger into the opening above the wax seal and pulled, tearing it open. Hermione extracted the letter and carefully unfolded it, when a large badge unceremoniously appeared and fell out of the parchment.

“I knew it!” Ginny exclaimed with glee as Hermione stared wide-eyed at the badge in her hands. “Congratulations, Hermione!”

“Th-thanks,” she responded, her voice barely a whisper.

She’d done it. Six years of hard work, and she’d earned the distinction of Head Girl. An excited cry escaped Hermione’s lips as she tucked the badge into her pocket and turned her attention to the letter. Part of her hoped that the letter would reveal who the head boy was but wasn’t surprised when it didn’t. After all, the fifth year prefect letter hadn’t.

There was a tiny sliver of hope bubbling up in her chest as she wondered if Ron had been given the Head Boy badge. She needed to find him. Setting the letter down on the camp bed, Hermione stood up and headed for the door.

“Where are you going? We have to start getting ready soon.” Ginny asked as Hermione’s hand turned the doorknob.

“Just want to check in on Harry and Ron,” Hermione attempted casually, but Ginny wasn’t fooled.

“You just want to know if Ron got Head Boy,” Ginny sniggered. “Don’t make the same mistake from fifth year.”

“I won’t,” Hermione said as she shut the door behind her.

She climbed the stairs as fast as her legs would allow, and when she reached Ron’s room, she gave a brisk knock. To her surprise, it was Harry’s voice who let out an excited, ‘Come in!’

Hermione did as she was directed and looked around only to find the room absent of Ron's presence.

“Oh, hey, Hermione. I thought you were Ginny,” Harry sounded crestfallen.

Hermione eyed the captain’s badge next to his bed and smirked. “What, were you hoping to show off your Quidditch captain status?”

“Nah, I wanted to see if McGonagall named her reserve captain, given I received a warning that my ‘captainship will be revoked if I don’t stay out of trouble.”

“And you better, especially since there’s no more Voldemort threat,” Hermione said as she rolled her eyes. “Where’s Ron?”

“Er, he was out helping with the tent. Surprised he’s not back by now…”

Harry continued speaking, but Hermione didn’t hear the rest as she hurtled down the stairs toward the garden. Luckily no one was in the kitchen to stop her as she exited out the door and looked around. She saw several other Weasley brothers, but Ron wasn’t in sight.

“Everything alright, Hermione? Or should I say Head Girl?” George asked, a knowing glint in his eye.

Hermione was taken aback by George’s comment. How could he know? “How did you—Have you seen Ron?”

“He’s over by the oak tree,” Fred chimed in.

Hermione nodded in thanks as she made her way across the garden. She hoped the twins weren’t lying to her, but she didn’t bother to question their motives as she set her sights firmly on the large oak tree ahead — the one she’d taken to lounging under as her friends trained on the makeshift quidditch pitch. As she approached the tree, she saw Ron leaning against it, his letter in hand.

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you,” Hermione said as she sidled up next to him.

He startled, looking around to the source of her voice as he tried to hide the parchment quickly. “Oh, er, hey.”

“What’s wrong?” Hermione frowned.

Things may have been better between them, but that didn’t diminish the sense of awkwardness that still hovered whenever they were alone.

“Nothing. Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

Hermione waved him off. “There’ll be plenty of time for that. It’s not like I’m involved in the wedding party or anything.”

“Er, yeah, right. I just thought—I didn’t mean—never mind. Did you come out here to share the news of your Head Girl badge with me, then?”

Hermione felt her cheeks flush. She hadn’t just come out here for that. It wasn’t like she was going to gloat or anything. “No, not exactly…”

“But you did get Head Girl, didn’t you?” Ron pressed.

“Er, yes, and Harry earned captain again! Although it sounds like McGonagall is keeping him on a tight leash…that’s a muggle expression, in case you didn’t know,” Hermione knew she was rambling as her eyes fixed on the ground.

It was then that her eyes caught a glimpse of Ron’s letter that lay open and forgotten on the ground next to his feet. The parchment was partially folded, but Hermione could make out the words, Congratulations, you’ve been appointed—

Her heart fluttered in her chest as hope surged throughout her body.

“Er, Ron, you wouldn’t happen to know who earned the Head Boy position, would you?” she asked tentatively.

Hermione took a chance and glanced up at him. His ears were burning red, and she was certain it wasn’t from too much sun exposure.

“Er, yeah,” he kicked the ground as he dug into his pocket to show her a badge of his own. “Not sure why they’d pick me, but—”

Hermione cut Ron off as she lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck, wrapping him in a tight hug. She was so elated that she couldn’t help herself.

“I knew it’d be you! I just knew it!”

“Well, that makes one of us,” he said through an uncomfortable chuckle.

“Will you stop it? You’re the most deserving of it, and you know McGonagall chose the person she thinks is best suited! I’m so glad it’s you.”

Hermione pulled back slightly to admonish him for his self-deprecation, realizing the implication of her words after the fact. That was when she became hyper-aware that his hands were gripping her firmly around the waist, and his face was close to hers. She felt breathless as she froze, all thoughts fleeing her mind as she noticed his eyes drift to her lips.

 She felt her mouth part slightly in response to his gaze. It wouldn’t be so hard to just lean in and...and then she felt her lips graze his cautiously and time seemed to stand still. When he didn’t move or reciprocate the gesture, Hermione was about to pull away in mortification.

But then, she felt him pull her closer, and he was kissing her back. Hermione wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, nor did she care. She was kissing Ron Weasley! Eventually, they pulled apart, and Ron broke the silence first.

“Think McGonagall will care if her Head Boy and Girl are dating?” Ron sounded hesitant as Hermione’s heart melted at his question.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” she answered breathlessly, thinking of Harry’s parents.

Ron broke out in a wide grin at her response as Hermione matched it with her own. “Brilliant,” he said as he leaned in for another kiss.

Yes, brilliant indeed.

[cayenne-twilight]

Professor Layton Iceberg Explanation

As I said in the tags of the original, the iceberg I made was a meme consisting of both real theories and satire/parodies/fandom memes. If anyone is interested, I can work on an unironic version that only has real theories.

Buckle in because this post is LONG and heavily saturated with lore and information.

Actual theories

Parallel universe 1960s where the world wars didn’t happen. There’s an unused file in Curious Village that shows the year as 1960 and the time machine from UF is set to 1973, ten years into the future. The series canonically takes place in an undefined time period (hence the technological inaccuracies and fantasy elements), but it’s based off the 60s. There’s more evidence but we don’t have time to go over every little thing. I linked my “no wars” theory below but TL;DR the outdated airplanes and underdeveloped medicine in the Layton series imply that the world wars may never have happened. https://cayenne-twilight.tumblr.com/post/632205992162099200/outofcontextdiscord-timegearremix-zonosils-war

The real meaning behind the statue in Future London. In UF, the purpose of the statue is to spark Layton and Luke’s conversation about their friendship. Luke is stressing out about moving overseas and sees himself and the professor in the story behind the statue, but in the bigger picture, Clive must have been the one to commission it. Some theorize that the little boy is Clive and the man is either his father or the professor. One idea I’ve seen is that Clive wishes he could be Luke for real, while another is that he wishes he died ten years ago, and another is that he’s literally terminally ill explaining why he doesn’t care about consequence. Personally, I think “the boy succumbed to his illness” refers to his mental illness seeing as he wanted the professor to save him from his madness as he saved him all those years ago.

True location of Monte D’Or. there are no deserts on the British isles to my knowledge, so it makes the most sense for Monte D’Or to be in Southwest USA where English is the default language, they have a desert, and there exists a city famous for flashy hotels, casinos, and entertainment. What makes it odd is that nobody ever mentions overseas travel, and all the major characters are from England.

Loosha’s origins are not explicitly explained if I remember correctly, but the implication was that her prehistoric (supposedly) species was sealed away along with the garden, allowing them to survive all the way to the time of LS until Loosha was the only one left. The garden provided a good habitat and protection from predators, and it’s logical that they’d slowly die out anyways, but there’s no explanation of any specific factors that led to Loosha being the last.

Beasley is not a bee I wrote a post about this one as well, but TL;DR Beasly lacks several defining bee traits whilst having several human ones. He is not human, yet, by definition, not a bee. It’s possible that he is the result of Dimitri’s testing, but whatever his untold story is, he remains an enigma of nature. https://cayenne-twilight.tumblr.com/post/632381715250282496/theory-beasly-isnt-a-bee

Subject 2’s identity is currently unknown. There is a subject one (parrot) and subject 3 (rabbit) so there has to be a second. For a long time, people suspected Beasly to be him seeing as he’s a bit of an amalgamation and definitely not a regular bee (see above). After the release of LMJ, though, people began to suspect Sherl, the intelligent hound who could speak to certain people but not others. That being said, it’s possible for one to be subject 4. Sherl’s memory of a bright flash matches up with subject 3’s memory of being electrocuted. They never explain why the animals were being experimented on, but it was probably Dimitri making sure the conditions of his machine were safe for humans before reliving the incident from ten years ago.

Lady Violet died from the plague from DB. There’s no evidence for this or anything, it’s just an idea. People say she died from the flu but I don’t remember them saying that in the game, at least the US version. Extending off my “no war” theory: it’s theorized that the Spanish Flu was spread by the travlelling soldiers, so if that’s true, it’s possible for the epidemic to have been averted for some decades. Maybe the Spanish Flu reached England later than in real life. The hole in this is that DB’s plague must’ve been close in time to 1918 while Violet’s death was much later, so it would’ve had to stick around.

Bill Hawks is working with Targent and Arthur Cantabella. There was a force in the shadows buying the time machine technology from Bill. Someone with a ton of money who helped him cover up a freak accident and get away with it completely, a feat that involved shady means like violence by hired thugs. Some theorize that it was Targent, seeking power over time in exchange for a little mafia magic. The Labarynthia project was sponsored by the UK government, so as the PM, Bill must’ve known about it. He probably supported dubiously ethical, high stakes (witch pun) psychological experiments like Cantabella’s and helped him stay in the shadows.

All the NPCs in St. Mystere and Folsense are dead. I make fun of this type of theory later, but they’re admittedly captivating. I’m pretty sure the canon in CV is that the villagers are Bruno and Augustus’s OCs that they made robots of and built a town around, but it’s more interesting to think that the village was there before, and the townspeople died of a plague and were replaced like Lady Violet. In Folsense, there really was a plague and they never explain the NPCs there. They’re either real people who appear way younger than they are due to hallucinations (even the ones who already look old ?), or they don’t exist at all, which is pretty spooky. This part of the story is a gaping plot hole. In a similar vein to CV, the edgy yet plausible theory is that they used to live in Folsense but died of the plague and now live on as hallucinations.

Hershel seeing everything as a puzzle is a coping mechanism for all his trauma. This was a joke but I thought about it for more than five seconds and it makes way too much sense.

Plot holes and unexplained questions that we like to overthink because it’s fun

The downfall of the Azran was vaguely explained in canon by people being so greedy that it lead to the civilization collapsing. It’s not a stretch to imagine that happening, but it would’ve been more interesting with a little more detail.

Layton and Luke are programmed to routinely forget how to walk. I didn’t know whether to list this in the joke section or not, but it’s odd that the characters actively participate in the walking tutorial (as opposed to showing a little memo to the player) as if they didn’t know how to before, especially when they go through this several times a year.

The truth behind Pavel. He’s simply a joke character who teleports, is a polyglot (sort of, at least he wants us to think he is) and is mega confused all the time. He’s a fun character to make crack theories about because of his cryptic nature that even he doesn’t seem to understand.

Miracle Mask deleted scenes. The first trailer for MM featured animations that were not in the final game. One was the Randall falling scene, except in a slightly different style than the one we know. Others were completely foreign, like Layton and Luke pacing across a theatre stage as if Layton’s about to expose someone with a dramatic point. Cut content and “could’ve beens” are always curious to think about.

Evan Barde: secret mastermind. Arianna and Tony’s dad is a mysterious character who died under mysterious circumstances. I think the canon is that his death was a genuine accident, but concept art of him making a creepy evil face suggests that maybe he originally had a larger role in the first drafts of LS than the finished game.

The secret to how Paul and Des pull off their disguises is unclear and will remain unclear. There is no plausible explanation for their shape shifting. Unless Paul is just a little dude wearing a human suit like that one Wizard of Oz species and Des is the best quick-changer ever and hides his naturally feminine legs under his cloak.

Alfendi’s mom. When LBMR came out people scrambled to piece together who Hershel had a kid with, but there’s no way alfendi is his biological son. This happened with Kat as well and her biological parents turned out to be brand new characters, so I’m sure Al will get an adoption backstory if his arc continues, be his parents old major characters or nameless, faceless NPCs.

Granny Riddleton and Stachenscarfen are omnipotent deities. Idk which section this fits best under, but these two characters have some serious power. At first introduction, they’re implied to be robots, but they appear everywhere in later games. They follow the Professor wherever he goes and assist him on his adventures, GR collecting puzzles and housing them by some odd magic, and Stachen teaches you how to walk. They both introduce and supervise the gameplay. By extension, I guess this idea could apply to Albus as well in the prequels. GR and Stachen even had the power to appear in LMJ, something no major character could do. I consider them akin to the velvet room attendants from the Persona games.

Clive’s kill count is a vague subject in the game for the sake of keeping it PG. I don’t know if anyone’s ever mathematically estimated the damage he caused, and I sure don’t want to try, but the game appears to push the idea that he didn’t kill anyone at all, saying they stopped him in the nick of time and things like that, even though we watch him raze the city. If they ever want to bring him back post-time skip, I can see them twisting it so that the mobile fortress cutscene wasn’t a linear sequence of events, but instead a compilation of scenes over the course of hours so that London neighborhoods around him could be evacuated and have it make sense. Knowing Level-5, it’s more likely that they wouldn’t think this deep and do something more lazy, though.

Memes and references

Post-time skip Flora is real references the famous L is real theory from Super Mario 64. Like Luigi in SM64, Flora was also a highly anticipated character who didn’t appear in a new game, in this case LMJ or LMDA. In the end, Luigi did become real in the DS port so hopefully Flora is real will be realized as well.

Hershel can’t read is a veteran fandom meme referring to how in the first few games, especially Curious Village, Layton asks Luke to read every document out loud for him. Perhaps this was an exercise to improve Luke’s reading skills and independent thinking, or perhaps he was just too lazy or preoccupied to do it himself, but this grew into the joke that our genius Professor was actually illiterate this whole time.

Layton’s smash invitation is hidden in PLvsAA. It’s no secret that the fandom would kill a man to get the Professor into the smash brothers franchise. In PLvsAA one of the puzzle artworks features a goat eating a familiar white envelope with a red stamp, sparking the joke that either Layton or Wright got the invitation their respective fans desired, but it got lost along the way.

The science board is the mysteriously vague organization Don Paolo got kicked out of for the crime of being evil. It’s the epitome of liberal arts majors and art school graduates trying to bs their way around not knowing any science and failing miserably. “He was very good at all the sciences, but then the CEO of science told him to stop because he was using the power of science for evil science”. They do this again when “Dr. Stahngun” describes his time machine what with the soolha coils and whatnot.

Hoogland is death cult initiation is a parody of “Mario 64 is Freemason initiation” which is ridiculous, just like the creepy human sacrifice subplot of AL.

You can see the reflection of someone watching you in Aurora’s eye references the famous, creepy Talking Angela theory. In retrospect it would’ve been funnier if I said Angela instead of Aurora.

Every copy of Professor Layton is personalized references the famous “every copy of Super Mario 64 is personalized”

Clive’s fat ass in HD is a meme that originated from the announcement of UFHD, saying that half of the excited fans wanted to cry again while the other half were simply attracted to Clive. If we want to enter real bottom-section-of-the-iceberg-chart territory then let’s say Clive’s character has some sort of psychological siren properties that draw people to him like a magnet and/or Harry Styles.

Things I pulled out of my ass for shits and giggles

Infinite hint coin hack: I’m sure a tech savvy cheater could hack the game for infinite hint coins, but there’s no easy or interesting way. I don’t know why someone would do that though, considering a lot of the hints suck and there are puzzle guides on the internet.

Cringy, unused Randall villain monologue. This joke is derived from the actual scrapped MM content as well as deleted content being a popular element of iceberg charts, but it’s sadly not real. Would’ve been hilarious, though.

Last Specter Puzzle 031: Light Height tracks and records children’s intelligence level. It doesn’t, but it’s always fun to make fun of arguably THE most ridiculously difficult puzzle in the franchise. (Seriously, do they expect 7+ year olds to know trigonometry???)

Hershel struggles with tea addiction. Hershel from the games drinks tea in moderation, but the manga begs to differ. He has a tea set in the Laytonmobile, and an attempt at teatime while driving causes him to crash.

Folsense is a metaphor for Alzheimer’s. This is inspired by those edgy kids’ show theories where everyone’s in hell or something, but nobody has ever said this.

London Life is reality and the plot of the games is all in Luke’s head. That’s one way to fill every plot hole. How funny would it be if Luke made up crazy characters and stories based off his fellow townspeople Sharkboy and Lavagirl style. “This dude who lives in a castle and asks people to give him all their money for nothing in return is a vampire from 50 years ago involved in a tragic love story”.

Secret ending encoded into Tago’s Head Gymnastics. It’d be crazy if there was, and Dimitri would hound Tago for the secret to time travel. If you didn’t know, the Layton games started as an adaption of Akira Tago’s puzzle series, except they decided to add a story to make it more interesting and marketable.

Daily puzzles datamine your DS. I’m bad with technology but is it even possible to datamine a DS??? Idk, but I think my DS lite from 2008 is safe.

[hongcherry]

Warning Signs || jjk | 2

“Spider-Man is a beacon of hope for most residents in Seoul; although, it causes you to feel a little useless to society. With determination to be a change in the world like your masked boyfriend, you find yourself involved in a secluded organization meant to eradicate underground gangs. However, you find yourself deeper than you expected—leaving Jungkook trying to discover who this ‘new you’ is alone.”

⚠️ Pairing: spiderman!Jungkook x girlfriend!Reader

⚠️ Rating/Genre: PG-13; Action, crime, angst, light fluff, established relationship, SBaFL au, Marvel au

⚠️ Warnings: Weapons use (guns, knives), injuries (cuts), physical fights (punches, hits, the usual hehe), me trying to be witty, Jungkook’s dumb

⚠️ Word count: 6.4k

⚠️ Author’s Note: Welcome back! ^-^ Enjoy.

⚠️ Beta: @hoebii​​ (Muah)

⚠️ Taglist: @jobetspot​​, @gukssunshinerecs, @shatzkrinslinzki​​ // [CLOSED]

SBaFL au | main masterlist

↞ swing backward | ws mp | swing forward  ↠

You weren’t sure how long you’ve been holding your breath. Your heart skidded to a halt when your eyes met his in the moonlight. Funny how the eyes can be so deceiving at times. Seokjin’s chocolate eyes were glued to yours, the corners soft as they took in your appearance. Despite knowing his criminal background, he resembled a young man whose happiest moment would be to lounge in his room playing video games in solace. Perhaps that was true, but he didn’t seem like the dangerous man you knew he was. His being in the organization should’ve been your third warning sign.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jaehwa’s voice broke out. She extended her hand and you cautiously placed yours in hers. Seokjin mimicked her action and you hesitated. Here was the man who kidnapped you and tried to kill Spider-Man. You wanted nothing more than to chuck him over the ship’s railing.

“He may look intimidating, but he’s not,” Kangdae chuckled when he noticed how you wavered. Biting on the inside of your cheek, you swiftly shook his hand to avoid suspicion. You were anxious Jin was going to expose your true name and declare you two already knew each other. You didn’t know if that would affect your potential membership status, but you didn’t want to find out. You were in a precarious situation. Seokjin, however, showed no interest in outing you, which had you relaxing in your seat slightly.

“Now that we are all acquainted, let’s get started,” K smiled, gesturing for the two guests to sit before looking at you again. “Tell us why you want to join and what you can offer us.”

By the time you began to depart, it was two in the morning. You felt exhausted but that feeling was masked by the energy you used to keep your guard up. You were unsure of how your “interview” went since you did not have much experience in fighting crime. The most you’ve done was chase out a rat for your elderly neighbor. Nevertheless, K found you interesting enough to have accepted you. Part of you was excited to start making a name out of yourself, to put your life to good use, but the other part was wary. You were sure if Jin wasn’t here, you would have been more comfortable. After all, no one tried to attack you and the conversation between K and Jaehwa was oddly calm and… Pleasant?

“Minji, huh?” Seokjin’s voice sounded behind you. You were nearing the walkway at the edge of the ship before your footsteps stopped in their tracks, whipping around to face him. He barely spoke ten words, claiming he was too tired from his work to contribute to tonight’s conversation. 

