#rich said a whole thing and basically only said 'what do you think' at the end to misha

[primofate]

Genshin Angst Headcanons - Why the two of you broke up

Note: Had an unexpected free day! I haven't written in a while, please excuse the mistakes, if any.

Disclaimer at the end of the post

Warning: Some are pretty predictable. Each of them have their own issues, lore wise, so some are lore heavy. You might not agree with some of them, but its how I see it, so to each their own. Let me know what you think! Some are quite angsty. Some scenes it's you breaking up with him and some are vice versa. Didn't feel like writing Razor, Venti and Xingqiu.

Characters: Aether, Albedo, Alhaitham, Ayato, Baizhu, Bennett, Chongyun, Cyno, Dainsleif, Diluc, Gorou, Heizou, Itto, Kaeya, Kaveh, Kazuha, Lyney, Neuvillette, Scaramouche, Tartaglia, Thoma, Tighnari, Xiao, Zhongli, gn!reader

Personal Favourites in this work: Lyney, Itto, Kazuha

Aether

Sister issues. Enough said.

He realized he didn't have enough time to spare romancing with someone.

Somewhere along the way he felt guilt that he was enjoying his time with you while his sister went through some sort of villain origin story that seemingly turned her bad.

Top off all the adventuring, searching, solving problems for other people that he did...Where did that leave you, exactly?

"...I'm sorry, Y/N... I just... I don't think this is the right time for me to be together with you,"

Albedo

Contrary to popular belief it wouldn't be his lack of time or extreme focus on his alchemical experiments that would break the two of you up. He knows how to manage his time.

It was the RESULTS of experiments and his research that would put him away from you.

The possibility that HE or his world, was way too dangerous for you.

How many "Albedos" did Rhinedottir really create? Was there more than three? Perhaps four, five? And what happens when you come face to face with another Albedo?

"I'm afraid...There are far too many dangers surrounding myself... There are answers that I can't find...and perhaps that's the reason why my answer is to part ways with you,"

Alhaitham

Too much of a nonchalant attitude.

He expressed some kind of interest in you...but it's like... once in a blue moon. 95% of the time you're not sure if he's really into you. It almost seems like he's more into that book he reads all the time.

Simply just not good at expressing himself. Like, at all. Hides behind a "whatever works" and "I don't care about what other people think of me" attitude, unfortunately that seems to include you.

Is so straightforward that sometimes it hurts, but he's really just telling the truth through logical analysis.

will act like the breakup didn't hurt nor affect him at all. In turn it hurts you instead.

"I see. So you've had enough of me... And you only spoke up now? Pointing it out earlier could've diverted us from this path...If that's how you feel already I suggest that we stop seeing each other,"

"That's it? You're not even going to try and work it out with me?"

"What's there to work out? You've made yourself clear. You're not satisfied with the way I treat you, and I'm afraid I'm not going to change the way I act just for your pleasure... It'd be more meaningful for you to find someone who fits your criterias,"

Ayato

entering a relationship with a noble was not as easy as one thought.

It's not just about being together forever and feeling lucky because Ayato is rich and your whole life is set, it's also the not fitting in, the etiquette, the whispers from townfolk that you were too ordinary for him, the work that you needed to do if you were to become his wife.

All that was not really a big problem for you, but Ayato seemed not to know of your struggles, he was extremely busy, and when he wasn't, he seemed to think that everything was well and fine, since you were getting all your basic needs met and even more.

"...So I'm sorry, Ayato. This is just... All too much for me. I'm sorry,"

"...I understand. Forgive me, it seems that I've overlooked a lot of things...Perhaps it is as you say, that it'd be better for us to grow apart rather than grow together,"

Baizhu

because he is a ticking time bomb, no matter which way he looked it's not going to end well for both of you.

He either dies early or lives forever. In both scenarios he anticipates that the two of you are just going to be in a world of hurt.

Besides, he didn't mean to get so attached to someone in the first place, he knew his quest for immortality was long and arduous. You didn't deserve to walk that difficult road too.

While breaking up, will conceal the fact that he's only thinking of you and will possibly hurt you in the process.

"I'm sorry, but it's for the best. I ask that you continue going forward without me, there's no space for you in my... ideal future,"

Bennett

We all know it...it's his bad luck. However, it wasn't YOU who had a problem with it, it was HIM.

You understood that his bad luck was just some extended part of him, plus it's not like it was always bad, there were a lot of good times too. Plenty!

But the guilt ate him up whenever the two of you were stuck in a seemingly impossible scenario and predicament, brought on by his luck. He just had enough of it one day.

"I...I can't keep doing this to you every day! It's not fair..."

will be on the brink of tears before he even starts.

"Maybe it's better if you find someone else to adventure with, Y/N, sorry...!"

runs away before you can even get a word in.

Chongyun

Thinks he's not good enough in every aspect. It's really, seriously not about you. He thinks he's lacking in everything. Strength, maturity, experience, confidence.

So badly wants to stay with you but feels like he's not good enough and thinks that you're better off with someone else.

"D-Don't misunderstand... It's not because I don't like you anymore... I just...Please find someone else!"

Cyno

his bad jokes and TCG addiction. just kidding, you're not that shallow.

A lot of people are intimidated by him being the General Mahamatra because he gives importance to justice. While you, who had seen a bit more of him than other people had, it seemed more of an obsession to uphold the Akademiya's law and integrity.

This was not a big problem to you, you liked how he was serious at work.

Until one day when you were accused of plagiarising one of your papers and Cyno was the one sent to give you a first offense warning. The Akademiya knew of your relationship, that's probably why they sent him, to make it harder on the two of you.

Cyno didn't listen to your explanations on how it was an honest mistake, he still gave you the warning that you "deserved"

From then on it had just been different between the two of you, so it was really a mutual breakup. Or so you thought.

"...After that, I just realized that maybe this isn't the right time for us... We're both working for the Akademiya, we both take our jobs seriously...Unfortunately that seems to just be getting in the way of us...I think it's best if we stop seeing each other,"

"...I see." he pauses for a minute, as if tossing your words in his mind. "I...agree. Parting ways would certainly make work easier for both of us...it's the professional thing to do,"

Dainsleif

Has not moved on from his past.

Sure, everyone has their own baggage to carry, their own history to live through...but Dainsleif has heavier things than that. He seemed to wake up every day thinking of Khaenri'ah and the days long past. Was it regret? Nostalgia? Loneliness? You didn't know. You just knew that he wasn't really completely THERE with you in the present. Part of him still lived in the past.

When you explained that you felt like the two of you were not moving forward together and that it seemed like he wanted to go back to the past instead, he got offended.

"...My past is something that I carry forever, you'd claimed that you understood that," he starts.

"I do! But carrying it with you and letting it drag you backwards are two different things!"

He falters for a moment, only to leave you with his last words before turning away from you forever: "You will never understand, the weight that I carry,"

Diluc

is too guarded. You'd been friends for a long, long, long, long time before he decided he could let you in enough and be more intimate with you.

Even then everything was going at a snail's pace, though you were extremely patient with him.

The biggest problem with Diluc was that the two of you would progress one day, take a step forward, and then the next day it was like the two of you took two steps back.

Example: The two of you went out for a simple stargazing excursion late one night, it was nice and he had been incredibly affectionate. The next day he had trouble even meeting your gaze, and disappeared to do his work. It was also a little awkward during dinnertime. This scenario had happened more than once.

Hint: the closer he got to you the more afraid he became, thinking that he would one day lose you too.

"I...I can't. I love you but I...I've waited far too long. I'm sorry. I'm tired of this endless chase for you!"

He couldn't even say a thing. He'd wanted to ask you to stay, to wait for him a little longer, but he already knew how incredibly selfish that would have been. Instead, he grimaced, and looked away from your gaze, trying to find something worthwhile to say. There was only silence for a few moments.

"Goodbye Diluc," that's when you turned away.

Gorou

worships Kokomi too much and your insecurities just kept circling around in your head.

You know its his job. You know he isn't like that but the problem was YOU and not him.

Simply said you let your insecurity eat up the relationship between the two of you.

You couldn't bring yourself to say that you were jealous of the way he admired Kokomi so you broke up with him with another reason in tow.

Unfortunately, you're not a very good liar face to face so you did a butthole move and actually broke up with him through a letter. You just couldn't face him and tell him why.

All you mentioned in the letter was that you needed time to think and be away from him, and told him not to worry because it was your problem, not his.

Poor Gorou reread that letter over and over, trying to understand what went wrong.

Heizou

is just a natural flirt. You're not sure if he's doing it on purpose or not and you're not sure if he's even aware he's like that.

Anyway you'd seen him getting overly friendly (just another word for flirting) with a few other people a couple of times. You didn't let it get to you the first, fourth or even eighth time but you realized that he KNOWS that you're watching him do that.

So you confront him about it, but he claims that it's just his way of gathering information from others. People like to hear good things and some people are more susceptible to flirtatious comments so he resorts to that for his investigation sometimes.

You didn't really completely buy it and even if you did, it's not like this was healthy for your relationship. You just couldn't make yourself comfortable with it.

*You just chalked it up to the two of you being incompatible.

"I'm just not comfortable with that...I don't think I have to say sorry for how I feel but...I'm sorry anyway because I know you're just doing your job... It's probably best if we part ways here..."

"Is there any way to change your mind?" he genuinely asks.

You only give a lopsided smile. "You're a detective, I think you already know the answer to that,"

Yet he didn't stop you from walking away.

Itto

Kept breaking promises because he was too airheaded or too occupied doing something "stupid" with the kids or with his gang.

Pretty soon it just felt like you were an afterthought while everyone else in his life took precedent.

Got a ramen date? Oops, sorry! Got caught up looking for a strong onikabuto in the forest!

Needed his help to move some things? Gah, he was vandalising the bulletin boards, so he's running a bit late!

What's more you didn't actually mind that carefree, airheaded side of him...but it really got to you when he couldn't even seem to make you a priority. Not once.

He only realized that when he came running, late again, and stood face to face with a crying you.

"Hey sorry Y/N, I was just--...Why are you crying?!" is completely dumbfounded and clueless, mostly because when he came late, you had always shrugged it off with a smile on your face, or so he thought. This time you had a completely different reaction.

"I hate you...*hic* I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Shocked beyond belief. It wasn't like you to just blow up like that, but he couldn't do anything except watch you turn and run away from him after that exclamation.

Kaeya

Sometimes you're not sure if he takes you seriously.

Recently, he's not where he says he is, you don't know why he doesn't just tell you where he is.

He said he'd be working late, but then you find out he's at Angel's Share.

He said he'll be at Angel's Share, but then you catch word from Jean that he's out on a late mission.

He said he's escorting a caravan to Mondstadt but he's actually on assignment in Liyue.

It came to the point where you altogether just stopped looking for him cause half of the time you couldn't find him. It's like he's avoiding you or something, which, actually, seems just about right since he's been so busy with "work"

It reached a breaking point when, for a week, you were unable to bring him the lunch you prepared...because he was not where he said he was going to be. It was starting to get annoying.

"I don't understand why you're lying to me! Why do you have to tell me you'll be at Angel's Share this afternoon when you're not? Do you realize you make me walk all the way there only to come all the way back with nothing achieved?"

"I'm sorry snowflake, that wasn't my intention," though he still chuckles despite knowing full well that you were about to turn away.

"You know what, let me know when you're ready to stop making jokes. Until then, don't bother contacting me,"

He just didn't expect you to actually walk away from him.

Kaveh

Entertains everyone and anyone. Naturally kind at heart, will stop for anyone in trouble...even that flirtatious man/woman who is clearly just pining for his attention.

No he doesn't quite realize this.

The same person had asked for his help at least 4 times now and all 4 times he had been happy to offer a helping hand.

The last straw was when he was invited into the stranger's house, they had apparently needed someone to help them move and re-arrange furniture and he did, working till almost dinner time.

You'd caught him right by the person's door, because Kaveh was actually honest and told you he'd be helping them today, but the person was clearly eyeing Kaveh rather flirtatiously.

"Come again next time," you heard the person say rather happily. Kaveh only replies with "If I have nothing else to do, I suppose,"

"Kaveh, they're coming onto you and you keep letting it happen!"

"I'm not certain what you're talking about...They just needed some help around their house, nothing suspicious happened at all. Even if there was, I won't let anything happen between me and a stranger!"

"Then STOP helping them!"

"There isn't anything wrong with lending a hand...It was a quick move of things, that's all,"

"How would YOU feel if I just went into someone's house and kept helping them "move" things?"

"...I would think that's nice of you,"

You actually threw your hands up. "Oh, forget it! You know what, for someone who LOVES helping others, you're not doing such a great job of helping ME," then walked away and never came back. "Good riddance,"

Kazuha

He's a wandering samurai. You knew what you were getting into but you didn't expect dating him to be so hard.

He was gone for weeks on end, and you were not getting on that boat with him. In essence the two of you were just not ready to follow each other to the end's of the Earth, and that was fair. The two of you were young.

Kazuha kind of saw it coming, whenever he visited you, you seemed less spirited and he had an inkling as to why. The time apart was just too much for you.

It was a rather clean break actually. A real mutual breakup that the two of you agreed on.

"...You could say it's just not the right time for us," you even managed to laugh under your breath and he did the same, though it was barely audible.

"...Mm. There are matters that you need to attend to here...and there are things that I need to do out there," he slowly stood up from his sitting position next to you and still gazed at you rather lovingly. "...Perhaps, in another world, you and I are bound together,"

You gazed back forlornly, "...Just not in this one, it looks like,"

Lyney

because he will always choose his siblings over you. Always.

Though that's not a bad thing because you also think that family is important...somewhere along the way you realized that family is the ONLY thing he had and saw.

Example: Lynette and you had gotten ill at the same time one winter morning. Perhaps it was the cold that was passing around Fontaine. Lyney had been so worried about Lynette, that he seemed to have forgotten about you for the next few days. In fact, Lyney didn't even realize that you caught the cold too. You had only heard from Freminet, who you happened to cross paths with, that Lynette was also ill.

You thought that incident was the end of it, but really it seemed that whenever Lyney wanted to hang out with you, Lynette had to be there too. You tried to understand...after all there's still that mystery of disappearing women in Fontaine.

The breakup was induced when Lyney completely forgot about your birthday, because Freminet's was around the same time as yours. You helped Lyney prepare everything for Freminet, and said nothing about your own.

You realized that there was nothing wrong with choosing family over everything else...but the problem here was that Lyney didn't even have space for you in the first place.

So you left without saying anything. You figured he'd get over it quick. You had even gone so far as to move away from the main city of Fontaine and out into another island, because what would you say if he found you? That you were jealous of his siblings? You weren't going to ruin a family like that and it wasn't right to make him choose...so you just left without a word.

Neuvillette

Had a whole brainrot for this man:

Part 1

Part 2

Scaramouche

surprisingly it's not his anger issues.

It's the way he wouldn't acknowledge your relationship. You wonder how you even got into one with him.

There's no public show of affection, but even behind closed doors it rarely happened.

You knew that he was going to be like that, and so you didn't mind it all that much.

It was getting a bit much though when, out in public, he would walk further in front of you and refused to walk next to you. When he pretended like he didn't even know you. When he didn't stop to help you even when another man had shown interest in you, bordering on uncomfortable.

The more time passed the more you simply felt unloved...but for some reason you still blamed yourself.

"...I...don't know. Maybe you find me undesirable, or just...unappealing. Maybe you're embarrassed of me or...or..." maybe you just didn't care in the first place, you thought to yourself.

There was a long silence. Of you turning your gaze away, of him still piercing into yours. And then...

"Tsk...don't waste my time...Leave if you want to leave, door's open,"

Tartaglia

This one is simple. It's his obsession for fighting plus his complete disregard for himself. It's a constant heart attack for you. At some point the anxiety is just too much for you to handle.

Imagine living every day just wondering if he's safe at the same time knowing that he just loves to look for trouble.

The foul legacy that you know of, he uses it with disregard as well, despite knowing that it wasn't good for him.

And there are even days where you know he was heavily wounded but didn't go to you, in an attempt to shield you from worry.

It's a constant battle trying to stay sane and unworried, until one day it all just becomes too much.

"...Nothing I say will change anything, Tartaglia. This is who you are...This is who you need to be..." you whisper while bandaging his knuckles. He lets out a short hum.

It was silent all up until you finished with his hand, you squeeze it gently. "...I love you but...I can't keep doing this to myself, I'm tired...more so than I have ever been before,"

He lets your hand slip away from his knuckles, and that was the last he saw of you.

Thoma

This one is also simple. He was always taking care of others and running errands for others that he sometimes just couldn't catch a break.

Just a classic case of not enough time for you since he had a job to do for the Kamisato Clan.

He knows it, and feels awful about it. So he's the one who makes the move.

"It hurts that I can't give you what you deserve, Y/N. This isn't it... You deserve more than this but I can't give you that and I'm sorry. Please look for the love that you deserve,"

Tighnari

Remembers everything. Can be critical of things you've done, specially if he thinks there's a better way to do it.

Simply said you just feel stupid in front of him sometimes.

He doesn't mean to, but he sometimes forgets to appreciate or give praise to the things that you do well and even if he does, it tends to be short lived compared to his constructive criticisms.

Pretty soon you felt like he only looks at the bad things you do, and never the good. Though he was really only trying to teach and guide you as an equal.

He in fact feels that you are one of the few people who can keep up educational conversations with him.

The problem is he kind of forgets that you're his lover, and that you would enjoy his praise and affection from time to time.

"Do you... Do you ever have anything nice to say other than 'good work' or 'great observation'?" the words were out of your mouth before you could hold yourself back. Sometimes it was tiring to feel like you weren't good enough.

There's a flash of surprise that crosses Tighnari's expression for a split second, before he recovers. "...Had I not been praising your work enough lately? My apologies... It has a lot of merits, I just thought that you wanted my opinion on how to make it better,"

You opened your mouth to say something, but closed it again right after to ponder on his words. Somehow even that had managed to make you feel embarrassed. It was here you knew that the problem also lied within yourself.

