#meaning some scenes will be altered to fit the fic while some other scenes will be expanded upon

[ell-arts]

Summary: She knew that she should’ve done something. She should’ve stepped in sooner, to open her eyes and stop the bullying. She was at fault as much as everybody else was. She was guilty.

And yet, he forgave her.

[justmystyles]

hiii i was lowkey being my delulu self and have a request!! since the daylight mv literally just came out imagine plus size reader being one of the backround circus women and the both of them just being all cutesy!! like harry being all cheery for her over the stunts or stuff like that.

also love love love your writing!! its amazinggggg!!!

Lights, Camera, Action

read my other work here

pairing: Harry Styles x plus size reader

word count: 2k

summary: what was supposed to be just another job becomes the start of something new.

a/n: so i'm not great at being on the ball with the topical requests, it's all about the tour ending right now, and here i come rolling in with a daylight fic. at this rate, i'll get to my end of tour fics by the time Harry gets back. 🤣

any who, thank you so much for sending this ask, my friend! i hope you like what i did with your idea!

tags: @allthelovehes @ameerakane20 @ash-craze @bethanysnow @blue-ballad @blueraspberryreader @brightlightsinlife @creativelyeva @cute-as-ducks420 @deannaard @fanficismydrug @gem1712 @golden-hoax @gothmingguk @groovychaosavenue @hillzrry @iceebabies @indierockgirrl @jerseygirlinca @jng4kook @jooniesbabie @kaverichauhan @lexiecamposv @mrs-anna-styles211994 @n0vaj3an @potterheadandsherlocked @rach2699 @ravenclawdirectioner @stylesfeverr @superchrystaldrug @tenaciousperfectionunknown @tiaamberxx @thechaoticjoy @theekyliepage @walkingintheheartbreaksatellite @youknowwhaaat

You were seated on the ground stretching as you talked with the other girls, wondering what the day would hold for you. You had been hired as a background performer in Harry Styles’s new music video, and you weren’t quite sure what to expect. 

You arrived at a makeshift circus camp, animals and various other performers scattered about. Immediately ushered to the wardrobe trailer where you were fitted for your costume, a baby blue bejeweled leotard with a matching feather tail. While the wardrobe team made their slight alterations, you moved on to hair and makeup where your hair was set in loose curls, the front pieces pulled back. And the makeup artist piled on blue eyeshadow, and a thick cat eye, finishing the look with a bright red lip. 

And now, here you were, preparing for your first shot. With your legs extended in front of you and bent into a front fold, you heard someone clearing their throat. Assuming it was the director, you rushed to stand. “Sorry, I was just doing some last minute str–” Your words die on your tongue when you find yourself face to face with Harry himself. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, I just wanted to introduce myself.” He said with a smile as he extended his hand. “I’m Harry.” 

“Hi Harry, I’m Y/N.” When your hands touched, it was as if everyone around you disappeared. You had never felt like that before. 

You suddenly remembered you were at work, and needed to maintain your professionalism. You reluctantly pulled your hand away, your eyes flitting to the ground. With your eyes locked on your sliver boots, you didn’t notice the dreamy look in Harry’s eyes as he studied your features. 

The rest of the dancers stepped in to introduce themselves to Harry. You moved back allowing them their moment, but you couldn’t help but notice that his gaze would travel your way often.

After the last introduction, he was just about to say something to you, but was called away by the director to start shooting. He smiled at you once more, and made his way to the strong man setup. You and the rest of your group were lead off to the side so that you were out of frame, and you watched as Harry started filming his first scenes. 

When he was finished, he made his way back to you and your group as the crew moved on to solo shots of some of the other background performers. The other girls were telling him how wonderfully he did, and trying to engage him in conversation. He thanked them for their kind words, but walked past them to get to you.

“How’d I do?” He asked, leaning against one of the trailers. 

“You looked good.” You closed your eyes in embarrassment, realizing what you had said. “I mean, you did good… er, well. You did well.” You immediately covered your face with your hand. 

Harry chuckled at your flustered state. “Thanks,” he leaned down, speaking softly in your ear. “For both compliments.” 

Before you could say anything else, the girls were calling you over to get ready for your scenes. While you were grateful that you wouldn’t have a chance to embarrass you further, you were disappointed to have to walk away. 

They started by shooting each of the girls individually, having you stand on a small riser and dance to the track. As each of the girls took their turns, you saw that Harry was being brought into a few of the takes, and you were starting to get nervous. This was your job, you hadn’t been nervous in years, but there was something about having Harry there that gave you butterflies. 

You were the last of the dancers to go. You stepped up to the riser, and Harry was standing there waiting for you. “Saved the best for last I see,” he said with a grin as he offered you his hand to help you step up onto the platform. 

You smile shyly, thanking him for the gesture, and stepping up preparing yourself for your solos. Taking a deep breath, trying to push out the thought that all eyes, including Harry's, were on you. 

The director had Harry step out so that they could take some shots of you first, allowing them to get an idea for how you moved. This would help Harry understand the best ways to move and interact with you. 

The music kicked on, and the director called action. In that moment, you let the music take over, and began to move to the beat, using some of your best moves. Your eyes traveled briefly off to the side and saw Harry watching on intently, often cheering or whistling when you’d pull out a particularly difficult move. 

After you did a few takes on your own, and a couple more with Harry, who was more than happy to jump in. You found him interacting with you more than he had with the other dancers, so much so that the director had to tell him to focus less on you, and more on the camera. You noticed a faint blush in his cheeks when he was called out. 

The director called cut on your final take with Harry, and he helped you step down off the podium. “You were great, you’re an incredible dancer.” He gushed. 

“For my size, I know.”

Harry furrowed his brow. “For anyone.” 

“Sorry,” you shrugged. “That’s usually the second half of the complement, I assumed that’s where you were going.” 

“It’s not a compliment if someone says it like that.” He tells you, you shrug again. “You’re an incredible dancer. Period.” 

It was your turn to blush. “Thanks,” you mumbled. 

“Anytime. Hey, I have to go do a couple of shots over there,” he signaled to the area on the other side of the set. “Do you want to come watch? I did hang around and watch your takes.”

You giggled at the goofy expression on his face. “Sure, sounds fun.” 

As the day went on, you tagged along with Harry as he did different shots around the set. He had even pulled you into a couple with him. At one point, Harry did a quick wardrobe change into a yellow jumpsuit. 

When he returned, he went straight for you doing a dramatic spin and pose for you. “What do you think?” 

You gave him an appraising look, eyes traveling from head to toe. You rubbed your index finger and thumb over your chin as if you were deep in thought. “I suppose it will be fine.”

He burst out into laughter. “High praise.” 

After a couple of shots, you and the other dancers were called back for another scene with Harry. The premise was that he was walking past your group, who were rehearsing, and it turns into a chase scene as he tries to escape the clamoring women.

Before long, the director was calling a wrap on your group. Harry took a moment with each of the dancers, thanking them for their time and taking a few pictures, each of them returning to wardrobe to change and head out until it was just you and Harry.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity, Harry. Today has been a lot of fun.”

“Then I think you should stay.” He said, your eyes going wide at the invitation. “If you want to, I mean.” 

“Am I allowed to do that?” You ask, sure you would just be in the way if you outstayed your welcome. 

Harry shrugged. “It’s my video, if I want you to stay then you can stay.” He studied your face, noticing that you seemed conflicted. “Come on, it will be fun. I’m about to take a crash course in horseback riding, and then we could grab some lunch.” 

“Have you ever ridden a horse before?” He shakes his head. “Wow, so this quite literally could be a crash course.” 

He chuckled, his expression quickly growing serious. “Wait, can you crash a horse?” 

“I guess we’ll find out.” You state plainly. 

His expression grew hopeful at your words. “So you’ll stay?”   

“I’ll stay,” you tell him. “I just need to go change really quick.” 

“I do too, I’ll walk with you to wardrobe.” 

The two of you made your way to the wardrobe trailers, and changed. You also took the opportunity to remove the caked on makeup that had been done earlier in the day, and throw your hair into a quick ponytail. 

Harry met you just outside the trailers, his eyes going wide when he saw you. “Yeah, me without makeup, pretty terrifying.” You joke. 

“No, you’re beautiful actually.” He said. “Why do you do that?” You give him a questioning look. “You speak down about yourself a lot. Especially when I compliment you.”

Your face contorts, feeling a little uncomfortable at being called out. “I don’t know, I guess I’m just not used to genuine compliments.” 

Harry smiled and flung his arm around your shoulder. “Well stick with me kid, I’ve got plenty for you.” 

The rest of the day seemed like a dream, you were by Harry’s side practically the whole time. You laughed and joked together as he took his brief riding lesson. You enjoyed lunch together, just the two of you, where you spent some time getting to know each other. And then after lunch, you stood off on the sidelines as he continued filming. He would have you watch playbacks with him and ask your opinions, genuinely interested in your answers and feedback. 

Before you knew it, they were calling a wrap on the video. Harry asked you to meet him in his trailer, as he wanted to take some time to go around thanking the crew. You obliged, and headed back to the production area, making your way to Harry’s trailer, where you took a seat and scrolled through your phone as you waited. 

When you heard the door open, you looked up to see Harry saying a couple more goodbyes before stepping into the trailer. He smiled the second he saw you. “You stayed.”

“You asked me to.”

“I know,” he shrugged, taking a seat beside you. “But I left you here for a bit longer than I planned, I was afraid you would have given up on me.” He studied your face briefly, building up the courage for his next question. “So listen, I’m only in town for a few more days, but I uh… I would like to take you out on a date before I go.” 

You smiled through your shock. Sure, you guys had been having a great time together, but you had heard how flirty he was by nature, so you just assumed it was a friendly thing. “I would like that a lot, actually.” 

“Excellent!” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to you. “Here, give me your number and I’ll give you a call tomorrow to set something up.” 

You smiled softly at him as you took his phone, your fingers brushing ever so slightly at the hand off. After entering your number, you hand the phone back to him. 

“Great.” He smiled. “I’ve gotta go change into my regular clothes real quick. If you don’t mind hanging out for another minute, I could walk you to your car.” 

“Sure,” You reply. He smiled, and the two of you sat silently for a moment. You notice some kind of conflict in Harry’s expression, but you’re unsure why. “Were you going to change now, or…” You say, snapping him out of his thoughts. 

“Yeah, right. Sorry.” He stood up and started walking to the back of the trailer. He stopped when he got to the door and paused for a minute. Without warning, he turned around, walking back up to you and leaning down, placing a chaste kiss on your lips. “Sorry,” he said bashfully. “I’ve been thinking about doing that most of the day. I guess I let my intrusive thoughts win.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, waiting for your reply. 

“No, it’s fine. You’re fine.” You stutter, taken aback by the kiss. “It was nice.” 

Harry broke into a wide grin before rushing back to the other side of the trailer to finally change. As you waited, you sat there with a dreamy smile on your face, thinking about how this was the best job you’d ever been booked on.  

[thedragoninsideyourself]

Helloooo,

I'm dropping this into your ask box because of the post you made about a Cody-centric fanfic? I love the concept so much!!! I have so many thoughts about Cody on Kamino, his feelings on Clone Culture and him beeing just such an amazing Commander, brother and mum. Cause he is mum coded. I probably wont fit them all into this rant so it's possible that I will randomly ask you again, because I remembered something or I had an idea, I hope you don't mind :).

So first of all, you said you wanted to deal with Cody and Jango wich I find realy cool. I realy would love to see maybe some interaction or at least Cody's thoughts on Boba as well. I think the clones might have mixed feelings about Boba since he is treated so differently but is he actually? I mean do they ever get jelous or annoyed by him? I don't think Cody would be but maybe some of his brothers. And what's ot like for Boba, with no real friends his age, because they all age mucg faster then him? Does he even know the clones? Mhmmm many thoughts here as you can maybe tell.

Also I don't know how you wan't to do the whole Jango and Cody relationship (feel free to ignore this haha), but I always imagined that, personality-wise Cody would not actually like him. With Jango beeing a bounty hunter who sells his Service to the highest bidder, beeing a lone fighter and also rather self-centric and a bit arrogant, I imagine he would not fit well with Cody's loyalty, his morals, his selflessness and his devotion to his brothers. However, I think Cody is fascinated by what Jango represents. He is an original. He has knowlege of the world outside of Kamino. He is allowed to have a personality. He is free. He is his own human beeing. These are all things, Cody wants so badly, for himself and for all his brothers. And, through Jango, he can get little glimpses at that, can phantom what it would mean or be like, can catch a glimmer of hope. Even though it could be argued that this aching and knowing you have to settle for a fraction of everything youncould be is worse than having never known about the possibilities at all. That's why I think his relationship with Jango is incredibly important, because it's not just about them as persons but also about the collision of their worlds and the clones' potential and what the Kaminoans made them.

I don't know how you want to approach clone culture, if you want it mandalorian or not, (I always imagine a heavy mandalorian influence, but altered to fit their restricted lifes and added with little things that come just from their very unusual everyday life on Kamino) but if you want Mandalorian Influence then I think Jango plays a very important role in that as well. And maybe that's also why Cody has very complicated feelings about him. I think Clone Culture is incredibly important to him, because it can make them feel like people and Jango brought them something to start with, to hold onto. Does he idiolize Jango? I don't think so. Not as a person. But he wouldn't be who he is without him (he wouldn't even exist wow) so... it's complicated.

I think my feelings about his batch are a topic for another time, but I NEED them adopting Baby Rex. That's very important to me. They are all protective older brothers.

On the Codywan topic: I like to imagine that Cody already catched a glimpse at him when Obi Wan visited Kamino in AotC. And... not to say that he had an instant crush, but I do think seeing someone from the outside world, maybe even the first other human that didn't bear his face, had a huge impact on him. I actually wrote a scene about that a while ago (someday I will get on with writing my own Codywan Fics haha), it's in german but if you want I can translate it and send it to you so you can see what I mean. I think his visit probably was a huge turning point in their time on Kamino. It meant the war was coming and they all anticipated it, but did they realy want it to come? It would get them off Kamino, but they would also most likely die sooner or later.

In terms of them realy meeting and falling in love I usually cant even decide what flavor I prefer. I usually love the shit out of every Codywan variety, if it's a Cody fresh from Kamino still ideolizing the Jedi and then beeing taken aback by how much they actually care and how unsuited for war they realy are. Or if he has had a few missions already and then beeing surprised that Obi Wan is actually quite capable and conpetent. Anyway I think Obi Wan earns Cody's respect by beeing competend and badass, then his trust by caring for his men and always listening to Cody in making his plans and decisions and then his love by beeing his caring, compessionate, selfless and loving self. Obi Wan is just so effortlessly treating them like persons, with him, Cody doesn't have to fight for that and it makes everything so much lighter. They share the burgen of leadership and trsponsibilty and it's a heavy burden but together it's just a little bit easier, just a little bit more durable. But hey, you know all this, I'm just rambling at this point.

Depending how early into the war you want them to meet, I also love some Cody and PadawanAnakin interaction. Just him and Rex getting into shenenigans as Commander and Captain of the 212th and Cody and Obi Wan standing by, facepalming. Older sybling solidarity is important part of their dynamic to me haha.

Oh god, I already wrote far to much, but just for the last part: I'd love for clone-rebellion-era Cody to meet either of Quinlan, Ventress and Hondo, if not all of them. Ventress' history with the clones (Wolffe) and Obi Wan would make for a very interesting dynamic and I can see him just beeing completely done with Hondo and Quinlan, just like he was in Clone Wars (their dynamic was already so fun to watch haha), only now, they also remind him of Obi Wan and he doesn't now if that makes it better or worse but it certainly makes it more personal. Especially with Quinlan it's probably hard, he has every reason not to trust Cody and to Cody it's probsbly hard to accept that Quinlan survived if he at this point still thinks that Obi Wan died. If not, maybe Quinlan can help him find Obi Wan and then we also have Quinlan and Obi Wan Reunion! Only if you even want a reunion of course haha.

OK anyway I'm sorry I rambled and I also apologize for the millions of spelling mistakes I probably made but... You asked! I will probably be back with more thoughts if you'll have me, haha. Keep me updated with how this fic is coming along, I'd hate to miss it :)!

Lots of fun and good writing!

I'm really hapoy you reached out and shared your ideas with me, that's why i put that post up after all ;)

I've already written part of the Kamino Arc by now, but I will try to include what you said, because it actually fits rather well with what I already have. In my story Jango takes an interest in Cody first and pays special attention to him. In the beginning Cody likes this and feels more mandalorian pride, but throughout the next years his admiration for Jango and what he stands for transforms into resentment because he matures and learns what it means for Jango to do what he had done and also, because the special treatment he gets separates him from his brother's. He realizes the unfairness of how his brothers are treated and how they seem to start to dislike Cody too. He transforms from Kote, who is Jango's protege, to Cody, who is the clone's certified big brother. He's a bit proud and selfish in the beginning, but I want to show how he changes and how he came to care about his brothers so much, even more than most other clones.

I'm not at the Rex part yet, but Cody will probably notice him and the batch will adopt him.

At the moment Cody and Boba have a really good relationship, due to Jango liking Cody. But when Cody eventually prioritizes his brothers over being Janho'g favourite and starts to get angry with him, Boba will probably feel abandoned by him. I feel like he would think Cody has chosen everything else over him and Jango probably won't let them spend time with each other anymore. So Boba once loved Cody and eventually resents him for leaving him alone once more. Boba grew up isolated from everyone else and Cody was one of the only ones Jango allowed to spend time with him, since the other clones don't like Boba for getting to be a child.

Cody focuses a lot of his time on the clones afterwards and neglects his relationship with Boba. I will come back to this later when Jango dies and the whole thing with Boba and Mace and the Bounty Hunters starts during the war.

I hope this fits with what you think about Cody's characterization.

Feel free to add anything you want to this. You can also ask questions, if you want to know how I'll handle certain relationships or events.

I'm not really planning the Codywan part until I'm finished with Kamino and know where this story has led me, but I will come back to your points then.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and I hope you like mine hahha

I also plan on uploading a glimpse of the beginning sometime next week and I hope you'll give me feedback on that one. :)

PS. I'm actually German too, so if you want to you can send me yours. That's also why I'd be glad for everyone to point out spelling mistakes or something similar.

[fitzrove]

🖤or 💜 or 💛!

(Sorry for taking a bit of time to reply!! I wanted to answer all of them hehehe)

🖤 Black: Do you think about your story when you're not physically writing it? Does it help with plotting scenes, character arcs, etc.?