“What are you doing here?” You hissed, peering over his shoulder to see K and Jaehwa step inside the ship’s interior. It was just you and Jin on the deck now. The other two men had followed the pair inside.

Seokjin scoffed. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? What does Spider-Man think of you being here at two in the morning?”

You clenched your fists inside your jacket pockets. Luckily, you were able to get your switchblade back. “This has nothing to do with him. How did you get out of prison?”

Seokjin smiled at your question and you hated how pretty it was. He didn’t deserve to have such a charming smile. “I have a lot of money,” he shrugged as if that explained it. You supposed in some ways it did, but money can’t fix all the world’s problems. There had to be more to that, but he didn’t elaborate.

“You don’t have to worry about your little secret alias,” he commented. “I’m a changed man.” You almost snorted at his reply. Was he being serious right now?

“How so?” You challenged. You shouldn’t even be talking to him, but your curiosity was piqued. Vapor was meant to stop the bad guys, not help them. So why was Kim Seokjin a part of it? You wanted to believe he did change because you wanted to feel safe in the organization. You wanted to be a part of something valuable.

“For starters, I don’t want to kill your boyfriend anymore. You’re still together, right?” He asked, a small smirk at the corner of his lips. You weren’t sure what he was insinuating, but it didn’t rub you right. You narrowed your eyes at him.

“That’s a shame,” he continued when you didn’t reply. “I always thought you and Namjoon would be a good match. Oh! Or that Taehyung guy. I heard he took a bullet for you at the arcade.”

The fingers around your switchblade twitched and the urge to shove him overboard was growing. Why did he have to be so insufferable? Jin chuckled at your expression.

“Too soon? I was only joking,” he added and gave you a kind smile. “Jungkook is a sufficient partner.”

The way Jin was acting made you feel like you were on a merry-go-round at a playground. It should be obvious. Jin was deceiving. He was trying to get you to like him. If he was bad, so was this organization. Despite all this, however, you stayed. 

“Who else have you told? About his identity,” you questioned when the realization hit you. He had powerful information that he could use as leverage. 

“No one,” Seokjin replied. You squint your eyes at him in suspicion. Surely he had told someone. It would give him more power over his competitors. “Aren’t we on the same team now? Fighting criminals?”

“Why all of a sudden? Why did you even go after him in the first place?” The last time you had seen Seokjin was when he was webbed down in an abandoned barn where he kept you hostage. It turned out to be part of Kim Enterprises property and Jin had constructed his own hidden bunker underneath. It explained why you had smelled hay despite seeing none. The interior of the bunker and the barn were stark contrasts. That was three years ago. You weren’t sure how long he’s been out of prison but it seemed it didn’t take him long to get out. So where has he been all this time?

Jin tilted his head as he thought, looking past your shoulder to stare off at the water. “I’ve had time to reflect, you know?” You watched as he adjusted his gaze to yours again. You took the chance to analyze his face. It didn’t seem like he changed too much physically. Perhaps his hair was lighter and his physique was slightly bigger than the last time you saw him, but that was it. 

“I don’t believe you,” you said, mentally stomping your foot on the floor and crossing your arms. He didn’t seem to hold the anger he had years ago, but it would be foolish to forgive him so easily. After everything he's done, how could you?

“I figured so,” he spoke calmly. “How about we talk it out over lunch?”

“Lunch?” You laughed mirthlessly. “The last time you took me out to eat, you blew up the building.”

“Touché,” he chuckled. How could he react so calmly to that? “That was to lure Spider-Man out though. It wasn’t meant to hurt you; I protected you, remember? And since I’m not after Spider-Man,” he trailed off.

“Spider-Man protected me,” you corrected then added firmly, “The answer is still no.” You walked closer to the bridge. It would probably be three by the time you got back and you had to be awake in four hours for your 8 am class. This was the latest you’ve stayed up in a long time and you were sure it was going to take a toll on you. 

As you were about to take a step on the stairs that lead to the walkway you stopped, realizing something. “You never answered my second question: Why him in the first place?”

Seokjin watched you carefully, lips twitching in a frown at your question. “That’s a story for another time, Yn.” His voice was strangely soft with a hint of sadness. You were aware of his and Namjoon’s past friendship, but you couldn’t recall him and Jungkook having a history. It didn’t make sense why he seemed so upset. It made you want to comfort him, but you couldn’t. 

You shouldn’t. 

You shook your head to yourself at your ridiculous thoughts. You didn’t even know where they were coming from. You needed to remember he had caused you harm. That being three years ago didn’t change that. 

“It was nice to see you again, gorgeous,” his voice rang out as you made your way down the walkway. He wasn’t going to give you an answer and you had stayed long enough. 

“Feeling not mutual,” you mumbled underneath your breath, keeping your eyes cast forward as you made your way from the ship. 

This was your first time being tardy to a class in four years. 

Thankfully your first class was a required course, which meant the class size was large enough to be held in an equally large room. This made it easy to slip into the back row undetected. However, this was undetected to everyone but the man seated near the front. 

Jungkook’s gaze caught yours as you quietly slipped into an empty seat. He stared at you, doe-eyes scanning your entire body as he tried to figure out what happened. He was aware of your perfect attendance record and was apprehensive when you didn’t step into the classroom at exactly eight. Normally, you would be at least five minutes early, but he figured you had a long night studying. When it was five minutes past eight, he began to panic. He almost bolted from the room to find you, but Jimin had reasoned that everyone had their off days. Maybe it was finally yours and he was just being overly protective. 

Although his spidey-sense didn’t include sensing your presence, his Jungkook one did. He couldn’t quite explain how, but there was an aura around you that he could feel. Perhaps it formed over years of being near you. The moment he felt your presence was the moment he let go of the breath he was holding. You were alive. You were safe. Jungkook started to rise from his seat but a shake of your head stopped him. 

You lifted a hand, formed the “okay” sign, then diverted your attention to the professor. You being late was bad enough. You didn’t need to be behind in your notes, too. 

You spent the remainder of the lecture taking notes and trying your hardest to not look at Jungkook. You were sure the lesson was going through one of his ears and out the other. He could barely keep his eyes off you; Jimin kept having to nudge him to get his attention on the professor instead. 

As soon as the class was dismissed, he rushed to your seat. You were sure if he could, he would have just swung to you. It would’ve been faster after all. 

“Are you okay?” Were the first words that came tumbling out of his mouth. You finished packing up your materials before glancing at him. He looked so pure with his round eyes and lips parted slightly in worry. 

“Yeah, just studied too hard for the first time,” you responded. “I guess my perfect attendance was meant to be tested in university,” you tried to joke to ease the concern in his eyes. It wasn’t successful. 

“I went to your room last time but you weren’t there. Your roommate said you might’ve been at the library but you weren’t there either,” he said. He didn’t need to continue for you to know his secret question: he wanted to know where you were. You hoped he didn’t notice the sharp inhale you took. 

“What time was that?” You questioned and tried to keep your tone nonchalant. 

“Around a quarter till midnight,” he replied. “I figured you’d be asleep anyway but Yoongi told me you stopped by earlier. I wanted to check on you.” 

By that time you had already left for the docks. “I found a new study area on campus. It’s quiet and more comfortable than the wooden chairs in the library.” Was it bad that coming up with lies was getting easier?

“What about my missed messages?” 

You glanced down at the phone in your hands. The screen lit up and it was for the first time you saw the many missed calls and text messages from Jungkook. 

“I was so exhausted last night I passed out without checking it. Then this morning I was in too much of a rush to check it, too.”

At least that wasn’t fiction. You had been fatigued last night and you were scrambling to get yourself together this morning. 

He poked his tongue against the inside of his cheek at your reply. He supposed they were reasonable excuses. Before he could reply, Jimin walked up and handed Jungkook’s abandoned backpack to its owner. Jungkook took the bag from him, mumbling a thanks sheepishly. He didn’t even realize he had left it. 

“So is everything alright?” Jimin asked, concern laced in his words. His pillowy lips tugged downward as he took in your appearance. You had grabbed the first piece of clothing your hands came in touch with and brushed your untidied hair as you rushed across campus. You figured your yellow striped shirt and green plaid pants weren’t Jimin’s style. Despite your haphazardly exterior, you nodded and forced a small smile on your lips. 

“Yup. Just stayed up longer than I expected and slept in. It was bound to happen,” you answered and checked your watch. Your other class should be starting soon. “I better go now before I’m late for my other class. I’ll text you later, Jungkookie,” you said hurriedly then jogged out of the room with a wave to both men. 

Jungkook stood there incredulously. Something felt off but he couldn’t detect what it was. It was reasonable that you did find a better place to study and that you were too distracted to have answered his messages. He just couldn’t believe you were late to class and brushed it off like it didn’t matter to you. After years of whining for him to hurry and get ready when you were fifteen minutes early only to act unbothered by being tardy was strange to him. 

“You’re thinking too much about this, Jungkook,” Jimin interrupted his thoughts and began his trek to his next class. “We better get going, too.” 

Jungkook reluctantly followed Jimin in silence as he continued to ponder about what just transpired.

When you walked into your dorm later that day you had not expected to find Jungkook conversing with your roommate. Jungkook’s head whipped to the door as soon as he heard the click of the lock. Those round eyes softened at your presence, mole under his bottom lip winking at you as he smiled. His arms engulfed your frame into his quickly.

“Hey,” he breathed into your hair. Your body instantly melted in his embrace. It was warm and steady; it made your heart churn at the comforting gesture. If it weren’t for your roommate’s stare you would’ve stayed in his embrace longer. 

“Whatcha’ doing here?” You asked as you set your backpack near your bed.

“I came to take you out,” he proudly stated and put the keys you hung up already into his pocket. Your eyebrows knitted in confusion. Were you forgetting something? “I got ahead in my classes. You’re free, right? I figured you might be since you usually are ahead of your assignments. Though you did stay up late… Should we just stay in instead? Should I leave you alone?”

You silently listened as he rambled, taking in the small head tilts he did as he contemplated his spontaneous decision. When he noticed he had been talking for longer than he planned, he raised a hand to his head. You smiled as you watched him pat down his hair. You recognized the nervous habit instantly.

“No, let’s go out,” you replied with a laugh and grabbed your wallet from your backpack. Despite your rough morning and fatigue, you were eager to spend time with Jungkook. It wasn’t often he was caught up with his assignments. 

His somber eyes morphed into delight at your answer and intertwined his fingers with yours hastily. He used his free hand to reach around you, holding the now open door for you to walk through. A silent laugh bubbled in your chest at his eagerness. 

“Uhh, hey Jungkook,” Jihyun said suddenly, which had you pausing in your tracks.  She had never addressed him directly so your curiosity was piqued. Jungkook craned his neck over his extended arm to gaze at your quiet roommate. She gave him a smile, “Thank you for helping me with my physics homework.”

“Oh, you’re welcome,” he replied with a smile of his own. “Just remember that since the mass gets canceled out, the speed and oscillation become independent of said mass. And the problem deals with a small oscillation so the ‘t’ is also independent of the starting height.”

You and Jihyun looked at Jungkook in a similar manner—a mixture of perplexity and admiration. Jihyun nodded slowly as she tried to register his words. “I’ll try to keep that in mind. I’ll see you later, Yn.”

You waved a hand at your roommate before you ducked under Jungkook’s arm and into the hallway. The door shut with a soft click as your boyfriend led you to the front doors.

“It seems like you enjoyed yourself while you were waiting for me,” you teased and glanced up at Jungkook to watch his expression. Jungkook smiled shyly and began to swing your connected hands in a child-like manner. 

“She said I could wait inside for you. I was about to leave but then I saw her assignment and I guess I got carried away,” he explained. You were sure Jungkook had the highest IQ in all Seoul; however, his wittiness and playfulness disguised his true talents. 

“Well, I’m glad you had something to keep you occupied,” you replied and stilled your waving hands.

The walk to the nearest pizza parlor off-campus was short. It was one of the most common places for university students to hang out. Ironically, you didn’t find yourself here often. Jungkook and you weren’t huge fans of crowded places but sometimes it felt nice to just get out and change environments. 

The parlor was family-owned, which added to the homely atmosphere. The owners and their three children (two sons and one daughter) were all welcoming and often tried to accommodate those who were in financial trouble. Sometimes it was in the forms of exchanged work or IOUs. Regardless, they understood the troubles that came with being university students.

The line, thankfully, was short (in spite of the crowded restaurant) and you and Jungkook were seated with fresh pizzas in under fifteen minutes. As usual, the place was littered with students—some scrambling to finish an essay due that night and some simply hanging with their friends. The volume inside the parlor buzzed with all the filled seats. You wondered if this was how it always was or if it was rush hour.

Jungkook and you fell into conversation easily. You spoke briefly about your upcoming test that you were nervous about and Jungkook discussed his two-day all-nighters to catch up on all his classwork. Ten minutes in and his voice suddenly turned solemn.

“Hey, I know you’re going to claim you can handle yourself, and I believe you—I’ve seen it first hand,” he added quickly so you wouldn’t interrupt. “But I would probably refrain from wandering outside at night for a few weeks.”

The furrow of your eyebrows as you chewed told Jungkook he needed to elaborate. “I can’t confirm much yet but I’m getting a sense there’s a new group forming that could be dangerous. I’ve been hearing rival gangs discussing plans of attack if they ever make a move.”

“Do you have a name?” You asked and slid your empty pizza tray to the side. You leaned closer as Jungkook began lowering his voice as he spoke. Jungkook sighed at your question and shook his head.

“I don’t,” he huffed, miffed that he wasn’t able to gather that information yet. “I’ve been tracking this lead for a few weeks. I don’t have a name. I don’t have a face. I don’t have anything useful. It makes me worried, so for me, can you promise you’ll stay indoors until I get more insight?”

Your gaze wavered at his question. You had already planned on visiting the docks tomorrow and you didn’t plan to skip it. It was going to be your first official visit as a member. 

Your fourth warning sign should’ve been the fact that you didn’t want to tell Jungkook about your secret nights out. You were wanting to do good, so what was wrong with telling Jungkook about your plans to help others when he does the same? You told yourself that you hid this from him because you didn’t want him to worry. You wanted to lighten his load without him thinking he forced you to.

Perhaps what he was hearing was all talk and no bite. He did say he hasn’t had any useful leads in weeks. Maybe it was all a hoax—a rumor started by another gang to rile up the others. However, you knew Jungkook was not going to take no for an answer. He would find a way to keep you as safe as he thought possible. And while you appreciated it, you didn’t want to feel caged in.

“I’ll stay indoors. Don’t worry,” you lied. Jungkook rested an elbow on the table and held out his pinkie. You stared at it as if it was plagued with poison, which had Jungkook frowning.

“Give me one week, Yn. I just don’t want something to happen to you,” he pleaded, eyes swimming with unease as he watched your strained expression. “I’m not trying to control you. I just… I can’t lose you. I don’t know what these guys are capable of.”

The way he spoke so softly and with such sincerity had your insides whirling. You didn’t need to see the way his eyes held your eyes firmly to know he meant every word he said. He waited patiently as you switched your gaze from his eyes to his pinkie and back again. Although some people may find pinky promises silly, they meant a lot to you (and even Jungkook). It was something you took seriously and it filled you with great dissonance when you slowly wrapped your pinky around his larger one. The only reason you didn’t drown in guilt right then and there was the fact that you had shifted your other hand behind your back—twisting your index and middle together.

The sounds of sirens twenty minutes later were what sent Jungkook flying out the door after pressing his lips on yours in a brisk kiss. The volume on the small tv screen in the parlor was suddenly turned up as an anchorwoman started detailing the nearby crime. The restaurant grew quiet as everyone focused on what was happening.

“... street to take shelter. Police were called out to handle a robbery at Industrial Bank where six armed men are holding customers hostage. Oh! Here comes the masked vigilante. Despite the police demands to stay back, Spider-Man has entered the building. He appears to be trying to reason with the robbers.”

You watched with rapt attention as the camera zoomed into the bank’s windows. The hostages were seated on the floor, their backs pressed against a wall as much as possible. The robbers were in a semicircle and had their guns aimed at Jungkook, who stood in the middle. It was silent on the screen, everyone on their toes to see what would happen next.

“Some guy that spider-dude is,” a voice whispered close to you suddenly. Your body jolted by the abrupt sound. You leaned back into your chair as you assessed the unfamiliar man in front of you. His black hair lay wavy against his forehead, stopping just above his eyes. Even though you didn’t know who he was, his presence was a mixture of comfort and intimidation. It confused you. “I think he’s pretty neat. He saved my sister from a collapsing building once. I’m lucky he was there. Have you met him before?”

You nodded, still trying to recall how you knew him—or more how he knew you. Your eyes roamed his face again and spotted the beauty mark on his upper lip.

“It’s Minji, right?” He questioned when he saw your puzzlement. Your eyes widened at his question and you quickly tried to remember his face. However, it was no use. You didn’t remember him at all. “Ah, you don’t remember me. I was the one who had to pat you down. Sorry about that, by the way.”

Your mouth parted in realization. It was difficult to make out any distinguishing features in the darkness. The most you saw was his gentle jaw structure. However, it seemed to be more defined in the light.

“I’m Hoseok,” he greeted. “Do you go to the university near here?”

You debated on lying since there was a higher possibility of him learning your real name, but you decided against it. It would be harder to explain why you were constantly on campus if he ever saw you.

“Yeah. Do you? I’ve never seen you around,” you replied. He chuckled and adjusted the bracelet that rested around his wrist.

“I’m a little all over the place,” he chuckled, mouth forming a heart-shape that you found cute. “I’m actually surprised to have never seen you.”

“Unlike you, I usually only go to where I need to,” you replied. As you were about to ask another question, shots rang out from the tv screen. Your breath immediately caught in your throat and your eyes snapped to the screen as you tried to see if anyone had gotten hurt—more specifically a certain red and blue-clad man. You couldn’t hear what the men were telling Spider-Man but you didn’t care. You just needed to know if he was okay.

Spider-Man had swung to the opposing wall as one of the robbers fired their gun, dodging the flying bullets. Jungkook quickly snatched a table that was a few feet away with a web and slid it in front of the terrified hostages.

“Woah, woah, woah, guys,” Jungkook exclaimed and swung in front of one of the men. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to play with guns?” 

He shot out a web that covered one of their feet then fired a second web at another nearby robber. He took a hold of the middle of the string and pulled. The two men stumbled at the unexpected tug of their feet, grunting as they were forced across the room.

“You both ‘ought to be tired. Take a nap for me,” Jungkook teased and fired a strand of webs at the flying duo. He cushioned their landing against a wall and shot a few more webs to adhere them to the wall. The men’s backs were pressed against the surface, torsos covered with a trillion small strings. The two growled as they tried to free their bodies from the wall. 

“Can we hurry this up? I was in the middle of a very lovely conversation,” Jungkook said and quickly examined who would be the next to take out easiest. 

“Get down here, Spider-Man,” one of the men shouted, gun lifted in the air. “Fight on equal ground like a real man.”

Jungkook slowed his swing at the robber’s words. “I’m not sure if you want that, Mr. Bad Guy,” he chuckled and shot a web at the man’s extended gun. The gun ripped from the criminal’s grip and into Jungkook’s. It was heavy in his hand and he hated the way it felt. He quickly unloaded the rifle before webbing it to one of the walls.

“It seems like you’re all talk, bug boy. All you got are your foolish webs. What are you without them?” The man taunted and pulled out a dagger he had stored in his boots, eyes following Jungkook as he continued to dodge bullets.

Jungkook was used to hearing insults and slurs from his attackers to ignore them, however, this particular one distracted him. It was a question he rarely thought of. He was so intoxicated with the exhilarating adventures that came with being Spider-Man that he didn’t stop and consider what he’d be without his mask. He felt a sense of pride and accomplishment at every person he saved and every criminal he put behind bars. He had a sense of responsibility to the people of Seoul. He often forgot about his life as Jeon Jungkook.

The slowing of his swing allowed the robbers to get a better shot at the flying man. Jungkook swiftly tore his mind from his thoughts as the back of his neck tingled. However, despite Jungkook’s quick reflexes to duck his knees to his chest, a bullet grazed the outside of his calf. This had him grunting in pain, grip loosening on the web string he was holding and collapsing to the ground. He couldn’t focus on the tear in his skin as he watched the men move without hesitation toward him.

Jungkook leaped to his feet, instantly ducking as one of the men swung their arm toward his face. He ignored the pain in his leg as he kicked at the attacker’s torso. The robber stumbled back at the harsh impact, giving room for another robber to take their turn. 

“Hey, you guys want to hear a joke?” Jungkook questioned, rather cheerfully despite his current position and previous thoughts. He grabbed the arm that slid past his face and twisted it.

