#my first time really messing w speech bubbles

[tinyreploid]

My comic masterpiece…. /J

@dwn049 put this in my head so i had to do it

100 bee children… Xylo u lucky son of a gun

[hansooyung]

hansooyung's coloring tutorial & ctiys: alma time! 🍒

hello everyone! though i've been meaning to for a while, i've finally gotten around to making my first manga coloring tutorial! i'll be going over cleaning panels and screentones, choosing base colors, and finally shading and lighting.

this will also be a color this in your style challenge, so if you're willing, feel free to post your colored panel and tag me in it!! i'd love to see all the results :)

find details under the cut! 🦋

DISCLAIMERS:

this is just how i personally color! i know for a fact that some of my other friends follow other methods and have such beautiful colorings <33

for colors specifically, i play around a LOT. if you don't like your color scheme for the time being, mess around with it! i don't use psds since i like to mess around by hand with color palettes, but maybe i'll look into it for the future.

i explain a lot just bear with me gang 🙏

TECHNICAL STUFF:

software: ibis paint x (on iphone). i use ibis since it is FREE for all phones and it worked on my chromebook as well.

while this tutorial is made for ibis paint x, everything works on other softwares except the brushes, which i've provided alternatives for below.

brushes: i will be using dip pen (hard) which is automatically included with ibis, and two other brushes i made myself which you can find here and here. for more brushes, @/bkdkdh was incredibly helpful and posted her awesome set here!

for other softwares, you can use similar brushes. dip pen (hard) can just be the default brush, while wet edges is just the default brush on lowered opacity (and more of a rectangle/marker shape?). watercolor pencil is a watercolor brush in the rectangle/marker shape as well. if you can't get the shape, you can always smudge your lines into shape as well, so don't fret too much! a bunch of people only use one brush for coloring everything (which is insane to me, personally, they are so talented!)

fun fact: the first brush listed that i made was originally called "aki tao watercolor smooth" 👍

ok here we go guys!!

STEP ONE: CLEANING THE PANEL

i think of this part as setting up the panel for coloring! usually it's pretty exhausting cuz it's all b&w but it's all worth it i swear. the panel i'll be coloring is this beautiful one of alma from chapter 2:

imgur link here (x)

a lot of people redraw their lines to avoid screentones, which is extremely helpful. however, i work on a phone and my fingers are not steady even with the stabilizer turned all the way up T~T. i do it this way, but a different (possibly easier) way may work for you!!!

your first step will be to remove all the white, giving us a transparent background to work with. THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY I USE IBIS PAINT X.

when you upload the image to ibis, a popup comes asking if you would like to "extract line drawing". this creates a lineart of your image. click yes, and your work is like 90% done.

if you're not on ibis, you can redraw your panel, put lineart layer on screen, etc. or you can just extract line drawing from ibis and upload to software of your choice

for those of you not on ibis, i've included the line drawing here (x) if it looks black, don't worry and set your background to white.

omg i was not kidding when i said i explained a lot. ok now onto the three main steps of cleaning the panel:

cleaning background

removing screentones

repainting black lines

for cleaning the background, we're going to clear off all the extraneous stuff. this includes the text in the speech bubble, the gradient screentones behind alma, and the panel line on the left side. just use your eraser tool and go crazy! (i forgot to save the panel at this point of the coloring OTL)

for removing screentones, we're going to remove all those "dots" that mangakas use for shading. these are used to show value for b&w art, but since we're coloring we don't need them—a lot of people have really cool ways of incorporating screentones in their colorings though, and it looks amazing! i used it on nana's hand in my bnha coloring.

remove the screentones from alma's hair and jacket with your eraser tool. this will take time, but it's worth it in the end!

for portions with a bunch of lines, you can create A NEW LAYER and redraw some of the lines. that way, you can erase indiscriminately from the original layer but the lines you drew are still there. again, like i said, my hand is really shaky so i don't do it a lot, but it's extremely helpful for smaller parts where i have control! i used this on alma's jacket, and here's a screenshot of the process:

(i made his jacket purple so i could distinguish between layers easily).

it should look like this when you're done:

for the final step of cleaning, i like to erase all the things colored black (the collar and strings of the jacket, along with the back part of his hair). that way, i can color them in with dark colors and it adds to the whole look of the coloring.

i've circled the parts i'm going to erase below:

and it should look like this when you're done!

ok everyone cheer we're ready to color now!!!!

STEP TWO: BASE COLORS

CROWD CHEERS ok lets go!

this part is the most important to me, because it sets the tone for the whole coloring. i like to use three-four main colors in my colorings, and it's usually background, skintone, hair, and the secret fourth color. the secret fourth color is usually whatever color fits the character's vibe, or if the character's color is the bg, it'll be an accent color.

for example, with my nagi coloring, i used white for the hair, i had my skintone, i had blue as the main coloring vibe (as nagi's color), and black as the accent color.

for alma, i chose his main color to be red! it's the color of his hair and his jacket, so i wanted it to be vibrant and stand out. since blue contrasts red, i went for a greyish-blue shade for the background. (i went for grey rather than solely blue because then it would clash rather than complement).

disclaimer please please please take your device off night mode warm mode f.lux whatever you have. this has screwed me over more times than you may think :(

i like to make my vibrant colors closer to the right end of the color square. for alma's hair, i chose this color:

i dragged it down from the corner a bit but kept the saturation since his hair is kind of dark. we can use vibrant colors to shade it though, so don't worry!

here's his hair and the background together:

now from here, play around with skintones until you find one that matches the hair!

i usually drag around the wheel to the orange-red intersection, and have it on the lighter, more saturated side. here's the color i chose for alma's skintone.

i thought his original skintone looked a bit too orange, so i pulled the saturation back a little bit (moved closer to the left side of the square).

after that, color in his jacket with a bit darker red than hair, choose a gold color for the accents on his jacket, and color in the black parts with a grey-ish color (we will change that later).

here's the base colors!

if it looks a bit bright, don't worry! we can change that with shading. or you might just have to. accept the light.

STEP THREE: SHADING AND LIGHTING

wooo we made it!!!!!!! ok now i lied, we have a bit more of base colors to go. on a layer above the skin, color in your teeth and tongue. for pieces that have a more red feel (like this one), i like to make the teeth and the shading a more vibrant blue color. (for blue pieces, i make it a purple!).

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL SHADING AND ALL COLORS SHOULD BE DONE ON NEW, CLIPPED LAYER.

i'll then go in and do some light shading with my wet edges brush. i'll use a darker color for hard shadows and then a lighter, more vibrant color to accentuate it.

next up we have blush! a lot of people do this in very different ways but i like to do it directly under the eyes, in a vibrant red shade. make a new layer above the skin and clip it on. color pick alma's hair and drag it to the most saturated shade (red corner). then using the watercolor pencil brush, lower the opacity of the brush and drag a line under the eyes on both sides.

make sure to erase the portion of blush that goes above the eyeline. i also added some lips for alma as you can see, and then added a red line under the eyes! this was back to the regular dip pen (hard) brush on 100% opacity. it may take a few tries to get your blush to the way you want it, so don't worry too much.

now we can start our actual shading!

i break this part up into three steps: skin shading, blue shading, and light shading (highlights?)

for all of them, think about where the light is falling and how it will look on alma.

quick interlude about brushes: i use the watercolor pencil brush for softer, bouncy looks (like blush and noses) and i use the wet edges brush for more hard lines in shading.

again, make a new layer above the skin and clip it on. (i like to have it below the blush, so it doesn't cover it). for skin shading, i take the vibrant red and lower the opacity of the wet edges brush by a significant amount (specifics don't really matter, as long as you're happy with it). i'll trace his neck, from the shadow of his face, shadows of his hair falling on his face, ears, and nose. (for the nose i used the watercolor pencil brush for a softer look).

this is what i have once i'm done!

next we have skin shading part two, where we basically make a new layer on top of our first shading, lower the opacity further, and trace outside whatever we just did to blend it in more.

i used the watercolor pencil brush since it's more softer shading meant for blending! i also added it around the eyebrows for depth.

next up we have our blue shading! this is a technique that i learned from @/bkdkdh's colorings, but adding blue as a shadow really adds to the whole coloring. using the watercolor pencil brush, select a light-ish blue shade (a bit more saturated than background color) and use it to shadow a few more areas than your skin shading. i always make sure to hit the underside of the nose, cuz i think it adds depth!

finally, to wrap up our skin shading we have our lights. i use an orange-ish yellow color, which i set pretty light to not blend into the skin. using the watercolor pencil brush, i'll basically highlight any areas opposite to where the blue was, and highlight different parts. i always highlight one side of the nose as well.

i erased the line around the nose since we now have shading there, and added a darker shade to the teeth since i felt it wasn't shaded enough.

now onto the hair!!! (guys we're almost done bear with me, skin and hair are the two main things and then you can half-ass the clothes)

color pick alma's hair color, then drag the red a bit further down to get a darker yet still saturated color. here's mine:

then, using the wet edges brush, draw lines of shadow wherever clumps of his hair fall or overlap with each other. you can have the opacity set to whatever level you want, i just went with around 90. just try to follow the natural lines and patterns of the original line drawing, and everything should work out fine.

here's how mine looks! then, just like we did for skin shading, place a layer on top and lower the opacity to around 50%. place some more shading to blend it in. you can also shade more parts with this shade for some softer shading. i actually forgot to take a screenshot of this step but you'll see it in the next one!

for our (almost) last part of hair shading, take a layer and place it below both of your shading layers. this is going to be our highlight layer! you can see it below, labeled 49%.

remember how we set alma's hair a bit darker from the corner color? now select that corner color and draw highlights in the center of each hair clump.

lightly visible but it's there!

now here i skipped around a bit bc i was having fun and forgot i was doing a tutorial, but repeat the shading (not highlighting) steps with darker colors for alma's jacket. you should have your base layer, a dark shading, and a softer shading for blending.

we're almost there guys!!!

for the pretty much final step of shading, select a light blue color and do some blue shading with the watercolor pencil brush opposite to wherever your darker shading falls (just like we did on the face). make sure to do it to both your hair and your jacket! here's mine:

now for the black portions, we're going to color the whole thing in a dark blue color. just alpha lock your layer and make a big stroke of dark blue, almost black. for our black shading, we're actually going to go lighter.

select a lighter (but still dark) color and place highlights on the base layer, then take an even more vibrant, lighter blue and place it on the very outside for highlights. a better example of this would be nagi's legs in his blue lock uniform here. then, choose a shade to apply shading to the gold accents on alma's jacket and we're done!

CROWD CHEERS!!!!!

STEP FOUR: FINISHING TOUCHES

we made it guys!!!! for finishing touches, i'll usually do background effects or text or that kind of stuff.

step one is coloring your lines. you can add a new layer and clip it to your lineart, or simply alpha lock your lineart and color directly on top. for hair i like to add vibrant blue/purple lines, along with a few red ones. for skin lines i try to do dark brownish purples, but leaving some black is good too bc it adds flavor!

i colored in the text boxes and added shadows using the wet edge feature, then added some text. for the glitch effect, i duplicated the lineart, dragged the layer below all of my colors (including speech bubbles) and then used the glitch effect with height full from ibis. if you don't have ibis, you can look into features on your software, or you can also just drag your lineart layer a bit to either side and color it in. i also applied just the tiniest bit of noise on top of everything

and there we go!!!!! we made it to the end :)

if you've read all the way til here, thank you so much! if you decide to color this panel of alma (or any other panels!) don't be afraid to post them and tag me for a color this in your style type of thing! (you can also put it in my tracked tag, #user.roy) i'd love to see everyone's works :)

here's the full timelapse: (it stalls for a bit at some times but hey we can't have everything)

[soulgazingwithbucky]

First of all i LOOOOVEEE ur stories,

Can i ask a Bucky x Reader Fluff. (You can add some smut if you want to)

Where the reader has this stutter thats shes really insecure about and Bucky just adores it and that he comforts her when shes tearing up because she cant talk normally without a stutter.

Thank you girll xx

hi my love, thank you so much for your kind words!! and thanks even more for your patience - this is my first official request and i wanted to make sure i did right by you!!

pairing: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

warnings: smut!!! minors DNI, oral (f receiving), writer's first time writing smut lmfao, Bucky's your ex (at first), reader has a stutter but writer does not so feedback is welcome

word count: 2k

“She’s where?”

Natasha bites into an apple. Her elbows rest against the granite countertop as she watches Bucky through her lashes. He’s staring at her incredulously, waiting for her to clarify. She bides her time, chewing and savoring the fruit. The lackadaisical way Nat sways on her heels ignites Bucky’s rage. It takes every ounce of willpower to not grab the apple and pitch it to the wall.

“On a date,” Nat says dismissively, rotating the apple in her hand, trying to find the next perfect bite. She waits patiently for whatever emotion is bubbling beyond the cold stare to reach the surface.

“She didn’t tell me that,” Bucky says bitterly.

She cocks an eyebrow.

“She’s supposed to tell her ex when she’s going out?”

Bucky huffs. He hates the title.

“Because we all live in the same building. Could be a safety thing,” he grumbles, though they both know he’s full of shit.

The elevator dings, drawing the two operatives’ attention. You step out, clutch held tightly in your hand.

“Tell her yourself then,” Nat tells Bucky, pushing herself off of the counter. She passes you, squeezing your forearm. “Talk later?”

You can only respond with a nod as you approach the kitchen, slamming your bag onto the countertop.

“Hi,” Bucky greets gingerly, unsure if you’re aware of his presence. You turn to him briefly, a scowl still adorning your face.

“H-Hi,” you respond before turning to glare at your fingers. The rings glint in the overhead lighting, an ornate reminder that you actually got dressed up for some asshole. You practically rip the jewelry off of you.

“Wanna tell me about it?” he says, watching the rings clatter onto the granite.

You look at him in disbelief. He was the last person you would want to tell about a failed date. But your discontentment is begging to pour out, bubbling inside you like magma in a volcano. You take a deep breath.

“I w-w-w-went on a–”

You feel your emotions impacting your speech, and you stop yourself. You take a deep breath, trying to regain your composure, and start again.

“I w-went on a d-d-d–FUCK!”

You grab the closest thing to you–a knife block set–and throw it against the wall. The impact echoes through the tower kitchen, sending blades flying in all directions. As the empty block hits the floor, you slide down against the side of the countertop. Angry tears are filling your eyes, but you stare unblinking, refusing to let them fall.

Bucky says nothing as he swiftly collects the mess you've made before moving beside you. He slides down onto the floor, his even gaze on you. Your knees are to your chest, and you have a handful of your dress gripped in your fist. Your breathing is the only sound in the room, heavy and uneven with the effort of keeping your tears inside.

Even completely silent, Bucky is still one of the most comforting people you have ever met. His stoic gaze and quiet stares can be interpreted as robotic, intimidating, unnerving; to you, it has always felt calming, unjudging, a serene haven in a world that was often too loud.

And he was definitely a much better presence than the asswipe you just spent the past couple hours with.

“I didn’t know you had a–” your date gestures at his mouth with his fork “–thing. You know, my cousin stuttered, like, her whole life. It was so fucking annoying.”

He chuckles, then continues, “Not you, though. But she went to therapy and, swear, hasn’t stuttered since. It’s crazy. But, like, you know, it’s cool for you.”

