#so the university made a huge point of encouraging everyone not to go to class if they felt sick in any way

[steviescrystals]

the last post i reblogged just reignited my rage over something that happened my freshman year of college so mini rant in the notes lol

[pure-ablution]

How I achieved my dream body

This is perhaps quite a controversial topic, and I’d like to make the point that this post isn’t advice to anyone. This blog is first and foremost my own personal archive, and I’m making this post for myself, so that I can return to my routine if ever necessary. If you find these tips helpful for your own situation, then I’ll be glad for you, but I don’t want to encourage anyone to undertake strict dietary restrictions and exercises which might not work for them, and might not be best for their mental or physical health.

I never underwent extremely drastic changes when it came to my body; I was slim to begin with, but I had more fat than was best for my bone structure and body type, and so working on losing a few pounds and decreasing my proportions made a huge difference to my looks and my self esteem. I went from a US size 4 to a 00, I did it very slowly over 2 years, and now at the other end I’ve found that my clothes hang so much better, my face is so much prettier without a layer of fat hiding my features, and overall my appearance is much cleaner and looks much more cohesive. I don’t have any cellulite anymore, and I love my body—I feel confident in every outfit and in nothing at all.

Fasting and calorie deficits

I’ve always found that fasting helps to clear my head and better my concentration, and when I started at uni, I began fasting regularly for the cognitive benefits. This also had the added effect of weight loss, and I find that fasting is a really easy way for me to maintain a steady loss and quickly rectify overindulgences. I don’t have much of an appetite due to my medication, and I think that’s why fasting is so easy for me; I just don’t feel hungry when fasting, and in fact, it seems to energise me. I tried intermittent fasting, but it didn’t work all that well for me, so now I stick to a routine that has given me the best proven results in terms of weight and mental energy: a 5:2 diet, with a 24 hour fast weekly, and a 72 hour fast once a month.

When I was actively trying to lose weight, I maintained quite a strict calorie deficit, but once I hit my target weight and began working on body recomposition, I stopped with the deficit and began to maintain. I eat without worrying about calories now, but I still track my food intake to maintain discipline, and so that I can retrace my steps if problems ever arise.

Finding a gym I loved

I tried going to the free university gym during my first year, but I think I went a total of about 3 times for the whole year. I hated that gym; it was an hour’s walk away from my accommodation, it was poorly-equipped, and I felt self-conscious surrounded by students. When I started my second year, I made the decision to invest in a membership to a beautiful high-end gym much closer to me, and I go every single day—usually twice a day!—to use the equipment, attend classes, and take a sauna. It’s expensive, but I think I get my money’s worth, and the selection of classes is amazing. I have my classes on rotation, but I mostly stick to mat and reformer pilates, barre, aerobics, tai chi/qigong, and iyengar yoga. I use the treadmill and weights every single day, and I try to swim at least once a week. I go early in the morning, so the gym is quiet, but everyone I meet in class is always so friendly, and the atmosphere is just really welcoming and encouraging. Having a sauna so nearby to me is a big drive, too, and in the early days I used the sauna as a reason for me to go to the gym and work out; I absolutely love saunas so it worked really well as a kind of self-bribery.

Walking everywhere, on the flat

I can’t drive, so I made the decision not to buy a bike and thus forced myself into walking everywhere. I try to hit a minimum of 10,000 steps every day, but most days I clock up something closer to 15,000–20,000 just by running errands, visiting friends, and attending classes. Walking helps me so much with my posture, and sometimes it feels as though the fat is just melting off through this very low-impact but constant exercise. My body puts on muscle quickly, and so walking on the flat without any incline puts the least amount of strain on my muscles and prevents my legs from bulking up; my university town is extremely flat so this isn’t much of a problem, but when I’m in my hilly hometown, I tend to swap out my outdoor walking for the treadmill.

Low weights, high reps

I was afraid of lifting weights for a long time because my body is naturally very prone to putting on muscle, and I wanted to look soft and slender with minimal muscle definition. I used to only do exercises using resistance and my own bodyweight, but my gym offered a womens-only beginners’ weightlifting class and I joined out of curiosity. I’m not going to say that my mindset and routine have been completely changed, but weightlifting has helped to round out my hips, lift my butt and chest, and generally smooth out my figure in a way that cardio and calisthenics cannot, and so light weights with high repetitions have found their way into my routine. I usually use free weights, but I also like the P.Volve system if I’m working out at home or travelling.

Intense and regular massage

Massage is the key to almost everything in my opinion, and it’s played a crucial role in my body’s shaping. I deeply massage and stretch my muscles before and after exercise to encourage them to grow long and lean rather than short and thick, I use a fascia blaster and vibration therapy to rid my body of cellulite, I use a dry brush, gua sha and movement cups on my body almost every single day to encourage circulation and tone, and I see professionals for very regular massage, acupuncture/acupressure, and chiropractic therapies so that my skeleton is well-aligned and my particularly problematic muscles and veins are kept in check. I think that, without massage and other such treatments, I’d be in significant pain and my body wouldn’t look and feel as smooth and supple as it does now; I probably wouldn’t have managed to achieve my fitness goals due to muscle spasms and bulky areas, and I’d be suffering inside and out.

Prioritising protein, fat, and fibre

My diet is strict and it follows a philosophy that I consider to be very organic and very feminine in content. That sounds a little like hogwash, but I really do believe that women should eat differently from men; we should eat much more fat to nourish us, and we should incorporate ingredients that support our hormones and other bodily systems in the proper way. I make almost all of my meals from scratch, and I try to buy seasonal and locally-produced ingredients, since it makes very logical sense to me to eat in accordance with nature’s original intention. Of course, I indulge in exotic fruit and meals at restaurants, but for me these are special treats, not regular occurrences, and I do stay very disciplined in my everyday diet. I eat a lot of seafood, a lot of whole dairy, a lot of organ meats and homemade broths, and I’m always trying new juice recipes and ways to incorporate more vegetables and whole fibres into my diet. I don’t deny myself anything except fast food, and I don’t believe in following diets that cut out whole food groups, but I do try to prioritise what makes me feel energised and has the best effect on my skin and hair.

Lots and lots of sparkling water

I’m a total sparkling water addict, I admit it, and sparkling water is such a godsend in so many different ways. It has filled me up on days when I was starving hungry, it’s tasty and can be found in so many different flavours, and it’s a much healthier option than fizzy pop but much more interesting than plain old still water. I keep bottles and bottles of the stuff in the fridge, and I drink it plain, infuse it with chopped fruit, and mix with cordials for a drink that makes it fun for me to hit my hydration goals and helps me to maintain my diet.

Supplements and medication

I’ll be completely frank, and say that the biggest help when it came to discipline and appetite suppression was my ADHD medication. I’d never in a million years suggest taking medication you don’t need; Vyvanse is a dangerous drug without medical supervision, but in my case it was medically necessary. I could suddenly think clearer, and my cravings for foods entirely disappeared, I no longer found myself eating out of boredom, and my appetite was suppressed to the point that I had to set alarms to remind myself to eat. It’s not something I'd recommend unless you need it, but I’d be lying if I said that I lost weight without the help of medication.

I also took supplements throughout my journey, and I found that taking apple cider vinegar and a high-dose liquid B12 vitamin helped quite a lot with losing and maintaining my weight. I took multivitamins and calcium supplements to help boost my nutrition when I was in a calorie deficit, and when I started weightlifting, then I took small amounts of protein powder and creatine in my smoothies. Supplements helped me a lot with maintaining my overall health during a period of stress for my body, and amplified the results of my efforts, but you definitely can’t lose weight through supplements alone.

Diligently tracking my progress

Discipline was crucial to my success, and there were many days when I wanted to cheat on my diet or exercise routine, but didn’t, because I didn’t want to be held accountable for my laziness when it came to tracking it in my diary. I tracked absolutely everything and still do, from my food and water intake to my vitamin levels and my exercise routine. I had specific and incremental goals for weights, percentages, and measurements, I took regular photos of myself for comparison, and I used waist beads as a physical reminder of my progress. Consistency is the key for amazing results, and the only way I can assure my consistency is to note it down and hold it up against my past track record.

Focusing on my assets and faking the rest

Nobody is perfect, and I don’t believe that anyone can truly achieve their ‘dream body’ without a little faking it. Personally, I focused on bringing my natural assets up to an extreme level—so for me, that was shrinking my waist down as much as possible—and then I turned to fakery for the rest. I had minimally-invasive lipo shots for areas where I naturally held onto fat, I used RF microneedling to tighten my skin and remove stretch marks, and I had ultrasonic cavitation to eliminate cellulite and create an almost unnaturally smooth surface to my body. After losing weight, I found that my breasts weren’t as full as I would have liked, and I still had hip dips, so I now use high-quality silicone pads to fill out my silhouette and create a smoother, curvier shape. Perhaps in the future I’ll look at fat transfers or implants, but for now I’m happy without surgery, and I look incredible with my fake boobs and hips.

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Humans are Space Orcs, “Group Project.”

Alright everyone, still working on the lecture series, but I also wanted to get some ideas.

What parts of my worldbuilding do you want me to continue with?

What do you want to know more about?”

What story lines do you think I have left unfinished?

And are there any parts of the timeline you want to hear more about? (I was thinking about doing a story on how Adam was even given a ship in the first place) things like that.

I would find your feedback very helpful if you could :) at the very least it will help me get through my writing slump.

Almost six months.

Six months od doctor Krill’s lecture series and they still felt as if they didn’t understand humans anymore than they had when they first started. Despite months and months of research, and papers, none of them had managed to get a grade on an assignment that was higher than a C -- Dr. krill was using what he called the human letter grading system to give them some more experiences that would help them bond with humans, and boy were they bonding with the humans who just couldn’t seem to get it right.