“Not the face, dude. Anything but the face,” Spider-Man huffed and attached a web to the man’s hand he held. He quickly connected the man’s hands together behind their back before shoving them to the floor rougher than anticipated.

“Sorry! I forget I’m stronger than I look,” he apologized quickly and moved onto the next robber. “Oh! My joke! Want to hear it? I’ma tell it,” he said as he continued his quick attacks on the men. Soon, only the man with the dagger stood. He glowered at Jungkook before lunging at the masked hero. 

“Why did the fly fly?” He asked as he ducked, missing the spearing object by a few inches. The man ignored his question, as to be expected, and slammed his foot on the back of Jungkook’s knee. Jungkook went down with a hiss and swiftly reached up to stop the man’s stabbing motion. He gritted his teeth when he accidentally shifted his hand a little too far to the right. The dagger’s sharp edge ripped through his suit and pierced his skin. Two wounds in one fight? He must be losing his touch.

With more vigor, he clutched the opposing man’s wrist, twisting the knife out of his hold before kicking his feet out from under him. The robber fell next to Jungkook with a cry as his knee hit the concrete roughly. Jungkook extended an arm, hastily webbing the man’s hands to the tile floor before scrambling to his feet. He shot down a few more webs so that the man was flat on the floor.

Jungkook inhaled deeply before he completed his joke, “Because the spider spied ‘er.” He chuckled breathlessly at his own joke. He took a few staggering steps back from the mess he made, the sting in his legs alerting his attention again. 

He peered at the frightened hostages, a smile adorning his concealed lips. “Get it? The spider saw the fly?” 

When none of them responded he sighed. “Okay, I’ll work on it,” he said and began helping them up from their crouched positions to the exit.

“Woah, are those the new DVS Terror Walker shoes?” He gasped when he spotted one of the hostage’s shoes. The young teen peered up at the hero, slowly nodding—part of him still in shock from the robbery and another part from Spider-Man speaking to him. “They’re so cool. You look great in them.”

“Thanks,” the boy muttered then joined his worried family outside. Jungkook stood there awkwardly, watching as the hostages collapsed in the arms of their loved ones. The pain in his calf was growing stronger and he could feel the cut on his hand sting. After one final look around, he reached up and pulled himself up, swinging himself back to the university.

“You’re lucky you didn’t get seriously injured today,” you murmured as you finished placing the bandages on his calf while he sealed his hand. 

Jungkook was oddly quiet. Usually, he was buzzing from the adrenaline and high from the fight. He was too detached right now, which had alarms ringing in your head. After sliding the first-aid kit back in its spot, you climbed onto Jungkook’s bed. He sat propped against his headboard, eyes staring down at his calloused hands.

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Lucky.”

“Did something happen that wasn’t shown on tv?” You questioned and poked his outstretched leg. There was silence for a moment. 

“What am I without the suit?” He asked suddenly, however, it sounded like the question was directed to himself rather than to you. Ah, so that is what had him sulking.

“You’re Jeon Jungkook. The smartest man in Seoul with the humblest heart,” you answered and crawled closer, kneeling yourself between his legs. Your feet were tucked under your legs as you stared at your deflated boyfriend. He glowered at your response, which caused you to feel disheartened.

“That doesn’t sound good enough,” he argued and tilted his head behind him. “Jungkook can’t save people. He can’t lock the criminals behind bars. The best he can do is win first place at his middle school science fair.”

“You won first place in high school, too,” you added quietly, hoping it would bring a smile to his face. However, it only earned you an unamused gaze from Jungkook, which had you slumping slightly. 

“The point is I’m nothing without the suit,” he groaned and leaned his head back again. You watched silently as his Adam’s apple bobbed with the harsh swallow that followed a heavy sigh.

“That’s not true, Jungkook,” you tried to comfort. You reached out a hand and slid it on the nape of his neck. You began massaging the area, gently playing with his hair in the process. “You can still help without your suit. Your intelligence is amazing. I’m sure if you hadn’t gotten bit you would’ve been the best biophysicist Seoul could ever ask for. I mean you can still be that if you want to,” you trailed off. He stayed silent as he digested your words. You slid your hand down his body soothingly and rested your hand on top of his heart. It beat steadily under your palm.

“No one would care who I am without it,” he spoke after a while. His eyes had closed as he allowed his thoughts to roam freely. It was a dangerous move, but it’s been a while since he let himself sit and simply think. “Sure, there are people who dislike Spider-Man, but most people do like him. They need him. No one needs Jeon Jungkook.”

You pulled your hand back at his confession, startled by what he truly felt. Your hand felt as if it were seared with the harshness of his words. You could understand the desire to feel wanted or to feel loved by many. What you didn’t understand was how he could think so lowly of Jungkook—his true self. You swallowed the lump in your throat.

“Do you really think that?” You questioned quietly. Did he not realize that he just downgraded you? Did he really think you didn’t need him?

“Yeah,” he replied slowly then more firmly, “Yeah. No one cared for Jungkook in high school. No one cared that I won first place. But when Spider-Man was on tv? Yeah, they turned their heads to him.”

“So then what about Yoongi? Aunt May?” You asked, voice wavering ever so slightly. “What about me? Do you think we don’t need you? Who cares what those people in high school thought.”

To this, he raised his head, eyes catching yours briefly before they tore away again. “You’re telling me you don’t like Spider-Man?”

“No, I like him-”

He scoffed. “Exactly.”

You narrowed your eyes at his distasteful attitude. It was rare to see this side of Jungkook. You had only seen this side of him after his Uncle Ben died. However, his anger over his own guilt faded quickly when he realized being angry did nothing but drain his energy. He wasn’t helping anyone by staying agitated. 

“But,” you continued stubbornly. “I like Jungkook more.”

“No one else does,” he replied sharply. He didn’t truly believe your words, but he didn’t need to say that for you to know.

“Screw them,” you retaliated. “There would be no Spider-Man if there were no Jungkook. People who only like Spider-Man are incredibly dense and selfish. The man behind the mask matters, too. How can you just disregard who you really are?”

“I’m not disregarding myself. I’m just being honest. Jungkook is just another speck of dust on a shelf. People need Spider-Man. It’s like Jungkook is just a vessel for Spider-Man.”

“And what about those who need Jeon Jungkook?” You stared at him fiercely. You wanted him to see that he was just as important without the mask as he was under it. He clenched his jaw as he thought, tongue shortly poking his cheek from the inside.

“They’ll eventually realize they need Spider-Man more.” 

His eyes held yours strongly as if challenging him to say otherwise. You could tell he was set with his opinion. No matter what you’d say, he’d believe what he wanted to believe. You didn’t want to leave him in this enraged condition, but your comforting words were falling on deaf ears. You knew they weren’t going to reassure him.

You were the first to break eye contact. After glancing at his wounds and deciding he’ll be okay, you maneuvered off his bed. You slipped your shoes on briskly then grabbed your bag from his desk.

“Not even going to deny it?” He questioned arrogantly as you neared his door. You paused in your steps and turned to face him. The smugness on his lips caused your face to contort in a scowl.

Glaring, you replied, “I didn’t date you because of the mask and I didn’t stay for it, either.”

The sound of his door shutting echoed loudly in your ears, leaving you in an unnerving state as you lingered outside his room alone.

↞ swing backward | ws mp | swing forward  ↠

© hongcherry // DO NOT REPOST.               

[themadauthorshatter]

It's been forever since I did one of these.

PG-13 Ninjago Pilot Season Episode 3!!!!!!

We start off with Kai walking through Four Weapons on his own, back in his old clothes. There's no one around, but he hears the hammer banging in the blacksmith shop.

Kai jogs in, excitedly calling, "Nya!"

Turns out there's no Nya there. It's Samukai, who throws a pair of knives at Kai and he gets pinned to the wall as Samukai saunters toward him, a third knife in his hand. Kai tries kicking and breaking free, but screams to know where Nya is and what Samukai did to her.

Just as Samukai goes to stab Kai, he's slapped awake.

Yeah, another dream, but it was Jay who woke up Kai, because the new kid slept in and they need to go. Mission today to get the map, so they need to haul ass.

Kai gets up and dresses, still a little drowsy, and asks about breakfast.

No breakfast.

Now that he's waking up for realsies, he has ANOTHER question: how are they getting there?

Cole barks that they're taking the carriage and tells Kai and Jay to hurry the hell up.

Kai jumps up, excitedly asking if they're REALLY taking a carriage, like RIDING IN A CARRIAGE, and Jay gives a small smile and shrug.

And we cut to the ninja pulling a carriage as Wu meditates, Cole in the front with Jay, Zane, and Kai behind him, Kai remarking that when Jay said they were taking a carriage, this was not what he was thinking at all.

Jay chuckles and admits that it at least got him out of bed, right?

Kai groans and changes the topic:

Where and how did Wu find these three?

Cole bites that if it weren't for Wu, the four of them wouldn't be caught dead together. To completely answer Kai's question, though, Wu found Cole twice before Cole decided to go with him; he'd been testing himself physically and got offered the student plan to Wu's spinjitsu academy.

Jay backs Cole's story, even though there are parts he's not saying, which he should say now that they're a team. Cole barks that Jay should focus more on pulling the carriage instead of running his mouth.

Jay groans that he's just trying to help their new brother feel welcome and explains to Kai that he was testing an invention and Wu was there when he crashed.

Before Kai can ask Zane, Wu tells him(Zane) to run and scout ahead.

Zane obeys and parkours out of the carriage, racing ahead of them.

Jay gives it to Kai up-front: they don't know where Zane came from. One day, Wu just left and came back with him. They've tried asking Zane about it, but he's had a seizure every time, and it always leaves him in terrible shape afterwards.

Kai wonders if that's what has him acting so weird, but Wu shouts for them all to stop and hide the carriage.

Kai sighs, glad to not be running anymore, but Jay shushes him as they hide the carriage and hide behind some rocks next to Zane.

In front of them are the caves of despair, having been given the name because of all the randomly falling rocks the Scythe of Quakes causes. Samukai and his army are mining for the weapon, but Wu's old man memory kicks in as he sighs that they're in the wrong spot.

Even so, the team needs to be extremely careful. Not only is the landscape easily disturbed, there are skeletons EVERYWHERE, and a dragon.

Cole's eyes widen as he echoes, "Dragon?" But there's one more thing they need to be careful of:

Kai, who's already raced ahead.

Zane drops his head onto the rock, Cole facepalms and shakes his head, and Jay remarks that that’s one way to get to the map, as he’s just rushing in head first.

New plan: Keep Kai from getting them all killed, THEN get the map and the scythe.

The ninja agree and rush out, Wu staying behind to cause a distraction for the skeletons to make their mission easier.

With Kai, he, quite poorly, sneaks around the skeletons with the rest of the ninja following with much more stealth, even taking down a guard that spots Kai. 

They catch up to Kai on the tower, and Zane smacks him over the head, and contemplates kicking him off before Jay stops him and gestures for him to get the map when Samukai has his back turned. 

Zane does just that, tying a rope to one of his shurikens and using it to get the map. 

He hands it to Cole, who examines the map and confirms what Sensei Wu was saying. The skeletons are digging in the wrong place because they were reading the map upside down, so the weapon is actually of the other side of the caves. 

Kai states that he’s on it and begins leaving, but Cole snags the back of his gi and tells him to hold his horses, unless he wants to get caught and possibly killed. 

Before Kai can protest, the ground shakes, rocking everyone and everything and making the ninja fall off the tower. The rest duck for any kind of cover because it starts raining boulders and no one brought a steel umbrella. Maybe we get a visual gag of Kruncha and Nuckal hiding under the conveyer belt that was being used to mine and Nuckal is gnawing on a doughnut shaped rock he found because he doesn’t want to be turned into bone power. 

The quakes stop and we return to the ninja, Cole sighing as Zane and Jay hug each other, still trembling; Jay just got some anxiety triggered and Zane has never dealt with an earthquake before. 

Kai isn’t reacting because he vanished, having raced to the other side of the caves. 

Cole groans and tells the two scaredy cats to keep up, though Jay groans/cries out for what Kai’s problem is because he’s always in a rush to get himself in trouble. 

Speaking of Kai, we cut to him as he tries to open the stone door to the golden weapon, only stopping when he gets a rock thrown at the back of his head. 

He turns around and sees Zane with another rock at the ready. 

He doesn’t get a chance to throw it because Cole reminds Kai to not run off because, unless he’s forgotten, they’re a team, and whether he likes it or not he’s a part of it, so no more running off and doing things on his own. 

Kai groans that he’s got it and they all get the door open.

The cavern is alight in warm gold and the ground is hella cracked and broken down, all courtesy of the Scythe of Quakes, which rests grip/handle first in the mouth of what looks like a dragon statue, one that’s covered in dirt and sand. 

The ninja are all amazed, and Jay almost shouts that what he’s seeing is very cool, almost because Cole covers his mouth and shushes him before he can be heard by anyone outside. 

Kai goes to grab it, but Zane pulls him back and hands him a blanket to use to grab the scythe with; these things are sometimes too powerful for mortal hands, so best to be safe than sorry. 

Kai wraps the blanket around the scythe and tries to pull it out of the dragon’s mouth, but find he can’t because it’s too heavy. 

Zane gives it a try and can’t either. 

Jay takes a swing, calling both of them paper handed(which means they’ve never lifted anything heavy like an engine or something like that) as he tries and eats his words. Too heavy. 

With a groan, because the statue looks real as hell, Cole gives it a try. 

And the scythe slides out easy as a knife through cake. 

Some magic energy stuff swirls around Cole and causes the ground to shake one last time, just a gentle little quiver, and then finally stop. 

Cole gets down and looks down at the weapon with wide eyes, Jay asking what all of that was Cole shakes his head, but doesn’t think on it, because they need to get back to Wu.

Speaking of Wu, he's fighting a hard as he can to defend himself against a bunch of skeletons, some fighting him as their own distraction, the rest leaving to get to the caves.

The ninja all wander through the caves and wonder where the exit is, at until Cole takes the lead and starts to show them the way outside. Jay asks if he used to study caves, but Cole denies it, admitting that caves always freaked him out as a kid.

He ends up leading them back to the room the weapon was stored in and notice the statue is gone.

Kai's equal parts annoyed at being led in a circle and confused at the statue vanished, offering that it crumbled into sand.

No time for theories because they come face to face with Samukai and the rest of the skeleton army.

ACTION TIME!!

The ninja all jump into action, fighting the skeletons while defending the weapon. Despite doing well, they still get beaten., even Kai, but he's new, so it's forgiven.

Jay, however, is thrown against the wall and slumps to the ground as skeletons surround him. His vision is blurry, but he also seems flashes of blue lightning. His body recharges and he stands lokking down at his feet as he does a circle with one foot and continues to spin with the momentum.

Cole sucker punches Kruncha away, which sends him FLYING, and races over to Jay to try helping him.

No need, because we and the other ninja are Jay is spinjitsu- ing and knocking away skeletons.

The ninja are surprised, Kai asking how Jay is doing that.

Jay calls back in his spinjitsu mode that he just saw lightning and spun with it.

With one more good turn, we transition into an anime-magical girl-esque transformation fully of fun visuals of lightning spiraling up Jay's body and then shooting outward as he plants his feet into the ground. His gi turns blue and the gold emblem turns to the lightning one we see him wear in the original, the storm cloud-looking skull with lightning in place of its teeth.

The skellies back off in fear while the ninja are very impressed and shocked.

Samukai gives no damns and orders his men to kill the ninja and take the scythe.

Zane walks ahead of the ninja and agilities his way to the skellies, spinning with the snowflakes he sees.

It also transitions into Zane's transformation, where he lands back first in snow and ice covered water. We follow him in the water as he falls upside down, though the camera turns until he's right way up. The dark water becomes lighter as snow or ice whirls around him starting from his ankles to his head. He keeps rising until he breaks through ice, revealing that his gi is now white and his emblem is the same as the show version, the ice sharp/snowflake looking wolf/dragon.

Zane spinjitsus the skeletons as well, even tag teaming with Jay, who smiles and laughs while Zane smiles with his eyes.

While he holds the Scythe of Quakes, Cole and Kai struggle with the skeletons. Jay and Zane are too busy beyblading to notice, but, out of options as Kai is almost knocked unconscious, Cole takes the scythe out of the blanket and slams it into the ground handle first.

The ground shakes and cracks even more. The skeletons are blasted back and Cole's transformation happens.

The earth aroind him rises over him ant then breaks.

... Same black gi, but at least he has his earth emblem now, the earth/stone-esque stone/mask. And he has orange eyes, which are a subtle hint to his true potential. While everyone's stunned, Kai spots Samukai and charges toward him, shouting his name.

Skeleton archers shoot at Kai, but he turns, once, twice, thrice, many times, flames growing around him as his own spinjitsu begins to work.

We dive into the flames and see Kai running, literally catching fire on his gi and causing it to burn, the black turning red. His emblem to the flaming lion.

The arrows meant to pepper him do nothing and Kai gets out of his sponjitsu out with sword drawn.

Samukai, always ready for a round 2, draws his knives.

The two clash, Kai doing much better than he did in Four Weapons, this time being on the offensive while Samukai is left simply blocking him as much as he can while Kai demends to kniw where Nya is and what was done to her.

The other ninja do much better as well, Cole alternating between his normal scythe and the golden scythe, Zane getting higher jumps and better agility, and Jay going much faster than he usually does, circling around a group of skeletons and then running at and through them once he's going fast enough, to incapacitate them all.

Samukai eventually kicks Kai away and gets gets on the offensive as well, the two semi-evenly matched.

Well, at least until he looks up and behind Kai and pushes him back, slowly backing away.

The other skeletoms do the same and Samukai retreats.

Kai begins to gollow him, but Jay stops him, telling him not to worry because they got the weapon and are one step closer to saving this Nya girl.

Kai supposes so, and the team takes a breather, Cole removing his hood to breathe better and re-wrappong the scythe in the blanket, mentally patting himself on the back for not losing anyine of getting them all killed.

That relief VANISHES when he hears breathing over his a a broken skull falls on his head.

He looks up and his face drops and pales, freezing in place.

The other ninja are too bust boasting to notice, but Zane is using his thinking cap for a second.

Wasn't there supposed to be a dragon guarding the weapon.

They hear a rumble behind them, and Kai turns, telling Cole to be more careful with the scythe.

Jay follows and gasps, Zane doing the mannequin challenge and freezing in a pose.

It was not the scythe that did that, and that statue that moved wasn't a statue.

They just pissed off one of the elemental dragons.

Cole scooches back before slowly rising to his feet, weapon in his hands.

The dragon watches and growls at him even more.

Kai asks what they do and Zane stays frozen, Jay has an even better idea, one of his best ever:

"RUN! RUN LIKE HELL!!!"

The team break for the door, but the dragon is faster and smashes its head against the ground, sending them all back as the ground shakes.

Rocks fall just as they see Wu coming racing toward them, the rocks blocking them off from each other.

The Earthe dragon snarls and circles the entrance, but Cole, using his new, super slick, earth powers, leads them to a tunnel they took earlier.

The dragon gladly follows.

The team sprints away as the dragon races after them, roaring and snarling after them.

Cole looks back and continues running, even shrieking at the fact he's being chased by a real living dragon.

Zane, Jay, and Kai are all panicked as well, Zane screaming, Jay babbling and making random noises, and Kai shouting.

We get a gag of Cole rounding a corner, still shrieking and hilding the golden scythe, followed by Zane, who we hear really use his voice for the first time as he screams/howls, Jay right behind him as he shouts, sorry if this is hard to read for everyone, "WHYISTHEREADRAGON!?SENSEINEVERSAIDANYTHNGABOUTADRAGONSOWHYISTHEREADRAGONINEVERSIGNEDUPFORTHISTHISISNOTOKAYWHATTHEHELLISGOINGONWHYISTHISHAPPENINGIAMNITOKAYWITHTHIS!!!!!!!!!" and Kai finishes the train as he screams and scrambles after them all, shouting for them to wait up.

The dragon rounds the corner as well, shaking the ground as it runs.

They eventually find their way to an exist and leave the caves, though the dragon still follows them out.

Kai, thinking quickly, takes the scythe from Cole and smashes it blade first into the ground, much to everyone's objections.

It shakes the ground and Kai enough to make the dragon retreat and avalanche of rocks to occur(a rock slide?). The ninja are still for a minute before screaming and leaving again, spinjitsu-ing away until they're back near the carriage.

They look back at the carnage and let themselves breathe for real, congratulating each other on a job well done.

That's when they see Wu scowling at them, and he asks what they were thinking.

Kai tries to salvage this operation and shows that they got the scythe.

Wu's glad for that, but they still USED the weapon and almost got themselves killed, expressing disappointment in both Kai and Cole for not thinking before acting.

