#ranting here cause i know none of this is actually important but i felt like saying it anyway

[ohplasticheart]

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[chesters-ocs]

i dont know what this is. but im very much so half asleep so. yeag. @the-whispers-of-death heres your daily dose of sylvester x butcher. no beta read we die like men cuz i am not reading this shit myself

cw: none, just butcher being needy. like he always is.

wc: 793

"Y'know..." Butcher drawls from the doorway, catching the attention of Sylvester, who looks up from the disassembled camera he's been fixing "it's been a while since you've kissed me."

"... What?" Sylvester scoffs, staring at the man clad in leather "Feeling needy again?"

"And if I am?" he challenges, smirking.

"Well.. can you at least wait until I'm done working?"

The question causes Butcher to grumble, as he stalks inside the room "No can do, kitty. You damn well know that..." the man almost growls in the crook of the smaller one's neck, only to be met with a hand to the face, batting him away.

"Oi! None of that! You're waiting. Go pout elsewhere, asshole!" Sylvester grunts, adjusting his glasses to sit on top of his head, as Butcher whines from the impact of the hit, which in reality, was more like a gentle shove.

"You wound me, dollface, you know that? Can't even spare your baby a little kiss?"

"... If I kiss you. will you promise to never call yourself baby ever again?" Sylvester questions, with Butcher taking the deal immediately "Oh, dollface, now that's something I can work with! Deal."

Rolling his eyes, Sylvester stands up from his desk and cups Butcher's cheek, who leans into the touch, deep brown ones staring into his own blue ones.

Purposefully dragging out the moment, Sylvester leans in slowly, and the moment Butcher's eyes slip shut in anticipation, all he gets is a quick peck on the cheek, and the soft laughter of the shorter man, who slides back into his chair, and yells out "Hey-! No fair!"

With a satisfied smirk, the hybrid looks up at him from the chair, pulling down the glasses as he continues to work, tutting "You never specified where you want it, baby. You gonna let me work now?"

As much as Butcher's eye twitched in dismay, he was never one to break a deal, even one as menial as this one, so he opted to accept his defeat in his heroic battle for affection, and sits down on the office chair next to Sylvester, looming over, before resting his chin on the hybrid's shoulder.

"Whatcha even fixin' there? Looks like a pile o' junk... And my junk could use some attention too~" He purrs, the human's arms snaking around the others' waist, only to be met with an incredulous laughter.

"What, is this what your flirting has devolved to? Come on, you know you can do better, man... But it's a camera. One of my old ones, actually."

"Mm.. what's so special bout it?" The larger man asks, hands playing with the hem of Syl's shirt.

"I'm pretty sure it's just got some old film in it. Y'know. College party bullshit, maybe an occasional nude, the usual. It's just stupid shit I need to dispose of, really."

"... Now you've intrigued me, dolly..." Butcher purrs, his breath hitching, "no way you're gettin' rid of that then... I'm sure I can make some use out of it~"

"Christ, you're hopeless, babe."

"Only for you, dollface... and keep talkin' like that and you'll have an even bigger problem to deal with..." Butcher mumbled, his face still in the crook of Sylvester's neck. Not doing anything, just breathing in the scent.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work right now?" Syl sighs, wanting to change the subject, which Butcher obliges to unknowingly.

"Nah.. got a day off. Something with th' boss rearranging the schedules and shit. Felt like I should bother my favorite nerd" he teases, poking at his ribs, which cause Sylvester to jolt, and drop the screwdriver he had just picked up.

"I told you, I'm not a nerd! And I could have dropped something important! How many times do I have to sat 'don't touch me while i work' for it to get trough to your thick skull?!" he rants, peering at Butcher over the rim of his glasses, displeased frown on his face.

The sudden rant only amuses the human further, as he laughs deeply, cooing "Aww, dollface, you think my skull is thick? You shouldn't have!" he grins, leaning forward, and tries to again capture Sylvester's lips, this time succeeding for a moment, before pulling back with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Got my kiss" he teases, to Sylvesters chagrin, while standing from the chair and pushing it back in its place.

"Can I keep working now? Didya get your fill?"

"Sure did, doll, thanks again. See you at dinner?"

"... Yeah. See you then... Asshole" Sylvester sighs, but can't help the small smile which graces his face, as he looks over his shoulder as Butcher leaves trough the door he entered from.

"I heard that, kitty!" Butcher calls out, before getting out at last, closing the door quietly, leaving the other to his project at last.

[hazedxhealing]

A life update cause I feel it's needed

Quite a lot has happened since my last life rant, and I mean A LOT. And most of it is why I'm not as active on here as I would like to be, rather active in short bursts.

I am going to give a TW, for symptom mentions, trauma mentions, medication, weed, etc etc.

If you aren't aware of who my ex-husband is, take the time to familiarize yourself before continuing. He will be mentioned, a bit.

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There are a few different subjects I'd like to talk about. None of which matter greatly to any of you, but to to me.

Medication managment;

I have yet to talk to my therapist about this, as I fear some form of backlash, but I have gone medication free. I know meds are helpful for those with bipolar disorder, ptsd, etc, but I didn't like how I felt.

It was a very difficult decision to make, and came with a lot of researching, weighing the pros and cons, taking self inventory. It was not a decision I made immediately, it was something I thought about for multiple months beforehand. I then slowly over the course of a few more months weaned myself off of my meds, little by little.

I hadn't been back on them for long, but it was the same meds and dose I was on in NY, that I wasn't allowed to go get refilled for the longest time, so it wasn't too difficult. I hadn't regained dependency yet.

Now, don't get me wrong; me being med free doesn't mean they didn't work. My meds worked beautifully, amazing even. I just didn't like feeling like a mindless zombie. Not being able to spend time with my loved ones wasn't a price I was willing to pay. That being said, just in case, I still have multiple full doses on standby, and continue to get my meds filled, just to be safe, in case I ever would need to (or I decide to) go back on them.

I am herbally medicated, though. As needed. (yes, that means weed, and only medical grade weed).

2. Symptom changes;

The main things that have changed symptom wise is DID related; most, if not all of my brainmates are currently dormant (or more like on standby, if I'm being honest).

For those who will say "all your alters can't just go dormant, they can't just go away!!!!", I know. They haven't left, they haven't went anywhere, they are still here. They just aren't needed - currently.

They are in a sort of 'standby' mode, dormant but watching, if you will. This is a normal - and good - part of recovery. It is a step closer to knowing the difference between healthy situations and traumatic once, and a big step closer top functional multiplicity, which is my goal.

Lilith checks in every now and then, takes inventory, but other than that, I have no need for them, or at the very least not as big of a need for them. I am in a big - and important - part of my recovery, where I am progressing, and am happy, and in healthy relationships.

3. Relationship changes;

As y'all know (if not please review the link above), I left my ex-husband in June of 2022. The anniversary is actually gonna be coming up soon.

After having the whore phase I never got to have due to being abducted at 18, I entered and exited a few failed relationships.

They failed due to different love styles, and repeating patterns, to spare the boring details.

I have since fallen in love with and am dating my best friend, who is my absolute world. I love them so much. They treat me amazing, and their behavior is consistent, and hnnnng.

So, uhhh, yeah!!

[tillxthexearthxstartsxtoxcrumble]

This is just me being a bit overprotective of how heartstopper showed teens cause one of my favorite things about it is that none of them have, like, unrealistic body expectations. Even if they're extremely athletic, none of them have six-packs or anything like that. It shows what teens actually look like and that's special to me. But I've read and seen a couple things now where they make characters look completely different from what they look like in cannon. Especially Nick Nelson. He's a teen boy. He's drawn to have a gut, and that's normal. He is a teenager. Please, please, PLEASE stop changing that in fanfictions. People can be attractive without looking super lean and fit.

But also Charlie!! Charlie is a small person and he's skinny. Tao is kinda short and scrawny (as they say with the whole "Twig arms" joke). They never really mention anyone's weight, height, or size.

I do want to focus a lot on other characters besides Nick as well because they are great things to focus on, all of them are really good representations of teenagers. But I haven't seen nearly as much of people changing their body in fanart and fanfiction.

I know that Kit now is really fit and athletic, they've joked about it before, but even then I don't see it as much of a reason to act like Nick can magically look like an actor that goes through training and probably has someone to help with their diet to make sure they can look a certain way for a role. Teenagers don't have that. Teenagers come in all shapes and sizes and it's important to keep them to what they are shown as in cannon. Especially in this cannon. Because this is the most realistic representation I've seen of teenagers, probably ever.

*Any part in bold from here on out might have spoilers for the heartstopper comics if you haven't read volume 3 & 4*

(Warning for content: mentions of eating disorders.)

One thing that is shown in character design, is Charlie and his eating disorder. Charlie has a hard time eating anything, especially when he gets stressed and feels like he doesn't have control over things. Charlie is skinny, and he isn't too athletic (yes, he was on the rugby team but (at least in the show) he isn't anymore). Charlie is scrawny, and that is part of his character design, and it is important to his storyline because that is a big driving point of volumes 3&4.

SHOULD BE SPOILER FREE FROM THIS POINT ON <3

With other characters there aren't too many things that make their character designs super important to be true to their character, but it is still important to draw teens naturally, because it can cause a LOT of harm to someone's mentality to see a teen look a certain way and no matter what they do they can't have that. Teen or not.

This is mostly just me ranting and it might not be me saying much that made sense or anything, but I felt it was important to talk about.

In a lot of media about teenagers we see extremely unrealistic body expectations. Even good shows. But a lot of very popular shows about teens in high school cast 20-30 year olds where they look drastically different from most teenagers and that can be very harmful to teens who watch those shows and start doing things to try and look like that. Whether it's over excersising, developing and eating disorder, or being unhealthy in any other way. It's sadly a big thing to see normal teenagers now and that's why it's important to me that we keep Heartstopper to stay that way.

100% feel free to reblog or reply with things you would like to add. If I mentioned anything that is harmful to this topic, please do tell me because I don't want to spread any harmful information.

[diavolosthots]

Hello! I love your work! I was so happy when requests was open. Can i request the brothers reaction to MC with cut scars? Have a nice day!

This is a really tough topic for many so let me preface this by saying

!!!!THIS!!!!

Is the link to a post with several countries' national suicide hotlines. If YOU or ANYONE you know is going through something and needs help PLEASE reach out to someone. Don't internalize your pain. My own messages are also always open if you need to vent/rant.

Warning: mentions of self harm/cut scars, tw self harm

THE BROTHERS reacting to MC having scars from cutting

Lucifer:

As someone who pays a lot of attention to detail, it was hard not to notice, but at the same time, he doesn’t feel like it’s all his business. If they were fresh scars, he’d definitely question you. You’re way too important to him and he’s not going to let you continue to do something so long lasting without getting professional help. “You need to talk to me, MC. I care about you and I won’t let that go on any longer.” If, however, there’s no signs of recent ones and he deems them to be ‘old’, he’s going to subtly hint at them but hope you open up to him enough to tell him about your past worries. “Your arms/thighs/stomach are so gorgeous.. I believe they deserve extra love tonight.” Either, he’s here for all of you and he’ll make sure to show some extra love to those spots. 

Mammon:

Maybe it’s because he’s always around you or maybe it’s because he most definitely loves you, but it surprisingly doesn’t take him that long to notice, either, but his stomach turns every time he sees them. Not because he hates you for them! No, quite the opposite, actually. He hates whoever or whatever caused you to turn to such extremes. He’s quite blunt about it and would immediately question you about every. Single. One. Of course, to most this would be a super sensitive subject and they’d need time, but Mammon is extremely worried and he just can’t have you do something so ridiculous when he could just keep you safe and away with him. “Tell me, MC! I… ya can’t! Ya know how worried that makes me?!” And he doesn’t mean to be loud or harsh or anything, but in his mind, you’ve already contemplated the worst and he doesn’t want to think about the worst. He wants to help. 

Leviathan:

He’s noticed and he’s decided to not say anything. Not because he doesn’t care, but because he put himself in your shoes for just a moment and he isn’t sure that, if the roles were reversed, he’d want you to speak up about it. He thinks it would, if anything, just make him shy away more, so he opts for other things. He tries to be more physical and comforting, and also just a little bit more open with himself in the hopes that if he is open with his own life, you’d be more open with yours. “One time I purposefully ran against a wall because I felt dumb and it chipped my horn a bit.” He’s never admitted that to anyone and please don’t ever repeat it. “Do you.. Uh… hug? Yeah? Okay…..” and then his arms are around you and he’ll awkwardly pet you and tell you that he loves you, a lot. 

Satan:

Much like Lucifer, his attention to detail is immaculate and he’s quick to catch on, but also much like Leviathan, he doesn’t want to say anything right away. He does keep a VERY close eye on you though and later, when your relationship has been a little more established, he does mention it. “What happened here?” But he doesn’t sound pushy or anything, just a genuine question. Depending on your reaction, he might cradle you into his arms like a baby, or become super serious and ready to listen. Either way, he will get every little detail out of you whether you realize it or not and in the long run, you’ll be sure to thank him. No one should have to suffer alone and no one should suffer if they don’t deserve to. And you don’t. 

Asmodeus:

He feels… bad, but not in a pitying way. He feels bad in a way that screams “who hurt you that you think you need to hurt yourself? Why is your vision so blurred that you fail to see the beautiful, intelligent, and very kind human being behind it?” You know? He’s all about self love and self confidence and self care. He’d never outright point them out, or at least not at first, but he’s going to take some time to properly spoil you and take you to spas, to massages, shopping, out for lunch, do some photoshoots with you… you know, anything to make you realize that you are worthy and you deserve to be spoiled and seen as this amazing being that you ARE. And then, when he feels like you kind of started to believe him, only then will he bring it up and break down all the lies you’ve told yourself over time, building them back up with nothing but beautiful facts. 

Beelzebub:

He hates them. He loves you but he hates them. Obviously there’s a cause and although they’re not… bad in the sense that it would ruin the relationship for him, he is absolutely livid inside at the fact that someone or something could make you feel so low, even if that someone is yourself. He’ll make sure to point out things that remind you of him and compliment you a lot more. A simple “I love your hair today.” or “you smiled when we saw those flowers earlier…. Let’s get them.” means a lot to him and he hopes it means a lot to you. He won’t bother you too much about them but you can totally see him sneak some glances and wishing he could have been there when things weren’t too splendid to make you see that none of it was worth it. Whatever happened happened, though, and he still loves you regardless. 

Belphegor:

Probably takes a while to notice unless you point it out yourself. He’s always snuggled up in his cardigan so if you’re one of those people that’s always snuggled up in their clothes as well, he won’t even question it. But once he figures it out, he’ll just frown and be, admittedly, a little less than gentle in his ways of trying to get information from you. Chances are, you’ll break down, but you have to understand he’s not mad; he’s worried. After everything he’s done to you and then had to rebuild, seeing something like that is a punch in the gut. Obviously he’d never blame you but by God he’ll find every person or thing in your life that has ever contributed to this and eliminate them, no questions asked. He’s going to be your protector, sloth be damned. 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 305: Worst Intervention Ever

Previously on BnHA: Shinomori, whose name took me an entire week to memorize, was all, “nice to meet you Deku, I’m ten feet tall, do you want to know how I died?” and without waiting for an answer explained that he kicked it from old age at forty thanks to good ol’ OFA. Deku was all “wait a minute, then how come All Might, who’s fifty-five and is definitely dyeing his gray hair, is still alive?” First and Shino were all, “we really have no fucking clue but we think it’s cuz he’s quirkless, JUST LIKE YOU!” So basically, since quirkless people don’t exactly grow on trees these days, Deku is probably going to be the last user of OFA. The chapter ended with Nana being all, “psst, Deku, about my grandson. Uh, can you kill him?” which is sure to lead to a very interesting conversation this week.