It wasn’t that Dr. krill was an unfair teacher, it was just that most of them always managed to be wrong in some massive and obvious way about humans. For example, when writing a paper about how humans cannot see in the dark and would be likely not to survive on a dark planet, but then potentially forgetting about all the humans who survived being completely blind Everything you could say about humans was generally untrue for another human.

Humans have an extreme sense of survival however they seem prone on tossing  themselves from high places just for the fun of it. 

Humans were both the most survival oriented and the most danger prone species in the entire universe, and that let to some very strange stories that often seemed as if they couldn’t possibly be true, but often turned out to be true anyway.

Either way, the class had been both difficult and exciting, and now they were approaching the end of the semester, and Dr. Krill had promised them something very special to go along with their group project.

They all waited nervously in their predetermined groups watching as Dr. Krill stepped into the room.

He said something to his TA and then turned to his projector to fiddle around for a moment. 

When the lights blinked overhead this time. 

Dr. krill trend to look at the class, “Understanding that we are approaching our last few weeks of class, I have decided to do something a bit special for all of you. To prepare you for the real world of working with humans. I understand that all of you have been working hard despite your abysmal grades, and have decided to do something that human schools do when just such a thing occurs….. Grading on a curve. I certainly didn’t expect any of you to understand humans any better after all of this was over, so this week, I am going to give your real opportunities for some real learning.”

He looked around the room rather smug, “First of all, I want to introduce you to a REAL life earth predator.”

Somehow, in some way, Krill made a sharp whistling noise, and out of the darkness of one of the entrances, their came the soft thudding of footsteps…. Four of them to be precise.

When the furry animal raced into the room the entire class went into a state of panic. Aliens leaped up on their desks and screamed. Vrul inflated and began floating towards the ceiling, all was chaos as the large fuzzy creature raced around the perimeter of the room and then straight towards Dr. krill himself.

More screaming.

“Waffles Sit!” The animal skidded to a stop, and then sat with a soft thump on the floor.

The classroom grew very still as Dr. Krill began to pat the predator’s head.

A pink tongue lolled from it’s mouth past massive white K-9 teeth. Its huge ears swiveled back and forth.

The class slowly began to relax back in their seats as Krill continued to pat the dog, rubbing the fur under its chin so that it raised its head and grumbled deep in it’s throat. Its tail slapped repeatedly against the ground.

“Everyone, I would like to introduce you to one of the staples of a human pack….. A dog.” He continued to pat the animal, as she slid to the ground beside him tail still thumping loudly against the ground, “Waffles was trained by humans for humans, and has the ability to both detect and prevent psychological crisis. As you all know humans are rather prone to mental dysfunction, but this dog is one of the first line defences put in place for a specific human.”

The dog leaned up, and with her long pink tongue, she liked the doctor on the arm.

The class cringed back.

“If you ever want to work with humans, it is likely you will have to work with dogs as well. Any dog that is going to be aboard a human ship will have been vetted for work with other alien races. They will be friendly, and they will calm. Waffles has been around humans her entire life, and around aliens for over two years which is a little less than half of her life.”

He turned to look at the room, “I will give a hundred points of Extra credit to anyone who is brave enough to come down here and pet her.”

There was silence in the room.

No one moved an inch.

Off in the corner a Tesraki shifted nervously in his seat.

He had the lowest grade in the class and he knew it, but a hundred point os extra credit would bring him solidly up a letter grade or two…. but …. It’s teeth were so big, and it probably weighed as much as he did.

It was the look that Dr. Krill gave him that finally urged him onward. Dr. Krill knew, and was, surprisingly, trying to help him.

Knees shaking and hands about to tremble off the end of his wrists, the Tesraki stood, and made his slow way across the room. His ears were plastered flat against his head and his hands only shook worse. The dog grew larger and larger in his vision until she was sitting right before him. Even sitting down she was only a foot and a half shorter than he was, and the panic he was feeling was unbelievable.

He looked into her eyes, and she shifted forward on her paws, snout pushing towards him. He backed away and the entire class gasped. She rocked back on her feet and gently lowered herself to the ground, looking up at him with wide brown eyes.

When he didn’t move she slowly rolled until she had flipped over on her back, looking up at him with her head tilted

A tooth poked out from under her lip, and her tail beat against the ground.

“Look at that!” krill exclaimed, “That’s a submissive pose she would use on a human, she wants you to rub her chest and belly, go on, she’s giving your permission.”

Heart hammering in his ears, he leaned down, and with trembling fingers patted the coarse fur on her belly. She made a grumbling noise and he leaped back, but Dr. Krill encouraged him on saying that it was a good thing, and so he continued. The animal kicked her leg a couple of times and the Tesraki felt his entire body tingle with exhilaration.

He was…. He was petting a dangerous earth animal, just like the humans would!

Eventually he was dismissed back to his seat, and the dog rolled over onto her stomach, resting her head on her paws, which she began to lick absently, large ears still perked.

Dr Krill turned to look at them, “But of course this class it primarily about humans, is it not, and I strongly believe that there is really only one way to teach someone how to interact with humans properly….” he looked around at all of them, “And that, is by experience.”

The class shifted in their seats with exclamations of surprise, and from down one of the hallways they heard a sharp repeated thudding. The beat was so regular and rhythmic it managed to make many of the Vrul students dizzy and confused, nearly lolling out of their seats.

Dr Krill stood firm two hands on hips, two hands crossed over his chest.

And that is when the column of humans marched into the room in perfect time with each other, their botos hitting the floor such that the seats about them seemed to rattle. The vrul could barely keep in their seats and the other students leaned forward in awe.

Most of the humans wore strange clothing in a black and greyblue pattern all over their bodies, while the human at the front wore light grey and a strange adornment atop his head. The front of his chest glittered with small colorful ribbons and little glittering symbols though no one could have been sure what they meant.

The line of humans drew to the front of the room and then stopped.

“LEFT FACE!”

The group turned in unison with the sharp rattling of boots on the floor.”

“ATTENTION!” Their bodies snapped into position, hands raised to their temples as they looked forward perfectly still.” “AT EASE.”

The group of humans, together, fell back into a posture of relative relaxation. Feet spread, hands clasped gently behind their backs, and there they stood as Doctor Krill moved to stand next to them, “Well class, it is my pleasure to introduce you to the Omen’s Alpha team. These marines have trained for years in ground combat for most of their careers. IF there is ever a problem on your planet, this is likely who the humans will send as reinforcements.”

He turned to the last human, the one with the shiny uniform, “And it is my pleasure to introduce our ship’s admiral, who graciously agreed to come and bring his men today. I think you will recognize him from your textbooks.”

When the human removed his hat and turned to face them, there was a shocked muttering. They knew him from their textbooks, as HE was the very template for the classic anatomical diagram that adorned many of the pages in their textbooks.

It was essentially his system that they were examining whenever they discussed the systems of the human body.

“A couple of things I would like you all to note here, and those are the highly social structure in which humans operate. This structure includes a strict hierarchy that humans take pains to make known. The Single Star on the Admiral’s shoulder marks him as the highest ranking human in this room. He outranks me, these other humans and all of you as civilians. In the human world, he is to be listened to, and his orders to be obeyed. In certain cases humans will overlook the intelligence of what someone is saying, if they are of a higher rank in worry of social repercussion.”

He turned to walk towards the marines still standing in their straight line, “They rank in order from this symbol down to this symbol and each of them has an important task to preform. In the early days of our meeting humans, this strict social hierarchy was enough to make some assume that humans were in possession of some sort of hive mind. However, this is clearly not the case. Humans do not have a hive mind, but they do possess a social structure so rigid in some cases that it may seem like it. I would also like to note the diversity in human appearance. The only other species that we have seen with even remotely comparable diversity in facial, tonal, and physical structure are either the Drev, or the Tesraki.”

He turned to look at the groups and his antenna buzzed with amusement, “Now, in your groups, I want you all to pick one of the marines to come join you, and then for the rest of the class, I would like you to come up with a principal about humans to demonstrate at the end of the lecture.” he pointed to one of the first groups, “pick a human.”

There was some slight shuffling and discussion as they tried to determine which human would be best. In the end they went for the smallest human hoping beyond hope that they would be the least aggressive.

It was a real pity that they didn’t understand the rule about short humans, and maverick, in an attempt to get to her group, ignored all the rules of decorum and simply stepped up onto the desks clambering over with great dexterity until she plopped herself down in a seat in the middle of the group turning to look at them, “Yo.” She said, rather un ironically as they stared at each other in shock.

The other humans were quickly divided out and went to sit with their groups mostly enjoying being the center of attention.

There was one less marine than they needed, so the highest ranking human handed his hat to the dog sitting on the floor and walked over to slide into a seat with them, showing his teeth in a gesture that was supposed to be friendly.

All around the room chattering steadily grew as the aliens began asking the humans quick fire questions which some of the marines found hard to keep up with.

When asked a question Ramirez simply shook his head, “You know what you guys probably know way more about humans that me. I’m not a doctor, or anything else. I am a marine, I know how to do like four things effectively, I call them the four Fs, Fight, Fun, Food, and er well you get the picture.”

Maverick was having a very amusing time explaining teeth to the aliens, albeit rather inaccurately considering that teeth weren’t actually bone but a mixture of enamel covered dentine, but Krill let it go on for the factor of amusement.”

The nervous members of the admiral’s group had already been lulled into a sense of ease at the man’s friendly and relaxing demeanor, and he was attempting to do his best at explaining a question given to him by one of the aliens, and was doing a better job than the marines at taking their questions seriously.

“Well you see, when it comes to humans you are always going to be relatively safe. Over the past thousands of years, access to soft cooked foods have caused our jaws to grow relatively small and weak leaving little room for our teeth. So most humans don’t like food that is difficult to eat. We aren’t impressive enough predators that we can just strip flesh from bone. Plus thats a great way to catch diseases, furthermore, our diets and the way we eat really had to change as our vocal cords moved further up in our throats. Sure this gave us the ability to speak and mimic almost any alien language known, but it also made us very prone to choking on our own food.”