Cole takes it, because you don't talk back to Sensei Wu, but Kai still defends himself in saying they were surrounded by skeletons and needed a way out, and they got the weapon, so he shouldn't be complaining.

Wu spells it out for them: if they just took the weapon and left, everything would've been fine, but since they used the weapon, they attracted the attention of the dragon, which has been known to attack on sight.

Wu drops ot and commends them for a job well done, upon seeing the weapon for himself, seeing they learned spinjitsu and seeing the map Zane nabbed, and tells the ninja they'll head back to the monastery after a little bit of rest.

The ninja agree, save for Kai, who's staring in disbelief and confusion as Wu pulls Cole aside, the earth ninja explaining what happened in the caves.

Jay walks up to Kai and pats him on the shoulder, advising that Kai really shouldn't talk back to Wu, because the guy could very easily kill him, if he really wanted.

Kai asks how a cool guy like Jay is here with a teacher's pet like Cole and... Zane, who's saying, 'fuck my safety and wellbeing,' and walking and climbing on the rocks that crashed down and almkst killed them all.

Jay shrugs and admits it's something you get used to, but it's worth the time.

Kai politely doibts it and just hopes he can save his sister.

Jay perks up at this, asking if she has a boyfriend, if she likes blue, all that jazz.

Kai grabs him by the collar and pulls him close, growling at him to back off.

Cole pulls Kai off of him, just on time, too, because Zane was sprinting over to dropkick Kai, and warns that they can't be tearing at each other, not when the other three weapons need to be found.

Kai concedes, but adds one more thing they all need to understand:

He'll stay, but only until those weapons and Nya are found. After that, he's gone.

Cole, already done with him, snarls, "Good."

Wu calls them all over and they huddle around the map as Wu informs them that the next weapons are the shurikens of ice, and they're close, but they need a boat and supplies, and need to return to the monastery.

The team agree, and ready themselves with the carriage, Cole and Kai glaring at each other before they leave.

The episode ends with the ninja running to returning to the monastery.

[noelleification]

I wrote an essay about she-ra supremacy and i want to share it with you

For context, my English teacher and I have been in an elaborate pissing contest for the past year. He said fan fiction was bad, so I wrote a sonnet about Banana Fish. He said you couldn't write about death using bright language and colorful metaphors, so I wrote a flash fiction piece about it.

One thing that he's done this year that we disagreed on was making us read The Plague by Albert Camus during a global pandemic. So, my most recent attempt at fucking with my teacher was writing an essay about why She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) is better than The Plague.

So, here is my essay. :)

"Recently I was asked, “What is the job of a novelist, and did Albert Camus accomplish this when he wrote The Plague?” While most of my classmates answered yes, I was less taken with the novel than they seemed to be.

The question “What is the job of a novelist?” is difficult to answer. Quite simply, art means different things to different people, and giving a yes or no answer to such a complex question seems impossible. Still, while The Plague definitely has something interesting to say, its message isn’t profound when compared to other, “lower” forms of art. It’s easy to assume value in The Plague because of it’s status, but after reading the novel, I was somewhat unimpressed with the one-note characterizations that served to deliver an ultimately average message.

In contrast, I have repeatedly been overwhelmingly impressed with She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a 2018 remake of a He-Man spinoff cartoon from the 80s. The new She-Ra broke boundaries in terms of representation, and the show’s resolution was made meaningful by the well-developed characters and important themes. Due to its complex characters, important messages, and groundbreaking representation, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018) is a more important and influential piece of art than The Plague by Albert Camus.

The complex characters in She-Ra are much more rich and well-developed,than those in The Plague. Characters in The Plague are flat and one-dimensional—instead of real, relatable human beings, these characters come across as ideas. They represent something, but they’re not flawed, multi-faceted characters in their own right. On the other hand, She-Ra’s characters—from its heroes to its villains to its side characters—are infinitely complex and well-developed.

The most prominent example of this is Catra. Catra, the deuteragonist of the series, is the childhood best friend of the protagonist, Adora. In order to understand the complex role that Catra fulfills in She-Ra, it is important to understand the background of the show.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power takes place in the fantasy world of Etheria, in which women with magical powers, called ‘princesses’, rule and protect the land. The central conflict takes place between the Rebellion and the Evil Horde. The Horde, ruled by Hordak, is an army dedicated to wiping out the princesses and taking control of Etheria.

Catra and Adora are two child soldiers raised by the Horde. They grew up together and are best friends. However, when Adora finds a magical sword inside the forest and discovers that she is the legendary warrior She-Ra, she defects from the Horde and joins the Rebellion. Alongside two new friends, Bow and Princess Glimmer, Adora fights to defend Etheria from the Horde.

Catra, however, feels betrayed when Adora joins the Rebellion. While Adora’s arc is quickly established as a redemption arc, Catra spirals into a corruption arc for many seasons. Because of her pain and betrayal, she becomes the right-hand woman of Hordak. She lashes out at those closest to her, makes it her life’s mission to stop Adora, and hurts dozens of people on her way to the top.

Still, Catra is not a one-note villain. Her pain and betrayal is explored deeply throughout the series. Even at her worst moments, Catra is sympathetic. Flashbacks of her childhood show her deep emotional bond with Adora and the physical and emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of the Horde. She is shown breaking down multiple times throughout the series, and her relationships with characters like Scorpia show her humanity, even when she is hell-bent on destroying the Rebellion. Despite Catra’s actions, she is a deeply sympathetic character.

Catra is a complex villain, but she is an even more complex protagonist. In season five of the series, after a series of events lead her to reflect on her actions, Catra betrays the Horde to save Adora. This is not an easy decision for her to make. Catra is emotionally tormented—betrayed by those closest to her and held captive by the same force she once swore to serve, Catra saves Glimmer’s life in a last-ditch attempt to do “one good thing” in her life. Catra believes she will be killed for her actions, and in what she thinks are her last moments, she cries, “Adora, I’m sorry. For everything.”

Of course, Adora is not content to let Catra die. She saves her childhood friend, but when Catra is rescued by the Rebellion, she does not immediately change sides. Catra is shown to be bitter and cruel to Adora, Bow, and Glimmer as she struggles with her own internal conflict. Catra continues to lash out at those who are trying to help her, and it is only when Catra begins to face the consequences of her actions by apologizing to a friend she betrayed that she is able to start on the road to redemption. Her redemption is complex, and it is an arc that continues for most of season five. Catra does not flip a switch that takes her from “evil” to “good”—it is a grueling process that is only made possible by the forgiveness of those around her.

Catra is not the only character with a complex arc. Despite being the protagonist, Adora is a deeply flawed character who has to learn and grow over the course of the series. Season four sees Glimmer betraying her friends and falling deeper into a spiral of fear and hatred after the death of her mother. Even Shadow Weaver, Catra and Adora’s abusive parent figure, is not easily classified as “good” or “evil.” Shadow Weaver is a morally grey enigma who serves whatever side she believes will win and, in the end, makes the ultimate sacrifice by dying to save Catra.

It is worth noting that this is not a full redemption of Shadow Weaver’s character. Unlike Catra, Shadow Weaver has a ‘death redemption’—instead of truly facing the consequences of her actions, she sacrifices her life, which almost seems like taking the easy way out. This form of redemption arc is less satisfying to viewers, especially because many believe Shadow Weaver died for Adora’s sake, not Catra’s. Noelle Stevenson, the show’s creator, has confirmed that Shadow Weaver is not meant to be a fully redeemed character. However, this incomplete redemption once again displays the complexity of She-Ra’s characters. They are not good or evil—instead, they are every shade in between. Contrast this with the static, one-dimensional characters of The Plague, and it is clear that She-Ra’s characters are far more well-developed.

In evaluating the value in a piece of art, it is important to look at the message and theme. The Plague does, in fact, have multiple important themes that it discusses. It centers around love, mortality, religion, humanity, and ethics, all of which are important philosophical topics that force the reader to think. I will not make the claim that these issues are not important, because they absolutely are.

However, it would be irresponsible to dismiss the important messages that She-Ra contains just because it is a show made for children. She-Ra explores a number of complex and thought-provoking themes, such as love, loyalty, justice, grief, forgiveness, and redemption. It does this through its rich characterizations and complex relationships. Despite She-Ra’s PG rating, it nevertheless discusses colonialism, unhealthy and abusive relationships, environmentalism, psychological trauma, and self-worth.

Once again, a fascinating example of these themes comes from Catra and Adora. Catra and Adora were emotionally and physically abused by their parent figure, Shadow Weaver, from a young age. Catra in particular was told she is worthless, and this goes on to drive every one of Catra’s actions for the first four seasons of the show. She-Ra does not shy away from the aftermath of Catra’s abuse. It shows in detail the resentment she holds for those around her, including Adora, for their perceived wrongdoings. Her breakdowns are vivid and heartbreaking.

Despite all of her trauma, Catra craves Shadow Weaver’s love deeply. Some of her most horrific actions in the show are driven by her feelings of heartbreak and betrayal inspired by Shadow Weaver.

However, the abuse that Adora suffers is just as insidious, if less obvious. Adora was raised to believe that she had to be perfect and that the well-being of those she cares about is solely on her shoulders. This message deeply affects Adora’s character throughout the series and plays into some of her most profound flaws. Adora is prone to wanting to face everything alone. She doesn’t want to burden her friends, so she hurts and burdens herself. She blames herself when her friends get hurt, and she ultimately ends up seeing her life as worthless. Adora’s struggles with her self-image are directly tied to the abuse she suffered at Shadow Weaver’s hands. In the final episodes of the show, Adora is willing to sacrifice herself for the good of others.

Shadow Weaver’s influence is to directly to blame. She is present as part of the Rebellion during the fifth and final season, and she is the character who plants the idea in Adora’s head of sacrificing herself for the world. Even when Catra stands up to her on Adora’s behalf, Adora is unable to see her own worth. This results in a number of heartbreaking scenes where Catra pleads with Adora to think about what she wants, not what is expected of her. In the penultimate episode, a character finally tells Adora that “[she] is worth more than what [she] can give other people. [She deserves] love, too.”

Dismissing the messages of She-Ra as being “lesser” or “childish” is, in many ways, a straight, white, male perspective. Privileged groups are able to easily grasp their own worth, as they are never taught that they are worthless. It might seem more valuable to talk about more philosophical concepts if messages like those in She-Ra are seen as a given. But for many, self-worth is not an expectation. LGBT people are considered lucky to be accepted by their families, and they still face homophobia or transphobia on an almost daily basis. Their identity is seen as something to be ashamed of. It takes years of un-learning these patterns that a cisgender, heterosexual individual might never have learned in the first place. The same goes for other marginalized groups as well—women are often seen as less intelligent, and this idea is enforced through constant dismissal and belittlement of their thoughts and ideas. Individuals of color face daily prejudice and have been excluded from these conversations for centuries. Therefore, it is equally important for art like She-Ra to reinforce these messages that marginalized communities might never have been taught.

The messages in She-Ra might not be as philosophical as those in The Plague, but they are doubtlessly more emotional. Driven by the lovable characters and relatable issues, She-Ra made audiences feel in ways that I doubt The Plague ever has.

While The Plague is important from an ethical and philosophical standpoint, She-Ra is important from a much more human one. LGBT people are much more likely to be abused, mentally ill, and impoverished. These are some of the same issues faced by the characters in She-Ra. Given that the audience of She-Ra is largely LGBT, seeing these messages reaffirmed on-screen is deeply moving. A high-brow message is important, but if one doesn’t have the basics of self-respect and self-love, these conversations cannot be had.

It is possible that some might dismiss She-Ra and it’s messages compared to The Plague because it is a modern-day animated show instead of a classic novel. Here, we get into another interesting conversation: high art vs low art.

High art is renowned. It is old and has stood the test of time. People see it as beautiful, historical, and fundamentally important, despite the fact that they don’t rock the boat. Van Gogh paintings and Roman statues are examples of high art: priceless pieces with recognized worth. The Plague is another example of high art.

Low art, on the other hand, is art ‘of the people.’ Anybody can make low art. Current music, literature, art, and television is seen as less worthy or important than older pieces with more widely recognized importance. Some “instant classics” can almost immediately be placed into the realm of high art, but for the most part, newer things are always seen as less important than older ones. Low art is comic books, Taylor Swift, graffiti, and yes, She-Ra. They might be just as artistic and valuable as older pieces of art, but they will not be valued the same.

Here’s the thing, though: high art almost always starts out as low art. Modern day romance novels are seen as trashy even though Jane Austen’s novels are renowned. The Beatles are now seen as one of the best bands of all time, but during their peak, they were dismissed due to their primarily female fan base. Most famous painters didn’t become popular until after their deaths, because before then, their pieces were “low art.” Dismissing She-Ra because it’s low art is biased and, ultimately, ignorant.

Moreover, low art is more likely to be queer, female, poor, and PoC. Anybody can make low art, but art by privileged creators is more likely to be seen as ‘valuable’ in the long run. While underprivileged creators can and have gained notoriety and acclaim for their art, there are more road blocks in their path that keep them from ever being on equal footing with other artists. Dismissing all low art as less valuable is dismissing the perspective of those from marginalized communities.

I will not make the claim that She-Ra is a better piece of art than The Plague. The Plague is a piece of literature that has withstood the test of time and remains relevant to this day. Given that She-Ra is still fairly recent, it’s impossible to tell what it’s legacy will be, and in the end, it is a cartoon aimed at a less mature audience. Even more than that, though, art is subjective. What speaks to one person might not connect with another, and calling one piece of art “better” than another is impossible.

However, I do believe that She-Ra is more important than The Plague. The distinction here is that She-Ra did something that has never been done before. The message of The Plague speaks deeply to people, but it is not breaking any glass ceilings.

She-Ra, on the other hand, is revolutionary. The representation is She-Ra is truly remarkable. Not only is the cast mostly comprised of female characters—which, in a world of male-dominated entertainment, is a rarity—She-Ra also embraces diversity of all types. The majority of the main cast with the exception of Adora is nonwhite, and characters of all different body types are featured. While women are typically forced into a cookie-cutter mold of beauty, She-Ra characters are treated as beautiful no matter what their size or ethnicity. This is a message that young people, especially young girls, need to see.

She-Ra also pushes back against toxic masculinity. Many of the main male characters in the show reject gender roles—for example, Bow is almost always seen wearing a crop top with a heart on it, and Sea Hawk has an undeniably flamboyant presentation. King Micah cross-dresses in the final season. Despite this, the male characters are never made fun of for their feminine traits, and instead, their presentation is embraced. They are also not stereotyped as gay for refusing to fit into traditionally masculine roles. All three characters listed above have female love interests.

The most groundbreaking part of She-Ra, however, is the LGBT representation. She-Ra features multiple loving LGBT characters and couples, and the main characters of the series were confirmed to be in a loving sapphic relationship. They said “I love you” and shared an on-screen kiss. She-Ra even features an important non-binary character who uses they/them pronouns, and their identity is always treated with respect.

Furthermore, the entire story centers around the relationship between Catra and Adora. Their romance is not a throwaway side story; instead, their love is the driving force of the entire narrative. Finding LGBT representation is hard, and finding sapphic representation is harder—but what truly sets She-Ra apart is that this was in a children’s TV show. In a world where many believe that LGBT relationships are not “appropriate” for children, She-Ra made history by teaching kids that it’s okay to love who you love and be who you are. She-Ra made people feel something. Audiences were crying during the series finale, and the show has amassed a cult following of LGBT viewers well into adulthood who have never seen their identity represented in such a meaningful way before.

The Plague is undoubtedly a valued piece of high art, but its messages nevertheless do little to progress society. For this reason, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is a more important and influential piece of art than the Plague."

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Wednesday, February 2 – Thursday, February 3

OLAF: Bah! I've told you a thousand times; I have no interest in this Rannveig. Her hips are large and load bearing, like a Baltic woman. Your hips are narrow, like a Baltic woman from a slightly more arid region.

~~Selfless~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Caught (Xander/Cordelia, Willow, PG) by badly_knitted

Revelations (Spike/Buffy, T) by MissLuci

The Campbell Affair (crossover with "Blake and Mortimer", Joyce, not rated) by Vidicon666

Like Old Times (Angel/Spike/Buffy, E) by MillenialCryBaby

Shopworn (crossover with Firestarter by Stephen King, Joyce, not rated) by Vidicon666

Dream Walk (Spike/Buffy, G) by violettathepiratequeen

Permission (to stay) (Lilah/Wesley, M) by GothamstreetCat

[Chaptered Fiction]

Bloody Petals: The Status is Quo (fusion with Yakuza, Cordelia, Xander, Andrew, T) by madimpossibledreamer

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream, Chapter 3 (Spike/Buffy, R) by slaymesoftly

Love Life's Gift, Part 1-2 (Spike/Buffy, T) by MissLuci

Breathe Your Name, Chapter 1 (Angel/Buffy, Lindsey/Buffy, M) by Janis70

All But One, Chapter 11 (Spike/Buffy, Adult Only) by Jws1993

At Your Service, Chapter 17-20 (Spike/Buffy, NC-17) by Grief Counseling

The Fairytale, Chapter 7 (Spike/Buffy, NC-17) by Dusty

Heroes, Hexes, and Hijinks, Chapter 8 (Spike/Buffy, R) by JaneRemmington

i called you, a moment of weakness, Chapter 5 (Spike/Buffy, PG-13) by snipssw

Only Time Will Tell, Chapter 3-6 (Spike/Buffy, NC-17) by Grief Counseling

Rewind Love, Chapter 4 (Spike/Buffy, NC-17) by Blade Redwind

Seven, Chapter 12 (Spike/Buffy, NC-17) by Holly

Somewhere Begins Again, Chapter 7 (Spike/Buffy, NC-17) by alittlemoretime

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream, Chapter 3 (Spike/Buffy, R) by slaymesoftly

You Learn, Chapter 20 (Spike/Buffy, Adult Only) by bramcrackers

Darkest Before the Dawn, Chapter 41 (crossover with Lord of the Rings, Buffy, FR15) by Luna

Scattered Echoes: Second Generation, Chapter 3 (Spike/Buffy, M) by Myrabeth

[Images, Audio & Video]

=

Artwork: lazy mornings am i right (Spike/Angel, worksafe) by frankierose

Artwork: What's scarier than a vampire who wants to kill you? (Darla, worksafe) by recorriendoporahi

Artwork: a paint study of Darla (worksafe) by recorriendoporahi

Gifs: Ruin and Rising (Buffy, worksafe) by scullys

Artwork: Dru doodles (worksafe) by sunnyhellcalifornia

Artwork: Buffy (worksafe) by honeyvamp

Artwork: The Hero of Three Faces (crossover with Doctor Who, First Evil, worksafe) by Paulc Gadzikowski

Artwork: Tara (worksafe) by skunk-punk-66

Sims: 1630 Revello Drive (worksafe) by emailmy-heart

Artwork: Spike (worksafe) by irkallanprince

Digital painting: Class Protector (Buffy, worksafe) by savory_muffins

Video: You Belong With Me (Spike/Buffy) by tallymarkss

[Reviews & Recaps]

I recently finished watching BtVS season 1 for the first time by eldweena

Part of the problem with Whedon’s post-Buffy work... by comradesummers

Hush by starsandmoongay

Blind Date (ATS 1.21) by buffster

BOOM! Angel #1 of 8 (spoilers) (cont'd) by Priceless, American Aurora

Controversial Opinion: Spin the Bottle is not a copy of Tabula Rasa by DarkstarX84

I am grateful for this show by VirtualSun2

What underrated line delivery do you think deserves more attention? by Prodigal_Son22

Poll: Agree or disagree - The S6 finale, Grave, is the worst season finale by InfiniteMedhiLove

The [AtS] theme song slaps so damn hard... by LunchThreatener

I just finished watching Angel for the first time by pick1e-rick

PODCAST: Buffy Boys 144 - Chosen (S07E22)

PODCAST: Buffering the Vampire Slayer: 7.06 Him

PODCAST: Myth Taken: Season 4, Episode 7: The Initiative

PODCAST: Pop Culture Role Call: Ocean's 666 - Angel S01E21 - Blind Date

[Recs / In Search Of]

Fic search: bulldogmo is looking for two Xander stories, one a “Charmed” crossover, the other called “Forced” (?), by the same author

Video "Willow Rosenberg Wants Control" by The Turnout recced by girl4music

Various fanfiction recommendations by Klaus Kartoffel, bespangeled

Favorite "Once More, With Feeling" reaction videos recced by PFTETOwerewolves, Leon-Bloxham

[Community Announcements]

Buffyverse Prompts: a new prompt meme challenge for finding and submitting BtVS/AtS themed fic prompts

[Fandom Discussions]

Spike has Owenosity by confusedguytoo

Favorite main character: Anya by ex-vengeancedemon

Our first textual evidence that demons can love (Moloch) by no-soul-required

[Willow/Giles] by no-soul-required, girl4music, resurrecteddestiheller

[I want to see a fanfic where the Scoobies are psychically, mystically connected] by confusedguytoo

Angel getting a prophecy about his death, compared to Buffy getting a prophecy about hers by oveliagirlhaditright

[Season 4 AU: Willow, Xander and Spike all being roommates] by disco-tea

Angel really loses everyone he cares about by oveliagirlhaditright

[I just got super mopey about this Bangel scene] by oveliagirlhaditright

thinking abt the buffy going to college early episodes again by july-19th-club

The Buffy fandom is more palatable here on Tumblr than on Twitter by rosewinesadversary

Spike’s and Willow’s dynamic by langernameohnebedeutung

Favorite main character: Willow by theharshlightofday, girl4music

Favorite Buffy outfits by foolforbuffy

Ship meme (anti Buffy/Giles) by julianazyalenskys

i just can’t believe there are people who think spike is a cishet man by buffysummerslesbian

Favorite Buffy outfits by loopholesinmydreams

Favorite supporting character: Cordelia by theharshlightofday

Sire/Childe bond by Stoney, flow

Where did Buffy get communion wafers from? by Tuxedo_Mark

Is there anything new you’ve noticed about the show/characters in your rewatch? by blueapricot10

Given the choice would you prefer Wes or Doyle? by PFTETOwerewolves

Every Character's Biggest Mistake? by Straight_Chocolate89

Ranking each season by their big bads by D_B_4986

Which name sounds more menacing to you: "William the bloody" or "Spike"? by shonenhikada

What if Kate Lockley didn’t exit the series and still adapted Justine Cooper’s role? by DoyleIsAHero

So how did Buffy not see Riley’s bite marks already? by cesclaa

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

An update from writer/producer Monica Owusu-Breen on the Buffy reboot by Slayerfest '98

Quiz: Who said these 30 "Angel" quotes? by Greer Riddell, January Media

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

[necropxlis]

Loving Someone ~

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Mentions of depression and anxiety, Blackmailing, possible gas-lighting, slight swearing, possible mentions of sex.