Today on BnHA: Nana And The Gang are all “so, Deku, how can we put this delicately. The thing is, we’re pretty sure that AFO really fucked my grandson up, so on the off chance you can’t save him, how would you feel about, you know... [throat slitting gesture].” Deku is all “idk you guys, I kinda feel like he’s really just a traumatized child at heart and he’s in a lot of pain and stuff and so I should try to help him.” The Vestiges are all “BUT WHAT IF YOU CAN’T” and Deku is all “BUT I WANT TO TRY, DAMMIT” and the Vestiges are all “well when you put it that way, we, uh, were just testing you, so congrats, you passed!” The chapter ends with First being all, “ANYWAY SO WHY DON’T YOU TWO SHY BOYS STANDING OVER THERE IN THE SHADOWS COME SAY HELLO” before we CUT AWAY FOR ANOTHER WEEK, goddammit.

seriously, Nana

just... have you met Deku?? look, if you really want Tomura dead, just sic him on the U.A. first years and tell Shouto and Honenuki that it’s a training exercise

oh my god lmao

we’re too far away to see Nana’s face here so I will just assume that she turned and is staring DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA for this one line lmao. “I just wanted to clarify in case anyone felt inclined to take my dialogue out of context and spend an entire week complaining about it”

oh my god?! are you all purposely trying to make me sad??

someone stop me before I launch into an impromptu rant about all my Tomura feels. WHY IS NOBODY STOPPING ME. oh my god but yes, exactly. he’s just in pain all the time. this is exactly why I think Tomura has such high redemption potential even though so far he seems to lack so many of the redemption arc essentials such as feeling remorse, wanting to change, and taking responsibility for his actions. the reason why I’m willing to overlook all that in his case is because Tomura has essentially had zero agency his entire life. AFO molded him into a killer by making sure he was in constant mental agony, and making it so that the only thing that even slightly relieved that agony was killing peeps. like, please don’t think I’m making excuses for him or anything, but if you take a child and manipulate their existence to make it virtually impossible for that child to grow up as anything other than a killer, and basically never give him the chance to be anything else, then no shit he’s gonna be a killer?? he’s basically never had the choice not to be. it’s never been an option for him. anyways I feel like I am EXPLAINING MYSELF SO BADLY but nonetheless I am prepared to die on this hill

anyway so now Nana is all “that’s a rhetorical question btw because Our Hearts And Minds Are One so we can feel everything you feel bro.” so yeah, that’s interesting

now Banjou is getting started on the “let’s try and talk Deku out of wanting to save Tomura because it’s insane” part of their OFA Mystical Space Void Reunion agenda

look, Banjou, I feel you, I really do. you guys don’t think it’s realistic that Deku can defeat Tomura without killing him. so if it’s a choice between killing Tomura vs letting Deku and everyone else in the entire world die, then duh, you think Deku should kill him. I get it! and if this were a real life mass murderer I’d totally agree with you. but the problem is that this isn’t real life, this is a sympathetic shounen villain with a tragic past who might as well have FUTURE REDEMPTION ARC RECEIPIENT stamped on his forehead at this point

so First is all “look, there’s absolutely no doubt my brother has fucked this kid up good and proper by now”, which, again, fair

though, that’s kind of exactly my point though. everything that Tomura is, everything he’s done, he’s done because of AFO. AFO has so effectively shaped his personality and his worldview by this point that it’s all but impossible to penetrate that. he’s AFO’s puppet. but the problem is that rather than treating him like a victim, you all are treating him like a casualty. like he’s already a lost cause. but good luck trying to convince Deku of that

WHOA WHAT, RANDOM SUPER-IMPORTANT AND BIZARRELY UNRELATED EXPOSITION DROPPED IN JUST LIKE THAT??

way to still not reveal Sixth’s name, btw. THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW, DAMMIT. but also so this confirms something we basically already knew already, which is that not even AFO can steal OFA. it literally can’t be taken away by anyone unless the owner wills it. SO SUCK ON THAT AFO YOU EGG

(ETA: so I have no idea why this was omitted from this translation, but apparently the Sixth’s name was revealed as “En”, which is obviously not his full name but at least it’s something. also he most likely has a fire or smoke-related quirk based on the kanji used, 煙.)

so Banjou is saying that Deku’s “lack of an iron will” could be a disadvantage against AFO. hahaha what?? Midoriya “I’ll break all of my bones without blinking an eye just to protect someone” Izuku lacks an iron will? do tell

he says this is going to be a test of Deku’s determination. well yeah, no shit. but just not in the way you guys think

OH HELLO AGAIN

darker hair again here! but I don’t trust the contrast in these scans at all after last week. his coveralls are way darker than they looked before too, and you can clearly see he’s standing in the shadows now

(ETA: yep, once again the raw shows that his hair is considerably lighter than what’s shown in these scans here. although there’s no mistaking now that his hair is consistently being colored in this slightly darker shade, and it’s not just the lighting.)

anyways lol First was saying something about how AFO can’t steal OFA, and they’ve spent all this time cultivating it as the ultimate weapon against AFO, and blah blah blah. go on then, keep lecturing

NANA GODDAMMIT NONE OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT

girl what?? you did everything in your power to protect your family, and AFO, fucked up man that he is, targeted them anyway. there is one person and one person only to blame for what’s happened to Tomura, and that potato-faced asshole needs a good kick in the balls

NANA GODDAMMIT DON’T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE

SO HELP ME GOD!! I WILL GIVE YOU THE BIGGEST HUG YOU’VE EVER HAD!! THAT IS A THREAT

so now Nana is all “I’m just going to call my grandson a Thing to ensure that fandom has only the freshest, grass-fed no-hormones-added discourse this week”

I don’t even need to drop into the tags to know exactly which specific people are going to respond to this, and what kind of posts they are going to write lmao. everyone’s all caught up in the “that thing”, and meanwhile I’m over here completely hung up on this “nay” that’s appeared out of NOWHERE you guys. look at that. she really said “NAY”

Nana, my love, my dearest, I feel you girl I really do. but he’s not an unforgivable manifestation of pure evil, Deku is exactly right actually, he’s a boy in pain. you guys need to stop questioning Deku’s shounen protagonist instincts here and just let him work his sparkly magic. “let’s try and convince Midoriya Fucking Izuku that he can’t save someone” is a plan that is NEVER going to turn out well you guys

“DEKU GODDAMMIT WHAT IF WE CAN’T SAVE HIM” lmao it’s like an intervention

“DAMMIT DEKU JUST ADMIT YOU HAVE A SAVING PEOPLE PROBLEM!”

RED ALERT IT’S ANOTHER CLOSE-UP OF THE BACK OF MISTER TWO BON CLAY’S HEAD OMG

(ETA: I was too distracted with freaking out about Two and Three to really appreciate how ridiculously handsome First looks in this panel. but on my second readthrough it stood out so much that I had to go back and add an extra bullet point just to talk about how hot he is. look at him. wtf.)

THAT IS DEFINITELY AN UNDERCUT. THE PLOT THICKENSSSS. also those are fucking exhaust vents on Mister Three’s neck. MISTER THREE COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE RELATED TO THE IIDAS, PLEASE TELL ME YOUR SECRETS I’M DYING OVER HERE

so now Deku is launching into what will undoubtedly be a “saving people problems require SAVING PEOPLE SOLUTIONS” heroic counter-speech!

I mean, they can already feel the “lol nah I’m gonna try and save him” feelings running through him lol. ~OuR hEaRtS aNd MiNdS aRe CoNnEcTeD~ and all that. this is just a formality, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love a good shounen protag speech

oh wait hold up, do you mean to tell me that the whole “hearts and minds are connected” thing I was just mocking just a paragraph ago actually allowed Deku to feel what Tomura was feeling?? like literally feel it??

YET AGAIN these Tomura feels are pounding on my front door you guys?? they just will not quit?? people my house is already full of feels, does it look like I need you to sell me any more of them?? -- what do you mean, they’re free??

AW YISS THAT’S IT DEKU. THAT’S SOME GOOD SPEECH RIGHT THERE

I appreciate the contrast here between the Douchebag Triumvirate of Overhaul, Muscular, and Stain versus the Misguided Twosome of Gentle and La Brava. never let it be said that Deku doesn’t know the difference between a redeemable villain and an unredeemable one

OH NO -- OH MY GOD

someone please help me I need directions to the OFA Spooky Galactic Nebula Realm in this fictional Japanese manga land. it’s not on google maps. I need to give these two babies a big hug and wrap them up in a blanket and treat them to some McDonalds Happy Meals please help

other things: (1) ENDEAVOR CHILLING OUT IN DEKU’S “PEOPLE I HOLD DEAR” PANEL LMAO NEON DISCOURSE EXTRAVAGANZA, (2) “ONE FOR ALL IS A POWER TO SAVE, NOT TO KILL” I’M ABOUT TO CRY DEKU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO FEEL ALL THIS LOVE, (3) [SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] THERE’S YOUR MOTHERFUCKING IRON WILL!!!!!!!! -- I’m sorry, please don’t call security, I’ll be good

I just randomly remembered that Deku is still saying all of this in his muffled “FMMPHHMMPHMM” voice and I’m somehow cracking up lol. so actually it’s a very good thing Their Hearts And Minds Are Connected, otherwise they’d no doubt be all, “...what?”

(ETA: so I completely missed this on account of it literally not being visible in the scan at all, but in the raw you can clearly see Baby Kacchan and Baby Shouto fanboying over All Might in two of these panels, and excuse me, ma’am??

thank you very much Deku for including them in your montage, particularly since you’ve never seen Baby Shouto before lol. amazingly accurate image you managed to conjure up, all things considered.)

SDKFJLSKHG -- AS IF ON CUE???

HE’S SO ADORABLE HELP?? Trippy Space All Might looks like he’s about to cry, and First is all “don’t crack a smile... you have to be Firm and Serious here... dammit, don’t smile” omg

anyways! YOU GO DEKU. “MY QUIRK MY RULES, BITCHES” damn, son

KLJLKKHLG TRIPPY SPACE ALL MIGHT LITERALLY ACTUALLY IS CRYING ALL MIGHT HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME

“I JUST... [CLENCHES FIST] REALLY LOVE SAVING PEOPLE” FUCKING HELL LMAO THIS IS THE WORST INTERVENTION OF ALL TIME

Deku is literally all “sure, maybe I’ll have to kill him, but have you guys also considered, MAYBE NOT??” it’s no use Nana he’s too powerful

LMAO FIRST

“like I’ve been saying this whole time, you should definitely try saving Shigaraki Tomura.” “but, uh... First, didn’t you just -- ” “shut up”

(ETA: clearly it’s not just his brother who inherited those smooth-talking genes.)

so now Deku has turned back into a sixteen year old and his clothes have gone missing again. just OFA things

dskljdlsklgk

yes... sure... “testing” you...

HEY

FIRST OF ALL, DAMN YOU HORIKOSHI YOU MADE NANA CRY. even if I’m pretty sure they’re actually tears of happiness/relief. and SECOND OF ALL, “TELL MY BOYFRIEND I SAID HI” DJSKDLKJJL ANYWAY MAYBE GRAN, NANA, AND MR. SHIMURA WERE IN A THROUPLE

[SCREAMS]

WHY WOULD YOU END IT THERE?? WHY WOULD YOU END IT THERE!!!!!

(ETA: and two-to-one odds that we cut away to some other scene once they finally start to turn around next week. I’M CALLING IT NOW. giving myself a week to brace myself for the rage.)

fucking hell. well if anyone needs me I will be adding Horikoshi fucking Kouhei to the list of irredeemable villains, peace

[itadorisgf]

— a fall from grace

aka break up headcanons

⤷ anonymous asked: hi! what if u wrote angst headcanons on how megumi or itadori would react to breaking up with y/n? like what do u think would make them break up in the first place😳. anyways i hope u have a good rest of ur day!!💗💗

note: oooo angst, i hope i did your suggestion justice and that this was angsty enough!! i hope you have a lovely day as well <33333

ft. fushiguro megumi, gojo satoru, itadori yuuji, nanami kento, nobara kugisaki

warning: angst

⤷ main page

FUSHIGURO MEGUMI

reason: bad at communicating

fushiguro has never been good at expressing his feelings.

he cares for you, he really does, but he’s always felt that it’s unneeded for him to show that.

you should just know that he does. if he didn’t love you then why would he be dating you?

if he didn’t want you then why would he bother to be in a relationship with you?

he doesn’t understand that it feels like he just doesn’t care about your relationship at times.

nor does he understand that sometimes you need reassurance that he does indeed care about you.

it’s hard when he’s not very affectionate and he tends to be short and dry when conversing.

and that’s just who fushiguro is. it’s a natural part of his personality to not exactly be open with his emotions and feelings.

so you break up with him. it’s not that you don’t love fushiguro, you do, but you can’t be in a relationship where you continuously question whether or not he actually wants to be with you.

fushiguro becomes more reserved and closed off following your break up.

his friends would playfully ask him why he’s being more emo than usual, but when fushiguro doesn’t respond at all, they understand that it’s serious.

he wonders if he was more expressive and open with how he felt about you, would you still be here?

GOJO SATORU

reason: too flippant

the fact that gojo’s deemed the most powerful shaman there is by others has made his ego grow exponentially.

he’s well aware of how many view him, as some sort of celebrity, and he revels in the praise and adoration that they shower him with.

gojo’s cheeky and will indulge those who admire him by playfully flirting back with them when they come onto him.

and when you bring up your concerns about how you’re not necessarily comfortable with how gojo interacts with his admirers, he brushes you off.

tells you that you’re the only one for him and that he doesn’t mean anything by flirting with them. it’s harmless.

and it may be true that they don’t matter to gojo, but the way he so easily sweeps your feelings to the side hurts.

you try one last time to explain how you feel to gojo, emphasizing that the way he disregards your worries upsets you.

and once again, gojo addresses the discussion in a very lighthearted and casual way that makes it feel like he’s downplaying how you feel.

when you break up with him, he thinks you’re joking. when you make it clear to gojo that you’re not joking and that you’re entirely serious, he just says okay and leaves.

he thinks you’re overreacting, and in need of some time to cool down. he assures himself that when he comes home later, you’ll be waiting for him.

but, you’re not. all your belongings are cleared from your shared apartment, and that’s when gojo realizes how much he’s utterly fucked up.

however, gojo is too prideful to admit that he’s messed up. he continues on like normal, flirting even more heavily with his fans, but he doesn’t care for any of them.

how could he when none of them are you?

ITADORI YUUJI

reason: too caring

itadori’s heart is simply too big.

you love that he’s so willing to help others and that he cares deeply for his friends, but you can’t stand the way that he holds little to no value for his own life.

he’s willing to throw himself head first into a fight in order to protect others.

itadori has a strong sense of duty as sukuna’s vessel. he knows that there are some things that only he can do as sukuna’s vessel that other sorcerers can’t, and who was he to turn his back on those in need when he could help them?

you try to convince him to care a little more about himself and itadori assures you he’ll be more cautious, but he continues to put himself in danger, often resulting in him getting injured.

and you love itadori too much to watch him throw his life away.

when you break up with him, itadori is confused. he thought things were going great between you two.

you tell him that you love him, but you can’t just sit and wonder if one day he isn’t going to come back from an exorcism.

you can’t stand seeing him bleeding and battered when he returns from missions.

you’ve already lost him once, you won’t be around to lose him again.

breaking up with itadori hurts both of you, but you have to do this. so you kiss him one last time, whispering an i love you against his lips and say goodbye.

itadori is heartbroken after you break up with him, but he tries to cover it up.

he’s still his regular cheery self, but it’s not as genuine.

fushiguro and nanami can tell that something’s off with him, but neither of them press itadori to tell them what’s wrong.

itadori is still in love you, but he has a duty to fulfill and he’ll see it through until the end.

NANAMI KENTO

reason: blunt

nanami doesn’t believe in sugar coating things or beating around the bush. he doesn’t see the point in it. he believes it’s important to be truthful and direct.

so he can be rather calloused and inconsiderate at times, even insensitive.

with his tone, he even sounds accusatory when you’ve done nothing wrong.

it’s humiliating. the way he lectures you as if you’re a child rather than an equal.

nanami’s tone is frightening, calm and even, but you can feel the anger radiating off of him. his words are cold as he berates you for needlessly putting your life at risk during a joint mission.

he goes so far as to say “you should have known that you were too weak to face that curse alone.”

and maybe it’s true, but you can’t stand the way that nanami talks down to you. it’s not the first time it’s happened either.

and you’ve had enough of it.

you break up with him and all nanami does is coolly reply that you’re acting irrationally and immaturely.

nanami’s frustrated that you’re unable to understand how he’s concerned for your well-being. you shouldn’t have attempted to face a cursed being of that level by yourself and you could’ve easily gotten yourself killed.

the aftermath of your breakup is messy.

you’re both sorcerers, but you avoid nanami to the best of your ability, partnering up with others for assigned missions.

on the outside, nanami seems to be completely unaffected by the breakup.

but behind his goggles, his eyes are more tired than usual and his patience with gojo has thinned even more so, causing him to easily snap at the man.

nanami doesn’t mind overtime as much as he once did.

he loathes how a quiet apartment is the only thing waiting for him when he gets off of work.

so he picks up more missions just to avoid the loneliness that awaits him.

NOBARA KUGISAKI

reason: impulsive

nobara often speaks without thinking beforehand.

she tends to say whatever comes to her mind, sometimes disregarding how others may feel.

you love the way that she speaks her mind, bold and totally unafraid of whoever she’s talking to. in fact, you even admire it.

but when you get into fights, nobara doesn’t hold back. she says anything and everything that comes to mind.

most of the stuff she says, she doesn’t mean. she just gets so frustrated and worked up that it just all comes spewing out in the heat of the moment.

but her thoughtlessness cuts deep and opens wounds you’ve worked hard to heal.

it’s during one of your fights that nobara lets it slip “god why am i even dating you?”

all the fight is drained out of you once you hear that. you don’t want to argue with her anymore so you tell her that she doesn’t need to worry about this relationship anymore because it’s over now, and walk out.

nobara’s reaction time is delayed, sputtering as she processes what you’ve said.

when she gathers her bearings and runs out the door, you’re already gone.

nobara would talk about your breakup with whoever’s around to listen. she neglects to mention that you’re the one to have broken up with her and rants about all of your flaws and why you weren’t a good s/o.

but when nobara’s alone, she misses you terribly and wishes that she could take back what she said.

as she lies in bed, she replays all of the things she spat at you in fits of anger.

she didn’t mean any of it.

she loved you, and still does.