He sighed, “I remember this one time when I was five and I choked on a hard candy, scariest moment of my life probably, or at least in the top ten. If you don’t know what choking is, its when something gets stuck in your airway blocking your ability to breath and you die from oxygen loss, I know a horrible way to die.”

The conversations continued all around the room until there was only twenty minutes left in class, and he called a stop so that the groups could demonstrate a human principle that they had learned.

The first group brought Maverick up and one of the other students presented her with a rock No one was really sure why he had the rock, but the fact that it had big eyeballs drawn on it was enough for her to happily accept the gift and declare its name to be “The Boulder.” The class was surprised to find that it took such little effort for a human to pack bond with something, but the fact that she held the rock in two hands and occasionally stroked a finger down it was clear enough evidence that it was true.

The other students demonstrated a human’s depth perception by throwing an object and watching as Ramirez leaped out over the desks, hands stretched out to catch the object mid fly before landing back on the ground. The precision that it required to do that left the class very very impressed.

Someone else had a human try to identify what something was based on it’s smell, and he accurately guessed the difference between Vrull Texraki and Runid just based on their smell. They even brought in one of the other humans to which the test subject exclaimed,  “Don’t tell me it’s Ramirez and his bitch ass. I would know those fumes anywhere.”

One of the humans managed to demonstrate a very impressive climbing ability, and another one of the marines was pleased to demonstrate a human’s advanced vestibular sense by doing a backflip off of one of the desks. He tried to do it twice, but tripped upon anding and ended up on his back much to the amusement of the other humans.

That was also a good demonstration of the human’s empathy reflex as the humans winced and were silent for a moment before they began their ridicule.

If they remembered correctly, humans used teasing and humor as social bonding. They would never have made fun of their friend if he had actually been hurt, but the fact that he wasn’t made it clearly acceptable to joke as it let the other humans know that everything was ok.

The last group caught the admiral off guard by saying the word yawn and causing a chain reaction that made its way all around the room until it terminated with the dog, who also yawned, much to the surprise of the students.

Krill watched all of this with interest, keeping an eye on his more motivated students, and the ones who got along best with the humans. He was still trying to get permission from his superiors, but taking a few house students with them on the omen and back to earth would be a great PR move and also a good way to get some of his more invested students an experience that they could really take with them into their careers.

If one thing WAS  clear by the end of the lecture.

It was that Maverick was not going to give up her pet rock any time soon. 

[nincompoopydoo]

PAIRING, BAGELS, REPEAT

— US AGAINST THE WORLD ; PART 4 / ?

( credits to @animusrox for this gif )

PAIRING: Bruce Wayne x reader

WORD COUNT: 2247 hot diggy dog

SUMMARY: You have a heart-to-heart conversation with one of your students before the play and you're hit with the realization that your love for Bruce may be more than meets the eye. hence, you’re starting to wonder if it was a mistake you can never fix.

A/N: This one’s long and kinda depressing. I’m in an angsty mood now whoops. Nevertheless, thank you for reading this series, the bagels will make its appearance and enjoy this one folks.

WARNINGS: Anxiety, depressing thoughts.

MASTERLIST ; MASTERPOST

The night of the show arrived quicker than you anticipated. The flurry of theatre kids rushing about backstage is quite the sight, feeling the incredible sense of pride of a mother for her children. Yet in prayer, you ask Mrs. Wilson for the gift of strength and ability to manage a bunch of highly-strung teenagers. It’s only Shakespeare after all but you knew that wasn’t the genuine nature behind their stage jitters. With all tickets sold out within a week, it has easily become the biggest event of the year aside from homecoming. It may be a little pretentious for a high school production of an over-performed Shakspeare play to emerge as the highlight of the year, but you know it will help with some of the students’ portfolios for acting school.

The clock ticks—thirty minutes before showtime and panic starts to creep.

Your fingertips dance along the selvage of the extensive drapery of the stage as lighting queues are being run through for the last time. The urge of curiosity lets you crack open the curtain as you peeked at the rest of the theatre. The bustling crowd made up of mostly teenagers with seats rapidly being filled, it’s certainly a sight for sore eyes. Amongst the settling audience, you spot Bruce, seated between Mr. Walken, the principal, and Mr. Huckleberry, the vice-principal, likely being shamelessly asked for donations. He looks engaged, but his posture and the gaze of his eyes tell a very different story—Bruce is barely listening to a word they’re saying.

He then turns in the direction of your hiding spot and despite the distance, he catches your eye, immediately recognizing it’s you spying from behind the curtains. You watch the curve of his lips turn up into more of a smirk, swiftly sending a wink your way. You instantly disappear behind the curtains, cheeks burning.

You sometimes find it hard to believe you’re sleeping with the man with no strings attached because you’re incredibly attracted to him.

Someday, you’ll burst out into an exaggerated love confession, and you know it’s going to be ugly. It’s a reality check and right now, it’s the last thing you want. Running away from your problems is more of a habit than a choice as you would rather live in the world your mind has created, where miracles are made and defects cease to exist. Anyone would trade the cruelties of reality for a perfect one yet getting too caught up in a daydream will eventually evolve into toxicity. Bruce orbits the very core of your problems and daydreams. You want to run away from him and allow yourself to be engulfed by his presence at the same time.

You just need...to breathe. Hence, the second dressing room has a weird stench to it. It’s a mess but it’s empty. Yet, it seems you aren’t the only one in need of space, away from everyone else. Shaniqua is seated at the far corner of the room on a crooked metal chair, dressed in a somewhat modernized version of an Elizabethan era dress. Very elaborate and theatrical. Despite her introverted character, she was constantly bright-eyed and keen during your classes. She had a drive like no other. Hell, she miraculously memorized all her lines in two days.

You’ve never seen a furrow of the girl’s brows, until now, and it worries you. Even her glitter-covered eyes could not conceal the dismay they portray with prominence. Gingerly, you made your way to her as she stared at her fidgeting hands. It was only when you settled on the opposite dusty old chair when she finally noticed your presence.

“Stage fright, huh?” you casually asked, resting your arm on the dressing table. She mirrors your posture, heaving a deep sigh, and shakes her head. “No, it’s just,” A pause, her gaze finds yours. You nod, flashing her a smile. It’s a simple gesture that you’re here to listen. “It’s about Oscar...” You catch a hint of a smile as she trailed off and in an instant, your brow raises with curiosity. Oh? Another beat of silence, her eyes dart around the room. You sit quietly with patience because you knew she had more to say.

“It’s just that doing this play has got me thinking a lot about my feelings. I mean, if Romeo and Juliet could be lovers, despite their feuding families, then it must be easy enough for me to admit that I like Oscar.”

“You have a point.” You chuckle, eyes crinkling with amusement. Sometimes she thinks too much for her own good. She reminds you of Bruce. Shaniqua flashes you a faint smile, lips pressed with doubt. “But why am I finding it so hard to just tell him that?”

You stayed silent for a moment or two, mind deep in thought. The chair creaks as you shift in your seat. “Well, could it be that you aren’t sure if he likes you back?”

A hum in response, shrugging coyly as she mumbled a ‘maybe’. Although it was clear as day to you that Oscar liked her back, you wondered if her doubts emerged due to their differences in character. The familiarity of the situation is beginning to feel a lot like deja vu.

“How do you know that someone is the one?” Her sudden question catches you off guard because, in all honesty, you aren’t confident if you knew the answer. A straightforward question, commonly seen in the pages of teenage magazines, written for innocent eyes. You knew its true nature and it terrifies you. The image of Bruce charges through your thoughts like rushing water, memories of times when the two of you were younger clouding your mind. You forcefully push back your university days, buried back deep into your conscience.

“I don’t exactly know the answer to that but in my opinion, it’s—it’s the feeling of completeness when you love them and know they love you. They may be different from you, but it doesn’t make you love them any less. There’s no conflict or strife; it’s just the two of you against the world.”

Those words were raw and genuine, carefully crafted directly from the heart. You weren’t surprised by your words because you’ve thought about it a lot, especially on nights you slept on Bruce’s bed. Maybe, you do love him, and that's a huge ass problem. It’s amazing how unexpected situations tend to encourage apprehension on large issues you never knew existed in the first place. Perhaps it was your astonishing lack of discernment when it came to matters that could potentially alter your life.

Tonight, a sixteen-year-old girl did just that.

Amid your growing anxiety, you manage to catch sight of the wall clock, hung on the other side of the room. It’s now eight minutes until showtime. Your eyes are now wide as you sprung up from your seat in the sudden realization that everyone should be at their respective positions two minutes ago. “Oh God, we’re running late. Shaniqua, word of advice—don’t end up regretting something you didn’t do,” You shoot her a pointed look, index finger stretching towards her. “Now, you really need to go, or we’ll have to delay and you know Mr. Walken hates waiting.”

-

It’s a quarter to nine, and the theatre is empty. Outside, the foyer and the hallways are buzzing with the remaining audience, lingering and sharing inane conversations as others wait for a car to take them home. You had only just finished rearranging the costumes in the wardrobe of the dressing room. You tried to sweep the scatter of glitter all over the floor but it deemed a task as impossible; you’ll deal with it next week.

You’re sitting in the seat at the front row, nearest to the aisle with a large box filled with props on your lap. Alone in transcendental silence, feeling as empty as the theatre itself. It was partly the conversation you had with Shaniqua that hit you with the reminder of all the mistakes you made that have led you to this unchanging world of a blur that takes the blame for the wretched feeling in your chest. Yet, as the show progressed, hearing the words of affection from two lovers had sent your mind reeling. You were desperate to head home, crawl into bed and potentially cry yourself to sleep but the growing anxiety forbids it, you don’t even think you could drive home.