You shoot him a smile too sweet to be genuine.

“Thanks. M-Means a lot.”

“W-What if,” you tell Bucky, “I don’t want to get r-rid of it? What i-if I like it? DId he e-ever think about t-th-that?”

“I don’t think he did, love,” he tells you softly.

But you hang your head, your face obscured for a moment. When you look back up, resting your chin on your knees, your tears flow freely. Bucky wants nothing more than to pull you to his chest, to wrap his arms around you, to comfort you, but he can’t. Not anymore.

“I h-h-hate this fucking st-stutter, Bucky,” you admit through gritted teeth.

“Hey,” he says, as if he should be offended for you. “Don’t say that.” He presses his palms on the ground, pushing himself forward, planting himself in front of you.

“But I d-d-d–” You get caught repeating the sound, and you press your lips together, your nostrils flaring.

“B-But I d-do,” you complete scornfully. “I d-didn’t even want to g-go on this d-d-date. I kn-knew this would h-happen. I-I knew I would g-get judged. It always happens.”

Not with me, Bucky thinks. He can’t help himself now, and he reaches out, pressing his hands on the sides of your head. The gesture surprises you, and you look up at him with wide eyes.

“Every part of you is absolutely incredible, you know that?”

Under Bucky’s earnest gaze, you feel the heat flooding your face. He brushes away a piece of your hair before pulling away.

“You’re one of the most skilled agents to walk through this door,” he begins. You shake your head.

“No, really,” he insists, pointing his thumb behind him. “I’ll tell Steve right now.”

You shake your head again, this time with a laugh, as you wipe your tears with your fingers.

“But despite being an absolute force in the field, you’re still the kindest person I know.”

You huff in disbelief. You can’t help yourself:

“Yeah, k-kind enough to still be t-talking to my ex."

This time, it’s Bucky who hangs his head. His nonsensical babble of excuses comes back to him: You both seemed too busy. He wanted to work on himself. This was more of a break than a break-up, really, if you think about it. Oh, and don’t forget: it’s not you, it’s him.

Now is as good a time as ever to tell you the truth: “You were too good for me. You are too good for me.”

He earns another laugh from you, but this time it’s devoid of any mirth.

“Yeah. Okay, B-Bucky.”

“No, angel, I’m serious,” he says, shifting closer to you. You cock your head as he doubles down.

“R-Really?” you say dryly. “T-The new girl with t-the fucking s-sp-speech impediment is too good for Bucky B-Barnes.”

He scoots himself even closer to you, his legs now on either side of yours. Your arms are drooped across your knees, and the bottom part of your face is obscured behind your forearms. He drops his head to meet your eyes.

“Yes,” he confirms, “the new girl with a heart full of gold, talents that blew us out of the water, and a speech impediment is too good for this idiot.

“I realize it now, doll. And I can’t believe I was too fucking dense to see it before. You’re too good for me, and I won’t argue about that. But I fuckin’ let you go, instead of staying by your side, making myself better for you. I’m stupid, doll, so stupid, you mean the world to me–”

You swallow Bucky’s words with a kiss, your hands moving to caress his face. He practically melts under your touch, and you feel his body shift with your lips on his. He’s leaning, leaning, leaning, desperate to be as close to you as possible, but the countertop against your back is proving it to be an impossible feat. He pulls away for a second, smiling as you whine at the separation, and hooks his hands under your thighs, lifting you onto the granite. He chuckles at the way you yelp and wrap your hands around his neck, yet he wastes no time capturing your lips in his again.

Your hands move from his neck into his hair, giving his brunette locks a slight tug. He stifles a groan, his ears perking at a noise down the hallway. He brings your hands to his lips for a kiss before he steps away, listening intently.

“It’s t-twelve, Barnes,” you say. “S-Sam’s going to be c-c-coming out soon for his–”

“–midnight snack,” he finishes with a huff. He gathers your bag and your rings, offering a hand as you hop off of the counter. “C’mon, love. You must be tired, anyway.”

You wrap your hand around his arm as he leads you to the elevator. He presses the button to your floor.

“Everyone else says I don’t say a word,” he teases, “yet you won’t even let me finish a sentence.”

You let out an embarrassed chuckle, thinking of how you punctuated the middle of Bucky’s rant with a kiss.

“I-I just knew th-that you meant it, Bucky,” you say. “I-I know you.”

As you watch the floor numbers change above the elevator doors, Bucky keeps his half-lidded gaze on you.

“I know you do.”

In the comforts of your room, Bucky kneels in front of you to ease your shoes off of your feet. You release a relieved sigh. He steps behind you, and you feel his warm breath on your skin before he leaves slow kisses along your neck. He moves the strap of your dress before continuing his trail of kisses along your shoulder.

“B-Bucky…”

His fingers ghost over your other shoulder before gently slipping the other strap off. Your dress falls to the ground. You tilt your head back with a sigh as large hands run over your bare stomach and breasts. Your relaxed breaths turn into a sharp inhale as his fingers find your nipple, giving it a slight pinch.

“Let me take care of you, doll,” he mutters. You turn to face him, slotting your lips against his. He walks forward until you feel the bedframe behind your knees. You yelp, but his hands find your head and your back, lowering you until you feel the plush mattress underneath you. Bucky plants a kiss on your lips before moving to your neck and decolletage. His mouth takes it time on both of your breasts, swirling slow circles on your nipples, before kissing down your stomach.

Bucky murmurs a swear under his breath as he removes your underwear. He runs his thumb along your folds, nearly hypnotized by the arousal he now spreads to your clit. He listens to your soft whimpers as he draws agonizing circles.

He meant to take his time, but he can’t help himself. He missed you so damn much, and he’s more than eager to prove it. He moves his hand to his hardening cock, pumping as he licks a stripe along your folds.

Can’t waste a single drop.

His cock twitches in his hand at your gasp. You sound so needy, all for him. His mouth envelops your pearl, sucking and licking like he’ll never be satiated.

“Oh–f-fuck–Bu-Bucky.”

You lift your head to peer at Bucky, your hands moving to his hair. He releases you with a pop, meeting your eyes through the darkness.

“I’ve missed you, doll,” he murmurs, savoring your taste on his tongue.

“I m-missed–shit!”

Bucky has pushed a finger into you, curling and pressing against your g-spot. Your head falls back onto the mattress, your back arching as his mouth returns to your clit. He groans as your hands on his head push him closer. He adds another finger, quickening his pace. He feels you clenching around his fingers.

That’s it, doll.

He looks up at you, your head thrown back in pure pleasure, your breasts rising and falling with your erratic breaths.

“B-Buck, you’re–you’re gonna–”

A flurry of swears fill the air as you release. Bucky groans at the feeling of you coming around his fingers. Your fingers loosen around his locks, and he rests his head lazily on your thigh, pumping his fingers slowly as your orgasm subsides.

He brings his fingers to his mouth as he rises. He smiles as you watch him hazily.

He rests beside you, eyes closed, expecting you to nuzzle yourself into his chest like you always did. Instead, he opens an eye at the feeling of your fingers hooking into his waistband. His hands move to your hips as you shift on top of him.

“I’m n-not done with y-you, Barnes.”

[majorprojectalex]

Forefront Visual Novel character Sprites

One of the things that I need to improve about my project is making it clearer which of the characters is talking, so I wanted to look at how successful and recent visual novels are doing it.

Currently there is a special event going on in Steam called Visual Novel Fest. Where it highlighted and celebrated visual novel games.

I used this as an opportunity to find the most popular and recent visual novel games and see how they tackled the problem that I was having.

In the 'Re:zero Starting Life in another World' game you can distinguish who is talking through mouth animation. This seems like a pretty cost effective way to do it, but I thought it looked a bit clunky and also I don't know how to do character animations in renpy and while I could try to learn how, I would like to see if there are any other more time efficient methods.

An other game I looked at was 'Love, Ghostie' the way they clarified which character was talking was by changing the colour of the text and nametag depending on who is talking. And on occasion the talking sprite would also have bouncing up and down animation

color text and nametags, and sprite up and down movement

'Spirit swap lo-fi beats' had the approach that I found worked the best and could be feasible form me. They darkened the character that wasn't speaking and added colour behind the speaking character to make them pop more. The game dialogue was also done on a speech bubble, so it changes sides depending on who is speaking.

I think making one character less noticeable by darkening them and making the speaking character pop is a good and feasible approach for me

for the game 'Growing up' they made it clear which character is talking by having a character name on the dialogue box, and by making the dialogue box move to the side of the talking character. It works well, but I don't think it would work in my game, as I the detective is quite small, and moving the dialogue box to his side would cover him almost entirely.

In 'Monster Prom 2' their approach was to make the non speaking character more dark and desaturated and also to make them smaller, this makes the speaking character more immediately noticeable.

In 'Cooking Companions' they focus the player's attention to the speaking character by making them bigger. I think this works well and could be a good option to explore. But to be honest I don't want to mess with the character sizes of my characters too much since I like how detective Amphibian looks very small in comparison to everyone else

In 'Harmony: the hall of Revier' The talking character was indicated by a white outline around them. However it is very thin and I didn't really notice it at first. I think for this game having a thicker outline wouldn't really fit with the rest of the style, but maybe if I did that in my game it could work.

Finaly 'Misericorde: Volume One ' similarly to Monster Prom used saturation and desaturation to convey who is talking.

I think for my project the method that would work best is saturation and desaturation of character sprites, so I will try that out on the following days.

Bibliography

Cooking companions on steam (2021) Cooking Companions on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1263230/Cooking_Companions/ (Accessed: 23 August 2023).

Growing up on steam (2021) Growing Up on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1191120/Growing_Up/ (Accessed: 23 August 2023).

Harmony: The fall of reverie on steam (2023) Harmony: The Fall of Reverie on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1966420/Harmony_The_Fall_of_Reverie/ (Accessed: 23 August 2023).

Misericorde: Volume One on steam (2023) Misericorde: Volume One on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1708110/Misericorde_Volume_One/ (Accessed: 23 August 2023).

Monster Prom 2: Monster Camp w/ Octo, Elspeth, and Lucahjin (part 1) (2020). YouTube. 29 October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9JjLE_126s&t=3s&ab_channel=JesseCox (Accessed: 23 August 2023).

Re ZERO The Prophecy of the Throne - Gameplay Walkthrough Part 1 (No Commentary, PC) (2021). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdmEvQ-5Xqo&ab_channel=unik90 (Accessed: 23 August 2023).

Spirit swap: Lofi beats to match-3 to (no date) Spirit Swap | Lofi Beats to Match-3 To. Available at: https://spiritswapgame.com/ (Accessed: 23 August 2023).

Steam store (no date) Welcome to Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/ (Accessed: 12 August 2023).

[beann-e]

Haikyu! Characters With A Shy Manager

Inarizaki Players With a Shy Manager

Read Part Two Here

Suna

- Suna is the type to not really care about what’s going on unless it’s fun , funny, or simply involves him .

-A lot of people say he just doesn’t care and is a smoker ? or is just lazy but I believe that he’s just uninterested in things that he doesn’t want to be put in or has no business in. He’s very chill and just goes with the flow.

-he’d accidentally make you laugh

It’d been 3 weeks since you became the teams manager and you had yet to laugh or actually hold a conversation with anyone.

It wasn’t that you weren’t trying you just didn’t know how to keep a conversation going and no one was very funny on the team

well , except for Atsumu and Osuma when they did their sibling things

You sat on the bench as you watched a fight break out “ Osuma why aren’t yer trying “

“ I am “

“ are not “

“ am too “

“ are not “

“ look we all just can’t jump in head first and dive straight into volleyball like you ‘tsumu “

“ well that doesn’t mean don’t try “

“ agh i’m sick of you — shutup“

“ you don’t tell me to shut up “

“ yes I do — now shut yer trap”

you moved to stand as you watched the two boys fight you’d grown use to it and knew not to step in you wouldn’t know how to stop them anyways.

You watched as Kita moved to break them up Aran watching the fight closely trying to determine the winner while Suna moved quickly taking photos at all angles

Everyone calming down while Kita took the two boys away to talk to them leaving you in charge as everyone turned to you

“ what do we do now y/n-san “

“ oh um — “ your eyebrows furrowed in confusion you didn’t know what to tell them to do and the way they were all staring at you some even hovering near you standing over you like your houses fence had you ready to bolt and cry into kitas arms

You felt as your mouth tightened you biting your lip looking for a way to calm yourself down feeling someone stand next to you.

Your body having a chill run through it looking up at the black haired male who stood next to you not making eye contact and looking straight ahead at the men in front of him

He knew not to make eye contact with you knowing he may intimidate you since he was taller than you and simply a lot bigger he knew girls like you — that were shy tended to be afraid of things like that.

They seemed to get in their head and make themselves anxious which is why he was confused when Kita said he found a manager that was perfect to watch over the boys and keep them in line

he just figured Kita used you as a way to make sure no boys would try to flirt with you though that never stopped Atsumu

Even if he knew you were scared he would continue to bug you until you gave an awkward laugh at the situation and ran to Kita leaving the boy to sulk alone

Your eyes came together in confusion as you saw him thrust his phone out in front of you showing a video that he pressed play to

The fight between the two males playing with sound as the camera slowly zoomed in on your face a small smile playing at it as the video ended “ got you “

you looked over to see him smiling down at you happily “ w-wha—huh “

“ i’ve made it my duty ever since you’ve joined the team to figure out when you would smile and I found it — I finally caught it—i’m quite proud of me if I do say so myself “

you felt as a weight had been lifted off your chest your straight line mouth quirking up into a smile before it broke and turned into a small laugh which only grew when you thought about how dumb his actions were

Sunas mouth opening and eyes widning when he saw the bright smile on your face that would show whenever you stopped laughing to breathe

his heart clenching as he moved through his phone trying to find another funny thing to show you

He didn’t want this to end

He really thought you looked beautiful and in this moment he knew he had a crush on his teams quiet manager

Kita

-kita is a leader he has a schedule and only makes time for things that are on it

-he doesn’t mean to make you laugh but his schedule just makes for comedic material

You were standing by the door watching the whole time as the teams captain sat in the volleyball closet finally breaking down

Tears pouring down his face as he set the ball on the ground he had just finished shining. Body shaking as he took a breath

“ k-kita-san are you ok “ your voice hit him fast before he could wipe his tears

“ I-I just — theres “ he took a deep breath as he stared at you

“ A balls missing y/n “ he screeched “ A ball is missing and I can’t figure out if I let someone take it home or if I lost it on accident “

his eyes teared up again “ H-How — I do this every day I don’t know how I lost the ball— how I messed up the count just “ he was pleading with you

“ just please — don’t tell the team we’re missing one — they’ll demote me from captain because I can’t follow a simple schedule “

you didn’t want to but you felt your face break as a laugh ripped through your body that had been bubbling at the surface since the beginning of his speech

“ what — y/n this is not funny I may lose my position“

you laughed harder “ pfft kita-san if you lose your position over a ball I have in my hand right now I will talk to the team myself — no matter if they scare me or not “

his eyes lit up “ y-you have it “

“ yes I do — “

you passed it to him walking over to squat by him as he smiled happily starting to shine the ball “ oh thank god — my schedule may continue — now all I have to do is clean the showers and i’m good to go start practice “

he smiled at you “ y/n where did you find this —- I have to thank you “

you laughed harder “ kita — please there no need“ you smiled at him as you decided to finally sit down next to him turning your bright smile towards him

“ I stayed late last night and helped Aran with his serves so , we used the ball I just brought you —I forgot to bring it back and Aran locked the gym up too fast after we left and I was anxious and scared to ask him to unlock it so I just took it home with me “

you pouted at your words “ i’m actually sorry I didn’t know I was hurting you — I should have sucked it up and asked him “

“ y/n it’s ok I admit my schedule is a bit — but — I thank you for helping me calm down “

he nudged your sad body “ maybe with your help I can stop relying on my schedule all together yeah ? “

you smiled brightly again laughing when you saw his surprised face at your action his face that grew even more confused but interested when you laughed

“ of course i’d love to help you kita — senpai “

he felt as his body went hot and his face grew warm hands shaking at your actions.