[dodo-begone]

The Kidnapping...

(Aka in a nutshell the Yandere boys kidnap reader)

They adored you. They befriended you. They payed attention to you. All for one very important reason. They loved you. And they were quite sure you felt the same for each of them. However. There was no good way of keeping the thing they loved safe and hidden from everyone else. Something so good could be snatched away right from their finger tips. They couldn’t let that happen. Not to you. So they created a plan. A plan to keep you safe. More precisely, a plan to kidnap you.

After sometime they realized their feelings for you. The four sat down to talk about their feelings for you. Tommy confessed first, stating that he should have the reader for himself, followed by Tubbo barking back that reader and him were closer then Tommy and reader ever were. Ranboo jumped into the fight  stating that Tommy was just being a selfish child and that Tubbo was just as immature as him. Purpled knew this was a battle he had to fight in too. “I should have (y/n) for myself! They actually notice me and make me feel seen!” Purpled said. “Your just desperate for attention from someone Purpled! You’re always just giving them crap to make reader like you!” Tommy shouted at Purpled. Before they knew it the argument turned violent with Purpled trying to stab the shit out of Tommy. Just as Purpled backed Tommy into a corner ready to plunge his dagger into Tommy’s throat, Ranboo yelled “Wait! W-What if we s-shared them?” Purpled turned his head to Ranboo so fast it could give him a whiplash. Everyone in the room went silent at his comment. “That could work.” Tubbo agreed. “Fine I guess I can work with this.” Tommy grumbled. Purpled gave a silent nod signifying he agreed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after Purpled put his dagger into his hoodie pocket.

They finally all agreed to share you. It was better this way. This way no ones feelings were trampled on and together they’d have a better chance of keeping you safe. The next day they confessed their (platonic) love for reader. They wanted to keep you for themselves forever safe forever! After all you guys are such good friends. They could make sure you’re taken care of. You’ll have everything you could ever want. Just please stay with them. If you say yes? Great! You get to move into your new forever home with them. They’ll cut you off from the rest of the server. If anyone asks about you or tries to search the forever home? They’ll get a nice wack to the head from Purpled and wake up outside their base or home unaware of what just happened or how they ended back up here. If you want to leave, they’ll guilt trip you into staying with them. This is your home now. And they’re your best friends! Don’t you love them? Why would you ever want to leave? “Are you tired of me (y/n)? Is that what it is?” Tommy said. “Please don’t leave me alone (y/n)! You don’t hate me do you? Oh thank goodness your willing to listen, come over here and we can have a nice cuddle session! No need to focus on the outside world!” Tubbo said. “What if I forget you (y/n)? I could never forgive myself if I did (y/n). Do you want that?” Ranboo said. “You could get hurt if you leave here! Please just stay by my side and I’ll keep you safe (y/n). I won’t let a single person lay a finger on my best friend.” Purpled said. Eventually after cuddles, gifts, and kind words from the strange teenage boys. Your content (or you think your content) with living here. You’re stuck either way.

If you say no? Fine. They’ll do things the hard way. Over the next few days you’ll start to notice foot steps behind you, more random noises in your house then usual, and wherever you go somewhere you feel rather unsafe. Eventually you reach your breaking point when you come home one night to find your house’s door wide open and your kitchen window smashed. You take off in a random direction with tears streaming down your face. As your running into the distance you bump into someone. In the dark you can’t quite see who it is but whoever it was offered to take you back to their base to calm you down. As you reach their home you start to see the lights of the forever home in the distance. Entering the forever home, you finally realize who your savior is. Not only did you have one savior, you had two. Ranboo and Purpled. You didn’t care it was them in the moment. You felt to scared to be in your home alone in the moment. “Oh you poor thing! You’re shaking! Here have some tea to warm up.” Tubbo said as he handed you a cup of tea while you sat in their living room shaking like a leaf. After drinking away the entire cup of tea you started to feel tired. You didn’t feel calm or scared. You felt numb, like the world was slipping out of your grasp. The last thing you remembered before you blacked out was being picked up by Tommy and being placed somewhere warm.

You’re their beloved best friend. They could never let you go. Even if you try to escape or scream how much you hate them. That won’t change anything. They just think your tired and cranky. So they’ll take you to bed for naps and cuddles instead. But honestly living with them isn’t so bad. Besides any teenage boy habits and random little things they might do that seem a little strange. They don’t try to hurt or punish you. They’re usually just overly sweet and soft towards you. When ever the boys talk to anyone in the outside world they’re usually more loud and obnoxious towards everyone. But to you, they’re as soft as cotton candy. Days could be spent with doing small to large tasks with them in the home. Or just enjoying movies together that turn into late night cuddles. Cuddle piles are the best! They don’t exactly know how to cook, but they’ll often try to cook meals for you which turn out rather interesting. Their favorite part about the process is when you compliment their food. Any compliment you give the four boys will send them over the moon. Often times they’ll try to 1-up each other all the time to see who can get the reader’s appraise over the others. It’s really cute what they’re willing to do for you.

After some time with the yan boys, you’ll start to love their company just as much they love yours. Days where they’re busy become incredibly lonely and dull in the home. So because of this reader would make small gifts for the boys while they were out. Like little flower crowns out of the flowers they brought home for you yesterday. Or writing little letters telling them how much they mean to you. Or just trying to make them some food for when they come home to you. Just little things to make them happy. When they find these things, they’re more then happy. They’re overjoyed! The fact you’d do this for them proves you think about them even when they’re not there! They couldn’t be happier! They’d wear or use anything you give them with pride. One day Purpled decided to wear a flower crown the reader made. Turns out the same day he was going to train with Punz. “So Purpled, what’s up with the flower crown? It’s not usually your sty-“ “Shh! More training less talking!” Purpled would say while dragging a confused Punz by his hood.

Although things weren’t all calm. People already suspected the boys kidnapping reader beforehand due to how they had already made such attempts in the past. We already knew that if someone made an attempt to search the home they’d be put to a stop by one of the boys. But what if none of the boys were home? Uh oh. Say if one of the caretakers of the smp(Puffy, Philza, or Sam) came to the home in another search of reader. And found them inside the house. We’d be in trouble. All I can imagine is the reader kicking or screaming to be released back home. And the the caretaker would just be like: “but we are going home? What’s the problem?” I can just see the reader being sad cause they miss the boys and know the boys miss them.

As soon as the yan boys find their bestie has been taken away. Panic. It’s panic mode baby. The four gear up in full netherite and grab any weapons necessary. Along with an extra set of netherite for reader. Tommy and Purpled scout outside. While Tubbo and Ranboo stay at the forever home just in case you come home. At a certain point while Tommy and Purpled were searching, they heard from Niki that she’d seen reader with Puffy. Tommy and Purpled were overjoyed and quickly ran back to the forever home to alert Tubbo and Ranboo of their discovery. They decided on ambush. They went to Puffy’s base ready to ambush but were completely unaware that Sam and Phil were currently taking care of reader with Puffy. So this ‘ambush’ went less then pleasant. The four went into the water stream that went down into Puffy’s underground base. Phil was about to go upstream to grab some more medicine from his base only to be greeted with four angry teens ready to tear the place down just to find reader. Phil knew exactly why they were there based on how reader had been ranting on and on about how they were going to come and save them or something. Tommy and Tubbo tried to hold off Phil as Purpled and Ranboo searched for reader. It wasn’t hard to find reader at all. Sam and Puffy were just keeping reader restrained in a small makeshift room in the west wing. Purpled and Ranboo saw Puffy and Sam by reader’s side trying to convince them they were safe and the boys wouldn’t find them here only for them to quickly stand up pulling out weapons ready to defend reader. Purpled being more experienced in combat than Ranboo instructed he help reader while he took on Puffy and Sam. 2 against one wasn’t easy due to the fact that Puffy and Sam were strong fighters too. However Ranboo was quick to follow orders. Ranboo in a hurry took off reader’s restraints and handed them a full set of netherite armor. Both hurried to assist the now cornered Purpled. Reader took a running start launching themselves onto Puffy. Due to the unexpected weight, Puffy went tumbling down knocking Sam down with her in the process. With reader now saved, the three ran out into main area of the under ground base to find Tommy and Tubbo still battling with the Angel of Death. Tommy and Tubbo noticed Reader and they all headed for the water stream up. Finally after a long day of fighting and searching for reader they had them home safe again. The long day had the five tired. They all laid down near the fireplace for some late night cuddles.

Yay! Good list/story? I don’t know. This kinda turned into a strange story at the end lol. I hope you liked this either way. This was just something I made while being sick. So your welcome I guess Dodo :D Apparently I wasn’t done with kidnapping head cannons after that one alien-purpled thing. Either way. Good day. -Toma can anon 🥫

————————————

First off, Toma I’m so sorry that I took ages to answer this. Second off- FUCKING POP OFF MAN THIS WAS SO FUCKING GOOD HOLY SHIT. I McLove it.

Okay so I won’t be writing too much of a commentary on this- I want ppl to enjoy this masterpiece in their own plus anxiety but let’s not talk about that. Anyways beyond the cut is my commentary- so tw for jokes and all of the stuff from above.

KSJDJDJD PURPLED PULLED THE QUIET KID MOVE- lmao Purpled the Quiet Kid tm. It just reminds me of that one fucking meme: “I wanna kill you and destroy you. I want you died. #scene #anger #fuck #die #hatred”.

Can we just mention that the bonking ppl on the head and them appearing at their homes confused and shit is literally just the despawn system in mc. Like right on par- that’s the literal version of it and that’s how I’m seeing it and I’m fucking cackling at the idea of it-

OKAY LEMMIE GET ANGSTY!!! WHAT IF- What if, when the boys start getting so busy that you practically don’t see them anymore. Eventually you leave to either find them or just leave the house (for company or freedom). You feel that they don’t like you anymore. That you were just a bother. No wonder they haven’t come back. The withering alium flower crown in your hands was a somber reminder of the better times that weren’t so long ago.

[sleepysnk]

OKAY i’m screaming but what abt like eren being a football (doesn’t have to be football) player and he’s just watching the reader (doesn’t have to be a cheerleader) cheer him and that motivates him and celebrate his win after

aw! i absolutely love this request! jock Eren is definitely fun to write for, i hope you enjoy! thank you for requesting 💗 sorry again if this was ass.

Touchdowns and Kisses

Pairings: Eren Jaeger x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None

The atmosphere at Trost University was exciting and full of anticipation.

It was the rival game against Marley University, most of the student body was hyped for the game and many students from both of the schools attended the game.

The students all sat in crowds watching the game unfold, there was two minutes left and it was the fourth quarter. Marley was currently in the lead by three points, Trost needed a touchdown to win the game.

Nervousness rushed through everyone, they only had four times to get the ball to the endzone. If not, Marley would regain possession and that would be it. They needed to score here and now to win the game.

"Dude there is no way we can make it past! Do you see their defense? They're tearing ass," Eren said to Reiner.

It was their final timeout, "Eren have a little hope here! As long as we get to a good point we will win," Reiner replied, his eyes rolling.

"Come on! Let's do this!" Jean yelled.

They clapped together and walked into position to pass the ball. Eren swallowed thickly as he waited for the ball to be snapped towards Reiner, they needed to get down the field at least.

"Hut!"

Eren ran down the field, his arms opening for the ball. He turned to see the ball falling towards him, he reached his arms up and caught it, landing on the turf near Marley's 30 yard line.

"Hell yeah Eren!"

He stood up, seeing his girlfriend cheering in the stands. She wore his jersey and called for him. (Y/N) really was his biggest motivator when it came to football, she came to every game, celebrated wins with him, and even let him rant when they lost those games.

"Let's go! We don't have much time left! The clock is still running Jaeger!" his coach yelled from the sidelines.

Eren tossed the ball to the referee and ran back to his position. He felt everything suddenly slow down, his mind beginning to race and (Y/N)'s words began to echo in his mind.

"You got this baby! I believe in you! I mean it when I say it."

"Think of me when you make a touchdown! I love you!"

"Hut!" Reiner's voice broke him out of his trance.

Eren began to run forward, the ball falling into his arms. Cheers erupted into the stands as Eren ran towards the endzone, he pushed away the players trying to bring him down. He ran into the endzone and threw the ball onto the ground.

"Touchdown! Trost University!"

His teammates ran behind him, "Fuck yeah Eren!" Jean yelled.

"Eren!"

His head turned to (Y/N) in the stands cheering and waving at him. A smile formed on his features, he pointed his finger up at her to show her that he acknowledged her.

"That is the final ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer called over the loud speaker.

Eren smiled hearing the news, he took off his helmet and wiped the sweat that dripped from hid head. He felt excitement and relief washing over him, they won. They actually won.

The team went to the locker room to change, Eren was eager to see (Y/N), she was a huge help for this win and his motivation. He wanted to celebrate with her.

-

"See you next season, Eren!" Reiner called as he headed towards his car.

Eren nodded, "Bet! See you then!" he replied.

Eren walked towards his car, a smile grew onto his face seeing (Y/N) standing there. Her hands around her arms.

She ran towards him, "Hi baby!" she said.

Eren embraced her in a hug, "Hi princess... I'm so glad to see you. You doing okay?" he asked, cupping her cheek.

She smiled, "I'm fine.. congrats on your win! I'm so happy for you, are you going to the after parties or?"

He chuckled, "Nah.. I was thinking we could.. celebrate with each other? I really don't feel like partying tonight," he replied.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, "That sounds great! You wanna get going?" she said.

"For sure, let's get going." Eren said, his hands reaching into his pockets for his car keys.

(Y/N) walked to the passenger side and got in as Eren unlocked the car, he tossed his bag in the backseat and got in the front.

His eyes averted towards hers, a smile growing onto his face again.

"What?" she asked.

Eren cupped her cheek, "Come here," he replied, bringing her face closer to his. He pressed a soft kiss on her lips, her cheeks growing hot. "I love you.."

She smiled, "I love you too.."

Eren leaned back before turning the key to start his car, his hand found its way to her thigh giving it a small squeeze before he began the drive back to the apartment they shared.

"I'm really happy for you, you know." she said, breaking the silence between them.

Eren looked over at her as he slowed at the red stop light. The glow lighting onto his skin, "Thank you baby.. I appreciate it a ton," he replied.

Her fingers intertwined with his, "Of course babe, the team couldn't have done it without you." she smiled.

Eren chuckled a bit, "It was all a group effort though, really," he said, pressing on the gas causing the car to go forward.

Eventually the two arrived back to their apartment, Eren was quite sore from the game and (Y/N) was tired herself from the long day. He wanted to lay down and cuddle up with her, it was his perfect way of celebrating, plus, why would he deny that? It was better than any party.

Eren was laying on the bed they shared, he was staring at the ceiling waiting for (Y/N) to come out from the bathroom. His mind began to wander to her voice before Reiner made that last play, she was one of the many reasons why he was motivated to win. She had always been there.

"Sorry I took forever.. what you thinking about handsome?"

Eren looked over to see her crawling into bed, she was wearing shorts and one of his t-shirts. A smile grew onto his lips.

"Eh nothing... it isn't important anyway, come here though, it's been awhile since we've been like this." he replied, opening his arms for her.

She gladly went into his embrace, she felt his warmth surrounding her like a thick blanket. "I missed nights like these.. even if we do live together," she giggled.

He ran his fingers along her hair, "I missed them too.. but don't worry, I'm here now and that's not going to change. At least for a bit anyway," he said. "But uh.. I wanted to tell you something."

She shifted a bit, her eyes finding their way up to his emerald ones. "Huh? What is it?" she asked.

Eren cleared his throat a bit, "When it was the final play of the game.. I heard your voice in my head. It was you telling me all those things before the game.. and I like to say that you helped me win today. Without you (Y/N).. I probably wouldn't have been able to win," he replied. "You're my biggest motivator and I couldn't ask for a better girlfriend.."

A smile grew onto her face, "Eren that's so.. sweet of you. I just love seeing you happy babe, that's one of the many reasons why I motivate you so much. I love you, Eren, I wanna see you do good."

Eren felt his heart grow warm and swell, "I love you more (Y/N), thank you for being with me. Your support is probably one of the many reasons why I keep going, I do all of this for you." he said.

She lied her head against his chest, "I'll always be your #1 motivator, forever and always."

He kissed the top of her head, "Can I make you Mrs.Jaeger yet? I wanna keep you forever," he asked, pulling her closer against him.

She giggled, "Maybe after we finish school.. right now we should focus on celebrating," she smiled.

Eren put his hands around her waist, he brought her body so she was now on top of him. "Oh? And what might that be beautiful?" he asked, a brow raising.

She rolled her eyes playfully, "Hm.. maybe some kisses? You deserve it after the touchdown you made today," she replied running her fingers along his brunette locks.

Eren put his hands on her hips, "Oh? Say less then.." he whispered before leaning in and pressing a kiss on her lips.

Her hands found their way to his neck, bringing him closer to her. His tongue glided along her bottom lip, asking for permission; in which she opened a bit wider to let him explore the cavern of her mouth.