So, you stillness of the theatre reminds you of Edward Hopper’s painting, Solitary Figure in a Theater. With eyes shut, you pretend you are the figure in the painting, sheathed in black, sitting alone in the cavernous dark.

You hear the door of the theatre squeak, swinging open followed by the shuffling of feet. You don’t look at first, too tired anyway. You’d assume someone had either forgotten something or it was the janitor that you’re sure is going to be upset over the glitter massacre in the dressing room. It looked like a crime scene, except it was the murder of a literal unicorn. You made a mental note to send an apology sandwich of some sorts next week.

It was the familiarity in the whiff of cologne that made you snap your eyes wide open, looking over your shoulder to meet with the sight of Bruce, ambling down the aisle towards you. He smiles, and you mirror him, shifting in your seat and nearly toppling the box to the ground. “What are you still doing here?” He smiles, and you mirror him, shifting in your seat and nearly toppling the box to the ground. “I could ask you the same question.” He settles in the seat next to you, elbow brushing against yours. Your head tilts, gesturing to the box. Bruce merely hums and nods thoughtfully.

“So, how was the play? Does it get a Wayne seal of approval?” There’s a hint of teasing in the curve of your lips as his eyes drift to the stage. “I liked it. The kids have talent.” Your eyes glint with amusement, your smile growing wider. “I never knew you were a fan of romance.” His laugh comes out more like a huff of air, crinkled eyes meeting yours, and nudges you lightly. “Well, now you know.”

He recognizes the way your smile doesn’t quite reach your eyes and the way you’re fussing with the edges of the box on your lap. Something is bothering you and he knows it. He nudges you once more. “Penny for your thoughts?”

You blink once. Then twice, face wincing instinctively. You keep forgetting how well Bruce can read people, especially you. You exhale slowly as he watches you struggle to pick the right words.

“It’s really nothing. It’s just-” you say after a long minute, cutting yourself short. Then, you turn to Bruce. “I’m growing older, and I’ve spent my entire life in a fog with so much fear for reality, I’m afraid it’s too late to fix all my mistakes and regrets.” Your voice dwindles with every word that escaped your lips. You were young, naïve with the notion that time was extensive to make decisions without thinking it through. To know that you could never take back the things you did. Saturn’s rising, it’s a wake-up call now that you’re older and the fear that you would never change creeps onto you with every passing birthday.

Bruce defines the epitome of the sinking feeling in your chest whenever you lay in bed at night and let your mind reel about your existence. Yet, it isn’t as simple as you want it to be. The boy you met at university has grown into a far more complex and entangled mess of the grief of his parents, the responsibility he held over this city and the drive to just...keep moving on. For the longest time, it was him against the world, and a part of you wants to believe that it doesn’t have to be that way. That maybe, you could be enough for him.

He glanced away from you, trying to hide the despondency in his eyes. He holds back a sigh as he speaks, “Do you regret us doing this?” As vague as his question is, you know what he exactly means. He remembers the time the two of you used to exchange senseless conversations and laughter so vividly that it scares him. Juvenile friends, lacking the knowledge to know what love really was. Hence, the agreement—it was just two friends, messing around. Nothing could go wrong. Now, the hole has been dug in too deep, with no way of getting out.

“I don’t,” you reply and with just two simple words, his chest feels like fire. It was the way you had said it, with so much confidence and assurance, despite the intricacy of this relationship. For the first time in a long time, you were extremely sure about an answer. You could never regret Bruce. Never.

It’s almost hesitant in the way his hand finds yours, but it represents his care for you, even if you may not know it. The warmth of his hand feels like fire. Hell, your chest feels like it’s on fire, heart burning for the man beside you. “I’ll drive you home,” he whispers with a squeeze of your hand. You flash him a grateful smile as the two of you drift into a comfortable silence. Silence so eloquent that you don’t feel so empty anymore. No longer a solitary figure trapped in a painting but now two, hand in hand, against the world.

TAGLIST

@raineeace

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh Season Zero: The Yo-Yo Crimes of Jounouchi Pt 1

It’s been a while since I visited the many times Yugi should have gone to jail, AKA season Zero, and I’m excited to visit it again.

If you just got here, this is Season Zero, which is very different vibe and a different direction plotwise than the other seasons and you can read the season zero recaps from the start in chrono order here: https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yuugi%20muto/chrono

So be warned, this is a 90′s anime, and it will do 90′s anime things, and I expect y’all reading this aren’t like 12.

Like I said in an earlier post, I wrote this out fully when I was going through the symptoms from my second dose--which PS, is worth it--but those symptoms knocked me out for 10 days. I was kind of a space cadet, and yo, I made some mistakes. Including writing this post out in full and then not clicking “save” on this post and then not realizing I had done that until several days later.

So long story short, I don’t remember what I originally wrote here, but lets all assume it was weird, and didn’t make sense and wasn’t funny. We’ll just assume this was for the best that it was deleted forever.

So this episode is about 2 things: Yo-yos and Jounouchi. Both get used as a tool for violence, and both need to get just a little bit cursed by Yugi to scale it the hell back. So, understandably, we start off this episode with Jounouchi, who has eagerly identified with this off brand yo-yo he apparently got out of a dumpster for being just a huge ass defect.

(more Yo-Yo crimes under the cut)

I see you dodging copyright infringement, Yugioh. Eireboy.

Also whenever I read “Eireboy” I do it in my mind in the same pacing and vocal tones that Pegasus uses to say “Kaiba boy.” Something about it’s conjunction to Yugioh, I see anything with “boy” at the end of it, and it’s voiced by a weird guy with one eye.

So I wrote these caps under the influence of my second dose, just assuming y’all understand the life I lived, but I realized writing this episode...traveling bands of yo-yo performers that go to your school and shill yo-yos with yo-yo shows in the hopes that it will get you so obsessed with yo-yos that you will not join a gang and do drugs and have sex may be just an American thing.

So when I saw a yo-yo episode I was like “Tight! Clearly, the yo-yo clowns have come to town!” and I assumed everyone in this class would be draped in yo-yos, because I just assumed that at some point at School you will get MAD OBSESSED with yo-yos for about 2 weeks.

But in this episode, everyone was like “Jounouchi, why are you playing with a random yo-yo?” and it didn’t occur to me until typing this out just now: only Jounouchi is doing this. He did this unprompted, without the encouragement of a bunch of middle aged performers doing tricks to techno music.

So instead, I have to think of Jounouchi as Ralphie in this scenario, and he just got a official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot, range model air rifle, with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time for Christmas, but he’s gonna shoot his eye out.

Because yo-yos in this episode are basically guns.

...Kind of like a duel deck was also just a gun...

...or the wands in Harry Potter...

...which honestly...I’ve probably said this before but where I’m from, we just use straight up guns in these elaborate analogies because we freakin have to make the point crystal clear. The moment Ralphie finally got his hands on a bb-gun, he very nearly shot his eye out and broke his glasses. And that scene will haunt me until my dying day...

...but fine, we can use yo-yos, I guess it works, although to me, yo-yo’s are just teachers hoping you’ll become such a dork that no gang will accept you (and then in this universe, it does the opposite? So freakin weird).

The beginning of this episode is Jounouchi trying do his best to impress with his skills, but in actuality, getting very close to clubbing Anzu with a yo-yo. And, while Anzu is the strongest person in Yugioh in the later seasons, I feel like Season Zero Anzu is another level. It’s a serious tempt of fate that Jounouchi is doing, so Honda wisely cuts him off from doing any more of that so she won’t end up strangling yet another person in broad daylight in the middle of school.

Remember your yo-yo safety, children.

Straight up, Honda’s version of yo-yo safety is to just Never Use a Yo-Yo and that’s the most gun safety thing ever that they’ve slipped into this Yugioh Episode. I almost expected Yuugi to pull a “well, actually, I use a hunting yo-yo to get enough venison to feed my family.” But youknow, he lives in a city, so while Yugioh is pretty weird and Yuugi has to worry about a lot of things--he doesn’t have to worry about that.

This is actually foreshadowing, which I only realized in hind sight, mostly because I just can’t associate a Yo-yo with crime. Joey knowing how to use a yo-yo was foreshadowing that he was absolutely part of this gang in a past life.

Yeah that one went completely over my head the first time and the second time and it really wasn’t until just now that I finally caught it. Hoo boy, sometimes I wonder why y’all let me analyze this show.

Jounouchi decides to confront the yo-yo bandits and everyone else is like “Silly Jounouchi, he’s not gonna do that. That would be stupid.” And...in S0, they don’t know him well enough yet to know that he really is that much of a well meaning dumbass.

I think a S1-5 Yugi would have been sprinting out the door to keep Joey from killing himself (again), but Season Zero Yuugi had hope that Jounouchi would just naturally tucker out and fall asleep or something.

And he was so wrong.

Anzu’s “New Tricks” line was from the dub itself and man that’s a good line. I love Anzu’s sass in Zero.

So, Honda decides to help them find Jounouchi so all of them together could give Jounouchi an intervention for skipping school. This is the same Honda that once skipped school to babysit a tomagachi and said it was because of “Maternity leave,” but don’t worry about the hypocrisy, because from this episode we learned that Jounouchi needs a very short leash.

So this episode is a great Jounouchi episode to explain stuff that still hasn’t been explained in 5 seasons of Yugioh. In S1-5, we don’t get much about his home life other than his Mom left and his Sister lives far away and is like sickly as hell. We know nothing else. But this is the episode where we finally get to find out why Yuugi and his Grandfather decided to basically adopt him from S1 onward.

Yugioh is tackling some pretty heavy territory, but I respect the show for not trying to magically change Jounouchi’s parents like they did to Dartz. Instead, the crew decide to reach out and try to find their friend who clearly didn’t go home last night (and won’t be going back for a while), by checking every alleyway in Domino.