Type: HaikyuuxReader high school/college SMAU

Pairing: Iwaizumi Hajime x Reader

Status: On Going

Summary: Y/N Miya gets the chance of a life time to play volleyball in California for her Senior year in high school. Giving her the opportunity to play for a well known team in college. Along the way she meets a someone who can change her life for the better. But will the people she surrounds herself with, allow her this fleeting moment of happiness? Or will they plot her demise for the sake of her career?

Word Count: 1,886 w/out text or social media counts

Chapter 5: My First Kiss 

Walking down the stairs, you saw Iwaizumi standing outside your dorm house. A smile spread across your face at the sight of him shuffling his feet around. He had a slight scowl on his face, which was almost normal for him. Sporting a black jean jacket and a white shirt, he looked better than he ever has. The washed-out jeans and black Nikes only added to the glorious look. Shaking your head and slapping your cheeks, you got out of the trance you were in and opened the door. Iwaizumi snapped his head up as you walked out. A small smile tugged at his lips.

“Hey uh..here’s your bag.”

“Thank you! I appreciate you doing this for me.” You said grabbing the bag from him.

Iwaizumi smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, “It’s no problem. Well I should get going-“

“Wait!” You grabbed the sleeve of his jacket causing him to stop. Lowering your head you stared at your shoes. Honestly, you don’t know why you stopped him. It’s like something came over you and you couldn’t stop it. You both stood there a moment, neither making the effort to say or do anything. The air around you was still. People continued to move all around you. It was as if you were the only ones frozen in time.

“Would you stay? For a little while?” You asked not bothering to lift your head. For the fear of him seeing your glassy eyes and rosy cheeks. The truth is you were alone. Everyone was moving on with their lives, meeting with family, enjoying their time off from school. While you had nowhere to go, no one to stay with, no one to talk to. Iwaizumi had been your first friend. Sure he may be older than you, but you considered him to be a close friend nonetheless. A part of you knew this would happen when you accepted the offer. That you would probably be spending a lot of time alone. Not being able to see your brothers 24/7 has taken its toll on you. The three of you were always together. No matter what you did or how many fights you got into, you were the best of friends. The fact that they aren’t able to see you or come to a special moment in your life sucks. When you met Iwaizumi, it was like finding a piece of home. He reminded you so much of your brothers. He made you feel happy and safe.

Turning around and grabbing your hand, Iwaizumi began to pat the top of your head. Albeit a bit awkwardly, but it made you feel comforted nonetheless. Lifting your head slightly, you noticed the slight tint of red that dusted his cheeks. It could have been from his actions or the chilly weather outside.

“Come on,” Iwaizumi said leading you away from the dorm house, “There’s someplace I want to show you.”

The two of you walked in silence, but it wasn’t unwelcome. Your heart was beating out of your chest from nerves and anticipation. Not once did he let go of your hand. His grip was tight but not too rough. It made you feel warm at the small affection. Even if it didn’t mean anything romantically, it meant everything to you. Looking around, you noticed that you were no longer walking on the cement grounds. Instead, it was dirt and grass underneath your sneakers. Chirping could be heard all around you. Birds and other wildlife were tending to their own needs, while the pair of you trotted down the pathway. A steep hill stood in front of you.

Iwaizumi looked back at you and smirked, “I promise the climb will be worth it. Hold on tight to my hand.”

You swallowed the knot in your throat and nodded, allowing the boy to lead you up the hill. It’s not that you were scared of the hill, just the thought of the burning in your calves that would haunt your dreams later. Not only that but the constant reminder that he was holding your hand, made you feel like you were back in middle school. No one should be crushing this hard. It made you feel so stupid but you weren’t about to let go. Following Iwaizumi’s footsteps, you finally reached the top of the hill. The air around you began to swirl, leaves danced and twirled to its song. Splashes of purple and pink covered the sky as the sun was telling the world goodnight. A few speckles of light started breaking through the color, begging to be seen by the night sky viewers. The city ahead was lively, street lights starting to waken, people turning into their homes to escape the cold night. The grandeur of it all took your breath away. Not once did you dare to look away, for fear of missing something magnificent bound to happen.

Green orbs followed your every movement. When you grabbed a hold of his jacket, he knew something was bothering you. He often felt like you did, alone in a country with no familiar faces around. He knew how hard it was not to be able to see the people you love when you want to. All of his friends would call him foolish, but he cared for you. In you, he saw himself, back when he was a senior in high school and the world was against him. As the sun decided it was time for its slumber and the moon woke, the light in your eyes never diminished. He prayed to whoever would listen, that that light would never fade. The lights from the city never looked so beautiful as it did at this moment. With their white and yellow beams striking every feature on your face. He didn't know what came over him, but Iwaizumi grabbed a lock of your (h/c) hair placing it behind your ear. You turned to look at the male standing beside you. If you thought the view was breathtaking, the caring human in front of you was the killing blow. You have never seen his face soften this much. It was a look you hoped to see for the rest of your days.

It could have been something in the air or the intimacy in the moment, but it seemed as fate was pulling you closer. Without breaking eye contact, you turned towards him, shyly placing a hand on his chest. Iwaizumi’s free hand grazed over your waist. Deciding whether or not to commit to the action. His green orbs never left yours. You could see galaxies behind those eyes. As if you were staring into some crystal ball that allowed you to see all the possibilities in the world, but you would never trade any of those alternate universes over where you were now. Angling his head down slightly, you pushed up on your tippy-toes to meet him halfway. People say that when you kiss the person you love it feels like fireworks are exploding inside of you and around you. For you, it just felt right, as right as the waves crashing against the coast. It was a moment that you would cherish for the rest of your life. Pulling away slightly, your face regained its rosy color across your cheeks. Iwaizumi chuckled and ghosted his knuckles across your cheeks. As if reality had stepped in, you realize what you had just done. Fear struck you harder than any emotion at that moment. Stepping away from him slightly you placed your head in your hands.

“What have I done? Iwaizumi-san I’m so sorry-“

“I told you to call me Hajime, and stop, it’s my fault I got caught up in the moment I’m sorry.” He said grabbing your arm causing you to stop and look at him. The look on his face was one of guilt, he felt like he was the one to blame for you feeling the way you were.

Grabbing his hand you stepped closer to him, “Hajime, I don’t regret it, I have wanted to do that for a while now. I don’t want you to feel this way, I only stopped because I thought you had a thing for Luna. She talks about you all the time so I only thought-“

Hajime laughed. You didn't know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that he found this so amusing. Turning his back towards you, he rubs the back of his head. You looked down and started playing with your fingers. Hoping that he didn't regret kissing you. You never liked wearing your heart on your sleeve, you wished that the one time you did, it wouldn’t end up with you crying alone at 3 am. Turning back around towards you, Iwaizumi grabbed both of your hands, looking you dead in the eyes.

“I never have, nor will, have a thing for Luna. She has been obsessed with me since I dated her older sister. She hasn’t left me alone since I broke up with her either. Luna has no say or hold over my feelings Y/N.” Hajime said with a huff at the end.

Tears began to pool in your eyes. You didn't know if you were comprehending what you were hearing. Hajime had feelings for you? Did he care for you? He and Luna weren’t dating? Part of you wanted to wrap your arms around his neck and kiss him again. The other part of you was worried about what your brothers would think. What about that weirdo who keeps sending you messages? They threatened Kita, what would happen if they found out about your feelings for Hajime? Cupping your cheeks in his hands, he slowly leaned down and placed a soft kiss on your forehead.

The moment, the emotions, the scenery, it was all too perfect. Nothing should ever be this perfect. Grabbing his hand, you lead Iwaizumi over to one of the trees surrounding the hill. You both sat and leaned against the tree, with your head on his shoulder. Not once did you let go of each other’s hands. Playing with his fingers, you realized you had forgotten about being lonely. You had forgotten about the possible threat to your life. Things felt a little more bearable with him by your side.

“Want to tell me why you were so worked up earlier?” Hajime said tilting his head sideways.

You sighed, “the twins aren’t able to visit me while I’m on vacation. Nor are they able to come to the game. I miss them so much.”

It was silent between the two of you after that. It’s like you both knew the pain of being away from home. The two of you stayed like that for a while before it got too late. When you both got back to the dorm house, Iwaizumi stopped you before you went inside. He placed another kiss on the top of your head before letting you go. When you reached the door, you turned around and waved him goodbye. He smiled and waved back, watching you enter the building completely before making his way back home. You felt like it was so cliche. Confessing your feelings to someone, their feelings being reciprocated, the walk home after, but you wouldn’t want it to happen any other way.

𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 | 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳  6

𝘚𝘺𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘴: 𝘠/𝘕 𝘔𝘪𝘺𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭. 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦. 𝘈𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩, 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴? 𝘖𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳

𝘛𝘢𝘨 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵: @missingmystogan @elianetsantana @prettyinblack231 @intoomuchfandoms

Tag list is open ☺️

[purplehairedwonder]

Hearts With(out) Chains Prologue

Fandom: One Piece Rating: PG-13 Pairings: Gen (eventual Lawlu) Words: 2178 Characters: Trafalgar Law, Donquixote Doflamingo, Penguin, Shachi, Bepo Note: I'm taking my turn at the Corazon!Law AU because my brain won't leave me alone until this is written down. Tags will be updated as the chapters come out.

The story title is based on the Ellie Goulding song "Hearts Without Chains."

Summary: Law is reclaimed by the Family when he's 17 and, with Doflamingo holding the lives of his crew as collateral for his good behavior, eventually becomes the third Corazon. Years later, trapped by his impossible situation, Law can't help but resent Monkey D. Luffy for offering a glimpse of something he's repeatedly had ripped away from him: hope.

Read also at AO3 / FF.N

Law meandered down the street, the docked Polar Tang and the setting sun at his back and his hands stuffed in his pockets, to meet Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin for dinner. The island they’d docked at to refuel and restock wasn’t a major port by any means, but it had enough of a commercial district that the four teens had been able to find the food and supplies that they needed.

They had split up into pairs to tackle their supply lists, with Law and Bepo tackling food and medical supplies while Shachi and Penguin had stayed in the small port to secure fuel and have a mechanic give the Tang a once-over. Once the necessities had been procured and dropped off at the ship, the four went their separate ways for a few hours of shore leave before planning to meet for dinner.

Law, for his part, had spent most of his time in the local bookstore, browsing for new medical texts to add to his growing collection as he continued his education as ship’s doctor. After making a few purchases, he’d ended up staying on the Tang, reading one of his new books until it was time to meet the other three.

Since leaving Swallow Island a year earlier—officially the Heart Pirates, complete with Jolly Roger and everything—Law had been unable to shake the feeling of eyes between his shoulder blades whenever the Tang surfaced or docked. Though Doflamingo had been named a Warlord and had recently taken over the throne of a kingdom in the New World while Law’s crew remained in the North Blue, he knew his old boss had eyes everywhere. When they weren’t submerged, he couldn’t help looking to the sky or over his shoulder for a telltale flash of pink. The other three knew some of the history there—they’d witnessed enough of his nightmares that he’d eventually filled in some of the gaps—but they could never fully understand Law’s anxiousness at surfacing when sailing underwater provided the safest passage.

Law shook his head, his shoulders slumping further as he walked. The source of his nightmares was four years buried in the snow and halfway across the world. His friends were constantly trying to get him to lighten up and drop his paranoia—and Law supposed they had a point, not that he’d admit that to them. Though those three years on Swallow Island had provided a measure of stability Law hadn’t felt since before Lami had collapsed at the festival, he hadn’t been able to shake the restlessness under his skin, the feeling of unfinished business that haunted him, so had jumped at the chance to set sail.

Once he reached the town, Law headed right for the inn they'd decided to meet at, having noted its location earlier when he’d gone to the bookstore. He opened the door and stepped inside, looking around to see if any of the other three had arrived yet. He froze, immediately sensing that something was off. There were diners at about half the tables, but it took Law a moment to realize that none of them were eating or drinking. In fact, none of them were talking or moving at all. A heavy silence weighed the room down.

Swallowing, Law scanned the room, his gaze coming to rest on Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo at a table in the center of the room—odd, as they usually opted for corner tables to avoid notice. And they were all sitting on the same side of the table, facing the door.

Facing Law.

Alarm bells rang in Law’s head as he noticed Shachi’s and Penguin’s pale features and wide eyes as they met Law’s gaze. Bepo’s hackles were up. None of them had moved as Law entered. Law opened his mouth, but words died ashy on his tongue as the figure sitting across from them rose to his impossibly tall height and turned, pink feather coat swishing with the movement.

No…

Doflamingo grinned. “Law,” he crooned, throwing his arms out wide. “It’s so good to see you, my boy.”

Law was frozen to the spot, terror warring with rage as his heart pounded in his chest. His throat constricted. He couldn’t be here. He was supposed to be in Dressrosa in the New World, not at a small-town inn on a no-name island in the North Blue.

Law wasn’t ready to face him yet.

“What, no greeting for your boss after all this time?” Doflamingo lifted a finger, and strings wrapped around Law’s arms and chest, pulling him forward into the arms of his nightmare. Law stiffened as Doflamingo’s arms surrounded him.

After an agonizingly long moment, Doflamingo let Law go and stepped back, hands still on Law’s shoulders as he looked the teen up and down, drinking him in. Law fought the urge to fidget.

“It does my heart good to see you alive and healthy, Law.” A large hand cupped his chin and turned his face so Doflamingo could examine him. “No spots. You truly cured yourself of the incurable.”

Law swallowed as the hand dropped from his face. “W-why are you here?” he finally managed, hating the shakiness to his voice.

Doflamingo looked surprised at the question. “For you, of course.” He gestured back towards Law’s friends. “I was just getting acquainted with the rest of your crew. Come, sit.”

Law was given no choice in the matter, as the strings around his upper body pulled him to the free chair adjacent to both Doflamingo and the other three. Law awkwardly sat, and the strings fell away once he’d settled himself. Law blinked in surprise. A show of good faith?

He glanced at Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo and saw the naked fear in their eyes. The man in front of them was a Warlord and far more powerful than any of them. It was one thing to hear Law talk about Doflamingo; it was another entirely to face the man in person. He nodded minutely to them before turning his attention back to Doflamingo.

“How did you know I was here?” he asked, pleased that his voice had steadied. He tried not to think about the other people in the room who would overhear the entire conversation since they were being prevented from speaking. He could only concentrate on the danger directly in front of him.

Doflamingo waved a hand toward the bar before leaning back in his chair. “I’ve been keeping my ear to the ground for any news of the Ope Ope no Mi since you disappeared, Law. Imagine my surprise when, about a year ago, rumors started spreading about a young pirate in the North Blue using that very Fruit.”

That was exactly what Law had been worried about. He’d just hoped Doflamingo’s new status as Warlord and king would keep him too busy to come back to the North Blue.

The bartender came forward jerkily, clearly controlled by strings, with a decanter of wine. She poured a glass for Doflamingo and set the bottle down on the table before retreating. The clang of the glass on the wooden table echoed through the eerily quiet dining room.

“I confess, it was difficult getting eyes on that intriguing ship of yours,” Doflamingo went on, unconcerned with—or, more likely, enjoying—the room’s mood, “but I have my ways.”

“And you came personally?”

“Of course.” Doflamingo leaned forward, his large frame encroaching on Law’s space without even trying. He picked up the glass and took a long draught of wine before speaking once more. “After four years, don’t you think it’s time to come home, Law? It’s time to take your rightful place back with the Family.”

Law wanted to snarl that he knew how Doflamingo treated his family, that he knew what the man really wanted him for, that he’d never return to the Family after Minion Island—but the presence of his friends stayed his tongue. Doflamingo didn’t know that Law had heard his exchange with Cora-san that night, and something told Law it should stay that way, so he kept his features neutral.

“Why now?”

Doflamingo’s grin turned sharp. “I need the best at my side to rule. It was no idle promise to train you to become my second-in-command. The Heart seat waits for you, Law.”

Law’s breath hitched at the reference to the seat Cora-san had held. The seat that was empty because Doflamingo had killed Cora-san for saving Law. The seat that Cora-san tried to protect Law from taking, though Law hadn’t realized exactly what Cora-san was protecting him from until it was too late. If Law went back to the Family now, Cora-san’s sacrifice would have been for nothing.

Doflamingo was eyeing Law, and Law realized he’d clenched his hands into fists. He dropped them into his lap, and when he opened his hands, they revealed bloody, crescent-shaped wounds on his palms.

“And,” Law asked slowly, “if I were to say no?”

The atmosphere at the table, already tense, curdled at Law’s words. It was as though the temperature had suddenly dropped as Doflamingo replied, “That would be… unwise.” The man’s grip on his wine glass tightened dangerously.

Law clenched his jaw but said nothing, eyes boring a hole into the table in front of him. He could feel his friends practically vibrating in their anxiety next to him.

“Why,” the low voice continued, “would you refuse to return to your Family, Law?”

“Maybe there’s a reason I never came back,” Law ground out.

Law jumped in spite of himself at the sound of shattering glass. He whipped his gaze over to see wine spilled over Doflamingo’s hand and glass shards scattered across the table and floor.

“My brother,” Doflamingo growled, flicking wine from his fingers. “It seems I was right to worry that he poisoned your mind.”

“Cora-san saved me,” Law hissed, long-held rage uncurling in his chest and refusing to be suppressed when faced with its target. “I am alive today because of him.”

“He was a traitor, and he took you from where you belong,” Doflamingo retorted coldly as the bartender returned with rags and a broom and dustpan. She was shaking as she cleaned up the spilled wine around the tense gathering at the center of the captive room. Once the mess was cleaned up, Doflamingo dismissed her with a wave of his hand, never once looking at her.

“It’s time to come home, Law.”

His frigid tone brooked no argument, but Law had never been particularly good at taking orders. He opened his mouth, but Doflamingo cut him off with a lifted finger and three gasps. Law’s gaze flew to his friends, and his eyes widened. Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo each had a single string looped around his neck.

Fuck. Law knew that string could kill his friends before he could form a Room to protect them. Doflamingo would follow through with his threat, too. Law had seen it happen many times in his time with the Family.

“I told you, defying me would be unwise, Law.”

“They have nothing to do with this.”

“You were the one to bring them into this,” Doflamingo countered. “When you made them part of your crew.”

Law’s mind spun, running through one scenario after another but not coming up with one that didn’t end with his friends dead or him reclaimed by the Family—or both. After several tense moments, Law’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“If I return with you, they will be unharmed?”

“Law, n—” Penguin’s objection was cut off by the tightening of the string, drawing blood. He grimaced, and Law shook his head. The danger his friends were in now was entirely Law’s fault. If going back to the Family could save them, then he’d do what he had to.