He wasn’t sure when it started maybe it began when you initially started helping the team by offering late night volleyball practice to those who need help without all the attention

or maybe it was when you offered your number for those who were too scared to ask questions so, they could text them to you and you would ask for them — even though you’d feel scared yourself and had your hands sweating while you asked

He wasn’t sure but he knew that by the smile on your face that he would always want to see it whenever he looked at you

[tatestripedsweater]

Cuddle Bug

Gifs not mine

Plot: Perhaps the reader has had a busy day, has been insulted and / and humiliated, and when they come to Kyle, he notices their emotional state, and he's totally protective and wants to see justice / vengeance for them? But since they know that it's not worth it, that these people are just idiots, they ask him to hug them? - Requested by @lunamooney2406

Franken-Kyle x GN!Reader

Word count: 1125

A/N: I changed the plot slightly on how you wanted it to end.. I hope that’s okay!

‘’I think you should go home and change Y/N’’ Looking your boss in the eyes as you handed her the files you just filed, again, she looked at you with some disappointment in her eyes and you couldn’t help but feel the nerves well up inside you. ‘’You look like a mess”

‘’I think you should go home and change Y/N’’ Looking your boss in the eyes as you handed her the files you just filed, again, she looked at you with some disappointment in her eyes and you couldn’t help but feel the nerves well up inside you. ‘’You look like a mess”

You were used to the insults from her, she wasn’t exactly the best boss in the world and you often wondered how she even got the job since she had no people skills at all. She would act as if the world revolves around her, that whatever does or says can’t be questioned or that there would be no consequences for her actions.

Taking a deep breath you nodded slowly and went to walk out, but as soon as you got to the door you felt a shred of confidence bubbling up inside you. Turning around to face her, she raised her eyebrow as if to question what you were even doing, you wondered if this was even worth it but the way they treated you had you boiling over. You had done everything she asked yet she still decided to treat you like something on the bottom of her shoe.

“After six months here you still treat me as if I’m lower than you, I understand you're my boss but it wouldn’t hurt you to show me a shred of human decency!” The moment that left your mouth you felt your heart jump up into your throat, you had always been the quiet employee that did as you were told no matter how stupid or silly it sounded. She even had you run two streets down just to get the coffee she liked since the one in the building tasted like cat piss..

“What did you just say to me?!” You watched your boss stand from her desk chair with a face like thunder, you wanted the floor to swallow you whole at this point in time. “You’re fired”

“W-Wha-“ But before you could even say anything she shouted at you to leave or otherwise she’d get security to escort you out, deciding to keep every last part of your pride within you, you decided to walk out on your own. Looking up at the building you saw a few of your ex co-workers staring down at you, maybe this was a good thing? That this was meant to happen in order for you to grow, you didn’t know how you and Kyle would cope but with the help and understanding of your family you hoped they’d help along the way until you found something new.

Getting into your car you took a deep breath, you tried to hold back the tears but they just came pouring out as you rested your head on the steering wheel. You had to get it all out now otherwise if Kyle saw you crying he’d go into protective mode, you loved him dearly and he loved you; maybe a little too much.

As soon as you got through the door you could already hear his footsteps running towards you, he was like a dog greeting you and you wouldn’t have it any other way. The smile on Kyle’s face soon disappeared when he noticed that your eyes were red and puffy, a slight pout formed on his lips once he noticed that you had been crying.

“Y/N sad..” Walking over he cupped your cheeks, squishing them slightly until you looked like a fish. Kissing you gently he pulled away once more as his brown eyes looked into yours, the amount of affection and love he was giving you caused you to burst into tears, your guard finally coming down. Squeezing you once more he hold you close to him, Kyle still struggled with his speech to which he was getting better but he was able to tell someone’s emotion just looking at their face, he just found it hard to deal with sometimes. “Why?”

“I got fired from my job.. my boss called me messy then I had a go at her, I’m a disaster I mean look at me..” You tried not to speak about what went on at work to Kyle due to the factor of him being extremely protective over you, it was slightly overbearing but he did it because he loved you and didn’t know how else to express that he cared about you so much. “I’m fine though.. really”

“No.. no lies” Shaking his head Kyle looked as upset as you with anger mixed with his emotions, you knew what signs to look out for that he was upset. He would frown and his voice would go slightly low as he spoke, pulling away you notice tears fall down his own cheeks as he shouted loudly. “Bad people! Revenge!”

“No!” You quickly ran over to him once that left his mouth, you knew how strong he was and how violent he could get, but never towards you but anyone who upset either of you. Cupping Kyle’s cheeks he was the one that was now crying, whimpering as he looked at you, Kyle’s lip quivered as more tears fell down his cheeks.

“You’re hurt.. sad” You tried to hold back any tears as you didn’t want to set him off again, Kyle was truly getting better and you couldn’t wait for the day when you could go on dates with him, he was one of the sweetest and most kindest men you’ve been with, before and after death. “Love.. you Y/N”

“I love you too, so much..” You whispered and kissed his nose gently, laughing softly when he scrunched his nose up. “Why don’t we watch a movie, cuddle and I’ll order in for tonight? But I do want to bathe first..” You looked down at your clothes that were still dirty from the coffee, before you could even get in another word you felt him drag you up to the bathroom with him almost instantly with a wide grin on his face, almost like a kid in a sweet shop.

You never did get to watch that movie..

[constellaj]

How about A for Reality Trip for the episode rewrite thing?

my biggest issue with reality trip is that its just a series of travelling around to non connected locations to get the mcguffins, and while danny’s secret being public matters somewhat, it doesn’t really impact the fact that they’re on the move too much. I also don’t like the ‘maddie and jack accept him perfectly and then he wipes everyones minds anyway’ cause that doesnt do anything. i DO like the “our summer vacation plans got ruined thanks to a ghost” angle so i want the themes of the episode to focus on danny’s frustration that nothing ever goes right and how he doesn’t even know what he wants

so i think in my rewrite:

-danny’s secret is out almost immediately, and it’s because the GIW shot him w a destabilizer and he publicly morphed (he got away thanks to shenanigans similar to the onstage debacle in canon) how this is thematic: he thought he didn’t want the secret out at all but, weirdly, a lot of the popular kids are fine with it. he’s still afraid of what his parents will think but he’s also frustrated that he had unfounded fears

-however, when danny (terrified) goes to his parents: theyre gone. freakshow has taken jack/maddie/jazz/etc and frozen them in some magic bubble bullshit or mind control or whatever so they don’t actually know. freakshow is sending danny on a fetch quest for the gems thematic relevance: he just hyped himself up for this conversation and they got yanked away

using these two, i think we can keep a similar opening/setup for the ep, ie freakshow in GIW containment until he breaks out, for setup-payoff

regrettably this still keeps the fetchquest aspect that i think makes reality trip broken in the first place, but since the first freakshow ep was about danny being evil I think it could be neat if we had some of that carried over into this. the ‘reality stones’ (since we live in a post mcu world now, we regrettably would have to change some of this, but i digress) respond highly to ecto activity or whatever, basically meaning that with every new one they get danny becomes a little more powerful. since everything is going wrong for him (see: the theme) and he doesn’t know what he wants, he starts to get a liiitttle power-hungry. A little messed up in the head.

ideally then there should be a way to work Vlad into this plot too. i’m a sucker for dadvlad tbh so let’s say that... when the Fentons first get kidnapped danny begrudgingly goes to vlad like “my mom and dad are kidnapped” and vlad may be a dick but he doesnt want his college crushes (or crush singular if i’m forced to be canon compliant) locked up so he’s helping. at first hes like “oh my boy daniel let Me hold the Magic Rocks surely you trust me haha >:)” and then later hes like “....son these rocks are turning your brain into goo.” course nobody believes him cause its all a ploy all the time forever and always

since danny’s secret is out too that means theyre actively on the run and vlad can’t always be There because he’s relatively high profile in either form, just for different reasons, so we can make him more of a “i did research offscreen and i think this gem is in x location but I can’t go there because i’m a bitch” type character

i DO like the intelligent aladdin-like ploy of ghost envy in the original but ‘ghost envy’ as a theme has to be reworked at least slightly for this, so also with danny being evil let’s say he’s feeling the scales tip especially after his reveal to the point where he’s feeling like he’d be better off if he was living his life entirely as a ghost. 

of course when they get the things to freakshow danny has the gauntlet and hes all like “im evil now and i will kill you” and sam/tucker/maybe vlad are like “but danny. you have friends.” and we get a montage/list of allusions of those times that they actually helped him on this fetch quest, like idk sam at a rock concert using loud horrible teenage music to chase the GIW out etc. they got souvenirs from everywhere they went. so danny sees this and hes like “oh noooo my humanity” and drops and in that split second freakshow grabs the gauntlet

and dannys like “oh great even NOW nothing EVER goes right for me” but because i put vlad here and because i like parallels vlad is like “so what are you gonna wimp out” or whatever he says. they probably had a somewhat heartfelt speech earlier about “why are you helping” “I care about jack and maddie being alive” “bro they hate you” “not everything has to go right for me to give a shit, daniel” or w/e

so before danny can overreact with his rage he remembers to work with what he has and pulls the fast-thinking “oh i bet you wish you were a ghost huh” trick that allows him to put freakshow in the thermos. then danny goes to get the glove and hes like “wait... no... that turns my brain into goo” and vlad is like “how about i get it :)” and danny is like “no youre evil” and vlads like “damn u caught me”

so sam and tucker actually use the gauntlet bc theyre not ghosts so their brain wont get fucky wucky. obvs they make the decision to wipe peoples memories of dannys identity but theyre also like “danny... don’t you at least want to see how your parents would react before we do this” and danny just sorta. shakes his head and repeats some “not everything has to go right for me to give a shit” line from vlad or something and of course its cause hes still insecure but also he’s okay with not having PERFECT control over everything now which is what he struggled with all episode so. character growth!

i feel like me saying “vlad should be here :)” is a staple that might lead to his character losing some of that original allure but like... honestly. vlad should be here :)

before the memory wipe dash makes out with him but that was a given

[pkg4mumtown]

Signs of Attachment (Ch. 3)

Summary: Having an auditory processing disorder never slowed you down, but it mean you were confined to the Temple when the Clone Wars started. Will the frustration of not understanding people at times make for a rather lonely existence?

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2

Pairing: Obi-Wan/Reader (Gender Neutral)

Rating: G (for now)

Warnings: Hard of Hearing Reader, Fluff, Gender Neutral Reader

Taglist: @trash-dino-5000

A/N: Thank you, again, for everyone who’s read. This is the tentative end, but I may add an epilogue at some point!!

Just a reminder:

“Text.” Means someone is speaking.

“Text.” Means someone is speaking and signing.

Text, Means someone is signing.

Chapter 3 - Falling

I mulled over a data pad in my examination room, counting down the seconds until I could run to the mess hall for lunch. I felt an all too familiar signature approaching my door, making me look up before it had even opened. It had been a couple months since that spar with Obi-Wan, but we had both enjoyed it so much that we made a habit of it at least once a week. Though, not as intensely as that first one that left both of us rather sore the next day.

“Good afternoon,” Obi-Wan signed immediately upon seeing my eyes fixed on him. His voice rang out melodically, so I basked in it before it would inevitably become muddled.

My eyes widened when I saw his hair, “You got a hair cut?”

He paused, embarrassed because I’d noticed.

“Yes, yesterday,” he ran a hand through his hair, which was brushed over to the side, his mullet long gone.

“It looks good, I love it, Obi-Wan,” I complimented, his cheeks tinting pink almost immediately.

“Have you had—lunch?” He asked, stumbling over the sign at the end.

“No, not yet,” I stood and stretched.

“Come with me,” he nodded his head toward the door with a bright smile.

“What are you up to?” I squinted my eyes at him.

“You’ll see,” he winked.

I followed him, impressed with his progress every day. Obi-Wan led us away from the direction of the mess hall, toward the entrance to one of the gardens.

I smacked his arm to get his attention, “Where are we going? The mess hall is that way.”

“Patience,” he smirked and patted my shoulder. He led me with his hand still firmly on my shoulder while we entered the gardens. We weaved our way through to the back until we stopped at a sort of clearing. I felt him tap my shoulder before he dropped his hand.

“My Master and I used to—have mid-meal here often,” he explained.

“It’s beautiful, Obi-Wan,” I sighed in awe at my surroundings. I had been in the gardens hundreds of times but never in this specific spot, hidden just for Obi-Wan and his Master. I looked down, seeing a small blanket, just barely big enough for us to sit on, and lunch already spread out for us, my head snapping to him in question.

“You planned this?” I questioned.

“Yes,” he signed, then waved his hand for me to sit down. “An excuse to get you alone, nothing compares to conversation.”

“I agree.”

We sat facing one another so signing would be easier, our legs crossed and knees nearly touching each other. The food was off to the side of us for us to grab. As we dug in to the food he had brought, my involuntary sigh of happiness at finally being able to eat made him laugh softly, something so much easier to hear here where it was relatively quiet and low distraction. I waved my fingers up and down at him to get his attention as he looked off elsewhere.

“Obi-Wan, did you make this?

A laugh bubbled from his lips and his head shook, “Stars, no, ask Ana—kin, I can’t cook.”

I felt a smile tug my lips as I watched him stumble over fingerspelling, “That’s not good!”

He just shrugged, “He survived.”

“How is your Padawan?” I wondered, not having seen him in a couple weeks.

“He was knighted,” Obi was signed, mimicking the cutting of a Padawan braid with his fingers behind his ear.

My eyes widened in shock, “That’s amazing, Obi-Wan, congratulations!”

“Thank you,” he signed, then bowed his head.

He furrowed his brows and opened his mouth, “What does this mean?” He asked and mimicked a sign I had just used.

My cheeks burned a little at having to explain it, “It’s your name.”

“But, my name is signed,” O-B-I- — -W-A-N? He finger spelled his name.

“Yes, you’re right, but see how long that took?” I raised my eyebrows at him.

Yes, “It was a lot,” Obi-Wan half signed and half spoke.

“Of course, if it’s okay with you, I shortened it to that. It’s just your hand making an ‘O’ and a couple swipes to your jaw,” I explained and demonstrated it again.

“That’s so much easier,” he repeated the sign. “Why here, though?” He asked, gesturing to his jaw.

“Um, your…beard,” I stuttered slightly.

“Interesting,” Obi-Wan murmured, running his hand over said beard.

I stared at the way his fingers sifted and twisted in the hair. I snapped myself out of a trance and continued on explaining.