"...Sorry, Tighnari...I think I'll need some time alone,"

He obliges quickly and asks. "That's reasonable. When would you like me to come back?"

"...Let me rephrase that... I need some time away. From us."

Xiao

Unfortunately there's a lot of things wrong here... his lack of affection. His aloof personality. His dedication to his yaksha duties. Despite that he does actually try to be gentlemanly or respectful of you.

The worst of it is that he didn't know how to be in a relationship, in other words he just wasn't ready for one, or perhaps he would never be ready for one.

He didn't understand that humans craved companionship and sometimes touch. He didn't understand that meant having to favour you over others, sometimes even putting you first over his yaksha duties.

Worst of it all was when he shut himself off from you, sometimes for days on end, when his karmic debt was too high. He only really did it to protect you, but never realized how isolated that made you feel.

When you confronted him about it, he felt attacked. Hiding away was the only way he knew how to cope...why couldn't you understand that?

"Let me help you, Xiao,"

"I don't need your help!" his tone would make you wince and just like that he disappears into a billow of smoke.

You never returned to Wangshu Inn after that. If he couldn't let you in, there was no use trying to knock on his heart. Xiao being Xiao, never sought you ought again either.

Zhongli

He had experienced so many things and you had listened to many a tales from him.

This is what caused you to realize that you hadn't even experienced life at all, and yet here you were willing to tie yourself down to him.

It just didn't feel like it added up. Here he was with all this knowledge of the world and here you were who had never even stepped outside of Liyue. By no means were you stupid, but you felt that you could be better not only for him, but for yourself if you learned more.

There was just such a huge gap in life experiences, and though you never expected to get to his level (he was a God who had lived for a long time, you would never catch up to him) you at least wanted to see what was out there with your own eyes instead of through his stories.

He understood that wholeheartedly, and had no qualms in letting you go.

"You will always have a place with me, Y/N. No amount of lifetimes will change that,"

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Disclaimer: Relationships will always have some sort of problem along the way, maybe big, maybe small but I just want to reiterate that breaking up is not always the solution. Communicating is very important. So to those of you who like taking fanfiction too seriously, let it be known that this is just a work of fiction. I don't actually suggest breaking up with someone as soon as there is the slight indication of a problem (Just saw someone commenting on a similar themed post for Haikyuu that this wouldn't happen in the real world if both parties were mature... I mean, sure, but, idk, you must be fun in parties... it's called fiction for a reason...)

[sterredem]

Big steps

Lando Norris x Royal!Reader

Face claim: girls on Pinterest + Taylor swift (for outfits)

Summary: meeting the royal family a big step for Lando, especially when they are your girlfriends familie… and the media is there too

Word count: 1987

Warning: hate?, not proofread

A/N: this is the fic for the results of the poll! I hope you like it. I chose England as the country because I thought it would be interesting with the whole akte Middleton thing. I do not know a lot about the real royal family but this is how i imagine it.

Also reader will be the oldest daughter of Princess Kate and prince William she will be 22 years old. I know this will not be logical with the time line of them being married and stuff but we will just ignore that.

Y/n knew that her life was different, she was the princess nonetheless. But she didn’t expect this.

She had always loved motor sports and when she got the chance to attend a race in her country she always did.

But still she didn’t see this coming. It all happened so fast. First them meeting, him not knowing who she was so making a fool out of himself. Then Agee that him figuring it out and still liking her for her. Not het status or fame, no just her. Then them continuing to talk for a while. And then a few months after him asking the big questions, her saying yes and the now.

Het introduceren het boyfriend Lando Norris to her family. And of course he had met them already. They where the royal family of England his home land after all. But still, this was different.

Because now he will be introduced as her boyfriend. And that was pretty big thing for him, he will first be meeting her parents and with the recent controversy surrounding princess Kate that will be a bit nerve wracking for him. But after that it will be a bit more relaxing and he will meet her siblings.

But he knew this would come eventually, he was dating the princess so he should meet the royal family eventually. And now that it had been a few months since him asking her it was about time for him to meet them.

So when Lando arrived at the gates of Adelaide Cottage and saw y/n standing there in her full beauty with her gorgeous yellow flower dress he knew he was in for a rollercoaster.

So after taking a deep breath he walked forward to his girlfriend to meet her family.

“Het Lan. You ready?” She asked with her charming smile and her kind voice.

“Yeah. Just a bit nervous.” He said with a small laugh trying to not make it awkward.

“Hey it’s going to be alright. They are going to love you and you are going to see that the royal family is not just a bunch of rich people that rule the country.” She said teasing him a bit with his Nieves but still keeping it light.

“Okay. I’m ready love.” He said now being a bit more relaxed with what the princess said.

“Okay. Come on I will show you around first and then you can meet my parents.” She said while grabbing his hand and gently tugging him towards the garden. “We should go around the garden first and then I will show you the inside, but there might be a chance we will run into my family so that’s why I will first show you the outside.”

“Okay that’s good” Lando said while walking after her. “Hey y/n…?” Lando asked now nervous again with what he wanted to ask.

“Yeah? What is going on love?” She asked wanting to know what her boyfriend was nervous about.

“Umm… have you’re family said anything about me?” He asked now a bit embarrassed about asking. But he wanted to know because they were her family after all. So if they already thought something about him then he wanted to know so that he knew how to make a good first impression.

“Well they asked about you yeah. And they asked the basic things and did a background check. But they think you are all good. They only know the basic facts and a few of the things I have told you.” She said smiling a bit while talking. Thinking it was cute with how he was so worried with how they will think about her.

But the princess knew that they would like the driver. They did to the search because you wouldn’t want the princess to date a serial killer. But they did it and he was all good. And with a few things she told them about. They seem to be excited about meeting him. But it is maybe not the best time with princess Kate recently being diagnosed with cancer and with the loads of controversy around the family. But now that it was all revealed it was about time for them to meet her boyfriend of 9 months.

She also knew that it was almost a year in there relationship and that he I shuts know meeting her family. But with them both being busy they just hadn’t hat the time.

“Okay that’s good.” The driver said now being relaxed again. But still having doubts in his mind.

After that they walked around the garden and talked a bit more.

When they were done outside they got to the entrance and she showed him the inside.

When she showed his most of the house, he only had a few more rooms to see. But she knew that her family would be in those rooms. So she stood still for a second to talk to him.

“Okay Lando. On that room will be my parents. Are you ready?” She asked a bit nervous for him. She knew that they would like- no even love him.

“I think I am. Just mentally prepared myself” he laughed a bit while saying the last bit. He was less nervous than when he arrived but it still isn’t fully gone.

“Hey it’s going to be fine. My parents are probably the most nerve wracking but when we meet my siblings it will be a lot better.

Lando thought about it and prepared a bit more. He took a few deep breaths and then looked up at his princess again. “Okay I’m ready”

“Okay, come on in.” She said with a smile squeezing his hand softly and leading him in to the room. She opens the door slowly after looking at him one last time.

“Hey, we are here” y/n said tugging Lando in the room with her and then closing the door. Her parents sat at the table at the room and when they saw them they stood up and walked to them.

“Hello Lando, it’s good to finally meet you.” Prince William said to Lando while shaking his head.

“Hello Lando it’s nice to finally meet you. We have heard a lot about you.” Princess Kate said with a smile on her face while shaking her head after her husband was done.

“Hello it is an honour to meet you.” he said with a shy smile after shaking the royal pair’s hands.

The youngest princess in the room smiled at her boyfriend and her parents. She was happy that they finally met.

After a bit of ice breaking with small talk they were all a lot more comfortable with each other.

After what seemed really short but was actually an hour Lando and y/n decided that they should meet her siblings. So they said goodbye to her parents and made a promise to meet again and then walked a bit further into the house to the next room with her siblings.

Lando was a lot less nervous to meet them. He met her parents and that was good so meeting Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis would also be alright.

Once they came to the room his girlfriend turned to him. “Okay this will be more relaxing. They know you and will probably first be a bit protective but then they will be more teasing. So nothing to worry about.” She said while smiling.

“Okay. I’m ready love” Lando said feeling relaxed with his girlfriend.

She opened the door and they walked in. Her siblings turned to her and immediately stood up. They walked towards the pair and inspected Lando immediately.

“So you are Lando? Y/n’a boyfriend?” Princess Charlotte asked.

George begin talking immediately after. “Wait are you the racing driver?” He asked getting a bit excited with that he and his sister both like Formula 1.

Lando didn’t even get to speak because Prine Louis began talking “so you are the man she can’t stop talking about” he said with a teasing smile.

Y/n was already beginning to get tired with them so interrupted them before they were going to overwhelm Lando with questions. “Okay guys stop with all that. Yes this is my boyfriend, Lando. Lando this is George, Charlotte and Louis. Guys this is Lando. And yes George he is the racing driver. And Louis don’t say that.”

“Hello everyone” Lando said already going in to his being with kids mode a bit.

After the first bit of the awkward conversation it all became better and y/n was right. They were now a lot more teasing instead of protective. But it was still fun.

And they asked a lot of questions. Like ‘what was it like with Lewis Hamilton?’ ‘Have you really not won a race?’ ‘What is it like being a F1 driver?’ And Lando was able to answer every one of them. And he enjoyed it a lot. He enjoyed hanging out with his girlfriend and her siblings. And enjoyed there questions and there small arguments and teasing bond.

After what again felt quite short but what was actually 2 hours they decided that it was a long enough day and said goodbye to her siblings. They again promised to meet again and now walked outside to the car.

“So what did you think?” y/n asked with a small smile thinking back with how good he was with her family.

“It was great. They are all very kind and it was better than expected.” Lando said while looking at his girlfriend. While talking they walked to the car (with of course a private driver).

Once they came to the car he opens the door for her and they stepped in. “That’s great!”

While talking they didn’t notice people taking pictures. And that was a bit of a problem, because while they are dating for quite a while. They have not yet announced it. They will eventually but they wanted to wait a bit and see where it was going. Even a lot of the drivers didn’t know that they were dating. The only people on the grid that knew was the McLaren team, his teammate and Carlos. All because McLaren needed to know so they could keep it private, Oscar knew because she was in the garage a few times (in secret) and so he had questions and then Lando explained. And Carlos knew because Lando and him are great friends so he just told him.

So if it came out that it was them then that would be problematic.

But because they didn’t know they didn’t really care. So they drove to her house and they spent the rest of the day together.

|—————————————————————————|

|—————————————————————————|

After the tweets Lando and y/n (together with their PR teams) decided that it was time for them to go public. So they took pictures, made a caption and posted it

|—————————————————————————|

Instagram

Lando Norris and the royal family

Liked by: GeorgeRussel, maxverstappen and 20.000.000 others

We are proud to announce that Princess Y/n and Mr.Norris are happily in a relationship and they are happy to finally show it to the world.

Comments are limited

Maxverstappen: Why do I only hear about this now?

GeorgeRussel: Lando Some explaining please?

CarlosSainz: I am happy to say that in knew all along!

Oscarpiastri: finally announcing it? Happy for you both! (I also already knew!)

McLaren: Happy for the (kind of) new couple! (Admin also already know!)

After finally announcing that they were dating Lando got a lot of messages from confused drivers. And the couple had a fun time laughing about it.

Lando explained it to them and when Y/n made her first paddock appearance at his home race as his girlfriend. Let’s just say it was a wild day.

But they knew they could live trough it. And with Lando now having met her family and her eventually having met his and the drivers they where very happy and knew that they where many to be.

|—————————————————————————|

Bonus:

A/N: This is a longer fix than the last. But I deeply like it! I hope you also like it! I really tried to make it as long as possible but still make it fun. I also personally really like the twitter ‘beef’ between user6 and user7. Let me know what you think! And please Like comment or reblog! I would love feedback

I am not really happy with how it turned out but I hope you enjoy it! Please tell me if I made an error or something!

[roses-r-rosie3]

X-Mas list presentation

Batfam x M!Reader

Summary: instead of making a regular Christmas wishlist, the reader decides to make a whole presentation

Quote: “That is all Family! So open up your hearts and your wallets for me this holiday season”

✁ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“Why are you here?” Duke asked Jason.

“Same reason why you’re here, y/n wanted us to all meet up in the living room for some announcement” Jason sighed.

After everyone was in the room, you pulled out your computer and connected it to the Tv, which made everyone confused.

“Hello family, I know you must be wondering why you’re all here” you said.

“Yes”

“Yup”

“Mhm”

“Yeah”

“Can I go back to my game now?”

“Last year you guys totally fucked up Christmas, so this year I put together an entire presentation to tell you guys what I want specifically” you smiled.

Everyone in the room let out an audible sigh/groan. It was known by everyone in the family that you were very dramatic from time to time (24/7). But they never thought you would get this extra!

“Is that really what you called us here for?” Damian grumbled.

“Would you shut up for a second?” You snapped.

“Y/n I don’t think that’s how you should be talking to your little bro-”

“Anyways, Here’s the things you should keep in mind when you’re thinking about what kind of gift you will provide for me this year” you said as you interrupted Bruce from his lecture.

“First of all, I’m the only one who knows how to reset the Wi-Fi, and yeah that’s threat” you threatened.

That certainly got everyone’s attention.

“Secondly, if you don’t get me what I want I will get a sugar daddy, I don’t even care what you guys are going to say, I’ve had so many offers for sugar daddies that it’s unreal. The perks of being son of Bruce Wayne I guess” you said.

“Y/n, you do know that Bruce is rich right?” Jason asked.

“Not the point” you mumbled.

“And third if I don’t get what I want, I will also sell my feet pics online like I did last year” you said calmly.

“YOU WHAT?!” Bruce shouted

“Calm down, I only ended up making about 1 million from it” you sighed.

“ONLY?!” Dick gasped.

“I created a three tier system of different gifting levels, basically, the levels equivocate to how much you love me and how much money you have” you explained.

“Level one is the ‘I’m going to need therapy level’ which is only four to seven gifts. I would probably go into a depressive spiral, actually not probably, I definitely would be depressed” you said.

“Would you stop being so overdramati-”

“I’M NOT DONE YET” you said as you interrupted Tim.

“What would that mean for us? You may ask. It would mean that you would have to pay for my therapy. And the money that you guys spent on therapy would have been basically wasted, you could’ve bought me a whole bunch of gifts right now and avoided the situation” you smiled.

“I think that he’s lost his mind” Bruce whispered to Stephanie.

“You think?!” Stephanie whisper yelled.

“Level two is the ‘You’re getting warmer package’ This basically if you love me- Bruce can you stop whispering to Stephanie” you scolded.

“As I was saying… Level two is eight to fifteen gifts, which is basically equivalent to you texting me happy birthday” you continued.

“Level three is the ‘You’re sleighing it’ level. And if you remember, you guys were just a bit off the mark of hitting this because you guys only got me twenty three gifts. And in order to reach ‘You’re slaying it’ you have to get me twenty five or more gifts, I think this is totally do-able for you guys, especially because you can just use Bruce’s card if you guys are running low on money” you said.

“I have tons ideas for you guys and this whole slideshow is already in your email so you guys can look at it and reference it at any time” you smiled.

Everyone quickly checked their phones to see that you indeed emailed them your whole presentation.

“That is all Family! So open up your hearts and your wallets for me this holiday season” you smiled before leaving the room.

“Yeah he had definitely lost his mind” They all said in synchronization.

“I HEARD THAT!”

[writingroom21]

Sweet Escape

Pairing: Rafe x single mom reader

Summary: Moving to Kildare with your best friend and daughter was the perfect move. The little island is perfect, the people are nice, and you are finally at peace. Then Rafe comes in with his perfect smile and charm, sweeping you off your feet. The only issue is if you are ready to let someone else in.

Warnings: None

Wc: 5.1K

series masterlist

Chapter 2: Oh Baby

“What are you all mopy about?” Jo asks with a mouthful of her breakfast. “You got flirted with last night, you should be happy.”

You hum at her as you help Violet with the mess she’s making. All morning you’ve been in your head thinking about Rafe. Since you found out you were pregnant and the dad left you, the only thing on your mind was just Vi. So when a handsome, full of himself, sweet talker of a man made you want more of him it was a shock. 

It’s not like you haven’t had the attention of guys before or after having a kid, but none of it seemed important to you. So why are you so bothered about last night? Jo’s right you should be happy but all you feel is stressed. “I don’t know. I think I just need to focus on me and Vi right now.” Jo drops her fork and looks up at you. “Haven’t you been doing that the moment you found out about her? Can’t put your life on pause because you have a kid. Yeah it’s great that you want to focus on her, she should always be first, but think about yourself too.”

You are thinking about yourself. Last night you had alcohol in your system so you didn’t think properly. Drunk you was into him only because of the fact you were drunk and nothing else. He was rude when you had met him earlier and the sober you didn’t like him. So there’s no need to really dwell on it.

“He was just flirting, he probably just wanted me to give him that flower order. It didn’t mean anything.” You can feel Jo’s eyes staring you down, you look her in the eyes. “Plus I’m not looking for anything. I like things the way they are.” Violet shoves a piece of her pancake in her mouth. “Ywah.” She comments as if she knows what you are talking about.

Jo really doesn’t say anything else, only telling you that you shouldn’t shut something down before it even happens. After breakfast you got Vi and yourself ready. When the two of you were ready, you headed off to the shop. You had made sure to bring the toddler with you as a buffer. Jo and June could tell what you were doing, the duo whispering about how ridiculous you are being. Last night June waited up for the two of you and got the whole run down.

She basically told you the same thing her grand-daughter did. Rafe is super rich and has a history of violence with others and cops. It was shocking because he looks so well put together, guess looks really can be deceiving. June saw the look of disappointment on your face when she finished talking. “People can change so who am I to judge? The boy seemed to have changed after his dad died.”

You shake the words out your head, willing yourself to just forget about last night. Everything is fine because no man in their twenties wants to be with someone who has a kid. You’ve found out that every time you tell a guy you had a kid, they run away just like her dad. It’s something you’ve come to terms with and it doesn’t bother you.