He pulled back, "That was well needed for sure.." he smirked.

(Y/N) shifted a bit, "There's more where that came from!" she yelled before pressing her lips against his cheeks.

Eren started to laugh from the attack of kisses on his face, her lips ticked his skin and he couldn't contain his laughter.

"Okay okay! You got me there!" he said, his breath uneven from laughing.

She ran her thumb along his jaw, "I love you, okay? I can't wait for next season," she replied.

His eyes seemed to sparkle from her words, "I love you too, I know you'll be by my side," he said, smiling. "But please... can we get back to celebrating? In a more... fun way?"

Her mouth was now open, "Oh? You wanna be like that? All you had to do was ask," she said before laying down next to him.

Eren chuckled, he put both of his arms beside her head. "I'm going to have a lot of fun with you tonight.." he whispered lowly in her ear.

[latuuart]

Rei is not responsible for her husband, but she was a woman with a great quirk and plenty of opportunities to protect herself or their children. She is not a modern day abused wife with no power. I bet there are doctors/detectives with quirks like an actual lie detector. Would All might/others ignore her if she asked for help? She wasn't a nobody. Not to mention that she maimed one of the kids herself. Also, weird that none of the older kids ever reported this to their school, especially Natsuo

Hmm.. I'm not gonna assume anything about you here anon, but let me share a bit of experiences that I had with a few women in an abusive marriage here in my workplace.

These women came to me not for their situation. They came to consult about their children' condition. But, as we were talking and I was giving them consultation, these women couldn't help but blurted out the situation of their household. It's the pent-up feelings, they couldn't help it anymore that they told me about their husbands' violence towards them, some of them were crying when they were talking about that.

One woman came at me, initially came to consult about her right ear. It looked red and felt painful when touched. I asked her what happened. She said she fell. But, (from experiences and knowledge) the appearance of her ear and the other signs also the symptoms that she had did not really look like someone who has just fallen. It looked like it was gotten from a blunt trauma. And I asked again because it's always important to make sure the cause of the condition. She told me then, while crying, that her husband punched her. Not just on right ear, but also on her face, if I'm remembering correctly, there was subtle redness on her face too (I don't remember exactly it was on her right cheek or her nose, my encounter with her happened more than a year ago).

Do you understand what I'm trying to say here, anon?

It is never easy to tell people that your husband hit you.

It is never as easy as coming at the police then saying "hi, my husband hit me, please arrest him".

It is also not as easy as you think to tell other people about your household's condition. Those women told me because they saw me as a trusting figure, someone who would believe them. And I did, I do. It's not easy to tell people that you have been violated (in any way) that's why when someone come at you and say how they have been violated, it's always better to believe them, because it takes a lot of courage to speak up and how there always must be (even if just a little) an uncertainty in your head that people wouldn't believe what you said.

Enji is a powerful man. A very powerful one. One is denying the truth if saying he isn't. Take a look at how grateful Rei's father when Enji pursued his daughter, praising Enji's status and all. It shows just how high Enji's status was (still is) even comparing to Himura Family's status.

Next, coming at All Might? Like, coming at your husband's co-worker telling that his friend is hurting you at home? Does it sound usual to you, anon? Also, can we even trust the Heroes Society at this point? Did we ever see 1 (ONE) pro-hero confronting Endeavor for his past abuse or even just providing comfort to Rei and her children post Dabi exposing Enji? So easy to gather supports when you are a powerful man in a powerful position, huh?

Next, no, you are wrong. It is not weird for children to not talk about their abusive household. I will share another experience from my workplace. This kid was beaten by his mother and his mother's new husband. People from his neighbourhood took a pity on him (because they knew there was abuse going on towards him in his house for years) and took him without his parents knowing to us to check his condition, for this matter then to be able to be taken into the police. He did not want to talk at all, did not want to tell us anything at first. From a looong persuasion, he finally admitted what his mother and step-father had done to him.

So, if you never ask, why would a kid tell you their parents are hurting them at home?

Think about it again, please anon.

It is never easy to tell people someone that is supposed to love you, provide care to you, cherish you, is actually hurting you at home.

I also would like to add, about Rei's power, it is still forbidden for her to use her power, because she is no hero at all. Remember the Heroes Society's silly rule? You are not allowed to use your power if you don't have a permission. And, do you expect her to fight Enji? The hulk, big man, twice her size, the number 2 hero? He didn't have a problem with slapping and throwing her to the ground when she didn't even do anything to hurt him back, do you expect her to want to end up like the villains in their battle with Endeavor? She wasn't stupid. There's a difference between bravery and stupidity.

The last one, why would we talk about Rei so much here? If we want to talk about the core problem of the Todofam's abuse story, let's talk about Enji. In case you forget, the scar on Shouto's left eye, it wouldn't be there if Enji wasn't an as*hole. Rei hurting her son wouldn't even happen in the first place if Enji wasn't an abusive bast*rd.

So, let's stop this victim blaming energy (and kinda victim doubting energy too, because what it is supposed to mean when you said it's weird that the victims never reported the abuse before...). I'm sorry if there's any of my words that is probably rude and offends you, not my intention here, truly. But, I have to admit that I kinda got worked up when answering this (and it must be showing in my words) because this is such a, truly, a sensitive topic. Abused women are exist out there, and there are so many of them.

Worldwide, 27% of women aged 15-49 years who have been in a relationship report that they have been subjected to some form of physical and/or se*ual violence by their intimate partner.

The prevalence estimates of lifetime intimate partner violence range from 20% in the Western Pacific, 22% in high-income countries and Europe and 25% in the WHO Regions of the Americas to 33% in the WHO African region, 31% in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region, and 33% in the WHO South-East Asia region.

Globally as many as 38% of all murd*rs of women are committed by intimate partners.

Abusive relationship and abusive marriage are common. It is out there, 1 of 4 women out there experiences that. And it is only a number of women who have reported that, how about the unreported ones?

And if this world is such a safe place, just report to the authorities then it's done (just like you said just Rei reporting to All Might or other people so it would be done?), why the number is still so high?

Don't forget about Rei's feelings towards Enji, too. I doubt she loves him, but I also doubt she hates him and wants him to d*e or suffer. She is so much of a soft soul to be wanting that and it must be a complicated feeling to have if we picture ourself in her position.

Please, when talking about victims (of any situation), when we talk about what they are supposed to do and what they are not supposed to do, always remember, can WE do that if we are on their position?

Again, I'm sorry if my (long) rant answer offends you. Hope we can discuss about another subject other than this. Have a good day.

[miss-melon]

Hiyaa may i request a scenario nagito with a reader who confesses during conversation and doesnt realize they did and just keep talking

Hi anon! This request is soooo cute! Of course I’ll write it for you!

REQUEST: Accidental Confession with Nagito

It was another day at school, another painfully boring yet overwhelming day. Your homework was piling up, your friends were hanging out without you, the school lunch sucked, and you had gotten yelled at by your teacher for no reason AGAIN. But, there was one good thing that came out of today, and that was that you had gotten paired up to work on a project with your long-time best friend and crush, Nagito Komaeda.

Nagito had been your ride or die for as long as you can remember, ever since you two were young kids. You two were also pretty different from one another. You could be rather impulsive and tended to act on your emotions. While Nagito was almost always thinking everything through before making a decision. More often than not, he was your voice of reason. Constantly having to remind you not to overwork yourself, or reminding you not to take too much to heart. He was honestly your rock.

You first started developing feelings for the boy during elementary school. He was all you really had, and whenever you needed help, he was the first person by your side. The first time you remember noticing your feelings towards Nagito was during gym class in third grade. The two of you were running for track and you tripped over your shoelace. You had scraped your knee pretty badly and it hurt quite a bit, so you sat there and cried. I mean, what else were you supposed to do? You were just a kid after all.

It was while you were crying that Nagito rushed over to help. “Oh Y/N! You’re hurt!” He exclaimed. The only response you could muster up was a few choked sobs followed by the continuous waterfall of tears pouring from your eyes. “Oh my, please don’t cry Y/N! It’ll be okay! I know this might seem difficult, but I know that someone as hopeful as you can overcome any amount of despair! Now c’mon, let’s get you to the nurse!” He helped you up and took you to the nurses office, it was that day that you developed a crush on Nagito Komaeda, your best friend.

But many years later, that crush developed into full on love. This guy meant everything to you. And now you were partnered up with him for a school project, the butterflies in your stomach were very intense. Nagito was reading a few news articles for research while you were writing down the most important things he found in the articles. You didn’t even notice that you had made several typos in your project, that is, until Nagito spoke up.

“Um... Y/N? Are you doing alright? That’s your fifth typo already.” Nagito asked sounding rather concerned. He always knew when something was up with you. “O-oh sorry Nagito... I’ve just been really stressed out lately.” You told him, trying to hide the obvious blush that was painted across your face. “What’s been causing you this kind of stress? I don’t know how much someone like me can help, but I’ll always be here to listen to you Y/N.” Nagito said sweetly. You began to rant to him about your day.

“Well for starters, I forgot to make my coffee this morning, none of my friends will talk to me anymore, the school lunch tasted like shit, Ms. Harris keeps yelling at me, I don’t know how or when I’ll ever confess my feelings towards you-” Nagito’s head rose slightly as you continued your rambling, he had lost focus of what you were talking about because he couldn’t believe what just happened. YOU just confessed to HIM? And you didn’t even seem to notice! You continued talking like nothing happened! “And to top it all off, I have 24 missing assignments for my classes.” You finished your rant, not realizing what you had just done.

“S-so Y/N... ahah... um...” Nagito for once was at a loss for words, to which you were confused. “What’s wrong Nagito?” You asked, genuinely having no clue what you just did. “Is it true Y/N? Do you actually have... feelings for me? Feelings that you haven’t confessed yet?” Nagito asked you with a look of confusion. Suddenly your face flashed a bright red color. You just realized what you’ve done. “AAAAHHH!!!! UM- WELL- Y’SEE- UM-” After about a minute of you stuttering while trying to come up with an excuse, you eventually let out a sigh and gave in.

“Y-yes Nagito... I-I really... REALLY like you... I have for a long time now...” You said with your head hung low. You two sat there in silence for a long time until you felt two arms wrap around your body. You looked up and saw that Nagito was hugging you. When he pulled away from the hug he put both hands on your shoulders and looked at you. “Well Y/N... I will never understand why someone as... beautiful and hopeful as you would develop feelings for someone as... worthless and hopeless as me... but I do reciprocate your feelings, I always have! For as long as I can remember, I’ve found you to be perfect in every way, the one true shining hope in this dull world. What I’m trying to say, Y/N is that... I-I love you...” Nagito said smiling.

You could hardly believe what you were hearing. Your lifelong crush and best friend loved... YOU? This almost felt too good to be true, like a fairytale moment of sorts. You were just so incredibly happy that the one person who could make you feel this way, felt the same way about you. You just couldn’t contain yourself. You pounced into Nagito’s lap and his reflexes caused him to catch you, he held you in his lap for a couple seconds before you gave Nagito a passionate kiss on the lips, a kiss that was returned with an intense amount of love and adoration. This was the beautiful start of your lifelong relationship with your best friend, Nagito Komaeda. A relationship born from a bond. A bond that was formed by hope.

THE END.

_______________________________________________

Thank you so much for this request! It was super fun to write! This turned out way longer than I intended it to be so I hope you liked it!

[freddie-weaselbee]

April Fools//F.W.

Pairing: Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Silly pranks and a little angst, a tiny bit of small language

Summary: April 1st was a special day for many reasons, and it’s about to get a whole lot more special once Fred asks an important question.

Word Count: 2.4k

A/N: Here’s a special fic for the twins birthday, as well as April Fools’ Day!  Fourth fic in Abby’s Week of Weasley. 

~Abby’s Week of Weasley Masterlist~   ~Masterlist~

Message me to join the taglist!

March 31, 1995

For the third time that night, Angelina Johnson rolled her eyes at you and hit you with her pillow. Hard. So hard that you ended up toppling off of your bed due to the excited, unbalanced position you were in, practically standing at the edge of your bed. 

“Angie!” you screamed from the floor, your smile cracking through the angry façade you were putting on. 

“Oh you deserved it Y/N!” your roommate yelled. “If I have to hear you talk about Fred for one more minute I swear...”

“I second that,” said Alicia Spinnet from her bed, rolling her eyes for the umpteenth time that night. “Just grow a pair and ask him out already!”

 “You’re crazy, absolutely insane,” you replied, climbing back onto your sheets only to be knocked down by your friend once again. 

 “Ok I swear I’m done now,” Angelina said through her giggles. “But Alicia’s right. It’s been two bloody years, why don’t you get up off your timid ass and actually do something? What could go wrong?”

 “What could go wrong?” 

 Alicia groaned at your incredulous tone, knowing exactly what Angelina had just started. She covered her ears with her pillow, hoping to drown out the next barrage of rapid fire words from your mouth.

 “Would you like the possibilities listed alphabetically or by order of significance?” you quipped, not giving either of the girls any time before you started again. “First of all, he would laugh at me. Then he’d realize how sad it was that I thought I actually had a chance with him and he’d make fun of me to the entire school. And you know that Fred can’t keep his damn mouth shut!”

 The girls murmured in agreement, knowing firsthand to never tell Fred any secrets unless they wanted the entire student body and population of England to know as well.

 “So he’d tell everyone,” you continued, “and they’d all make fun of me and talk about me behind my back. ‘Oh there goes poor Y/N, she’s so sad that she thought that the hottest guy in school would be interested in her! What a stupid stupid girl.’”

 “I personally think his brother is hotter, but to each his own,” Angelina murmured.

 “Bloody hell they’re identical twins, they’re practically the same,” said Alicia.

 “They’re not the same,” you and Angelina replied in sync, turning to each other and giggling before you finished your rant.

 “Anyways, the whole school would think I’m a moron, all of Fred’s family would think I’m a moron, and I’d probably be a laughing stock at The Burrow and I’d be too embarrassed to spend another summer there with everyone making fun of me! So that is why I will not be confessing my feelings any time soon.”

 Your friends just sighed and rubbed their temples, used to hearing this kind of talk from you. 

 “You know you’re hot as fuck, right?” said Alicia, gesturing up and down and seeming to check you out.

 “I know that,” you replied confidently. Something about being friends with Alicia and Angelina had brought out your confidence and you knew your self worth, but not when it came to the love of your life. “But there’s plenty of girls here who are hotter and haven’t had their hair held back by him while they threw up their guts into the toilet.”

 Alicia choked on the drink she was sipping, remembering that party a few months ago. “Yeah, remind us not to let you have firewhisky again you lightweight.”

 You tossed your pillow at her, making her spill her drink and grumble in your direction. 

 “Alright if you won’t tell him, why don’t you hint at it and hope for him to make a move?” Angelina suggested. “His birthday’s tomorrow, what did you get him?”

 “I, umm, I didn’t have that much money, so I had to be more... creative about it.” You pulled a sweater from one of your drawers, a deep purple color with orange stitching along the sleeves and collar. “Molly taught me how to knit over the summer and I’ve been working on this ever since. Do you think he’ll like it?”

 “That is the sweetest thing ever, Y/N,” said Angelina. “And Fred doesn’t care about money or wealth, I’m sure he’ll love it. Trust me, give him this and flirt with him all day tomorrow and I’m sure he’ll get the hint.”

 “He hasn’t gotten it yet, and I’ve done nothing but flirt all year!”

 “Then flirt harder,” said Alicia. “Give it all you have, and if it doesn’t work out then he’s a good for nothing prick. That’s how I live my life,” she said shrugging.

 “Great advice, thanks,” you drawled. “But alright, I’ll try harder. Tomorrow’s gonna be a day to remember!”

 ------------------------------

 April 1, 1995

 You and your roommates slowly snuck out of your room the next morning, being as quiet as humanly possible. On a normal day you wouldn’t bother to be this careful, but today was not a normal day. It was April 1st, the twins’ birthday. Also know as their favorite day of the year, April Fools’ Day. 

 Alicia stubbed her toe on one of the steps and let out a small peep, making you and Angelina turn to her in horror. Your cover was blown. 

 “Well, well, well,” came a voice from down the stairs. “What do we have here?”

 You shoved Angelina in front of you, clutching the back of her uniform for dear life. “You go,” you whispered. “You’re the strongest.”

 “No,” she said quickly, “Alicia’s the fastest, she can outrun them and cause a distraction!”

 “You know I wouldn’t even make it out of the common room,” Alicia replied. “Y/N can go first, she can talk them out of doing anything.”

 “Yeah, right,” you scoffed. “Like that’s ever worked before. I ended up going to bed to find a giant snake my sheets.”

 “Well, someone has to go first!” Angelina hissed. 

 The three of you continued your argument in low voices, none of you wanting to be the first to face Fred and George's wrath. You were so caught up in your conversation that you didn’t even notice the figure behind you until they cleared their throat.

 You all screamed and you tripped over Angelina, causing you all to tumble down the few last stairs. The second you made it to the bottom, you felt a warm, gooey liquid dripping down your head. Reaching your hand up to touch it, you saw that it was a green goop that was now covering you and your friends. 