“Usually, personal signs like that have your initial and something distinctive about you. Something you wear, your favorite animal, your occupation…”

“I see, so what would Anakin’s be? Because spelling his was exhausting, too,” Obi-Wan chuckled. I smiled involuntarily at the sound of his laughter, not always able to hear it so clearly in our brief passings.

“You’ll get better at it in time,” I nudged his knee with mine and finger-spelled “Anakin” quickly.

“That’s not fair,” he nudged back.

“Well, Anakin has a scar, right? That’s identifiable, so maybe this?” I made an “A” and drew a line down over my right eye with my thumb.

“That’s…genius, how did I not think of that?” Obi-Wan sighed.

“It can be hard to come up with them sometimes,” I shrugged.

“What did you use for Master Plo?” Obi-Wan wondered.

The words decided, then, to muddle together making me look at him strangely, Repeat, I signed to him.

“Sorry, what sign did you use for Master Plo,” he repeated and added sign.

“I made a ‘P’ with both hands and did the gesture for teacher, pretty much,” I demonstrated it for him. “It got the point across as him being my teacher. Similarly, he made my initial and did the gesture for student for me.”

“Clever, though you’re not my student, so what would you use now?” His hand made its way back to his beard, letting his fingers smooth over the chin area. And he wondered why I chose that area for his name.

“Mmm…the closest thing we have to ‘healer’ is ‘doctor’ so maybe…” I trailed off as I formed my initial with my dominant hand and tapped the inner part of my wrist on my non-dominant hand with that palm facing up. “I’d never really needed it before, but that works pretty well.”

I watched Obi-Wan repeat the sign a few times to commit it to memory.

“Nice to meet you, Y/N,” he signed.

“Nice to meet you, too, Obi-Wan,” my shoulders jumped with laughter.

“How long do you have left on—your break?”

“Thirty minutes,” I answered after checking my comm for the time. I groaned and let myself fall backwards, my feet unfolding to land on either side of Obi-Wan. Most of my body was now in the grass behind me, not that I minded.

“Hey, you can’t nap, I can’t sign if you’re laying down!” Obi-Wan protested at my dramatic gesture.

“Relax, Obi, you’re doing well,” I rolled my eyes.

“But I’d like to get practice in!”

“We’re you a master’s pet? Because you sound like one. Oh, who am I kidding, of course you were,” I closed my eyes and rested my hands on my stomach.

I felt Obi-Wan move next to me and lay down, “I resent that.”

“But, was I not correct?” I opened my eyes and turned my head in his direction, seeing his head propped on his hand and looking down at me.

All he did in response was squint. Obi-Wan huffed and laid on his back, playfully bitter about not being able to practice, as if he hadn’t set up a whole lunch date. His hand fell into the grass, softly picking at the blades while the other rested on his chest.

“Obi, huh?” He commented turning his head slightly to raise an eyebrow at me.

“Sorry,” I murmured back, letting a hand slide off my stomach and fall into the grass, my pinky landing on his.

“I wasn’t complaining.”

“Your name is just so tedious that I have to shorten it in speech and sign,” I stressed the “and” by poking the back of his hand with my index finger.

“Yes, well I didn’t choose it, dear.”

“‘Dear’? How old are you?” I snorted.

“Our Temple Days are only five months apart, don’t insult me!”

“Says the man with gray hairs,” I mumbled.

“You’re insufferable. It’s a wonder I don’t have more, now,” he ripped a few blades of grass and used the force to fling them at me.

“You’re the one who invited me,” I sent the grass back at him, hearing him bat the grass off his face with his other hand.

I felt his hand shift under mine, taking it as a sign for me to move my hand, but as soon as I did his palm turned up and grabbed my hand back. I felt a blush rising up my neck, that I could probably pass off as a reaction to the grass, but probably not well. I could feel the contentment he was pushing through the force where our hands met, only making my blush rise faster.

What in the world was he doing?

He settled his hand when he was sure I wasn’t going to take mine back and let his fingertips barely pass through mine. Enough so, that if I squeezed my fingertips together just slightly, I could feel his next to mine.

“Why are you learning BSL, Obi-Wan?” I blurted out.

I did my best to shield my feelings, especially since we were touching, but I couldn’t help wondering why he was doing this. In the back of my mind, I knew it was for me but the fact of the matter is he was a model Jedi. He had no business growing so close to me these last seven months, learning a whole new language for me, and quite literally holding my hand in this moment.

I was too nervous to turn my head all the way but saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed anxiously. I could no longer feel contentment though his hand, but a nervous, vibrating energy instead. Obi-Wan’s fingers slipped entirely passed mine, lacing our fingers together purposefully.

I could read into it without him saying anything, but I was not going to be the reason one of the Order’s greatest Jedi would be expelled, or worse, fall to the dark side. Not that I was entirely without fault here, either. I had definitely fallen victim to attachment toward him, as well; hard.

“Obi-Wan, I can’t d—,” I moved to sit-up, but Obi-Wan sat up faster.

Please, wait, he let go of my hand very briefly to sign.

“Not now, I—.”

Please.

I could see the urgency in his eyes and hear it desperately in his voice as he plead with me, so I paused my hasty exit.

You’re—important to me, he signed slowly, foregoing speech because of the topic, trying to figure out what he wanted to confess as he went.

This isn’t good, Obi-Wan, the Council—

—Can’t understand BSL, he interrupted.

No, but they can read the force. You forget my old Master is also on the Council, I let my arms flop down in frustration.

I’m on the Council, too, now, or have you forgotten? He challenged with a playful twinkle in his eye.

Regardless, they are very set in their ways and my shields aren’t as impeccable as yours, my signing was more erratic than normal, his eyes tracking everything and trying to understand as quickly as possible. If I wasn’t so terrified, I would have said it was good practice for him.

I’ll help you, he took one of my hands in his tightly.

I scoffed and shook my head, No.

I quickly stood up, dropping Obi-Wan’s hand, only to be stopped by a single string of signs.

I’ve fallen in love with you, he finally signed, almost defeatedly dropping his hands in his lap. His eyes were downcast, my entire body frozen as I stared down at him sitting on the blanket. That’s why I’ve kept learning, because I…, he trailed off.

I didn’t even try to pretend that I didn’t feel the same way in that moment, he was just brave enough to say it first. I stared at him for ages, in tune with how his signature had wilted ever so slightly during this extended silence. I finally stuck my hand out to him, to which he looked at and then up at me. I waved my fingers impatiently, so he grabbed my hand and pulled himself up.

We stood almost chest to chest, neither of us moving. I held his gaze, trying to bring myself to sign but my hands were shaking next to me. Obi-Wan brought his hand up, brushing his thumb along my cheek. He didn’t rush me but seemed content to just watch my nervous face. Finally, I brought my hands up, his eyes immediately focusing on them out of habit.

I—I’ve fallen for you, too, I’m…sorry. I shouldn’t feel like this, we shouldn’t…, I looked down, feeling guilt wash over me like a tidal wave.

“No, no, no,” Obi-Wan murmured, pulling me into a tight embrace. “Never be sorry, not for this.”

I allowed myself to sink into his arms, the guilt barely subsiding at the contact. At least until Obi-Wan metaphorically opened the floodgates and pushed through the feelings he had kept hidden from me. I gasped against his tabards, a warmth surrounding me and taking my breath away. I pulled my head back to look at him, running my hand over his beard and smiling as he nuzzled into my palm. Obi-Wan let go of me with one hand, taking my hand in his own so he could bring it to his lips. With his eyes closed and a desperate kiss to my knuckles, he let my hand go and dropped his other from around me.

Can I kiss you? He signed shyly, his cheeks reddening ever so slightly.

Pleas—

He barely let me finish the full sign before he was pulling me back into his arms. I had no choice but to wrap my arms around his shoulders as his mouth descended on mine.

There was nothing complicated or urgent about it, just a simple, exploratory meeting. I pulled away first, the location of this scandalous occurrence suddenly hitting me.

“I need to get back to the Halls of Healing,” I sighed as he pressed his forehead against mine.

“Let me walk you.”

I nodded, allowing him to hold me close as we walked until we got to the busy hallways. In the semi-safe enclosure of my examination room, Obi-Wan pulled me close and kissed me again. This time, more urgently than before, his tongue swiping along my bottom lip and making me clutch his tunics tighter.

I smiled into the kiss but pushed him back by his chest, You’re getting too excited.

Sorry, he replied shyly.

I’ll see you later, I signed, punctuated with a quick kiss.

I’ll be waiting, he stepped backwards toward the door until the door swooshed open. I love you, he signed with his back to the hallway.

I love you, too.

With that, Obi-Wan left the doorway, giving me a passing sign for “ILY” while waving with that index finder at the same time.

[ak8shi]

FWB HQ Boys: In which you beat the player at his own game!

warnings: mentions of sex (all characters are 18+),,,, feelings

a/n: I couldn’t stop thinking about they boys falling in l*ve after having a reputation,,, the flavor. Also I wanted to dip my feet into nsfw themes, just to try it out and see how I feel!! I chose the boys who I thought would be able to realistically have a fwb relationship w/ someone as well for this series!

━Akaashi Keiji

This guy,,do not underestimate him, honestly I would not be surprised if he was already fucking around in high school

He’s extremely attractive, sporty, and is very good at dealing with people in a way that can almost be?? manipulative?? Whether he means to be or not

As an adolescent boy, he kind of always put his own feelings first and didn’t think of the feelings of the girls he was talking to or hooking up with

Afterall he’s outwardly extremely respectful but in actuality he gets what he wants from girls and that’s that

Girl,,, college isn’t any different if not worse…

SO,, you received an email from your public relations professor, stating that your assigned partner for your final presentation is Akaashi Keiji excuse me whomst

The next day you come to class, ready to meet this Akaashi dude and discuss the details of your project

You look around the classroom as people begin to confer with their partners, and then you see this beautiful boy with jet-black hair sitting near the back of the room

Shyly, you go up to him and ask if his name is Akaashi

He smiles at you and says yes,, oh no he’s HOT

The whole time you’re talking you feel nervous and you can feel your face turning red, the way he’s staring at you is NOT helping

He’s actually very smart and contributes to brainstorming for the project, you’re thankful that you got a partner who can pull their own weight for once

You decide to meet at his apartment after agreeing on a topic to outline for your project

You can’t lie, you’re excited, I mean he’s attractive and seems nice!! It could possibly turn into something right??

You find yourself sitting on his couch the next weekend, sipping from a mug of hot chocolate that he made for the two of you during your study break

Over the past week your crush on him developed fast, and it kind of scared you

He’s sitting next to you and while you’re laughing about something together, he moves his hand to rest on your knee you’re already simping hard

You expect him to move it away eventually, but he doesn’t

You can’t bring yourself to stop him as he moves his hand up your thigh, caressing your skin carefully

He leans over you, asking if this is okay before his mouth is catching yours in a feverish kiss

Before you know it, you’re laying in Akaashi’s bed listening to the sound of the shower running in the next room over

You internally groan, realizing how much you liked him and the situation you were now put in

After all, you had to work with him until the end of the semester ??? And you couldn’t be fucking all the time if you wanted to actually pass the class

Once he gets out of the shower, he literally acts so nonchalant,,,

Akaashi: So are you okay with us fucking regularly like this

You: oh you <3 so sweet

So as the semester progresses, you work with Akaashi on your project to fuck

The sex is so good, you really can’t complain; however one night when he pulls up in his car to pick you up,, you notice something off about his usual appearance

HE HAS HICKIES UP AND DOWN HIS NECK

You try not to judge or to look hurt…but he really made no effort to cover it LMFAO

You: so did you get attacked by an octopus

Him: why are you like this

You guess you didn’t consider the fact that you weren’t exclusive, and the marks on his neck kind of burst your bubble

That night, as you work on your project, he can’t help but notice how off you are, so he asks you what’s wrong

You simply brush it off, telling him you’re just tired and he leaves you alone after that

In retrospect, you know that you shouldn’t expect more from him and that ultimately you would end up hurt

You feel like a clown for thinking a guy like him would only fuck around with you

So you decide that you will not be hooking up with him anymore for the sake of your grade and your feelings

He doesn’t really mention the fact that you aren’t having sex anymore because he doesn’t want to make it awkward since you have to work together on your PR project, but he doesn’t know where he went wrong? Was it bad? Did he say something?

The deadline for your project approaches quickly, and you are almost finished with it

You try to go about your schedule normally, but it’s hard to ignore the way Akaashi looks at you and you can’t seem to shake the memory of how good he is in bed whew

Akaashi on the other hand tries talking to other girls like usual, but he’s convinced that something is wrong with him because he doesn’t feel the usual excitement he feels when talking to someone new

They’re just… boring to him truthfully

He finds himself in his bed, thinking about your smile and the stupid jokes you leave on the shared google doc for your project

He DEFINITELY knows something is up when he can only jerk off and finish when he thinks about you UH-OH

As the two of you are practicing giving the actual speech and practicing what to say, he is is literally so soft seeing you giggle when you mess up, and he’s swooning at the way you go to cover yourself mouth when you smile he literally misses his lines multiple times because he’s distracted

It’s finally the day to present your project, and you both nail the presentation !

You watch the other projects from your spot next to Akaashi, and he feels really sad for some reason??? Like he realizes he’s not going to see you every week anymore :(

The period ends, and you go to pack up your bag; his heart literally sinks and he finally realizes that he might have genuine feelings for you

You turn to him, giving him a small smile

You: I’ll see you around Keiji :)

Him: no

He literally stands up and crushes you in the warmest, most back-crushing hug and presses a quick kiss to your cheek

You’re taken back like holy shit what is happening?? It’s so out of character for him

He tells you that he wants you to check the google doc after you get home, and then he’s rushing out of the lecture hall with flushed cheeks to get to his next class

????

??your heart?? Can not handle this???

You literally rush home, still flustered, to open your laptop, and open up the doc

On the top line of the page, it says: hi, so I kind of really like you… I know we didn’t get off on the right foot, but I promise that I’ll do better. Be my gf? -Keiji

You, typing out your response laying on the kitchen floor because you’ve BEEN head over heels for this man: ok..I guess <3

Akaashi gets a notif on his phone that you’re editing the document, and he sits in his communications class with the fattest smile across his face staring at your response

[mlqcconfessions]

Aaaaa I’d die for your headcanons they’re so cuteeeee (⁎⁍̴̛ᴗ⁍̴̛⁎) How do you think the boys would react to MC’s high school crush (probably a very popular student) reconnecting with her and asking her out on a date? (Not even trying to be subtle, he said it was a date date!)

So adorbs! I love this!! Let’s just call the crush “Tony” (it doesn’t have any relation to me I swear) 

MLQC Headcanon - Please don’t notice me senpai!

Victor

You were at a joint dinner party with your company + LFG to celebrate the recent show doing so well

Naturally, Victor was there (and so was Goldman who just wanted to go home I don’t get paid enough for this)

Towards the end of the party, you were drunk like nobody’s business

You could almost hear the “dummy” coming from him (he didn’t say it, but definitely thought it)

He was annoyed by your drunken habits of clinging to anyone in your proximity

THIS IS WHY HE MADE ANNA AND WILLOW SIT ON EITHER SIDE

He only liked it when you were drunk in front of him

“MC? Is that you?”