Violet runs right into the shop once you open up the doors. You keep the close sign on so no one tries to come in like yesterday, he can just knock. For a little bit, you chase her around, avoiding the flowers so they don’t fall. For someone who didn’t get a lot of sleep last night she has a lot of energy this morning. June said that she had woken up once and took her a little to go back to bed. But after you checked in on her, she kept getting up and wouldn’t go back to sleep.

By the time Rafe is supposed to get there, the little girl is slugging around the store rubbing her eyes. You looked at the clock and saw that it’s almost twelve, he should be here soon. Looking at your daughter you can see her tiny yawns as she tries to keep playing with you. Vi usually has a nap around 1 but since she can barely keep her eyes open you take her to the office so she can nap on the couch. As soon as her body hits the cushions she’s out, her light snores making you smile.

It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen her sleep or put her to sleep, her snores are your favorite sound. You still remember the nights where you would just sit there and listen to them because they let you know she was fine. She looks so peaceful sleeping, your baby that needs to be protected at all costs. Closing the door to the office you made up your mind, no boys, even the really cute ones.

Right on queue, there’s a knock on the front door. You walk over and open it to let him in. “Hey. I didn’t know how you like your coffee but I just put some milk and sugar in it.” Sure enough when you look at the hand extended towards you there is a cup in it. “Hi. Thank you, that’s really sweet. You didn’t need to get me anything.” You lead him further into the store, to the back open room.

Most of it is empty since this is where you set up all of the flowers to display. “Think of it as my apology for running off on you last night.” Rafe watches as you fidget with some of the petals of a flower, avoiding the topic of the previous night. “I wanted to stay but I had to help my friend out with something.” His eyes track your movements, noting how tense you look in this moment. “It’s okay really. I figured you had somewhere to be.”

Rafe is getting ready to say something to you and changes his mind. He must have read things wrong last night, he thought you were into him. Setting his own coffee down he walks closer to you, leaning on the bench where you are looking at some flowers. “I’m being straightforward here aren’t I? Sorry I just thought you were also into it last night.”

Your eyes scan his body, gliding up his chest and his face to see his eyes. “I was. It’s just.” There’s no need to finish your sentence, he moves away from you to put some distance. “Don’t have to explain, You woke up and realized it was a mistake, no worries.” The way he says it makes you feel guilty, an undertone of something you can’t place. He won’t look at you know, the rejection feeling raw to him. Sure he’s been rejected before but he really thought there was something more.

It’s crazy to think that a person he just met can make him feel this way. His whole life he’s been rejected, every chance of happiness ripped away. For heaven's sake even his own mom left him with someone who hated him. Even at the young of eight his parents knew he would be a failure. That’s the reason why his mom up and left all of them, he’s heard Ward yell it at him plenty of times. Then right when he feels like he got Ward's approval he ran off with Sarah and died just to get away from him.

So yeah, being upset about some random girl rejecting him is crazy. He wishes he could go back to when he was giving you a hard time about the flowers, maybe if he was nicer you would have given him a shot. Everyone on the island has written him off already and just a few days of moving here so have you. “What flowers do you have? Rose said I need to get Lily’s and maybe another flower. So what would go well with that?”

Rose? 

He was flirting with you when he was already seeing someone? This is exactly why you need to focus on yourself. The slight hurt feelings you are feeling right now shouldn’t even exist but here they were. “Pansy’s are always a good choice and even roses, It’s up to you honestly.” It was a little awkward showing him the ropes of what he needs to do. It was like the two of you didn’t know how to act around the other once flirting was off the table. Another crazy concept because you just met.

For an hour, you two work on the center pieces. The first few Rafe made weren’t the best, he couldn’t seem to get the right number of flowers in each. They were over crowded but after your help they looked good. “You need to add more greenery to break up the flowers. Also try not to add too many, it takes away their beauty.” Rafe just nodded along taking notes.

After a while he got the hang of it and you didn’t need to help him. If he wasn’t super rich you might have offered him a job that you couldn’t pay him for. It was good he got the hang of it because that meant you could focus on making more. You were so focused you didn’t hear the bang in the office door.

“What was that?” Rafe asked, looking around as he holds scissors and a flower stem. You look up to question him and hear the bang this time. “Momma.” Rafe gives you a puzzling look and you get up to let Violet out of the room. “Sorry it’s my daughter.” His look just gets deeper. “You have a daughter?”

You ignore him and keep walking. When you open the door Vi’s arms automatically wrap around your legs. “Did you have a good nap baby?” Your hand brushes the back of her head, taming the rouge pieces. “Mhm.” She rubs her head on your thigh. It was something she picked up over the years. You would nuzzle into her when you would wake her up, you guess after some time she decided she wanted to do it too. 

She grips your hand as you walk her to the backroom. Rafe’s been watching the door like a hawk after you left. What do you mean daughter? Does this mean you have a boyfriend? Fuck of course you have a boyfriend, that’s why you were backing out of last night. What a poor sucker, can’t even keep his girlfriend happy enough so she doesn’t flirt or cheat. Rafe bets he would be able to keep you happy, show you what that little boyfriend of yours can’t.

He watches as you walk in, your head is bowed to look at the little girl next to you. Rafe’s blue  eyes jot down to see a smaller pair of blue eyes looking right back at him. It takes him a moment to actually realize you weren’t kidding, you have a daughter. The whole time he processes he can’t take his eyes off the little girl. Which seems to also be the case with her.

Violet has only ever really been around the same people her whole life, but she does well with strangers. She just doesn’t know what to make of the giant of a man standing in front of her. He cracks a weary smile at the toddler as she cowers behind your legs, somewhat scared of him. But like a hero you crouch down and soothe her. “It’s okay. This is my friend Rafe, can you say hi?” Your nose nuzzles her cheek making her giggle.

“Hi.” It’s small, her voice still growing along with her. WIthout a second thought Rafe bends down, sticking a hand out to the girl. “Hi. What’s your name?” She looks at you, seeking permission to answer his question. When she sees you nod her eyes go back to him. “Wioleth.” Your laugh catches his attention, he likes how it sounds. He liked it last night and hearing it directed at your daughter with love makes it better. 

“Her name is Violet. She still has trouble with v and sometimes with the t.” The smile on your face lights up your face, crinkles forming in the corner of your eyes. “Like the flower?” Seeing your smile directed at him makes his own shine on his face. “Like the flower. She’s my little petal.” She sticks to you like glue when you get back to work, sparing a few glances at Rafe to see if he was still there.

You were in the middle of snipping some stems when you heard Violets laugh. Turning to the sound you see her next to Rafe, who is currently tickling her with the lily in his hand. Stunned from the sight, you stand there and watch. Even while he’s sitting down he towers over her, her neck must hurt from looking up. Another laugh erupts in the room but the culprit this time is his fingers tickling her side.

You know he’s whispering to her, his mouth is moving but barely any sound is coming out. It’s like the two of them forgot you were there, too engrossed in the other to care. What surprised you the most was when she threw her arms uo so he could pick her up. He did it in an instant like it was second nature to him. The second his eyes met you after setting Vi on his la you unfreeze. “She seems to like you.” 

“Glad one of you does. She seems pretty cool.” He gives you a teasing smile, the tension in your shoulders drops. You don’t get why he’s upset, he has a girlfriend. But seeing how he was with Vi right now wished there wasn’t another girl named Rose and you didn’t make stupid rules for yourself.

The rest of the time went smoothly, in the middle the missing flowers were delivered so he got to choose some extras. Then he set up the tuck time and left, leaving you and Vi with a quick goodbye. After the truck got the flowers you tidied up the place, getting it ready for tomorrow’s opening. By the time you got home the two of you were beat, barely talking during dinner.

“How was it with you know who?” You snicker at Jo’s words. “Why are you saying it like he’s Voldemort?” She shrugs at you and takes another bite of food. “I don’t know, maybe he is. You were acting like he was this morning.” Here we go again, she already texted you while he was there. Is he still as hot in the daytime? Are you two flirting? Don’t do anything in front of my precious baby, she’s innocent. The text went on for a little while longer. It’s like she feeds off you ignoring her messages because she knows you’re annoyed.

“I just want to focus on me and my daughter, not on some random guy I just met. Plus Rafe has a girlfriend.” Vi’s head shoots up when she hears his name. “Ra?” Jo looks at her in bewilderment. “Looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. What’s this girlfriend's name? Clearly she needs to keep him in line.” You fidget with your food, knowing that Jo clocked the jealousy in your voice. “Rose.”

June who has stayed quiet all dinner chokes on her iced tea, spilling it everywhere. Violet laughs thinking it’s a fun game and tries to imitate her with no success. “Sweetheart, did he say girlfriend or just Rose.” You give her a questioning look. “Just Rose.” In all of your years of knowing June you’ve never seen her laugh like that. She was practically off her chair and on the floor crying with laughter. “Wow I never thought I’d see the day when Jo was smarter than you.”

“Hey!”

“Sweetie, Rose is his step-mother. She stuck around after the dads death to help him take care of his little sister.” Little sister? He takes care of his little sister with Rose, who is his step-mom and not his girlfriend. “Oh.” Jo and June just give eachother a look and shake their heads.

For the rest of the night you just think about how he actually doesn’t have a girlfriend. The only thing stopping whatever it was between you two is well you. The whole point was to protect Vi but she seems to love him. Throughout her bath and bedtime routine she kept asking for him. Letting out a small “Ra?” or “Whew Ra?” not really getting to saying his full name. He seems to be good with her, but that doesn’t mean anything. You go to bed thinking about what the hell you are going to do.

The next morning goes the same as the other. You get up, start breakfast, get Vi up, eat breakfast, get ready, and go to the shop. Everything was running smoothly, the shop was open and all the flowers looked perfect. You were even able to plant some seed in the greenhouse that’s connected in the back.

Customers have been coming in all morning, buying bouquets and individual flowers. Everyone has been so nice, even talking to Violet as they shopped around. She was having a blast chatting with them and running around the store. Around twelve you decided it was time to get lunch and grab Vi. As you're locking the door she keeps tugging at your hand. “One second Vi. I just need to lock up okay.”

THe impatient toddler keeps pulling at her hand. “Momma wook.” She’s pointing down the street but the key is giving you trouble. You’re struggling with the lock when her hand slips from yours, she’s running down the street screaming. “Ra! Ra!” Sprinting after her you see what she was pointing to. 

Rafe

She rams into his legs falling in the process just before you could stop her. Rafe is distracted by the sudden feeling of being hit in the leg. He looks down to see Violet on the floor and you running up to the two of them. “I’m so sorry.” You exclaim to him as you pick her up and check that she’s okay. The people behind him are waiting for him to unblock the doorway. He places a hand on your arm to move you both away from the way. “Ra!” She squeals at the man in front of you two.

“Looks like someone’s a dinosaur today.” He chuckles at the girl. “Hi Violet. Hi.” He says your name, the heat from his hand leaving as he retracts it. You greet him back, stepping a bit closer to him. “She’s actually trying to say your name. She kept asking for you after you left.” A smile forms on his lips, he feels proud that he made an impression on the young girl.

“She asked about me?” There’s something in him that can’t help but poke a bit. “I bet dad found that strange.” Satisfaction fills him when your face changes at the mention of dad. It was subtle but he could see it, see how it made you uncomfortable. “He’s not in the picture. Just us.” His face drops, he felt smug thinking he called you out for not telling him the truth. 

Looking at the two of you he can’t see how anyone could do that. You seemed so nice and funny, Vi was just a baby. How could someone do that? “Shit sorry I didn’t know.” His face scrunches when he realizes he just swore in front of a kid. “Shith.” Vi repeats, bouncing in your arms.

Rafe gives you a guilty look. “I’m sorry. Didn’t think before talking.” You giggle and shake your head. “It’s okay. Jo and I swear a lot around her. But I swear she gives Vi too many ideas.” The breath he was holding when you mention Jo is released when you paired she was a girl. He really thought for a second that maybe he didn’t have a chance. Maybe he still doesn’t but it doesn’t hurt to try.

“Dang I need to get back. I didn’t get to lock the door, she was so excited to see you that she couldn’t wait for me to figure out the lock.” It’s nice to know that the girl in your arms wanted to see him. After he left he seriously thought he wouldn’t see you again. He doesn’t know when he got to be so sentimental but he wants to know you and have you like him. The same goes for Violet.

“The door was giving you trouble?” He walks along with you as you make your way back. “Yeah it was giving me a tough time to lock it. It wasn’t perfect before but now it seems impossible.” You demonstrate it for him, twisting the key only for nothing to happen. His hand wraps around yours, twisting toughly and successfully locking it. “I can fix it for you.”

“You don’t have to do that. It’s just jammed.” Vi squirms her way down from your arms to make her way to him. “Ra come.” She waves her hand at him. He kneels down and pulls the sunglasses up to look her in the eyes. “I’m here.” The interaction is strange to see. She has always been social but this is different. She actually really likes him. 

He interacts with her like they have always known each other. As if they didn’t just meet yesterday. It’s confusing seeing it all play out. “I think she wants you to come to lunch with us. We were just about to leave.”  The sun is kind of overtaking you as he looks up. “Is it Violet or mama that wants me to come?” He stands up and takes a hold of Vi’s hand. “I can do lunch. Then we can go get you a new lock and I’ll set it up.” You two just stare at each other for a second, not wanting to break first. “Okay, know any good places?”

“Come on, I can take you to the country club. They have a great chicken club.” As id on instinct he shifts Vi to the other side of him, blocking the two of you from the main road. A simple gesture that means a lot. “I don’t have a membership to one of those. Plus I don't even know how to get there.” The crosslight sign changes to stop as soon as you make it to the crossing. You’re fishing for your keys when Rafe’s hand stops you. “It’s okay I have a membership, they’ll let you in. I was going to drive anyway so you don’t have to worry about it.”

You look at him and then at Violet. “So you just always carry a carseat around?” There’s a blush that forms on his cheeks from the teasing. He looks down at the young girl and realizes he completely forgot about the fact she was so young. “Right, my bad. Umm we can go a little further down, there’s a restaurant there. The hardware shop is close to there.” 

Vi seems content with just sticking by Rafe. When you got into the restaurant she sat directly beside him, sitting as close as possible. “Sorry I can take her.” He just picks up a crayon they gave her and started to color along with her. “It’s fine, I don't mind.” She forced him to color with her the whole time. She even had him help her with cutting her food. 

It was so surreal seeing this all play out. He was so natural with her and their connection was effortless. It made you think back to the night in the bar. The conversation was so easy and nothing felt forced. Seems like you and Vi have that in common, both falling for his charm. “How old is she?

He’s rustling around with some locks finding the perfect one for you. You shake your head as he shows a different one. “Two, her birthday is in October.” Her ears perk up at your voice. “Birdday?” Rafe laughs and shows you a different lock. “That one.” Vi giggles as he tickles her neck when he passes by. She starts to chase after him and he runs off, turning up and down the isles. You chase after them making sure she isn’t getting hurt or god forbid stolen. 

People are giving the three of you weird looks, jumping out of the way so as to not get trampled by a 6”2’ giant. You had to keep apologizing to people as you passed by them. Finally he gave up and let her catch him. Violet was laughing hysterically, throwing her arms up so he would pick her up. 

He gives you a surprised expression, not knowing what he should do. You were just as confused as he was, you don’t know if you should let them get that close. Who knows who he really is and if he would just disappear the next day. Rafe picks her up when she starts to whine, holding her as he pays for the lock and some other tools.

“You didn’t have to pay. I could have done that.” The three of you are walking back now. He’s still holding Vi who now rested her head on his shoulder, rubbing her eyes. Pulling out your phone you can see it's a little past one. She most likely is waiting for her nap time. By the time you are trying to open up the door she’s out cold in his arms.

When it’s open you turn around to grab her from him. “I can lay her down, so she doesn’t wake up.” It makes sense so you show him your office and he lays her down on the couch. “I’m going to go start the lock.” He walks away and fiddles with the lock. It’s as if when Vi isn’t around there’s nothing for him to say. It was the same yesterday after you tried to say it couldn’t continue he was closed off.

Crap did he want it to continue?

You walk to the front door and see that he got the old lock out. “Hey.” Looking over his shoulder he can see you standing there. “Hi.” He goes back to put the new lock in. “What I was trying to say yesterday is that I need to focus on Vi and I. You’re new to our lives and I can’t take any risks. It’s not just me I have to look after.” The tension in his shoulders can be seen from even where you’re standing. “I get it. At first I thought it was because you regretted it. But I get it now, she’s more important.”

You stand there as he finishes up. When he’s done he packs everything up. “If it was just you, would you still feel the same?” That’s a great question, would you feel the same? Simple answer is no you wouldn’t. “No I wouldn’t.” His eyes meet yours in a hopeful way. “But it’s not just me.” It’s illogical to feel upset about this, realistically he knows why you can’t. “Well the lock is all set up. I should head out.”

“Rafe please.” He just packs everything up and goes to leave. “Rafe.” He looks over his shoulder. “Bye.” The way he says your name is like a dream. It was airy as if it hurt to even say. It did hurt, he felt regretted. You don’t even fully know him and you already shut him out. You may be new but even you knew to stay away from him.  He spends the rest of the day thinking about you.

Yeah sure he isn’t the best. He’s just getting over his addiction and trying to keep his temper down. But at least he’s trying, he wants to be better yet all anyone can see is how damaged he is. It has never been an issue letting it go and ignoring people, he’s done it his whole life. This time he’s finding it harder to ignore the pressure in his chest.

Without really thinking her\ gets into his truck and is driving back to the shop. He doesn’t even know if you are still there but he has to try. As he’s pulling up he can see you and Violet exit the shop. He’s getting out of the car when you turn around and see him. “Rafe?”

“Okay I’m just going to say this and get it off of my chest. I meant it when I said I didn’t want to leave the other night. I was a dick about the flowers that day and I regret it.” He cringes when he remembers there’s a kid right next to you, she doesn’t copy the word so he’s in the clear. “I thought that yesterday we would pick up where we left off. Probably a stupid idea but I’ve never been known for being that smart. There’s just something about you and I can’t stop thinking about you. I get it you have Violet and you need to think about her. Just, just give me a chance. All I’m asking for is for you to get to know me.”