“If you do as you are told, they will be unharmed,” Doflamingo agreed.

Law took a breath, eyes shutting briefly as the fight went out of him. “Fine.”

“What’s that?” Now the bastard was just gloating.

“I’ll come,” Law gritted out. “Now let them go.”

The strings fell away from Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo’s throats, and they let out relieved breaths. The tightness in Law’s chest loosened the tiniest bit at the sight, though mostly he just felt hollow as what he’d agreed to started to sink in.

“Excellent. We leave for Dressrosa in the morning.” Doflamingo’s lips twitched. “I have an eternal pose for Dressrosa you four can use.”

Law jerked his gaze back to Doflamingo. “What? No. That wasn’t the agreement. I agreed to come back to the Family, so let them go.”

“The agreement,” Doflamingo corrected, “was that as long as you do what you’re told, Law, your friends will be unharmed.”

Law’s stomach sank as he realized the trap he’d walked into in his emotional state. He’d just damned Shachi, Penguin, and Bepo along with himself.

“Consider their lives collateral for your good behavior.” He turned to the other three, who were watching the exchange in shock. “Welcome to the Donquixote Pirates.”

Next Chapter

[shinymooncolor]

Hi!

Hope you’re all doing well this fine Friday. Here’s part 2 of the sweater weather chat #13!

As usual, we owe this entire fandom and world to the amazing @lumosinlove 💓

Thank you to @frombeauxbatons and @siriuslyqueer for being so cool!

Also - to avoid confusion. A Finn is a Finnish person and Finn is our love Finn o’hara 😜

Link to part one 💖

Sergei is still mad about his hair. He’s also got sweaty glitter in his eye. Ava is adorable. Nado and Kuny hosts an after party. Their cat is adorable and spoiled. Nado is being stalked by a drone. Blizzard is a lucky man. We discuss dick pics. Logan wants to be supportive. O’Knutzy jerseys!!!!! Olli has a team of protectors cause he’s a precious moomin.

—

“JACKIIEEEEEE”

“Oh, looks like we have a young lions prospect joining us as well. Nice to meet you, young lady, what’s your name? And here we have Kris LaVolie, Pascal Dumais and Henrik Sunnquist as well”

“Jackieeee wanna pwayyyyy”

“Sure kiddo - bye”

“Seems like LaVolie junior has more important things than press. Gentlemen, hi! How’re you enjoying this event today?”

“I think it’s great! Great to be able to support charities and show some support in general and it’s always fun to be able to bring my little girl to skate”

“She looks like a natural! And you two vets - what’s it like seeing this in the nhl?”

“It’s great! We’ve, or well me and sunny, have been in the game for a long time and it seems like the league is ready to move into the 21st century with the rest of us”

“I’ve been trying to figure out what happened to Ivanov’s hair. Do you know?”

“Well I don’t personally. I do like the color - mixed with his blonde it’s nearly the color of my home. Yellow and blue”

“Did you dye his hair then?”

“I would never! You’d have to ask him yourself. Hah”

“Well he’s been avoiding me so far”

“Oi Sergei!!”

“Well with that bellow it seems we’re finally joined by the final third in the trio of lions veterans today - sergei - we’ve had a lot of viewers ask us about your choice of hair color today? Is it a statement or?”

“Is stupid prank. I’m find out and make regret. Also I’m full with glitter and it sweats into my eye”

“That sounds uncomfortable but you all four look good - are your families here as well?”

“Yes, most kitted out as well. We had some trouble with my youngest who refused to wear anything but a paw patrol onesie but other than that Celeste managed to wrangle the other three into their jerseys”

“They think it’s fun and the glitter was a hit. Sergei’s daughter dumped an entire box of glitter on Logan and kuny. It was funny”

“Thanks guys, you look like you’re ready to get back out there”

“See ya”

“Wait, Logan, interview?”

“Hey”

“Logan! We’ve had multiple asks about your jersey and the name which seems to be on the back off Leo Newt and Finn O’Hara too?”

“Uhm, yeah, it’s an inside thing”

“Ohh okay, our viewers were wondering. Are you enjoying today’s event?”

“Yeah. Feels good to be out and supporting you know? Like there’s a lot of kids out there who’s scared and if I can help one I want to”

“Yes definitely. We’ve had so many positive comments come in. And here we have Olli Halla joining. Or... heh well. He’s got Logan in a headlock now”

“Olli! How’re you today?”

“I’m good thank you, how’re you?”

“Very well, just been asking some questions from viewers. Are you enjoying wearing the rainbow colors? We’ve had a lot of question regarding your relationship status?”

“Ohh Ollibear is a precious, single moomin and he’s got a team of protectors. Whoever wants to woo our precious baby Finn has to go through a series of tests to even be considered”

“Shut up timmy”

“Well here we have Timmy Jones as well, joining Logan Tremblay and Olli Halla”

“I think we all look good in rainbows and I’m happy to support this cause. Mental health is important and we have to use our platforms to make sure everyone is seen and heard and validated”

“Aww Olli you’re making me cry”

“Shut up lo, go play with Finn”

“Haha you’re all just jealous cause I look best in rainbows”

“That was Logan Tremblay. Now, timmy, how’re you feeling about today?”

“Get to wear awesome colors, get to skate for fun and it was fun to do glitter wars in the locker room”

“Well with that I’m gonna end the transmission for now. Do send in more questions. We’re back after a short break”

—-

Nadotheman: oiii glitter after party at our house!!! Bring your families and babies. Pets welcome too!!!

Blizzard: this is not another surprise party for your cat right?

RussianGod: it was anniversary for first month very important say so in lily baby book.

Prongstar: are you using our baby books to raise a cat?

KrisVolley: that explains a lot. They send me weekly updates. Do you have a baby book for her too?

Timmyforrealz: of course, I’ve seen it. You know they have a photographer every month. They do parties for her every anniversary and they went through an agency to get a cat sitter

Ollibear: it’s cute. Though I don’t need the daily updates on her mice eating skills

Nadotheman: she’s so talented! How’re you not impressed? She hunted and killed it herself... you don’t complain when we have some stupid kid party. You all breed like fucking rabbits... baby showers, christenings, birthdays ahhhh... so many babies... we get to celebrate our cat too...

Prongstar: did you steal my baby book? To raise a cat. That’s weird

Nadotheman: calm down she’s a kitty and we didn’t know how to raise her. At least my baby sleeps through the night.

Prongstar: don’t compare a kitten to my baby.

CarbO’Hara: hahahahaha poor James. His kid being upstaged by a spoilt kitten.

RussianGod: she’s not spoilt. She got good parents

Sergei_81: you are weird. Baby cat is not baby human.

Talkiewalkie: I did enjoy the circle of life themed cat name giving party. The snacks were really good!

DumoDad: celeste, Anya and linnea want to know if there’s going to be anything x-rated? Otherwise we’re all not going.

Nadotheman: that was one time and I had no idea she was a stripper

LeWilliam: how do you accidentally order a stripper?

Prongstar: it’s Nado. I wouldn’t put it past him. He did accidentally adopt a penguin in Pittsburgh and he’s joined like three pyramid schemes?

Ollibear: that’s why he’s got an accountant now 😂 that is one of the best memories of my life, when Nado’s mom came and yelled 😂😂😂

Siriusly: I spent $150 on a stupid cat present and she spent the rest of the evening playing with the box it came in... she’s definitely your cat...

RussianGod: best cat best cat parents best after party stop whiny

Logantremblayzzz: we’re in!!! Is the jacuzzi on?

Nadotheman: you’re not doing sex stuff in our jacuzzi

Newt-leo: we’ve all seen the photos of you doing it though. Little hypocritical

Nadotheman: well stupid drone stalking me.

Sergei_81: we bring vodka. And babies. They want play street hockey? Is March. They crazy

Talkiewalkie: oh I’m in for street hockey!! Also does that explain the amount of dick pics we’ve received?

Nadotheman: what happens on Snapchat stays on Snapchat... you’re all dirty voyeurs...

Ollibear: thought you promised to keep this pg-13?

DumoDad: that’s the pArty not the chat. I don’t think we’ve exhausted the topic of nado’s general sluttiness

Nadotheman: oi. I’m not a slut I’m sexually expressive and ya lot is all just jealous.

Nadotheman: also no one is chasing kuny? He’s dating around as much as me and he’s also sent dick pics

Blizzard: the difference is that Kuny is always naked or semi naked and well we’ve all seen his. And most of his bragging is in Russian anyways

Sunnysideup: hah if you understood you’d be ashamed. And also want to lock up your daughters.😂😂😂

RussianGod: is the accent. They all think they fix me hehe

Prongstar: I’m not even missing being single at all 😳

Blizzard: me neither 😜

Nadotheman: you’ve got Nat. I think you’ve won. Hands down. Your wives are all cool but Nat.... damnnnn 🙏🏻

Blizzard: id say back off but. What can I do 😜💖💖

—-

[steves-on-a-plane]

Like A Tree

Disney Quote Writing Challenge

Words: 1452 Cast of Characters: Dad!Tony Stark & Daughter!Reader Warning: Some Language but it’s PG 13 👍  Prompt: #17 “Being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble.” -Mufasa, The Lion King, 1994 - Requested by Anon Summary: Reader is Tony Stark’s teenage daughter who gets suspended from school for starting a fight with one of the football players during lunch time. Tony confronts Reader when she gets home and gives her an important lesson in being a hero. 

You held your breath as you tip-toed into your father’s penthouse apartment. You kicked off your shoes and closed the front door slowly, trying to make a little noise as possible. It was the middle of the day and you were supposed to be at school, but you’d been sent home early. For fighting. You planned on telling your dad…eventually.

“It’s the middle of the day. He’s working.” you rationalized. “I’ll just sneak into my room and we’ll talk about it later. Or never.”

“Welcome home Miss Stark!” Your father’s artificially intelligent assistant greeted you loudly.

“JARVIS! Shhhh!” You hissed at the disembodied voice. “If dad finds out I’m not as school he’ll kill me. And if he kills me, I’ll have to come back as a ghost and unplug you.”

“Miss Stark, you know that I cannot be unplugged, I am fully integrated into…” JARVIS started to explain.

“I don’t know how to threaten a robot!” You quipped, “Just be quiet!”

“Miss Stark, I’m hardly a robot as I have no physical…” He once again began debating you.

“JARVIS! Stop talking. Pretend that I’m not here and don’t tell my dad that I’m home. Can you do that?” You asked.

“It’s a little late for that, Kiddo.” While you were busy arguing semantics with JARVIS your father had stepped out of his lab, the door to which was behind you.

“JARVIS you’re a snitch.” You mumbled to the floor since, as he pointed out, the A.I. didn’t have a physical body.

“Don’t blame JARVIS.” Your father told you as you turned to face him. “I asked him to let me know when you got home, after I got off the phone with your school.”

“They said they weren’t going to call you.” You said, biting your lower lip.

“They didn’t. I called them, after I saw this.” You closed your eyes as a video thumbnail appeared in the middle of the room. You didn’t know someone had recorded what happened. The title of the video was [Y/N] STARK FIST FIGHT. You father moved to stand behind you, he placed his hands on your shoulders. “Let’s watch it together shall we?”

“I don’t want to.” You mumbled to the floor.

“Oh, no we’re watching it. JARVIS play the video.” Tony insisted. The video started to play. It was in the cafeteria at school. A tall football player was talking to you and then you punched him in the jaw. It was a good punch and you didn’t even flinch. Natasha, who’d taught you how to punch properly, would have been proud. After you landed a solid hit on the football player his girlfriend jumped up from the table she’d been sitting at and started yelling at you. The two of you tossed a few punches back and forth and there was some hairpulling, until eventually a teacher broke up the fight. The video ended.

“That’s not fair!” You argued stepping away from your dad so you could turn to face him. “They only started filming after I punched that guy!”

“Help me understand what was going through your mind when you punched the school’s star quarterback and then proceeded to get in a fist fight with his girlfriend. Because I seem to remember Natasha telling you that she was only teaching you how to fight in self-defense.”

“But it was self-defense!” You argued. “Kyle Thurston’s an asshole!” You crossed your arms over your chest. “Before gym class every day, Kyle and his friend Trevor stand just outside of the girl’s locker room, they check out all the girls and then rank them from best ass to worst, their words not mine.” You added when he raised his eyebrows at you for swearing twice in a row. “All of the girls hate it and his girlfriend, Mia, doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with I; Mostly because she always gets ranked as best ass. When I told the principle that what Kyle and Trevor were doing was technically sexual harassment, she told me it was just ‘Boys being boys.’ That’s not okay dad.”

“So, you just took it upon yourself to punch him in the face in the middle of lunch. Makes perfect sense.” Tony agreed sarcastically.

“No, I told Kyle that I was going to come home and tell Uncle Steve what he was doing, and that Uncle Steve would punch him in the face. So, then Kyle said he would show me what real sexual harassment was and put his hands on my butt as I walk away. That’s when I turned around and told him never to touch me again, and he said he was the star quarterback and he could put his hands wherever he wanted. So, then I punched him in the face.”

“And you don’t see how you might have maybe handled that situation inappropriately?” Your father asked, his eyebrows practically rising up to his hairline. You straightened your back and took a deep breath trying to remember the speech you’d practiced on the walk home from school.

“Uncle Steve says,” You began, “That it’s our job to stand up for what we believe no matter what the odds or consequences. That when other people push you, your job is to plant yourself like a tree…”

“By the river of truth and tell the whole world, no, you move.” Tony finished impatiently. “I’ve read the plaque on the statue in Central Park, too. Look Kiddo, I get that you want to help protect other people and you want to be brave like your Uncle Steve and the rest of the team, but being brave doesn’t mean you go looking for trouble.”

“Dad, I didn’t!” You started to complain but he held a hand up to stop you.

“I get that I haven’t always been the best role model for you.” He sighed. “If your mother were alive right now, she’d be telling me that this is all my fault and you know what, she’d probably be right.”

“You’ve been a great dad…” You argued.

“That’s not what I’m talking about.” He shook his head. “I messed up. I messed up a lot in my life, Kiddo. There’s been probably hundreds of newspaper headlines and trashy magazine articles about things I did before I met your mother. But newspapers headlines? Magazine articles? People forget about those. Print is dead, despite what Uncle Steve will tell you. You don’t have the luxury that I did growing up. The internet, kid? That shit’s forever. This video is going to follow you for the rest of your life. To job interviews, dates…you’re going to have to explain this video to your own kids someday. So, this,” He pointed to the video paused on the floating virtual screen. “Can’t ever happen again, am I clear?”

“Yeah.” You sighed knowing he was right.

“I know it’s not easy. Being a kid with a famous dad.” He told you. “Plus you know, your Uncle Steve, Uncle Bruce the list goes on. My old man didn’t get it.” Tony shook his head. “He never made it any easier on me, never tried to understand my side of things and I promised your mother I’d never do that to you.”

“Does that mean I’m not in trouble?” You asked hopefully.

“Oh no, you’re very much in trouble.” He assured you. “You’re not going anywhere but school and home for the next month. It’s solitary confinement for you, Kiddo. I’m just saying I wasn’t a perfect kid and I don’t expect you to be. And you gotta let me in, give me the chance to help before you go punching assholes like Kyle Thurston. Okay?”

“Okay.” You dared to laugh. Your dad had never intentionally sworn about someone in front of you before.

“I’ll call the school and give them some more insight into the situation. I’ll let them know that they need to handle kyle’s on going harassment, but I think the break from school will be good for you. Get some rest because tomorrow you’re working in the lab with me. I’ll call Steve too and have him stop by.” He decided.

“Why?” You asked.

“Because if he can teach you to start fights, he can teach you how to patch yourself up after one. Go grab an icepack for your eye while you wait for him to come up. JARVIS call the school.” He ordered.

“Hey Dad,” You called out to him as the line began to ring. “I didn’t do it because I wanted to be a hero like Uncle Steve, I want to be a hero like you. I love you.”

“Love you too, Kiddo.” He promised, pulling you into a tight hug.

[saltpepperbeard]

ALRIGHT, LADS. Extremely overdue, considering people have probably read the book a good three times over by now fjskdjks. But my potato, unmotivated self has FINALLY finished part one of Ballad, and has now ventured into the NITTY GRITTY™. Because I shared my thoughts on the World Building Chapters, it’s naturally time to talk about the ENTIRE FIRST PART (in chronological order from chapters 4-10)

I keep getting blown away by the sheer amount of “So THAT’S how that started!!!” Like...Snow trying to show off Lucy/show off her talents instead of branding her as an animal? Snow trying to help her MAKE AN IMPRESSION??? BASICALLY THE START OF THE TRIBUTES BEING ELEVATED TO SOME MESSED UP CELEBRITY STATUS LIKE??? 

Fuck Dr. Gaul and everything she represents lmao. Clearly the mastermind behind muttations, and so naturally, seeing as I stan a certain soft blonde baker...MY HATRED TOWARDS HER WAS IMMEDIATE LMAO

“The soft orange glow of the sunset” SUZANNE PLEASE

Again, another case of “THAT’S HOW THAT STARTED FJSKDSS,” was Snow/Sej/them giving their tributes food. Early sponsors. I about LOST MY SHIT LMAO.

The Valley Song. The Valley. Song. I cannot BELIEVE we finally got lyrics for it/actually GOT IT IN THE FLESH™

I keep tooling along just fine and dandy through this book, and THINK I’m coming to a stopping point, and then Suzanne whips right around and decides to SMACK ME HARDCORE WITH HER TRADEMARK CHAPTER CLIFFHANGERS JDKLSJDKLS

The Crane kid dying was absolutely brutal. And for whatever reason, I wasn’t expecting a mentor to die (oh don’t worry Jodi it gets worse PFFFF). Even though it makes sense? The tributes are entirely distrusting of their mentors/the situation, and are being forced to live in the WORST of conditions. SO DAMN DEATH BY SANDWICH/BREAD..........wait

FUCK DR. GAUL AND EVERYTHING SHE REPRESENTS

Speaking of which, nearly losing his friend to a lie really makes the whole “Don’t lie. You promised” conversation between he and Katniss in Catching Fire HIT DIFFERENT/HARDER???

AGAIN, WITH THE GRUESOMENESS/BRUTALITY...THE WHOLE FUNERAL PROCESSION WITH THE CRANE AND SWINGING BODY??? I had to put down the book because I was going, “Oh God...Oh GOD...SUZANNE...HOLY FUCK????” I’m actually quite glad she shows just how brutal and dehumanizing the Capitol is though. She is NOT afraid to show us that they have ZERO REGARD FOR MORALITY OUTSIDE OF THEIR OWN CLASS

The overarching themes with fires and bombing and the main character nearly succumbing to being burned alive and just wow I hate it here and I hate her foreshadowing/the amount of themes she manages to tie together over a MULTITUDE OF BOOKS

Couldn’t help but snort when Snow was like “sometimes the power grid gets sketchy, especially when District Five is being messed with.” And it just made me squint towards Mockingjay like “WELL OKAY SO THE CAPITOL LEARNED ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AFTER 60 SOMETHING YEARS I GUESS.”

i would like..........a lemon fizzy drink

“The networks of tracks and roadways built under the Capitol.” Love how that descriptor alone was enough to make me SWEAT LMAO

I cannot believe that so many tributes and mentors alike got injured/killed. I was absolutely not expecting that to happen at all. I honestly can’t say WHAT I was expecting from this book? BUT CHIEF THAT AIN’T IT JFKSJDS. So I’m very intrigued to see what happens from here.

CLEMMIE TURNING INTO A MUTT IS HORRIFYING AND WOW CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE GETTING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FIRST HUMAN MUTTATION EXPERIMENTS AND OH BY THE WAY FUCK DR. GAUL AND EVERYTHING SHE REP-

speaking of which...francis...my guy...my dude...broski...how are you about to ensure this movie has a PG-13 RATING LMAO. LIKE SEEMS FAKE. A good chunk of this entire part has had the same brutality as the end of Mockingjay so....SIR??? HOW’RE YOU GOING TO FIGURE THIS LMAO???

My thoughts towards Lucy and Snow’s dynamic remain complicated...until Suzanne suddenly crawls up to Vibe Check me/smack me upside the head with a reminder that Snow’s ultimatum is his own status. And that his ENTIRE driving factor is just to make himself look good/get good marks. It’s so funny jskldjsds like, right when I start kind of crinkling my nose towards them, Suzanne is like “LOL DID YOU FORGET WHO YOU’RE DEALING WITH.” like yes sorry queen

Sej is baby and that means he’s not going to get out of this alive, is he fsjkdhskjdshjdks. HE ALREADY SQUARED UP WITH MISS HIPPITY HOPPITY SO YOU KNOW HE DEAD

So yes, parts two and three ahead. And I’m very intrigued/confused because like...HOW MANY MORE TWISTS CAN WE GO ON, SUZANNE. WHAT MORE DO YOU HAVE IN STORE FOR ME. BECAUSE YOU’VE ALREADY TURNED THINGS WILD/ON THEIR HEAD LIKE THREE TIMES IN SIX CHAPTERS DJKSLDJKSL. and i still have like three quarters of the book left. Pray For Me.