You look up to see a familiar face peering down at you, taking you back to your high school unrequited love years)

“Tony….!”

Still in your drunken stupor, you get up to hug him (Mr. CEO is shocked well this is an unexpected change of plans)

You turn around to introduce this new enemy friend to everyone else

“Erryone, dis is Tony! He’s…an…upperklassman from skool…and my first love!” (you’re slurring your words, but you just had to perfectly say the last line)

At this point, Victor is speed messaging his driver to get the car ready

The room goes in silence as everyone else darts back and forth between you and Victor (they can’t save you now)

As if you unintentionally realized the pressure from Pudding Chef, you fall asleep in Tony’s arms

“Oh..um…actually I liked you during high school, too. Maybe we could—“

You’re ripped apart taken from Tony’s arms as Victor picks you up, bridal style

“Sorry about that. My WIFE can be….a little too affectionate, sometimes”

“Oh, no problem…um…(he hesitates)…..w-wife?”

Victor hands Tony his LFG card

He has a separate design to use when chasing out potential rivals (it looks even more expensive than the normal ones)

Victor quickly nods back at him before leaving the restaurant, with you clinging close to his neck

He kisses the top of your head, walking to the car parked outside

“…….dummy….”

Goldman has to clean up the mess his boss just left behind I don’t get paid enough for this

Kiro

You were doing a segment on Kiro’s concert (which he begged Savin to invite you)

To not get in the way of the busy staff, you wait by the corner

Was it the tension in the air? You feel your throat drying up, in desperate need of a drink

As you feel your head spinning, someone comes up to you with an ice cold water bottle

“Hey, are you alright?”

“Thank you so much….I really needed—”

You look up, surprised to see your former crush in front of you

“To-Tony?”

“MC?” He grabs your shoulders, as if he’s making sure it’s really you

The two of you stare at each other for a while before you hear a familiar voice coming from behind you

“Eh? What’s going on? Having fun without me?”

You turn your eyes to him to happily greet the bubbly voice, but you don’t say anything. You can’t say anything

Kiro’s eyes aren’t smiling

“Ki-Kiro! Um…this is Tony…an upperclassman from my high school”

Kiro stares at him, glancing up and down before turning back to you

“Wow! He looks like someone who was popular with the girls…” (Tony can feel hostility, but doesn’t know from where)

“Um..yeah! He was really popular…and all the girls liked him…” (your voice trails off)

“Then did YOU like him too, MC?” (Kiro’s no longer fixing his gaze on you, but to the poor boy behind you)

“I…I guess I did….yeah…” (you’re looking down at your feet, unable to contain yourself within this awkwardness)

“I see….” (Kiro smiles at Tony before pulling you into an embrace, chin resting on your head)

“Well, TONY, it’s been….a pleasure meeting you…”

“Likewise….um…are you two—“

“Dating?” (you quickly look up to Kiro at this sudden change in tone what is he going to do now)

Without giving you time to think how to deny Tony’s question, Kiro cups his hands around your face and kisses your forehead

“YES. We ARE dating” (Tony just nods awkwardly, and walks off to the other side of the room)

“Kiro, since when were we dating each other?”

This time, he kisses you on the lips (literally takes your breath away)

“Starting. Today.”

Lucien

You were attending a fair hosted by Loveland University, with Lucien speaking as a guest of honor

He even picked out your outfit for today (saying it was his good luck charm or something)

You decide to look around by yourself before he goes on the stage

Behind, you hear a familiar voice calling your name (you turn around, almost dropping the bag of goods you collected from the stands

“Tony? Is that you?”

You excitedly rush to greet him, unaware that Lucien was watching you from the stage as his microphone was being set up

You spend so much time talking to Tony that you don’t realize it was nearly time for the guest of honor to speak

“Tony, were you always a student here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around campus”

“Actually, I heard there was a festival today….and remembered that you put down Loveland Uni as your first choice….so I thought I would be able to find you here….and ask you on a possible date?”

You can feel your face turn red as your former love confessed to you

“Oh…! Um…well…you found me!” (really? That’s all you could think of?)

Meanwhile, Lucien has already begun his speech while you were fumbling over this unknown man who approached you

He ends up finishing without you realizing (your thoughts were someplace else, anyways)

He’s waiting for an opportunity (which was given to him rather quickly)

“Thank you for listening. Are there any questions?” (he scans the crowd before selecting someone)

“Professor! Do you have a girlfriend?!”

Lucien is unfazed by this question and was about to fluff around the answer

But his eyes fall back on you, noticing your face turning red (he’s a little annoyed at this)

“Actually, she’s here with me today, in the beautiful butterfly sundress I picked out for her” (the outfit was meant so he could easily spot you, but this works out)

He directs the entire crowd over, and you finally realize the situation

Your entire body turns red this time, and Tony (realizing just who his rival was) says he has to go somewhere else and leaves

You don’t even answer him back, because your head was now occupied with Lucien (of course, he knows you’re thinking about him now)

You could never win against him

Gavin

The two of you were at your high school reunion, with your close classmates (he sat across from you so he can make sure you don’t drink too much)

You were sitting next to your old high school crush (the one you’ve liked for years)

Of course, you feel the intense death glare coming from Birdcop every time Tony passes you food

Minor almost peed his pants

You quickly became uncomfortable with Tony’s forwardness

Yeah you liked him in the past, but obviously it was different now (you want Gavin to realize, too)

You keep sending him signals that you’re not interested (awkwardly scoot your chair away)

He just views it as you being shy and promptly puts his arm around you

GINKGO BOY IS FURIOUS (the wind violently picks up outside, and all the windows start clattering)

The insides of your brain start losing focus as one of your friends brings up the forbidden statement

“MC, didn’t you have a crush on Tony before?”

The wind suddenly stopped (oh no.)

“Um, yeah….but not anymore!” (you look at Gavin, just hoping he understood the message)

He’s not even looking at you anymore (he’s piercing through Tony with his amber eyes why are they so still beautiful in this situation)

“Really? I never knew! Maybe we should start going out now!” (Tony, please, you’re making things worse)

Then Gavin stands up, gathering your stuff and ushering you to leave

He looks at you, as if he’s waiting for something

Oh. Right.

“Um, Tony? It’s true that I did like you before, but I’m sorry. I can’t go out with you. Actually, Gavin and I are—“

He spins you around and swiftly kisses you on the lips (Minor is squealing), raising his left hand interlocked with yours to proudly showcase the ring before saying with a definitive smirk

“ENGAGED”

He never let you go to the subsequent reunions after that

THE FLUFF IS REAL WITH THIS ONE

Hope you guys enjoyed! I personally had a BLAST with Birdcop’s 

Message me to join “Birdcop Patrol”, a group discussion dedicated to our Ginkgo Boy by yours truly

[kaleidoscopeminds]

meg !!!!!!!! i believe you said ur taking days off so i hope you are enjoying the off time and also for the kisses thing i would love to see "running their thumb over the other’s lips" w my babes lashton (or any of them that you want i just reread ur meeting at a gig lashton today and they make my heart happy SO) ok ily bye <3

sam babe!!! okay this got away from me a little but here is a some fluffy lashton wedding au??? with photographer ash??? and a whole lot of side malum??? idk what happened here but hope you enjoy! Love you!!!

It’s already gotten dark when Luke wanders outside the wedding venue for a bit of fresh air. He finds a bench to sit on, closing his eyes for a second and resting his head back on the wall. The day had been about as chaotic as he’d expected from Michael and Calum’s wedding, and he was ridiculously happy but extremely drained. The ceremony itself had been absolutely beautiful; Luke knew he'd be emotional watching his two best friends getting married but had almost overtaken him during their vows. It had always been "Calum and Michael" as long as Luke had known them, Luke just happy to be a third part of their duo, soaking in a bit of the love they could help but emanate whenever they were together. Watching the two of them marry and confirm "Calum and Michael" for as long as they would have each other was something that had always been inevitable, but also filled Luke with an emotion he couldn't describe, fizzing through his veins from his heart to his fingertips. 

The day had continued in a hazy mess of laughter, love and champagne, Luke even managing to get through his best man speech with as little trauma as he would have thought possible, especially having the added pressure of being a double best man for both grooms. He’d started by launching into a story of the first time that the three of them had gotten drunk and Michael had accidentally admitted he thought Calum had "really nice hands" and it had all gone swimmingly from there, Michael even having to wipe his eyes on Calum’s jacket sleeve surreptitiously at one point, something Luke will definitely be bringing up with him later.

"Hello," He hears a voice behind him and jumps, sloshing a bit of his champagne over his knee. 

The photographer — “Ashton” — as as he had introduced himself earlier, stood leaning against the wall next to him with a slight smile. 

He was the honestly the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen, light brown hair curling slightly on the top of his head, glittering hazel eyes and a dimple in his chin that appeared anytime he encouraged any of his subjects to smile more or turn this way or that. That wasn't even mentioning his hands, long fingers clutching his camera as he snapped away. He had been distracting Luke all day, drawing his eye whenever his mind wandered for a second, and he wasn’t sure whether it was his own wishful thinking that most of the time Ashton seemed to be looking back. Michael had told him offhandedly before the ceremony that he was apparently a friend of Calum’s from college, and Luke was going to kill him (after his wedding day maybe) for not introducing him to Ashton sooner. 

"Uh," Luke said intelligently to Ashton. "Are you here to take a photo of me? Because I’m not being very interesting right now."

Ashton laughs freely, "Sorry for making you jump, can I sit for a second?" He said gesturing at the empty space next to Luke. “No photos, promise.”

Luke nods, blushing. "Of course, sorry.”

Ashton laughs again, sitting down and scooching slightly closer to Luke. "Do you want to know a secret?"

Luke cocks his head at Ashton and smiles at the man talking to him, "Go on then, what secrets do you have photographer man."

"I've not been a very good photographer today," Ashton says, with a glittering look in his eyes.

"What do you mean, you look great to me?" Luke says then turns even redder. "I mean you look like you're doing a great job to me." He amends, rubbing the back of his neck.

Ashton positively grins back at him. "Because I've been taking too many photos of one subject, bad form, should be covering everyone here."

"What of the happy couple?" Luke scoffs, "I think that's allowed."

"No, too many photos of someone else," Ashton says, smiling even wider and giving Luke a significant look.

Luke chooses an unfortunate time to take a sip of champagne from his glass and almost chokes, and Ashton laughs again and smacks him on the back as Luke tries to get himself under control.

"You're not serious," Luke says, biting his lip slightly, a habit he can't seem to break, even several years after removing his lip piercing. He's not too upset about it now though, watching Ashton track the movement with his eyes before coming back up to meet Luke's with a smirk.

“Do you want to see?" He asks, holding his camera up towards Luke.

Luke pauses before nodding slightly and Ashton slides even closer to Luke, pressing their arms together and turning the camera back on. He begins to flick through the photos, and Luke can immediately tell that they are going to be beautiful, even the raw images in the tiny viewfinder are gorgeous, capturing the almost loving glow the whole night has glittered in.

"Wow you're incredible," Luke breathes out and he hears Ashton make a little embarrassed noise next to him.

"Thank you," Ashton says quietly, before continuing to scroll through the photos rapidly.

Luke's blush deepens by the second as he notices himself show up more and more often, waiting for a drink at the bar, making his best man speech, dancing with Mali's daughter, and even more of him at the ceremony, the unmistakable look of love and emotion in his eyes as he watches his best friends in the whole world get married.

"You're a great subject," Ashton murmurs, so close to him now he's basically whispering in his ear. "Could be a model with those legs actually."

Luke goes red again and ducks his head to hide his smile. "Fuck off," he pinches Ashton's knee.

"I'm serious, you're a dream to photograph, those eyes, these curls," Ashton lifts a hand from his camera to pull a loose piece of Luke's hair between his fingers, Luke turning his body slightly towards Ashton. Luke slides the hand that he pinched Ashton's knee with up his thigh slightly and rests it there, looking up from the camera to look at Ashton properly from under his eyelashes.

"That nose," Ashton says, sweeping his index finger down Luke's nose, a barely there touch. "And these lips," He adds, pulling Luke's bottom lip down slightly with his thumb, before brushing his thumb gently over them. 

Luke smiles underneath Ashton's thumb, takes a deep breath and leans in slightly, eyes meeting Ashton's, and Ashton pulls his hand away and replaces it with his lips, pressing gently at Luke's. He kisses him softly, and then pulls away slightly.

"This okay?" He asks Luke in a murmur.

Luke just responds by slotting their lips back together and kissing Ashton with purpose, slipping his tongue between his lips, and hand coming up to hold the back of his neck.

How long they stay like that Luke doesn’t know, the summer breeze ruffling Luke’s curls, the sound of laughter and music drifting out the open door and Ashton underneath his lips. He can’t quite work out whether the warm feeling bubbling up inside him is from the champagne or from Ashton himself, leg pressed against his and a hand cradling his jaw as they kiss.

“Oh my fucking God!” Luke hears a voice exclaim and he pulls his face away from Ashton’s to glare at the interruption, to see Michael staring at him, a look of glee on his face.

“Calum get out here now!” He shouts inside, “Luke’s making out with your photographer friend!”

“Michael!” Luke protests, dropping his forehead on to Ashton's jacketed shoulder.

“What the fuck, are you joking?” Calum half jogs outside, a delighted look on his face which only grows bigger when he sees Luke and Ashton, still half wrapped around each other on the bench.

Luke goes to extract himself from Ashton, but the other man just slips a hand into Luke’s, leaving their legs pressed together. 

“I fucking knew it!” Calum crows. “Didn’t I say Luke would be all over him like a rash?” 

Michael howls with laughter, dragging Calum closer to him and sliding a hand around his waist. 

“I hate you both so much,” Luke whines into Ashton’s shoulder, feeling it shake slightly under his forehead with suppressed laughter.

“Anyway,” Michael says, “Hate to break it to you both but we’re about to cut the cake and this is something that we might want a photo of down the line.”

Now it’s Ashton’s turn to blush, he mumbles out an apology as he gets up, pulling Luke up alongside him. Calum just shakes his head at the two of them and smiles. “We’ll see you in a minute,” He says, tugging Michael back into the building, both of them giggling.

“See I told you, not a very good photographer today, too distracted,” Ashton says with a small smile, tucking Luke’s hair behind his ear where it had been ruffled by the wind, and then leaving his hand resting loosely against Luke’s neck.

“Well I personally still think you’re doing a great job,” Luke says with a small smile, leaning in to peck at Ashton’s lips again.

“Well duty calls now, but maybe I could persuade you into a dance later?” Ashton rubs Luke’s cheek slightly with his thumb, grazing his cheekbone.

Luke’s smile grows wider, “See you on the dance-floor, photographer man.”

Ashton laughs and tugs him inside by the sleeve of his jacket. Luke follows him giggling, feeling a bit too much like he’s floating on air.