He’s waiting for your response when Vi walks closer to him and grabs his hand. “Okay. Under one condition.” “Anything.” He says fastly. “ We take this at my speed. I can’t have her getting attached to someone and have her get crushed if you decide this is too much.” He wants to be upset that you could think that. You hardly know him so he can’t, at least you are giving him a chance.

“We’ll take it as slow as you want. How about we go out this weekend? You can bring Violet along too, I don’t mind.” She jumps at hearing her name. “Out!” She shouts “See, even she’s excited.” You smile up at him. Maybe this isn’t such a bad idea, he seems nice and caring. “This weekend sounds great. I could probably get Jo to watch her”

He walks you over to your car, standing back as you get Vi into her carseat. “I never really thanked you for helping me with the flowers. Really saved me from having to deal with my annoying step-mom.” You laugh at him, cloning the door and making your way to the driver's side. “It’s no problem. I guess you’ll just have to make it up to me this weekend.” He smiles down at you. “I’ll make it special then.”

Before getting into your car you give him a kiss on the cheek, leaving him there to watch as your car drives away. The smile he has can’t leave his face, too happy that once again he got what he wanted. This time he promises to himself he won’t fuck it up.

Taglist: @haruvalentine4321, @namelesslosers, @ijustwanttoreadlols, @drewsphswife, @corpsebridenightamare

Let me know if you’d like to be added🫶

[slackerlifewhere]

The subtlety of Cale Henituse

SPOILERS for those who haven't finished the first part of the novel. If you don't like spoilers, please don't continue. Thanks!

- This is kind of a review about the novel but it's basically my analysis of Cale/KRS.

___

For someone who has trust issues with people, I first had an initial distrust with Cale Henituse/Kim Rok Soo as a reader.

I think it's because of how he was first introduced.

As a first-time reader of the novel back then, Cale/KRS was introduced as a very indifferent person. He was calm at the face of a sudden transmigration and acted like nothing could surprise him (aside from Ron and Choi Han). And of course, like anyone who was fooled, I also thought that he was selfish. He's not the trash that he thinks he is but he's selfish and I didn't place my full trust in him because I still didn't know him yet. And I like it that way. The author kept me on my toes and didn't force fed me a truckload of information about Kim Rok Soo.

Like I said in my previous post, he didn't actually give us his whole introduction. He left a few crumbs here and there that told us he didn't have a great childhood but it wasn't enough for me to build an image of him in my head. There were still some blanks and question marks about Kim Rok Soo.

Sure, there were moments when he gave a bigger tip to someone without blinking an eye and acting all smug about it but I really just thought that he was happy because he's finally rich. Or when he was being so polite and gentlemanly in front of an old man that Venion was disgusted with and then later on went back to being indifferent and I thought it was just him being extra petty and angry (which he was) at Venion for being an asshole. He's very quick to change from smug to indifference and it made me switch back and forth on how I see him as a person.

Yeah, you need to read between the lines when reading this novel.

[side note: Actually, If I remember correctly, I thought that I wouldn't like his character because I find it weird when MCs in KR manhwa and novels easily shrug off the isekai bullshit they're in. The influence of KR manhwa on me affected my opinion about him and it shows.]

So when he first met the kittens and Choi Han, I was reading it with the feeling of "Run away, guys! Run while you still can!" lingering at the back of my mind. He was nice to them, as much as he could with random strangers he just met, but he's very distant with them.

Another thing about him that makes it harder to understand him is because he's always distant with people. He relies on them and helps them but he's always at arms-length when dealing with them. This, if you didn't think of or was reminded of his thoughts about his abuse and pity, simply makes him look indifferent.

Before I continue, I don't like tsundere characters. I absolutely find them cringe and sometimes, I just wanna bash my head when they blush at the bs they're spouting at someone they like.

Because that's the thing with Cale. He is a tsundere. He says one thing and does the opposite. And he's so in denial about it which makes it more hilarious and sad.

He's subtle about it at first. He didn't even give me the vibe that he's more complex than what he shows because he's so quick to disprove my sudden epiphany that there's something deeper than what he's showing. He's so good at hiding his emotions EVEN WHEN I'M READING HIS POV.

This bastard is so in denial about himself that he fooled me so bad! I think I only realized it when he saved Raon but even then, there were still some doubts about his character. I liked his words to Raon and thought about how kind he is for giving the dragon the freedom of choice but because he later thinks of making Raon do things for him, it shook my trust in him just a little bit. Just a little, I promise.

...Maybe I just have major trust issues.

Taylor Stan

The weirdest thing to me that actually snapped me from my doubts that he's actually a kind person is oddly enough, because of Taylor Stan.

Remember when Taylor and Cage suddenly arrived at the area they were camping in and he finally talked to Taylor face to face? Yeah, he was indifferent there but it's when his tsundere traits actually exploded at my face.

He, while trying to hide from everyone, told them to give Taylor and Cage the best care and protection as if it's the most normal thing in the world.

Mind you, they don't even actually know him aside from OG Cale's reputation as trash. And he also technically isn't supposed to know them because, in the duo's POV, this is their first time meeting him so he didn't have to help or care for them.

He basically acted as if what he was doing was bad in their eyes but in reality, it's not???

He's just helping them and he's in denial about it? He's genuinely being a kind person and he thinks he's trash?

He later gives them money (and acts cool about it) and helps with smuggling (lmao) them to the Roan Kingdom so they can arrive there safely and he thinks he's trash???

He gave this man hope to finally heal himself and fight against his brother and he thinks he's trash?????

Seriously?

Self-hatred

It's why whenever he calls himself trash, I shake my head because it's amusing but I also want to cry because, as I go further into the novel, he fully believes that he's actually trash.

I don't know if this is ever talked about but Cale is hiding a huge self-hatred about himself.

Cale pointed to himself with his index finger.

“I have lived my life as trash. That is my dream.”

- Chapter 33: You

At first, when he called himself trash, I thought it was because his soul is in OG Cale's body and thus, he inherited the title and uses it to cause chaos. It's a part of the reason why but, if I think about it, he doesn't have to call himself that??? He can still cause chaos without using that title.

It's why I think he fully believes it. That he's trash.

I didn't understand back then and thought it was just him loving the title and the chaos that comes along with it.

Him and his smirks or "selfish" ideals made it seem like he's fully embraced the title and liked it that way.

And the way the author hides a deeper meaning behind his words and actions is by making it feel humorous or comical. The author makes it feel extra.

We laugh and find it amusing because it's chaotic. The secrets behind those wild ideas and explosive destruction are brilliant and subtle.

It's why I fully believed back then, that it's a simple story about a man who just wants to cause mischief in a strange world.

And then...his past as Kim Rok Soo is finally revealed by the author.

And it suddenly turns all this humor about himself into a freaking tragedy.

Kim Rok Soo is a tragic character. He's a person who has lost far too much and can only react in indifference even when he's hurting. He's cold in another person's perspective because he doesn't cry when in front of those he lost.

He hates himself for something he couldn't control. He hates himself for being weak. He hates himself for a lot of things. And he hates the scars Kim Rok Soo has because they're the reminder of all his failures and all his sacrifices that only ended up with making him alone. Like he will always be alone. (Which makes his distant personality in the beginning make sense too wtf)

So he takes in their words of him being cruel enough not to cry in a funeral of his friends and fully believes it.

He believes, as Kim Rok Soo and Cale Henituse, that he's trash.

And it absolutely made me cry like a kid when he, as he woke up surrounded by those he befriended and could call family, finally cries with a smile.

This is the first time they and us readers see him cry and smile and it's just heartbreaking.

The whole lead up to this reveal was me seeing him as a tsundere and a freaking crazy bastard that utters "slacker life" like it's comic relief.

It's completely unexpected and I love it.

Because him crying and smiling for the first time is him finally shedding his shields and walls from these people who see him as a kind person.

Cale Henituse, for all his masks and secrets, is just a broken but endlessly kind person.

It's why those who meet him, trust him. His actions are a big reason why they trust him but his words, when it feels hopeless, are eye-opening and full of wisdom of a 36 year old man. He's straightforward in front of those he trusts and tells them something that flips over everything they think about the current situation. And he says it with the experience of Kim Rok Soo.

I believe the only times he lies to them is when he was given the thing that he was gonna use to stab himself and also when he hides his identity as Kim Rok Soo. There's actually a hint of his guilt sometimes...or maybe I'm just thinking too much about it.

Anyways, that's all my thoughts for now.

This subtle bastard made me cry, damn it.

___

That one scene of him crying and smiling is etched in my mind and was reminded of it when I recently saw a fanart. So I decided to write about my feelings about his character and personality.

It's not a mindblowing post or anything new and it goes from humor to angst pretty fast but I think it's just like him. If you analyze his words in one way, it's just hilarious but if you analyze it in another way, it's sad.

I like how the author wrote him. He's a crazy bastard and a tsundere (the only tsundere I'll ever like) and I'm so glad I found this novel.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Lesbians WIN & I'm excited about a Thai BL again!

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

April 2024 Wk 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

My Stand-In (Thai Fri iQIYI) ep 1 of 12 eps - Adaptation of Chinese novel Professional Body Double by Shui Qiang Cheng. Stars Up (Lovely Writer) and Poom (Bake Me Please) directed by the same team as KP (not a recommendation IMHO - my biggest criticism of KP was the clashing directing styles). The MDL description made it sound complicated af but actually it's not so bad. In fact it's GOOD.

Stuntman Joe dies on the job and wakes up in the body of another Joe who has an entirely different life. But our Joe just gets his new body right back into his old existence, full of friends, enemies, and one troublesome ex. Poom is absolutely killing it in the lead. Mek is perfectly cast as the Actor du Jerk. I’m not sold on Up’s bratty brokenhearted rich kid... yet. The show though, I like it. I like a one (two) night stand starting things off and I like a lot of morally gray characters. Fun fun!

Deep Night (Thurs iQiyi) ep 8fin - The lesbian moms are the cutest thing in the world and my favorite thing this week. Bar none.

Summation:

It's about a host club and all the gay boys in it and some stuff that's not important because... PEOPLE OF EARTH WE HAVE A HONEST REP OF POLY IN A BL. Stand up and raise your hands in prayer to the Thai BL gods because sure as shit no one else was ever going to give this to us. For that alone this show gets 8/10 from me. Bonus Lesbian moms and great kisses.

Two Worlds (Thurs iQIYI) ep 7 of 10 - Say what you want about MaxNat all these years that they've been paired makes them great onscreen boyfriends. And you know me, I'm a total sucker for linguistic negotiation. Makes my heart go all mushy. That said, now that the leads are together, I’m really uninterested in all the drama around the ex-boyfriend/triangle. I'm glad this is only 10 eps.

1000 Years Old (Thurs iQIYI) ep 11 of 12 - They gave me the tiniest teaser for the kinky vampire BL that I have wanted my whole life. And now I'm just fucking annoyed with the rest of the show. 

We Are (Weds iQIYI) ep 3-4 of 16 - Q & Toey are the only interesting thing going on. I actually didn’t like this pair in My School President, but I’m enjoying them here. The others are all fine but these two have my heart. I have questions like: did Phum ever get his shopping bags back? And why is Phum driving a different colored car half way through the ep?

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 3 of 12 - The quality is good (it’s GMMTV) but the acting is... not. Still I loved that Moo just made the confession for both of them. Very in character. Does this plot remind anyone else of Footloose? Just me? Side couple was cute but now a bit too stalker for me. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Unknown (Taiwan Tues YouTube & Viki) ep 10 of 12 - It’s fantastic. Such a great show. We are so lucky. This is basically Taiwan’s The Eights Sense. I didn’t know they had it in them, but I’m really glad that they did.

Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 3 of 10 - As JBL’s go this is way more my speed (than Alaska). It’s just so sweet and awkward but charming about it. The confession was so earnest. 

Blue Boys (Korea YouTube) 2 of ? No MDL link - It’s very sexy this one. Not sure what Korea thinks it's doing, but I’m not mad about it. 

Gray Shelter (Korea Thurs iQIYI) ep 5fin - summation: About a slacker nursing a crush on the (brief) older stepbrother who abandoned him. Upon finding him again he moves in with him, upends the mans lost suffering life. A dark gritty piece with confusing subs making it too chewy to really grok. It's trying to do too much for its length. The tension is real and the acting is good, it's just everything else stymied clean execution of the core concept. Frankly I spent this show expecting (and wanting them) to just fall into bed together - in a kind of desperate fight sex. It didn’t happen, and I’m disappointed by the non-ending we got. (Whether it’s going to have more in the series or not.) 7/10 I'm open to changing the rank if a part two fixes this one's flaws.

Boys Be Brave AKA Roommates (Korea Thurs Viki) ep 1-2 of 8 - Oh dear. Terrible hair. Jock nerd pairing. OCD baby cakes. Cohabitation trope. Killer side couple. Def unhinged. 

At 25:00 in Alaska AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 2 of 10 - I’m still genuinely not sure about this one. It’s just a little too awkward for me in the wrong way. I expect all Japanese BL to have a certain aura of awkwardness so I don’t know what it is about this one turnign me off. I do enjoy that we’re getting both stories, the one between the actors, and a little bit of the roles that they’re playing on screen but... yeah

Love is like a Cat (Korea Mon Viki) eps 7-8 of 12 - The leads finally had a moment but there is negative chemistry. Why am I watching this? 

It's airing but...

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing.

Memory in the Letter (Thai WeTV) - 6 eps, when it's done, tell me if I should bother?

In case you missed it

Kiseki Chapter 2 (Sun iQIYI) 6 eps - finished its run but I won't be finishing it. Stays dropped.

GMMTV announced the second half of their 2024 line up. I got excited and picked my favorites, details + trailers here. Basically my ranking is:

The Heart Killers

ThamePo

Revamp

Sweet Tooth

Perfect 10 Liners

The Ex-Morning

Ossan’s Love Thailand

Next Week Looks Like This:

What happened?

Knock-Knock Boys (Thai WeTV) - 4 college friends conspire to help their friend lose his virginity. Familiar faces like Seng (yes, Billy's previous pairing) and Best, news here. But will it actually air this month?

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENT

I have adopted him. He is MINE. I love him, your honor. (The Stand In)

I love them SO MUCH. (Deep Night)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[orphiclovers]

I think the most notable bit of character insight on Yoo Joonghyuk that Yoo Mia SS provides is how much the apocalypse did not change him at all.

It's one of those Big Themes orv has, and simply brilliant writing. Y'know how they kept beating us over the head with the concept of 'the people who find it easiest to adapt in a ruined world are those who could not adapt to real life?'. That applies to YJH too, and even more than other characters. But it's hard to notice on a casual main story read because genre conventions and his character archetype tell us not to look deeper, that he is just a basic brooding power fantasy manhwa protagonist, even when he's really not.

So the audience writes off his quirks because it's expected of his brooding hero archetype and the other apocalypse survivors write off his quirks because everyone who has gotten this far is a little nuts and also they have bigger problems.

But when Yoo Joonghyuk acts exactly like he does during the apocalypse in a pre-scenario world where there's no convienient explanation it's really clear that he is different and he just comes off as...off.

His silence during conversations is no longer mysterious and cool but just weird and a failure to read social cues. His 'glare' is frightening and people don't like when he makes eye contact with them. His manner of speech is off-putting. His blank emotionless face is not stoic repressed hero-esque but ""rude"" etc etc. Every single mainstream society conforming person can tell there's something off about him so they avoid him. And YJH doesn't know how to communicate so he ends up totally friendless (save for a literal mafia boss and a crazy time-traveling teenage girl - and only them, because they don't fit well into society either.)

Umm where was I. So, but I don't know how much effect all of that has on World of Zero. Firstly, because between Yoo Mia side story and World of Zero there are 3-4 years of '?????' where afaik we have no idea what Yoo Joonghyuk was doing. He stopped being a gamer at some point but also got rich at the same time (doing what?) and bought the house he daydreamed about and also became a total shut-in who 'doesn't go outside often'. I have fanfic-y theories but nothing canon.

Onto the second part of the ask.

With World of Zero era joongdok I feel like there's a lot of writers out there who have made their own versions that are better than anything I could come up with so I hope you wont be disapointed. That being said I do have some thoughts.

Speaking of fanfic, here is mine under read more lol.

I think it's super that Kim Dokja gains the power of an omnipotent god and the very first thing he does is devote his time to Yoo Joonghyuk's happiness and safety. The whole reason he became OD was because of his massive guilt complex about YJH, so it makes sense that he would try to atone.

Zero starts off mistrusting him but gradually KDJ proves himself as having Zero's best interests at heart 100% of the time. DKOS is YJH's guardian angel. And then KDJ stays watching over him even after the scenarios were over, seeing him go through boring life milestones, happy as long as YJH is happy, for seemingly no reason.

So it's no wonder Yoo Jooghyuk fell in love.

He might not know Salvation's real name or appearance or anything about him but he wants to get to know him, this person who has saved him so many times while asking nothing in return. It doesn't matter that he's a constellation because he is good, Yoo Joonghyuk knows. He confesses all of this to Salvation, looking up at the sky with eyes sparkling with life and passion.

Salvation lets him down gently, for what it's worth, but rejection is still rejection and it hurts.

In the following weeks, as he goes through the motions and pretends nothing happened, he continues to feel the gaze of Salvation on his back, but the constellation stays mercifully silent. Yoo Joonghyuk does not want to know if it's pity he's looking at him with. Even heartbreak heals, of course. Months pass, then years. Lee Seolhwa was a dependable companion to him during the scenarios and stays a steadying presence in the world after. They're compatable. She is someone with who he could see himself growing old.

Salvation told him to 'be free, to fall in love with someone who could be with him, to not waste his time chasing after a dream, to live his life to the fullest'

He knows about his attribute of course, just like he knows everything about Yoo Joonghyuk.

Yoo Joonghyuk sees no point in lying. He tells Lee Seolhwa everything. How due to his attribute he will grown old and die while the rest of them stay youthful as ever, how he doesn't remember his childhood or know his parents. His hopes and dreams, how he yearns to learn his origins. About the first scenario, about the constellation who would have been his sponsor, whom he loves.

Then he asks to marry her. She says yes.