Fun fact Yuugi drops this episode, Domino is one of the biggest cities on Earth. This makes the Battle City Tournament even more crazy when you realize Kaiba shut down several blocks but, it also makes a tiny bit more sense how we have so many Millennium items in one place. (Yet...it still doesn’t explain Bakura and Joey’s accent.) And, I guess if your city is just extra large, you get an extra large warehouse district, too.

Speaking of, they eventually find Jounouchi at his new (but also old) crime antics mugging some random stranger next to this Game store that I just realized was cropped so it looks like it says “GANG.”

Say hello to our crime clown. He’s sort of like a discount joker, and that beanie is...man it is green.

I forget this green exists sometimes, but Season Zero has it as one of their prime colors. Good ol’ Retro Kaiba green.

I’m a little tempted to swatch Season Zero a bit and figure out their full color scheme--it’s really saturated, which is interesting when you compare it to the later seasons which are a lot more muted since...the 00′s were like that, they greyed a lot of colors out. But I’ll do it later if I do, maybe another post for another day.

Jounouchi and Honda, before they moved to the school with Yuugi in it, used to go to the same school and up until now I just assumed they were close friends. But apparently they were a lot more distant than that. I’m sure they met up several times as Jounouchi destroyed stuff and Honda came along in his volunteer janitor outfit to put the stuff the hell back, and maybe that’s how they got to know eachother better?

But basically, Jounouchi was the freakin worst, and Jounouchi’s best friend was Hirotani--this 45 year old 15 year old with the blue pony and turquoise fade--and Honda has SO MUCH hot goss to say about it.

I really get the gist that Honda may not have liked anyone else at his old school, like at all. Like maybe Honda likes cleaning up trash so much because his school was just trash top to bottom.

As is tradition, Yuugi got his tar beat in by Hirotani. Another concussion to add to his list of issues to tell his future therapist that lives in that puzzle he wears around his neck.

I still expect him to do a double cross, but it seems they wanted to keep it a relatable and more realistic fall-out, where Jounouchi has just bounced on them without even a goodbye. He and his Dad had a bad fight, and Jounouchi was like “well so long to all of this and everyone that has anything to do with it.”

In later seasons, Joey is the one trying to save other people. He’s saving his Sister, he’s saving Mai, he’s saving Yugi, but in this season Jounouchi’s friends had to save Jounouchi from himself a few times now.

I like this depth to his character, I’ll be honest. I can understand why S1-5 don’t touch on it, and I don’t think it’s because they didn’t want to have an abusive Dad storyline, because they did that several times over with Seto Kaiba (man the Dad situation in Yugioh is DIRE.) Instead they probably just felt like Season Zero already did it, so why do it again?

It’s just a shame that it wasn’t talked about in the other seasons. Joey makes a lot more sense to me now because we get to see why Jounouchi is so hard set on saving people. S4 Mai Valentine, who ditched everyone and joined a gang? That’s basically a Joey move, and that was why Joey Wheeler was all over that.

Really would have added a lot to that particular arc if the show...actually talked about Joey’s history at all rather than assume I would have watched something that was never released in the States. Instead...it just looked a lot like he had only romantic motivations, which may not have been what they were going for.

Speaking of romantic, check out this sunset. Like the sun is exploding for some reason--just a wild sunset you only see for a still frame before a commercial break.

As Joey, youknow, takes on an entire rival gang single-handedly.

Hey guys, I lived near a pretty big city most of my life and I have been on a roof...once. Just the one time when I was doing an internship in SF with a painter and we needed to take a reference photo of his painting for a gallery (and it was hella sketch, and we weren’t exactly allowed up there). Who are all these people giving teens Roof Access? It’s so hard to get! Even if you live in an apartment of a tall building, I can count on zero of my fingers the amount of times I was allowed on that roof. But TV shows and movies--they freakin love roof gardens and roof hangouts and roof fights.

Am I missing out?? How did y’all get on the ROOF? I know I’m on S5 of Yugioh now and I have seen a lot of roof stuff, but like...is this normal for everyone else? I know there’s schools that have roof sport--that’s common in the city everywhere--but that’s like...specialized roofs with 30 ft chainlink fencing and really good supports to your body doesn’t fall straight through it when you jump too much. The hell is using their normal ass roof?

This gang should have their legs swinging halfway into the floor below them, is all I’m saying, if my roof couldn’t handle our solar heating, then a normal ass roof cannot support a gang fight.

But it does look really, really cool.

Anyway, Anzu does some offscreen snooping and finds out where the crime hangs out, and suggests that we step right into crime zone and just yank Jounouchi out of there. Which is something you would only do and say if you were Anzu and cannot fear death.

If it were Jay’s it would be with an ‘s. That’s how you do a plural Jay. But it’s the 90′s, so we put a “z” on the end of everything that should have been an “s” and that’s how you get the...

I mean, thank you, dubbers, for not saying “Jizz” but for reals...that be Jizz.

Please don’t flag me, Tumblr. (which, PS, I think they turned off the flagbot, Tumblr hasn’t flagged me in forever and I’m so thankful. Mods are asleep, we can talk about anime again)

So even though Honda decided that he was fed up with Jounouchi and didn’t want to save his ass, he decided to give it another go but complete with some new sash. He also did this without telling any of the others, who just kinda spectated him for a little while.

Honestly, if they weren’t laughing at him, I wouldn’t have known that this sash was any weirder than any of his other sashes. I don’t know really know what a school uniform should look like. It’s a shame, I feel like this series has a lot of jokes and puns probably soaring right over my head.

A little bit embarrased he was caught being vulnerable, Honda decides to give us a little more context to why he ever decided to give Jounouchi the time of day in the first place.

They had PE class once, and Honda apparently loves the hell out of PE. Jounouchi ran really fast in a straight line that one time, and that is why he’s trustworthy friend material. He just needs to stop joining gangs, and he’ll be solid.

I have no idea if the fandub put that in there or if that was native to the show, but Miho legit stans Honda/Jounouchi and acts as if she’s off to write some fanfiction about it. Honestly if she did, it would make her so much more interesting of a character.

And so, until next time, we shall have to wait and see exactly what Yami Yuugi is going to do with a freakin Yo-yo and I’m sure it’s all sorts of real effed up. Excited to get there, honestly. A shame it had to happen on the part that isn’t dubbed yet, but I’ve done these subbed before, it’ll be fine!

[hawksugarbaby]

Todoroki x reader- one hell of a reunion

Smut

Chapter included: hair pulling, loud sex, implications of cuckolding

Todoroki watched amused knowing it didn't matter who fucked you best, he loved you, and you loved him, it had been obvious since first year. He watched you be carried off by Kirishima on his shoulder and you cupped your hands around your mouth "YOUR A CUCKOLD!" you shouted to the heterochromatic and he shook his head. So immature. "I GET TO GO NEXT YOU FUCKING EXTRA'S!" "Kaachan the world doesn't revolve around you!" "QUIET DEKU"

The boys were gathered around a table staring at your silhouette talking to your former teachers who were asking about your studies in university. The hero course was having a reunion, 10 years after they left to go off on their own, some had gone straight to setting up their own agencies, some going on to be sidekicks for more popular heroes but you? You were a special case. You never cared for becoming a hero, mostly just following the path laid out for you by your mother so you decided that before you stepped into the mould created for you, you would go to university and study (f/s) much to your mother's dismay so that you had something to fall back on if you decided hero work wasn't for you.

You had always been attentive in class, never missing a note or a class and used all your free time to study, you were as sweet as a Carmel apple and always had a childlike innocence around you but it seemed like too much to many of the 1-A boys, even midoriya was sceptical of your innocence. Which led all the boys to tonight, each one determined to discover the real you. The girls always seemed oblivious to how sickly your personality was assuming it was just a purity no one else possessed but the boys knew it was saccharine.

"She may seem like lollipops and rainbows but I bet behind closed doors she's latex and whips" kaminari took a swig off his spiked punch and all the boys nodded in agreement, well most of which. Todoroki didn't understand why everyone was so hung up on this, of course, you were the most gorgeous person in existence to him and your personality brought a liveliness to the room no one else could offer, so why did they want to discover if it was untrue? Why couldn't they let you just be sweet and innocent, honey voice and butterscotch smooth skin, you were so perfect. "Yeah, but how are any of us going to find that out?" Kirishima pondered and Mineta stepped into the conversation "didn't (y/n) have a huge crush on todoroki? Like unable to keep her eyes off him crush?"

The boys nodded remembering how often you had made conversation with him compared to the other boys and some scowled at the memory "but we don't know if she still does?" Kirishima added and midoriya cleared his throat grabbing the table's attention "your about to do some analysis shit aren't you" bakugo rolled his eyes and urged him on with his hand. "Sh-she's wearing red earrings and a silver necklace with red rubies in it the same as todoroki's hair, her dress is dark blue and silver like his hero costume and finally..." he pointed to your hand "she clearly has a shoto phone case and her ankle has a tattoo of a melting snowflake..."

The boys sat, stunned at Deku's analysis and todoroki turned a bright pink and drew his attention from you to the other boys at the table "I really don't want to be involved in this" he lied and a collective groan of annoyance was barely heard over the pulsing music "fine... but I have no idea what i'm doing so don't bla-" "just go you fucking lovesick puppy" bakugo pushed him forward and todoroki stumbled into the conversation with their old teachers.