[loveau]

college!au seulgi

request: elli!! can u please do a college gf au with seulgi? i think we could all use that cute fluffiness right now 🤧 p.s. thank u for sharing ur wonderful writing ilu 💕

major: business w/ a concentration in human resources management

minor: dance

club: prob vp of the school’s women in business club!!! she joined in the middle of her sophomore year and became vp in junior!

she’s most likely been an RA in her sophomore or junior for the upperclassmen

she was in it for the door decs before realizing she actually liked it lOL

originally was a bio major and was stressed about it, but switched to business after being an RA because she thought it was her calling???

it just fit a lot better and she didn’t have to stand there hunched over her lab work and worry about accidentally breathing in pathogens

she had declared a bio major because the plan was to go to med school if all else fails and she didn’t really know what else to do, so that was a safe option right?

never before had she been so relieved to find out that she actually really liked spending time in her business and management classes and leading her volunteer group and being an RA

she also now has an excuse to dress up super nicely for interviews and such because she had so many outfits in her closet but never got a chance to wear them out

she became so much more at ease and bubbly about it too

no more sitting in lecture halls having to recite the functions of B-cells or whatnot

it also helped to have sat down with her ARD irene who told her she might like business

it was a long process of convincing because most of it was spent trying not to keep gossiping about the other RAs on campus alfsdlknfmsdlgkn

afterwards she quits reslife so she can focus on other stuff and lives in an apartment near campus her senior year

she becomes pretty popular around campus for her happy personality and her calm energy to match, making it so easy to start a conversation with her or just hang out

seulgi will be studying somewhere in a common student area and previous residents or club mates or classmates will wave to her or stop by for a quick chat

she’s also normally p busy tho being the vp of the wib club and also making sure she’s updating her resume and leaving time on the weekends to volunteer at the animal shelter like she loves

and also making sure she isn’t spending too much on online shopping for clothes and oOPS HER FINGER SLIPPED AND NOW SHE HAS LIKE TWO TOPS AND A PAIR OF OVERALLS ON THE WAY 

but she often doesn’t have a lot of time to spend with her friends unless they plan it like a MONTH beforehand since she’s been applying and interviewing for countless internships

she was just so excited to find something that she’s super passionate about instead of biology and she kind of overloads herself on that energy akfsldgnskjgn

so of course when her friends invite her to parties or kickbacks she has to decline because she has to make the next powerpoint presentation for the club meeting and also make sure the club’s end of semester dinner is being all squared away

seulgi’s a busybody and enjoys what she does, so much that she doesn’t realize that she keeps overloading her schedule and not giving a lot of time for just herself

which usually means she also spends a lot of time cramming everything at once and might end up passing out at a friend’s place during a study session, in the middle of club meetings, or even in the library late at night

that’s just how she spent her thursday night 

she had been setting up a speech for her recruitment and selection class and had been so tired from her club meeting a couple hours before that she ended up falling asleep in the library

it was kind of cute since she had hairs slipping from her bun, some coffee stains on her sweater, ink all over her hand from notes, candy wrappers spread around her area, and her head was tipped back and her mouth wide open as she slept

okay............ not that cute

she was a mess

but it was enough for her to get startled awake by a longboard rolling across the room and hitting her chair leg quite hard

she didn’t know what happened at first and checked around only to find a somewhat empty library save the couple of students also diligently working

her laptop she left open was dead and she cursed because she didn’t save her speech and her phone was below 10%, but it was enough to tell her that it was like 3am in the morning

seulgi only noticed the skateboard because she was going to go to the bathroom to freshen up and almost slipped on it when her foot landed on the top

she caught herself and saw that there was a bottle of water and a granola bar and a note on it

‘hey, you look like you need a little refresher. i also had a spare charger in case you needed it, your laptop has been open the past hour’

sure enough there was a charger but it had been knocked to the floor after she slipped on the longboard

silently, seulgi placed the items on the table with the rest of her stuff and looked around for anyone who would have given her the stuff

except nobody was popping their head up and were all busy

plus they all had chargers with them so she didn’t know who would have given her the treats

nonetheless she opened the water bottle and felt replenished when the water hit her throat

she was so confused????? still?????

she decided to take her trip to the bathroom like she wanted to and maybe she could scope out whoever decided to give her the food and drink while she was at it

subtlety wasn’t exactly her forte either since she was craning her neck around every table and making the other students confused

eventually seulgi makes it to the bathroom and cleans herself up and when she comes back the longboard is gone and her laptop was charged for her and a new note lays on top of it?????

who???????

‘i had to go for the night, sorry about that! don’t worry about the charger, i have another one and i’ll just collect this one when i bump into you again :)’

and just like that seulgi was completely and utterly confused

she stays like that for the next two weeks or so, seeing no sign of anyone with the same longboard and she tries not to pounce at every person she sees riding one to class

it gets so bad that the prez asked if she was okay and getting enough sleep since she was so distracted during her meetings and if she called the caterer for the dinner yet asgGNSGDN

her friends sooyoung and yerim were also trying to use this as an advantage for her to get invited out to “clear her mind” as they say since she’s been so out of it lately

and they’re absolutely elated when seulgi agrees and decides to go because why not?? she’s been so stressed about finding this mystery person because she wanted to properly thank them... but also to get the laptop charger with hello kitty stickers all over it back to its owner

and also did they see she had drool running down her chin bc that was really embarrassing and she just wants to make sure if anyone saw that before she promptly packs her bags a moves to another country

she’s blushing at that don’t point it out or else it’ll get worse amsdlknsg

once they’re actually inside, she can’t help but look for any longboards by the door even though most of the people at the party came by on foot or by someone’s car since the house was relatively close to campus

sooyoung and yerim are basically pushing her further into the house as they chatter excitedly and they’re happy it isn’t a byob type of party

seulgi is basically saying she won’t drink that much because she’ll look after the two and let them go ham... for a bit..

but they’re basically like

“seulgi it’s fridaaaaay it’s fine”

“yeah! besides we know the house owner and can call joohyun if we anything”

and they’re both going “pleeeeeeeeaaaaase” and doing their best to yell it over the loud music

and before seulgi can deny any longer she’s turned to the kitchen that’s been blocked by a foldable table and there’s cup lining it and drinks all over on the counters

but she’s not distracted by the abundance of drinks and people surrounding it.........

she finds you smiling cheekily at her

“what can i get you?”

and seulgi starts sputtering over her words and she REALLY cannot get a single word out because oh my gosh who are you and are you single because UHHHHHHH her brain is going overload

and both sooyoung and yerim are already cackling at seulgi’s stunned silence and giving each other mischievous looks behind seulgi while she malfunctions

meanwhile you’re just drinking it all up with an amused smile and gleam in your eyes and oh god do you HAVE to lean against the counter like that?

seulgi can barely get a word out before you’re laughing a little and turning around to prepare three red solo cups

you pass the cups to sooyoung and yerim and they basically BOLT away to leave seulgi all alone and more importantly alone wITH YOU SOMEONE SAVE HER

you laugh at her red cheeks that shine from the kitchen lights behind you and seulgi is absolutely enamored by you at this moment

“don’t worry, i gave them more fruit juice than i did alcohol. they’ll be fine”

seulgi barely registers this and gapes like a fish to where her friends are dancing and drinking from whatever you prepared them

had she been paying proper attention like she normally does, she’s notice that yes you basically watered down the alcohol with some lemonade

“i know how crazy those two can get after a couple parties with them, so i’m making sure they don’t go overboard”

seulgi only watches as you take her cup and put it under the sink to give her water

she takes it an tries not to get giddy when your fingers brush

inner seulgi facepalms because she’s acting like she has a crush in high school

but she’s never felt this way since she switched majors???

and omg that feeling was so addicting exhibit a when seulgi overloads her schedule and now??? she just met you and can’t get enough already

“thank you” she practically inwardly screams when she realizes how meek she is but you only give her a friendly smile

“yeah! thought you could use a little refresher. i didn’t know if you wanted anything so i didn’t want to give you anything you wouldn’t feel pressured to drink. let me know if you need anything else!”

all seulgi does for the rest of the night is basically hang around the room and watch everyone get kind of crazy and make sure sooyoung and yerim are staying on their feet, but with a second set of eyes she actually feels like she has more freedom

especially since you stopped giving them alcohol and basically have been serving them just juice after they started getting past the bit of tipsiness

eventually seulgi has enough of just standing around and has had enough cups of water (she had maybe 3) to finally talk to you

before she’d been working up the courage to talk to you and had come back with a refilled cup of water but noW???

NOW???

she’s ready

at least she hopes

seulgi’s marching up to you and then sooyoung is at her arm whining and sort of falling over

seulgi manages to catch her and is p disoriented by everything like what is happening is she okay??

and sooyoung is just like

“seulgiiiiiiiii i wanna go hoooome, can we get burgers?”

and before she can ask where yerim went, she suddenly pops up and joins in

“burgers? i heard burgers can we go, i was foooood”

before she knows it she’s dragged out of the house by the two and basically walking them home a couple blocks away

and now seulgi’s bummed that she didn’t get to finally talk to you like she wanted

she doesn’t even know when she’ll be able to see you again since she didn’t get your name at all and she’d be mortified by all the teasing the younger two would give her since they knew how choked up she was if she asks them who you were

she’s even kind of sulking about it and she’s so caught up in it she gets a notification from her phone that she needs to finalize things with the caterer and reserve one of the areas on campus for the club’s dinner and that reminds her she needs to shop

but as she’s on her phone she nearly swerves into somebody and it shocks her enough to bring her back to reality and she moves to apologize to the person and all of a sudden

“oh hey! you again, fancy seeing you!”

and she’s now forgotten everything since she sees you smiling at her

this time she forces herself to find her voice and not embarrass herself and it’s like her interview persona comes in and she’s got that natural confidence oozing in and she beams that pretty smile of hers right back at you

“and you too! i never thought i’d run into you again”

you laugh and all of a sudden you’re like an inch shorter and seulgi looks down and spots that you’d been riding a longboard before almost crashing into her

and she recognizes that longboard with all of the sanrio stickers on it and is that a sicker of your face with some filter on the corner of it???

but she recognizes the longboard since it’s been engraved in her mind and it just clicks for her and suddenly seulgi is scrambling to pull her backpack from behind and you just watch on like

uh r u okay? are you good? pls don’t take out some random textbook and smack me over the head with it

the hello kitty covered charger she’s been saving in her backpack is suddenly thrust into her hands and you think she’s about to stumble her words again like in those anime love confession scenes but she’s almost aggressive with it????

“i’ve been keeping this in my backpack for a few weeks! i didn’t even know what you looked like so i had no clue how to find you, do you know how stressed out you made me? you’ve been on my mind for almost a month!”

she doesn’t even realize how her words sound until you’re responding back in kind with another one of those easy smiles of yours

“sorry, i’ve been meaning to catch you sooner but i’ve so many labs back to back” you look at your phone and bite your lip nervously, something seulgi is a little too focused on “i actually have one in like five minutes, that’s why i almost crashed into you...”

seulgi finally realizes you’re wearing a white lab coat, something you’d worn in preparation since you were already rushing to be on time

your phone is thrust into her hands with the empty contact already loaded up 

seulgi quickly types in her number and even snaps a cute profile photo of her and it’s your turn to be stunned by her because wow that was an impromptu photo and hOW DID SHE MAKE IT SO GOOD????

and then seulgi is ushering you off because you have like thREE MINUTES BEFORE LAB and you’re like OH YEAH UH BYE!!!! I’LL CALL YOU????

and she shouts back with a “YOU BETTER!!”

and suddenly seulgi gets a phone call and when she picks up she can hear the wind rushing past the speaker and you’re kind of breathy since you’re reaLLY using those leg muscles to PUSH to that lab

“yEaH so UH i wanted to tell you but i didn’t get the chance since i don’t want to have to do a makeup lab??? bUT UH, i saw one of your dance performances last year and thought you were really cute!!”

seulgi vaguely remembers that because she had done a solo dance for a showcase in the performing arts department and it was basically for the students to show off what they were working on and to her it was just a homework assignment on top of like four labs and a research paper

“oh yeah! i remember that... well not really, i’d been so busy that it all just flew by”

“yeah! that was around the time you were a bio major, right? i’d been meaning to talk to you then, but i wasn’t able to since you switch majors afterwards!”

“ah, bio as well?”

she hears your voice echo and she knows you’ve entered the building by now

relief floods her system that she didn’t keep you too long 

“nah, i’m a chem major. it translates pretty well to mixing drinks, huh?”

instead of getting embarrassed and recounting that previous experience at the party, seulgi’s business confidence is suRGING and i mean IT IS LARGO and she’s like

“i can’t really say. you’ve only made me water, so i’ll have to see another time?”

at this point you’re absolutely vibrating with excitement at the proposal of a date and you quickly accept

and that’S WHAT HAPPENED BUT YOU SPENT IT OVER A HOMEMADE DINNER WITH WINE AND SEULGI COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE IMPRESSED?!?!?!?!?

you’d cooked it all and brought it to her apartment since you said your housemates were hosting some study session so you just offered to bring it all over

she’s also shocked you managed to find time to do all of this given the busy stem major life and how she was struggling before

but she’s also mentioning that giving her one cup of wine doesn’t mean that’s mixing up a drink so you’ll have to do this again

and it happens aGAIN when you’re at a restaurant this time and it’s a pretty nice one near campus and y’all are just chatting away about seulgi’s women in business club dinner and she invites you to be her plus one aSDFKNSLF sHE MAY HAVE BEEN TOO SHY TO SAY DATE BUT YOU GOT THE MESSAGE

bUT AT THE SAME TIME the restaurant is the one making the drinks, so you’ll have to have her over again and mix something up

and sooyoung and yerim and just so distraught lIKE GO OUT ALREADY

and seulgi’s like we are?????? WE ARE????? WE ARE GOING ON DATES AND STUFF

but they just groan out and are about to storm up to in the middle of a lab and just hand seulgi over like

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE JUST CALL HER YOUR GIRLFRIEND ALREADY

when you finally do it’s funny because it’s at another party that sooyoung and yerim invite her to and you’re there mixing it up again but she didn’t realize that the first party where she met you was your house????

she’s hanging out with you in the kitchen and you’ve made her a cup of something sweet and seulgi has to admit that it is pretty good

and you just wink at her saying that your chemistry skills are actually pretty good

BUT THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE TWO OF YOU IS EVEN BETTER HEHEHE

and you’re totally not just hanging out in the kitchen away from the sweaty dancing crowd and sticky floor you’re having your housemates clean up since you’re the drink master

and yOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT STEALING KISSES FROM EACH OTHER WHILE SEULGI’S SITTING ON THE COUNTER AND YOU’RE PRETENDING TO REACH AROUND HER FOR A BOTTLE BUT NO INSTEAD YOU’RE REACHING FOR HER WAIST AND HOLDING HER CLOSE AS YOU KISS HER AND NOW YOU’RE SMILING AGAINST EACH OTHER’S LIPS

you spend late nights in the library together now and you’re also most of seulgi’s impulse control when it comes to making plans and doing stuff

mainly because you’re telling her that no-no do not force yourself to go to that resume workshop you’ve been to them enough times to LEAD those

and then she gets all excited like REALLY DO YOU THINK THEY’D LET ME?!?!?!

and you’re like no stOP WE’RE STAYING IN FOR A MOVIE NIGHT AND WATCHING CARS 2

but it’s also funny to see seulgi falling asleep against your shoulder and her mouth is hanging wide open and you’ve set so many pictures of her like that as your homescreen and been yelled at too many times to change it

and when you do change it, it’s just a different picture of her in that position from a different day

she likes to run through her speeches and presentations with you and you find it so cool that she’s so poised when doing that BUt she gets so shy when she wants a kiss but doesn’t want to say so and SHE KNOWS you know she wants a kiss

you’re constantly doing her buns for her since you’ve had some practice keeping your own hair out of your face for labs but also getting tips from other girls in your labs and lectures and when they find out the reason why they’re just like pLS YOU TWO GET MARRIED

but the closest they can see the two of you dress up together is when seulgi decides to wear her business clothes out on a date and you’ve gotten stuff to match her and now you’re basically a ceo power couple walking around campus to go return some books to the library

you sitting in on her meetings and watching with lovestruck eyes as she basically spends the good half of it also staring right back at you and when they’re in discussion or activities she just clings to your side and cuddles you

you teach her how to longboard and she’s still a little wobbly but it’s SO CUTE when she’s fearfully holding onto your hands and staring down at her feet and shouting at you to NOT LET GO AT ANY COST

eventually she gives up on that and buys a pair of rollerblades instead so you can just pull her around while she hangs onto your backpack strings while you move on the longboard

BUT WHAT MAKES EVERYONE JEALOUS???

you hold her hand instead :)

she’s just laughing and giggling and being all around smiley when your hands are linked and you’re rolling around campus with her in tow

you even go to all of her dance events as well!!!

she’s been able to put a lot more effort into them since switching majors, but especially since you manage to keep her rooted and not going off doing so many things at once

she also wants to make sure she looks good for you

when does she not though??

y’all are literally tooth rotting sweet for each other

it’s the absolute cutest thing and you totally didn’t put a sticker of her sleeping face with her mouth open on your longboard........ and on your charger...... and the laptop........ and hers.... -q- zzZZZ

[crowsent]

so i started watching kings avatar pt. 2: spoiler edition electric boogaloo

condensed reaction from all episodes but first things first:

i already waxed poetic about the characters and set design of kings avatar in my first post so ill get to the point here:

lowkey thought that the excellent eras logo was the flag of fucking canada for a hot second there i mean

fucking seriously????????????

but enough about discount canada look at this man

look at him

“im very mad” said with a smile

i fucking love him

..

i fucking hate episode 2 timestamp 7 minutes tho

not posting any pictures but

the spiders

so creepy

with the scuttle scuttle sound

ew

no

i know the game has good sound design but was realistic spider animation/sound really necessary???