Salvation is the first person Yoo Joonghyuk tells. He's happy for him, of course, says he always knew there was a spark between them.

They live a long 50 years together.

When Yoo Joonghyuk's hair started turning more salt than pepper, he told Lee Seolhwa that he wouldn't hold her. She laughed, stroked his head and said that she might not look it but she is two years older than him, that she vowed to be by his side till death did them apart and she will not break that promise.

When his time comes and he knows he has to leave, he tries to explain himself to Lee Seolhwa at least, if not the rest of his old companions. But he needn't have bothered. Before he could start, she took his hands in hers and smiled wistfully. She told him she always knew this day would come. That his heart has always belonged to someone else. She's thankful for the time he has given her anyway and that she could not have asked for a better husband. She sheads a few tears and Yoo Joonghyuk does too, but he leaves their house with a sense of purpose and a lightness in his heart he has not felt once since the day he beat the final scenario.

And then he accepts the sponsorship contract with Salvation.

... .. Sooo, that's how I think round zero went.

[autisticshadowthehedgehog]

What was up with Chris Thorndyke, anyway?

I think it’s safe to say that Chris Thorndyke is one of the most hated characters in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, which is... a bit odd, when you think about it. In a world of Ken Penders’s Daddy Issues Personified and Octopus Who Kills Children For Fun (the latter of which basically being a fandom sexyman), why is a twelve-year-old boy so polarizing?

It would be easy to chalk this up to the bad 4kidz dub, but I don’t quite think that’s it. A lot of the complaints I’ve heard can go to “he got the main character slot in Sonic’s show” or “I just don’t like the human characters,” which are valid, but pale in comparison to basically all I’ve seen being: “He’s just annoying,” “I can’t fucking stand him,” etc. That’s basically all I hear, and when asking why, it usually boils down to two things: 1) his extreme attachment to Sonic and 2) his status as a rich white american only child basically puts any and all of his problems at “first world problems” at best. Those also seem like valid reasons, right?

Thing is, while on the surface it seems like this kid has no issues, as a kid with a, how you say, rough childhood, something stuck with me when I watched the show for the first time. I remember sitting through episode after episode, wondering, When does Chris stop being sympathetic and start being annoying? Since, you know, that’s his reputation.

It didn’t happen.

And it slowly became apparent to me that a lot of the things that made Chris “annoying” and “obsessive”... were just obvious symptoms of a traumatized kid.

Join me for my thesis presentation: Chris’s “annoying” traits are not a writing flaw, but an intentional character flaw brought about by severe neglect, which is resolved through his character arc, and why the fandom reaction to him is so furious.

Note: Throughout this meta, we will only be looking over the Japanese version of Sonic X, as it’s the original script and 4kidz did not translate it accurately. So if you see some lines you don’t remember being said, those are from the English subtitles/direct translation.

Once again, it is possible (also likely, we’ll discuss that a bit) that the kidification and cuts to Sonic X did a number on Chris’s likability, but for most of the meta we’ll be discussing his Japanese characterization with only a few references to cut scenes or lines in the dub.

Part I: First Impressions

On the surface, Chris seems like not just a normal kid, but a very privileged one. He goes to regular school with regular friends, but also goes home to a mansion and millions of dollars. His parents dote on him, his grandfather has fun with him, the two servants treat him like their own kid. He should have no problems, right?

Except, honestly, the issues become apparent in Episode One.

You may be saying here, “What do you mean, episode one? The second episode is when Chris gets all his characterization and exposition.”

Except we get all this visually in the final scene of the episode. (I PROMISE the whole essay won’t be this analytic over small scenes but this is important.)

Before Chris rescues Sonic, kickstarting his part in the plot, we see him hear Sonic fall, peer out the window, and then run out to get him.

Firstly, the shots of his room. His room is huge– and we’ll come back to that detail later, so keep it in mind– but it’s also dark. Which tracks ofc, it’s nighttime and the kid’s asleep, but there’s also a lit desk light, which we see when Chris goes to the window. This together gives the audience the visual impression that Chris is in the dark, with the light only coming when he opens that window and sees Sonic.

Let’s get into the bigness of the house here, as Chris runs out of the room. In every shot we see him running, it’s emphasized how small he is. No, not only how small he is, but how empty the rest of the house is.

First the shot in the hall. There’s minimal lighting from a few wall lamps, the rest of the hallway is incredibly dark. Chris is shorter than the height of the lamps on the wall, his positioning keeps him small in the frame despite him running closer. He’s also centered in the hall, and when you look to the walls you can see several doors, implying several rooms, but only Chris is in the hall.

Then the stairwell– once again incredibly dark, but we see more of the grandiose nature of the house. A painting taller than Chris, a Grandfather Clock maybe twice his height. He also runs down the stairs with the railing up to his shoulder. It’s all finely detailed, which of course reflects the Thorndyke luxury they live in. But it’s still dark, and Chris is still so small.

A shot of him running across the floor. It’s shot from above, and we see that the tiles on the floor are bigger than his whole body. This shot is even darker than the rest, only a few lights reflecting on the ground. The above-shot also shows a ceiling fan in front of us, which makes it look bigger than it is, also dwarfing Chris in the shot.

There’s a shot after that of Chris running to the pool– it is actually near-impossible to see him here, but if you look he runs off the back porch. Once again the world is huge, everything around him is huge, and everything is dark, except the pools. The pools where Sonic is, not that he knows that yet.

The pool still remains brightly lit as Chris dives in and saves Sonic. The first shot we see is him diving in, and then grabbing onto Sonic’s wrist. This is repeated multiple times later in the show as they reach for each other’s hands. It’s not only the first time we see this kid make contact with someone in the show, I’m pretty sure it’s the first time we see Sonic. In the first bit of the episode he’s only hitting robots, in the second bit he’s fleeing from everyone who comes near him. This first contact thus subconsciously establishes itself in the audience’s minds as important for both of them.

We finally see Chris clearly after he pulls Sonic out, where the two of them are lit by the pool’s light. Despite the long shadows coming off of them, they are both fully visible and sitting amongst the lit tiles, meaning Chris is now in the light.

This opening scene also establishes something important about Chris as well, and that’s that he’s... not a rich asshole. This kid woke up in the middle of the night, and for all intents and purposes saw nothing in the pool– he saw the ripples stilling, but that could’ve been anything. Could’ve been a frog. Could’ve been a bird taking off into the air. Could’ve been a bird shitting. But Chris still investigates anyway and immediately dives in, presumably once he sees something still in there. As he dives in, he also reaches for Sonic instantly, meaning it wasn’t just pure curiosity that drove him forward, but a deep desire to help whatever was in there. Likely he saw it moving and leapt in to save it without a second thought.

It’s established in the next episode that Chris knew full well he was not allowed to do this and it probably wouldn’t be safe; he’s not allowed to go outside at night or swim in the adult pool. Not to mention he’s also probably still half-asleep and wearing pajamas. Without hesitation he jumps in anyway because there’s something that needs his help. When he pulls Sonic out, he can clearly see this is a weird fucked-up thing he doesn’t recognize, but without even reacting to that fact he just asks if he’s okay. He only starts showing his surprise when Sonic begins talking. Even then there’s no screaming, he just introduces himself politely and then. Takes Sonic inside.

The next episode opens already in the next morning, and with Sonic still there we can assume Chris just hid him for the rest of the night without telling the other adults in the house. After Sonic mentioned people chasing him, Chris probably figured it wasn’t safe to tell anyone and took it upon his 12yo self to make sure this little guy didn’t get spotted.

Which, if it weren’t for Sonic’s impulsiveness, would’ve been incredibly easy.

The second episode opens with another panning shot of the huge mansion, with a voice overlay from Lindsey. The first thing we hear from Chris’s mother is that she’s sorry, but she won’t come home til “next week.” But she’ll send him a ton of gifts, so it’s okay!

Our next interesting shot is as she continues talking, and we see a ton of family photos tacked onto the wall. This immediately gives the impression of, of course, a family that really loves each other. It then immediately pans to Chris, alone on the balcony, talking minimally into a phone.

Chris then has another character beat of apologizing for diving in the pool. It seems like if he hadn’t mentioned it, nobody would’ve known, but he does anyway because he’s just like. A good little kid. Either that or it’s anything to keep his mom on the line longer.

Another thing to note is that Tanaka briefly enters during this scene, but doesn’t even look at Chris as he drops his food off and leaves.

When she hangs up, we hear a little kissing noise, and then Chris kisses the phone receiver and rubs the back of his head. His expression doesn’t seem embarrassed, though, especially as he didn’t notice Sonic staring at him until the next shot. He looks perhaps relieved, a soft kind of happy, perhaps at the compliment she gave him immediately before her abrupt goodbye.

Sonic then asks why Chris referred to him as a cat; he doesn’t seem upset, just a little curious. Chris’s reaction is interesting here– the first thing he does is ask if Sonic is mad at him, and then immediately launch into an explanation.

After Sonic seems calm, Chris then curiously asks Sonic where he learned to talk. They’re interrupted by the phone ringing, and Chris seems incredibly confused that it rung. He answers almost robotically, and immediately grows excited upon hearing it’s his dad, though his voice still indicates surprise. You can really hear it in the line delivery of his og actress, Sanae Kobayashi.

Chris continues smiling blankly as his Dad talks about how his mom told him that a cat got into the estate and maybe he should update security. Chris swiftly assures him that it’s okay, and then says, “But more importantly, you’re very busy, aren’t you?”

Basically he already knows that this conversation will be less than a minute long, but he’s still smiling until his dad’s already hung up.

The rest of the scene plays out as Chris googles what hedgehogs eat, tries to feed Sonic cat food, and then rightfully freaks out when Sonic leaves to get a chili dog, considering he’s a fugitive. And while his face and mannerisms at the end of the scene does effectively display this worry, they really do hold on that shot for a while as he fades back into a sadder expression.

These scenes both serve as introductory scenes to Chris, and both visually and through dialogue, we have established:

Chris is constantly alone.

His world is dark until he finds Sonic.

He has a kind personality and doesn’t seem to be at all jaded or spoiled by his privileged upbringing.

His parents love him but are so absent that he doesn’t even bat an eye at the fact he won’t see his mom for a week. He is surprised when his Dad calls but immediately puts his work before his own well being.

He’s relatively calm, but only freaks out when he thinks Sonic might be mad at him, and when Sonic leaves.

I’d love to do a fucking scene-for-scene analysis of the entire show, but we’d be here for like twenty years so instead let’s uh. jump ahead a bit.

We slowly unravel Chris’s backstory and mental state throughout the first two seasons, in a slow way that I think is very effective and won’t be effective enough through this essay, but I’m gonna try my best.

Anyway, let’s jump ahead and cover his whole... thing.

Part II: The Backstory Scene that 4kidz Cut

The youngest we ever see Chris is in the season two penultimate episode. There’s a flashback to him as what seems to be a toddler, or just out of toddlerhood. This scene, right here, was cut in the English dub for... no real reason I can think of. In fact, it just makes Chris look less sympathetic.

The first shot we get is of Chris and his parents. Much like the Chris’s first scene, he is tiny, even tinier. But unlike that scene, everything is bright. It’s blinding, actually, as the doors are open and Chris’s parents stand in front of it. This is obviously from baby Chris’s perspective, representing his emotional state. With those doors open and his parents in front of him, he is covered in light. Covered.

His parents are quite formal in their parting words. “We’re leaving now,” his dad says. His mom then says, “I’m sorry, Chris. Make sure you behave until we return.”

Once again, I mentioned that this scene is from baby Chris’s perspective, so maybe they weren’t as formal when this actually happened. But that’s how it came across to Chris.

Sidenote, but honestly? Considering his age, this could very well be one of his earliest memories.

Little Chris says, “If I behave, will you come home right away?” While of course operating on little kid logic, this also reflects on how much he loves his family again, as all he wants is for his parents to be home with him.

His parents look at each other, confused on how to answer. They then give the worst answer– “Of course.” We see how happy this makes him, but it’s only a temporary happiness. They’ve just made a promise they cannot keep and they know it, and at baby Chris’s age, he will NOT understand that.

When they turn to leave, Chris’s face falls. They once again have a formal goodbye, and as they leave, the doors shut, and the light is gone, and he stands there for again a long time. I don’t think I need to explain what this symbolizes.

The next shot, we see Chris is reading a picture book by himself on the couch. Once again a small little guy in a big world; the book also seems to be The Little Matchgirl, which... oof. The story is about how a lonely orphan dreams about having a family as she slowly freezes to death, in case you weren’t aware. The two shots we see from the book are first of her freezing, and then of her looking in a window and imagining a family. As Chris reads this, he repeats that if he behaves, his parents will come home.

He then hears the door about to open and immediately leaps up and smiles widely.

It’s not his parents, it’s Ella, but she has presents from his parents!

Despite being a little kid who would normally be ecstatic at the prospect of new toys, Chris just looks numb as she speaks.

He takes no joy in the toy either, because his parents aren’t there with it.

So. I have worked at a daycare and as a babysitter for about... seven years now. Kids? They have separation anxiety. They will sob and scream and shout and kick and run if their mom is out of their sight. I recently babysat a kid who learned how to unlock the door so he could try and run after his parents which was terrifying for me tbh.

Chris’s reaction of just immediately falling into a numb depression isn’t something I saw in the kids I watched. At this age, they cry at the very least. Chris doesn’t even do that, he’s just staring. We get one voiceover at the end of this scene, as Chris just says, “It never came true.” Obviously referring to the promise– he behaved, and his parents still stayed away.

What impression does this give a kid that age? One of two things, if not both at once:

I am not behaving enough and I need to behave perfectly.

Mom and Dad don’t care enough to come home.

From knowing Lindsey and Nelson, we know this is not true. They’re busy, and they hope to show their love through gifts. But Chris’s love language is very much not gifts, it’s quality time. And he doesn’t. Get that.

From anyone.

Part III: Chris’s Abandonment Issues

As I’ve made it clear, Chris’s parents are never around. He doesn’t bat an eye at his mother saying she’ll be gone another week, and is surprised that his Dad even bothered to call. We saw all those family photos, but looking at them again, how many of them were taken at the same time, one of the few times his parents were home? How many is Chris standing stiffly, properly, instead of relaxing like a kid?

Another line from episode six really drives his home, one I think a lot of people miss.

Upon being told his parents are coming home, Chris remarks that it has been months since he’s seen them. Months.

Later in the episode, Chuck remarks on how it’s a miracle to see them both at the house at the same time. They laugh this off, and spend the rest of the episode anxiously waiting for Chris to get home because, yeah, they do care. When Chris gets home he immediately calls for them and gets tackle-hugged. As they do, he stiffens upon the physical contact, and looks awkward the whole time, like he’s not used to physical affection.

He’s then later surprised to hear his parents were worried he was late.

The next episode, Chris’s dad has already left by the next morning. When he hears his mom has unexpectedly left, he is upset, but not surprised; he immediately resigns himself to this and sighs before leaning back on the couch.

When he brings this up to his uncle, Sam immediately remarks that his sister is never home.

This is where Cream breaks, because she has seen Lindsey herself break down over not being there for Chris. Chris has not seen that. All he knows is that his mother was there and then was gone, despite their elaborate dinner plan, despite knowing he was bringing a guest to meet her.

Once again, he’s not surprised. Neither is Sam.

Similar with his Dad; in the previous episode, when they were worried, Nelson implies that he has a guard service making sure Chris doesn’t get abducted. They’re two seconds away from calling the US Military to find him. But they stop short of going after him, because they don’t want him to think they’re being overbearing.

We’ve firmly established this by now, okay? His parents are never home and haven’t been since he was, what? Three? Four, tops.

Nobody else was really there, either.

Ella and Tanaka seem to have done most of Chris’s raising. And while Ella and Tanaka are amazing, and definitely care a lot about Chris, it doesn’t change the fact that they are paid employees and Chris knows this. They’re paid to hang out with him. If they weren’t getting paid, Chris has no idea if they would even give a shit about him. Even with that, there’s not a ton of evidence they like. hung out with him outside of making sure he was alright. As mentioned, in the second episode Tanaka doesn’t even look at him as he delivers food. Not for lack of care, but probably because they’re busy as only two servants in a huge estate. This isn’t their kid, too, they’re under no obligation to raise him. Ella is the cook and Tanaka is the butler-bodyguard, they’re not childcare experts.

What about his grandpa? Sorry to break this to you but Chuck wasn’t around, either.

In episode 51, which we’re gonna keep coming back to as it’s the culmination of Chris’s arc, Chuck says this while reprimanding Nelson and Lindsey. He says, “I never blamed you for neglecting your household because you were too busy with work. That’s because I also did whatever I wanted and continued my research.”

Back to the second episode, when we first see Chuck, you notice on the second watch that Chris 1) doesn’t trust his grandpa enough to tell him that he’s hiding a fugitive in their house, 2) didn’t seem to expect him (or ANYONE) to walk in on them in the LIVING ROOM, 3) seems to not know a ton about his personality. He’s surprised when his grandpa closes the door on Sonic, and surprised that he’s a bit of an adrenaline junkie. It seems that instead of spending time with his grandson, Chuck spent most of his time in his shed tinkering with machines.

His uncle? Seems to visit on occasion, but has a government job. You know he’s never around, either.

So Chris is growing up in a huge house, which is serving to give him a constant reminder that nobody’s home. There are two servants going around working and sometimes saying hi to him, there’s a grandpa in the shed somewhere who might come in once or twice to watch TV, and there’s photos on the wall of parents who aren’t home. He’s like that for at least eight years.

OH, and let’s talk about the friends argument which I’ve confusingly seen. He’s got two friends at school. His parents seem to recognize Danny’s name, so Danny might have been a longtime friend, or at least friend he talked about before. But Danny and Frances, being barely in any episodes, we can assume they also have their own lives and things going on and thus don’t, like, hang out with Chris after school a lot. He uses Danny as an excuse for being late in ep6, but the fact that nobody seemed to expect him to be late implies this is not a usual thing. And of course it is ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY not on the shoulders of these other 12yos to emotionally support another kid, but it’s not like they’re immediately moving into his house and giving him attention 24/7. They’re friends. Which is all they need to be. But for a neglected child like Chris, they’re just another part of his life that comes and goes. Him having two buddies at school that he shares a table with (thus probably just. friends by proximity) doesn’t negate the neglect.