You slowly turned to see him, your face slowly turning red from the unexpected intrusion of your longtime crush. "Ah! young todoroki, nice to see you join us!" all might grinned, his frail frame half the size of todoroki. "It's nice to see you too sir, I hope you're doing well," he said with a kind tone that made you swoon "hey todoroki, how's it going?" you asked hiding your nerves with a cheery tone, "i'm doing quite well, how are your studies going (y/n)?" he asked looking back to the table of boys who were staring intently at your conversation "they're going amazing! I never want to leave it's so fun and i'm learning so much" you gave a toothy grin and the boys at the table rolled their eyes not believing your desire to learn. "That's really good. I actually came over to ask if you wanted to dance?" he asked and pointed to the flashing dancefloor filled with students "wait you dance?" you giggled and he shrugged "not really but this punch is 100 per cent filled with alcohol" he chuckled and you chuckled waving goodbye to your teachers and getting swallowed in the crowd of dancing students.

At first, it was slightly awkward, neither of you sure how to approach each other but eventually you got more comfortable, the alcohol hitting your systems and the thumping music encouraging your bodies to move together "I never really took you as a reunions guy!" you shouted over the music "well there are some things I wanted to see again!" he shouted back, he gained some confidence twirling you so your back was facing him and he pulled you closer to him leaning into your shoulder "like what?" you grinned, grinding your ass against his crotch "mm, my dorm is looking pretty enticing right now?" he offered nibbling on the shell of your ear, he could see the boys watching with wide eyes and flushed faces out his peripherals and his hands travelled up your front resting just below the swell of your chest.

"Won't other people be living there?" you said reaching behind you to palm his hardening cock through his trousers making his face burn hotter than his flames "no, they scrapped the dorms once the league was disbanded, now they're all big empty buildings. But some of us asked to keep our rooms intact in case we need to do undercover work and can't stay in our homes" he explained and you nodded, swallowing thickly. His hot breath tickled your cheek and you span round wrapping one arm around his neck, the other continuing to palm his cock. "I see, and you just so happen to be one of those heroes?" you asked biting your lip, your eyes fell to his and he tilted your chin up looking at you with a soft smile but a deviousness glimmered in his lust glazed eyes "if you bite your lip one more time I'll bite it for you" he growled. His threatening words went straight to your throbbing cunt, his low voice making your stomach do flips.

"Let's check out that dorm room then huh?" you asked grabbing his collar and dragging him past the boy's table with an innocent wave. "I'll bring him back soon! I wanted to show todoroki something but I left it in my car" you fake pout and they slowly nod "and you need todoroki to go with you?" kaminari raised an eyebrow and tapped his foot "aw would you like to come too kaminari?" you teased glancing down for a split second before his mouth could open todoroki slammed the door open pushing you forward by the small of your back and a low growl urged you forward. "Sorry, maybe you'll take me up on that later" you shout "no she won't" todoroki argued and you left the building with a chuckle.

It was a good 5-minute walk to the UA dorms, the cold evening air flew through you and the lamplight glowed signalling moths to meet their burning demise. You opened the heavy door and you switched the unused lights on. The floorboards groaned and cobwebs lived in the corners stringing across the windows, the room smelled old and musky but the familiar memories of Christmas on the couch lived on as visions. He quickly led you to his room and opened the much more pristine door, his room was cleaner than the rest of the house and his bedsheets were folded neatly at the end of the bed. "Come here often?" you joked and he shrugged not fully understanding.

You didn't bother locking the door, no one else would be around anyway and you tugged the hem of his shirt "impatient are you?" he chuckled and pulled his shirt over his head throwing it in the corner. "Why would you ever think such a thing?" you gasped and stepped out of your dress kicking it near his shirt and you lay sprawled on his bed on your stomach "the fact you're already on the bed for me is a sure sign" he chuckled lowly and kneeled between your leg's rubbing you through your soaked panties "your dripping wet for me (y/n)," he said bringing his fingers to his mouth and sucking your juices off his fingers. He made quick work of your underwear and rubbed your clit slowly making you groan, your hips bucked and he snickered "you're so desperate, you look so pretty all laid out for me like this" he complimented and you bit your lip squeezing your eyes shut burying your face in his pillow.

He spread your legs further and pushed 2 fingers into your sopping cunt. They slipped in easily but it was a tight fit, your sighs were swallowed by the pillow and he drank in the sight in front of him appreciating the art that was your body. He moved his calloused fingers quickly dragging his fingers along your walls and flicked his thumb over your clit. He left wet kisses along your spine and nibbled on the lobe of your ear, your whines raised in pitch as he moved his fingers faster inside your hole, your slick dripping down his hands and he groaned at the sight. He fisted his throbbing hard cock with his other hand each moan and whimper going straight to his dick "do you think you can handle a third baby girl?" he asked. You mewled savouring the sounds of your new nickname "no but do it anyway" you urged.

Your conflicting words made him hesitate but he slid a third finger into your soaked pussy. It was incredibly tight, his fingers stretched you out more than you thought and you cried your hands fisted the pillows and he moved his fingers agonizingly slow but his thumb circled your clit at incredible speed. "Holy shit todo i'm cumming" you screeched fucking yourself on his fingers as he pumped them slowly. you convulsed under him and came all over his fingers, a sight etched into his memory eternally. "Look at that" he chuckled sticking his fingers out in front of you to clean them off, you swirled your tongue around his digits tasting yourself as he lined his cock up with your entrance.

The tip of his erection blushed pink and gleamed with the beads of precum pearling at the tip "are you on the pill?" he asked and you nodded. He guided his throbbing cock into your pussy and he groaned feeling the warmth swallow his rational thought "holy fuck" he groaned staying still for a minute "are you okay todo?" you asked, turning your head to see him better "y-your just really warm 'nd you're so fucking tight" his words left goosebumps on your skin and you gripped the bedsheets "god, fuck please move todoroki I need you so much" you begged, tears welling in your eyes and black drips of mascara smeared on the pillow.

He calmed his shallow breathing and began thrusting at a relatively slow pace. His hands gripped your hair and pulled slightly "ah! Todoroki! F-fuck please go faster" you cried moaning loudly. All your highschool fantasies paled in comparison to what was happening. He sped up his thrusts keeping his grip on your hair and you moved your hips back fucking yourself on his cock while he thrust quickly. He pulled your hair and a carnal moan was ripped from you, he had to stop and use all his will not to cum right then and there. That sound. That moan. He caused that just by...

he yanked your hair and you cried out again, the sensation was thrilling, your chest being pulled up and hair being pulled, it hurt, your ribs and stomach burned but it felt so good having him pull you back with just his hand, strings of moans escaped your lips and he licked his lips "you like that?" he asked and your heaved breaths were interrupted with soft whines "yes fuck yes please fuck me harder todo" you pleaded and his eyes shot open. His grip on your hair tightened and he slammed his cock back into you, he tugged your hair straining your neck as he pounded ruthlessly into your soaking cunt. He wore a shit-eating smirk excited about this new discovery, he leaned forward pulling you back like your hair was a leash and whispered and your ear "I can't wait to tell the rest of the boys about how good I fucked you, they'll never even get to experience it" his words made you tremble the pleasure he inflicted in your body bubbling in your stomach, your juices dribbled down his cock.

"Oh I don't know, kaminari might take me up on the offer" you teased, sewing seeds of jealousy under his skin, he growled his grip on your hair tightening with a vicious glare. His dual coloured eyes nearly swallowed by his pupils and he angled his cock so he was hitting your g-spot. The sounds coming from you were lewder than anything he had imagined, your moans filled the dorms the squelching sounds and the skin slapping on skin echoed in a perfect rhythm. "You think kaminari could fuck you like this babygirl?" he snarled (yes) moving his other hand to your clit flicking his thumb over it quickly and you gasped followed by a mewl "NO! God fuck no todoroki no one can fuck me like you do!" you bit your lip holding back your moans "what did I say about you biting your lip" he growled and turned your neck forcefully capturing your lips in his.

His teeth grazed your bottom lip and you moaned into his mouth. The sensation of him pulling your hair, biting your lip, and slamming his hips against yours, fucking you so carelessly became too much and you erupted. A sinful moan fell from your lips and a pathetic whimper of his name hung on the tip of your tongue, your mouth hung open and your eyes rolled back the rest of your body fell forward, suspended by his hand grasping your hair as you came on his cock. His fingers collected some of your cum and he sucked the nectar from his fingers. You uttered a string of curses as he continued fucking himself into your overstimulated cunt.

He buried his length inside of you and released with a guttural moan shooting thick ropes of cum inside you. He stilled catching his breath before pulling out and tucking his flaccid cock back into his boxers. He looked at you fucked out on the bed and chuckled lowly "was that good (y/n)?" he said wrapping his hand in your hair and pulling you back once again. You purred and attempted a nod "i'm babygirl now sorry I don't know who (y/n) is" your scratchy voice cracked, throat raw from screaming and he smirked "mhm you fucked me so good" you continued and pointed to your dress. "Wait you want to go back to the party?" he asked looking at the raving lights of hall Gamma through his window "mhm" you confirmed and attempted to stand only to collapse back onto the floor "I don't know how much more "dancing" I'll be doing though" you chuckled.

He handed you your dress and panties then a thought crossed his mind and he snatched his panties back off of you. Stuffing them in his pocket. "Todoroki... I need those back" you emphasised the need showing off your red pussy dripping with your combined cum "no I don't think you do" he gave you a lopsided grin and zipped your dress back up for you "you have to go through the rest of the party like this" he said and you panicked "consider it a punishment for flirting with kaminari" he growled and picked you up hoisting you onto his back, not caring about how much mess got on his shirt, he could just cover the mess with his jacket when he got back.

He set you down when you reached the doors and put his arms through his suit jacket to hide the wet patch on his shirt. He helped you into the building no one paying attention to your entrance except the table of boys who had been waiting impatiently for an hour and a half. All fantasising about what you were doing with todoroki, each wishing it was them, all hiding their lap with their jackets. They looked you up and down sucking in a breath at the sight of your exasperated form, completely fucked out and hanging onto todoroki like he was life support, all eyes especially attracted to the white fluid trickling down your leg.