Yes, always... Most of my stories begin with rotating ideas in my head, so concepts and ideas, even dialogue, will usually have to exist as a starting point before I actually write anything down. And for actual plotting - I really like using outlines and outline almost everything I write, so really it is a thing where I will be thinking about a fic and then a random moment will turn into an outlining moment if I go to write new ideas down :D

💜 Purple: Name one song you're listening to while writing your next/current fanfic. How or why does it help the writing process?

Ahh... I wasn't really listening to anything while writing my most recent fic xD Actually, listening to songs with lyrics while writing can be tricky for me, I prefer to listen to music while doing the aforementioned rotating ideas in my head thing 😁 One EXTREMELY fitting todolf song though is Poison by Alice Cooper... everyone listen right now... don't want to touch you but you're under my skin (deep in) etc

💛 Yellow: Do you ever alter, highlight, or de-emphasize certain canonical traits in a character? If so, why and describe how.

Ahh, this is such an interesting thing to think about!!!!

For something like Tod/Death, every writer has to kind of come up with their own interpretation. We never get insight into what he's thinking (kkog doesn't count that's not canon...), we don't have a clear view of his motivations because of the layers and layers of lies by Lucheni (up to the viewer how many layers there are), all we know is that he's There and there is some sort of deep connection to Elisabeth and, to a lesser extent, Rudolf.

However, the more fic I write, the more I write Tod as somewhat of an extension of Rudolf's personality. The idea really is that he's whatever you want him to be, he taps into all your weaknesses and insecurities and approaches them in a way that will be the most effective on you for the purposes of You Know What. Mirrors etc,,,,, Unfortunately for the kind of Rudolf I usually write, this mostly means that tod is pretty b*sm about it AJSJDJJF. So I guess for Tod I tend to emphasize the sexuality aspect which is a side effect of the kinds of fics I write LOL.

Rudolf, on the other hand... I keep saying his canon personality is "sad, queer and rebellious", he is literally on stage for like 10 minutes and most of it is being gay s*x depressed ajsjdjdj. There's a lot of portrayals to pick from... I think one of the main things I do is try to add historical facts into the mix while keeping the canon meow meow personality. Fic Rudolf usually has noble goals but despairs his life away because the environment makes it impossible to fully pursue or reach them - IRL Rudolf was similar but also fanatically obsessed with hunting I'm told (by stephanie xD) and a raging misogynist. I guess, though, that the way I write him is influenced by the fact that when the fics take place (because of what todolf is...) we're seeing him at his most private and emotionally vulnerable.

Ooh the question also asked "why"... For Tod the "why" is that I just don't really care about the paranormal entity interpretation, I mean I tried my hand at it with my todesengel fic but even with that I tried to make it fit together with the force of nature interpretation and not "god" or "demon" or idk "Satan" etc. I don't like the god or paranormal interpretations, or stuff that leans too heavily into Tod as a "creature", because 1) it would shift the genre of what I'm trying to write - idk I try to go more for toxic historical fiction metaphysical romance or whatever and not for dark fantasy or paranormal romance, 2) it's hostile to religious beliefs, like, it precludes the existence/validity of other god-like entities in this universe and more "atheistic" belief systems like Buddhism. I don't want to base my fics on a take where, for example, the Christian tradition is in a worldbuilding sense "more true" than another religious system. I think that's lazy and lets author bias show through too much - though perhaps I have a different kind of author bias, as someone raised culturally as a member of a pretty hands-off organised religion, but with a cynical attitude towards its impacts on society XD Anyway um yeah to me Tod is usually more like gravity or temperature and not like an actual Dark Angel King Of The Underworld...

As for Rudolf - I just write him according to personal preference and the theme of whatever fic I'm working on at the moment. Part of it is my reading of historical events (heavy emphasis on the "troubled hero, huge loss of potential" line of thinking) and part of it is just what sorts of performances I like best and want to incorporate into my belief system ajajsjdj.

[bookwyrminspiration]

what’s kotlc and is it better than the great library? i read the latter and it was fun, perhaps not the height of literature but fun

OKAY! Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger is a long, ongoing middle-grade fantasy series following Sophie Foster, a 12-year-old high school senior who can read thoughts following a bump to the head at age 5--or so she thinks, until she's approached by a cute stranger who reveals she's really an elf who's been hidden away.

She's whisked away to a secret, supposedly perfect world of elves, goblins, ogres, and more. Sophie wants nothing more than to be normal, and tries to fit in--go to school, play with friends, etc.--but all her abnormalities have followed her from the human world. She's still weird, and it turns out it might be the result of bigger forces working behind the scenes. Forces she needs to uncover to learn who and what she truly is--but there's no taking it back, and plunging into the underbelly of her supposedly "perfect" new world opens a seemingly never-ending rabbit hole to try and understand and save it from itself. Full of rebellions, corruption, mysterious notes, stuffed animals, a large cast of characters, and so. many. sparkles. there's a lot going on for Sophie to discover

I think tgl and kotlc are hard to directly compare. tgl has a lot of explicit found family, fast-paced action, and is, like you said, just genuinely fun to read. it's quick, speaks to booklovers, and embraces a variety of different moral stances in a way that distinctly characterizes everyone. but it does falter in terms of consistency, and there are several contradicting details throughout it. kotlc is more structurally sound, but it is meant for a younger audience--which is not to say it's bad, but that it does impact reading. There are some cliches, such as experiment children, excessively powerful ocs, a love triangle, etc. It also has a fairly developed and explored world on several fronts, though there are some gaps. It does, however, want for diversity and representation. There are few non-white characters, few disabled characters, and no acknowledgement of queerness so far--though given recent releases it's possible that last part will change.

While kotlc is a special interest of mine and I'm quite attached to it, I don't necessarily recommend it to people outside the middle-grade age range. It's a solid series despite its flaws, but that doesn't mean you'll be head over heels; if you read it, I think it would be similar to how tgl was fun but not the height of literature. It's enjoyable and there are a wealth of characters to get attached to, compelling plotlines/character pasts, but unless you really click it'll just be a solid, time-filling read.

The series has also had a rough few years recently; the author has a lot going on in her personal life--which is totally fine, it just means there are long waiting periods currently. And not everyone thinks its worth it, because the story is going an unexpected direction and there are some creative choices made not everyone likes (too much focus on the love triangle, deposing the main character, butchering character arcs last minute, etc.).

All this to say kotlc has radically altered the course of my life and is an incredibly dear series to me, and I will be keeping up with it and blogging about it until the end of time with anyone who wants to join, but it's also not my favorite series I've ever read, if that distinction makes sense. If you do want some simple, if long, reading--go for it! We're always excited to have new people around and would love to have you. There's actually a pretty consistent, if small, fandom and a lot of art, fic, and other things to explore. But we'd also all understand without any pushing if it's not for you.

That was longer than I meant it to be, but if you have any further questions please do ask :)--and again, this is my view on it! Just my opinions and assessments

[seb-owns-these-tatas]

7th Dimension | Gojo Satoru Multi-fic (Chapter 8.1)

7TH DIMENSION MASTERLIST

PREVIOUSLY ON CHAPTER 8

7TH DIMENSION WATTPAD VERSION/LINK (I am entirely ahead on this site now. 7th Dimension on Wattpad has now accumulated more than 10-13 chapters even before I published this one today. There are minimal scenes back in the previous chapters which has been altered there, so sorry about to those who only read my updates through Tumblr because there might be some differences in Satoru’s characteristics which has been changed on Wattpad already, yet y'all are bound to read the altercations in further chapters. Heehee.)

。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。+゜゜。。

Characters: Gojo Satoru x Small!Naive!Fem!Foreign!Reader | THIS IS A MULTI-CHAPTER FIC. THIS IS AN X READER FANFIC WHO HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO THE DIMENSION OF JUJUTSU KAISEN | (Trust me, you'll live. I hope?)

Summary: This first morning spent with Satoru's students were filled with Fushiguro Megumi's curiosities and a jolting likelihood of breaking this disparate ice knocked together by Kugisaki Nobara as she ended the tension with a question that has placed you in a tight spot for this precipitated concern, leaving you all at sea with her inquiry.

Warnings: None. Aside from the trio's bonehead moments. I mean, Yuji and Nobara's. HAHAHA. Megumi's stressed out for them both. Satoru's still not on this chapter aside from a thoughtful flashback. Heehee. Y'all better miss him, he says. The trio's visuals. With one gif of Satoru. Heehee. <3

A/N: FINALLY GOT TO UPDATE, 7TH DIMENSION HERE ON TUMBLR! <3 ENJOY! COMMENTS ARE SO MUCH APPRECIATED! Even small stickers or emojis! <3

If y'all have any suggestions for songs that are fit for 7th Dimension, please don't hesitate to comment, message or tell me! I'm open for any songs to listen to whenever I'm writing! <3 Thank you so much! Also wanna include a playlist chapter for this fanfic book we have. <3

FEEDBACKS HELP A LOT FOR A WRITER. REBLOGS AND COMMENTS MAKE MY HEART TINGLE AND SQUEAL, ISTG. 💙 I DO APPRECIATE THEM ALL. <3 Your feedbacks and kind words makes me forget the fatigue that I'm in!

SORRY IF THERE ARE LOTS OF TYPOS AND GRAMMAR ERRORS WITH EVERY CHAPTER I WRITE. I ain't a professional writer! I'm just a potato-hoe! LMAO.

Words: 5.3k+

Disclaimer: PNG's or pictures used in edits, also those posted are not mine especially the GIF's. (I dunno how to make GIF's 😭) (Other Megumi Fushiguro GIFs are from ydotome on Tumblr! <3 RubyDragon16 for some of Itadori Yuji gifs posted on Tumblr too. Nobara Gifs and pic are also taken from Tumblr as well! Credits to the users!) I only own the plot of 7th Dimension. But, not Jujutsu Kaisen's storyline and the characters themselves. OG characters are created by me and will be stated during my brief author's notes. I apologize for the typos or grammatical errors by the way! English isn't my first language so I'm so sorry in advance! Character development and personalities are based from my understanding and how I want them to be for the sake of the story. 

Ten minute easy vegetable ramen noodles that were rustled up in customized preparation made by yours truly. You knew it was of mediocre because of the limited ingredients that were available and seen through lashings of sections made to be cooked for sweetmeats. 

Howbeit, your ventures upon attempting to make the most of your first---or to be specific---your second impression for Satoru's students to sway them over upon concerns that you wanted answers for. The vegetable meatballs are the best of the bunch. It packed up with the spicy miso broth as much as your palates could distinguish thereof. Soft cooked eggs and with a practical time of ten minutes for these Jujutsu Sorcerer students to patiently wait for. 

"I'm already full." Nobara Kugisaki nasally murmured under her breath, critically assessing the piping hot bowled food that has been served in front of her and offering the meal with a subtle, lenient push by you, a cordial smile on your face while doing so. Your smile have been downright encouraging for her to take a bite of it despite of her hardwearing reluctance, "---You can give it to Gojo-Sensei if he wants. I doubt that pesky adult wouldn't act like a big-baby once he realizes we didn't save him a meal made by you," she continued to reject your offers, utmost blatant and mundane as she sounded so since the moment she had taken a seat next to Fushiguro. The furrow between her brows expressing how thoroughly disinterested she was of the whole abrupt gathering planned. 

"---Maki-san and the others needed to go elsewhere. I'm just here because I have nothing else to do. Don't even bother to think of anything else."

You've given her a look, blinking back at her with that guileless glint filling that haze within your eyes. A faint shake of your head being given to the first year, pretty, ginger-haired student, "Who says we're saving some for him? This is for you guys. His students that I currently know of. We'll be saving some for Yuji. You guys give this to him if he's out somewhere before---"

About to jump down on the bar stool you were seating on, planning to pack the meal reserved for the teenaged Jujutsu Sorcerer, your sentence has been cut short when Itadori Yuji sprightly arrived like a lightning bolt, giving you a fright and eliciting a reaction of jumping on your own seat when he basically threw himself into the threshold of the kitchen that they have recently been aware of. 

The adorable, juvenile was too enthusiastic, excited and eager to claim his seat before you, invading this instantaneous get-together with his outgoing and energetic character, unceremonious for the spotlight to land on him once he did. His speed questionable for you to stare back at the student once he was associated upon his seat within just a matter of seconds as he shifted around, "I heard my name!" he'd brightly exclaimed, his giggle leaving his mouth in between his abnormally fast running, "---Hello, Eigo-San!" he'd acknowledged with the use of the basics of the English language, accompanied by the brightest beam he could give, his broad hand raised that has surely brightened your day after all of Gojo's pranks that you have received since the moment you've woken up.

"Hi, Yuji!" The youngster's aura was just entirely different. It was the kind where one could adapt to or gradually take to heart. The kind where you, yourself---those negativity or pessimistic side of you ought to be amended just by Itadori's presence alone. 

Sukuna's Vessel emitted a gurgle of excitement through his mouth, humming in pleasure to gorge upon the special noodles you've made for Gojo's special students, knowing full well that you've poured your heart out in this one, leaving the irritation felt from Gojo's stunts brushed to the sides, "That meal looks delicious! Is this for me?" you've given him a nod of discernment, nodding another as if to invite the juvenile to cram down what was being served hot.

"Yep! Hurry before it gets cold!"

Nobara continued to have her elbow rested upon the tables, a glower permanent on her face. Fushiguro was staring straight ahead. He was gazing as if he was in deep thought. Analyzing or assessing queries not ought to be told, suppressing himself from uttering them out loud.

Hence, his pink haired companion named Yuji began to grab onto his own cutleries, those metal chopsticks that were situated properly around the side. The juvenile's chimes of excitement leaving his mouth again for the second time when he had concentrated upon the food that was being served, this sound of appreciation similar to how his sensei reacts whenever there was scrumptious, nummy food that they find appetizing and delectable.

Satoru. The man who basically popped in and out of your room in the middle of the night to inform you about a promise that he demanded and forged. This current morning being spent was supposed to be breakfast with the man himself.

Thus far, he was nowhere to be found.

Though, it wasn't like you weren't seeing this as a gainful opportunity to spend time upon having breakfast with his students who also knew him much. Creating rapport with the youngsters despite of the undeniable language barrier felt fun and comforting especially when you could see the efforts they're squeezing in just to get to understand you and also for a fact that it wasn't just Satoru Gojo you were getting to know as well.

"Eigo-San," Megumi was monotoned as he acknowledged your presence with an apathetic expression on his face, the foggy steams coming from the ramen noodle overcasting his face, getting a better angle on appreciating this young student's aesthetics. Regardless of how you were poking fun over his sable, spiky hair and addressing him to be classified as a Sea-Urchin, Megumi Fushiguro was definitely a pretty boy just as to how Itadori Yuji could be perceived by the great discernments of your own, silent perusals.

They had their differences, though. Winsome dissimilarities that were ought to be determined between them. Both are pretty. Yuji was of the average height, shorter than his friend. His large, light brown eyes and slightly, sawtooth pink hair giving him this charming, sweet aura that you were ascertain of.

Fushiguro went on with his query, speaking through his phone using their own native language to word it out better. He was two-fisted for a question that troubles his own curiosities upon why your presence has been sudden; upon why your existence just happened within a blink of an eye in the midst of an occurrence that happened last Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill event.

"May I ask why you're stuck here in this...world we're in?"

Your ears sprung upon that question, hearing it as an echo of your consciousness. The speakers of his phone translating Megumi's vernacular as you were distracted on grabbing onto your own bowl of noodles, gently pulling the dinnerware towards you. The distinct clattering of your own utensils sonorously fading in the background. This unembellished question carried through by one of Satoru's beloved students taking you as a prisoner to your own's inattentiveness. Actions were halted---ceased once the question has been frankly said when Megumi begun to ask.

"Keep this as a secret between us, will ya'?"

Gojo's silvery tone echoed inside that hollow chasm in your brain, filling your memories. He was frolicsome as he insisted, although it held austere demands that laced through his words. The mandate that he has given made it seem like he would want the issue be kept stringently between you both. You've remembered the words; Satoru's exact utterance that repeated inside your mind. 

You knew damn well it was a consequential issue that you profoundly held when his demeanor changed. Bearing of a sensei who cared and was thoughtful as was deemed to be perceived from your perspective, a first time sight upon seeing this white-haired Jujutsu Sorcerer as one who had all the prospect of someone who truly nurtures and encourages these youngsters who he supports. 

"---not even to my students, Ijichi, other people or anyone whom you're bound to see or meet within the territory of Tokyo Jujutsu High. Don't disclose anything to them, not even a single detail. Especially those ripped maquettes you have." Gojo kept you under his studious gaze, keeping a tight, hell-bent observation for you while you were busily wolfing down your own plate. Through the midst of his instruction, you were brought to a halt in the middle of chewing down your own meat when you've instantly apprehended the slightest change of behavior from him---all of a sudden, this guy in front of you was actually capable of finally taking the shoes of an adult. 

"You can only speak of these issues to me and no one other than me. The sketch matters, these anamnesis or augury you have for the Jujutsu Society that we both know about are exclusively to be discussed between the strongest, spectacular Gojo Satoru and the hardheaded, weeny, Tiny-Chan, Got that?"

You've given Satoru a blink of your wide, ingenuous eyes. Abruptly being lost from his prompt advices. His thoughts were vacant, absorbed to be like he was also in the middle of dwelling over things, past experiences you technically have no idea on as Gojo was never one to blow the gaff of such things especially towards a non-sorcerer who was currently having the maelstrom of broken memories he was confident of you to know without the need for further forewarn.

"Because these students of mine---" Satoru started to divulge over this profound thoughts that were ought to be silenced to only himself, but were vocalized through his own defenses down, "---I wouldn't want them stressing out about the future during their youth," he brought his own chopsticks to his mouth, filling his chops with his own noodles and murmured his next sentences through the food he chewed, sounding incomprehensible at first but gradually understanding everything when you've scrutinized further, much to his trial of making it sound discreet for you to hear.

"They should have at least, the fun they deserve during this time around. I'm leaving this to us---the adults."

Us. Satoru meant to the both of you. Only. More or less the same upon identifying yourselves like how parents would harbor the detrimental probabilities of what fate had for your children. His students that he keeps his eyes on. 

You had no idea why the sentences he had been using---the specific use of the word 'us' made your heart feel warm and tingly on the spur of the moment when it shouldn't have been at all. 