Looking at the photos on the wall again, there’s one photo of Chris with some kind of sports team, probably baseball. Considering how bad Chris played in the baseball episode, he probably didn’t stay there long, and considering we never see anyone even resembling the kids in that pic, we can assume they didn’t stay long-lasting friends. The other photos, they’re dressed in suits, like they’re taking professional photos. Once again stilted, stiff.

But I hear y’all on twitter now. “Oh, boo-hoo, his parents weren’t around. He was still living fancy, it’s fine.”

So let’s talk about the effects of emotional neglect on the childhood psyche.

Part IV: Connie Read Actual Research Papers and Scholarly Articles For This Instead of Doing Actual Work

So, here’s something that’s been seen recurrently in neglected children: kids are psychologically dependent on parents or caregivers throughout their whole childhood and adolescence.

From New Directions in Child Abuse and Neglect Research by the Committee on Child Maltreatment Research, “Children who have experienced abuse and neglect are therefor at increased risk for a number of problematic developmental, health, and mental health outcomes, including learning problems, problems relating to peers, externalizing symptoms [aggression or conduct disorder], and posttraumatic stress disorder. As adults, these children continue to show increased risk for psychiatric disorders, substance use, serious medical illnesses, and lower economic productivity.”

Let’s talk mainly about the mental health outcomes. Without a present caregiver, neglected children often fall behind on the abilities to regulate behavior or emotions. Several parts of the brain will end up altered due to early childhood neglect, including the stress response system, the emotion processing and regulation system, the learning and memory system, etc.

The stress response system is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortial axis, aka the HPA. The HPA is incredibly sensitive to early childhood experiences and an uncertain childhood can effect a lot of things, such as sleep patterns and hyperactivity. Abused children will often have higher spikes of cortisol, a high enough number of which can cause damage to the brain and premature aging.

The behavioral regulation is also most commonly affected in these victims; neglected children will often show “behavioral and emotional difficulties that are consistent with effects on the amygdala, such as internalizing problems, heightened anxiety, and emotional reactivity, and deficits in emotional processing.”

Other mental health issues are also seen; children with trauma experiences will show similar mental patterns as those with ADHD, and can have serious issues with inhibitory control– aka, controlling your impulses.

Then there’s the corpus callosum. (Insert SnapCube dub joke here.) The corpus callosum manages communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. Several studies have found that abused children have a much smaller corpus callosum than non-abused children, even those who are mentally ill; these effects are also more pronounced in boys than girls, which is relevant to our analysis of a 12yo anime boy from 2003. This means that their brain development will often be behind that of their peers, and it could take a while for them to mature.

That was long and boring Connie. Give us the tldr.

Okay don’t worry, the article got to that right about now. Children dealing with neglect will show several issues related to the interrupted development of these parts of their brain, including:

Extreme Deficits in Executive Functioning

Difficulty in regulating attention: As a note on this, 18.6% of abused and neglected teens are diagnosed with ADHD. Compared to 5% of other children. That’s like three times the amount!

And, most interestingly, the behavioral outcomes:

Difficulty forming trusting attachments to caregivers

Both Disorganized and Insecure Attachment Issues, usually getting severe Attachment Disorders

Reactive Attachment Disorder: Inhibited or emotionally withdrawn behavior, rarely seeking or responding to comfort

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder: Basically the opposite; it’s marked by a pattern of overly familiar behavior with strangers.

Emotion Regulation: infants learn how to deal with distress via their parents– how their caregivers handle stress, how they take care of problems and slowly introduce the ability to deal with them. Without that, abused and neglected children will often fail to develop effective strategies for regulating emotions. This will probably cause a lot of the following.

This also includes recognizing emotions in others. While abused children will identify anger quickly, neglected children tend to be worse than non-neglected children at identifying any facial expressions.

Their emotional issues can also cause them to feel isolated from their peers, as their peers do not understand them and do not act like them.

Anxiety

Depression– nearly a 3x chance compared to non-neglected kids

Dissociation

Conduct Disorder

PTSD

Physical issues include stunted growth and motor development, and lower health.

Note that these do not appear in all victims of neglect, these are just common symptoms.

Part V: Every “Annoying” Thing Chris Does is a Fucking Symptom

Difficulty forming attachments to Caregivers

In episode 43, Chris deals with a situation that’s obviously alien to him: his parents coming home to care about him.

His parents hear that he’s sick and drop everything to come home. This is clearly something that’s unusual, judging from both Chris’s and his grandpa’s reactions to it. Chris is confused and embarrassed, kinda numb and still, until his grandfather and father start arguing. Even then, he only reacts when they bring up Sonic.

He then yells that he hates his family and orders them to leave him alone. This doesn’t last long as they’re immediately attacked by more badniks, but it’s a beat they definitely put in there intentionally.

Also, he doesn’t seem to trust Chuck as an authority either. He really just sees him as an impulsive adrenaline junkie at best; in the cruise ship episode, Chuck is drunk the whole time and Chris doesn’t seem to care. It also says something that while Ella and Tanaka are present, he doesn’t trust them to tell them they might be finding an alien in the attic until they find out for themselves.

Difficulty Understanding Others’ Emotions

This one’s gonna be easy, as I talked about it earlier in the essay. When Sonic asks, “Was the cat supposed to be me?” Chris immediately assumes he’s upset and tries to placate him with an explanation. This happens throughout the show as well; let’s take Mr. Stewart for example, that man is obviously spying on him and inserting himself into his life and Chris thinks it’s maybe a little weird, not that much though. He also spends most of his time hanging out with Shadow standing there in complete obliviousness as to what Shadow is thinking or feeling. He doesn’t even seem to really register Shadow as a threat, instead throwing himself at him in hopes that he can convince him to help Sonic. In doing so, he also doesn’t think that Tanaka would at all be worried about him, and is surprised at their reunion that Tanaka was upset.

Aggression / Delinquincy

This was very underplayed, but in the Sonic Battle arc, we literally see him start to rebel. He tells Sonic that he’s sick of being the perfect rich kid, that he wants to be a problem on purpose sometimes. Sonic seems to completely understand that, as that’s a point Chris needs to reach. He has to realize he cannot be perfect and that’s okay.

[except that dialogue was all cut in the 4kidz version no im not bitter]

Only Chris explores his imperfection in a really bad way.

And now. Let’s get into the attachment.

And to do that, we need to get into...

Part VI: What Sonic Represents

This is a fascinating part of Chris’s psyche since I think it occurs both subconsciously and consciously, but when I drew attention to Sonic bringing the light back into Chris’s life? Yeah, that’s cause he did.

Everything changed only after Sonic arrived. Suddenly Chris’s parents are... visiting??? For once??? TOGETHER??? His grandfather wants to spend time with him! His friends at school are hanging out with him more and he’s even made new friends! And most importantly, he has the mobians around him constantly. He’s got constant attention from all of them, and while he quickly takes on the figure of the Responsible One, he’s still WITH PEOPLE. He’s gone from being alone all the time to surrounded by a rowdy-ass found family.

Most of all is Sonic. Chris seems to have attached himself mainly to Sonic, likely because in his mind Sonic represents the moment when everything changed. Of course, Sonic would probably have been the worst of the gang to get attached to, seeing as he runs off all the time. The first several episodes, even after they stop hiding from the public, Chris is noticeably upset whenever Sonic leaves. He only calms down after several, several episodes, after assurances from every character that this is just a thing Sonic does, he never sticks around anyway, don’t worry about it.

But still, he definitely attaches himself to this hedgehog for better or for worse.

And it gets worse.

Part VII: Even More Trauma

First we gotta talk about the end of Season One.

At the beginning of the arc, Chris is noticeably... incredibly depressed. He’s also disassociating hardcore. He’s constantly staring into nothing, his face upset, but as soon as someone snaps him back to reality, he forces a smile on his face, acting happy despite going through a ton of negative emotions at once. Almost like he’s trying to behave perfectly.

Chris realizes throughout the episode the attachment he’s gotten to the mobians, and especially Sonic, but even then he still does his best to help them. He steals a chaos emerald and runs off to Eggman in order to get them home, because it will make them happy! Nevermind if it doesn’t make Chris happy. He’s never worried about that anyway.

Of course this backfires and Eggman kidnaps him, and then Chris has to go through the serious trauma of. Well. Being strapped to a wall, forced to watch helplessly as Sonic fucking dies.

And he’s blaming himself for it too.

MAJOR shoutout to Kobayashi’s acting in this scene, holy crap. But he just screams, and then... BREAKS THROUGH METAL?? And GRABS the Chaos Emeralds despite them ELECTRIC SHOCKING HIM???

And then of course we get this incredibly subtle dialogue.

"I will not let you have it. I will not let anyone have it. They’re only mine. Only me. Sonic... Sonic, you’re staying with me forever.”

Immediately after this, Chris almost fucking dies, and is only saved by Super Sonic. When he sees Super Sonic, he reacts by... begging. He drops down, clinging to Sonic and screaming and crying that he is nothing without Sonic.

Chris literally yells that he can’t do anything without Sonic, because that’s how he felt before Sonic. He could not do anything to get anyone to care about him, it only happened when Sonic arrived. So that’s how he sees himself: useless, worthless.

Sonic of course stays, but then dips for six months. When he gets back, a fucking god attacks Chris’s neighborhood, destroying his city. He gets sent away for a month, but that’s interrupted by Sonic being declared a fugitive from the government. Then Chris ends up with Shadow. He gets kidnapped by the goth clone of his emotional support hedgehog. He bonds with the goth clone. He gets the shit beaten out of him begging the goth clone to help save the world. It works, and Shadow runs off to save the planet. And then DIES.

You can tell how traumatized Chris is by this in the next episode. He’s disassociating again, staring at nothing, and eventually asks his uncle if he thinks they can actually live in the same world.

Which is followed by...

Part VIII: The Season Two Finale

We get the rather worrying scene of Chris having to write an essay for his school about his ideal future. Literally all he can think of is that he wants to stay with Sonic forever. He has no other ideals for the future. Just being attached to Sonic.

Only to go downstairs and find out that Sonic HAS to leave. They ALL have to leave. Their dimensions are caving in on themselves and they need to separate.

So he enters the Denial stage of grief.

He seems... dazed. Like he’s in a trance, as he argues that Sonic can’t leave, that all he wants to do is be with Sonic, that he can’t be apart from Sonic because he’s only been able to do things since Sonic got here. This was the first time he’s had agency in his life and he places it all on Sonic.

He decides that it must be Eggman’s fault and literally tracks him down. When he finds out that it’s not Eggman’s fault, he is distraught, and what’s interesting to me is that Eggman seems to get it. He just tells his robots to let him go. Let him be alone. Let him accept it.

Chris then falls back into the depression/disassociation during the entire farewell. He doesn’t emote, he just stares ahead. Something they cut in the English version is that while Chris is politely saying goodbye, throughout the whole scene you can hear his inner monologue screaming. Crying not to let them leave.

So he doesn’t.

The penultimate episode of Season Two is the culmination of Chris’s arc and they do it so beautifully.

Sonic knows Chris is going through a breakdown, and he lets him figure it out for himself. He lets him run off with him, he lets him make the decisions about where they go. Chris starts to realize this but says nothing. They see his tearful parents on TV begging him to come home and he... groans and leaves.

The episode also subtley shows Chris doing things himself. Climbing up the mountain, picking their roads. Sonic is slowly trying to let Chris know he has his own agency. That he is his own person.

They get to the campsite that meant a lot to Chris in his childhood, one of the only times that his parents hung out with him, and he breaks. Asks Sonic why he doesn’t hate him. Why he hangs out with him. If he only hangs out with him out of obligation.

And he comes to the conclusion himself that no, he can’t keep Sonic here. He can’t keep Sonic away from his world just because he has attachment issues. It was what he knew was right in Season One but couldn’t get himself to understand no matter how hard he tried. But now he gets it. And now he can let Sonic go.

The episode is soooo good, sooo fucking good. And then in the season finale, when we see the aftermath of that, when Sonic takes him on one last run and... he sees Sonic crying? Realizes that Sonic does love him and still lets him go? It’s impactful. It’s emotional.

Then when his parents come get him and he just smiles? Because he realizes they did come for him? That if Sonic can love him without obligation, maybe other people do too?

Chris’s severe attachment issues and trauma from being neglected culminated in this episode, and he made a bad choice. And then he made the right one. And that’s so good.

Part IX: Some Season Three Notes

Chris’s inclusion in the third season was... weird. It felt like they didn’t want to animate his adult model so they shoved him into a child body and made an excuse for it. But honestly, after traveling there, you can kinda... tell how much Chris has grown.

He was trying to get back to Sonic, but not because he needed him, but because they were friends. He and his friends wanted to see their friends again. He only went alone because he had a sense Sonic was in danger. And even in the twelve-year-old body, he’s an adult now and he acts like it. His only real emotional issue is that he is upset he can’t fight as well in his kid body, but then he figures out he can be useful with his inventions and finds a place with Tails. He’s basically parenting the rest of them for the rest of the season, telling Cosmo that her impulsiveness reminds him of his younger self. He offers to give up a way to return home because he knows the Metarex problem is bigger than himself.

At the end, when Eggman offers him a way home, you can tell they expected him to freak out about it. They’re shocked when he just says thank you, cries, and leaves immediately. They clearly not only will miss him, but they expected him to freak out like he did at the age of twelve. But he’s not twelve anymore. He’s spent the last six years surrounded by people who love him, healing from his trauma, and becoming his own person. So now he isn’t unhealthily attached to Sonic, and he can say goodbye if he has to. That growth, so subtly in the background of the season, really impressed me.

Part X: Fandom Reaction

On June 24 2022, I posted this meme to both twitter and tumblr.

On tumblr I got no pushback and a few agreements. On twitter I got a tidal wave of discourse, which tells you a lot about the two sites but regardless, this is the first time I get to ratio my commenters cause as of today, it has 23.4k likes and only 161 replies and 156 quote tweets. So that’s barely over 300 people (TOPS, considering several replies were positive) arguing against 23,400. So I may not be the only one thinking this!

But even still, with this being my most viral post atm, I got so many people bitching about Chris still. Even after all these years, he’s despised for being so annoying. And what is it? Is it really the fact that he got main charactered over Sonic? Really, I thought that was a plus of the show, that Sonic was a static figure that influenced what was around him. It doesn’t work for every Sonic property, but it did for this one. Was it just a hatred for humans in the franchise? Probably not, everyone loved Helen and the recent movies.

I really do think a vast majority of it is his realistic reaction to the trauma of neglect. “Ugly” trauma symptoms, like attachment issues, impulsive destructive behavior, aggressiveness, and selfishness, they are not looked upon kindly. Just look at how TikTok picks and chooses cute parts of mental illnesses and calls the rest “toxic.” And yes, sometimes mental illness can cause you to be toxic! And sometimes you’re just mentally ill! Sometimes you just have bad days and bad decisions and horrible mental states, and sometimes, life gets better. Sometimes life gets better and you begin to heal, and that’s what Chris’s arc was about, about him slowly gaining his own agency and starting to heal from his abandonment trauma. And he does this through the help of others. But with him having several moments where he reverts, several moments where his healing is non-linear, viewers see it as an annoying personality trait, not a trauma symptom he is trying to overcome. And one that he does. I cannot emphasize enough that he does overcome this and that the narrative specifically focuses on it. I’ve seen so many people say it was a writing flaw, that they never criticized Chris for his attachment to Sonic... it’s the focus of two season finales, what are you talking about? I think at that point, it’s just you.

Just think about why you find him annoying. You do not have to like Chris as a character but please recognize that his arc is a realistic portrayal of a neglected child and that’s why he is the way he is.

Part XI: Conclusion

I was gonna write a full-ass conclusion here but tumblr’s already trying to kill me over wordcount so uh. tl;dr Chris isn’t annoying he’s a traumatized child and this is something the narrative notices, examines, and resolves. What this means is that it’s not a writing problem, it’s a character flaw brought on by trauma that his character arc makes him heal from.

Leave him alone.

[twstfanblog]

Honestly, I just love to hear you rant!!! My request is any au you choose, with Crewel, Rook, and Vil, together or separate, your choice!!! I think your rants are super sweet and sound so much like my own to my friends!!! It kinda makes me think of when I spent 30 minutes trying to find out how much a pint of ale cost in 1843 England for one sentence in something I was writing! 😅 Too bad I'm already following you, because I would totally follow you again! Can't send the Tumblr gift thingies though, because screw American capitalism.

(That price of ale thing is literally how deep I get into world building if Im not careful XD Most days I just go, IT'S FINE YOU DON'T KNOW JUST KEEP WRITING)

Hmmmm... I've written about them all a lot in most of my AU's, honestly. I dont have anything really rant worthy left to say about...I literally had a whole hour to think about it, so instead, I'm just gonna drop another AU so I can get you something new about them. My Manhwa AU is pretty self-serving, but it's got plenty of Vil, Rook, and Crewel sprinkled in.

Basic idea of the AU is that 'Villainess' type story. Yuu was seen as a villain in the original timeline, only to die and come back in time to when she was a child with her full memories. She vows to change her ways and not die in such a way again.

Crewel and Crowley are Yuu's birth parents (Because my AU's are just the same universes in different settings-oop) Crewel married Crowley 100% for the money and power since Crowley was an arch duke. You couldn't call it a marriage of convenience hard enough. But of course, Crewel had to have a puppy to fufill his duty. Crewel will openingly treat Crowley like the bumbling man he pretends to be, but he is an adoring yet stern father to his precious puppy. So you can imagine when she wakes up one day and doesn't act like herself at all. He's so concerned about her...

Vil isn't nobility, but he and his father are both rich and popular enough to buy a title. Both actors, Vil leaves for the performance to the point he was called a succubus by one of his cast stars (teenagers acting so good one falls in love but the other is like 'dude we were acting, calm down'). Vil holds onto his issues with always being casted as a villain but he holds it in much better because hes just happy that he's well liked enough to always perform. As he gets older in this AU he starts to really show his support for the arts and all who create it. He's even started looking for investors to help him fund an acting school.