Todoroki set you on the booth seat with the rest of the table and you prayed they don't put the UV lights on you curled up and pulled your fur jacket over your legs so no one would see the mess under your dress. "None of you. Will ever be able to fuck me like that" you pointed to the boys who collectively smirked "that sounds like a challenge sweet cheeks" bakugo's hands popped singing his suit jacket. You sat up slowly and squinted your eyes sizing them up. "Bring it" you muttered and it was a race to get to you first.

[streetlight11]

Nets and Bandaids | pt 1

Summary: They were the strongest members in their respective teams and everyone looked up to them. Except, they could never seem to get along. One day when an incident happened during the seasonal championship, that changed everything between them.

Theme: University au, volleyball players au, enemies to lovers

Warning: very mild swearing

Genre: angst, fluff

WC: 2.1k

Pairing: Lee Minho x Reader

a/n: btw, Y/F/N stands for 'Your Full Name'! :)

~~~

Next

Hankuk University has two of the most powerful team players in their Volleyball school team for both girls and boys. Their names were Y/F/N and Lee Minho. There were 8 members in each team. The girls volleyball team consists of Y/N who is the Team Captain and she is able to play any positions but her main position is a Setter. 

Chungha who is the Co-Captain and also a Libero. Jennie who was a Setter. Jihyo and Yeri who were the Right Side also known as an Outside Hitter. Mina and Jisoo who were the Left Side also known as a Wing Spiker. And last but not least, Lisa who was a Middle Blocker.

The boys volleyball team consists of Minho who is the Team Captain and just like Y/N, he is able to play any position but his main position is a Setter. Chan who is the Co-Captain and also a Setter. 

Changbin who was a Libero. Hyunjin who was a Middle Blocker. Jisung and Seungmin who were the Right Side also known as Outside Hitter. And lastly, Felix and Jeongin who were the Left Side also known as Wing Spiker.

Their volleyball training was every Tuesday and Thursdays from 6pm to 8pm.

Today was no different as they had training later on since it was a Tuesday. Y/N was just listening to her lecture class when she received a text from her volleyball coach.

She noticed that Coach Kwon mentioned “captains” which means he probably texted that same message to Minho as well and he did. But their group chat was oddly silent so she texted in the group chat to inform the rest.

Just 4 seconds after she sent her text, Minho sent his. She frowned as she rolled her eyes to no one in particular.

“Did that jerk really just wait for me to send the text first?” She locked her phone screen and soon refocused on her lecture. 

Two and a half dreadful hours later, they were now dismissed from the class. Y/N left the hall only to get a text from Chungha, asking her to meet them at the rooftop garden where students tend to sit down in the wooden tables to do their school work. She arrived at the rooftop, only to find half of the girls volleyball team and half of the boys volleyball team.

“Unnie!” Yeri called excitedly as she waved excitedly to Y/N, making the elder girl laugh. The minute Y/N arrived beside the wooden table, Jihyo spoke up.

“How was your lecture?”

“I don’t think anything got into my head to be honest.” Y/N said as the rest of them began to laugh. They spent the next 2 hours doing their assignments while the rest of the team members slowly began to appear as they waited for the training time to start. 

Y/N was just standing behind Seungmin, leaning over him to check his coding since he too was a CS student when a familiar voice called out from behind them.

“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s plenty of space on the right instead of leaning over him like that.” Y/N glanced over her shoulders while Seungmin peeked past her arm to see Minho approaching them with one hand clutching loosely on the strap of his cross body bag while the other was tucked in the pocket of his jeans.

She rolled her eyes as she ignored him, only to pat Seungmin’s shoulder and began to explain to him where he went wrong.

Minho scoffed, walking over to stand opposite her just behind Chan and Hyunjin. He stared at her with no particular expression on his face. Seungmin and her seemed like they were in their own little bubble. Seungmin’s lips tugged into a smile, thanking her for her help.

Training was about to start so they all made their way to the indoor sports hall together. They were walking in small groups with mixed genders where Y/N was walking with Changbin, Felix and Seungmin. She was just talking about baking with Felix when Changbin suddenly spoke up.

“The only thing you will bake is your hatred for Lee Minho.”

“You, come here.” Y/N said in a stern voice as Changbin began to sprint down the path screaming at the top of his lungs.

She chased after him, running past their other friends only for Changbin to almost run into the glass door. Y/N jolted to a stop behind him, she couldn’t stop laughing. Changbin growled as he got her in a chokehold.

Training soon began and it was back to square one where the captains would supervise their team according to what their coach told them to do. They were all taking a break when Coach Kwon called all of them to gather around.

“Okay, as you may know, the annual Volleyball Championships will be held in 2 months time and our school will be taking part in it. However, I was told by the official management of this championship that they will be having a special round for the final game. They want the two schools who qualify for the finals to participate in a mixed game.”

With that being said, they were all curious as to what that means, only for Coach Kwon to further explain his announcement.

“The two schools would have to team up both genders for the final round.” He said, making them gasp. Upon hearing this, both the Team Captains turned their heads to their Coach who was standing right beside them.

“Both genders?” Y/N asked.

“You mean…?” Minho said as he dragged his words, unsure if he likes where this was going.

“Yes. Both teams will have to take part in the finals together.” Coach Kwon said, noticing the two Captains frowned. He seemed to sense the thick tension lingering in the air so he chose to acknowledge it.

“With that being said, I will need you two to work together and put your differences aside. Can you do that for your teammates?” Coach Kwon asked, glancing over to Y/N and Minho who were standing in their spots, stiff.

Both of them nodded even though everyone knew it was a forced reaction so as to not disappoint their coach.

With that, Coach Kwon took 2 sets of 6, of two coloured vests to divide them into two teams equally. Since Y/N and Minho were the Team Captains, Coach Kwon gave Y/N the blue vest and Minho the purple vest before asking them to choose their team members.

So each team would have a total of four girls and four boys. Y/N and Minho played a round of rock paper scissors to see who gets to choose first, only for her to win.

The final teams were Y/N, Lisa, Yeri, Jisoo, Chan, Changbin, Felix and Seungmin. Minho, Hyunjin, Jisung, Jeongin, Chungha, Jennie, Mina and Jihyo. The practice games soon started as the ones on the bench were Felix, Jisoo, Jeongin and Mina.

And immediately off the bat, the opposite gender team members could already see the huge difference in their Team Captain’s attitude during a game.

Minho tends to scold his teammates if they weren’t fast enough or if they didn’t move according to how he likes it. Meanwhile, Y/N, on the other hand, encourages her team by giving tips and pointers on how to win a game or to perfect their moves during an attack or defense.

So when they finished their first practice round, Y/N couldn’t help but speak up after witnessing just how much he scolded the girls and even the boys about their speed and techniques.

“Don’t you think you’re being too harsh on them?” She asked with a disapproval on her face.

“This is my way of leading them. If they’re too slow, then what’s the point of being on the court?” Minho said with a sharp tone in his voice. By now, Y/N was already on the other side of the net, standing in front of Minho. She looked slightly smaller than him but she definitely had a more intimidating aura on her at the moment.

“And what makes you think they’ll get any better with you screaming at them all the time? As their Captain, you’re supposed to guide them not criticize them.” Y/N said firmly, causing Minho to take a step closer only to tower over her. 

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Minho said.

“You’re not the alpha here. We all listen to Coach Kwon. We’re both here to supervise. But if you can’t do it right, that’s when your team crashes.”

“I don’t need a big shot like you telling me what I should or should not do.”

“This is exactly why your team lost the last championship because you don’t have faith in them. Not everything in volleyball is about speed, you arrogant jerk.” Y/N said as Minho was about to lunge forward but Chan and Hyunjin stopped him right on time, sliding their bodies in between the two captains.

“That’s enough. We’re supposed to work together, not argue.” Chan said firmly while Chungha held Y/N back.

“There’s a reason why I appointed you two as the captains. And that is because I have faith in the two of you to lead your respective teams into being the best players in Hankuk U. But if both of you can’t work together, I can’t do anything to make things better.” Coach Kwon said, making them fall silent.

The two captains soon apologized to Coach Kwon who then told them to swap teams and also substitute the members on the bench for those playing in the same position.

With that being said, Y/N and Minho swapped places so that both teams will get to experience their way of leading them. During that second game, Minho kept cursing at Yeri whenever she missed the ball or for when she accidentally hit the ball out of line.

So right after the game, Y/N called out to Minho again when she saw Yeri looking down as she walked to the bench.

“Yah, Lee Minho, is that how you lead your team? By cursing at them?” She asked in a slightly sarcastic tone.

“If she was faster and more focused, she wouldn’t have missed the fucking ball thrice.”

“Just because she’s not as fast as you doesn’t mean she’s bad at playing the sport.” She said, only for him to growl at her in anger, shoving her shoulders now.

“Why does it matter so much to you?! I’ve been doing this with the boys for the past 2 years and they’ve only gotten better!”

“That’s because they want to avoid being screamed at by your petty little ass!” She yelled, and while most of the guys slightly agreed with what she said when she defended his teammates, they hated seeing the two fight.

“Y/N, let’s stop here. Hmm?” Chan said softly as he carefully wraps his arm around her shoulder to push her back but she didn’t want to move.

“What can we do to break that thick fucking ego of yours to make you realize that volleyball isn’t a goddamn war.” She said, making Minho glare at her. His anger slowly built up, only for Coach Kwon to speak up.

“I think we shall end early for today. Go home, get some rest. I hope to not see any of these tensions on Thursday. Do I make myself clear?” Coach said as they responded a “yes” in unison before they began to clear the hall of their volleyball equipment.

Y/N was just pushing the pole to the back of the sports hall when a soft voice spoke up from behind her, and it was Jeongin.