You've given him a subtle glimpse of your eyes, watchful over how he was now absorbed on his own food and busily pigging out. A teasing jest leaving your mouth from noticing the sudden shift of the atmosphere and trying to let it pass through as if it didn't even happen at all, the rapid alters that you've shortly associated to be of a person's extensive ruminations and  deep thoughts that you've guessed he never reflects upon towards other people, as much as you could comprehend his complex, psychological behavior, "The adults, huh? You mean, me then. Obviously, I'm all by myself on this one." you deadpanned, leaving the idea alone and short while repressing the smile from forming to the fullest; short enough for Gojo to snap his gaze towards you like he had taken serious offense to that. 

"Oi, oi! It's either you take that back or I'm taking those bags of shopping galore situated beside you----back to those stores we've visited!" 

Fushiguro noticed the slight pause of your fingers and gestures. The student instantly knew that you were reevaluating the entire question again as if you were keeping surreptitious concerns that leaves them out of the page, "Do you mean what's my entire purpose or why am I sticking around you guys, Megumi?"

The latter gave a subtle nod as he sieved through your gesticulations, "Gojo-Sensei..." he trailed off, looking away for a second, losing concentration over what he was trying to mean as he thought of a reason to support this undying curiosities he had. Those reckons falling upon the figure of his friend who was thoroughly distracted by the amount of savory victual that was served right in front of the pink-haired first year student, "---hardly tells us anything about you. Yuji has been really curious."

Itadori had his mouth wide open, opt to feed himself with the ramen using his own chopsticks.  The proximity of the noodles already nearing his mouth when he had to pause for Fushiguro's  mention of his name that was not bargained for. 

"I was? huh? when was I?" he skeptically asked his friend, looking back at Megumi with a dubious glint of his eyes without stopping his mouth for Fushiguro's sudden fit ups. 

Megumi was quick to grumble a hum. His disappointment and scowl seen through it all especially when he had to purposely give Yuji a nudge under the table with his knee, signaling to just agree to what he says.

"Ah. Hai! Hai!" Itadori quickly supported his friend's statements with another query that seemed to be out of context, one that has been different to the first one which spouted a glare from Fushiguro upon being seated on his side,"I...." his brain forged a spare, dense inquiry. Thoroughly distracted by the meal that was cut-off for his friend's barefaced lie to have him involved in this nosiness he had with you,"---have been...really curious about your relationship with Gojo-Sensei. Is it bound to develop romantically, Eigo-San? Ehe!" Yuji quipped a faint tee-hee on the end of his sentence, briskly adding his next wisecracks without a pause.

"---By his age and how he lives a solitary life, Sensei really needs a someone who could take care of himby now and I vote for Eigo-San and her nice, amiable behavior which Sensei will approve of---also because you're the only one whom Fushiguro have stated that has kept him distracted enough! Do I need to repeat myself for this to appear more genuine? Again, I vote for Eigo-Santo keep Gojo-Sensei grounded when we all know that's never guaranteed to happen because of how everyone would pay to disagree---aside from me, of course---"

"Itadori!" Fushiguro tried to control the thunderstruck expression that wanted to resurface from his listless guise, "---Shut up, you idiot! That was far beyond the route of my question!" Megumi managed to declare a firm scold of his own whispers, his teeth gritted upon the necessity to kick his friend from beneath the table. 

"Eh?! What? Weren't you also curious as to why Sensei sounded like he was too chummy with Eigo-San through the phone-call you had with him yesterday, Fushiguro?" 

The translator seemed to have its error. Jumping from one thought to the other from their rapid statements which has not been interpreted, the robotic medium stammering against the speakers of Megumi's phone in which he had to refresh with brisk taps of his fingers over his phone's screen. You surprisingly never caught onto their stealthy, weird behaviors. Lost in your own dwelling for what was needed to be said as Satoru had thought of this scene ahead of time when he was bound to eventually be elsewhere. Much to your unsuspecting notions for him, the blindfolded cyclops had been one step ahead in cases like this.

In which kept you under thorough spotlight and anxiety because of this abrupt need to lie in front of his students.

Your brows were raised, currently beating behind the bush and sticking onto Gojo's behests for what amount of information did he want for his students to know from your catch-22 situation, "If Satoru hardly tells anything about me to you guys then it simply means that your Sensei doesn't want you to get involve with my...peculiar mess," you've trailed off casually, catching onto Gojo's minimal unpretentious, habitual chatters by now. Obvious that you were trying to avoid and disclose anything unplumbed, "---I'm just here to provide what he needs from me in exchange of him, learning how to bring me back to my rightful dimension. That's it. Then, off I probably go."

It was probably a secret then. Megumi was consumed over his own inaudible ponders, clearing his throat from Itadori's witless queries prior to the answer he received from you. Sea-Urchin highly perceived that you were swerving upon a bumpy road and avoiding to get caught from the holes he was trying to bequeath---which has been technically the point at issue for the time being. 

"He probably knows already." Megumi stated, point blank and as a matter of fact, giving his entire credence to their teacher's insane, compelling abilities provided for the world that they live in. His curiosities were cut-dead from your cop-outs. The unspoken secret writ large upon your amorphous answer. Those fingers of his reached for his side of the plate, grabbing onto his own chopsticks and never wanting to push this insistence through for today. 

Perhaps, some other time. 

"---You just need to give Gojo-Sensei what he wants and desires from you. Unless, he's being all full of red-herrings."

Kugisaki Nobara was giving you both a look of dissatisfaction and peculiarity. The atmosphere she was catching on definitely tells that she was in a state of a general air of malaise, as if this whole conversation had taken a toll towards her genteel path of thinking caps for the female juvenile, terribly going off the course from the ambiguous phrases. Her next suppositions never expecting that it would come from the young lass at all considering how bawdy it sounded; how slightly near the knuckle it was. 

Or she just probably understood it differently. That, or she wasn't just fully committed over listening throughout the entire discussion that Nobara had just caught on to the second half of the discourse. 

"You know," she started, stifling the need to laugh under her breath and wanting to continue her arrogant, thoughtless demeanor between you both, trying to keep it the way it is. This sentence she'd muttered was meant for the black haired sorcerer, yet toned down to you as well. But, mostly it was for Megumi.

"---By being dissembling, it sounds entirely salubrious, coming from you, Fushiguro!"

Megumi gave her a tight grimace, his eyes thoroughly squinted into slits as his ears instantly went heated at that. Tinting into pinkish, pale-red hues from the sudden shift. The inheritor of the Shikigami never expecting that his friend would abruptly intervene in between the conversation.

"Kugisaki, what are you even---"

Nobara instantly cut him off and was as barefaced as she ever been, "What? I'm just being frank here. It's not like you both are also thinking differently." she continued with an apathetic shrug to her shoulders, unapologetic as she reasoned out. The noodles still left untouched before her upon her convictions pertaining to both young men who were situated within the kitchen's territory. This one student whom was now wrapped upon taking a slush and whirr on his bowl of morning meal as if he wasn't delivering dopey amount of inquiries earlier on whilst the other was keeping his embarrassment and discomposure to a minimal and covert level.

"---But, whatever floats your boats. We're not one to get our butts in whatever is happening to his life anyway,"

Sea-Urchin went on upon glaring towards Nobara who kept shrugging herself, the slightest pout of pride kicking her in a boost. There was this awkward silence for everyone. Mostly surrounding the three of you except for Itadori Yuji who arbitrarily have been preoccupied by this offbeat, hushed spirit that the young male seemed to be arrested in between his eating. An unusual behavior that Yuji wouldn't be settling himself for everyone if it would make them worry for his state. You've seen him take a pause, staring at the bowl with an expression that you couldn't decipher.

He seemed to stop from chewing upon his second bite. Hence, this unadorned gestures he was bluntly indicating escalated a lot of questions inside your head.

Was it delicious? Or gut-churning enough for it to be thrown in the trash bin?

"So, how is it, Yuji?" The question felt like you were walking on thin ice. This has been the initial time that you have fed Satoru's students from the moment you've arrived in their dimension, as much as you knew. Though, you were heedless that they have already tasted pieces of your homemade sweetmeats that were forged for Satoru. Those Ice Cream Mochis that he had been grumbling about throughout the car ride back when you were both inside Ijichi's car from the shopping spree day he overindulged you in. 

You felt your agitation growing into an overwhelming sensation of profound concern when you've seen Itadori who went on upon keeping a straight face. This teenager was notable for being carefree, possessing such slaphappy courage whenever he was in and out of Jujutsu battles as much as his friends knew him for. The kid was always bright, welcoming and never stoic, wordless nor quiet at all.

What did you do wrong then? Had you prepared them a meal that was concocted out of the ire you've felt for Satoru's pranks?

"It's..." Itadori started to vent, expressing his silence out and finding the right words that he couldn't seem to say.

Nobara took all the heed to that, detecting that it wasn't only Itadori who was definitely acting strange but also the latter student who sat beside her, "Itadori," she frankly called out to the pink-haired student, looking at him like he had grown three heads. Her intonation all the same with Megumi, "Fushiguro," the ginger-haired Jujutsu sorcerer brushed a strand of her hair that draped along her pleasing face. She'd avoid your gaze, still thoroughly defiant over wanting to be in a conversation with you.

"Why are you both weirdly hushed? Though, Fushiguro's stoic as he still is. This woman's asking a question. I'm not answering her."

Itadori's unrecognizable facial expression finally changed into something more amiable, mellow and warm. This felt like the types of beam where one indulges in reminiscence. The kind whenever Satoru gets to eat his sweets, one that stimulates his brain, calming it down. With relevance to other people, this split second was worth to be seen and grasped as to how a person was alleviated through appeasing over their own stressful thoughts and devouring over a marked dish that casts one's mind back to.

"Ah, It's just like Grandpa's." Itadori stated out of the blue, wandering through his memories. His gaze forlorn and constantly concentrating on his food at hand. He'd avoided everyone's question, appearing to be like he hadn't heard anything at all and took a big bite out of his chopsticks before he has heard your audible confusion.

"Huh?" your expressions were iffy from the translation sent. Eyebrows squeezed tight. Grandpa? The uncertainty filling up the air as you've found his answer to be entirely peculiar over why he'd assumed and declared his opinions over a quick, randomized cooking prepared. 

"Eigo-San, thank you---so much. This is...best-o!" he'd let out his emotions without even the need to use his own intrinsic language, pouring more effort to keep the conversation going with a normal pace rather than waiting for such a lagging interpreter. Itadori's words stammering in the midst of it all as if he was greatly hanging on a thread. He caught you off guard because he sounded like he was choking on his own sentimentalities after that.

Nobara had her brows in a tight furrow, turning her gaze towards the black-haired sorcerer who seemed to also be in his usual silence and unforthcoming frame of mind. "Fushiguro?"

It seemed to be a different case when you and Nobara had seen the tiniest bit of smile lift his mouth. A surprising occurrence coming from the Shikigami user, never opt to know what he was thinking because he never tells anything nor did he bother aside from declaring his staunch gratitude for this unforeseen meal that he had been wary beforehand.

"Thank you, Eigo-San."

You were giving the vibes; that sheltered quality and comfort that people receive from a family.

Fushiguro's words crawled through the bottom of your heart, feeling this palpable sense of commiseration harrowing within that depth of vast field that your heart could provide for. They were utmost genuine. Their simon-pure gratefulness coming from both students that it made Nobara curious, wanting to go out of the way for her reticence. 

She was definitely lured as to why they were acting entirely different all of a sudden, out of their customary character to be precise.

You've given Megumi and Yuji a wide-ranging beam, relieved that they've savored the dish a lot than ever even to the point of lifting their spirits once they start their mornings upon taking assignments or trainings that were back-breaking at the end of the day. Probably, this was also what Satoru wanted them to feel if he was around. However, everyone might state otherwise because of how pestiferous he also gets. 

"You're welcome! You guys can talk to me now via such a slow Google Translator or whatever interpreter you have." you've lowly giggled to yourself, mirthful that the translator was helping a lot to be less awkward between everyone in the room, also for a fact that you've get to talk to others as well and not just the annoying blindfolded idiot.

"---I'm happy that I don't get to talk to Satoru all the damn time, you guys just know how he is."

Surprising to say the least, Fushiguro still had his mouth lifted in a small scale as he reached out for his phone that rested in the middle of all. He'd casually scrolled with his other hand,  searching for something through the gadget he held. Ought to plan upon buying something which wouldn't have probably cost a lot if he would consider all the cash he saved through his life and Gojo whom had been one of his financer as well.

"There's actually a gadget to keep you from being bothered over this whole translation issue. I think it transcribes words quicker. It can be entirely useful especially when Gojo-Sensei isn't around. I can search it up for you,"

Unbeknownst to everyone, Nobara had been secretive upon grabbing her own chopsticks and giving the meal a bite. Consumed by the intrigue that kept her in a fretful manner, sagacious to have made her act upon her impulses. Much to each heedless distractions, you haven't noticed she ingurgitated a continuous amount of noodles that went straight past her mouth while you were busy talking nineteen to the dozen with Megumi who still had this faint smile upon his face that happens once in a blue moon, your boisterous guffaws reverberating through the roof as Yuji was messily pigging down the noodles like a famished child.

In just one bite, Nobara seemed to button her lip. Her mouth in a tight thin line and hair weighed down for nobody else to see. The mystified shadows in an awning, capped for shade of any  emotions to be seen or assessed from her. The three of you had become aware to her sudden change of behavior when you've heard her quietly mumble down a name that was beyond your ken.

"S-Saori-Chan."

What came with the mention of that name thereafter was a silent sob that heightened everyone's attention.

"Nobara?" you sincerely panicked, nimble fingers reaching to scratch along your nape and not knowing what to do from her sudden mewl. You've jumped down along your bar stool, traipsing to pad over beside her. At a stroke, taking the bowl away from the female Jujutsu Sorcerer. You'd probably had a mistake over the ingredients or she had some sort of allergy as your mind raced to read between the lines from her abrupt change of spirit. "I'm sorry---was your bowl of noodles not good? Maybe it's because it took long to be eaten? I can cook it again or make another. You should've just told me if you had allergies for a certain ingredient or what---"

Upon getting to a tizz, your panic-stricken self were interrupted when Kugisaki had whisked the bowl away from your reach, not wanting for you to take them away from her. Thus, her next words; the epithet that left her lips; a specialized epithet made for you by Yuji that has just been used for the first time in forever from the grade-three Jujutsu Sorcerer, her ceaseless desire to provide the antipathy she has given you; the impression that she held repellence over your guts or presence surprised everyone in the kitchen.

"Eigo-San." Nobara settled to use, uttering the sobriquet firmly. She looked vacantly into the bowl she touched and partake of, an affable beam now drawn upon her lips as her tears were quick to be cleared off as if there hasn't been a trace at all. 

Her next query---or rather it sounded like an objection over hunches that Megumi had initially persisted to question you in. The first inquiry held a tinge of dispute worth to be argued for. Nobara shifting upon being an advocate for you which left everyone aghast. This moment definitely being an eye-opener. 

Kugisaki's blunt inquiries that nobody needed but deeply knew that it was what their subconsciousness wanted to ask especially after tasting the first dish they have crammed down from you.

"Would you be leaving once Gojo-sensei's done with you?" pause. "---can you not leave our world after giving what he needs?"

Without knowing Fushiguro's primitive thoughts a while ago, those noodles he'd eaten have been a reminder of his step-sister named Tsumiki Fushiguro who has been cursed and fell into a coma. Your special ten minute worth of ramen noodles for Satoru's students seeming to be aides-memoiresof someone who had been dear to them, individuals that they have cherished for years end which kindles their motivation to strive harder through the difficulties that the Jujutsu Society have been throwing upon their feet, gradually preparing them for a rough destiny that they might not be entirely prepared for.

Satoru will be back for the next chapter! 

SEND AN ASK?

[5amanthus]

For the ask game :) 😈🎶🎯

Ask game

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

I don't know if I've ever been playfully mean to readers 😂 I'm either genuine, or just mean (i.e hurting blorbos, added angst, killing characters).

It's not really playful, but probably the closest example I have is this one person was obsessed with Purple/Xander, literally the biggest bigot/not-in-the-fun-way asshole™️/just downright awful character I had in the earlier part of my series and they shit all over my massively diverse/queer/disabled/neurodivergent cast of characters because I refused to give him a redemption arc, so later on I ended up taking some of their direct quotes and putting it in some of his dialogue while he was being an idiot and then I got rid of him a few chapters later.

        "Perhaps you can give me some valuable insight then. Tell me about the crew."

        He paused upon realizing the other man was actually trying to talk to him, "Where do I even start? Cyan is an absolute snake, don't trust that one. 'They' will backstab you. Lime is gross and has made 'gay' his whole personality. Black is creepy and a dad. Red is really fucking weird. I thought Pumpkin would be cool, but I hate her too. Yellow is okay, I guess. The Captain doesn't take anything seriously and he should have been fired ages ago. Pink is the nervous one. Uuh, honestly everyone is so forgettable. It's so hard to keep up with everyone, they might as well just be a bunch of colours with vague personality traits."

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

I'm always listening to music and I absolutely do while I write! I've got over 100 playlists and pretty well all of my characters have at least 1 song if not more.

These are two I've had on repeat a lot because this band is great for just a specific vibe I need for a current original WIP about a trans woman going into a cabin in the woods to discover herself and she ends up coming out with a trans monster girlfriend 😄

Also been listening to this one a bunch because it fits a possible WIP I have about two characters who love each other trying to find the other again and again even as their ripped apart while their realities constantly change around them, but I won't say more because it's going to be a big project that I'm still trying to figure out a format for. (Brain says show, but I don't really have access to those kinds of resources, so I might write it but I think it's going to be difficult to capture in a story.)

This one is always on repeat cause it's a major Fuchsia and Dijon song and I have so many feelings about them, but they're not showing up again for a while. I have a whole scene planned for this one though, and some art too.

And I've got a whole playlist for the Spot/Venom fanfic thing I'm working on, but these two songs I've been listening to a lot out of the whole playlist. I should probably slap the playlist down, maybe in the fic when its done.

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

I don't really have readers that comment their guesses usually? Also I'm terrible for just blabbing about stuff instead of writing it, so people either know what's going to happen, or they comment that they were surprised by things! Like this comment, I love it a lot :D

"This has to be my fav fic in your Crews series yet. For context, I have binge read up to this chapter over the last two days.

Cyan having an altered imposter parasite was a fall-off-my-seat plot twist. Whoa! That explained what they were freaking out about when they had to get scanned and I thought they couldn't get their gloves off, but they weren't able to temporarily get the parasite to leave their body (because it was protecting them from the spawn of Chartreuse, but Cyan didn't know at the time). I want to go into more, but this paragraph alone is too long already."

Or I did have someone really accurately read a scene/the hints I left, which was great!