 Laughter erupted from both sides of you. The person who had been standing behind you, who you now realized was George, was holding Colin Creevey’s camera and snapping a picture. Fred, standing practically over top of you, was doubled over clutching his stomach from laughing so hard.

 You sighed and looked down, already defeated. “Happy birthday, Freddie.”

 “I think you mean,” he said through giggles, “happy April Fools’ Day!”

 Angelina and Alicia were shooting daggers at the twins, who were still laughing and snapping photos.

 “This makes quite the pretty picture, doesn’t it Freddie?” George asked, showing him the camera.

 “Ah, yes it does! Y/N, you look beautiful as ever darling, even covered in goo.”

 You put your hands out, expected for him to help you stand up. Once he hoisted you to your feet you threw your arms around him, wiping as much substance as you could onto his clothes. 

 “Hey!” he said, trying to escape your death grip. 

 “What?” you asked innocently. “Can’t a girl hug her friend on his birthday?” You emphasized your words by grabbing some goo from your hair and reaching up to ruffle his, spreading it through his ginger locks. 

 “You’re a handful, love,” he said, finally giving up on escaping the revenge. 

��“But you can handle me, can’t you?” You winked at him and let him go, turning around to see George pinned to the ground by Angelina, face covered in green. 

 “I give, I give! I’m sorry!” She got off of him and offered him a hand up. You looked around at everyone to see that you all were a mess, covered head to two in Fred and George’s prank. 

 “Well,” said Alicia, “this is not how I wanted my morning to go, but I didn’t expect anything less. I’m gonna go get changed.”

 “Me too,” said Angelina and George nodded as well, heading to their respective dorms. 

 This left only you and Fred. Your heart started pounding. How were you supposed to flirt even more than you usually did? Were you supposed to make a move, maybe confess your feelings?

“I, umm, I have your present upstairs,” you said finally. “It’s not very good, but I can go grab it for you now if you’d like. After I’m clean that is.”

He bumped your shoulder with his, making your heart beat even faster. “I’m sure I’ll adore it, love. And actually, I was wondering if I could ask you something?”

“Yeah, of course, what is it?”

Fred avoided eye contact, fidgeting with his messy uniform. “Umm, why don’t we hang out today and I can tell you then. We could maybe, go on a picnic for lunch? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

A large grin grew on your face, spreading slowly but surely. Maybe you didn’t have to be the one to make a move after all. “Of course I want to, Freddie! It’ll be fun.”

“Great!” he said relieved. “I’ll see you then.”

You nodded as he ran to catch up with George. As soon as he left the common room you nearly fell over, having to hold onto a wall to keep yourself up. You sprinted to your room, mind racing with exactly what you were going to wear this afternoon. 

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

“Hey, love,” Fred called from across the entrance hall. “You look great.”

You blushed a little, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear and trying to subtly look him up and down. Fred had dressed a little nicer than usual for your picnic, which made you feel better about putting in so much effort yourself. 

He came over and grabbed your hand in his, linking your fingers together and pulling you out the door. You wished your hands weren’t so clammy, and you hoped that Fred couldn’t tell. 

He took you to a secluded part of the courtyard, the corner where most kids would go to make out. Was that what was happening? Did he want to kiss you?

Fred spread out a blanket and opened the picnic basket, containing both of your favorite foods. 

“Looks so good Freddie,” you said. “Snuck into the kitchen again, didn’t you?”

“What can I say,” he shrugged. “Guy’s gotta eat.”

“You said like Ron.”

“Don’t ever insult me like that again, woman, or I will never speak to you”

You rolled your eyes at him and leaned back on your elbows. “Having Fred Weasley actually leave me alone for five minutes? That would be absolutely horrible. What would I do, not being able to hear about your pranks and projects?”

He leaned forward to tickle your sides, making you flail around and kick him away. “You’d be so desperate for me back, you’d probably lock yourself in your room all day.”

“Oh I’m sure,” you replied, sarcasm dripping from your tongue. 

The two of you continued to eat and talk, mostly about his plans for his birthday and how he was going to terrorize his mum once he got home for the summer because he could now legally do magic outside of Hogwarts. After what felt like forever of laughing and rolling around on the blanket and grass, your curiosity was finally getting the best of you. 

“Alright Fred, enough’s enough,” you said, turning partly serious. “Why did you ask me out here with you?”

Fred got nervous once again, grabbing some more food to shove in his mouth to buy him some time before answering. 

“I’m waiting. What, you wanted to ask me out but got too nervous? Huh, is that it?” You were completely joking, but Fred didn’t seem to correct you. He just turned to you and gave you a small nod, shocking you to your core. 

“What?” you asked, needing clarification. 

“Uh, well, Y/N, there’s something important I need to say.” He looked jumpy and excitable, but there was also a cocky gleam in his eye, which was always present with the boy. “I’m madly in love with you. I have been since we were 15, and I just needed to let you know. I want to hold you and kiss you and grow old with you, my darling princess. Will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?”

You sat there in complete surprise. This couldn’t be real, could it? Fred Weasley had loved you since you were 15? The tingles you always got when he said something to yo couldn’t compare to what you were feeling now.

Fred opened his mouth in a wide grin about to say something, when you cut him off with a hug. “Oh Freddie, you don’t understand how happy that makes me! I’ve loved you for forever, you’re perfect. Of course I’ll be your girlfriend.”

You held him tighter, burying your face in his neck and soaking in the feeling of being Fred’s girlfriend. But Fred had a completely different feeling running through him. 

He made eye contact with George, who was hiding in the bushes with his camera ready. He mouthed a question but Fred just shook his head in confusion. This wasn’t supposed to happen. 

You were supposed to laugh at him, become super uncomfortable. Fred knew that you only saw him as a friend and flirted with him jokingly. He’d never in a million years expect for you to confess your feelings back to him. 

He didn’t know what to do. You were just so open and vulnerable, confessing everything you’d been holding back. So, acting against George’s frantic suggestions, he completed the hug, resting his head on the top of yours.

What was he supposed to do? You were his best friend, he couldn’t bear to see you get hurt. How was he supposed to tell you, that this was all an April Fools?

Tag List: @famdomhideout @amourtentiaa

[sam-t-a]

Okay. 

*Deep breath* 

I think I’m finally calm enough to put into words exactly why I hated the finale and why I wasn’t completely surprised that I hated it. 

(Heads-up: this is really long and pretty negative. If you disagree, I would of course appreciate your point of view and love to hear it, but just thought I’d let you know in case this is the kind of post you would like to avoid.)

To me, it felt like every character on the show got betrayed in some way or another, but the main ones are Han Seo (devastatingly), Chayoung (obviously) and Han Seok (bear with me). 

Cha Young: 

She started out as a solid FL who annoyed some people for sure, but who had so much promise as someone unconventional and bold. The way her mother’s death affected her and caused a clear shift in her personality was a super interesting plot point that really never got explored. We have no idea how she came to sacrifice her morality in joining Wusang, just that she wanted to spite her father, which is a very superficial exploration. She gets cute idiosyncrasies in lieu of an actual character and an actual character arc. 

We also, halfway through the show, seem to forget that her father's death was the initial trigger. Cha young does not suggest bold ideas or intricate plans, she doesn’t fill the gaps Vincenzo is incapable of filling (because that would require that Vincenzo have flaws, and that’s not something the writers can abide), and she’s literally victimized in episode 19 and bedridden in episode 20, and that is IT. 

Someone who started out supposedly as Vincenzo’s equal just became another piece in his chess set, no matter how important a piece she may be. 

So her role as a badass avenger is trashed. That leaves her role as a love interest. Now, as Vincenzo’s love interest, she was supposed to get kidnapped in like episode 5 or 6 at the most if the villain has any brains whatsoever (Han Seok may or may not, more on that later). We need a reason for that not to happen too early. Cue villain is somehow in love with her for all of 15 minutes or so throughout a 20-episode series because a love triangle is inconceivable with the show’s current structure and for its purposes. 

So, she spends 15 or so episodes making the first move on Vincenzo, every time, putting herself out there, creating cute moments, getting nothing in return, and then he leaves. No confession, nothing much, he wasn’t even going to say goodbye or give her the choice of coming with him. 

I’m sure more chayenzo-oriented fans have already expressed all the necessary outrage over this, so I’ll move on to the part that I’ve personally been way more emotionally invested in from the get go: the Jang brothers. 

Han Seo: 

I was among the minority that  hated the “Vinny hyung” angle from the get-go and I’ve ranted about it in another post, so I won’t get into it here in-depth, but basically it was because I felt like Vincenzo hadn’t earned it, so to have the last words Han Seo hears be “You deserve to be my brother” or whatever the fuck he was on about PISSED ME OFF. It’s VINCENZO who doesn’t deserve to be Han Seo’s brother and hasn’t done a single thing to earn it. He was a good ally. The situation he allowed Han Seo to be a part of was beneficial to him, but Han Seo’s attachment to him was neither healthy nor heartwarming, and it certainly wasn’t returned on the level he offered it.

Vincenzo’s disregard of his death didn’t strike me as odd because I never saw enough indications that this was a two-way street and Han Seo’s safety and well-being came second so often that I didn’t get the impression Vincenzo was doing much to keep him alive. This is what I meant when I said the show was glorifying a torture survivor’s trauma responses. Han Seo himself, as a torture survivor, meant nothing to them. He was just there to create one more contrived comparison between Vincenzo and Han Seok. Instead of recovering from the trauma, it’s simply employed to someone else’s favor. He doesn’t go to prison for Han Seok, he takes a bullet for Vincenzo, and we’re supposed to see that as so much better.

All of that might (JUST MIGHT) not have ruined the show for me if he’d died better. 1) It was narratively pointless and totally avoidable, 2) they could’ve framed it as heroic, but instead Han Seok’s hand patting his head is pushing it down, so he can’t even get shot with his chin up and his back straight, Taec’s already taller, so the angle’s fucked and the whole cinematography screamed “kicking an injured puppy” and most certainly NOT “survivor finally stands up to his abuser”. The final nail in the proverbial and literal coffin is that he is mourned by no one. They’re FLIRTING not 3 MINUTES LATER, it felt so tone deaf and left such a bad taste. As I said, I didn’t expect significant mourning from Vincenzo (gotta say, I didn’t expect no mourning, that was a shocker), and Cha young and the tenants had no real interactions with him and no reason to mourn him, which left only one person who could. 

Which brings me to Han Seok. 

Han Seok started out as a solid villain, clear goals, clear skills that help him achieve his goals and basically make him a villain worth defeating, and a very complex relationship with both his own psychopathy and his brother. 

Let me get it out of the way: I do not believe Han Seok is capable of killing Han Seo because he had every reason and every opportunity to do so in previous episodes and couldn’t do it (I say couldn’t because a certain degree of reluctance is in itself inability). Han Seo’s danger far outweighed his material value the minute he shot Han Seok and then completely lost any value once he came out to the world as the chairman and it became clear that the prosecution would be going after him if anything happened, and not his brother. But time and again, he’s proven he’s all bark and no bite when it comes to Han Seo (killing-wise, specifically). 

The scene where he asks him to beat Vincenzo to death could be interpreted as him wanting to give Vincenzo the “painful death” he would have given him, but honestly, I think he was way past that point. He just wanted him dead in the “You crazy? we have to kill him before he kills us” sense. To that end, killing off a key ally of Vincenzo’s, who betrayed you and almost got you killed a bunch of times, should take priority, but Han Seok’s priority is reclaiming Han Seo by forcing him back onto his side. Now, much like his “love for Cha young”, Han Seok’s keenness on not killing his brother was essential to the writers so that Han Seo can justifiably make it this far and still be useful to Vincenzo (he can’t help if Han Seok completely excludes him from all events, plans and management processes, so Han Seok needs to want to keep him on his side enough not to do that even when it’s more prudent). 

All of this isn’t to say it’s unbelievable that he would kill Han Seo, but it’s DEFINITELY unbelievable that he would stay the same man after killing him. Someone here (I’m sorry, I don’t rememebr who) once said that Han Seo had become, over time, far more of a foil to his brother than Vincenzo was. To me, this means that Post-Han Seo Han Seok would be out of balance (tilted screen), unhinged in a way he never was before. The Han Seok we see shrugs and “oh, well”-s and moves on in a flash, not really any different from the villain he was four minutes and a whole brother earlier. 

This is very consistent with the way the show has been de-humanizing him from the start. I’m not saying this to defend Han Seok in any way, he’s a serial killer, an abuser and a total maniac. But you can be all those things and still a human being. In fact, you can ONLY be those things if you’re a human being. The show used its villain vs villain idea to justify a lot, but in the end, Vincenzo had to be a protagonist. He had to follow up every “I’m a villain” with a contrived “but at least I’m not (insert something worse)”. 

On the level of humans:

1) Vincenzo is supposedly different because he doesn’t hurt children or women (unless the women deserve it, and shooting a parent in front of their kid doesn’t count as hurting.) 

But we never see Han Seok hurting women or children either. In fact, if we proceed with the “chayoung is the myung hee of the good guys” comparison, he hasn’t hurt any women nearly as badly as Vincenzo did. 

2) Babel vs Mafia 

Babel’s corruption is compared a lot to the mafia, with Vincenzo commenting repeatedly that the people are WORSE than the mafia...which is bullshit. Babel is a set of companies that provide goods and services, but use illegal means to maximize their profit, so they hurt/kill people in the process because they want more money and care about money more than ethics. The Mafia is an inherently criminal organization that functions PURELY on the basis of its criminality. Every single dime Vincenzo spends is blood money. None of it is clean. And while we’re on the topic, I find the whole “taking Miri under his wing” thing pretty unreasonable too because he tried to have her killed you guys, I cannot believe we’re just glossing over that. He had everyone who worked on that vault killed, just random fucking construction workers. And he’s not sorry. And the show tells you he shouldn’t be. 

3) Repentance

Han Seok says outright he won’t atone, and while Vincenzo says no such thing out loud he just...doesn’t repent, I guess. He keeps the blood money, he goes back to being a full-time mafia dude doing mafia things. He leaves the same man he arrived. 

So, if on the level of harm inflicted upon humanity, Vincenzo and Han Seok are pretty much equal (and Vincenzo might actually be worse), then why should we root for Vincenzo? 

Well, my friend, that’s where the dehumanization comes in! 

I was initially very excited to see their portrayal of a psychopath because of the very interesting ways in which the informal moral code and official justice system surrounding a psychopath/sociopath/narcissist affect their behavior and their chances of not turning out rotten, and the show looked like it was looking at corruption in general. 

But as the show went on, the villain vs villain thing proved not to be enough, Vincenzo has to be better in some way (or if you’re as obsessed with him as the writers are, then ALL ways), so it became a villain vs monster narrative. Vincenzo isn’t ethical or fair or in any way interested in having a remotely positive impact on society, but at least he’s A HUMAN BEING unlike SOMEBODY. So, the characterization goes to shit, Han Seok becomes a cartoon card-board cut out of a villain and emphasis is put on how pointless his violence is, as opposed to how purposeful Vincenzo’s is. 

This is dangerous on multiple levels (and I promise this is the last point I’m making). 

1) For people in general, dehumanizing abusers/murderers/etc. makes us very liable to forget that you don’t have to be “a monster” to cause harm, and it makes people complacent in their belief that they are “not bad people” since they aren’t total monsters. The Banality of Evil is a thing, and in this series, it goes completely ignored. No one is inherently incapable of good or inherently undeserving of humanity. 

2) For victims of abuse in specific, it’s dangerous to portray abusers (including serial killer and non-serial killer ones) as entirely bad and unlovable, because it poses the dual risk of making victims less likely to acknowledge their abuse if it comes from someone who cares about or loves them on some level because the idea that someone cannot both love and hurt you is so stereotypical. Your abuser can genuinely want you in their lives and need you and, on some level, love you, and IT DOESN’T MATTER if that love doesn’t stop them from hurting you. 

On the other hand, portraying the victims of abuse as capable of flipping an off switch and hating the abuser with no hesitation or second thoughts to the point of unapologetically and cheerfully helping someone kill them and having no mixed feelings about it sends the message that if you CAN’T do that, then are you really abused? Are sure you’re not complicit in your own abuse? Do you even want to get rid of them? 

So this is basically why the way the show ended was so painfully disappointing for me. And the main reason it hit so hard was that it was initially so good and had so much promise. I really expected more.

[ohworm-writes]

Agree to Disagree

Ch 8 - The Park [ part 1 ]

masterlist

Your eyes stay glued to your phone, waiting for another message from him, but it never comes. Sighing, you shove your phone into your pocket, kicking a rock as you make your way towards the gates. You hoped he would actually come and not ditch you, but you wouldn’t exactly put it past him either.

The sun was still up in the sky, a golden glow adorning your features as you walked. The air was warm, that was to be expected as summer was nearing, but it was a nice contrast to the cold spring days you had become accustomed to.

When the gates came into view, you subconsciously pick up your pace, breaking into a slight jog as you reach them. Mr. Yamada is leaning against the side of the gate as you slow down and reach them, his attention turning to you and his expression lighting up.