[renlimotroll]

Cruel Summer

Summary: "Stay, Sensei, please." Siruko begs, even though it was useless. Sensei didn't belong to him. Sensei belonged to the world, to his fans, to the stage, to the microphone. This borrowed summer was the best and worst of times, where devils roll their dice and angels roll their eyes. What doesn't kill Siruko makes him want Sensei more.

Pairing: Limone-Sensei x Siruko 🍋🐶

Warnings: BL, a lot of ANGST (but I'm a sucker for happy endings, don't worry), extremely out of character, pure imagination, REALLY LONG ONESHOT FIC, PG-17 (there's nothing explicit at all, but there are heavy implications of mature themes) Please don't read if you are uncomfortable. You have been warned.

A/N:

Lately all I've been thinking about is LimoSiru, and I've been itching to write this ever since my friend Shuura showed me that picture. I'm really not good with angst, so writing this was a major challenge, and I hope I was able to pull it off.

I also want to thank this person who hates me so much, because if they didn't antagonize me so much with subtle little things that no one else sees, then I wouldn't be able to write this masterpiece. I learned that sometimes, no matter what we do--be kind, ignore, confront--they’ll find anything we do to be annoying and they won’t like us and that’s okay. We don’t have to make people like us, and they don’t have to like us too. It's really not healthy for me to be able to only write under extreme negative emotions and stress, but oh, the beauty that comes out of it is heavenly. I turned my frustrations into something beautiful, and I’m proud of it. Without this person, I wouldn’t have been fueled to finish this.

This is dedicated to all LimoSiru shippers like me. Seriously, what's not to like about LimoSiru? Have you seen how Limone-sensei acts when he's with Siruko versus how he acts with everybody else? Sensei turns into the playful, teasing younger-brother person while older-brother, responsible Siruko laughs exasperatedly at him (LimoSiru Hanany Land Reconstruction Part 1, Sensei's POV). He's usually not like that, always being the tsukkomi to chaotic Hanae, so seeing him be boke with Siruko-san is really cute. Plus, when Sensei scolds Mintosu-san VS when he scolds Siruko-san, you gotta tell me how you don't see how much softer he is with Siruko-san. And yes, it's canon that Siruko-san likes it when Sensei scolds him. He's the reason why the whole recorded voice clips went on sale, after all. Thank gods for the Number One Limojo, Siruko-san.

I should stop before the word count goes even longer. Enjoy!

"Stay."

It was still dark; the stars were still scattered across the night sky. Siruko blinks blearily, sleep still evident in his purple eyes. It was rare for him to be up this early, and for good reason. Siruko wasn't good at goodbyes.

"Stay, please. Sensei." He begs into the darkness, even though it was futile, just like all those times he pleaded before. Siruko follows the movement within the room with half-lidded eyes, crawling over to the other side of the bed. To the side where it always smelled like lemons and happiness. Limone was already buttoning up the white shirt he always liked to wear. A glance at the clock showed it was 3:15 am.

"Ohayou, Siruko-san." Sensei chuckles mirthlessly. The bed dips as the blue-haired man sits down. He takes Siruko's hand and kisses his knuckles, and with his other hand he runs his beautiful fingers through purple hair. Siruko almost purred. "You know I can't." He reasons out with a hint of regret in his deep, melodic voice.

What Siruko knows is how cruel this summer is. For the first time in years, his and Limone-sensei's break finally matched. 30 days of pure bliss--of netflix and chilling, playing games all day, going on sneaky dates, and even a trip to the beach for Sensei's birthday. It was good, all kinds of good that he soaked up and basked in because it was limited--a fragile heaven. Alas, all good things must come to an end.

Who would have thought that the man Siruko met in the net cafe so many years ago would be one of the most popular idols not just in Japan, but the whole world even. He could still remember it like it was only yesterday, when a handsome man was there staring at him as Siruko looked up from the vending machine. They struck up a conversation, and Siruko found himself attracted to this gravity of a man who was as charming as the devil and yet as kind as an angel. Since that day (during which Siruko was in high school making friends with a college student Limone), there was never a day where they didn't talk or hang out. It was almost a love story.

Except it wasn't. While their relationship progressed from gaming friends to real friends to friends with benefits, there was never really a clear status or label as to what they are. Especially when Limone started to upload videos of him singing (encouraged by none other than Siruko himself), and he got discovered by the public. Siruko knew one day he'd be popular; it was even him who nicknamed him 'Sensei' as a result of all those times Limone taught him something he didn't know, and the name stuck and now became a stage name. Singing was Sensei's dream, and he loved it with a passion burning as bright as the sun. Siruko loved it too--loved the twinkle in Sensei's eyes when he sang in front of a sea of crowd, loved the healing laugh when he gets interviewed on the TV, loved every billboard and commercial he sees as he walks throughout the busy streets of Tokyo. It's just, sometimes he wishes he had Sensei all to himself. Sometimes, he didn't want to share him with the world. He immediately feels guilty for that thought and scolds himself for being too selfish.

"Why don't you sleep a little longer. You have 8am classes, don't you? You need some rest." Sensei pecks his cheek sweetly, and Siruko chases his mouth for a better one. He needs it like the air he breathes, a kiss of passion, of desperation, of something that wasn't even his to lose, and Sensei gives it to him like he always does, a hot, bright and burning clash of lips and tongue. Heat pools at the bottom of his stomach and he breaks away to leave a trail of light kisses on Sensei's neck, hoping to make him feel how much he wants him.. hoping...

"Stop, Siruko-san." Sensei growls, pulling away and standing. Siruko stills immediately, shame burning acid behind his eyes. He internally mourns the loss of the warmth of another body. "How many times should I tell you, no marks. I can't come out wearing a hickey, you know that. Papz are everywhere." And just like that, the moment was gone. How unfair, Siruko thinks, because he knows his body is littered with colors of different shades, blue warring with purple, marks planted by none other than the possessive lips of Sensei. Limone likes to make sure Siruko knows who he belongs to. Isn't it unfair how only Siruko's body gets to be decorated with bruises and hickeys? Well, who was he anyway to get possessive over Sensei. He swallows the bile threatening to make his tongue bitter.

At least Sensei had the decency to look guilty. "I'll be touring again in a couple of weeks, in America." The idol sighs resignedly. Siruko closes his eyes in defeat; it was inevitable after all. Sensei puts on his watch with all the speed of a turtle, and Siruko knows he is stalling time, using up every millisecond he's allowed to have with his purple lover (?). Sensei didn't look like he wanted to leave either, a small comfort in the growing ache in Siruko's chest.

"How long?"

"3 or 4 months, I guess."

"That's too long."

"It's really not." That's true. When Sensei finally broke out into the international scene and started holding tours in other countries, he has been gone longer. Siruko can never begrudge him of the distance, because Sensei always Skyped and called him even in his busy schedule, even during the times Sensei can barely talk in his exhaustion. He knows, he understands with his whole being the realities of dating (?) an idol, but that doesn't stop him being upset.

He should just be grateful that Sensei spends time with him, a normal college student.

"I'll walk you to the car, Sensei."

Sensei finishes getting ready, putting his glasses and black mask on. Siruko combs Sensei's cerulean silky hair with his fingers, hair that became so messy from their bedroom activity. Siruko doesn't know why Sensei keeps coming back to him when he could literally have any man or woman in the planet, but he takes pride that he was the only one who can mess up Sensei's hair like this, a result of their dirty bedroom fun.

They walk in silence to Sensei's tacky rental car, a preemptive measure to avoid paparazzi or fans who can recognize him. Sensei holds his hand tightly, rubbing circles on the student's cold skin with his thumb. Siruko's chest is heavy, but there's no use whining. Sensei belongs to the stage, to the millions of fans who adored him. Instead, Siruko tries to think about the Sensei only he had. The Sensei who makes him watch horror movies so Siruko could cling to him when he's scared (the sadistic Sensei who enjoys Siruko being scared out of his wits only to comfort him after), the Sensei he can surprisingly outdrink (and how cute the drunk, clingy Sensei was), the Sensei who pets every street cat they see, and makes sure not to get any cat hair on him so Siruko's allergy won't act up.

August slipped away in a blink of an eye, but Siruko memorized everything. Every conversation, every place they went to, every food they ate. He's always been good at memorizing, and he stores everything in his heart. Sensei wasn't his, but the memories with him were his. No one can take that away.

The purplehead makes a whine at the back of his throat, and Sensei cracks a smile, slowing to a stop. Sensei always knew what he wanted, what he needed. He pushes Siruko-san to the shadow created by the walls in the narrow alley, but no one was around anyway, not at this hour. Sensei removes his mask as the darkness shields them from prying eyes and snakes his hand on the purplehead's waist. The singer cups Siruko's chin, tilting his head up, and Siruko can only grab onto Sensei's arm to steady himself. The last thing he sees before he closes his eyes is Sensei's hungry blue eyes and his gold ear-piercing, then Sensei swoops in and captures his lips into a hot, wet kiss. Limone-sensei runs his tongue into every cavern of Siruko's mouth, exploring everything, and it feels like heaven, a toe-curling sensation Siruko can never get enough of. Sensei bites his lip and it stings, then sucks on it tenderly as an apology. The pain mixes with the pleasure, and Siruko forgets where they are at the moment. Sensei takes and leads and dominates, and Siruko can only let him, as always. Fireworks explode in his body and Siruko moans loudly, not even caring who hears. The world could burn right now and Siruko will keep chasing Sensei's lips.

It felt too long and too short at the same time. The need for air separates them, and Siruko pants, chest heaving up and down. "Stay, please, Sensei." He can't stop begging, holding onto the fever dream high Sensei keeps giving him. Siruko knows the answer anyway, knows it from the way Sensei's lips thin into a firm line, knows from the way his shoulders straighten in resolve. However, knowing doesn't make it hurt any less.

"Stop playing so late at night and focus on your studies, okay?" Sensei whispers in his ear, his hot breath tickling him. He caresses Siruko's cheek in a way that he knows will always bring a beautiful blush. Sensei likes the fact that he can easily make Siruko blush.

"Yada."

Sensei flicks his forehead, earning a grumpy pout from the student. The pseudo-teacher gives in to the temptation to kiss that pout away. "If I say yes to your idiotic request of me recording all those freaky lines you want, will you promise to take care of yourself better?"

Siruko pretends to think. "Fine, but I want that 'Bakagayo' morning alarm. It has miracle powers that'll help me for my crazy morning classes." Sensei rolls his eyes but his chest rumbles in deep laughter, and Siruko likes that. Sometimes he imagines those laughs were reserved for him, and he likes making Sensei laugh a lot. He needs this goodbye to end on a positive note, or else he'll break down.

"You'll do great, Sensei. I'm sure everyone will love the new album." He whispers back, careful not to disturb the peace of the early morn. Despite the fame, the money, the influence Limone has, somehow, he always needed to hear this from Siruko-san, and the latter is only happy to give this to him. It was the only other thing he can give, aside from a good one-night stand. Sensei says Siruko grounds him, whatever that means. Siruko doesn't really understand why Sensei needs reassurance--he was a great singer and an even greater human being, with his charm and wit and kindness, and sometimes Siruko feels silly encouraging him, because Sensei was so out of his league. Sensei was everything he's not--confident, beautiful and interesting. He and Sensei live on two different worlds. But Sensei gives him that small, shy smile that Siruko really loves, and Siruko's heart squeezes. He'll fight the world for that precious smile.

Finally Sensei gets in the car. He rolls down the window to wave goodbye, and then he's off, and in a few hours, in another country, a different timezone. Siruko waits till the car disappears around the block, comes back home, then sags down behind the door and cries and cries.

He lets the tears fall until it's time for him to prepare for class. He doesn't even know why it still hurts  even after all these years. He can't get used to it, no matter how hard he tries. He knows they can never be like any other couple holding hands on the street--they're not even a couple. He was just… that guy Sensei keeps coming back to. A friend, at best. He should be content with stolen kisses, hidden touches, forbidden passions. It's nothing new--he knows he has to keep secrets to keep Sensei. So why? Why does it kill him this much?

Maybe it's because when, three days later, he wakes up into an internet chaos when Limone-sensei's new album comes out. The Bintroll group chat descends into panic and madness of 300 messages. He ignores it all and buys the album, listening to it as he prepares a lab report, even though he already knew all of the songs before the release. He pretends that they were about him, for him. If he pretends hard enough, he can imagine Sensei is with him in the room.

Maybe it's because he sees Sensei everywhere, but it wasn't his Sensei. It was the world's Sensei. His new single is played in every music show, in every diner he eats at, it's in the lips of every conversation around him. Siruko's emotions are always a roller coaster during a comeback. It was good for his grades when Sensei is away; he can concentrate on studying while Sensei focuses on his own career. But the phrase 'out of sight, out of mind' wouldn't work when all he can see and hear is Limone-sensei.

The new single sounds really good. Siruko was really proud of him. When Sensei played it for him on the piano, it wasn't a duet yet. It was different from his usual upbeat, rock-popish songs. Sensei didn't usually sing about anything even remotely resembling love, but this one was almost like that, and that's why Siruko loved it. He didn't know Sensei intended for it to be a duet though, and as much as the woman's voice sounded nice, he preferred the version of only Sensei's familiar voice.

(It reminded him of the beach, of fireworks, of Sensei's wonderful birthday spent with Siruko, of a cruel August slipping away like a bottle of wine.)

Maybe it's because no matter how much he wants to tell his friends and family about this, Siruko can't. He does love the small world he and Sensei are in when they're together, where no one can judge them and they're alone and free to love and make love, but in times like this where he's hurting, he really really wants, needs someone he can share his pain to. It only hurts even more when his own friends talk about Sensei in front of him.

"I'm telling you, it's all promotion, promotion! A gimmick so the song will be talked about more! Not that Sensei needs it." Jiraichan huffs in frustration as Siruko arrives at their group's usual bench. He has half-a-mind to turn back and eat somewhere else as soon as he hears the topic, but that would be suspicious behavior. He tries to smile at the others as they greet him, hoping it didn't look as lonely as he really feels inside.

"And I'm telling you, the song itself is about some kind of a summer love! So… what if it's true!" Quartet argues, and Siruko's throat constricts. Did… they find out? Was their affair finally discovered by the world? Oh no, this scandal, it'll be huge, he can't be tarnishing Sensei's name… people will be hating him. It's ok if they hate me, I don't care, but please don't let this ruin Sensei's career, oh god what can he do to clean up this mess, why did he even think he can sort-of date an idol, oh my god ohmygod

"Siruko-chan? Are you okay? You look pale." Ichihachi notes, worry coloring his tone. He puts down his snacks and inspects their leader's face. Siruko didn't even realize he was on the verge of a panic attack. "Did you stay up all night studying again? I thought you got a high score on that midterms."

"I'm fine." But it wasn't true. His chest is being constricted by a big snake, squeezing air out of his lungs. The purplehead tries deflecting. "Where's Hakotaro and Minben-san?"

"They're in class. Siruko-san, have you heard of Sensei's new song? Of course you did, is there anyone who hasn't heard it yet?" Jiraichan asks rhetorically, obviously trying to change the topic away from Siruko to help, bless Jiraichan's soul, but in this case, it only makes it worse. "Do you like it? Do you think the rumors are true?"

"What.." he chokes, feeling the much-needed oxygen escape his body. "...rumor?"

"Eh you didn't know? Hang on." Quartetchi fishes his handphone from his pocket, scrolls for a while, then shows him the screen. A picture of Sensei and the female idol he had a duet with. Sensei's hand was on her back and they were laughing. They look… good together. "It says that Sensei is dating her. The internet's going crazy, but Sensei's company hasn't released a statement yet. It could be true though, I-- wait where are you going? Siruko-san?"

Siruko dashes away, feeling guilty for the three worried, confused looks of his friends he left behind, but he needs to get away. He needs to.. he doesn't know… he never knew it was possible but this was so much worse, so much more painful than earlier. He can't breathe, can't apologize to those he bumps along the way (not recognizing it was Minben-san and Hakotaro who calls his name, tries to grab him but he shakes them off violently). Nothing registers in his mind anymore than the need to get away… He needs to get out of here. He needs to…

Tears stream down his face and he can't even see where he's going. He trusts his legs to take him home, because honestly his brain can't be relied on right now. The image is flashing again and again in his mind, like his own personal hell. He shouldn't worry about it, dating rumors have always been there since Sensei rose to fame, the company will deny it later, Siruko's sure. But there was something ugly, something twisted eating him alive, making it hard to breathe. Maybe it's his insecurities, telling him that they look nice, and dating another idol must be better, because Sensei is honestly better off with anybody than Siruko, a good-for-nothing college student who sometimes streams games with his friends. He was just an old-time friend good for lonely, horny nights, and there wasn't even something between them. Maybe it was just all his imagination, the heated affection he sees in Sensei's electric blue eyes after Siruko tells a horrible joke, the promise of forever after a heated exchange of lips. He thought there was something there. But what if there wasn't?

Before he realizes it, he's in a bar, and he resolves to drown everything in alcohol. He wants to get wasted, to forget about everything, even for just a moment. Maybe even find someone he can replace Sensei with (as if, his heart scoffs). But he can't. Every time someone talks to him, it wasn't that deep melodic voice with witty banter, the voice who always scolds him but is always gentle with him, and he is disgusted with anyone not Sensei. When someone tries to flirt with him, he is revolted and he flinches away, because it wasn't Sensei's beautiful fingers touching him, it wasn't Sensei's rough yet caring touch. He goes home, drunk in the back of the cab and crying all the way home, and thankfully the driver ignores him.

Siruko doesn't realize that he's calling Sensei as he locks his front door. He curses himself as the ring goes too long; it could be any time of the day for Sensei right now, on the other side of the world. He could be preparing for interviews. He could be practicing with his crew. He could be with his girlfriend.

"Hi Siruko-san,"

And Siruko breathes clear for the first time today, that's the effect Sensei's voice has on him. His vision is blurry, maybe from the tears, maybe from the alcohol, maybe from the relief that Sensei answered the call. "Hello? Nashita? Is something wrong?"

"Is it true?" He whispers.

"Is what true? Hey, have you been crying?! What's going on?"

"You're dating her."

Siruko hears someone on the other end, maybe Sensei's manager Hanachan, muffled voices in low tones, and he feels guilty for interrupting whatever Sensei was doing. Siruko wants to hang up; he shouldn't be doing this right now, should have planned more for this discussion. He wonders if he can break up with Sensei, if he even has the strength to. The thought is so horrible and unbearable it makes him sick and want to vomit. Call him masochistic, but Siruko isn't above being a side lover, if only just to at least still be beside Sensei in some way. He decides to leave the decision to Sensei, and whatever he wants, Siruko will go along with it, as he always did. He'll follow Sensei to the ends of the world anytime.

"I'm sorry Siruko-san." Siruko intakes a gulp of air at Sensei's tone. This is it, he thinks. It's the end. "I didn't know about the rumor at all. Hanachan said the company is taking care of it."

"She's really pretty. You look good together."

"What?! No way! I told you it's not true! Jesus, Siruko-san." Sensei anger-whispers frustratedly. "I am not dating her."

Siruko pauses, forcing the words out, "But you can."

Sensei's pointed silence was an answer enough and Siruko continues. "You can date her. She's a better match for you more than I will ever be." Sensei inhales sharply that signals he's about to interrupt, but Siruko-san won't let him. For the first time, all the words are flowing. They'd be having the conversation they should have had all along these years. "It's not like we're… what are we, Sensei?" His voice breaks, and Siruko chuckles humorlessly and clutches his aching chest to keep himself together. "I know what I am to you. A friend, a good time in bed. And I'm content to be that. It's up to you now what you want me to be, but please. Please don't keep me away from your life. I… I can't stay away from you, Sensei. I'll be anything you want me to be, as long as I can stay in your life. That's all I ask for."

"Siruko-san," The blue-haired idol starts, and Siruko can picture him pinching the bridge of his nose like he does when something upsets him. Siruko wonders if the new girl knows Sensei like he does, knows how Sensei is annoyed when his glasses are fogged up, knows that Sensei hates cigarettes so Siruko gave it up for him, knows how much Sensei loves sneakers. Siruko grits his teeth angrily. No, no one knows Sensei like he does. Why is it so unfair, why can't Sensei just be his.