"When she flinched away from his hand the first time he went to touch her, I wonder whether he thought he'd partly reverted back to impostor form and that was what scared her? It must've been confusing for him to see her flinch away from a normal hand and realise it had nothing to do with his nature as an Impostor.

When Fuchsia comes during the night shift, it becomes clear Dijon is bad at hiding not only his strangeness, but even his ability to see in the dark; I wonder whether Orchid knows he's an Impostor. If so, mentioning she'd kill Pantone if she had a chance might've been an indirect approval for Dijon to get rid of him."

And the only other closest one would probably be people accurately calling Black and Red as impostors in V-Crew, but I wasn't really trying to hide that one 😂

[ultramarine-spirit]

is it okay to edit wmmap photos? I mean... I've seen edits of jennette in panels that are originally from Athanasia and vicecersa, or images of athy and jennette with their eye color changed. In fact I like those photos but I don't know if it's good or not.

Do you know??? Sorry for bothering you but it seems like you know about this kind of things 😭

Hello! No worries, it's not a bother at all.

Well, it depends. Small edits like giving Lucas short hair in a scene are fine, but edits that go as far as changing the entire contents of the manhwa are not.

Spoon has talked about the kinds of use of her art she's okay with. For example, memes are okay, animations too if they don't use entire chapters and if they don't have commercial purposes. But those edits that alter her art so heavily and misrepresent the manhwa's content are not allowed. It's pretty common sense in my honest opinion. I can search for the tweets where Spoon talked about this, but it will take me a while since most are from 2018 or so. But also, Carrotoon has been taking down that kind of content from Instagram and Youtube (it's just that, there are so many that it's pretty impossible to take them all down), so it's very obvious they are not cool with it.

That's what Spoon has said and Carrotoon's position. If you ask for my personal opinion, I think those edits are very disrespectful and it baffles me a little why they are so popular on wmmap (and manhwa in general) Instagram. It's also very common that those editors use other people's art to make wmmap edits, which has obviously made the artists very angry (and gives wmmap fans a bad look. I remember an incident where an editor taunted a JP artist for not being able to do anything about their edits and made fun of the artist's english skills...)

It's about respect, really. Just because a piece of art is public (and in Spoon's case, it's not, but I doubt most editors read legally) doesn't mean you have rights over it to do whatever you would like. Same goes for reposters, and any unauthorized use. I'm not an artist, but I do write sometimes, and I would be upset if someone took my fic and changed the characters' names to fit their tastes.

I understand that, for example, certain fans are discontent with the manhwa's plot and would like X character to have more protagonism, Y ship to have content, or for Z thing to happen, so they make those edits to fulfill that wish in some way? Or just for fun. But it's still very disrespectful, goes against Spoon's wishes and Carrotoon's policies on fair use, and has driven many amazing fanartists out of the fandom (and upset random artists that had nothing to do with wmmap).

So yep. Edits that misrepresent the manhwa. I don't like them. Please respect Spoon and other artists.

[crimefightingspiderguy]

marry me

Summary: Shang-Chi and (Y/N) are best friends, but it's not enough. They want to be more, but can they be more?

Warnings: Angst? No spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the the Ten Rings, just one reference to the movie but it's not a spoiler.

Pairings: Shang-Chi x platonic!reader

Word Count: approx. 2,423

A/N: I based this off the song Marry Me by Thomas Rhett. Go give it a listen, it's a great song! I want to make more fics for Shang-Chi that aren't as angsty as this, but I wanna wait until more people have seen Shang-Chi so I can include scenes from the movie. Hope you enjoy this ❤️

“She wants to get married; she wants it perfect”

“So, when are you two getting married?” Your grandmother asked as she pointed between you and Shang-Chi.

You spit up your water, “Nana, we’ve been over this. Shaun and I are just friends.”

“Then why do you have a scrapbook in your room titled ‘My Dream Wedding’ if you don’t plan on getting married.” She sassed her granddaughter.

This isn’t the first time she had asked us if we were together. Every time (Y/N) just brushed it off as her being old and stuck in her ways. But this is the first time that I’ve heard of this scrapbook. “A scrapbook? This I have to see.” I grinned at (Y/N), her faced flushed and you could basically see the wheels in her mind working up an excuse as to why her nana had said that. But she couldn’t think of any.

“Nana, what did I tell you about snooping?” (Y/N) turned to scold her.

“What? I’m old and have nothing better to do. It has some very beautiful ideas. Have to both worked out the details or are they all your plans dear?”

(Y/N)’s face turned a deep red as I burst out in laughter. “Come on (Y/N), I have to see this” I held out her hand to bring her to her bedroom.

“Look, I’ve been planning my wedding since I was little, okay? I just want to let you know this isn’t some creepy shrine for you and me or something like that.” She said as she hesitantly took the book down from her top shelf above her bed frame.

“Oh, don’t worry, I KNOW this is a dedication to me and our love. You don’t have to hide it.” I chuckled as she punched my arm and gave me a threatening look.

“So basically, I have pictures that I’ve cut out from magazines or printed off from TV shows that I watch with my Nana that I think would go well with my overall theme.”

“She wants her granddaddy preach in the service”

“I originally was going to have my Papa do the service, but that was before he passed last year.” She looked down at the picture of him that she cut out and tapped down at the end of a poorly drawn alter. She put on a sad smile and sighed, “Hopefully by the time I do get married Nana is still around and I can get her ordained online. Then she can speak for both of them.”

“I’m sure she would love that.” I put a hand on her back to sooth her. She was the closest with her grandfather. Since her parents passed away in a car accident when she was young, they were all she had and he spoiled her rotten. Nana warned him not to let her turn too spoiled, they didn’t want her being a brat. But he assured her that he was just showering her with love. I couldn’t help but understand now why her grandfather would go through such trouble to make sure she felt loved. She is worth it.

“And she wants magnolias out in the country”

“I want to have the ceremony outside, have the alter be surrounded by magnolia trees.” She turned the page to pictures of roads and sidewalks lined with magnolia trees, beautiful shades of pink and white blooming across the page.

“Why magnolias?” I remember her telling me years ago that her favorite flower was a white rose, so I thought that she would for sure have those.

“They were my mother’s favorite.” She smiled, “If I’m going to have a ceremony where I’m bringing someone into my family, I want them all there. Even if it’s just in spirit.” She chuckled as she pointed to the single picture of her mother with a crown of magnolias on her head, spinning around in the sun. “I would always make her flower crowns of them, and I think that’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her.”

“I think that her seeing you on your wedding day would’ve made her even happier.” I say, hoping to reassure her. I never met her mother or father. They were gone before I even came to the US. But when I met her, she had this spark in her still, I imagine that it’s the spark she got from her mother. The same spark she seems to have in this photo.

“Not too many people, save her daddy some money”

“So, how are you planning on paying for all this? I mean, realistically a job valeting cars won’t get you far.” I was hoping to try to get her to change the subject so she wouldn’t get too upset looking through this book.

“My daddy left me his savings in his will. My Nana and Papa saved it for when I went to college, but I got enough scholarships I didn’t need it. So, I figured I’d save it for my wedding or buying a house.” She shrugged, “Like I said, I want all the people important to me with me that day. But I will have to have a smaller ceremony because it’s not that much money he’s left. I think I’d invite family and the few close friends that are like family.”

“She got it all planned out. I can see it all right now. I’ll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back.”

“Of course, I’ve made sure you’ll be on the guestlist.” She flipped the next page and pointed to the picture of me and her on prom night our senior year. I’m in a black suit and tie, she had a soft blush pink dress that flowed down to the floor with white magnolias in her pinned-up hair. This was the first time I was able to really picture it all. Not just looking at pictures, but what it would look like as I walked around the place myself. I can see myself hiding in the back as we get ready for the ceremony to start, making some last-minute adjustments to my suit. Making sure my hair looked okay.

“I’ll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask. I’ll try to make it through without crying, so nobody sees.”

I’d probably have to take a shot to ease my nerves. I wonder if I’d be one of those people who would cry as soon as she walked down the aisle.

“This is the dress that I want.” Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts, she showed me a dress that would fit her perfect. It was flowing but puffy. She had a long train and lace accents all over. She would look like a princess. I can see her perfectly in the dress, and not just because she cut a photo of her head out and taped it over the model of the dress, but because I think it is exactly the type of dress, I would expect her to wear. This answers my question, I would definitely be the first one to cry as I saw her walking down the aisle.

“It’s perfect. You’ll look perfect.” I whisper to her. I could see her holding onto my every word. Like she wanted to hear nothing more than those words. I slowly moved my hand from her back up to her cheek and cupped her face. “Everything is perfect.” I tell her. Her skin lights up under my touch, as if it’s a flame setting fire to her body.

“Yeah, she wanna get married. But she don’t wanna marry me. I remember the night when I almost kissed her. I kinda freaked out, we’ve been friends for forever. And I’d always wonder if she felt the same way.”

I’ve never wanted to kiss her more than right now. I’ve thought about it before, but never needed it like I do right now. She started to lean in, eyes fluttering shut. It’s now or never. But something stopped me. I don’t know if it was my nerves, or if it was just too much all at once, imagining us get married, but I just couldn’t do it. She felt me pull away and stopped herself, she shot her eyes open and realized that she read the situation wrong. But she didn’t read it wrong, I just chickened out. I’ve wanted this since the day I met her, but it was just too scary. What if we ended up breaking up and hating each other? She was too important for me to lose.

She just cleared her throat and acted as if nothing happened, turning the next page of her scrapbook.

“When I got the invite, I knew it was too late. And I know, her daddy’s been dreadin’ this day. Although he don’t know he ain’t the only one givin’ her away.”

I woke up to the sound of my alarm, turning over to shut it off I felt the paper I had cried over last night. An invite to (Y/N)’s dream wedding. After the night when she showed me her scrapbook, she seemed to become distant. I don’t know if it’s because we almost kissed and I seemed to reject her, or if she just got too busy with her new boyfriend, but it broke my heart more and more every day until I was just numb. That was 3 years ago, now she had moved on and found someone who wasn’t afraid to grow up and commit to her.

I’d been to see her Nana a couple times after she had started dating him and she scolded me just as I had scolded myself.

“You know, I was really hoping it would’ve been you. You would’ve been perfect together.” She shook her head in disappointment as I helped her in the kitchen while (Y/N) and her boyfriend set the table in the dining room. “I don’t like him as much as I like you.” She sighed and went back to chopping her tomatoes.

“No one’s more disappointed than I am Nana.” I looked down at my hands, feeling empty without hers in them.

“I’ll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back. I’ll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask. I’ll try to make it through without cryin’ so nobody sees. Yeah, she wanna get married, but she don’t wanna marry me.”

“Hey, did you get the invite?” (Y/N) called me shortly after I’d woken up, knowing when my alarm was set for.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“I know that we haven’t been… the closest lately… but I hope you’ll still come. Afterall you’re in the scrapbook.” She chuckled, hoping she could bring me around to the idea of going. She still didn’t know why I’d distanced myself from her all these years. I can imagine I’ve hurt her, but I only hurt myself every time I see her with him, so I had to do it. “I asked Sam if he’d be willing to make you a best man, since I can’t have you as a bridesmaid. He said of course you could be. It really would mean the world to me if you would.”

While I wanted to be nowhere near Sam, helping him celebrate his wedding day with the love of my life, I wanted nothing more than to be there for her. No matter how she wanted me there.

“Of course, I’ll be a best man. I wouldn’t miss your wedding if the world was ending.” I smiled through the phone, knowing she wouldn’t see just how broken it was.

“Ah! Yay! I was hoping you’d say yes! I can’t wait to tell him. I’ll talk to you later, love you.”

I hung up before I could say anything back.

The day of her wedding came sooner than I’d hoped. It was a beautiful spring wedding with the pink magnolias surrounding the alter in full bloom. I was in a black suit and tie with a flask of whiskey hidden in my coat pocket. I was in the back helping Sam make his last preparations when I saw her.

“But she got on her dress now, welcomin’ the guests now. I could try to find her, get it off of my chest now.”

She was stunning. The sun shining off her in the most perfect way. She was out greeting guests before the ceremony started, in her reception gown, saving the real gown for later when no one would see. Even in this substitute dress I couldn’t help dropping my jaw when she turned my way. She came over to me and threw her arms around me. “I know I’m supposed to be getting ready, but I couldn’t wait to see you.” She whispered in my ear. God did I miss her.

“(Y/N), there’s something I want to tell you.” I start to work up the courage. It was now or never.

“But I ain’t gonna mess this up, so I wish her the best now. I’m in my black suit, black tie and out in the back. Doin’ a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask. I’ll try to make it through without cryin’ so nobody sees. Yeah, she wanna get married. But she don’t wanna marry me.”

“Yeah Shang-Chi?” She looked up at me as she pulled away from me. She looked so perfect. I just wanted to tell her everything on my chest and run away from all this with her. Live happily ever after. But this is real life, this is a wedding she’s planned out since she was a kid. She wants it to be perfect. I can’t take that from her.

“Everything is perfect. You look perfect.” I force a smile as she grins and giggles at me.

“You’re so dramatic, but I love that about you.” She kissed my cheek and told me she’d save me a dance as she went back to her dressing room to finish getting ready.

I pulled the flask out of my jacket and took a strong swig. Sam was calling me over to get in line at the altar.

Bridesmaids one through four walked down the aisle carrying bouquets of pink magnolias. She followed them up in her beautiful gown, straight out of her scrapbook. A bouquet of white roses with pink magnolias blossomed out of her hands. She absolutely took my breath away, but it wasn’t me she was marching towards.

Find more of my work here.

My work is exclusively posted on Tumblr by me, on this blog. If you see my work posted elsewhere, please reach out to me.

Thank you, xx.

[ironwoman359]

Completely agree on nagas being underutilized and having a ton of potential. Both as the whumpee and the whumper….

So now I have to know. Which do you prefer…(and maybe why…talk whumpy to me lol)

Naga whumper? Or naga whumpee…

cw: whump, captivity, dehumanization, possessiveness, abuse, torture, angst with little to no comfort

Oh, I am delighted you asked, friend...it's not like I just did a bunch of research on snake health for a bad things happen bingo fic* with a naga whumpee....it's not like doing so gave me MANY more ideas than I was able to fit into that one story...and its not like I have many thoughts on how nagas could fit into the traditional creature whump tropes (that I also was reading and rereading for 'research' while writing We Blankly Stare). This is going under a cut, because, like all my fics, it got longer than I meant it to. (also, to my regular followers who aren't into heavy whump, don't mind me as I go off on a tangent into a totally different fic community; you can skip this one if you need to; at the very least mind the content warnings <3)

SO, nagas. Beautiful creatures. Like centaurs, 'human' on the top and snake on the bottom. SO much lovely whump potential, either as whumpers or whumpees, but lets focus on the whumpee side for now. In no particular order...

Pet Whump:

Decorative collars set with jewels that compliment the pattern of their highly polished scales and delicate gold chains weaving their way along their body, equal parts jewelry and restraint. They are highly prized, beautiful things, and what is the point of owning one if not to show it off?

Inviting a crowd to come and watch them feed, demonstrating their dislocating jaws and sharp fangs as they toss rodents to them whole. Bonus angst points if raw meat actually makes your naga whumpee sick, or they can eat raw meat but cooked is better. Just because they look like a snake doesn't mean they eat like one

Is your naga whumpee poisonous? Have their owner remove their fangs or poison glands, leaving them utterly dependent on them for food (and utterly helpless if they do ever manage to escape)

Nagas bred in captivity, so the only life they've ever known is one of imprisonment. Do they even consider freedom as something attainable? Or do their owners have them convinced that they're better off like this?

Lab Whump:

Nagas that are actually human/snake hybrids created in laboratory experiments just to see if it was possible.

Nagas who are kept in order to produce venom, what the venom is for could be anything!

Nagas 'enhanced' with mind and/or body altering drugs or magic to serve in the military as the perfect warrior

Nags used for experiments and drug tests because they are seen as less than human

Torture Whump:

As is the case with most torture whump, the 'why' the whumpee is being tortured isn't really important here. Maybe they have information the whumper wants, maybe the whumper is trying to get revenge or hurt whumpee's team, maybe they're just cruel. This isn't really about the 'why' so much as it is the specific 'hows' that having a whumpee who is part snake provides.

Pulling/cutting off scales, pulling out or filing down fangs, clipping or tearing off claws (a creature whump classic)

Naga specific (this is more of a lizard thing than a snake thing, but nagas aren’t real, we make the rules here!) body part removal: cutting off the tail! It doesn’t matter that it grows back, it still hurts every time. (or maybe the tail doesn’t grow back, and the naga is left unable to ‘walk’ properly)

Rough iron collars around their neck attached to a ball and chain, bonus points if the length of the chain prevents them from rising to their usual 'standing' height.

Hang them from the ceiling with cuffs and chains by their tails; upside down, right-side up, however you choose!

My those snake bodies are long...I wonder how long they can stretch?

I have one word for you: thermoregulation. Reptiles cannot regulate their own body heat, they are dependent on their environment. This gives us a whole HOST of reptile-specific torture techniques:

temperature shock: dump them in freezing water or spray them with a high-pressure hose. Unpleasant for any kind of whumpee, for the naga whumpee this has the added bonus of being fatal very quickly if they aren't warmed up.

It's not good for a snake to be too HOT either, they need to cool their bodies off just as often as they need to warm them up (don't quote me precisely on that, snake tumblr). A whumper who keeps their naga under bright, hot lights nearly constantly so they're dehydrated, covered in blisters, and/or always feverish (can a naga get a fever? idk, up to you. snakes don't, but snakes don't have human torsos. we can be wishy washy with health issues)

So extreme heat and extreme cold are bad, but did you know that (while it's breed specific) most snakes lose its ability to thermoregulate at around 70 degrees Fahrenheit? When their body temperature drops below this (but not so low that we're in hypothermia territory), their movements are sluggish, they cannot/will not eat, and it is very easy for them to develop infections, scale rot, all sorts of problems. Does the whumper keep them in low temperatures to make them weak and pliable in their hands, easy to control? Does the whumper use these conditions as a punishment for bad behavior? Or give reprieve from them as a reward for good behavior? There’s just SO much that can be done with temperature alone! It’s one of the things that sets nagas apart from other creatures and THAT is one of the most criminally underused aspects, in my oh so humble opinion!

Other Fun Concepts:

Nagas with their tails trapped under rubble, unable to pull themselves free.

Nagas kept in a cage that's far too small for them, their body wrapped up so tightly they can barely move.