“Y/n!” He yelled enthusiastically, making you laugh lightly. “Hello Mr. Yamada!” When you walked up to him, he gave you a tight side hug, which you happily returned. When you pulled away from him, you saw a smug smirk on his face, making your happy expression falter.

“Sooo, you and Shinso, yeah?” An almost horrified expression was printed onto your face, which made him burst out into laughter. You felt more them embarrassed at the volume of his voice, resulting in you trying (and failing) to get your teacher to quiet down.

“It’s not like that, I promise you! I just- I thought it would be, uhm, nice to go out with him! And-and not have him yelling at me!” You try to explain, which only fuels his laughter. Slowly, they wind down into giggles as he wipes the tears from his eyes.

You hear someone clear their throat from behind you, prompting you to swiftly turn around to face none other than Shinso. When Hizashi looks up to see him, it only spurs on his laughing fit again. “Am I... interrupting something?” Shinso asks, rubbing the back of his neck as you try and explain, interrupted by your teacher’s cackling.

“Y’know what! Let’s get going, we only have a few hours! We’ll be back! Thank you Mr. Yamada!” You rush out, gripping onto Shinso’s hand and rushing the both of you away from the gate. Hizashi stays back, waving the two of you off as he deals with his laughing fit in his own.

While you drag Shinso away, his eyes stay glued to your hand holding his. One part of him wanted to rip his hand out of your grasp and go back to his room, but the other half was telling him against that. He noticed that your hands fit perfectly into his...

His thoughts were interrupted when you let go of his hand, the situation rendering in your head finally. “Sorry.” You mumbled out, awkwardly holding both of your hands together as you continued to walk down the hill. He shrugs, not that you can notice while in front of him.

You both walk in awkward silence for a while, crossing a few roads here and there with him trailing behind you. He huffs, picking up his speed a bit so that he’s walking in stride with you. “Why are you walking so fast?” He grumbles, making you stiffen up as you slow down a bit, saying another apology.

He was joking. He didn’t actually have a problem with it, but it didn’t come out exactly as he had thought it would. He decided it would be more awkward to apologize to you for your apology, so he let it be, trying to lift the mood a different way.

“So, uh, where are we going?” That peaks your attention. You turn to him as you begin talking. “There’s this park a few blocks away and there’s this really good ice cream shop nearby!” You tell him, excluding the one other part of your journey that would be more important later.

He hums, shoving his hands into his jean pockets. You take a bit of time to look at his outfit, pleasantly surprised. He has on a simple white tee with a black jacket over it, dark jeans hugging him loosely. You smile a bit, he actually cleaned up nicely. Turning your attention away from him, which you now realize was a bit strange that you were checking him out in the first place, you motion for him to cross another street with you.

After a bit more walking, you finally reach your destination. The park wasn’t too large, but it wasn’t small either. It was perfect, in your opinion. Grassy fields accented the dirt pathways, trees scattered here and there, a large pond being the spectacle of it all.

“We’re here!” You exclaim, running in front of him and turning swiftly on your feet, spreading your arms out happily as you smile at him. His eyes widen, but he takes the moment to look around. “It’s super pretty, huh?” You say, and he can’t help but nod. It really was a beautiful place.

“Let’s walk.” You tell him, turning back around as you make your way down the path. He follows close behind, head swiveling left and right as he takes in the view. “How come I never knew about this place?” He asks out loud, barely a mumble. You smile at that, letting your arms loosen at your sides. “I used to come here all the time when I was little, look at the fish in the pond and stuff. I come here when I’m stressed sometimes.”

He listens silently to your rant, both of your feet coming to a stop at the water’s edge. You sat down, resting your elbows on your knees as you looked into the water. Shinso followed suit, stretching out his legs, laying back on his hands. The silence this time wasn’t awkward, it was comfortable if anything.

He was the first to speak up. “Why did you bring me here? Bring me out?” He asks, turning his head lazily to look at you. Feeling his eyes on you, you turn to meet his gaze. Your eyes are nothing but welcoming, the golden rays of the sun liting up your face more perfectly than words could describe.

“Well, I could say it’s to get us relaxed for the presentation tomorrow, which technically wouldn’t be a lie.” You tell him, bringing your hand up to stroke your chin teasingly. He rolls his eyes, but you catch the glimpse of a smile on his face, but as quick as it was there, it was gone. “But, if I’m being honest with you, I just want to get to know you, be your friend.”

That catches him off guard, it’s obvious by the way his whole body tenses and how his breath hitches. You turn your attention back to the water, small fish causing ripples to appear on the otherwise calm surface. You smile, hoisting yourself up with a push, wobbling on your feet as you find your footing.

Once you do, you turn back over to Shinso, whose eyes are directed away from you. You clear your throat, extending your hand out towards him. Slowly, he turns his head in your direction, eyes darting up to meet yours. He glances at your hand, then back to you.

“C’mon.” You tell him with a smile. “Today isn’t over yet, and we still have things to do.” He seems much less hesitant as he grabs your hand, allowing you to help him up. When he finds his own balance, he lets go, but he opts to stand closer to you. “Lead the way.”

pairing - Hitoshi Shinso x GN!Reader

a/n - after far too long, here’s part one ( of two ) for this chapter! I’m finally in a good mental headspace, so expect more frequent updates in the near future. part two should come out in a few hours, I have classes today so I need to get that done first, otherwise, I hope you enjoyed!

taglist - @toshiuwu @ayamecrevan @aizameow @dabi-sunflower @lunamoonbby @intense-socks @keijiqahara @blossominglark @godssleepymistake @superhermit @peepeepoopoot @sinrinyoku @shipsail567 @mykuronekome @fi-chanwrites @just-dreaming-stuff

[mochegato]

Pixie Spy

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Jason waited on the dancefloor anxiously watching the crowd of people who had just left, ready to pounce on the Sunshine Girl once she exposed herself by exiting the safety of the crowd.  But he hadn’t seen her exit yet.  The crowd had now thinned out enough that he could make out everyone that was still in the group.  She wasn’t one of them. The tablecloths that decorated all the tables did not go all the way to the floor, allowing him to see under the tables.  She wasn’t hiding there either.  There was no sign of her.  She was impossibly gone.

He was so focused on his search, he didn’t notice the wary looks of the people around him watching him as though he might lash out at them at any moment and he wouldn’t have been able to care less even if he had noticed.  He didn’t have a single fuck to spare about their opinions.  He needed to find Sunshine and figure out what the fuck was going on and how he could help.  

He felt a weight on his shoulder and spun quickly grabbing the hand, ready to defend himself against whatever it was.  He relaxed slightly when he saw Dick’s surprised and concerned eyes on him, hands held up in a placating gesture, “Hey, it’s just me Jaybird.  What’s going on?  A rogue?” he asked discretely, stepping closer and lowering his voice so nobody else could hear.

Jason’s eyes returned to the crowd, desperately seeking any sign of her, “No… at least I don’t think so.  Do you see a beautiful, short woman with black hair and a short black dress?” She couldn’t have just disappeared.  She had to have gone somewhere, but he had been watching not just the dancefloor but the exits as well.  There was no way he could have missed her.  She wasn’t someone you could miss.  She wasn’t there and she hadn’t left.  Where the fuck was she?  

Dick watched Jason cautiously before glancing around the room again.  He was getting concerned about Jason.  He wanted to write it off as a drunken fascination with a girl who walked away or an attempt to disrupt the night, but that wasn’t it.  Drunk Jason was belligerent, well more belligerent than usual, not paranoid and possessive.  Disruptive Jason never bothered to hide his glee at the disruption.  This was something else.  

Dick cast a wary eye back into the crowd looking for the girl Jason described.  “I don’t see anyone like that,” he said shaking his head and returning his gaze back to Jason.  He didn’t know what was going on, but clearly that girl was important to whatever it was. They should have known better than to think the night would go smoothly.  He had naïvely thought the worst he would have to worry about was Jason causing a scene for the hell of it, but this was something more.

“Shit!” Jason exclaimed loudly running his hand through his hair and looking down.  He needed to focus on the immediate issues and let the others know their identities had been compromised.  They needed to figure out who she was, what she knew, what she was going to do with the information, and just who the fuck got her involved in all of this, track that mother fucker down and kick the shit out of him for getting her involved in the first place.  Then figure out what was going on in Paris that had caused so much pain she felt responsible for and kick the shit out of that asshole too.

“Sorry about that everyone.  Guess we should have cut the bar off a few drinks ago. Please, continue dancing… and drinking, if you think you can handle it a bit better than him.” Bruce announced loudly with a charming, easy smile for the crowd eliciting a few chuckles from the audience.

“Is this related to what you were asking before?” Tim asked quietly, coming up next to them and scanning the crowd as well, not really sure what he was looking for but searching for anything out of place.

“Yes!  We need to go to the safe room,” Jason growled quietly.  “ALL of us.  Now”

“Did something happen with that girl you can’t find? Did she get taken?  Did she take someone else?”  Dick asked grimly still watching Jason with concern, gauging the breadth of the developing situation.

“Somebody got taken?” Bruce asked joining the conversation.

“Yeah, we did.  Let’s go.  Tim, bring up the cameras for back home,” Jason ordered stalking toward the family safe room without bothering to look at anyone.  

“Jason, we were just about to make the announcement. Is it something that can wait?” Bruce asked stepping between Jason and the door to the safe room.

“Gee, I don’t know, B.  Do you think someone figuring us out and breaking into our… home base is something important?” Jason asked snidely without breaking stride.

Selina sauntered over slowly just in time to see Bruce’s stoic expression pale slightly, not enough for the other party goers to notice but enough that the family could see the change and change their attitude accordingly.  “I’ll do some damage control out here,” she said patting Bruce’s shoulder before pushing him slightly toward the family safe room, a room the family had designated as a safe space in case of emergencies.  It was soundproofed, swept for bugs, and was locked to anyone but the family.  It was meant to be a place they could change into their suits in case something happened requiring vigilante activity.  It also had the added benefit of a place they could send Damian before he actually acted on any of the violent thoughts they knew he was having.  

“And make sure you take Damian with you.  He looks ready to cut someone’s hand off,” she said with an amused smile.  Damian glared at her as he followed his father to the room.  She heard a faint “trollop” as he passed by, making her smile. At this point, she was taking it as a term of endearment from the little terror.  If he really wanted to hurt her he would go after her with one of his katanas, like he did with his brothers.

By the time the family made it to the room, Tim had already pulled up the live feed to the Batcave on his phone.  He got it connected just in time to see… nothing, absolutely nothing out of place.  The cave was empty, the vehicles were parked, the suits and weapons hung up properly, and the computer was resting.  Nothing remotely concerning, Tim grumbled to himself.  It was bad enough dealing with Jason on patrols but now he had to put up with his bullshit here too.  He didn’t want to be here either, none of them did, but at least he wasn’t actively trying to make the situation worse.

Of course it would amount to nothing.  If anyone had broken into the Batcave his phone, along with everyone else’s, would have alerted them to the trespasser.  He and Barbara had set it up.  There was no way around it.  Nobody could be in the Batcave without them knowing about it.  There was no alarm going off, thus there was no trespasser. This was another of Jason’s paranoid delusions or another way to mess with the family, sabotaging the important night.

As soon as the door to the safe room clicked closed, Bruce turned to Jason with a concerned look, “What is going on, Jason?  What do you think got broken into and who figured us out?”

“There was a woman at the party,” he started unsure how much of the encounter he wanted to relate to them.  Before he could continue there were groans around the room.  He glared at them before continuing louder this time. “She seemed uncomfortable at the gala so I started talking with her.”

“How thoughtful of you.  Completely for her own benefit, I’m sure,” Dick rolled his eyes and shook his head. This damn well better not be about Jason trying to get laid.  There were far less public ways to accomplish that than this.  In fact, Dick had been working on one of those ways when Jason decided to take out an entire table in front of everyone.

“If you assholes are done interrupting,” Jason snapped at them, glowering in frustration.  “Out of nowhere, she suddenly stared hard at you guys for a minute then freaked the fuck out.  I finally got her to say she was there acting as a scout for your,” he pointed at Bruce with a scowl, “lover, so he could break into our place.”

“My what!” Bruce asked confused, “Selina?”

“What the hell, Jason!” Dick exclaimed.  Of course it would be Jason.  Of course Jason would end up with someone who was spying on them.  Jason seemed to attract it.  Even if he wasn’t trying to cause problems, he usually was but even when he wasn’t, they seemed to find him.

“Attempting to bed the enemy, why is that not a surprise, Todd.” Damian scoffed from his seat on the other side of the room.

“Fuck you.  I tried to bring her over when she said that, but she got away.  She kept ranting about a lover’s quarrel and a joke.  Whoever she is working with, she thinks you two know each other and are ‘friendly’, Bruce.  And she definitely did NOT know who we were until that point.”

Tim groaned in frustration.  They took their eyes off of Jason for just a few minutes and now he had to clean up the mess Jason had created.  They were wasting time looking at the batcave instead of looking for this girl.  The batcave was a dead end.  Jason just didn’t want to admit that he let himself get played by some girl.  A girl who he let get away, he might add. “Accident” his ass.  Jason didn’t let anyone get away accidentally.  And now they all had to play along with this delusion.  

He looked back at the live feed.  There was still nothing amiss.  He huffed, “She lied to you.  There's nothing going on in the cave.  Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse,” he gritted out, brandishing his phone around so everyone could see it.  “I told you before, nobody could be there without getting noticed and us knowing immediately.  You got played.  And now someone who KNOWS OUR IDENTITIES is out there and we have no idea how much of a threat she is because you got distracted by a pretty face.”  

“It was I goddamn gorgeous face and she got away when I got distracted by you arguing with me instead of just helping,” he growled at Tim.  “And she isn’t a threat.  I’m pretty sure she’s a hero of some kind.” Jason defended.  He wasn’t sure about much of what was happening but the one thing he did know for certain was Pixie Pop was a hero or vigilante. She was trying to protect people and only got angry when she thought they were interfering with that.  She wasn’t a villain and hadn’t been trying to take them down.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t trust your judgement here,” Damian drawled.

Jason spun to face him red faced in anger.  They weren’t listening.  People were suffering and they were still acting like it was a joke, just like Pixie thought they were.  He opened his mouth to respond but snapped it shut when he heard the door open.  Selina slid through closing the door securely behind her.

“How is it out there?” Bruce asked grimly.

Selina shrugged.  “Everyone bought the cover story easily.  Those looking for a reason were judging, but the rest thought it was cute. They think he's taking after his dear old Dad.  After witnessing you do something similar at almost every gala, ball, dance, opening, party, fundraiser, celebration, and just regular dinners for, what?  A decade?  Two?  They see nothing strange in your son doing the same,” she said with an amused smile, taking a seat next to Tim on a table he was leaning against to get a better angle on the video.  

“Disappears for a few years then comes back and gets drunk whenever possible.  It's nostalgic for them.  Jason got your drinking, Dick got your philandering, Tim got your arguing, I believe you prefer to call it ‘negotiating’, and Damian got your looks.” Damian nodded satisfied his description was the only genetic trait and the only one that would not be considered a weakness.  “Not that you aren't all very handsome,” she cooed mockingly, squeezing Tim’s cheeks to accentuate her point.

“Just to check, Selina you didn’t send anyone to spy on us tonight did you?”  Bruce asked annoyed.

“Me?  I haven’t sent anyone to watch you guys for ages.”  Selina said innocently.  “Someone was spying on you guys?”  

“That’s still up for debate, but regardless Jason said this girl knew our identities so we should try to track her down, assess the danger we and she are in… after the announcement.”  Bruce was tired before this all started, this did not help.  Dick, Tim, and Damian started to protest but Bruce held up a hand stopping them, “if she was intending to do something she would have made the threat to Jason or come up to us to extort us.  She didn’t so either she’s waiting for us to make a move she can jump on or…” he took a deep breath, “or, she had no idea and doesn’t intend to do anything with it.  I’m more concerned with whoever sent her.  That is who we need to find and we find that person through her.  As soon as the announcement is over, Tim, I want you checking security cameras to track her.”

Tim rolled his eyes and pushed off of the table he was leaning against, taking one last look at the live feed.  “Okay, this break has been fun.  I’m going back to the party.  Jason, just go home and sleep it..." his sentence tapered off as he watched a silvery, rippling portal open near the bat computer.  His eyes widened and his jaw dropped open in shock.  Holy shit, Jason had been right.  "What the fuck!  Bruce!  Look at this.  Dick turn on the television there.”  He pushed a few buttons on his phone and sent the image to display on the TV.

The family watched in shocked silence as a figure emerged from the shimmering pool with an enraged look on their face and hands clenched at their sides.  They stared at the figure trying to decide if they remembered ever having seen them before. The figure was wearing a full body suit in varying shades of brown that seemed heavily padded for protection. Their hair was pulled back into a series of long ponytails forming something reminiscent of a horse’s mane that flowed down their back.  The most unsettling thing about the figure, other than that they were in the cave without permission, was their expression. Even with half of their face obscured by a pair of pince-nez sunglasses, the angry expression was clear.  They glared at the computer but made no move to get closer.