Rook is a noble man, lover of the odd and offbeat art, no one but his family really accepted his art. But he tried and he shared it with everyone he could. Vil saw it during an artshow and kinda tore it apart publicly by going on and on about how disturbed it made him feel. The current brownnoser tried to 'agree' saying it was bad art.

Vil:

Vil: There's no such thing as "bad art", you toad. I said it disturbed me, I find it grotesque is a very...eyecatching way. It's not bad because it made me feel something.

So Rook falls in love instantly and basically hunts this mean beauty.

They end up working well together because Vil has FINALLY found someone willing to write him in a hero role and PROPERLY CRITIQUE THINGS WITH. They discus art and what makes something 'moving' vs 'shock value'. They fall in love hard for each other to the point Vil accepted Rook's proposal and is already 60% planned through their wedding. Only to realize he never told anyone when his dad asked if he was open to seeing anyone because he's been told many a young man and lady would like to court him.

(SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG TO DO!!!)

[wandas-lunchbox]

so sick of you (chapter 3)

series summary: you and natasha have ended your relationship due to her cheating on you. it's been 5 years now. what happens when you bump into her at a bar on your birthday?

warnings: some swearing, but otherwise none

a/n: omg guys i’m acc so sorry this took 2 whole years to write. we’re gonna pretend that never happened…. you may end up having to wait another 5 years for the next chapter

finally i was on the plane. it felt like it took forever. it was an overnight flight which was good because i could finally get some sleep. wanda like the rich ass she is got us business class so we were pretty comfortable throughout the plane journey.

a couple hours had past and we were still mid air, wanda and i were sat next to eachother and in the chair next to me was a fairly pretty woman. ok i lied she was gorgeous. her hair was brunette with waves, she wore these black rimmed glasses and her lips looked so beautiful. i dont know why i noticed her lips but i guess i just did.

oh well.

i decided to get up and strech my legs for a bit, i felt some cramps in my legs so i needed to walk. wanda was snoring next to me while when harry met sally was playing in the background. i took a photo of her for evidence later. i walk up and head to the bathroom. it was occupied.

i stood there for a good whole 5 minutes till i heard faint moans coming from the bathroom. what the fuck. why are people having sex in an airplane bathroom, thats the most disgusting thing ever. they needed to hurry up bc a girls got to piss.

the beautiful brunette girl walks up to me, or well i guess to the bathroom. i admire her face.

“are people seriously having sex in an airplane bathroom”

i laugh and continue to look at her.

“honestly, like i understand doing it in your seat but the bathroom? seriously? thats the dirtiest place on the whole plane,” i said

“she laughs, are you headed to italy or is it a stop before another flight?” she asks

“yeah i’m going to italy, a friend actually planned this as a birthday trip, what about you?”

“oh, i live in italy, sorry let me rephrase i am italian and i used to live there, just visiting some family” she says

“oh nice, you’ll have to tell me some of the great places to go”

“of course!” she smiles at me

suddenly the bathroom door opens and a lady and a man walk out. both of them fixing their hair snd their clothes.

“after you,” the brunette says

“wait, i never ended up getting your name”

“we still have a whole 2 hours left of this flight, don’t worry you’ll figure it out” she laughs

i lock the door and began to do my buiness. i look at myself and i think i’ve seen death. my hair was a mess, and eye bags darker than ever.

i fixed it as a quick as possible before returning to my seat.

i smile at the girl before she goes in. when i sit at my seat i slap wanda a couple times trying to tell her what happened just now. she just slaps me back harder and starts snoring.

this girl could cause an avalanche with her snoring.

suddenly the girl returns to her seat and we continue to converse as if nothing had stopped us before.

we spoke as if we had known eachother forever. maybe we did?

the flight started to come to an end but our conversation definitely didn’t.

“you got a number or something?”

“yeah here let me type it for you.

i type in my number and write “your plain gf ;)” misspelling plane.

she laughs and points it out. “guess you’re a basic girlfriend then”

i look at her confused, only for her to show me i misspelled plane. i laugh and blush akwardly.

when the plane lands it takes forever for me to wake up wanda. this bitch just wouldn’t wake up.

after what felt like 3 trillion years, i get her up and we start to get ready to leave the plane.

we were in italy…

a/n: omg finally chapter 3 is out

lmk if you want to be added to the taglist making a new one

new year new me 😜

[11queensupreme11]

How would the yanderes react to the character and way of being of Piper and her relationship with Percy, I mean, I'm not judging Rick, but he went out of his way to make a Mary Sue and an icon for women with his way of being even at the expense of ruining his other characters (Annabeth, Percy, etc.) giving him powers that are not relevant in the previous books we had been told that the witchspeaker does not It worked with the gods and out of nowhere comes Piper and it worked when she manipulated Gai later with her attitude of "I'm a daughter of Aphrodite who doesn't like to be pretty, attract attention, be rich." I don't like that my father is a famous actor either, he knows how to fight and that makes me different from my mother's other children." What is this about? Aphrodite's children demonstrated several times that not only did they She worries about their appearance and that they know how to fight especially in the last hero of Olympus and most of the time Piper likes to be paid attention when she is with the 7 in the Argo I feel like Piper would be the type of character who has the script on her side and that's why things turn out well for her. While Rick gives Percy and Nico every character development that makes you think "stop Rick, he's one step away from breaking down," Piper literally said that he suffered a lot in his childhood because"Her father was not with her and he preferred to spend his time working" that is not suffering, your father spent his time working so he could take care of you Meanwhile, Percy's mother also worked and kept her away from him and she did not put herself in a suffering role, Nico Zeus killed his mother, Jason was abandoned by his mother, Leo had to see his mother Dying and blaming himself for it, But each one moved forward While Percy and the others, sorry, but I'm going to focus on my daughter in the books, it seems to me that sometimes Piper doesn't like Percy for the simple fact of being a competition.For Jason being the son of Poseidon

Sorry, I got excited and deviated from the question, what is it:

How would the yanderes react to Piper if she somehow didn't like Percy or treated her badly in the Argo when Percy tried to (as she did in most of the Mark of Athenea book) give orders

It may be a very unlikely situation according to some that Piper treats her badly but it is that in blue arsenic Percy adopted a personality that Piper and most feminists would not like.(Act adorable and like a helpless little girl)

(MY RESPONSE ENDED UP BEING SO LONG TOO LMAO, I'M SORRY)

so a long time ago i found this funny website about the types of mary sues, and here are the ones i feel like piper fits the bill for:

-> not just about piper's issues with her dad and being rich, but her whole thing with jason, which is ESPECIALLY prevalent in toa, where she bemoans about how hera and aphrodite FORCED her into a relationship with jason, when that was not the case at all. throughout all of hoo, we read about piper going through with the false memories even after being told that they were fake memories conjured by the mist, wishing that jason doesn't remember his past so he would stay with her, getting jealous over reyna, getting upset whenever jason thinks about anything related to camp jupiter, etc.

but rick was getting a lot of backlash over jasper/jiper, so he breaks them up in toa, but does it in a way to make PIPER look like the victim instead because, again, he really likes her and wants ppl to sympathize with her

-> someone on quotev mentioned this, but basically piper and annabeth lol. when piper first landed in camp, annabeth was spilling EVERYTHING to her and immediately became vulnerable, when annabeth was never characterized to be like that. she has always been standoffish at times, and after the war, she definitely wouldn't be spilling all her woes to a random girl. but again, rick wants her to be liked, and the best way to do that was immediately have her connect with a well-loved character from the first series

(i'm really sorry about these big ass adds that appear in the middle 💀)

-> piper out-charmspeaking drew, which was made easier for her since the aphrodite kids were given a massive downgrade personality and skill-wise. and like you mentioned before, her charmspeak working on goddesses even though it shouldn't.

-> piper has done a lot of stuff wrong. before they get to kansas, she gets visions from katoptris about jason having golden eyes (he and percy gets possessed by the eidolons and are forced to try and kill each other), REPEATEDLY gets a vision of her, jason, and percy DROWNING, and a dude with a vine hat (bacchus). and she only every speaks about the dude with the vine hat 💀. and after she, jason, and percy drown, she confesses that she had seen it before and apologizes for not saying anything because "i didn't know how to tell you guys 🥺" and she's immediately forgiven

-> honestly, it's not really just piper, but it shows more with her 💀 rick was trying to make her a feminist icon, but she reeked of internalized misogyny and it didn't help that all of her enemies or rivals were female characters who were comfortable with their femininity (they liked pink, wore makeup, liked dresses/skirts, etc.) and she triumphed over them every single time, which is basically proves that piper was RIGHT to think that way 💀

-> she was obsessed with jason bro 💀 like, almost possessive kinda yandere, but ofc it was never supposed to be seen that way, rick just unwittingly wrote her that way which is kinda funny

-> she's not exactly a villain (she's supposed to be one of the good guys) but she was DEFINITELY spoiled by the story for sure 💀

OKAY IM SORRY I WENT ON A TANGENT TOO, BUT I WANTED TO SHOW YOU THE SITE I FOUND LMAO 😭

i'm not gonna have piper and percy interact much, tho to be fair, they didn't interact much in canon either so i don't think anything will change. piper will definitely notice percy's more girly side and be like "ew :/" but she's mostly going to be daunted by her because YES, she's girly and a bit of a girlflop, but she's seen her fight and seen how powerful she can be. she's mostly just gonna be sus and jealous cuz i plan on fleshing out percy and jason's relationship

(i plan on making jason lowkey jealous and bitter about percy because percy is everything he strives to be: perfect, and it makes him insecure. plus, she's clearly well-loved not just by the camp, but by her father and other gods, and he feels inadequate and wants to be like her, but percy's gonna try and help him through with it 🥺💖)

daddyseidon obviously detests piper and is pissed that she refuses to obey percy's orders. in his eyes, his daughter has the highest status out of everyone there and every word she says should be law 💀

hades is put off by piper. he doesn't understand what her problem is LMAO. while he doesn't think it's right for percy to be in charge (she's just a wittle baby, she should be in the palace and chilling, not fighting for her life! 🥺), she's still of higher status and should be obeyed.

(imagine their shock when they find out that percy's actually NOT treated as a princess there and is just treated as One of Them, which she's perfectly cool with ofc, but they hate ittttt 😂😂😂)

apollo is disgusted. his whole thing is about loving yourself and with piper's blaring internalized misogyny, she clearly does NOT love herself and makes it everyone's problem in his eyes 😭😭 he's so worried about percy, what piper's her pissy attitude influences his darling?!?!?! 🥺

beelzebub would just want her dead 💀 his stress levels are high okay, this poor man is stuck watching the love of his life fight against giants, monster, and GAEA 24/7, he just wants them all DEAD ALREADY

loki would find her the most hilarious thing ever (in a derogatory way). she's so full of contradictions it almost makes him feel better about himself 😭 says she's not boy-obsessed and that her siblings are pathetic losers, but acts crazy when it comes to jason. etc etc. it's not until she makes her dislike to percy known that he sobers up and goes "ok that bitch has got to go 😤"

anubis (omg i think this is the first i ever got to write about him like this?!) wouldn't even CARE about piper. she wasn't even in his RADAR and she would've been perfectly safe!! ...but then she goes and does ONE wrong thing to percy and now all bets are off 💀 anubis would've been the only one who would've spared her cuz his only concern is percy, but once she goes after her, he's planning on killing her and using her bones as a chew toy 💀

[etoiile]

WHAT MAYBE COULD HAVE BEEN

starring nagi seishiro!

synopsis: nagi has a nice life. its peaceful and he needn't work too hard, just like he likes it. sometimes, though, every once in a while, he sits around with his regrets thinking about what maybe could have been.

notes: i tried to write angst but it didnt rly work lolol

nagi is, for the most part, pretty content with his life.

its kind of a no-think-just-do kind of thing, which he quite enjoys. he goes to his 9-5 office job, comes back, tends to choki, eats dinner, plays games for a few hours, and goes to bed. then, the cycle repeats. its basic, sure, but there's nothing wrong with that.

except that there's, well, everything wrong with that.

now, don't get him wrong. he's grateful for his relatively leisurely life and enjoys the slow pace. he's a lazy guy, after all. a life full of action and emotion just wouldnt be very him.

but still, every so often, nagi will find himself wondering, daydreaming, thinking, about what maybe could have been.

about what maybe could have been if he decided to go pro with isagi and reo and chigiri and them. maybe then, he could be rich and famous. his mind could be surpassing limits and soaring to new heights. he could be a renowned soccer player like that.. noel no.. something.. guy? the really good one on tv that chigiri was talking about. he could be an inspiration to millions!

nah, nagi doesnt need wealth nor fame. hes fine with the humble lifestyle he leads. plus, part of the reason he enjoys said lifestyle is because he doesnt need to do much thinking. his brain can just relax and be lazy. in some ways, its better this way. thinking is such a hassle!

but then, he thinks about what maybe could have been if he'd tried harder in school. he could be working a high-paying job and could be living in a house. choki could have a family and he'd be able to spend more freely. think of all the games he could buy that he cant afford on his corporate salary.

again, nah. he still did pretty well in school without much effort. a corporate job may not be fancy, but its good work. plus, what would he even be doing with a house? his apartment has all the space he needs, and choki's thriving on his own! he doesnt need cactus friends. plus, having to care for a house and more cactuses would be such a hassle. not to mention the work you have to put in for a higher-paying job.

but sometimes, he thinks about what maybe could have been if he kept in touch with his friends from blue lock. he could still have late-night talks with chigiri, and spend quality time at the park with isagi. then, he could actually hangout with people. reo's away pretty often, so they dont hang much.

once more, nah! nagi's plenty happy with choki, reo, and the coworkers that hes become friendly with. he's an introvert, after all. too many friends would become too exhausting, and it would zap the peacefulness out of his peaceful life. even being with reo is a hassle sometimes.

all of it is a hassle. he's fine with the way everything turned out, really.

but afterwards, once he's lying in his bed, trying to submit to slumber, he finds himself really, really thinking about what maybe could have been.

about what maybe could have been if he hadn't decided that you, too, were a hassle.

about what maybe, just maybe, could have been if he picked up your phone calls every time, even when he was gaming. about what maybe could have been if he took time out of his day for you and only you. about what maybe could have been if he said 'i love you' more, and comforted and reassured you. about what maybe could have been if he valued you. treasured you. treated you right.

about what maybe could've been if he'd done all of it right. then maybe, just maybe, he could be playing the match of his life right now, with you cheering him on in the sidelines, crying out his name, waiting to go home to a place you deserve to be with a whole choki family.

about what maybe could've been if he just didnt declare it all to be a hassle, and maybe he could've touched the stars.

but for now, nagi sleeps. he has to go to his 9-5 tomorrow, after all.

𝐄𝐓𝐎𝐈𝐈𝐋𝐄 ©𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑 please do not copy or repost my work on any other site. interactions appreciated! 🤍

[minniesmutt]

⚠︎ ━━━ DINNER

⚠︎ ━━━  WC: 1.3K

⚠︎ ━━━  CONTENT: MENTIONS OF POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION,

     Nervous was the only thing to describe what Jeongin was feeling as he drove him and y/n to his family home. He did call his parents and ask to talk to them earlier in the week. He sat down and explained the whole situation to them. The talk went well enough — he was still alive. Now he was driving her over to the home for dinner. 

     Y/n didn’t seem as nervous as him but still slightly. She did feel better knowing (Astrid) was there. Someone she knew to break the ice. And they just happened to pull up as they were getting the baby out of the car. 

     “Ready?” Jeongin asked as he turned his car off. 

     “Yeah,” Y/n said 

     “I did tell them that we’re not together and don’t plan to be so hopefully it doesn't come up,” Jeongin warned her as they got out of the car 

     “Okay,” Y/n nodded.

     She was the one that brought up co-parenting only so why did the last part sting a bit?

     “I was going to yell at you if you were late,” (Astrid) told her friend

     “I’m surprised you guys are on time,” Jeongin replied

     “Look, I tried not to be,” Jisung said closing the door behind him while holding his daughters’ car seat in the other 

     “Gross,” Jeongin shook his head

     The four walked into the house. Y/n was a bit taken aback by how big it was but she shouldn't have been too surprised. The Yang’s were rich after all, so it made sense to have a bigger house. From what she knew, Jeongin had two brothers, and (Astrid) had told her that two boys alone were a lot till his younger brother was born. Plus her parents would have (Astrid) over more when they were teenagers. 

     “Mom!” Jeongin called into the house.

     “We’re in the kitchen!” a male voice called

     The four walked further into the house, Y/n starting to get a bit nervous now. Especially seeing her baby’s father's family gathered. 

     “You guys brought Deiji,” Y/n assume Jeongin’s older brother asked

     “Of course we did,” (Astrid) told him as she greeted the family. 

     Y/n watched as they all greeted each other. “This is Y/n,” Jeongin mentioned

     Y/n smiled as his mom came around the kitchen island, “it’s nice to meet you, my dear.” she greeted

     “It’s nice to meet you too,” Y/n said before the older women pulled her in for a hug

     Y/n hugged her back before the woman pulled away, “can I get you anything to drink?” she offered

     “Water, please.”

     “Why don't you offer me something to drink?” Jeongin joked as his mom hit his shoulder 

     “You lived for how long?” she asked him

     “What about me?” (Astrid) asked 

     “You also grew up here,” Jeongin retorted

     “I didn't,” Jisung inputted as he hiked his daughter up in his arms a bit

     “Between Jeongin and Astrid, you should know enough,” Jeongin’s mom answered as she handed Y/n a glass of water

     “Thank you,” Y/n said 

     “So Y/n what do you do for work? Jeongin just told us the basics of how you two met and nothing else.” Jeongin’s dad asked

     “I’m an editor for an online paper,” Y/n answered 

     “Have you thought about any changes after the baby comes?” his mom asked

     “No. I still haven't told my boss about the pregnancy yet.”