Did you know that when a snake's body temperature is too low, it can't digest its food? And that if it does eat something and then doesn't have the energy to digest it properly, it will either instinctually regurgitate that food back up or run the risk of the food literally rotting in its stomach? Take this knowledge into literally any of the pet or torture scenarios and you have some A+ snake specific whump

Tiny nagas! Like the western hognose snake or the ringneck snake, these little guys can fit in the palm of your hand! Apply literally any previously listed scenario to your tiny naga for instant fantasy g/t whump! also vore...that's not my scene but it was one of like, two things i found while looking for naga whump on tumblr earlier, so I feel obligated to mention it.

Giant nagas, YOU can fit in THEIR hands. Does that make them the whumper, or still the whumpee? You decide!

Water nagas! combine mer whump with naga whump and you’ve got a water snake to hurt!

Nagas with scale rot, respiratory infections, kinks in their spine, or other snake health issues, either from mistreatment from a whumper or natural causes.

As you can tell, I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, lol. I hope you enjoyed, and if anyone writes anything based off these, I’d love to see it! Also, HAVE I been considering making a whump sideblog for awhile? yes. Did writing this post convince me to finally do it? Also yes. So I'll be over at @ironwhumper359 if you'd like to talk more whump with me, I’d be delighted to have you :)

*if you would like to read said bad things happen bingo fic, know that while it is labelled Sanders Sides, because that’s the fandom I mainly write it, the first chapter only has one character from the series in it and is honestly much more of an original whump piece than it is a fanfic. The second and third chapters are more fandom specific (though you’re of course still welcome to read them even if you’re not a sanders sides fan), but that first one can be read as stand-alone whump!

[whocalledhimannux]

hello my friends it's time for another wildly self-indulgent AU, based on the fact that I spent several hours tonight with two windows open on my laptop, one showing Queen's Thief fic and the other showing the Philadelphia Phillies absolutely crushing the Reds:

Q T B A S E B A L L AU

featuring Eugenides as a hotshot player who is a rediciulous thief of bases (if u click on that link, take moment to pray for Roman Quinn's achilles 😢), incredible speed, no one can touch him, if he gets on base he will be scoring...

...until noted Absolute Asshole Nahuseresh "accidentally" steps on his hand with sharpened cleats (for the grip! he had no idea they would be dangerous! shocked and apalled and apologetic, really!) and causes nerve damage bad enough that Eugenides is more or less forced into an early retirement, reigniting the old Eddisian Griffins-Attolian Lilies rivalry with a vengeance

Helen is the manager (main coach) of the Griffins (she played baseball on teams with her brothers as a kid) and Irene is the owner of the Lilies

a year later, during the off-season, Irene and Eugenides elope, she hires him as the manager for the Lilies, and trades Nahuseresh while making it clear it's not about his playing, which is good, but because he's an absolute asshole. all of this happens in like a week and sports media goes BUCK WILD.

Dite is a very precocious pitcher, Sejanus is a shortstop. Eugenides trades both of them just under the trade deadline because he suspects Erondites is doing some shady Black Sox shit behind the scenes

Sophos is a pretty inconsistent player when he's younger and it's openly speculated he only makes it into professional ball because of nepotism--ironically, once his uncle loses a shit ton of money in a business takeover and has to sell the team to [random rich owner, idk], he really hits his stride and is called up from the minors to play for a major league team under the guidance of the Magus, who is his manager. he's a center fielder. drove his father nuts in his youth because he was always daydreaming instead of paying attention to the ball.

fun side note: like Sophos, I have a scar on my lip that alters my smile. I got mine when a softball glanced off my glove and hit me in the face, and my lip got caught in my braces. so I like to think he gets an injury in this AU in a similar way, lol.

I haven't thought this through for all of them, because it's midnight and I can't be doing this for hours, but major King's Guard/Attendants are Lilies players, cousins/major Eddisians are Griffins, etc. I'm de-aging some of them to make it fit.

MoW (is it weird that's still my default for him?) is a base coach, Ornon is a long-suffering umpire

Teleus is captain of the Lilies and their catcher (for non-baseball fans, the catcher does a lot of directing during the game--helping pitchers choose which pitch to throw, helping to decide if fielders should move back or move in or cover certain gaps)

he does get into a shouting match with Eugenides at one point, on the field, and again, sports media goes BUCK. WILD. the Lilies have so many good unwritten rules/bench-clearing/wtf-just-happened moments during this time.

as a player Eugenides defied a couple of the unwritten rules--he was not shy about bunting or stealing bases whenever tf he wanted to, for example. he dodged a lot of intentional hits from pitchers but he was too damn charming for the fans to be really mad at him

Relius is their general manager at first, the guy in charge of numbers and trades and negotiating. he's kicked out after a scandal but Irene ends up keeping him around. he starts to actually attend games in a private box and watch instead of schmoozing and rediscovers his love for the game.

oooooh I kind of like the idea of most of the attendants being pitchers. pitchers are sort of divas and teams have like 10+ and fans of Certain Teams experience a LOT of exasperation over their pitchers' inconsistent performance (not that I would ever ever point to any specific team and the fact that Lilies rhymes with Phillies means absolutely nothing)

Costis is the first baseman (because TALL) and has a killer batting average, is v close with Aris who plays second base, and kinda sorta accidentally becomes the first out MLB player when he gets caught making out with Kamet after winning the home run derby. oops.

Teleus, who has been successfully avoided winning that title for years, mocks him ruthlessly (although he does have a Glenn Burke kind of deal where his teammates know but keep it private)

Kamet has relatively little interest in sports and there is a lot of online complaining about the fact that he openly grades papers/works on other stuff during games, but hey, this PhD isn't going to earn itself. he does pay attention to Costis's at-bats, though, and gets more invested in the games as he gets to know other players better--he also eventually reveals that he's got a mean head for stats, even if he doesn't feel the need to be watching every second of every game. there are 162 of them for each team and they go on for 4 hours, okay? give him a break.

dear god, I don't even know exactly where Pheris fits in (once he's like. an adult.) but please take a moment to scroll through this page of commonly tracked baseball statistics and appreciate how much Pheris would lose his mind over this game

WAIT no I've got it, Relius becomes the scouting director for the Lilies and Pheris works with him. Moneyball.

the equivalent of the fighting the guards scene at the end of KoA is one day Eugenides is running a practice with the team and lets Laecdomon (one of the pitchers, doomed to be traded soon after) goad him into stepping in the batter's box. Laecdomon goes between strikes and balls that come VERY close to hitting him, including one that almost beans him in the head, but Eugenides manages to hit the ball even with his bad hand, fuckin' zooms around the bases while the team fumbles and commits multiple errors trying to stop him, and leaps over Teleus at home to score.

ok I spent an hour typing this up when I should have been sleeping lmao, but I have written two other baseball AUs for two other fandoms (as a contributing writer/brainstormer for one, tbf) and I am totally down to talk more about this concept if there are other QT baseball fans out there

[stillebesat]

Scales (6/7)

Sanders Sides: Logan, Deceit, Virgil, Roman, Patton Blurb: Deceit hadn’t expected his absence from the Mindscape to be noticed by the others…until Logic knocked on his door. Fic Type: General Warnings: Shedding (snake style), Minor Injuries, Minor Pain, Touch Starvation, Death Talk Taglist in Reblog.

To Catch Up: Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2  Chapter 3 Chapter 4 

Deceit had never thought of his scales as being beautiful. They’d made him a freak. An outcast among the others even among the Dark Sides. Their color always the same ugly shade of yellow green as the crayon in a Crayola pack. A visible sign of Thomas’s dislike of him. 

Sure, they were always slightly brighter, slightly less ugly right after his sheds, but he’d never thought of them as…

Deceit licked his lips, frozen in place as he stared at the new patch of scales Roman’s technique had revealed. 

Scales that--that were--Deceit could only think of them as beautiful. Iridescent. Shining like precious gems. The old sickly yellow had vanished, replaced instead with a vibrant display of golden yellows fading into emerald green which in turn faded to obsidian black.

Gingerly, not quite believing that this was real, he pulled free of Virgil’s grip to lightly touch the exposed patch, his fingers running over the smooth edges.  

“Whoa.” Patton whispered, his own hand hovering above Deceit’s. “You have rainbows on you, Ly!” 

He paused, heart skipping a beat as one finger hovered over the black areas of his scales. Morality was right. Where the scales had darkened, he could see rainbows shimmering across their surface. 

Rainbows. A visible sign of acceptance. 

He couldn’t believe it. Believe that--that they would appear...on him. 

“Almost.” Logan said, leaning forward to rest his head on Deceit’s human shoulder, breath ghosting across his cheek as he spoke. “It’s probably part of the composition of the scales and the light refracting off of them that--”

“They’re so...bea--bright.” Deceit whispered, unable to bring himself to speak the word ‘beautiful’ out loud. He was a Dark Side. He wasn’t meant to be...to be--”

“Bright? They’re perfectly glowingly gorgeous, my Lion King.” Roman proclaimed. “Exactly like a true Dragon’s scales should be!” He gave him a soft, pleased smile. “You have dragon scales.” 

He had dragon scales. 

Creativity’s idea had worked.

The tightness in his chest eased.

He could finally get his shed off.

“Well...if we’re all done gawking.” Virgil said, raising an eyebrow to Roman as he pulled at the sleeves of his hoodie. “Perhaps we should get a move on? I was under the impression Dee’s shed should have been off like...three days ago.” 

“Correct.” Logan cleared his throat as he pulled back, leaving Deceit’s shoulder feeling bare and cold. 

Deceit swallowed, human hand twitching as he fought the urge to pull Logan near again. It was...unexpected, this...feeling. How quickly he’d grown to like having the others touching him. He just wanted to--to--

As if reading his mind, Logan rested a hand on his shoulder, gently squeezing it. “Since the test has obviously worked, what do we do next, Roman?” 

Creativity grinned, spreading his arms wide. “Well. First I need to set the proper scene.  The commons is hardly warm enough for this to work properly.” 

Deceit blinked, looking around the living room. He couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work here. “Scene?” Couldn’t Roman just conjure more ash to--

“A beach!”

Virgil made a face, pulling his hoodie over his head, hiding his eyes. “Oh goodie. Heat stroke.” 

Roman shot him a look. “That’s what summer clothes are for Emo Edgelord.”

“Nope. You are not getting rid of my hoodie!” 

“Wasn’t planning on it Dark and Stormy, You’ll have a hoodie just watch--” Roman snapped his fingers.

The living room vanished in the blink of an eye replaced by the view of an ocean with waves gently lapping against the shore. 

Deceit inhaled, automatically lifting his head up to the sun burning overhead, his body already warming under the intense heat that was much stronger than what he could create in his room. Yet...he glanced from the corner of his eye to Logan. The sun’s rays weren’t as penetrating as he’d expected them to be. No...compared to the fire emanating from Logan’s steady hand, the sun’s heat barely seemed to scratch the surface. 

“MY EYES!” Virgil complained, jerking the hood of his now light purple jacket over his head as the carpet of the living room shifted to the same opalescent volcanic dust Creativity had conjured earlier. “ROMAN!” 

Dust that felt so soft and warm...that it took all Deceit’s control to not bury himself in it then and there. 

Even if he did have dragon scales, he wasn’t the Dragon Witch. He wouldn’t copy her. No. He wouldn’t! He---

“Hey! I can’t control the brightness of the sun, Dr. Gloom!” 

Virgil hissed, glaring at him under his hood. “You’re Crea--”

“I know what I am. That doesn’t mean I can make the sun darker! Especially not if we want--”

“A Beach party!” Patton pumped his hand in the air, now wearing blue swim shorts with white hearts on them. “Come on Virge! We can bury LyLy in sand-”

“Ash.” Logan corrected softly in Deceit’s ear as he again moved, carefully urging him to lay down. 

Ash that felt really good against the shed right now. At least better than the sweat sodden blankets he’d been under earlier. 

Despite his best intentions to not copy what the Dragon Witch apparently did, Deceit didn’t need any further urging before he rolled onto his left side, wriggling to bury himself into the soft opalescent dust as quickly as possible. He let out a soft sigh of pleasure, his tense muscles already relaxing. 

He had to admit...this didn’t feel half bad.

“-and turn him into a mermaid sculpture!” 

Roman chuckled, shaking his head as he moved with practiced grace to help partially bury Deceit, making sure his neck and head were supported while also ensuring that none of the shed was showing and that he could still breathe.. “Mermaid Deceit. That’s something. Though I would think more of an Eel--” 

“What about a Naga? That’s more fitting for Dee’s style.” Virgil muttered, carefully mounding the ash up around Deceit’s head, covering his hair as he raised an eyebrow to him.

Deceit made a face, careful to not get any ash in his mouth as he resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Annie. He much preferred having legs thank you very much.

“A Naga?” Patton asked as he energetically pushed ash up and over Deceit’s stomach to cover the shed there.

“Half snake, Pat?” 

“Oh...well--”

Personally, and Annie was well aware of this, Deceit had always been drawn more to spiders than snakes. But with his scaled complexion and Morality’s now known fear of arachnids...it wasn’t a topic he felt he could bring up. 

He closed his human eye, slowly exhaling as he went still, his shed covered fingers digging deeper into the ash as Logan settled next to him, gently running his fingers through his regular hair.

 “Why not go build a sand castle or play in the ocean or something?” He mumbled, leaning into Logan’s hand as his fingers continued to run through his hair. The others could go have their beach party while he just--

“And just LEAVE you?!” Morality demanded, sounding scandalized as he patted Deceit’s leg. “No siree, mister! We’re. Staying. Right. Here!” 

“It’s not like this will take as long as the Dragon Witch.” Roman said with a shrug. “Just be sure to not move too much. The shed will only come off without issue if it’s evenly and properly dried out before we remove it.”

It made sense, though it still didn’t make sense that the others were actually wanting to...stick around to help him with this. “How long?” He asked, half curling up so his head was pressed against Logan’s leg, taking more comfort in having the Logical Side near him. He knew Lo would prevent the other three from doing something stupid and this-- 

This felt...felt so nice. Having them around. Not...screaming or being horrified. He never would have thought that they--that they cared--that this---would happen. That they would help a Dark Side like this. That they would consider him to be...Family.

“Well--depending on what size she is when the shed takes her...it can last up to a week before I’m called in to help--” 

“A WEEK!” Virgil repeated.

Deceit opened his human eye, tilting it so he could see Anxiety. “If mine can take up to three days at my size...it’s not surprising it could take her longer.” Though he would have to arrange to...see...if not meet this Dragon Witch at some point. He’d been under the impression she was a full dragon. Perhaps there was more merit to the ‘witch’ part of Dragon Witch than he originally thought. 

“Exactly! And I mean...that’s just what she’s told me.” Roman looked away. “Honestly, I do believe that she’s not being fully truthful on how long it actually takes. You know...to keep me from taking advantage of her during that time.” He ran a hand through his hair, a slight frown on his face. “Like I’d strike a worthy opponent when they’re down.” He mumbled in such a way Deceit was sure no one else was meant to hear it.

“But he’s already been this way for six days Roman!” Virgil hissed. “Are you saying we have to wait one more for it to work?” 

“That is currently unknown. With the change in his scales, Lyal’s timeline may have altered.” Logan shrugged a shoulder, trailing his fingers down the side of Deceit’s neck. “There really is no way to know for sure how long this will take until his next shed when we can give him the proper setup from the onset.” He reached, adjusting his glasses, eyes sparking with interest. “I would expect with how quickly the ash worked on his test spot, that we should not have to wait long though.”

True. Deceit flexed his fingers underneath the ash, the corner of his lip quirking upwards. His mobility had always been extremely limited under the shed. Being able to move his fingers now before doing anything to get rid of the shed had to be a good sign.

“So we just...wait?” Patton asked, fidgeting as he piled ash up and over his legs even though Deceit had no scales there needing to be covered. “Then use the brush--” 

“To remove it, yes.” Roman confirmed. “I can show you how to do it so it won’t hurt-- I mean, it took me a time or two with the Dragon Witch nearly biting off my head to learn how.”

“And with how long Lyal’s been in shed, we do not want to mess this up for him.” Logan cut in.

Deceit swallowed, heart skipping a beat. No...he really--if this was all some sort of trick--if Roman had made this all up. He’d--He’d---

“Oh yah. You do not want to get on Dee’s dar--well darker side.” Virgil said. “You do not want to see that--”

“Well I’m sure our mighty Lion King here will be less snappy at least, he doesn’t have the fangs after all to---”

Deceit raised his human hand, heart pounding in his ears as Roman fell silent, his hands hovering over his mouth just shy of completely covering it as everyone else froze.

“Ly?” Creativity breathed out softly.

If it had been his scaled hand doing the controlling, Roman wouldn’t be able to speak at all. 

“I don’t really need fangs now do I to express my displeasure?” He asked, trying to smirk though he could feel his lips trembling as he met Creativity’s wide eyes before letting his hand fall limply back to the ground, freeing the other from his control. 

He let out a shaky breath, pressing the scaled side of his face back into the ash, closing his human eye to block out seeing the others. 

A mistake. He shouldn’t have reacted so. They wouldn’t want---Creativity was helping him! And he’d just! He shouldn’t have--but THIS COULD GO SO WRONG. 

“Lyal.” Deceit jumped, eye opening wide as Roman gently pressed his palm against his cheek. “I promise you. Nothing will go wrong. I’ve had years of experience helping the Dragon Witch now. Your scales will be perfectly pristine when this is over.” 

So he said. But Creativity wouldn’t have to live with the consequences would he if this didn’t work right.

His scales malformed.

His arm left useless.

His face--

“Dude.” Virgil laid a trembling hand on his elbow, squeezing it. “Stop with the internal panicking already. We’re not going to let anything go wrong.” 

 “He has a valid reason to be worried, Virge.” Logan said before Deceit could do more than bare his teeth and hiss at the former dark side. His fingers trailed through Deceit’s hair. “We are asking Lyal to put a lot of trust in us currently. This is a huge step. For all of. One with an uncertain outcome for him.”

Roman scoffed, rubbing his thumb along Deceit’s cheek.  “Uncertain! What do--I told you! It’s exactly like the Dragon Witch!”

“We’re not going to hurt you, Ly.” Patton whispered, patting his knee. “We’re FamILY! We’ll be very very very careful with your scales!” 

It was one thing to hear it.

Totally another to let them--Deceit jerked, crying out as a wave of ice seemed to cascade through him like an avalanche. COLD! He rolled onto Logan’s lap, flinging ash onto the others as he pressed his face against Logic’s chest with a sob, grabbing onto his arm in a white knuckled grip, seeking to soak up every inch of warmth that Logic could give him.