“I fucking told you she was telling the truth!” Jason yelled pointing at the screen for emphasis.

Dick growled and turned to leave but Bruce stopped him holding up a finger to indicate he should wait.  “Can’t do anything without a car anyway.  Call for the car and watch until it gets close.”  Dick nodded and pulled out his phone to call Alfred.

Dick nearly dropped the phone when the figure suddenly yelled “Come out and face me you coward!” in the general direction of the computer as the portal behind them disappeared.

“What the fuck?” Tim whispered confused.  “Do they think there we’re there and camouflaged?”

“Or can they see something we can’t?”  Dick contemplated staring hard at the scene in front of him. The figure wasn’t moving to do anything to the equipment in the cave, wasn’t trying to damage it or investigate it. They were focused on something else, something none of them in the room could see.

They all froze when out of the ether they heard a man’s voice respond. “You ready for them to know we’re here, Spots?”

“Oh, they already know,” the figure growled out.

“Ah, that didn’t take as long as I thought it would,” the voice responded.  “Okay Trixx. Might as well drop it then.”

As soon as he said the words, it was like a curtain dropped and suddenly a man in a trench coat was standing in front of a very active bat computer.  Alarms sounded throughout the safe room, as all of their phones rang out with trespassing alerts.  

“What the hell?” Tim exclaimed.  “The computer was on sleep mode just a second ago.”  He brought his phone closer to his face trying to examine the scene better. He and Barbara had designed the system to detect changes in visual, audio, thermal, and electronic signals as well as vibrations caused by any movement.  Whatever they were using had somehow interrupted detection for all of those. “How the hell did they do that?”

Jason ignored the room devolving into chaos behind him, deciding to study the figure in front of the computer instead.  The hair and trench coat were very familiar.  “Is that Constantine?” Jason asked.

“You absolute bastard!  What was that?” the figure yelled gesturing vaguely behind them and stalking closer to the man.

“Yeah, that sounds like Constantine,” Bruce shook his head, resigned to the situation. “Tell Alfred there isn’t a rush.  Constantine won’t try to do anything he hasn’t already done.”

“You going to hit me while you're like that, Spots? Bit unfair don't you think?” Constantine said barely glancing over to her from the computer.

The figure stared at him shaking in rage for a few seconds before forcing out, something that sounded like “dismount” through gritted teeth. A blinding wave of sea green light engulfed the figure.  When the light faded, a woman in a long red dress and the same glasses as the other figure was standing where the figure had been.  She removed the glasses and shoved them in her purse before returning her glare to the man at the computer.

“That’s her!” Jason yelled, pointing at the screen.  “That’s the woman I was dancing with.  Different dress but same woman.”

“Well at least now we know why she thought it was a prank when she figured us out, assuming she knows who he is, which I assume is why she is working with him in the first place, so she does.” Bruce said rubbing his forehead to ease the quickly oncoming headache.  Whenever Constantine got involved things went to Hell, sometimes literally, very quickly and Bruce had not had enough sleep or bourbon to deal with this.  Contrary to his reputation, he rarely drank but this situation, this situation, whatever the hell it was, justified a drink.

“Fuck!  No wonder I couldn’t find her.  She somehow pulled a fucking Houdini and changed her entire appearance.” Jason yelled exasperated.

Constantine typed a few more things on the computer before finally facing her nonchalantly “Not to change the subject but that is a really good glare. Scarier than Batman, honestly.  I could feel it through the back of my head.  I’m this close to being intimidated,” he said holding his thumb and index finger close together.  “I swear, if you keep glaring at me that…” before he could finish his sentence the woman had delivered a strong right hook directly to his jaw.

Constantine fell backwards, knocking into the chair positioned next to the computer, sending it spinning away on his way down, landing on his hands and knees.  He gently rubbed his jaw with a wince and looked back up at her with a raised eyebrow. “Yeah, fair enough.” He slowly stood back up using the chair and computer to help support him on his way up. “Have fun, kid? Meet any cute boys? Girls? Thems? Guess never asked which way you swing.”

The woman responded by kicking him hard in the chest with a suddenly bare foot.  He fell back against the computer from the impact with a surprised grunt.  Before he could get up she moved her foot on his throat to hold him there, braced against the computer.  She had been careful to place her foot flush on his throat but he wasn’t making any noises so she wasn’t pushing hard on it.  The family were all familiar with the move.  It didn’t allow him to move but did allow him to speak. A good questioning position.

“You left some valuable details out of the multiple briefings we had.  Weeks where you could have mentioned them.  Details like you could have just ASKED for this if you weren’t such a fucking self-absorbed coward.” She seethed at him.

Jason made a gurgling sound as he watched her stand over Constantine, suddenly feeling flushed.  He had not expected her to be able to take down a grown man like that, like it was second nature, effortless.  Two quick moves and he was at her mercy.  He couldn’t stop picturing himself in Constantine’s place, at her mercy, and that thought alone made his heart race and breathing more difficult.  The things she could do to him… He shook his head of the highly enjoyable thought.  Now was not the time for that.

“You know, I’m pressing a lot of buttons here,” Constantine croaked out.  “I might have to restart the whole process if you’re not careful.  Would take time.  Maybe enough for the whole family to return.”

“Fuck you.” She growled at him retracting her leg so he could stand up properly.

“Oh I swing all ways except that way. You may be legal, technically, but you're still a kid and I'm not a pedo.” He rubbed his throat as he straightened back up.  To the surprise of those in the room who knew him, he didn’t react at all. He seemed to accept the attack as justified and turned back around and got back to work on the computer.  Not that they were expecting him to attack back physically but Constantine was never had nothing to say, except now.

“You're an asshole.” She glared at him again crouching down to put her shoe back on.

“Well, yeah, but even assholes have standards.  By the way, really impressed you didn’t fall over there. Standing on one stilettoed leg without falling or losing your modesty?  Impressive. So you never did say, how did it go? Assuming you are done now.”

The family tensed for another attack when they saw her jump into a battle stance.  They watched confused as she switched to a crouching position and started cooing at nothing.  After a few moments, they saw what had drawn her attention.  Alfred the cat had jumped onto the computer like he was chasing after something.

“How the hell did your cat get into the cave?” Tim demanded from Damian.  “He better not mess with anything on the computer.”

“If that second rate concubine touches a hair on Alfred, I will cut her fingers off one at a time.” Damian growled at the screen.

Bruce squeezed the bridge of his nose, “Not quite the Alfred I would have hoped would intervene…”

Constantine looked over at the cat and grunted, “Not looking for a trip to Hell today, but thanks for the offer.  Scat.”  He shooed the cat away and turned to go back to his work on the computer.

The woman looked back at Constantine and frowned at him, “I don’t know if I’m done yet.  I’m still deciding,” she said snidely.  “And don’t you dare go anywhere near this poor cat.”  Alfred trotted over to the woman, keeping his eyes on Constantine the whole way.  When he got to the woman he rubbed up against her legs and looked up at her with a meow.

She reached down to pet the cat gently and start talking to him quietly.

“Holy shit, Demon Spawn.  I think the cat likes her better than you.” Jason laughed.  Bruce put his hand on Damian’s shoulder when he jumped up to charge at Jason.

“No bloodshed tonight, please.  And Jason, stop antagonizing him,” he admonished both of them.  This was shaping up to be the worst gala they’ve had.  And they’ve had galas attacked by rogues before.  That was still more pleasurable than whatever was going on here. Yep, that was definitely the beginning of a migraine he was feeling.

Constantine grunted out a single laugh.  “Yeah, right.  Because you can hold a grudge.”

She stared hard at Constantine for a few moments before something seemed to click in her head.  “Oh my God, he was right.  I was only there because you wanted me to get out and have fun, figuring I’d forgive you for the convoluted plans and the wait.”

“Is that so bad?  You’re still a kid, you should have fun at some point in your life.  Also, who is ‘he’?”

“So you gave me homework?  Are you so old you forget homework is not fun?  Or did they not have things like homework or school when you were my age?” She snarked annoyed, ignoring the last part of the question.

“No they didn’t have homework WAY back then, or paper, we just grunted to each other and absorbed information through osmosis,” he shot her a sour look.  “And fun wasn’t my only goal, but it was an important one.  Why, didn’t have fun?”

“Oh no, I did.  Until I remembered it isn’t something I get to keep, remembered that nothing about tonight sticks except that device,” she said pointing to something on the computer. “Everything about tonight is just an illusion because I haven’t been good enough, because I failed.  Thanks for that reminder.”  A guilty look flashed across her face before returning back to a glare.  “The remaining part of the night was focused on keeping tabs on the Waynes and fending off entitled pricks’ wandering hands,” she said slowly as if explaining something that should have been obvious.

A dark shadow passed over Constantine’s face.  He turned his focus from the computer for a moment to address her directly, “That is not on you.  None of that is on you.  Whatever the fuck your overactive conscious tells you.  That fucking conscious of yours is going to get you killed then I’m going to have to go to Hell to get you out.  I don’t enjoy Hell.  DO NOT make me go back.” He scolded her.  “For the hands, get any names?  I know a few demons looking for someone to… play with.  It wasn’t any of the Wayne kids, right?”

“You wanted me to meet the Waynes, didn’t you?” she narrowed her eyes in accusation.  “Why would you tell me to NOT get noticed by them if you wanted me to meet them?  How was that supposed to happen if I was avoiding them?  Did you really think I was so completely incompetent? ”

“No, I thought you were that gorgeous and innocent looking.  A combination that is impossible for any Wayne to ignore.” He sighed and glanced away seeming to brace himself for the conversation they were about to have.  “I needed you to think you shouldn’t get noticed because otherwise there was no reason for you to go instead of Chat.  And I needed you to go because not only do you need the break but precisely because you were going to get noticed by at least one of the Waynes and noticed in a very particular way that Chat wouldn’t.” he said waggling his eyebrows at her.  

“I thought it would take longer than it did, but at some point, one of the boys was going to take an interest in you and talk to you.  And you being you would figure out their identities and tell him everything.  You’re brilliant and noble like that,” he said sneering at the word noble, making it sound like the most disgusting word he had ever had to utter.  

“The youngest was the least likely to act but he is a bit young for you anyway.  The next one is as smart and focused-on-the-mission-at-the-expense-of-all-other-things as you, so I thought you might get along. The next one is as much of a smartass and has the same fuck-you-to-authority, sarcastic attitude as you, so I thought you two might click.  The oldest is as annoyingly sunshiney as you, so that seemed like it might work. Honestly, I thought he was the safest bet since he hits on everything with tits… Unless he was the one you were speaking with in which case, what I meant to say was… uh… keep an eye on him if cheating bothers you.”

Dick gave an offended gasp at the accusation.

“Yeah, totally unfair description.  You don’t require tits to hit on someone.” Jason said clapping him on the back

“I don't know that I like the idea of you dating any of them. But it would have gotten them involved without me breaking my promise because, I have said nothing,” Constantine said glancing back towards her for a moment. “But it sounds like you did,” he said with a cocky grin.

“Asshole,” she sneered at him sitting on the floor to get into a better position to pet Alfred.

“Yeah, but an asshole that keeps his word.”  He focused back on the computer and clicked around for a few more minutes before discretely glancing over at her, “Sooooo, did being here make you change your mind?”

“Nothing about tonight made me change my mind about bringing in outside help but it did make me reconsider the wisdom of allowing your interference.” She said shaking her head and glaring at him.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” he growled out hitting the computer in frustration.  He rounded on her and stalked over to her, looming over her.  “Fuck the goddamned, mother fucking mission for ONCE.  Your life is supposed to be more than the fucking suit. Did being in Gotham make you rethink turning down that acceptance letter?”

“What?” She looked at him wide eyed in surprise but didn’t seem scared of his sudden outburst unlike Alfred who jumped up and hissed at him as he approached.

Constantine sighed sitting down near her and looked away seeming to examine thin air over her shoulder, “I know you got accepted to go here but turned it down because of Paris,” he said quietly.

Her lips pressed together in a thin line and turned her head to glare at the same point in the air, “How did you know that?”

“Your partners are worried about you. You turned it down because of the situation in Paris.  You can’t let that be the only thing in your life.  You got accepted everywhere.  You could go anywhere and you should.  Come on, if Gotham didn’t do it for you I can talk to people in Metropolis, Jump City, Central City, Starling City… Just somewhere out of Paris.”

Her eyes flared but she gave out a resigned sigh.  “I liked you better when you didn’t care about us.” She said with a wry smile, suddenly finding the cat at her feet batting at the air to be the most interesting thing in the room.  

“I still don’t,” he said unconvincingly as he backing up and returning to the computer.

She let out a doubtful scoff but continued to pet Alfred. After a few moments of silence she cocked her head to the side and looked up at Constantine with an impish smirk. “Awfully coincidental that all those cities have heroes that are roughly my age.  You trying to set me up with more superheroes?  First a bat now a titan?  Or were you leaning more towards an arrow?”

“With Roy!  God no. Jason is as depraved as I am willing to let you go.” Constantine sounded offended.

“Jason is NOT depraved!” she exclaimed affronted.

“Ahh, so it was Jason…” he said looking over his shoulder to throw her a cocky smile.

“Fuck you.” She grumbled with no heat behind it, returning her focus to Alfred, much to his apparent pleasure.

“Already said no to that.  But, if it was Jason, I sincerely hope they were watching that move you pulled when you first came in because he is going to be panting after you after seeing that.”

Her cheeks flushed brightly and Jason preened at causing her to blush even without being there.  She let out annoyed growl.  “This is not the place for this conversation.  Actually, there is no place where I would want to have this conversation with you but especially not where we probably have an audience.  Did you get the information?”

“Almost done.  Someone interrupted me,” Constantine subconsciously rubbed his jaw, “or I would be done already,” he said pointedly.  “And here,” he said throwing a small, white cube into the air but the woman made no move to catch it keeping her eyes on Constantine instead.

“It was important.  Believe me when I say I cut that way shorter than I wanted.  You should really thank this kitty for your lack of bruises,” she said cooing at the cat and petting him more.

“Hell of a thanks for getting this for you,” he said holding up a small device.  “Luckily for us, one of them, I’m guessing Tim, already did the hard work getting the information from the League for us.  Believe me when I say getting it from the League of Assassins would have been far, far more difficult than from the bats.”

“Awesome.  Let’s get out of here before any of the bats come home to roost.  I’m not looking forward to the wrath leaving a wake of bloody and bruised bats would create.”  She stepped away and whispered something they couldn’t hear.  As soon as she said the words, she was bathed in a blinding aqua light again and was replaced with the figure they first saw step out of the portal.

“She has a magical girl sequence…” Dick whispered in awe.

The woman said something sounding like “Voyage” and made a motion to her side.  A shimmering portal opened where she had previously indicated.  “Come on, we’ve been here too long as it is.” She said stepping through the portal.

Constantine looked up at the surveillance camera and gave a wicked smile with a salute before following her through the portal.

The portal closed, leaving the batcave quiet and empty again.

The bat boys stared at the screen for a few more seconds unsure what to say next.  Bruce moved forward to speak when there was movement on the screen.  They watched as a much smaller portal opened back up and Alfred was pushed through, the portal closed quickly behind him.  Alfred turned around and looked around meowing a few times, batting his paw where the portal was.

The quiet of the room was disrupted by a loud phone ringer waking everyone out of their stupor.  Suddenly everyone started talking at once except for Damian who just glared at the screen.  Dick yelled over everyone to silence them pulling out his phone.  “Hey Alfred, we’ll be right out.”  He started to make his way to the exit followed by everyone else when Bruce stopped them.

“They're gone and it's Constantine, it won't be against us.  We don't need to prepare for an attack.  The priority right now is the announcement.  We make the announcement then call Constantine and investigate her.”

“You would choose the one person in the room that was spying on us, Todd.” Damian growled redirecting his glare toward Jason instead of the screen.

“And yet, not the most deceitful one in the room or the most dangerous. Definitely the hottest though. No offense Dick.” Jason said shrugging off the accusation.

“Not the most dangerous to us?  She just threatened to leave a, and I quote, ‘wake of bloody and bruised bats’ behind her.  And she found a way to bypass all of our security to break into the cave and hack the computer.  How is that not a threat?” Tim yelled at him.  This girl was an immediate threat they knew nothing about.  She was skilled and had magic on her side and they knew nothing, absolutely fucking nothing, about her to know what kind of threat she was and Jason was just going with it because she had a pretty face.  He was going to let this girl saunter on into their sanctum sanctorum with no questions at all.  “I know it is hard for you, but you need to start looking beyond your next conquest or you are going to get us all killed.”

“Let me get this straight,” Jason glared at the family, “Dick spent the night talking up a chick that would sell us all out for a dime just so he could get lucky.  Tim spent the night talking up a business man I saw sexually assault someone AT THIS GALA just so he had the chance at a few extra bucks.” Tim opened his mouth to defend himself but Jason continued, speaking over him.  “Bruce spent the night talking up a known thief who was probably casing the guests for a future job, again just so he could get lucky. No offense Selina.”  She bowed her head and held up her champagne glass to show she took it in stride.  And he wasn’t wrong.  That was exactly what she was doing and why she asked for the information on that woman’s designer.  