..

someone who can gif please please please gif that moment where excellent era announces ye qius retirement please. like. the fancy weapon twirls, the fire, the snow, the leaves. that moment was so fucking beautiful

..

xiao tang is uhhhhh so cool?????? what the fuck???? beating players in a game she doesnt play purely off of hand speed and apm???? and then joining that same game to beat ye xiu someday?????? amazing. 10/10

..

i am gaining more understanding of this man as i watch this silly lil anime what the fuck

..

real talk tho

i want glory to be a real game

the mechanics are interesting, the class systems seem p balanced, and there are plenty of in-game systems to take advantage of

would be nice to actually physically play it tbh

..

“the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment”

..

lowkey tho why is steamed bun out here trying to guess everyones sign, trying to get everyone else to guess his sign, trying to attribute everything to signs... bro you aint in fucking homestuck. i see no fucking grey skin or orange horns on you. chill the fuck out and stop trying to astrologise everything

..

mucheng is precious. id kill for her. her devotion. her dedication.

..

i need the plantago seed duel as a separate video. it is immaculate.

the rolling camera pan, the fast strikes, the colours, the music

so good

..

who is this man

“the brawlers style, to put it nicely, is “free-willed”

honestly, its a complete mess”

what a legend

AND he figured out ye xius true identity just from playing one match w him. can i ask for more? i think not

..

..

thank you to the animators that made the ye xiu v jiexi look so goddamn good. the fury and panic that went into the animation of their fight, frantically clicking the keyboard, moving the mouse around, that fire effect where the floor cracks? godtier

amazing

..

lowkey why does steamed bun irl look like that????

..

“the brain is a useful thing, make sure to bring yours next time”

bruh just fucking murder the man why dont you

..

the man aint really subtle tho

..

“lord of analysis”

bruh

you got fucking exposed

“why dont your footsteps make any sound”

yo why is the character design so good???????

this is unfair

every character so far is unique and has good design

this is unfair

..

can the translators fucking

TRANSLATE

i cant read chinese

and there is no way on gods green earth am i going to call my father for every time the translators dont translate the text on screen bc then he might as well just watch the anime with me

its right fucking there man

translate this shit

..

so mr tactician over here said that the upper limit for unspecialised is lvl 95 but methinks that mr ye xiu is gonna find a way to overcome this

..

does

does GLORY have proximity chat or are these morons ‘shhh’ing each other bc they are THAT dedicated to roleplay

..

shaotian

shaotian shaotian shaotian

i love you

fucking chaotic chatterbox bastard

this motherfucker tripped on his goddamn feet and ye xiu IMMEDIATELY made fun of him

can you believe

i want what they have

i want that friendship motherfucker

amazing

“huang shao’s trash talk is magnificent”

and this fucker got everyone convinced he isnt huang shaotian purely bc of his ability to annoy other people and his dedication to keeping his identity a secret

can i ask for more?

i think not

look at this

i want their fucking friendship man

this motherfucker is fucking talking so goddamn fast

what the fuck

“who is chanting prayers?”

BOI you have no goddamn room to speak with this speech bubble wall youve made

“where did you find this clown?”

AND YE XIU CALLED YOU OUT BOI ye xiu straight said “what gave you the right to call someone else a clown” and he is CORRECT

..

okay i know for a hot second i keeep talking about shaotian but like

ye xiu easily slotted back into my favourites list bc this motherfucker is talking to the customers of the internet cafe WHILE HES PLAYING THE FUCKING GAME like

the big dick energy

yes he goddamn is boys and what the fuck are you gonna do about it? thats right. NOTHING. bc hes just that good at the game

..

MUCHENG CARRY

MUCHENG CARRY

MUCHENG CARRY

trap these motherfuckers girl

FUCKING CORNER THEM

CARRY CARRY CARRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

..

so

ye xiu really just ambushing the people who wanted to kill him by waiting outside the dungeons and then killing the players and then he even has the audacity to say “hi”

fucking big dick energy king right her folks

..

"as for that ghostblade,

shaotian with the fucking callouts

..

GET YOU A GUY BITCH

GET YOU A MAN WHO CAN BE THIS FUCKING CONSIDERATE

“mu mu”

mucheng carried and now ye xiu fucking protecting her identity

WE STAN

..

“every opponents weakness... i remember all of them”

my understanding of this man...

..

bro why the fuck does vice captain zhang eat so fucking SLOW

..

so vice captain zhang plays an mmo like a fucking game of chess i see

..

bruhhhhhhhhhhhh

the desert dust v one autumn leaf fight

bruhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

the skill

the mastery

the animation

the SONG

THE SONG

YALL THE FUCKING SONG THAT PLAYED DURING THE DUEL

..

[thegc4life]

*in Dabi voice* That so? How sad, poor little WyvernSpirit. Hawks with prosthetic legs is a concept that has haunted me too. Maybe above the ankle, but below the knee? Amputation 😔 there I said it directly. Last page of chapter 267, doesn't Hawks' leg look kinda long and weirdly detatched 'cause of the angle and being hidden behind Tokoyami's hand?

    Anonymous said:

    Continuing. Common known fact: When Wyvern gets stuck on a concept they really fall down that rabbit hole hard. - Sincerely, the anon that placed helicopter sound effects over Keigo's feetsies. (Hint: Helicopters are chop-chopping :)

--00--

Okay. OKAY. You lot! ALL of you! Do you know what you have done to me?! I have thought about this, relentlessly! I have nit, I have picked, and I have formulated plans and you have given me horrible, horrible ideas! That I am implementing now because god damn it you’ve infected me with- with the chop-chopness! All of you! 

@stitchthepaleontologynerd I haven’t gotten to your ask yet, it’s coming up boy howdy, but you’re included in this! 

How dare! How daaarrreee!

Now you get to suffer with me! Look at what you’ve done! Look at it!

(For all you lovely doves *side-eyes the wrong-doers* that are not horrible influences, if you do not want any spoilers for Hawks-sensei do not read below the cut. It is a detailing of a trauma I was planning to use but is now so much bigger, so much WORSE, and will pop up in later chapters as the same flashback styles as I’ve had already. Warnings for verbal and emotional manipulation as well as threats of physical abuse. It’s sad. You’ve been warned.)

So...

Originally planned: We all know (unless our minds were tired and blended that one little speech bubble that showed up a total of one time) that Hawks was trained in negotiation tactics, verbal manipulation, and such. Head Canon wise, in the story I was going to have it that as he grew up Hawks could, technically, ask for anything he wanted and get it but he needed to make a compelling argument for why he should be allowed to have what he asked for (hint: he often failed these until he stopped asking for things that were ‘useless’). I was going to hint at this, here and there, to do that slow build horror that is so prevalent in the Hero Commission.

And then Chop-chop happened.

So. Now there is this.

Hawks keeps failing his negotiation training outside of training scenarios. His trainers and the President wanted him to keep asking for things so that he could learn how to manipulate and negotiate at the drop of a hat. But whenever he asked for things it was always ‘silly little things’ like going outside for a bit to fly, or to get something that actually tasted good instead of all gross food he was served for every meal, or to be able to take his Endeavour doll with him to training so that it could watch on and give him encouragement.

You know. Silly things.

He always failed these because he could not come up with a strong enough argument for why he should be allowed to do these things.

So they got... a little mean.

Longer training hours. He was always given the choice of not staying later than usual, so long as he could provide a ‘valid’ argument to his trainers why he didn’t need to work harder. ‘I managed that new aerial trick three times in a row with no mistakes’ he would say. ‘Yes, but you messed up the other one halfway through’ they would say. And he would tell them that it was new, of course he didn’t get it down right away. And they would say, ‘exactly, so we need to train more.’

Eventually, Hawks would get to the point where he would say ‘I need to be able to stretch my body in a certain way to make that move. I should go to my room and practice stretching like that. I will have it perfected next time.’

And they praise him for good thinking and say ‘yes, Hawks, that is a good idea’ and he gets all happy because Praise, and he goes from training with them... to training in his room as though he managed to convince them of anything.

He makes progress. He gets better at speaking, and manipulating, and redirecting. But not fast enough. Not good enough.

So they step it up a bit.

“Your feet’ they tell him. They are unnatural. They affect how you walk, how you stand, they look odd and lethal. He is supposed to be a comforting figure, he can’t be like that if he as talons that could rip off someone’s arm.

They’ll just have to go.

Hawks, understandably, freaks the fuck out. He doesn’t want to have his talons surgically removed. To have his feet braced and wrapped until they were re-formed into a ‘normal’ foot. To have anything they were telling him.

He argues with his trainers. Screams at them for the first time in the two years (because yes, he is still very young) he’s been here. He leaves without permission. Goes to his room. Screams and shakes and holds his Endeavour plush while praying the real thing will come save him.

In comes the President.

‘Hawks,’ she says, long after he has exhausted himself and is just staring blankly at the wall. ‘I heard what happened. You don’t want the surgery, do you?”

And of course he doesn’t, who would want that?

“I understand’ she says, and Hawks believes her because she always seems to understand more than he does but he doesn’t want her to this time because when she understands him she makes him understand her.

Which is exactly what she does.

She tells him why she thinks it is a good idea to get the surgery. While he is exhausted, empty, and numb she tells him all the horrible things in the world people see and how his feet might seem scary. She gives statements, but they seem... weak? They are less substantial than usual.

“The surgery will be next week,” she tells him and he breaks and he breaks and he breaks.

“Unless.”

Unless he can convince them otherwise. Unless he can negotiate. Manipulate. Make them see things his way.

“I want you to be happy, Hawks,’ she tells him, using the pads of her fingers to brush his hair out of his face before she goes and he leans into the warmth and wants, wants, wants. “If you think there is a different way, that there is something that should be done differently, all you have to do is tell us. You’re a smart boy. If you really think your feet are fine as they are, then there must be a reason they’re like that right? You just have to tell us what it is.”

So he tries.

Day one, he fails. They take x-rays of his feet for the doctors to look at while they prepare. ‘I’ll never walk the same’ isn’t a good enough reason when they have specialized physical therapists there to make sure that he will.

Day two, he fails. His handler tells him the time he was scheduled for. Early in the morning, right after he wakes up. “It will slow down my training,” isn’t good enough either. ‘you’re a fast learner’ is praise he always wanted before, and now all it is is a bullet in his lungs.

Day three, he fails. They use a practice dummy to help teach him how he is going to have to wrap his feet when everyone else is too busy to help him. “It’s going to hurt” and “I’m scared” are not the reasons of a hero. He’ll get over it.

Day four, he fails. No one brings it up that day. There is an entry on his calendar though. Circled. Blatant. He doesn’t argue that day. He doesn’t know what to say.

Day five, he fails. He asks his trainers if there is any way for him to use his feet, as they are, as a hero. They tell him they have never worked with avian based quirks before, how could they possibly know if his talons would be useful? He snapped at them, saying they did just fine telling him how to use his feathers when no one else in the world had the same quirk as he did. He had to do extra laps that day, until he was too tired to argue anymore.

Day six, the day before the surgery, the President comes to visit him again. He stayed up all night, even with how exhausted he had been, because this was his last chance.

“I can keep them covered,” he tells her. Tells the room. The faces that hold the decision in their hands. “I have to wear shoes outside anyway, it’s easy to keep them covered. They help me balance in ways most people can’t. It makes me a better fighter. If I run out of feathers, I will still have a weapon. A last resort. I can learn to walk normal. It will be easier to learn with feet I am used to then ones created for me. My toes are flexible and strong. If I train them I can use them in emergency situations to save more people. What if my arms are broken? My feathers gone? I can still use my feet to evacuate people.”

More, and more he talks. He tells them everything he can possibly think of that make his feet an advantage instead of an anomaly. He doesn't’ say ‘I like them’ or that he likes to curl his toes around the bottom bars of his bed when he has a nightmare. He doesn’t tell them that he likes the feeling of the tiles beneath his talons as they ‘click, click’ when he walks. He doesn’t tell them that they help him perch and that he’s afraid if they take them he won’t be able to do that anymore and he doesn’t know if he could handle losing that too.

His trainers look thoughtful. His handler is nodding.

The President smiles.

After everyone has left she gives him a hug. It’s small, and stiff, but he feels like crying.

“I am proud of you, Hawks,” she tells him. “Keep this up.”

And when they talk about his hands, he wins. When they talk about his staring he doesn’t... he doesn't win but he gets a compromise. A visor, to hide his eyes. When they talk about his sharp teeth, he almost loses but then he wins and the President smiles at him again. She doesn't’ hug him, that time, but he’s too old for that now so it’s okay.

When he’s sixteen, he knows he’s gotten really good at it. Because they try to take his Endeavour doll away. And it makes sense, because it’s- it’s a toy. Of course he doesn’t need it when he’s sixteen. He’s surprised they hadn’t tried to take it sooner. But he’d prepared for this, he knew his trainers and his handler well by then and he talked circles around them until they forgot what they asked in the first place. He got them refocused on training, on stats, on preparations and then he made sure it was always out of sight so they never brought it up again.