Logan immediately wrapped his arms around him in a firey embrace compared to the glacier of ice running down his side. “Lyal--”

“COLD.” He gasped out through gritted teeth, his shed covered arm held close to his chest as he stared down to the now blackened shed that made him look like a partially burned corpse.  

The test spot hadn’t felt like this. It had been warm! 

Something was wrong. 

IT HAD GONE WRONG.

He had to get it off.

NOW.

He released Logan to grab at his ash covered shoulder, fingers digging at the shed before they were abruptly blocked by a currying brush appearing in his hand, sending a cloud of ash flying off his shoulder. 

“Gently, Decepticon.” Roman commanded softly, carefully pulling Deceit’s arm away from his chest. He offered him a calming smile as he placed his own brush on Deceit’s wrist, quickly working over the area with an experienced hand, the shed flaking away just like it had before, revealing scales that looked exactly the same as the ones on his stomach. “It probably feels like you were just dipped in a bucket of ice, but you don’t want to tear it off like that band-aid do you?” 

Deceit bit back a whine, shaking as Roman’s brush changed to a toothbrush to delicately work on his fingers. Cold was normal? HOW COULD IT BE NORMAL? “N-n-n-no.” 

“Then do what I do.” Roman said, eyes silently pleading as he worked the bristles over a knuckle. “You’ll be fine.”

He--he just--Deceit forced himself to copy Creativity and move his own currying brush in small circles, despite everything within him screaming to just tear it away.

This was a delicate process. He couldn’t rush---Deceit whimpered, his body trembling violently as another wave of ice washed through him, skirting around the areas already freed from the shed.  

He hated this. HATED IT. This wasn’t like the other sheds at all. Was this gonna happen every time?? “Can’t this go faster?” He hissed out. 

It was cold. So cold. He could barely feel the sun blazing over his head now. Only Logan’s heat against him had--

He stilled as warm fingers trailed along his scaled cheek. “Remember you’re not alone, Lyal. Not anymore.” Logan said into his ear as he gently scrubbed at the shed near Deceit’s ear with his own soft bristled brush. 

“That’s right!” Patton said, going for his side, working near his naval. “You’ll be free from it soon enough, sport. Many hands means less work!”

“Makes light work.” Logan corrected. “Though I suppose your sentiment works as well, Pat.” 

“Is there a procedure for hair, Princey?” Virgil asked hesitantly from behind. “I can work on that.” 

Roman hummed, glancing up to his hair, before shaking his head. “Not that I’m familiar with. That’s one thing that’s different from the Dragon Witch. She’s never had anything happen with her hair if the shed took her when she was more human.”

Virgil exhaled. “That’s so not helpful.” 

“Hey!” 

“Don’t worry, Princey. I’ll---figure it out.” Virgil said, flashing a comb before he set to work on the waxy covered bits of his hair.

Deceit took a steadying breath, his own attempts to free his shoulder becoming less frantic as he got distracted watching the others work, freeing more and more gleaming multi-colored scales from the shed. 

His fingers twitched one by one as Roman carefully freed them, revealing nails that had darkened and grown sharp, looking more like talons than human fingernails. 

“Those feel alright?” Creativity murmured, looking up to meet Deceit’s eye as he finished with his thumb. “Move them around. Open and Close. Did I miss anything there? A stray piece of shed caught in a crevice?” 

Deceit flexed and wiggled his fingers before clenching them into a fist, the talons scraping along his palm, but not drawing blood despite there being no scales there. 

“Seems fine.” He whispered, careful to not move his head too much so that Logan and Virgil wouldn’t accidentally hurt him as he let his hand fall open, noting how pink his palm was compared to the scales on the other side. Again he pressed his talons against the flesh. 

“Careful.” Roman warned. “I’m pretty sure you can draw blood if you try hard enough.”

True, even regular human nails could do that. “Talons.” He said, unable to hide his disbelief. He had talons now. 

“And...maybe a horn?” Virgil offered. “There’s a...bump here. I thought it was just a clump of hair stuck together, but--” 

Deceit stiffened before forcing himself to relax. “You’re kidding right? Please say you are.” That was just another--WHY A HORN!?

“I’m not actually. Feel for yourself.” 

He really didn’t want to. Why a horn?! What next? Wings? A TAIL? How much of a dragon exactly was he supposed to become with Thomas’s supposed growing ‘acceptance’ of him?! 

Letting his brush fall to the ash, he reluctantly reached up with his human hand, so as to let Roman continue working on removing the shed on his arm, to his hair. “Where?” 

“Here.” Virgil guided him to a spot a couple inches above his ear. 

Calling it a bump was an understatement. Deceit made a face as he felt the sharp point of what could only be the beginnings of a horn. “WHY?” He complained, dropping his hand, digging his fingers into the ash. 

He didn’t WANT horns. The talons were enough to deal with! Why did there have to be a horn too? Would it grow longer with each subsequent shed he went through? How long before he wouldn’t be able to wear his hat?! 

“Like I said before, dragons are much cooler than snakes.” Roman said, working on his elbow. 

“You’re not the one with the horn, Princey.” Deceit shot back, tilting his head as Logan began working on his ear. 

At least with snake scales he only had to worry about the scales and his hair! He didn’t have the first idea on what sort of care a horn needed, or the talons or...or even the dragon scales themselves!

“I’m sure the Dragon Witch can teach you!” Patton said, giving him a bright smile. 

Great. Being taught by a figment of the imagination. What next? 

“I think Patton’s done with your chest, Lyal.” Logan remarked, brushing the back of his neck. “If you would be so kind as to turn over, we can better access the shed back there.”

He exhaled, twisting to rest his head against Logan’s chest so he could give the others better access to his back. So help him if they discovered a wing back there. 

Still….this...this wasn’t so bad. 

With Roman coaching the others whenever they hesitated the process was going a lot quicker than it would have had he been attempting to remove the shed by himself.

He ducked his head, watching the rainbows dance across the blackened parts of his scales as the others worked, a shiver running through him as he felt the brushes vanish in favor of soft cloths being rubbed against his scales.

If this was what being part of the FamILY meant…having everyone work together like this...to help him.

Perhaps it wasn’t so bad to be...accep--included. 

“Lyal.” Logan’s breath ghosted over his scaled cheek. “I’m going to remove the shed cap over your eye, do not move.” 

A faint pressure around his snake eye and suddenly bright sunlight streamed into it, nearly blinding him. Deceit winced, tears blurring his vision as he blinked for the first time in nearly a week, easing the irritation of having had it open for so long.   

“And done!” Roman proclaimed with a final swipe of his polishing cloth, gesturing for Virgil and Patton to sit back, though both appeared reluctant to do so, their fingers lingering on his scales.

He couldn’t blame them.

Creativity snapped his fingers, a large mirror appearing in his hands as he tilted it so that Deceit could see his reflection for the first time. 

Deceit froze. Staring wide eyed at the image confronting him.

And he’d thought he’d forgotten how to breathe before. 

“So~? Whatcha think?” Roman asked, fidgeting in place.  

Deceits shakily inhaled, as he slowly brought a hand up to his face, feeling the smooth scales there as he pushed away from Logan, shivering from the lack of heat as he sat up to get a better look at his new scales shining like a hoard of gemstones in the sunlight. 

Beautiful.

He couldn’t look away. “Is...is that really...me?” He asked in disbelief.

It had to be hadn’t it? This wasn’t some sort of cruel trick? 

Virgil squeezed his shoulder, smirking in the mirror. “It’s surprising isn’t it?” He said, softly. “What changes when you’re accepted.” 

Changes. Had Virgil--but this couldn’t--this was really was him? Deceit moved his taloned hand, the one in the mirror copying him exactly as he ran his fingers along his cheek, delicately touching the now pointed tip of his ear, before running up through his hair that now had golden highlights similar to Virgil’s own purple ones, feeling the obsidian colored horn barely visible there. 

And then there was his eye, no longer a cold pale yellow, the iris seemed to dance with an inner fire, flickering between orange and gold as an array of emotions rushed through him. 

Beautiful.

He--He was…

Deceit ducked his head, blinking rapidly as his eyes burned with unshed tears.

A Dark Side shouldn’t cry. Shouldn’t appear weak in front of the others in front of his--

Family. 

“You--” He swallowed hard over the lump forming in his throat as he ran his hand down his scales. Free. Finally free of the shed. He lifted his left hand, stretching it fully out and flexing his fingers. Watching as the rainbows shimmered over the scales. Unmarred. Working perfectly.

It--it---He looked up to Roman, Patton, Virgil and finally Logan their heat signatures now haloed around them now that his sna--dragon eye could see them properly. “Thank you.” He managed to choke out.  

Without their help--he had no idea how he could have--what would have--if he hadn’t come--if Logan hadn’t convinced him to--

Roman relaxed, offering him a nod and a soft smile in return.

“Of course, LyLy.” Patton said his own eyes shimmering with tears as he grinned wide. “We’re here to help you no matter what.” 

“And since the major crisis appears to be over.” Logan said, a tinge of awe in his voice as his fingers ghosted along Deceit’s scales. “We should now focus on the more minor issue of getting you something to eat. Maybe that soup I mentioned earlier.” A small smile played on his lips when Deceit’s stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.

He flushed, watching how the reds in the rainbows on his scaled cheek grew brighter than the other colors right before the mirror vanished, leaving him staring directly at the delighted look on Roman’s face. He looked away. “Ah...probably.” 

Already he could feel his mouth watering at the thought of having something warm going down his throat. Soup would do for now. Though honestly---Pizza too would be good--no he’d better be careful to not eat too much solid food right away after so long a fast.  

“Eat?” Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Now?”

Deceit shrugged, grimacing as his stomach growled again. “Yes? I...haven’t since--” He gestured to his scales.

“Wait.” Virgil grabbed his wrist, the shadows under his eyes growing dark. “You’re telling me...you haven’t eaten in SIX days?”

“WHAT!” Patton cried, shooting his feet, sending up a small cloud of ash as he did so. “No! No no no we can’t have that mister!”

“Why in the world would you--” Virgil demanded.

Deceit rolled his eyes. Oh, like Anxiety was one to talk about not eating for long periods of time! It wasn’t his fault he missed a week. “I can’t when I’m shedding, Annie.” 

Would it be the same now though? With his scales now taking after a dragon’s instead of a snakes? 

“Well, we can’t have you wait a second more LyLy! Soup’s coming. Hold on. I’ll be right back!” Patton turned, the beach scene shimmering around him as he vanished from sight. 

“Perhaps while Patton is getting that...it would be best for us to return to the living room, Roman.” Logan suggested as he too moved to his feet, offering a hand for Deceit to take. “Lyal will probably be more comfortable resting on the couch while we wait for his long overdue meal.”

Roman scoffed, raising his hand towards the sun as if to grab it. “Couch?! Living room?! How dull!”

Deceit glanced up to the sun as he took Logan’s hand, shakily getting to his feet. “Honestly...compared to the excitement I’ve been through today…” He barely flinched as Logic scooped him up into his arms, holding him securely before his knees could buckle again. 

Logan shot him another small smile. “Save your strength.” He cautioned.

Deceit sighed and nodded, resting his head against Logan’s chest without complaint, enjoying how the warmth was less...antagonizing to him now that he was free from the shed. “Dull sounds rather good to me Roman.”  

“Total Mood, Dee. Anything to get away from the fire demon in the sky.” Virgil said, again adjusting his lighter hoodie over his eyes.

“But what if we had an epic midnight beach party instead?!” Roman asked as he lowered his hand, the sun moving down towards the horizon with the gesture.

“Ohhh.” Virgil rolled his eyes, pushing his hood back. “You can make the sun set whenever you want and yet you can’t lessen the intensity of its heat?” 

“Hey!” Roman whirled pointing a finger at Anxiety. “Having Heat without Light is rather difficult to manage Dr. Gloom! The right conditions had to be met for Lya---”

“Yah, yah. Heat helps the shed, gotcha.” Virgil exhaled, glancing up to the stars that were appearing in the sky as the last rays of the sun vanished.

At least he still had Logan’s heat to rely on with the sun now gone. Deceit fought not to shiver. “What does this...party entail exactly?” He asked. 

If it was just sitting in the dark staring at the stars, he’d have to do a hard pass. Not even a thick blanket and Logan’s stories about the constellations would be enough to convince him to sit in the cold so soon after finishing the shedding process.

“Well, I was thinking we could have a fire.” Roman snapped his fingers, a roaring campfire appearing near enough to Logan and Deceit that he could already feel the heat from the flames.

Deceit reached out with his scaled hand, humming as the fire warmed his skin. Not as hot as the sun, or Logan’s body heat, but it was...nice.  

“Can’t have our Halfling Dragon getting cold now can we?” Creativity said with a wink. 

“But you can have me die from heat stroke?” 

“Oh hush, Count Dracula. I kept your hoodie! You can’t tell me--”

Halfing Dragon? Deceit made a face at that. Just because he had the dragon scales and the talons and the horns and…okay, he’d have to think of a better argument on why he wasn’t a...Halfling. 

“Ooooh a campfire! Perfect!” Patton exclaimed, suddenly popping back into view, once more in his normal clothes, with a large pot in his hands. It shifted to what looked like Virgil’s Halloween Cauldron complete with a thin metal handle as he moved to the flames. “I thought I smelt the smoke! I can easily make the soup over it like in those adventure stories!” He said as a pole and hook appeared for him to hang the pot on so it hung directly in the middle of the fire. 

Patton studied it, making minute adjustments to the pot before nodding to himself in satisfaction as he pulled out a long wooden spoon to stir the contents inside. 

“Exactly! We could even watch a Western movie!” Roman exclaimed as a large screen appeared behind him, the fire growing smaller so as to not compete with the light shining on the screen showing the Disney logo as the ash rose up around them forming large couches for everyone to sprawl on with a multiple of blankets piled nearby. 

“There’s a Disney movie that’s Western?” Virgil asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Why yes, Zorro.” Roman grinned, looking pleased with himself. “The Lone Ranger was made by Disney was it not?”

Anxiety smirked. “My my, Princey. You can actually watch shows that aren’t a cartoon?”

“HEY!”  

Deceit’s nostrils flared, and he leaned towards the pot as the scent of chicken noodle soup wafted over to him, ignoring the other two’s bickering. “That smells awf--” He cut off, making a face as he quickly corrected himself. “Amazing, Pat.” 

“Lying?” Logan asked in an undertone as he sat both of them down on the couch nearest the fire so that Deceit could stay warm. “I take it the compulsion is coming back now that the shed is over?” 

Deceit exhaled as he adjusted his position so he was more comfortable resting against Logic. “No.”

Great. Now he’d have to be more conscious of how he spoke to the others again. Why couldn’t the shift to dragon scales have altered that particular quirk of his? That would have been extremely helpful. But nooo. He had to grow a horn instead.  

“Mhmmm.” Logan raised an eyebrow, eyes glittering with humor. “Pretty sure that’s a falsehood, Lyal.” 

Deceit stuck out his tongue as he grabbed a blanket to pull over them. “Forget what I said.” 

Logan chuckled, his fingers again running through his hair, moving in slow circles around the small horn. “I know.” He said softly. “You can’t always not lie. As Logic, I won’t forget that. I promise, we’ll work with you as your FamILY so it won’t be an issue.” 

Family. 

Butterflies danced in his stomach as Deceit partially curled up to make room for Annie to sit by his feet like a silent guardian gargoyle, watching as Roman and Patton worked together to get the soup and the movie ready.

He had to admit, he was growing rather fond of the concept. 

To Be Continued Epilogue

[trash-side-of-nox]

fic writer interview

tagged by @meikuree, thanks for having me in mind! It’s been a while since I did one of these. 

name: NoxCounterspell

fandoms: Currently writing for Kakegurui and Shingeki no Kyojin.

two-shot: The Beginning and the End (or Knocking on Heaven's door), a Kirasaya (KKG) Fic. This was intended to be a one-shot, however ended up being posted in two chapters because it was too long (insert here cynical laughter when I'm currently posting 14k chapters). The project was conceived by a very creative mind and acquaintance that came to me with a very fucking good outline. Together, we managed to create a very immersing post-canon AU, even if I say so myself. This touched a lot of different subjects, everything revolving around the concepts of family and freedom, right versus wrong, the lack of understanding, psychological projection. One of my favorite parts is the tag Meeting the Parents, and how that can play in how the story is perceived.

most popular multi-chapter: To you, the girls lost in Hell (SnK, Mikannie). An absolute whim of mine, taking Yams story and twisting it and shaping it into a narrative that fits snippets of my own imagination, regarding Annie and Mikasa's relationship (this is basically going to be an enemies, to lovers, to enemies, to friends, to lovers). Really, this is a fic entirely about them, for them and how their basic symbiotic relationship: clashing and attraction impacted everything happening on SnK. This is an excuse to study two characters in canon-verse, getting and providing a humble glimpse of how these characters, in the context they are being written, work. Vomiting a heck ton of my own headcanons, I'm trying to add angst, action, psychology and others to the table, following the overall outline Yams created, but redrawing the entire canvas. Honestly, I'm deeply surprised by how well received the story has been. This will try to keep up the intensity, overall, the outline is designed to play with emotions for the whole ride: we know where we begin and where we are going, but the how it's the sting.

actual worst part of writing: Writer's block. Obsessively researching something to realize it just won't fit the story. Self-doubt. Isolating oneself while writing non-stop. The built-in expectations one may have about their writing that might not be met by the end result.

how you choose your titles: One of my favorite parts of writing it's designing titles. Most of them respond to the question of what does the fic need, how can I guide the reader as to why this has been written? So say, To you, the girls lost in Hell is a direct nod to SnK's first manga chapter and the Light Novel: Lost Girls. This story is for Annie and Mikasa, two girls/women left to their own devices, surviving, searching, trying. A message I hope gets delivered. The Time series (Kirasaya, Meariri, Kakegurui) needs definition. Words are concepts we never really stop to decipher, as much as we ignore human behavior. Defining an entire character study by just one word, the context is easily guided: perhaps Fall is the clearest one, how can a character fall and break without them meaning to? I can rant for days as to what's the process I prefer for title creation, but I can summarize in: how can a whole story be told from the very beginning?

do you outline: Yes. My outlines give me an overall idea of how to get from A to Z, without closing the doors to letters from other alphabets. Pretty much every story I start comes from a dialog that won't leave my mind or a very vivid scene I pictured. Building around it - how the narrative goes and comes, rises and falls - is what outlining comes to do in my case. I outline in two stages: overall skeleton (indents, phrases), then, general paragraphs describing each scene. To this, add specific dialogs and phrases that are non negotiable. If I can’t fit them in, then the scene is not working. I like highlighting bits and pieces of the prose. Phrases that will get stuck with the reader and myself. 

ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: PACIFIC RIM MIKANNIE. There, I said it. This has been running around my mind for a while but I think it's mostly for the lols and for how much of a nerd I am. I don't think I would write it but there are snippets in my head of what that might look like. There is also an ExMilitary!Annie and Cop!Mikasa Modern AU running around in my head, with them getting into a relationship with twists and turns to pertain to what they've lived, boundaries, psychological walls, PTSD... etc.  For Kakegurui: BLADE RUNNER + ALTERED CARBON AU.  Yes, I like SciFi. I have a heck ton of wips, some might see the light, some might not. We'll see.

callouts @ me: I don’t know what a omniscient, general narrator is. For the love of Dio I can’t wrap myself around how to narrate something without siding with a character. I’ve read examples, designed scenes... and still there is always one character I get introspective with or predominates in the scene and everything, then, sides with them. So I’m faulty of jumping from POV to POV by scenes. Or I write an entire fic based in once character’s perspective. In both instances, I always hope it’s not confusing.  Long sentences without breaks or very stuffy wording is another fault of mine. Probably from the fact that I like to write from thoughts and actions in depth than leaving things to the reader’s imagination. I want readers to see what I see, to feel what I feel. I try to write from a place of empathy, channeling the character and their psyche, and the impact that creates is what I want to reflect. So overdetailing is a dear friend of mine. A very talented fellow fic writer told me that I build until people can’t escape what I wrote. I think that’s both good and bad, as I’m taking the freedom people get when picturing their own version.

best writing traits: Based on comments, narrative and characterization. Again, I try to write from a place of empathy, and I undust my psychology classes each time I’m trying to write a character. I like character studies, dissecting something until it’s raw, how can I make or break a persona that’s already been written, that already has a defined mind/soul. That’s why I love angst and currently, thriller/horror.  I’m, also, obsessive with details. Everything has to be accurate and clock work. Does anyone care if the bus I’m describing actually exists? Not really, but I need to have a model in mind. Is it really necessary to open google maps and calculate how long it would take X character to walk from Tokyo’s University to a fictional apartment building? Certainly not. However I need to know in order to sell it. If it makes sense to me, then I’m comfortable enough to write it. It’s not practical, but allows to create tangible actions/places.

spicy tangential opinion: Very snob of me... but mind your text’s visual presentation. If the text is unappealing to the eye, it can be uncomfortable to read. I like fics (and books as well) that are mindful of the aesthetic in lines of words. Having adequate spacing in between paragraphs, balancing length of sentences, using defined styles for dialogs... Gives a very professional feel to it. I’m all for AUs and canon divergence, but fanfiction has a very fragile requirement that is to respect the character. Do with them whatever you like, have them tap dance or bungee jump, alter their canon-verse or send them to Hogwarts, but keep the essence. How and why is a character acting the way they do is key while writing fanfiction. I’ve read great stories that would have worked best as original fiction, because I can’t feel the characters. Again, a very snob thought. 

tagging (no pressure): @ladyjay1616 @askboxangel @blankiebandit and anyone else that may want to join

[elldell1204]

I Sing for Love - Jay Halstead x Reader

fofisstilinski: hi, i would like a jay halstead with prompts 3 - “Can you just shut your mouth?”, 60 - “But I want to hear you sing.”, 63 - “I think I love you.”, please, thanks

Thank you for this! ❤️ I didn’t reblog @darkdisrepair ’s prompt list to be getting them, but they kindly let me use them so definitely go and check them out. Their Upstead fics are like no other! They’re genuinely amazing. 😘 Anyways, I really loved writing this one. I did alter some of the prompts slightly to make them work in the sentence, by the way. Also, I’ve been playing The Last of Us II recently, and this fic was partially inspired by the scene of Ellie playing the guitar in the music store. I’ve linked it down below so you can listen to the song I mean, as it’s really beautiful and thought it’d fit nicely here. I hope you like it, even if it is a little long-winded. Enjoy! 😊

Warning: couple swear words, may make you cry :( sorry!

wc - 2,783

Click here for the song

Admiring the pile of untouched boxes in the otherwise empty corner of the living room, you took a moment to finally let it sink in. ‘I’m moving in with Jay.’ It was a seemingly simple event to anyone else, but for you and your best friend, it was a huge step forward in your hopefully long life together. Because you knew this was it. You had shared your heart, your mind, your soul with Jay Halstead, a feat you had never even come close to achieving with any of your other boyfriends, not that there were many.

It was scarily similar how alike you two were, yet at the same time, you were totally different. You were both quick-witted, divergent thinkers, aware of the true horrors of the world but in different lights. He had first discovered that when his father gave him ‘tough love’ as a child, a trait he vowed never to adopt. Next was when he saw the travesty that is war; tragic losses of friends as their lives are ripped from your hands by beings you could swear weren’t human, the methods of finding information that haunted you in the form of your worst nightmares, the survivor’s guilt that plagued your everyday when you came home to the widows of the men you fought so hard to save, but unfortunately it wasn’t hard enough. It was a miracle he was able to pull himself out of that hole, and still, he hasn’t fully. But with your help and Hailey’s, he’s surviving. Knowing him now, you weren’t surprised that Jay went into the police force after his active duty. Some say that Chicago is a warzone in itself, but he knew that he could endure this one. After all, the heart he possesses wouldn’t have allowed him to do something with his life that didn’t help others. One of the many reasons why you loved him. Every day he sees the scum of the world, but when he manages to help someone, it reminds him of why he does it. And he knows when he comes home to you, he’s safe. You both know that. Because you have each other, and you protect one another, physically and mentally.

You weren’t on the front lines like Jay was, but still you saw the suffering and agony the world withstands. You were an ASA, a dream you had since you were a child. From the age of three you were better at arguments than any other child on the playground, something your dad used to tease you lovingly for your whole childhood. He told you to “chase your dreams until they become reality, because you would never forgive yourself if you didn’t”. You had asked him why he seemed so forlorn when he said the last part, sat on your bed one night after he’d read you your story. That was when he told you about his dream of becoming a singer, an almost unachievable dream, but one he worked so damn hard for. You asked what happened, and he relayed how his mother became troubled with drinking and drugs after his father left, and so he, being the eldest child, had to work to provide for the family, and so his dream stayed a dream.

You remember saying “But, Daddy, you can still be a singer. I can be your audience.”, and you can still see the smile that spread across his face at your words, the expression being etched into your memory ever since. That was the night he decided to make you his protégé, teaching you how to play guitar and singing with you. This went on for years, and by the time you were thirteen, you were both playing along together, serenading and smiling without a care in the world.

But it wasn’t long before your world crashed down around you. You were seventeen when you got the call, walking out of school one afternoon, with the biggest of your problems being a boring geography assignment, when your mother told you to get to the hospital instead of going straight home. She wouldn’t – more like couldn’t – tell you why over the phone, and as you rushed to Lakeshore Memorial Hospital, your mind was racing with possibilities.

Your dad had collapsed at work, luckily not severely injured, but after running further tests, it was discovered he had stage four lung cancer, and there was nothing they could do. You barely left the hospital the next few weeks, sitting by your father’s bedside as he drifted in and out of consciousness, coughing one minute and throwing up the next. He managed to stay awake a few hours a day at the start, holding your hand and telling you he loved you, retelling stories from his childhood and yours. But when his lungs got weaker, he asked you to bring in your guitar and sing to him, seeing as he couldn’t do it himself. “Music makes me almost as happy as you do, my darling.”

So you did. You sang until your voice was hoarse, until you fell asleep mid-verse, until your fingers and thumbs were blistered. Your mother sat like a mannequin in the chair on the other side of his bed, holding his hand, treasuring the feeling. The feeling of the man you lost too soon.

“If I ever were to lose you, I’d surely lose myself. Everything that I’ve found here, I’ve not found by myself.” You sang, tears pricking at your eyes. You looked up, gazing over at the weak form of your father. If it wasn’t for the machine hooked up to him that was beeping quietly but steadily, you may have thought he was already gone. He was that debilitated, with his limbs laid straight, outlining his body, his eyes closed and his lips, that seemed paler than ever before, the only landmark in the vast ocean of ghastly white that had replaced the face once full of life and laughter.

You laid your guitar back in its case before moving closer to him, intertwining your fingers with his, scared at how cold they felt already. You looked over at your mother. She was silently crying, her eyes rimmed red and streaks traced down her cheeks, and she nodded her head at you.

You sniffed, letting the tears that stung your eyes fall as you stood, leaning over to press a gentle kiss to your father’s forehead.

“It’s okay, Dad.” You whispered. “You can go now. Go be at peace. I love you.”

And after a deep breath, you turned to the doctor that stood at the doorway. “You can take him off life support now.”

You let the tear flow down your cheek for a few seconds before you wiped it away. You shook your head, trying to get rid of the sadness. You had a job to do.

You had officially moved in with Jay a few weeks ago now, but due to your busy lives, the only things you had unpacked were the bare necessities, most of which were already dotted around your shared apartment.

It still sounds weird to refer to Jay’s apartment as your own. You practically lived here before he asked you, anyways, seeing as yours was a lot smaller, in a worse neighbourhood and had a lot of noisy neighbours. It was practically the complete opposite to Jay’s, his being a two-bedroom condo with sweet Mrs Elizabeth Bailey next door who you often helped out by carrying her groceries or fixing a dodgy cupboard door. She was like a great aunt to you both, inviting you round for dinner or baking you some cookies every so often. Many a time had she told you about her late husband, Tommy, and their stories from their lives together. Both you and Jay loved to hear the tales of their adventures, and you were saddened that you never got to meet him. One night, you sat close together on Lizzie’s couch, Jay’s arm wrapped around your waist as you leant into his chest, admiring a photo album she had passed to you as she recalled the memories linked to each image from her armchair. She had surprised you when she suddenly said, “You two remind me of Tommy and I; hopelessly in love.” You looked up and smiled at her, a twinkle in her eye as she remembered her husband, and you felt Jay pull you just that little bit closer.

It was also that night, when you both returned to his apartment, that he asked you to move in with him.

And now you were rummaging through your stuff that was packed into boxes, pretty much half of your life stuffed neatly into them. Looking through each one, you realised how little each of the material items mattered to you now that you knew Jay. Apart from the photos of friends and family, the odd keepsake you’d collected over the years and meaningful gifts from various birthdays and Christmases, it was all just junk. At least you thought so until you spotted your guitar case tucked away into the corner.

You took a deep breath before reaching over and picking it up, getting to your feet as you carried the case over to the couch. You sat down slowly, your heartrate picking up even with your meticulously controlled breaths. You gently laid it down in front of you and opened it, lifting the lid like it would shatter if you went too fast. You hadn’t opened it in years, not since you closed it at the hospital on that horrible day. A droplet landed on the smooth mahogany, one that came from your eyes. It took you a while before you wiped it away, unsure if you were strong enough to touch the instrument without breaking down before it.

‘Pull yourself together, Y/N, it’s been ten years’ you thought. And despite telling yourself that you had mostly moved past your father’s death, trying to see the light from it instead of the darkness, you still had moments where you were majorly overcome with grief. But you knew you could do this. You had to. He would have wanted you to.

So you picked it up. You examined it, not that there would be any new marks or scratches with it being shut off from the world for a decade, and then laid it on your knee like a baby, your hands assuming the positions that were like second nature to you, like another language. And you strummed the strings. They were horribly out of tune, so you let out a sodden laugh at the sound before tuning it to perfection.

Now all you had to do was play. You had time before Jay got home, so that wasn’t stopping you. What was is the thought of playing the guitar your dad bought you, the guitar your dad taught you to play, the guitar that you played to him and with him as you sang together. You knew he wouldn’t want you to stop playing, but you couldn’t bear the thought of playing it without him there to listen.

So you closed your eyes and imagined he was there with you, listening and smiling, as your fingers found the first chord on the neck of the guitar and you played it. Then the next. And the next. And you were doing it. You were playing the song. Now all you had to do was sing. You saw your dad’s smile and you knew you could do it.

“If I ever were to lose you,

I’d surely lose myself.”

Then suddenly there was a loud smash of glass on the floor behind you and you jumped, spinning around violently to see Jay stood in the doorway over some shattered glass.

“What the hell, Jay?! You scared the shit outta me.” You shouted, a hand over your racing heart.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you, I just wanted to hear you sing.” He smiled sympathetically, walking a little further in to lean against the chest of drawers in the corner.

“Shut your mouth. Like hell you did. You just wanted something to make fun of me for.” You huffed, frowning, as you moved to put away your guitar. You could feel the unjustifiable anger bubbling deep inside you at him hearing you, allowing yourself to be so careless as to let him in the first place.

“What? No, of course not. It was really beautiful, and I’ve never really heard you sing before.” He said cautiously as he came to sit beside you on the couch, taking a hold of your hands to stop you putting away the guitar. He could tell you were annoyed, and though he wasn’t sure why, he knew to tread carefully, as he seemingly had hit a nerve.

“Yeah, well, I don’t do it around other people, at least not since I was younger.” You said softly, feeling guilty for shouting at him.

“With your dad?” He asked. He knew all about the story with your father, minus the part where you sang to him before he died. You couldn’t bring yourself to relive that if you didn’t have to. But now you did have to. You couldn’t let Jay be in the dark about it any longer. All he had ever been was supporting and caring to you, and you felt ready to let him in fully.

“Yeah.” You whispered, not trusting your voice. You shuffled in closer to him, and he let go of your left hand to wrap his arm around you, and then you took a deep breath. “I, erm, haven’t played my guitar since the day my dad died. He asked me to play it to him whilst he was in hospital, because he couldn’t do it himself like before he got sick. And on his last day, I played him that song you just heard; it was one of his favourites. Not that he was conscious. He’d been knocked out cold with meds for days by then. After, we said goodbye and took him off life support. And I could never bring myself to play my guitar since.”

Silence followed, allowing him to process and you to recover. He kept rubbing his thumb over your knuckles, showing you support without using his words.

“I’m so sorry, Y/N.” He whispered, pressing a kiss to your hair. “But wouldn’t he want you to keep playing? For him?”

“He would, that’s why I’m trying now.” You pulled away slightly and smiled at him. “He’d have liked you, y’know? He really would.”

“I’m sure the feeling would be mutual.” He returned your smile.

Every day he reminded you of the wonderful man he is; caring, funny, kind, smart. But he also showed you he loved you, that he trusted you. And so you did the same.

You sat up, retrieving your guitar and laying it on your lap once more. You glanced over to him and smiled.

“This was also one of his favourites.” You told him, and then you started to play.

 “Talking away,

I don’t know what,

I’m to say I’ll say it anyway,

Todays another day to find you.

Shying away,

I’ll be coming for your love okay.

 Take on me,

Take me on.

I’ll be gone,

In a day or two.

 Needless to say,

I'm odds and ends,

But I'll be stumbling away,

Slowly learning that life is okay.

Say after me,

It's no better to be safe than sorry.

 Take on me,

Take me on,

I'll be gone,

In a day or two,

In a day or two.”

 When you finished, you sighed deeply, a half-sad, half-loving smile spreading across your face as you turned towards Jay. He was sat in an awestruck daze, smiling back at you as you put your guitar away in the case. When you sat back up, he shifted closer to you, gently taking your cheek in his palm as he gazed into your eyes, running his thumb softly over your cheek.

“I think I love you.” He murmurs.

You scoff jokingly and roll your eyes teasingly. “Well, you better bloody love me, Halstead. We’ve moved in together.”

He chuckles, and you can feel his warm breath brush over your cheek.

“I do. I love you. And I’ll keep saying it, even when you’re sick of hearing it.”

“I’ll never get sick of hearing it, Jay, because I love you too.” You whispered, smirking as you leaned in to kiss him. He met your lips with his, kissing you lovingly, assuring that you knew you were it for him, as he was it for you.

[nerdesilindoestuff]

worth the risk (All Might x Reader)

So, I’ve started watching MHA last week and here we are. I wrote this ficlet to procrastinate while studying for my term finals because my man Toshinori deserves some more love. I had originally thought of a whole fic about him, however, given the load of work I have to do, I don’t think I’ll have the time to write that much (at the exception of some scenes). 

Here is some context: You are a 30-ish-year-old doctor, you started working at UA as a part time school doctor to continue your research about quirks. Your alter is creating force-field projections (kind of like Violet from the Incredibles). Toshinori and you got close and have kissed once but you don’t know about his weak form.

word count: +2,5k

The evening had been pretty ordinary. You had had your dinner and was now laying on your couch, reading the latest article about gene therapy while lazily taking notes. Your hair was up in a messy bun and had opted for some comfy clothing, wearing a way too large t-shirt that went down to your thighs and some worn-out shorts. You had your TV on with minimal sound as background noise to your night-time study.

However, your peaceful night was cut short when someone pounded forcefully on your door.

You frowned; you weren’t excepting anyone. You went to look through the peephole and was dismayed to see All Might, in his civilian clothes, his right hand clenched on his left side in visible pain, while his left hand was planted next to the door in support. You quickly undid the locks on the door to let the hero come in, but as soon as you opened the door, Toshinori start falling clearly losing consciousness. Instinctively, you created a force fielding around him, avoiding him crashing on the floor. You felt a sharp pain in your wrists as you struggled to keep him in levitation. It had been some time since you’d used your quirk at full force like this and the weight of the man didn’t help. You somehow managed to float his body to your couch and fell to your knees next to him.

“All Might? Can you hear me?” you asked breathlessly, trying to think rationally and not give in the panic that was slowly creeping in your chest.

Suddenly, he coughed, spitting blood on himself and your furnishers. It was the first time you saw the hero in such a state. His eyes were closed but you could sense him fighting to stay awake. His face was covered in sweat, which was never a good sign, but what preoccupied you was the smoke that was coming off him. Your eyes widened as his body morphed.

What’s going on? You thought, panic clawing more and more in your chest.  

Once the smoke dissipated, the frail stature of his true self replaced the muscular figure of All Might.  

“T-this wasn’t how I wanted you to find out,” he breathed out raggedly, “I’ll explain everything, but I need you to…”

The end of it was lost in a violent coughing fit, resulting in more blood on his clothes and probably on yours too. However, he managed to lift his shirt to reveal a scar that stretched on most of his abdomen. Your breathing hitched as you saw the central scar tissue, red, hot, and throbbing. Pushing aside your shock of his startling transformation, you started inspecting his body; it seemed that it had been infected somehow, even though the outer parts of the scar hinted that the wound was probably years old. After thinking about it for a moment, a cocktail of antibiotics with some painkillers seemed to be the best way out.