“And Damian... well Damian doesn't talk to people but I guarantee he spent the night plotting multiple people's murder, mine included.  There’s no way he wasn’t.” Damian crossed his arms and looked away, even more annoyed by the accurate description.  “And I'm getting in trouble because I spent the night talking up someone working with an ally?” he asked incredulously.  

They had all just witnessed the same scene.  They had evidence she wasn’t a villain, she wasn’t a threat.  She was someone they needed to help and they weren’t seeing it.  This is exactly why he hated working with them.  Oh, they wanted to help, but only on their terms. Only if they controlled it and they didn’t control this.  This was an unknown that had been dropped on them instead of them finding and investigating on their own.  They were licking their wounded egos instead of trying to figure out how to help.  They were wasting time with this stupid argument.  “Fuck all of you and your fucked up so called ‘morals’.  She might have been the only really good person in this room, definitely the only trustworthy, honest person and you’re ignoring the situation Constantine mentioned.”

“She was spying on us, imbecile.” Damian growled at him.

“FOR CONSTANTINE!” he yelled back.  How were they still missing that point?  It was like they were intentionally missing it.  “Did nobody else watch what just happened?  Did all of you assholes miss Constantine say he devised this whole thing to get us to help her?  Did you shitheads miss how Constantine is treating her? He ain't treating her like he does us. He’s being protective.  That means he thinks she’s a good guy and a good person unlike the rest of us mother fuckers.  More than that, he’s treating her with kid gloves.  He doesn’t treat anyone with kid gloves, not even kids.  He’s trying to help her in and out of the mask.  He’s motherhenning the fuck out of her.  When have any of you ever seen Constantine act that way about anyone or anything?  She needs our help.”

“SHE HELPED SOMEONE BREAK INTO THE BATCAVE!” Tim yelled.

“ENOUGH!” Bruce yelled silencing everyone in the room.  “Like he told her, this entire night was more about her than us.  He wanted us to know something was going on and for us to get involved.  And he was desperate enough to keep her trust that he concocted this whole plot to make sure we knew without breaking his word. He probably left us a clue by not covering what he got from the computer if not a message.”

“That’s a lot of words for ‘Jason is right’” Jason said smugly. “Come on B, you can just say it. ‘Jason is right.  We should listen to him.’  It’ll make you feel lighter to just finally say it.”

“You can’t be serious father,” Damian groused.

“Stop being such a jealous ass bitch, Demon Spawn.  Just because Alfred tried to run away with her…” Jason smirked at him.

Damian jumped up, face bright red and furious indicating he had every intention of following through with the plans he had been making during the gala.  Bruce stepped between him and Jason, not prepared to deal with the fight right now. They had an announcement to make and it would not look good if the boys showed up with fresh cuts and bruises. It’s hard to sell the story of a happy, functional family when the evidence to the contrary is on full display. “Now that we all agree,” he glared at them all until they quieted down.  “We’ve been in here long enough.  Let’s get back out there and make the announcement and show everyone what a supportive family that is ecstatic to have their brother back we are.  After that, Tim and Jason can go home to start the investigation.”

“Father, I would certainly be more help than him,” Damian objected indicating Jason, “also, there is no reason for me to still be here with these vapid, insolent morons.”

Bruce grunted.  Damian had a point about no reason for him to be there.  And the longer he was here the more likely it would be for him to finally snap and break someone’s hand and maybe more.  “Fine.  Take Damian, too.”  He waved his hand dismissively.  “Now move, we’re making this announcement right now.”

Damian gave a curt nod and turned to follow his father out of the door.  Selina coughed discretely drawing Bruce’s attention back to the room.  He looked at her questioningly.  She eyed Damian and Jason then nodded toward Dick.

Ahh.  She had a point, those three together would result in blood at the very least and the high probability for broken bones, cracked ribs, and dislocated joints, making patrol schedules very difficult until they healed.  “And Dick.  Nobody kills anyone.  I don’t care what you find or what is said, I don’t want any blood to clean when I get back.”

He started walking again but noticed nobody following him. He turned back to them exasperated and raised an eyebrow.  He noted everyone’s eyes on him giving him a deadpan expression and questioning expressions of their own.  “Fine, I don’t want Alfred to have to clean any blood when he gets back,” he sighed.  There was a round of begrudging agreement noises and the family started moving toward the gala again.  

The boys followed him out the door but Dick held onto Tim’s shoulder prompting him to hang back from the rest of the group.  He watched the rest of the family walk ahead of them.  When there was sufficient space between them, he started hitting Tim’s shoulder repeatedly still not looking at him.  Tim brushed off his hands and glared at him annoyed, “What?  You know Bruce is going to be mad we’re not out there.”

“Yeah, yeah.  This will be quick.”  He glanced round to make sure nobody was close enough to hear them.  “Bring up the video of the woman in the cave again.”

Tim gave him a suspicious look but pulled it up. “Okay, now what?”

Dick grinned excitedly, “Rewind the recording to the beginning.  Can you get a better angle of her glare?  I need to see the glare that is better than Batman’s.”  Bruce’s glare was legendary.  If this girl’s glare is that good, he had to see it.  Tim grinned back and scrolled through the different feeds looking for the one that would give them the best angle.

Chapter 3

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 I think I included everyone who asked to be tagged.  I’m sorry if I missed anyone.

I realize there is no actual Jasonette interaction in this and for that, I am truly sorry.  I’m disappointed too.

[valcalico]

Athena and Ares

(Just my thoughts on them and their relationship)

I have a lot of feelings about these two. They have a very complex dynamic, where they don’t really like each other, but they can’t work without each other either.

Athena provides rationality to the cruelty of war. She is the strategy and logic behind it. The objective. One might say she represents the generals, and the politicians and the main heroes. Basically the big players.

And Ares? He’s the opposite. He represents the emotion associated with war. He is the bloodlust and the desperate fight. Where the battle is thickest, where there is no room for thought, and when its pure survival instinct that drives you, that’s Ares. He represents the worst parts: the blood and the violence and the cruelty. He is accompanied by fear and terror (Phobos and Deimos). One might say he is the god of soldiers.

So they need each other. If they actually worked together, they’d be one of the dangerous forces ever, even in god circles. But they don’t. Not only because of how differently they view the world, but also because of deeper nuances in their relationship.

Athena is beloved. She is Zeus’ favourite child and his right hand goddess. The people love her. She is the patron of one of the most powerful, influential cities, Athens. She is highly respected everywhere else too. A protector of heroes and a friend to humanity.

Ares, on the other hand, is disliked by many. Zeus says he is “the most hateful of all gods” and says he would have thrown him into Tartarus if he wasn’t his and Hera’s son. (Its in the Iliad) (This part always makes me sad poor ares) He is highly respected in Thrace and Sparta. But Athens dislikes him and worships him out of necessity only.

Even in modern times, Athena is considered a feminist icon and badass lady, while Ares is labelled a brute.

Most people know this. So why did I just type out all that? Cause context is important when delving into the myths.

So first of all, let’s debunk that last point I made. In the ancient myths (and I’ll try not to include romans esp. Ovid), it didn’t work that way at all. Of course it’s important to keep in mind that ancient Greece was very misogynistic. But still, Athena was not feminist at all. Her being a “masculine” woman (mostly) was what made her so acceptable to Athens and she was regularly used to shut down other women. Also:

(The actual translation of this scene was circulated a while back. So you’re probably familiar with this. Also I’m not saying this to offend any worshippers of Athena or anyone who admires her. There are a lot of bad things in greek mythology and Athena’s internal and external misogyny is probably the least of my concerns. Plus if the greek gods did exist, i believe they change with the society, so they will no longer be Like That in the present day.)

Ares, on the other hand, was incredibly feminist, especially for that time. He surrounded himself with women he loved and respected. (Aphrodite, Eris, Enyo, etc). His lovers were often famously women who challenged the status quo (Otrera, Cyrene). He was regularly show to be a good father to all his daughters, immortal and mortal. (Harmonia, Hippolyta, Penthesilia, Alkippe). Also:

If that isn’t the coolest thing EVER-

Anyway, I won’t delve deep into that (well, any more than I’ve already rambled about it).

Now that we have gotten that out of the way, we can get to the hypotheticals.

I headcanon that despite ALL the evidence to the contrary, they maybe don’t despise each other completely. I see them having more of a love-hate relationship.

The thing is, gods are very contrary creatures. Zeus and Hera’s fights shake the world one moment, and in the next, they are as loving as any. Apollo is smiling and singing in one moment and skinning a satyr alive in the next. This complexity should be given this relationship too.

Like I said above, they need each other. Both general and soldier are equally important in war. And I don’t think you can completely truly need someone and hate their existence at the same time. (There are exceptions)

This scene in the Iliad really got me thinking:

If you take the scene at face value, this is probably not something to think too much about. Its Athena going to Ares, insulting him a bit, and taking him away from the war.

But its more than that. First off, Athena goes upto Ares and can calmly convince him to listen to her. Second, look how she frames the question. She says “shall we” which i think is pretty important. Athena doesn’t need to worry about Zeus’ anger or his rules, as she shows later on in the Iliad, and before, during the Rebellion. Both Athena and Ares knows this well. So why does she also need to withdraw? She can make the point without adding herself to the equation. She can also fairly easily run him off the battlefield like she does later. But she doesn’t. And there isnt any hostility from Ares.

Instead, they go together, away from the battlefield and...sit down near a river bank? Basically relax as much as they can? That doesn’t sound like a hateful relationship.

There is also the fact that Ares was going to join sides with the greeks (aka on Athena and Hera’s side) until Aphrodite convinced him to join her instead.

Its clear from this that Ares doesn’t really have much of a stake in this fight. He doesn’t care much about the greater objectives of the war. The only thing that can convince him to take a side is the people one the sides. He fights for the people he cares about, not for any greater good. He easily changes his loyalty because of his love for Aphrodite. He frequently gets into fights to save his children. He goes against Diomedes partly because of how he wounded Aphrodite. All of this means that he cares for Athena too. (And for Hera ofc). Maybe he doesn’t care for her as much as he cares for Aphrodite, but its not really fair to expect him to.

I like to think they genuinely do care for each other a great deal, they just kinda suck at showing it. Maybe that changes as time passes. I can see Athena being quietly protective of Ares (maybe she makes up an excuse to send him away during the Rebellion because she knows he will be in danger otherwise). I definitely think she felt a little guilt (guilt, not regret) at stabbing Ares, seeing as it wasn’t really fair. Ares didn’t know she was there.

I also think that Ares, who spends a lot of time with awesome women and is very fierce in standing up for them if the need arises, will be the one who calls her out a lot of the time on her misogyny or hypocrisy. Athena also has a habit of suppressing any “vulnerable” emotion. She likes to keep all her guilt, sadness, fear, hurt, and regret all locked up tight. I feel like Ares is one of the few people she lets a few of those emotions out around, even if she still tries not to. And in the lighter moments, in private, maybe they joke around a bit and laugh, too.

Okay, now for the heavier bit. While i do think they care for each other, there is also a lot of resentment there. A lot of it, unfortunately, comes from how they are treated by their peers and elders. They like different people, they are liked by different people and they are liked to different degrees. Let’s talk about 3 of the main players.

1) Zeus. Does this surprise you?

I do think Zeus loves all his kids. He doesn’t like some of them, but he does love all of them. And he isn’t as bad of a father as everyone thinks. People have discussed that better so I’ll not rant about it here.

All that aside, he definitely has favourites. Athena is his favourite child (Apollo, I think, being his second). And this favouritism is SUPER OBVIOUS. Its like none of the rules apply to Athena, which is weird considering Zeus isn’t forgiving of those who defy his authority (did someone say Prometheus?)

Ares, on the other hand, is on the other side of the spectrum. The one Zeus dislikes the most.

We can see how this affects them in several instances. The most notable is probably in the Iliad, after Athena deceitfully stabs Ares and forces him to flee to Olympus, injured.

Ares calls Zeus out on his favouritism. He says that gods weren’t allowed to fight each other and if it were anyone else, they would have been punished. He says Zeus always does this, always lets Athena get away with everything, and that he needs to start getting his daughter under control.

Zeus doesnt like this too much and basically tells Ares to stop whining and that he isn’t much better when it comes to destruction. He says Ares is the most hateful of all gods and loves bloodshed. He says he would have gotten rid of him if he weren’t his son, but seeing as he was, Zeus cannot bear to see Ares in pain. He then gets Ares healed.

I can definitely see how this kind of blatant favouritism from someone who should be better to Ares would affect him. Ares is the firstborn son of Zeus and Hera. He should be getting a lot of respect, as per ancient standards but instead, he is overtaken by his virgin half sister from Zeus’ previous marriage, and many bastard half siblings.

Athena being able to break rules left and right, and Ares having to be nervous about even toeing the line will cause distance between them.

This in addition to his position as a god of civil order is a reason that i think he wouldn’t want to break any rule until he deems it absolutely necessary, like if someone he cared about were in danger.

I can totally see a situation where both of them try to help a hero but Zeus orders them not to. Athena then wants to break the rules, but Ares is very hesitant about doing so. Athena convinces him, either by taunting or by calmly urging him, to go along with it. They get caught but only Ares gets punished. Ares can then truly show Athena the difference between her and everyone else.

Remember when i headcanoned earlier that Athena sends Ares away during the Rebellion? That ties into this. She knows that if they get caught, ares could get into trouble whether or not he did anything. I expect Ares will be furious about it when he returns and finds out what happened though, thinking it was just to get him out of the way, until its revealed why she did it. Then he’ll probably be super awkward.

2) Poseidon

The equal and opposite force to Zeus.

Well, maybe not equal, but quite close.

Lets start with the canon. Poseidon HATES Athena, despises her completely, and he frequently clashes with her father too. They worked together one (1) time and as a result, Athena wasnt punished while Poseidon was enslaved for years. Then there is the fight for Athens, the whole epic of the Odyssey, and so on.

Meanwhile he and Ares are actually shown to be close. Other than the Halirhothius incident, they are pretty chill. Poseidon is the one who vouched for him after the Net Thing With Hephaestus. Poseidon is also pretty cool with Aphrodite and they work together occasionally.

I think Poseidon thinks of Athena as this bratty kid of his brother, who is constantly working against him. You know that one annoying cousin you have who you try to avoid during family reunions because you KNOW you will clash? This is that, but a thousand times worse.

Meanwhile Poseidon really cares for Ares, and Ares takes fatherly affection from anywhere he can get it. Poseidon maintains a good relationship with both Aphrodite and Ares. He is closer with Aphrodite and doesnt love Ares quite as much as Zeus loves Athena, but he still cares a lot.

3) Aphrodite

It is no secret that Athena hates Aphrodite. Even when Athena warns Diomedes not to harm any god, she says Aphrodite is the exception. Athena, along with many of the other Olympians, see her as nothing but a silly, flighty, hysterical goddess.

On the other hand, Aphrodite and Ares are known for their intense love for each other, from even before her arranged marriage. They have a lot of kids together, and are shown to be close with all of them. They each have like one story of jealousy/one story where they are at odds with each other, which is pretty good for such a high-profile couple (Aphrodite curses Eos and Ares kills Adonis). They are there for each other, like in the trojan war, when Aphrodite was wounded and Ares gave her his chariot to go back to Olympus. He also changed sides very soon, just because Aphrodite asked. Athena complains about this too.

I think I wouldn’t be far off in saying that Athena is definitely resentful of how close they are, and how much sway Aphrodite has over her brother.

While Athena definitely doesn’t see eye to eye with Ares, and disagrees with his domain, she still sees him as a War God. One of her kind. And she just doesn’t see how a War God can go for someone like Aphrodite. Basically, she doesn’t think Aphrodite is, for lack of a better term, good enough for Ares, seeing as she is a Love Goddess.

Ares, on the other hand, does not want to hear anything like this. He is fiercely defensive of Aphrodite. He defends her warlike aspect (Aphrodite Areia), while everyone else tells her that she has no place in the battlefield. He sees Aphrodite as more than what people have labelled her to be. Which is why I believe (other than Eos and Adonis), they have one of the healthiest open relationships in greek mythology.

This can definitely cause animosity between Athena and Ares, because of Athena’s scorn and Ares’ temper. It can also increase the conflict between Athena and Aphrodite.

Maybe as time goes on, Athena can start seeing Aphrodite as having more depth. I certainly hope so. While they wouldn’t be best friends, I don’t see why they can’t learn to get along. This could also strengthen Athena and Ares’ bond. As long as people don’t insult her or lay their claim on her domain of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite is often very supportive. I truly think Aphrodite can help Athena overcome her misogyny, with Ares.

In conclusion, Athena and Ares have a very complex relationship. They do not simply hate each other, and neither do they have the most loving relationship. But they do care for each other. But strain can often be put on their relationship from their relationship to other people as well. Hopefully as time passes, they can overcome that, and have a healthier relationship, instead of sharing a good moment and then proceeding to fight each other for the next 500 years.