     “What about your family? Do they know?”

     “Yeah. They live a bit of a way away so I gave them a call earlier today and told them.”

     “Were they excited?” 

     “Yeah. They've always wanted grandkids.”

     “So have we. Didn't think it would be Jeongin,” his mom said

     “Ah!” Deiji yelled

     Both her parents, Jeongin, and his brothers laughed at the baby’s opinion on the grandkid matter

     “You tell her,” (Astrid) smiled

     “She gets that from you,” Jeongin’s mom warned her. 

     “I don’t know. Ji’s pretty sassy too sometimes,” (Astrid) told her.

     “No, I’m not,” Jisung defended himself

     “Your mom begs to differ.”

     “You do have an attitude sometimes,” Jeongin agreed

     “I hope your kid is just like you,” Jisung told his friend 

     The pre-dinner conversation continued and Y/n lost all her nerves. Jeongin’s family mainly got to know her and asked her questions about herself and her work. The family was laid back, and normal. Y/n appreciated it— though she felt a bit anxious when (Astrid) went to feed her baby before dinner. Jeongin seemed to notice and squeezed her shoulder as he continued his conversation. 

     “Jisung, go tell your fiancée dinners ready,” Jeongin’s mom said 

     “Okay,” Jisung agreed and walked down the hall. 

     “I thought you were going to do something different with the room?” Jeongin’s youngest brother asked 

     “Might as well keep it now In’s gonna have a kid,” his older brother said

     “Room?” Y/n asked as they all sat at the dinner table, waiting for the other three

     “We converted one of the bedrooms into a nursery slash playroom when Deiji was first born. She had some postpartum depression and there were times Jisung couldn’t be around but (Astrid’s) been better so she’s not over as much,” Jeongin’s mom explained 

     “We’ll probably have to change a few things once you two find out what you’re having,” his dad commented

     “We’ll have to wait and see before we make any changes,” his mom said 

     “She’s still feeding Deiji. Said to start without her,” Jisung said as he walked back into the room

     “All right. Make her a plate, at least Jisung.” 

    Everyone moved to grab some food from the center before fully sitting and starting to eat. The conversation continued as (Astrid) came back with her daughter. Taking a seat next to her fiancé while her daughter immediately tried grabbing the plate of food in front of her. 

     Jisung took his daughter from his fiancé before the little girl started to get passed around the table while everyone ate. Eventually landing on Y/n’s lap towards the end of the night. 

     “She’s getting tired,” (Astrid) noted as she looked at her daughter

     The baby laid back against Y/n, playing with her fingers, comfy and ready to sleep. Y/n was completely unaware of Jeongin smiling at her holding his niece. Everyone decided to call it a since the baby was getting sleep and everyone had work in the morning. 

     Y/n handed the sleepy baby to Jisung to put her in the car seat before saying goodbye to her baby’s father’s family. 

     “Thank you for having me,” Y/n said as his mom hugged her

     “Anytime my dear. Don’t be afraid to call if you need something,” his mom answered and handed her her number

     Y/n thanked her again before all the young adults left the house. Jeongin and (Astrid) said goodbye to his brothers before turning to their cars. 

     “Drive safe guys,” Jisung called as he opened the door for his fiancée. 

     Y/n and Jeongin waved bye to their friends and In opened the door for Y/n. She thanked him and climbed in. She put on the seatbelt as he climbed into the driver’s side and started up the car

     “That went well,” Y/n commented 

     “I had a feeling it would after I talked with them. Though my mom was very serious about calling her anytime. High chance she’s gonna ask you to get coffee with her.”

     “That’s fine,” Y/n laughed, “She’s nice. I’m glad she’s our kids' grandma.”

      Jeongin smiled to himself as he drove her home. The two talk about a few things for the baby and their week. 

     “Do you want me to walk you up?” Jeongin asked as he parked outside her building.

     “No, it’s fine. Thank you for the ride,” Y/n smiled as she grabbed her bag. 

     “Anytime,” Jeongin smiled as she got out of the car. 

     Y/n waved bye after closing the door and headed up to her apartment.

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[quixtrix]

the significance of blue - a somewhat analysis on the lost temple cult

the heretic katana skin jus got shown to the general public and the detail that stands out to me the most is the fact that katana's horns are dyed blue. teal blue is the colour motif of the church of the lost eye, and the fact that they go as far as to make members dye their horns for this blue is very interesting! let's get into why I think they do this and more about the church of the true eye :P

for starters, i am an art history nerd, i'm going into uni for an art history related major, and took an art history class. these are my credentials before you tell me im insane (but also i am overanalysing phighting rn so maybe i am insane). pls dont like. kill me for overanalysing actually i jus really like doing this kinda thing lol dont read if you dont wanna hear me yapping

with that being said, in history, blue has been historically associated with wealth and religion. this is due to the fact that blue, specifically cobalt blue, is difficult to mine, and because a deep rich blue such as cobalt blue doesn't have an easy alternative for the colour. the standard of ur for exactly is a symbol of wealth because of the amount of blue that it uses.

on the religion side, or at least in abrahamic religions (i cannot currently remember if hinduism or buddhism treasures blue like that), blue is associated with heaven. obviously because the sky is blue and what not, but also because it represents the spirit of god. this may also be because of the aforementioned difficulty of acquiring blue, but religious figures and buildings use blue a lot, enhancing the association with blue and religion.

this all fits in line with the lost temple, which 1. is a place of wealth 2. the largest religious organisation we've seen in phighting. blue fits them, analysis done and dusted.

wrong. i woulda let this slide if we didn't establish that dying your horns is a way to express oneself in phighting.

look at all the members for me real quick, look at their horns.

yeah i included dollmaker mainly bc it said on the wiki shes in the cult. shes not apart of this analysis tho sorry dollmaker fans.

all various shades of blue! specifically teal and dark blue. whether it be dye or not, it's something noteworthy.

i wanna point out that it's said that medkit and katana both share the same shade of teal. yknow what else that medkit and katana share that's related to the church?

only mention of biological family on med's side btw. also, since he was born with teal horns its smth of note.

and then katana has a brother. this is literally in dialogue.

yknow what's a big thing in the church of the true eye? family. their whole schtick is being a whole big family. honestly, katana might not even have a biological brother if my assumption on how the cult's rankings work.

basically, the highest figure we know in the cult, whether he be the head of it or jus a real high ranking figure, is referred to as 'the father.'

it's not a stretch to assume that the hierarchy within the cult is based off of a family. those who are the lowest are referred to as the acolytes (i assume they are the lowest because the broker refers to them as a whole and not individuals), those who are higher may possibly referred to with more traditional family titles such as 'brother' or 'sister' or even possibly 'mother.' it would make sense given the fact that they're literally big on the family thing. why would you call the whole thing family if you won't do the silly culty thing with the brother and sister thing within the cult do you hate love and joy and fun??? (obviously matches are a different thing entirely, but i feel like outside of the phighters we see, the reputation of being a cult family as opposed to jus some weird ass cult obviously had to come from somewhere. besides, reserving titles such as brother and sister for higher ranking officials would show significance).

i highlight the fact that katana and medkit have the same shade of teal because colour is so significant in the cult. broker, medkit, and katana look to have similar uniforms in terms of build and colour, with katanas being kinda an inverse of broker's. they all seem to work underneath scythe as well, with scythe in a white uniform and more gold, appearing to be more wealthy and have influence in the cult. while she also has teal horns, it's darker than katana and medkit's, and i don't have enough information to gather what that darker shade of teal could really mean.

but regardless, teal horns in the context of the church of the true eye can possibly mean literal familial connection. that's one possibility. we're going through possibilities of the meanings of the colours right now. i say this because medkit would have most likely been fucked if he didn't have the familial connection to the church because from what we've seen, going to another faction is not a real welcome thing to do. and then katana's horns are clearly dyed that specific teal, when he hasn't dyed his horns red at all. he could have had them dyed like broker's darker blue, but they're not.

teal horns could also jus be a cult thing and broker's jus being the lil weirdo he is. but i jus can't let go of the fact that medkit's horns and katana's horns are basically the same colour. it's been bothering me. it's why im here yapping right now. honestly i wish i could also explain why dollmaker or scythe has tealish horns as well, (with the lil bits on both of their horns sticking out!) but i jus don't have enough info on dollmaker.

anyways, since i'm already talking about katana's and medkit's horns, let's talk about that little gold ring on both of their horns.

horn decoration has mostly been seen as, once again, expression, but historically irl jewellery has a lot of significance culturally and religiously. first thing that comes to mind is the stretching of the ear lobes, which is associated with status and religion (think the buddha.) within the world of phighting, we rarely if ever see jewellery on horns outside of the cult. honestly i jus assumed that medkit was cunty but with the large gold piece on heretic katana's horn, it has to have more significance.

also. why are they on the same side. i know that the right side and the left side have meanings within abrahamic religions (eg. muslims not using their left hands to eat or drink because of the devil, 'the right hand of the father' being because the right hand of god is metaphor for his omnipotence) but i don't have enough info for the ring. it could mean that you were accepted as more than an acolyte within the cult, or again, the family tie, but there's jus nothing at the time of writing this that i can figure out. it's a bit frustrating. it could jus mean they're wealthy though

anyways, i think that's all my thoughts on the church of the true eye. i actually have a small idea on who the deity the church worships, but also i feel like that's like theorising who's the in universe jesus christ (because the church unironically can be compared to christianity. i might make another yap sesh on that.) so i didn't go into it in here lol. tell me all ur thoughts nd feelings on this, my askbox is open :P

[eli-am-confused]

please tell me more about your au with Wiley, Sheila, Duke & Holloway :0

The general idea is that they grow up together and solve Hatchetfield “mysteries” which mostly involves throwing hands with cultists and saving people from becoming another missing persons case. I can see them solving smaller problems to, but I just can’t get the image of them punching cultists in the face out of my head. I imagine they’re also discovering stuff about Hatchetfield along the way.

This au is based on Scooby Doo and Solve It Squad with hints of Gravity Falls because of some obvious reasons. Basically, childhood friends from mid-elementary to the end of high school who get up to some serious hijinks. They split up after high school due to a multitude of factors but specifically after the Accident™️ which causes Holloway to make her deal. They do end up back in Hatchetfield and as a group in adulthood but that takes time and a LOT of stuff happens before then. I’m mostly focused on them as kids and teens tho because that’s when most of the au stuff actually happens.

That gets me to some miscellaneous thoughts, that you probably weren’t asking for but I don’t exactly have a lot of people to talk to about this, over the au in no particular order and with no particular significance. (Keep in mind that not everything is quite set in stone and I love hearing other ideas.)

- Duke is the youngest, then Holloway, then Wilbur, and lastly Sheila is the oldest. Sheila likes to shove it in everyone’s faces that she’s the oldest but Wilbur’s the only one who ever falls for the bait. The other two just roll their eyes and go back to whatever they were doing prior to it getting brought up.

- The whole group has a tendency to banter and pick fights with each other. Sheila is especially bad about it and Wilbur is really bad about always falling into her traps. The only person in the group who is constantly good at shooting down someone who’s trying to pick a fight is Duke, he’s also very efficient at ending fights. That, of course, doesn’t mean he isn’t prone to getting into some mischief of his own from time to time.

- Believe it or not Wilbur has the capability of being the most serious of the group. He can get really into a case and is very protective over his friends and “civilians” that accidentally get caught up in the supernatural. He has the uncanny ability to flip from childish to serious, as he grows older he uses this to his advantage.



- Ok so I’m sure you’re all aware of my Jon Matteson (+Curt Mega) character family tree head-cannon/au. Well, that is also a part of this au because I’m in love with them being the biggest, most confusing family in Hatchetfield.

That being said, Duke is the oldest brother of like 5 and takes his job as oldest very seriously. Despite being the youngest of the friend group he is a professional mother hen and is always carrying medical supplies, water, and snacks in his backpack (plus some important case files and books on the weird and unusual). He also has a very “no man left behind” mentality but I think the whole group echoes that sentiment.

- Wilbur may be an only child but he’s grown up pretty close to his cousin Ted. They have an almost sibling relationship, but are much meaner to each other so a lot of people assume they don’t get along. But a lot of people also have the tendency to assume they’re twins so what do they know anyway?

- Sheila is an only child rich kid. Her parents are also a part of a cult but she doesn’t realize it or get involved with the cult until her senior year of high school. She is a confusing case when it comes to sociability because on one hand she can be absolutely terrible about interacting with others but on the other she knows how to manipulate others into doing the things she needs them to do.

- Holloway is an orphan who didn’t know her parents. Despite growing up around a lot of other kids she’s always felt like an outsider. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t look out for the other kids tho, she’s just more of a cool cousin than an older sister type. Holloway is the worst at social interactions, but she is very protective of those around her and will do basically anything to make sure they’re ok.

- Something I totally didn’t almost forgot to add is that their favorite hangout spot is Wilbur’s house; it has been for about as long as they’ve been friends. It was really just the obvious choice for them. Holloway can’t host for pretty obvious reasons. Duke would like to host but his house is always full of people of all ages and he doesn’t want his friends to feel uncomfortable while he takes care of a younger brother that wouldn’t sit still for anyone but him. Sheila may be rich but she’s all too aware that her parents are weird and they wouldn’t like having her friends over anyway. Wilbur’s house is just, unfortunately, the best place to be.

- an idea I’ve been throwing around in my head is that Holloway could be in contact with Webby. The main groups that this au is based on (Scooby Doo/Solve It Squad) both have an animal companion (talking dog really but in Mystery Incorporated the group before the Scooby gang had a bird so I think any animal would work) and I think Webby could fit that spot in her spider form. I don’t want her to be all that involved though, just giving little hints and suggestions to the group (specially Holloway) when they need it.

- @/thearcanecat mentioned in her reblog of the first post about this au that she imagines Sheriff Keane would be worried about the kids at first before realizing that they’re doing a better job then his own police force and then he would sneak important files in Dukes bag to get them on a case/help them figure some stuff out and I really like that idea! Originally I had imagined Sheriff Keane really not being involved in what the group was doing but I think this makes sense for him. Like obviously he would never do anything to endanger the children but I imagine he’s very proud of the work they’re doing. They are, after all, doing a lot more for Hatchetfield then his men ever have.

- No one can stay mad at Duke. It’s just a way of life. Duke of course doesn’t abuse this power but it does come with some perks. He can easily make witnesses feel comfortable after tragedy, he can talk the groups way out of trouble with the cops, and on the more rare and bizarre occasion he can make a cult member rethink all the bad things they’ve done in the name of whatever dark god they follow. He’s particularly good with younger kids and has a big soft spot for them. Dukes main motivation in life is to help others and make the world a safer place for everyone.

- another thing I’m kinda thinking about is possible shipping? Like obviously this wouldn’t come up until they’re teens but it is an idea I’m juggling with. Specifically wine and dine is something I think can only really come together as adults but I think it could be a very interesting concept post Accident™️ (I am still planning on actually writing it out but if you wanna know the gist of what happens there it’s in the reblogs of the first post for this au). I’m also particularly attached to teen Wilbur dealing with the most obvious and embarrassing crush on Duke. This is all just a thought tho and I do not plan on them getting crushes on each other until they’re older.

Sorry this took so long to answer it’s just been a busy week. If anyone has questions about this au I am very happy to talk about it.

(Also I’m really bad at naming things so if anyone has any idea of a name for this au I am taking suggestions because all I have is the Hatchet Catchers and I’m really not sure about that one)

[chaifootsteps]

I know it's been said before but do you think it's definitely the case that Stolas is Viv's self insert, or she's at least seriously projecting on him?

it just seems so unintentionally revealing that the only way the writing makes sense anymore is if Viv genuinely doesn't think Stolas' flaws are flaws. She thinks he's behaving either in a totally understandable way or that his issues are minor quirks at worst

he spent the entirety of apology tour being petty and awful in a way he hasn't been since s1, but in a worse way in some respects because he obviously thinks he's in the right

he acts like he's owed Blitz's love and loyalty even when he was just using him, he has complete and total disregard for the lives of anyone he can't use in some fashion, he's rich and privileged and in complete denial about the power that gives him over other people, he treats people like garbage only to gaslight them about it after the fact, he's been told multiple times he's the problem only to reject it or act the victim again five minutes later, he acts like a petty mean girl and is a total hypocrite about numerous things, he expects to be easily forgiven when he asks for it even if he gives the most wormy non apology ever

so much of this maps so cleanly onto the way people describe Viv - that she's dismissive or outright hostile to anyone who aren't her favorites, that she treats people like expendable work machines, that she feels entitled to have people work for little pay and hates when they complain, that she shit talks or abuses friends only to turn around and be nice to them again

I try and take discord screenshots with a grain of salt until confirmed but there's a whole lot of smoke around the way Viv acts and her writing is so incompetent it can't help but feel a bit revealing about the way she views power and what right and wrong is. I can't help but think it's just going to grow into fire as NDAs expire

and as far as hb has gone lately, right and wrong are just 'how much does this character suck up to Stolas, accept lousy treatment from him or stick their neck out for him'. It's more than just the show worshipping power and treating it as self justifying, it worships this one rich character who just happens to be the victim of basically everyone else

I don't think Stolas started out as Viv's self-insert and I don't even know that she's doing it intentionally, but he definitely reeks of the way she handles conflict and views her place in the world.

Stolas's entire deal is that he's "trying," that he "feels bad" for his mistakes and he's totally sorry and won't do it again, even as it becomes increasingly apparent to the audience that he really isn't, that he keeps repeating the mistakes he's ostensibly sorry for, and that he's getting worse. That's Viv to a T, whose last apology was in 2019 -- and it was one of those "Sorry you think I'm the actual worst and that I can't do anything right" apologies -- and who's never apologized since. Viv, whose biggest enemy is herself and whose most outspoken critics have been her maltreated former employees.

Stolas in Viv's mind is a little insensitive sometimes, longing for love, and up against a world (both in-universe and out) full of unfair, unkind people who just don't understand him. Stolas in actuality is manipulative, a gaslighting liar, and most of the characters who speak out against him have considerably less power and privilege and have been hurt by him.

Remind you of anyone?