The President asked him, once, if he still had it. He shrugged, asked about how his results in his last combat simulation were, and she had looked so unimpressed that he knew she had known. But she hadn’t said anything. Because most of the time, if he managed to convince everyone else, she would let him keep something.

And he was grateful.

--00--

Look what you monsters have done. T-T I hope you’re happy! 

Seriously though, you guys just love giving me the angst thoughts. Like, dang. I love and hate it. I still love YOU of course, but I hate the evil thoughts you give me! Please continue! But don’t!

[archangelgabriellives]

Rich Appreciation 2020 Day 1

Word count: 880

Fandom: Driven

Pairings: eventual Roger x Reader (maybe)

A/N: It’s Rich appreciation week! And since my copy of Driven just came in the mail the other day, I’m making it about Roger! So I’m going to try and write a 7 chapter Roger fic with the prompts from Rich appreciation week. Fingers crossed I can do it. Hope is high, but I have my doubts.

~~

Chapter 1: Coffee Shop AU

Nights like this were always a mess. Torrential rain falling in thick sheets and lightning cracking so close the walls shook. Customers were scarce. Not like Y/N could blame them. Just the short walk from the parking lot to the open doors of Shuffling Zombie Coffee was enough to drown someone. 

But Y/N wouldn't close her doors. She really can't right now. This is a fresh business still. Just recently opened and every second those doors stay locked is another cup she could have sold. Another bump to get her out of the red. She’s put her whole being into starting her life over, and come hell or high water (literally) she would make this work. 

Y/N had already sent her only other employee home for the night, Oliver, a sweet kid who just needed a steady job, something stable. He really didn't want to leave her here all alone, but Y/N insisted. The storm coming was a big one, and Y/N couldn't handle the thought of letting him drive in that. He was young enough to be her son, and Y/N just wanted to make sure he was safe. 

She hummed as she listened to the rain pouring on the other side of the front window, wiping down the glass cases and counters.  Might as well clean up since it was highly unlikely anyone would be walking through the doors for the rest of the night.

No one in their right kind would be out in this god forsaken weather. 

Bing bong

The sound of the door chime surprised her, but hey, a sale’s a sale.

Y/N eyed the man still standing at the cafe’s threshold. He was peering through the window, gray hood pulled up high to block her view of his face and his overcoat dripping pools of water onto her floor. There was a satchel clutch tightly in his hands. 

“Uh...Hello?” Y/N called. The man turned his head sharply, clearly not expecting anyone to speak to him. His eyes were still hidden under his soaked hood, but Y/N could see a bearded chin and the point of a nose, a drop of rain dripping off the end. 

Y/N felt a small pang of nervousness. But just as quickly the man turned to her completely, a hand coming up to toss his hood back, a warm smile on his face.

“Hey there!” 

The pang of nerves slid away, making room for a smattering of butterflies to make their way up Y/N’s throat. Oh, he’s cute.

“Some night out there, huh?” The man’s attitude was loose and carefree, the tense air surrounding him when he first came in dissolving away. 

“Oh. Yeah, it’s terrible.” Y/N flashed a smile, admiring amber eyes as he closed in on the counter. There was a moment where the two of them stood at either side of the counter in silence before Y/N remembered she had a job to do. “Um, welcome to the Shuffling Zombie. What can I get for you tonight.” 

“Um…how about…” The man sucked a bit of air through his teeth as he mused over the menu. “Let me get a macchiato with a double shot of espresso.”

“Wow,” Y/N said with a chuckle as she typed in the order. “A double shot this late? Must be a night owl, huh? That’ll be four seventy five.” 

“Nature of my job, I guess.” He handed over a crisp twenty.

“Sounds like that’d be exhausting,” Y/N said as she handed him his change. A step to the left and she picked up a paper cup, sharpie poised above the empty speech bubble over the snarling (but not overly terrifying) zombie face printed there. “Name?”

“Roger."

“Roger,” she repeated, a coy smirk on her lips  as she wrote. “I'll, ah, have that ready for you in a few minutes.”

“Thanks,” Roger smiled as he dropped some singles in the tip jar. “I'm...I’m just gonna step into the bathroom for a quick sec. Try to dry off a little bit.” 

“Should be ready by the time you get out.”

Y/N watched him go, caught the nervous look back he gave her, and mentally slapped herself with a chuckle. You can't ogle people like that. So she busied herself with making Roger’s drink. True to her word, his double macchiato was ready before he returned, but the real surprise was the new customer that had appeared at her counter. 

She hadn't heard the chime go off. Maybe she was a little too distracted thinking about the guy peeling his few outermost layers off in her bathroom. 

“Sorry about that,” she said, embarrassed. “Didn't hear you come in.” The woman across the counter said nothing. Just stared at her. Y/N’s nerves were starting to go off again. “Uh, what can I get you?”

The strange woman closed her eyes, lifted her head and took in a long slow sniff of the air. Her eyes opened again, and Y/N found herself taking a few steps back. “He’s here,” the woman said, her voice scratchy and deep.

“W-Who?”

She smiled, a terrible looking thing that had Y/N’s heart beating frantically in her chest.

“The man I'm going to kill.”

~~

I don’t have a tag list for this, so let me know if you’d like to be the first

@nongaberichbang

Everything tags

@doctor-zyre @ourloveisforthelovely @authoressskr @superwhoavengelocketc-blog @mscrazycatbitch @emmii4 @redberrysweets @space-time-paradox @tgpanther @anxietywontmakethewordsgo @I4life @l4life @acarpouschimerical @warlockwriter @geekymagicalpotato @mir567 @azlinh @justa-crayon @turkeycleverness @shaylybaby2032

[all-things-skam]

hii could you write something about the boys finding out about sander and robbe? ps. i love your fics!

Can you do a fic of the boy squad finding out about Robbe and sander! Love everything you write!

Hi! Please could I request the boy squad walking in on Robbe and Sander, what they’re doing in that situation is up to you ☺️

-

Title: Quiet mornings at casa Milan, Zoenne and Robbe

Ship: Wtfock | Robbe Ijzermans + Sander Driesen (Sobbe)

_______________

Quiet mornings at the flatshare were rare. Something was always going on, whether it was a casual conversation over breakfast, an argument between Zoe and Senne or Milan pulling pranks on his flatmates - like that time he pretended to be Zoe and slid into bed with Senne.

Although it was entertaining and lively, it could get exhausting at times. Robbe wasn't used to so much craziness in his home. Especially in the morning.

When Robbe woke up on Saturday morning, there was surprisingly no one up. He knitted his eyebrows and peaked at the entrance, remarking that Zoe's shoes and jacket were absent. Did she go out already? It's barely 10am.

Robbe shrugged and went to the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker. He made more, knowing that Sander would want some when he'd wake up, being one of those people who drank coffee in the morning but clearly didn't need it, being energetic enough already.

Leaning against the counter, the brunet scrolled down his phone, trying to find something to cook for breakfast. He wasn't a grand cook, but he could attempt to make pancakes. Sander has a sweet tooth, he'll like that.

Milan was either sleeping off his hangover or leisuring in bed with his Friday hook up - Robbe bet on the latter, having heard the door open around 2am -, so he wouldn't be there to tease him about being a good housewife for cooking for his boyfriend.

The coffee maker beeped, signaling that the coffee was ready. Robbe put his phone down and poured some in a mug, hissing when he burned his lips from eagerly taking a sip.

Concentrated on the pancake batter sizzling in the pan, Robbe didn't hear the feet sliding on the hardwood and making their way to the kitchen.

From the doorway, Sander smiled at the sight of his boyfriend standing by the stove, looking all cute while cooking breakfast in his boxers and a tee shirt. Smirking, Sander saw the perfect opportunity to sneak behind Robbe and wrap his arms around his waist, causing the smaller one to jump.

''Sander! Don't do that again... I could've burned myself,'' Robbe warned, flipping the pancake on the other side.

''Good morning you too. Smells good,'' the blond said, nuzzling his face in Robbe's neck, kissing up to his jaw.

Leaning into his boyfriend's touch, a smile formed on Robbe's lips, one hand going to rest over Sander's while the other one held the spatula. ''I made pancakes,'' Robbe declared, turning around in Sander's hold. ''You hungry? There's coffee too.''

Sander hummed, eyes on Robbe's face, staring at his delicate features. ''Aren't you the prettiest in the morning?'' He grabbed a piece of Robbe's hair between his fingers and twirled it around, grinning before dipping to kiss him.

Breaking from the kiss, Robbe rolled his eyes, faking annoyance and returned to his pancake before it burned.

''Hey, I wasn't finished...'' Sander pulled him back toward him, Robbe's back hitting his bare chest. He kissed his cheek repeatedly and Robbe chuckled, enjoying the small moment just the two of them while it lasted.

The lack of privacy one of the downside of living with flatmates. Someone was always in Robbe's business, asking questions or knocking on his door when Sander was over. It was annoying.

Turning off the stove, Robbe put the last pancake on the pile. It had been a struggle to cook while Sander was attached to his body, but he made it work.

Barely two minutes after sitting down and diving into their pancakes, Milan emerged from his bedroom. He downed a tall glass of water for his parched throat and eyed the pancakes on the table with heart eyes.

''Hello lovebirds. Aw, you made pancakes for me, Robbe?'' his flatmate said, about to steal a piece from his plate.

Immediately, Robbe moved his plate away from Milan's reach. ''Don't touch it! Who knows where those hands have been...''

Milan smiled smugly. '' Well-''

Robbe grimaced, shaking his head. ''I don't want to know,'' he pressed before Milan could elaborate.

Before him, Sander chuckled, sipping his coffee as he watched the scene between the two roomates. He hadn't known Milan for long, but he was a fun one.

The doorbell rang, forcing their conversation to end.

''I'll go!'' Milan offered, heading in direction of the door, leaving the young couple to themselves.

Robbe stood to pour himself a second cup of coffee, but, as he passed in front of Sander,  the blond grabbed him be his waist, pulling him down on his lap before he could go anywhere. A soft giggle left Robbe's lips, leaning into his lover and snaking his arms around his neck to kiss his temple.

There was some chatter by the door as Milan let some people in, but Robbe didn't hear them, caught in his own bubble of honeymoon love with Sander.

Someone cleared their throat and Robbe and Sander snapped out of their bubble, the younger one going completely still when seeing Jens, Aaron and Moyo in the kitchen's entrance. His heart started hammering behind his chest, an anxious knot forming in the pit of his stomach.

It wasn't how Robbe wanted to introduce his boyfriend to is friends, but the secret was out now. It wasn't a full secret. They knew that he was seeing someone, they just hadn't met him - or so they thought - nor knew his name. Robbe felt bad telling them that he had stolen Britt's boyfriend, having voiced his opinion on cheating in the past. Even though he was head over heels in love with Sander, it didn't erase the wrongness of cheating on Noor with her friend's boyfriend.

''W-what are you all doing here?'' His voice was insecure and tense.

Sensing his discomfort, Sander rubbed Robbe's hip subtly, trying to reassure him and ease some anxiety. Alas, it didn't do much. If anything, Sander's presence made the situation worse.

''I could ask him the same,'' Jens pointed out, nodding at Sander.

He had nothing against Sander personally, he just felt betrayed that Robbe didn't tell him about the blond. Jens was supposed to be his best friend after all. Doesn't best friends tell each other about who they are seeing? He always confided in Robbe about love life, why didn't he do the same?

Robbe looked down, avoiding Jens's gaze.

From Sander's point of view, Jens was being unfair with Robbe. He didn't know their past or the extent of their friendship, but as his best friend, Jens shouldn't be pointing daggers at Robbe for keeping something to himself. Your best friend status doesn't signify you have to tell each other everything. It's okay to keep things to yourself - especially about your love life. You and your significant other are allowed to have a secret garden together.

Maybe Jens and the boys liked to brag about who they kiss or hook up with, but not Robbe. And, they have no right to shame him or make him feel bad about it.

''It's Robbe's choice if he wanted to tell you or not about me. This is new for him- for us and we decided to take things slow,'' Sander explained from behind Robbe, incapable to sit there and let Robbe's so called friends get away with making him feel bad about keeping his lover's identity a secret. ''I can understand your reaction if it's coming from the cheating side of the story. What we did was wrong and it hurt people, but it happened and we have to move on. But if you are bitter because Robbe wanted to keep something for himself for a little longer, you are fucking selfish. It's his first relationship, let him decide what he wants to share with you and when. He doesn't owe you - or anyone - anyhting.''

His speech surprised everyone. Even Milan who was listening from the hallway, ready to intervene if needed. He didn't had to though, not after Sander's outburst. In moment like this, it was a good thing that the photographer had no filter. If his speech didn't put the three teenagers in their place, nothing would.

Sander kept his eyes stern, daring any of them to say something.

One thing about Sander was that he always stand up for the ones he cared about, and Robbe loved that about him.

He looked up at Sander with big eyes, his heart beating fast when he referred to them as ''us''. He trusted the older boy and knew that he cared for him, but he would be lying if he said that he wasn’t scared that one day he’d drop everything and leave again. But this, this speech of his, it made Robbie feel sure of their relationship. It made him feel like he would protect their relationship no matter what, that it was important to him.

A soft smile tugged on his lips. This was the first time anyone had stood up for him in a really long time and it felt great. Despite the mess that unrolled following their first kiss, this speech confirmed to Robbe that he had made a good choice when getting together with Sander.

Jens bit his lip, almost ashamed of himself for not figuring out who Robbe's secret lover was, and even worst for being upset about it. He knew that Robbe had been distant, but he hadn’t been exactly trying to get close to him either.

When they were at seaside, Robbe had constantly isolated himself from the group whether is was by sitting afar on the sand while everyone was around the fire or getting up super early. Jens recalled Sander going to sit with him in the sand and them sharing smiles during their stay. Maybe that's how they got close?

''If anyone in here is a shitty friend, it's me.''

Robbe looked up, Jens's voice catching his attention.

''I haven't been there for you lately. You tried talking to me, but I casualized your problems and ignored you. I should’ve been there, I should’ve asked when you got so distant. I...I failed at my best friend duty and I'm sorry, Robbe. You know that we all care about you, right? This doesn’t change anything.''

Jens's words warmed Robbe's heart. It had been so long since he had a heart to heart conversation with his best friend. They barely spoke to each other anymore and a part of Robbe felt like they were drifting apart. It was nice to hear that Jens still cared about him despite his mistakes and choices.

Before Robbe could say anything back to Jens, Aaron's jaw dropped, realisation hitting him. ''Oh my god.'' He pointed at Sander. ''You're the hot guy Robbe is seeing?!''

Beside him, Moyo face-palmed and Robbe bit the inside of his cheeks, fighting a laugh. Had he seriously not caught on yet?

Sander grinned fiercely, hooking his chin on his boyfriend's shoulder. ''I hope so.'' He kissed Robbe's cheek sweetly, causing a big smile to bloom on his face.

Jens's eyes were on them, fond.

''Not to be rude but, you still haven't answered my initial question: what are you all doing here...on a Saturday morning?''

''You ditched us last night and haven't been answering your text since so Aaron suggested we'd come by on our way to the skatepark to see if you wanted to join. Clearly, you're already busy,'' Moyo teased with a shit eating grin, wiggling his eyebrows.

A flush look crept on Robbe's cheeks, remembering that he was only wearing boxers and a tee shirt while sitting on a boy's lap.