"I'm sorry, I know I'm interrupting something, so please, don't mind me. Congrats on your new album and single by the way. Good--

"Wait!!" Sensei shouts frantically. "Siruko-san, please, listen to me." Oh gods, here it comes. Sensei will break up with him. Knowing it's coming doesn't make it any less painful. "You're…

You're very special to me, and I don't want to see you like this. I… I'm sorry… " Siruko's breath hitches as he expects break-up words next. "...that I hurt you, I swear that rumor is false. I would always be honest to you, so please believe me." Sensei pleads. Siruko is confused why Sensei is not yet breaking up with him.

"Can we… this conversation… I think it's better if we talk personally… so I'm really sorry to ask this but, please, wait for me? I'll be home soon, I promise. Wait for me, please?"

Wasn't this something... worse? Waiting for Sensei to leave and dump him… isn't it agony? Sensei should just rip Siruko's heart out right now, swift and easy, on a phone call and not personally, instead of cruelly making him wait for months. But oh well, if Siruko has been able to keep their relationship a secret for five long years, what is a few more months.

"Okay…. I'll wait for you."

"Thank you, Siruko-san. I--" Siruko cuts him off and decides that this conversation has been long enough. He wants to sleep.

"I need to go, Sensei. Before I hang up, can I tell you something? Though, it might be the worst thing you'll ever hear."

Sensei hesitates but relents. "Sure, what is it?"

The few seconds were long enough that Sensei could be thinking he was asleep, but he waits patiently. Siruko decides it's now or never.

"I love you."

Then he hangs up.

November came. Autumn leaves were falling down, a reminder of the beauty of letting go. It had been two months since their last conversation, and it might be the worst two months in Siruko's life. Everyone noticed and were worried, and although Siruko appreciates their concern, he can't exactly tell them why he's not eating well, why he prefers staying on his bed rather than gaming like he used to, and their persuasions are becoming annoying. The purplehead leaves the lecture hall, rearranging his red scarf and wrapping his arms around his bony self. The air was cold, and something about it felt like something was going to happen soon. 

On the way to his apartment building, he sees a familiar man wearing glasses and a black suit with an orange tie, and it was so out-of-place in the sea of half-awake, half-dead zombie horde of students that Siruko couldn't help but stare. The man scans his surroundings and locks eyes with him. Siruko instinctively steps back.

The man approaches him with a big smile. "Hi Siruko-san! We finally meet! I'm Hanae Natsuki, I'm assuming you already know who I am?"

Siruko's lilac eyes widen in surprise. Of course he knows who this man is. He's the only person in the world who knows about his secret relationship with Sensei, although he's never met Sensei's manager personally before. (Even if he's not connected to Sensei, Siruko would have still recognized. Hanachan was as popular to Sensei's fans as the idol was.) He nods, unable to form words out of his nervousness. Why was he here? Is Siruko in trouble? 

"Do you still have classes? Can I invite you for tea?"

"Hai…" Siruko murmurs anxiously. Hanachan flashes him another wide smile and leads him to a sleek, fancy car.

The cafe Hanae-san brought him to was a quaint, charming one, and the smell of coffee and pastry wafts throughout the place. Hanae-san guides him to one of the more private tables. Their orders arrived moments later (expensive-looking aromatic tea for Hanachan and coffee for him, along with several kinds of pastries and treats).

"So, you're a university student? How's school?" Hanachan asks after a sip.

Siruko shrugs, "If I pretend that my professors are the monster bosses in a game I have to defeat and that every year I pass I level up and get closer to clearing the game, it's fine."

"You're a gamer?" Hanachan chuckles at the metaphor. "Sensei always makes me play horror games!" He complains good-naturedly. "What kind of games do you play?"

They converse for a while, pleasant enough to the point where they can laugh for a bit. Hanachan forks the scone to his mouth and remarks, "Now I know why Sensei likes you so much."

Siruko blinked, mouthful of croissant. "Eh??"

Hanachan shakes his head a little, grinning. "You're too cute for your own good. Listen, the real reason I met with you is this." He fishes out a big ticket and an armband from his coat. "Sensei's performing tomorrow at the Unit, so go see him, okay?"

Siruko swallows painfully, biting his lower lip anxiously. "But… doesn't he have an American tour?"

"We're on a break right now." Hanachan assures him, "He misses you. He doesn't say it, but I know him." Hanachan looks at him with heavy intensity, and suddenly Siruko knows why this man was good at what he does. Hanachan knows how to wield his charm and professionalism. Siruko privately thinks he would be super famous too if he weren't a manager. "Go see him, Siruko-san, and if you choose to, please talk to him. Everything will be alright once you talk. Got it?" Siruko finds himself unable to say no, not that he wants to. The thought that he'll be able to see Sensei fills him with nervous excitement. He nods meekly, accepting the gift. To be able to see Sensei, even just as a fan, it's enough. Siruko's stomach is filled with butterflies.

"Sa te, see you there!" Hanachan stands to leave, and Siruko scrambles to bow deeply to thank him. "You're really good for him, you know? Sensei's born to shine under the spotlight, but he won't take the stage if there wasn't someone pushing him and encouraging him from the shadows. He can fly to anywhere in the world, but at the end of the day, he needs and craves a home to come back to. Thanks for being that person, Siruko-san." 

Siruko flushes red at Hanachan's words. "Is it this easy to tease you? I might start doing it more." The manager laughs evilly, causing Siruko to sweat-drop. Hanachan places a firm hand on his shoulder.

"I know you've always been there for him, so continue to take care of him, ne? Let's play together sometime too!"

"Hai!" Siruko's lips twist upwards brightly. Hanachan is an amazing person; he was like a walking sun. Siruko stays in the cafe for a while, staring at the ticket for the details. He really really wants to see Sensei, and he's so tired of stalking him via fancams and tv shows and social media. Tomorrow, no matter what happens, whether Sensei dumps him or not, Siruko's going to see him, and that's all that matters.

It turns out, he'll be going to the concert on his birthday.

When he arrived at the concert venue, Siruko almost wanted to go back home again. He couldn't stop his hands from shaking, whether it was from nerves or excitement, he doesn't know. But the guard recognizes him (maybe Hanachan showed him a picture) and leads him to a back door, where usually the staff and crew are. Hanachan greets him and leads him to the steps that lead to the stage where Sensei already was. Siruko bites his lip and hunches to himself, hoping Sensei wouldn't notice him yet.

It was always a one-of-a-kind experience attending Sensei's concerts, and Siruko loves it. Loves the energy, loves the crowd swaying to the beat and chanting the idol's name. It was electrifying, and he can honestly say it was one of his favorite things in the world. Tonight's concert was a small one, a limited only fan member-exclusive type. But that didn't mean it wasn't crowded. It was Siruko's first time being on the other side of the stage though, and he can see the limojos and fans' excitement as Sensei taps his mic to start the show.

Siruko enjoys the show, he really does, but he feels a bit strange. Usually when he watches Sensei's concerts, he focuses on Sensei alone, blind to everything else. Now that he's on the other side of the stage, he can see the fans' reactions to everything Sensei does, the way their eyes are lit with faithful admiration, the way they absorb everything Sensei says and does, and it reminds Siruko again that Sensei is not his. That Sensei is a performer and he belongs to the microphone, to the stage, to the fans. And Siruko can tell that Sensei loves this, that he's having fun doing this, that the fanchants only motivate him to sing better, to be a brighter star than he already was. Siruko can't take this away from him, and maybe it really was for the best to part ways. If Sensei can't do it, then Siruko needed to be the one that got away. Siruko's heart drops to his stomach, melancholy seeping through his veins. I'd gladly sacrifice my heart and happiness, he thinks sadly, for Sensei.

As Siruko was about to leave, Sensei clears his throat on the mic, implying an encore. A crew hands him a guitar and Sensei jokes a little, and the fans are ecstatic. Sensei looks especially handsome under the bright spotlight, and that's not Siruko being biased. He drinks from his water bottle and suddenly Siruko feels thirsty too (it should be illegal to look that hot just by drinking water). He begins the encore by giving a message, and Siruko decides to stay against his better judgement. It might as well be the last song of Sensei's he'll ever let himself listen to.

"First, I'd like to thank all of my fans and supporters. I owe everything to you guys, and if it weren't for your support I wouldn't be here on this stage. The last five years were truly an amazing ride, and I'm glad to be able to share my music to the world. Thank you so much." He bows deeply. 

Suddenly, Sensei turns his head to the side and their eyes meet, blue connecting to purple. Sensei smiles, and Siruko can't help but to mirror it. Siruko's heart drums out loud in his ears. Limone addresses his audience again. "That's why I'm hoping that my fans can support me in this announcement I'm about to make." Sensei pauses, and there's a mix of confusion and anticipation in the air. Sensei holds Siruko's gaze again as he speaks into the microphone, and the intensity makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter harder. "There's a really special person in my life, a person that I love so much, and I hope my fans will accept that." Siruko's breath hitches. He can hear the shocked noises of the fans but he can't really process anything. Was Sensei… really doing it?

"Many of my fans have asked me before, why I don't sing about romance. I've actually written a lot, but I was scared. I know it's silly and stupid. Me? Scared?" The audience laughs and Sensei does too. Sensei can charm an entire mass of people just by being himself. "But that's the truth. The industry I work on can be ruthless and cruel sometimes, and every little thing I do is subject to the public eye. I wanted to protect this person from the hatred and the judgement, so I kept us a secret for a long, long time."

"How long?" An audience shouts, and Siruko panics, thinks that the fans won't accept, that they're angry, that Sensei's career is blowing up and Siruko's to be blamed, and it must have shown on his face because Hanachan is suddenly beside him brushing up on his elbows, and winks at him. He realizes that this must all be planned, that maybe the fan was planted there to ask it. Siruko relaxes.

"How long, you ask? Five years! It was way before I started being an utaite. Actually, you guys should thank this person because they were the one who told me to upload my singing videos." Sensei declares in amusement. His tone takes a more somber note as he continues. "I'm really sorry for keeping this from you guys, so please don't be mad." Siruko sees some people shake their heads as a reply, and he realizes for the first time that maybe, this could work. The sliver of hope shines bright for the first time in his life. Maybe Sensei can finally be his.

"I guess what I want to say is, I hope people can accept that I'm only human, and it's not a sin to love, is it?" The fans shake their heads unanimously, and some even looked like they were about to melt. Siruko feels he is about to melt too. "I decided that I want to still keep our relationship private, so I hope my real fans respect our privacy. This is me saying that I won't hesitate to shove any paparazzi cameras to their faces, bakatare omaera." The audience laughs and takes every word of Sensei's with an awesome amount of worship, like they're ready to fight anyone that stands in the way of their idol's happiness. "The most you guys get is maybe a hand or a voice in one of my social media posts, and that's it. I'm not sharing this person with anyone." Another audience shouts, "Sensei, aren't you too possessive!" and Sensei roars with laughter, making the audience join him too. "Yes I am!" He says proudly, and Siruko can only chuckle and shake his head exasperatedly.

"I won't be giving any interviews about this, so go ahead and upload this and share it everywhere. I also won't hesitate to take any legal actions, I can totally afford a lawyer or five." Sensei jokes, but everyone knows how serious he is taking this. "I'm just asking my true fans to respect that I'm allowed to love someone and I'll do anything in my power to protect it. Is that okay?"

The audience screams yes, and Sensei laughs, which is music to Siruko's ears already. He feels tears well up in his eyes and tries to hold them back by biting his lower lip. This is too overwhelming, and so different from all the ugly scenarios he was always worried about. This isn't how he imagined it to go, not this easy acceptance from his fans, not Sensei revealing he loves Siruko to the world first before Siruko himself. 

"I'm dedicating this song to that special person. I hope my feelings reach you, love." And the audience went 'aaaaaw' as the lights dim, a lone light focused on the singer.

Sensei began singing the notes to his latest single, and tonight he's performing it as a solo, the way Siruko heard it originally.  And now Siruko understands. It really was that summer: the picturesque beach on that day, the waves on his feet, the sand underneath his body as Sensei smiles on top of him. The beautiful purple twilight, the fireworks he wished would never end along with the summer. For the first time, he can finally assume that the song was his. Sensei was his.

And he can see it. That underneath the Limone-sensei that fans adore and worship on the stage was Siruko's Sensei who couldn't hold his hand in the beginning because he was too shy. That beneath all the glitter and glamour of being an idol, a star, is Siruko's sensei who knows all the spells in the Harry Potter movies, a big big dork who picks out all the vegetables in his food and whines about it unless Siruko threatens to withhold coitus if he doesn't eat it. He's still Siruko's Limone-sensei, who can master any game he plays so easily it's almost god-like, and honestly Siruko thinks Sensei would have been a better pro-gamer than an idol. 

His Sensei, who looks at him from time to time while singing, with love and affection in his intoxicating ocean eyes, something that Siruko can't be mistaken about anymore because it was so clear as the blue sky. 

As the song ended, Hanachan grabs his elbow, and Siruko quickly tries to wipe his cheeks (he didn't even realize he was crying) and Hanachan just gave him a knowing smile. "Here, go to this hotel room," he says while handing out a card. "Wait for him there, Siruko-san."

As he takes the card, he glances towards the stage and once again, blue meets purple eyes. Sensei smiles at him so tenderly it physically hurts Siruko's heart, and Siruko smiles back shyly. He's grateful for a time to collect himself before they talk, because if Sensei kept flashing that stupid disarming loving smile like that, Siruko will probaby die and ascend to heaven.

"Thanks, Hanachan."

"Sure! Just remember, put your hickeys in places we can't see, okay?" Hanachan winks.

Siruko blushes so hard he turns beet red, and Hanachan laughs loudly at his expense.

It took Siruko a long time to come down from the high Sensei brought him to. After admiring and checking out the high-class, fancy hotel room, he decides to take a shower to help calm himself down. Just as he came out of the (really big) bathroom, Sensei barges in with a loud noise, takes one long head-to-toe gawk at Siruko's robe-clad wet body, and Sensei lunges at him like a hungry predator, kissing him hard, taking his robe off faster than you can say "darling".

They're lying on the fancy bed now, silky sheets tangled up between them, the perfect afterglow leaving them to their own thoughts and to catch their own breaths. When he turns to his side to look at Sensei, he sees that Sensei still hasn't come back to Earth either, what with his dopey smile and glazed blue eyes. Siruko wants to bottle up this moment forever.

However, some matters need to be discussed first, even though Siruko would rather talk with his body than his mouth. "I think we should talk, Sensei."

"No shit." Sensei chuckles then faces him. This close, Siruko can feel Sensei's breath fanning his face, can count each beautiful eyelash, can easily touch Sensei's collarbone and feel the warm skin against his. Sensei takes his hand and kisses it, and Siruko follows the movement with his eyes. It was incredibly intimate, and he only realizes now that Sensei liked to do this all the time. He really was that blind, huh.

"First, I want to apologize. Nope, don't interrupt," Sensei puts a finger on his lips when Siruko was about to react. "This was my fault, and I'm surprised that you held out so long for me. Thinking back, that was really shitty of me and you could have left me, but you didn't. Thank you."

Sensei gathers his thoughts with a deep breath. "This is such a lousy excuse, but the truth is, I didn't have time to think about us. I was always chasing after my career, and frankly, I took you for granted. I never told you, but you're the anchor that keeps me stable and steadfast even against the stormiest weathers. The reason I can sail through this shitshow of a show business is because I have you to come back home to." Sensei traces his jawline affectionately, unknowingly repeating Hanae-san's words. Siruko's heart clenches. "You're my lifeline, Siruko-san. And you've been so patient, so kind, so understanding, waiting for me all this time. I'm so incredibly grateful but also really surprised that you haven't left my dumbass." They both let out amused laughs at that.

"After you called me that day, I realized how much I screwed up. I was so focused on keeping us a secret that I never even told you how I felt about you. So I talked to my agency, told them I want to announce us, and... wait, I realized I went ahead and said we're dating even though I never really asked you out." Sensei realizes, horror dawning on his face.

"Bakagayo," Siruko whispers Sensei's favorite phrase, making Sensei laugh. "You already said it out there, so you can't take it back. Oh my god, we're," Siruko mirrors Sesnsei's stricken pose as the realization hits him. "...dating! Sensei, punch me so I know I'm not dreaming."

"Bakagayo," Sensei shows him how it's said the right way, and Siruko giggles. He loves it when Sensei says that. "I talked to my agency, and at first they were hesitant. It's understandable, but my career could burn at our door and I wouldn't care. You can't expect an idol to sing about love when they're not allowed to love. That's stupid." He rolls his eyes irritatedly, and traces Siruko's lips with his finger.

"I did tell them I have hundreds of songs written about you, so that's good album material as any. There wasn't any point arguing with me because my mind was all made up, and Hanachan was totally backing me up hard. We pestered and badgered until they gave up and let me."

"But… wouldn't this damage your career?"

"Hmmm… the crazier fans would flip out, but I couldn't care less. Haven't you seen my fans? They're the kindest!"

"That's true." Siruko agrees. "Are you sure the limojos won't hate me?"

"Are you kidding? And aren't you my number one limojo, though?" Sensei kisses his nose, and Siruko giggles again, pressing closer. "But we're still gonna be private about this. Just as a precaution, I don't want anyone crazy coming after you, so I'm not revealing your identity if I can help it, and we still can't go out on dates in public. I'm sorry." Sensei hugs him tighter, kissing his violet hair as a sincere apology.

"It's okay, no one has to know about us. I'm already content that everyone knows you belong to me." Siruko feels Sensei laugh through the vibrations in his chest. The feeling of hearing Sensei's heart beat like this was magnetic. "But can we at least take a pic so I can tell my family and Bintroll?"

"Now? You really wanna be announcing us to them naked and just after we had---"

"NO!! LATER!! BAKA BAKA BAKA!"

Sensei laughs, and Siruko feels that everything is okay in the world. It feels like he's been carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and it's been lifted off of him now. He relaxes further into Sensei's embrace, rubbing his head into the crook under Sensei's chin and burrowing further, like a feline. Sensei responds by stroking his hips, and Siruko knows it won't be long before they start their tumble in the sheets again, coz Sensei is insanely insatiable like that. But for now, Siruko savors the cuddles. Honestly, he didn't care about them hiding. It just feels better now that he can at least tell his friends, and that no matter what happens, he knows that Sensei is his. 

Of course it won't be easy, the complications of dating a famous person are always there to ruin things after all, but Siruko doesn't really care. As long as he gets to be with Sensei, that's enough. Even if he doesn't get to scream it to the world, as long as Sensei loves him back, it'll always be enough.

Siruko reluctantly pulls back from his warm cocoon of Sensei's arms to look up to Sensei's beautiful piercing eyes. "Sensei, I need to tell you something that might be the worst thing you'll ever hear."

"Hn?" Amusement dances in his blue eyes, already knowing what it is.

"I love you." 

"Jya, I'll tell you something too, but it might be even worse than what you just told me."

"Un?"

"I love you too. And happy birthday."

The kiss that came after was electricity starting up their hearts, fire burning their bones. It was blue as the beauty of sky, the loyalty and trust in every shade. It was purple painting the twilight, devotion and passion in every stroke of color.

It might have been a cruel summer, but Siruko wants every kind of summer with Sensei.

Later, the locket that was his birthday present opens up to a picture of them kissing at that beach, taken after Sensei had just turned his brain, body and soul into mush after their mind-blowing something and just right after fireworks decorated the night sky, and Siruko decides it wasn't really a cruel summer after all.

The End.

A/N:

I did imagine an omake where Siruko sends a picture of Sensei kissing his cheek while they're in bed to the Bintroll group chat, and Jiraichan screams "WHAAAAAAT", Quartetchi furiously types, "IS THIS A PRANK", Ichihachi calmly sends "Congratulations", and Minben-san teases him "Wow, way to go getting yourself a sugar daddy. Omeome!" Hakotaro calls him angrily and scolds him, but in the end, he was happy for his Niisan. (And maybe he gives Sensei the shovel talk later. Hurt my Niisan and I'll drive a wooden stake straight to your heart.)

My only regret is I want to write Sensei's pov, coz obviously Siruko can be a little bit of an adorable baka who doesnt see how much Sensei loves him---

The fantastic art in this story was made by my friend Shuura, so please do not grab or reupload it elsewhere. Thank you, Shuura! Click this to see more of her Limone-sensei art! 💙

Send me your reactions and comments! I'd love hearing your thoughts! Also, you can send some prompts or requests, I'd like to try challenging myself in writing, and any Bintroll pairing is fine! Thanks for reading~ 🌻

Also, the thought of scared-to-death Siruko-san x horror-fears-me Limone-sensei is haunting me, help I love this trope.

Lastly, I wonder if anyone can recognize the easter eggs and real references I wrote. There were a lot 🍋🐶