“I’ll be back in a second,” you said as you rushed to your bathroom cabinet.

You always had some extra medication at home, as well as some medical supplies, just in case. You grabbed a bunch of pills and an IV kit before almost running at your couch, where you hoped Toshinori was still conscious.

“Hey, you there?” you asked kneeling next to him.

He jerked his head in a stiff nod, his face contorted in pain. You prepared the IV solution, as you continued talking to him:

“Ok, I need you to stay awake for a moment, alright?”

Another nod. You felt his fingers curl around the crook of your elbow; he looked focused on calming his erratic breathing. You felt a pang of sadness at the sight of his struggle, wanting to comfort him and run your hand through his hair. But you had to finish this.  

“This should work, so hang in there. I don’t really know what’s going on, but we will talk about it later. Don’t worry about it,” you said, unsure if you were trying to reassure him or yourself.

You put the prepared IV bag on the side and quickly started assembling the line. When all was set, you looked towards the hero.

“Ok, here we go.”

You punctured a vein that wasn’t too superficial and successfully placed the catheter before opening the IV line. It took few minutes before the tension started slowly lifting off Toshinori’s face. You let out a sigh in relief. However, you were far from done yet. Going back to your bathroom, you grabbed your first aid kit. You still had to disinfect the wound. You went back to your living room where the laying man had seemed to calm down, his breathing now even and steady. He looked exhausted and was probably going to fall asleep at any second now. You sat on the floor next to him, intertwining your fingers with his and cupping half of his face with your other hand, running your thumb across his cheek.

“Hey, I’ve got you. You can rest, now,” You whispered.

As he drifted off to sleep, you sterilized your material and got to work. After minutes of meticulous disinfection, you closed the wound with a clean bandage. Letting out a sigh, you leaned back against your coffee table, feeling a wave of exhaustion take over your body. Even though, you had tried to avoid thinking about it while taking care of him, you had to face the reality of All Might’s frail and weakened form. Was it a result of an attack of a villain? A poison maybe? He said that he didn’t want to you to find it out like this. What did he mean by that? How long had he been in this condition? Was this why he was avoiding your so much these last few days? The more questions popped in your mind, the more this whole situation seemed incomprehensible.

You decided to drop it for tonight; you wouldn’t get any answers while Toshinori was asleep. Plus, your own fatigue was quickly catching up on your, as your eyelids got heavier by the second. In a last effort, you went to your bathroom to sloppily wrap some bandages on the own wrists which started bruising because of the previous strain. Then, you gathered some pillows and blankets from bedroom and brought them to your living room. You covered the sleeping hero with a light blanket and settle on the floor next to him. You checked one last time on the IV drip that you had awkwardly balanced on your floor lamp, before finally giving into your exhaustion.

___

The first thing Toshinori felt as he woke up was the uncomfortable tinge on his right arm. He opened his eyes and was met with an unfamiliar ceiling. Slowly, the memories of last night came crashing in: he was sleeping in your couch, the uncomfortable tinge was the IV you had scrambled to put together to save him. As on cue, he noticed the stable breathing of someone sleeping nearby. He turned his head to locate where the breathing was coming from and was surprised to see you curled up between the couch and a coffee table on the floor, with only a pillow and a blanket. Your bandaged hands made him suspect that you probably hurt yourself while trying to get him to lay down. The hero swore softly as he passed a hand on his face guiltily. He didn’t want to put this burden on you.

It came to him that you hadn’t really reacted to his true form yesterday. Well, mostly because you had other pressing issues at hand. He was tempted to leave now and not deal with the repercussions. But that’ll just exacerbate everything and if you didn’t already hate him by now, you with no doubt would then. So, he stayed still, his eyes closed, feeling the anxiety weighing on this chest.

At some point, he heard you stirring awake. You let out an unhappy groan as got up to your feet.

“Hey,” Toshinori said tentatively in a hoarse voice.

Your head turned sharply at the hero, still laying on your couch.

“Oh, I didn’t think you’d be awake already,” you stammered surprised, “how are you feeling?”  

“Better,” he began as he dragged himself to sit up, his legs still stretched across your couch, “all thanks to you. I owe you one.”

“Right.”

An awkward silence settled in. Hesitation flickered across your face; you looked like you were about to say something but ended up advising against it. Toshinori figured you’d probably bring the subject of his weakened form at your own pace. You pressed your lips into a thin line and drew near to sit next to him. Toshinori froze at the sudden proximity, as you began checking on the drip. When you were satisfied with everything, you got up.

“Are you hungry?” You inquired as you headed toward your kitchen which was opened to your living room.

The hero was about to say no but his stomach – what’s left of it anyway – growled loudly.

“Well yes, actually” he responded, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

Your lips quirked up in a faint smile. Toshinori observed as you were messing around your kitchen, almost mechanically turning on your coffee machine and gathering some ingredients from your fridge to cook what seemed to be an omelette. At some point, you brought him a glass of water and a filled plate, before sitting in front of him on the coffee table with your own food and coffee.

“Thanks,” he whispered, moving his legs off the couch to face you.

They started eating in silence for a moment, before you spoke up:

“So, are we going to keep ignoring the elephant in the room?”

Toshinori sighed as he put his barely touched plate on the table. He couldn’t eat more than a few bites anyway. He examined the woman for a second before answering; your tone was controlled, not letting through any accusation but still firm enough to let him know that you were probably pissed.

“Yeah, I figured you might want some answers.”

You let out a dry laugh. Yeah, you were definitely pissed. You didn’t say anything for a moment, most likely unsure of what to ask first.

“How did it happen?”

It made sense that that would be what you’d wanted to know.

“A fight against a villain. It happened years ago, and I had barely made it. They had to remove a part of my respiratory and digestive systems, which is why I look like this now,” he said bitterly pointing at himself before continuing, “I have to stick to a ton of medication, including recently to some immunosuppressants which was probably what kicked started this whole thing.”

You listened carefully; your face was awfully difficult to read.

“Were you going to tell me at some point?” You asked.

Toshinori felt a sharp pang of guilt at your betrayed tone.

“I-I don’t know,” he answered honestly, “I didn’t expect whatever we had to get to this point–”

“–I thought you trusted me.”

“I did and I-I do, I swear–”

“–is this why you have been ignoring me for days?” You interrupted again.

“I-I… It’s complicated. I didn’t think you’d feel the same way about me. And when you kissed me, I panicked. I just felt like I was catfishing you.”

“Catfishing?” You repeated incredulously rolling your eyes.

 “You know what I mean. That night you were with All Might. The hero, not… me.”

“That’s bullshit,” you said adamantly.

“It’s true, I’m not…,” he paused taking a long breath, “I’m not him anymore.”

“I can’t believe after all that talk about Midoriya, you would still say that.”

“What?” He asked confused.

“Your quirk doesn’t define you. That’s not what makes you a hero. Isn’t that what you said to me that night you walked me home?”

When he didn’t answer, you continued frustrated:

“I kissed you because… I don’t know. I like you, I guess… As a person.” You felt your cheeks burn but reminded yourself to stay composed; you were still mad after all. “I’d hope you didn’t have as low esteem of me that you would think I’d feel any different of you because of your quirk or your looks. At your core, you’re still All Might.”

Toshinori wanted to say something, anything. That he had feelings for your too, for once. That he was sorry for not telling you the truth sooner. That he trusted your and the only reason he hadn’t say anything was because he believed you deserved better. But he stayed silent, causing you to throw your hands up in a huff.

“Never mind,” you mumbled, standing up and bringing your plate to your sink. “I’m going to take a shower, I’ll come back to remove the IV line, then…,” you sighed before turning back, “you can do whatever you want.”

Then, you went into your bathroom, closing the door with a little more force than needed. Toshinori laid back into the couch and let out a hopeless sigh, pulling his hair back. This wasn’t the direction he thought this was going to take. Well, he hadn’t expected any of this actually. Those damned immunosuppressants.

The hero waited patiently for you to return, trying to figure out how he could turn this situation around. He hated seeing you upset because of him.

Finally, you came back, in fresh clothes and with some first aid materials. The anger and frustration from earlier seemed to have faded a bit, leaving a more tired and saddened version of you. Toshinori didn’t fail to notice that your eyes were red, probably from crying in the shower. He felt another pang of guilty striking yet again. He watched your work around his arm in silence and he rehearsed his apology.

When you had applied a last piece of tape on his bandage, you let go of his arm. They were close enough their legs were touching. You were about to stand up when his hands held you still. Your eyes went from his hands on your wrists to his face.

“I’m sorry.” He blurted out, keeping his head low. “I don’t want to hurt you, Y/N. I just… I don’t want to be a burden to you.”  

“Toshi…” You said as you shifted slightly to better face him.

He didn’t let your protest and continued, knowing he had to get it out:

“I should’ve been more honest with you. And the truth is that when you’re with me, you bring me a peace that I haven’t felt in years. Which is kind of ironic if you ask me,” he said with a short rueful laugh, “I’ve dedicated most of life trying to be the symbol of peace. But now that I can’t no longer be that person, you came in, telling me all the things I wanted to hear, showering me with care and gentleness. And the last thing I want is for you to feel rejected…”

A moment passed before he lifted his hand and gently brushed his fingers against your cheekbone. He caught between his fingers a lock of hair, placing it behind your ear in a swift movement cupping the left side of your face.

“…when in reality all I want is you.”

You breathed out shakily as you leaned into his touch, your eyes fluttering close. Your heart was beating so loud in your ears that you almost missed him whispering your name. After a second, he closed the few inches between them as you felt his lips pressing against yours. It only took a second before you kissed back, as he brought his hand up to the nape of your neck and weaving his fingers into your hair. They parted for an instant as they looked into each other’s eyes. Toshinori brought his hand down and spread it in the small of your back, bringing your closer as he kissed your again deeply. You wanted to close any distance between them; but he was still recovering you reminded yourself. That didn’t stop you from responding with the same intensity to his kiss, as you gripped his t-shirt front, kissing him slowly, taking the time to breathe him in.

Toshinori wasn’t sure where this was going to go but as he was holding your warm and soft body against him, he decided it was worth any risk.

[equivalentexchangeanthology]

About / FAQs

The Equivalent Exchange Anthology will be a ship-friendly project open to Fullmetal Alchemist creators of all types. Content about any and all FMA characters and ships will be allowed (with appropriate ratings and warnings). Hate, harassment, or disparagement of contributors will not be tolerated.

The project will have multiple parts*:

A printed zine of gen fanwork and meta**

A printed zine of SFW ship-based fanwork

A digital zine of NSFW content (including a section for ship-based content and a section for gen)

A digital zine of NSFW ship content, including trigger-heavy content

 (*This general project structure is provisional and open to change, as the final scope of the project will depend on contributions. Under no circumstances will an alteration of the structure result in SFW and NSFW content being mixed into the same project.)

(**Meta can be personal essays about what makes FMA meaningful to you, analyses of characters, themes, or details from canon, stories about your experience with FMA, or another type of non-fiction)

What is a zine? A zine is an unofficial fan-made publication compiling textual and visual contributions from fan creators.

What is the theme of this project? We want to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of Fullmetal Alchemist by letting creators express their love for FMA however they like! We are leaving this very open-ended on purpose. This fandom is full of creative people with varying perspectives – to us, the most important thing about FMA is the message that all of us coming together despite our differences is what gives us strength. The name “Equivalent Exchange” was selected to highlight the way that being a part of the fandom has given us so much in return for what we’ve put in, which is another element that we’d love to incorporate into the project.

What do you mean by “meta”? “Meta” in the context of this project can be any non-fictional content that someone wants to create: character analysis; thematic analysis; extended commentary on a scene or plot point; a short essay about your personal experiences with and/or your discovery of FMA; what FMA has meant to you. A description of the work or process that went into a cosplay or another type of fan creation could also fall into this category. You can find more information on what could qualify as “meta” here!

Will there be merchandise? Yes! We will have merch bundles available, and it will be possible to purchase them together with the zine parts of the project, or on their own.

What is the schedule? The full schedule is available here! Pre-orders will open August 1st and remain open until October 3rd.

Will the project have a Discord server? Yes! The Discord server, as well as periodic emails, will be the primary methods used for communication with contributors. The Discord server is carefully organized by project, so that contributors will only have access to content for the project they are contributing to. The server will be SFW by default, except for the project-specific spaces for the NSFW projects, and all server spaces will be moderated. All of the general “chat” channels will be strictly SFW.

Who can apply? Anyone who loves FMA, wants to create for it, and respects others in the fandom regardless of differences in fictional preferences (character interpretations, ships, etc.). Contributors must be prepared to collaborate with others despite differences of opinion, and should not have a history of shaming, belittling, or attacking others based on what they enjoy in fanwork. In short, applicants’ philosophy should be “Ship and let ship”!

Can people under 18 apply? As long as an applicant under 18 is legally old enough to work in their country of origin, their application will be reviewed. (Contributors under 18 will only be permitted to apply to, contribute, and view SFW content.)

How many contributors will be accepted? We don’t have a maximum number of contributors as of yet. For the two SFW physical zines, we will determine the number of contributors based on page limitations, but each SFW zine will have an extended digital PDF version to include contributors whose work or full work won’t fit into the printed zine. The all-digital NSFW PDF components will be able to accommodate more contributors. We’ve designed the project in the hopes of including as many creators as possible.

What will be required for an application? We will ask for a few samples of work similar to what you would be contributing (this does not necessarily have to be FMA fanwork), as well as your social media accounts and email address.

I haven’t created for FMA in a while… all my FMA work is old. In my application, can I submit more recent sample works from other fandoms instead? Yes, that’s fine! Having at least one FMA sample in your application (regardless of the application type) is great, but not required. We would mostly just like to get an idea of your style, so please feel free to submit samples that you think represent you well, regardless of the fandom!

Are all ships accepted in the ship-oriented parts of the project? Yes. As long as you are willing to tag and warn as appropriate, all ships are welcome. We will expect contributors to tag and warn diligently, to be mindful of others’ sensitivities, and to keep ship-related discussion in the appropriate parts of the server.

Can I contribute adult and/or controversial content? Yes. As above, all contributors will be required to tag and warn carefully with their submissions and when interacting with other contributors, to use the appropriate channels on the server at all times, and to respect others’ boundaries. The NSFW projects will only be open to contributors who are 18 or older.

I’d like to apply, but I don’t like certain ships and have some triggers. Will I have to see this content in the Discord server? While we can’t guarantee that you won’t encounter content that you would prefer to avoid, we will be compartmentalizing ship content, NSFW content, and potentially triggering content as much as possible in the Discord server. We are counting on all contributors to help us with this, and will do our best to facilitate a safe and friendly collaborative environment!

Do podfic recorders have to edit their own podfics as well as recording them? How many recordings will be expected, and how will work be assigned? Anyone who is accepted to record podfics for the Anthology is welcome to edit their own podfics, or to submit unedited podfics to our moderator team. We have a few mods who have volunteered to help others edit their audio.

Applicants accepted to record podfics would be able to choose which works they wanted to record for, so that everyone can edit an amount and specific content that they’re comfortable with. The total amount will depend somewhat on the amount of textual contributions that we end up accepting. Several of our mods will be helping to record any works not selected by applicants, in the hopes of making as complete a collection as possible (including descriptions of visual content). Depending on the amount of effort that we’re able to recruit, we hope to record podfics at least for every submission in the two SFW zines (fanfics for which will have a wordcount limit of 3,000 words, whereas PDF-only fics may be slightly longer).

Applications for podfic recorders are due by March 7, 2021, but the acutal recordings will be done between July and September (after text and art are finalized, while pre-orders and layout work take place).

Are AU (Alternate Universe) works allowed? Yes! AU works (canon-divergence, alternate universes, crossovers, etc.) will be accepted, both for application samples and for final contributor submissions if desired. Any AU works in the final Anthology will be tagged and described clearly.

Is this a 20-year anniversary project? Yes! We are hoping to open pre-orders in July to celebrate 20 years of Fullmetal Alchemist. It is not required that this theme is represented in any of the contributions, but it would certainly be welcome!

I am a recent pro-shipper. Some people may remember things that I did and said in the past that were not pro-ship, but I have changed my stance. Can I apply? As mentioned above and in the Contributor Protection Policy, our first priority is the safety and comfort of all of our contributors. Each application and applicant will be reviewed by our team, and decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis as to whether we anticipate that an applicant would be able to work well and interact positively with other contributors.

Is this project for-profit, or for charity? We are currently planning to donate half of the proceeds to the Archive of Our Own (AO3), and divide the remaining half evenly among all contributors to compensate them for their work.

I’m a little confused about the different parts of the zine. Could it all be combined into one zine? Our intention with this project is to provide space to as many creators, and as many different types of content, as possible – specifically including NSFW content and/or ships that are often not permitted – but to also make it easy for purchasers to choose only the content they are interested in or comfortable with. So you can think of it as four separate projects, with different “ratings” but with the same goal of inclusion. Dividing the project into subsections will allow us to accept more contributors overall!

In addition to making it more difficult to delineate types of content, ratings, and warnings, combining the projects into one zine would likely result in an extremely long volume. This would raise shipping costs for physical copies, and also make the digital version into a very large file! Our goal is to make it possible for people to buy a single project that they will enjoy every page of; or to bundle multiple projects together if they’re interested in several or all of them.

A lot of zines fail or turn out to be scams. Is your mod team experienced and prepared to see this through? We kept our moderator bios a bit more personal, but many of our mods have prior experience with multiple zines from start to finish. Mai is the lead mod on another zine that is currently open for pre-orders, as well as the finance mod on three others in progress; Feo has been a mod on ten zines, one of which she headed and several of which have reached completion; and Noct has headed two zines, been a mod on four others, and contributed to six more. Kari has also modded and contributed to over a dozen zines; and Getti has been the lead mod for a completed zine and has contributed to numerous others. Many of our other mods have real-world and/or paid work experience relevant to the project: Grace has extensive editorial experience and a background in print and online journalism, and also runs events for work in the RL sphere; and Tierfal regularly runs ship weeks and fandom events, and has been coordinating events as part of her day job for many years. Some of our moderators have not participated in a zine before, but are longtime fandom contributors, organizers, beta-readers, and more; or have additional relevant experience and skills, which they are excited to dive in and apply!

Since the full scope of the project will be determined in part by the number of applications that we receive for each section, we wanted to have a lot of hands on deck to make sure that we can divide the work fairly without anyone getting overwhelmed.

To make a long story short: we trust our team, and we're passionate about this project. We hope that you will be, too!