“Noona, I’m thankful that you stood up for us. I don’t know if you even want to hear this, but Minho hyung isn’t always like this with us. Sometimes he does give us good advice and he even helped us with techniques we could use during games and so far, they’re all really useful…” Jeongin paused as they stacked the poles at the back of the hall.

“Then why does he act so harshly to my members? To show that he has power?” Y/N asked, resting her hand against the pole only to lean her body weight on it. Jeongin laughed before he spoke up.

“Honestly, I think he was just doing it out of stress. I mean, we’ve never played a game together with both teams involved so I guess he was just confused on how he should lead them. Trust me noona, hyung can be really tough sometimes but he’s probably one of the best Team Captain anyone could have alongside Chan hyung.”

With that, she let out a heavy sigh as she ruffled Jeongin’s hair gently before walking back to the main hall with him, not realizing that someone was eavesdropping.

[ggidolsmuts]

(Smut version) CC - Iz*One Chaewon

"Okay, so who knows the answer to this question?" You ask your small but noisy class of students, looking at the clock at the back of the classroom and hoping this tutorial session of yours is ending soon - the class is too energetic for you. Your professor thrust this on you - apparently you did too well in her first-year class, so instead of one of her graduate students, you, a third-year, ended up as a teaching assistant for the class you took just two years ago. At least the pay was good for a college student, so you didn't complain.

"Me me me! The answer is 5x + 2." A long-haired blonde, Yena was it? Answered eagerly.

"Not quite-"

"No stupid, it's 5x2 + 2!" A feisty long-haired student called out from behind, firing a mocking lock at Yena for answering incorrectly.

"Ahahahah dummy!"

"That's enough Hyewon, good job Chaewon, but that is rude of you, there is no need to call others out."

"But-but she had the wrong answer!"

"And you had the wrong way of giving the right answer. Apologize to Yena."

"But what about Hye-"

"Apologize." You ask of Chaewon, sharpening your tone. Her face turns red, abashed at being put on the spot in front of her classmates.

"I-I'm sorry Yena."

"It's okay..." Yena replies timidly, the entire room going quiet at your tone.

"Good, moving on. As Chaewon said, the answer is 5x2 + 2, the reason that is the answer is because..." You launch into the explanation of the question, and the rest of the session goes by smoothly without incident. The students file out the door, eager to get out of the stuffy classroom. All but one make it out the door.

"Chaewon, a moment please."

"I'm sorry I-" You wave her off.

"No, not that, I'm glad you know what you did was wrong though. I wanted to talk to you about something else." She stands in front of you nervously, her hands fidgeting with her notebook.

"You got the question right in class, and I know you get the concepts because you ask the right questions, but Professor Bae says you're scoring poorly on the homeworks and quizzes, why is that?"

"I live in the dorms with the other students in the class, and you know how they are, you can barely keep them quiet in class."

"I've noticed, but Professor Bae says they're quiet in her classes."

"Well have you seen her? We're all scared of her!"

"Fine, but what's your point?"

"At the dorms it gets so noisy, I can't concentrate and study properly there."

"Go study at the library then."

"Too far, we have lots of dorm events going on, I don't want to miss out on those when they're available."

"Hmm... why don't you come to my office hours?"

"Your office hours?"

"Yeah, not many people come by for help, it'll be quiet, and I'll be available if you need help."

"Is that okay? I can just come by and study, even if I have no questions?"

"Of course!"

"That's great! When are your hours again?"

"Monday and Thursday, 5 to 7 in the evening."

"I'll be there, thank you!" She heads to the door, turning around and waving adorably at you, and you feel your heart stop for a moment - how is she so cute?

You wave back.

"No problem."

Chaewon becomes a regular at your office hours, always greeting you cheerily, before going quiet and burying her head in the books. The two of you usually enjoy the quiet classroom together, you working on your own homework while Chaewon goes over the latest chapter Professor Bae covered, occasionally asking you the odd question or two about a concept.

Over time you got to know her better, the two of you talking about the class, the professor, and just university life in general. She was always loud and noisy around her fellow friends, but surprisingly by herself she was more demure and low-key. Your personal highlight of those office hours is when she would give you a cute "Have a good night oppa!" before heading back to her dorm. In one of your office hours before the midterm, Chaewon makes a request.

"I'm having some trouble with these questions, can you go through them with me?"

"Of course." You sit down next to her, the two of you sharing the laptop screen. She points out the questions she has problems with and the two of you work through each and every one of them. About three quarters of the way through Chaewon glances at the computer clock, seeing that it is almost 7 pm.

"Oh no, time's almost up! Do you have to go at 7?" She looks at you with wide open eyes, frustration written on her face for not being able to get through all the questions in time.

"No it's fine, we can keep going, I want to make sure you understand everything." She gives you a grateful nod, and the two of you keep going. Unfortunately the last few questions are the hardest, and Chaewon has difficulty grasping those. Time drags on, and you feel yourself losing concentration, nodding off while she works on the problem. You shake your head, trying to clear your drowsiness. You lean towards the laptop, trying to read the question she's working on.

"Chaewon which one are you working on, do you have any questions?"

"Yes I'm-"

She stops talking abruptly, and you turn to face her. Both of you had leaned toward the laptop, and the two of you were close, far too close. You feel your face burning up, unable to tear away from her - you knew she was pretty, but seeing her blushing face so close to yours, you found her gorgeous. Chaewon snaps both of you out of it, pulling away from you and stammering.

"I-I think I'm done, I don't have any more questions, I'll see you oppa, h-have a good night!" You sit there wordlessly as Chaewon stuffs everything in her bag in a rush, dashing out the classroom without even a wave.

Your heart won't slow down.

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

A few days after the midterm, you knock on the door with labeled "Professor Bae Yoon Jung".

"Come in."

"Yes professor, you wanted to see me?"

"I just wanted to say that you're doing a excellent job, the students in your section did really well this midterm. Chaewon made a huge improvement."

"Thank you professor, I am glad to hear they did well." You're happy that Chaewon did well on the test, maybe a bit too happy - you couldn't hide the smile on your face.

"What's with the smile on your face?"

"I'm just glad Chaewon's doing well, she's been coming to my office hours often, so I'm glad to have been of help to her."

"Keep at it then, here are the tests for your section, give it back to them later today." She pats the stack of papers on her desk.

"Yes professor." Right, you had a session with the class to go over the tests later. You hadn't seen Chaewon since that evening... why are you so nervous? Why are you looking forward to it?

After lunch you find yourself walking to the usual classroom, your heartbeat rising as you open the door. The classroom is shockingly quiet, all the students nervous about the results of the midterm. You are determined not to scan the room for Chaewon, so you dive straight into it.

"Hey class, I'll cut to the chase, good job on the midterm, the median was a 77, average was 80 overall. Professor Bae was very pleased with this section's scores, I think almost everyone got an A, so really good job there. I'll return the tests now and go over each question." You look down at the papers and begin calling out names.

"Kwon Eunbi." A short-haired student came bounding up to you, and as always you found yourself trying not to admire her amazing body while giving her her test back. "Good job." You say to her while looking down at the next name.

"Honda Hitomi." A quiet blonde with squishy cheeks came up to you. You only remember her as being extremely quiet in class, but Chaewon mentioned in one of your conversations that she's really nice and kind to all of them. You give her the test with a nod and a quiet "Good job!" She sees her score and almost skips back to her seat.

"Nabuki Yako-"

"It's Yabuki Nako!" You hear giggles from the class as a petite student comes walking up to you, her face pouty and indignant as you got her name wrong again.

"Right, I'm so sorry Nako, here you go, you did a great job."

"Thank you!" She beams at the score she got.

"Choi Yena." The long-hair blonde approaches you, picking up her paper but not looking at the score.

"You did fine, got that question right too!" You try to encourage her, and she allows herself to take a peek.

"Oh, oh wow, nice!" She pumps her fist and makes her way back to her seat.

"Jo Yuri." Yena stops and comes back to you.

"I'll take it, we look alike."

"I'm here, she can take it!" You wave and see a second Yena - right, they always sat together and you wondered if they were twins, but apparently not.

"Uh sure... good job Yuri!" You call out to her before looking at the next test. "Kang Hyewon." Yena stops and doubles back again, stretching out her hand.

"I'll take it for her, she's going to be late."

"What? Why?"

"She's still eating lunch." You take a look at your watch. "She eats a lot." Yena adds when she sees your confusion. Shrugging you hand her Hyewon's paper. Your heart skips a beat when you see the next name.

"K-Kim Chaewon."

Your heart skips again when you see her rise elegantly from her seat and walk towards you. Normally the students are dressed in casual outfits, but Chaewon seemed really well made up today, her bangs perfect, her long hair lightly curled, and wearing a cute but eye-catching black one piece. She strides up and stops in front of you.

"Hi."

"H-hi." You manage to stammer out.  

"Ooh la la he's nervous!" Your hear from behind Chaewon, followed by a series of scandalous "oohs" from the rest of the class.

"Yah Jo Yuri!" She turns around, raising her fist in a toothless threat. Yuri sticks her tongue out, teasing you and Chaewon.

"Ahem." You clear your throat, and Chaewon turns around to you, her face red at being teased.

"Right, sorry..."

"Here you go, you did a great job."

"Thanks." She looks down at her test. "Wait really?!" You smile and nod at her. What follows can only be described as a shrill squeal of joy as she bounces back to her friends, showing off her score proudly.

"Next is... Lee Chaeyeon." A student with brilliant red hair comes towards you.

"Top score as always, really good job."

"Thank you!" She beams and returns to her seat, the other students envious of her, wanting to take a look at her exam to see what the correct answers were to the questions they got wrong. You go through a few more names.

"Miya- Miyawa... er, Sakura?"

The nervous girl sitting next to Chaeyeon comes forward.

"Good job, you did well this time."

"That's because the game servers were down the night before!" You hear Nako tease. Sakura doesn't say anything, so perhaps she was right.

"Uh huh... well, keep at it!" She quietly collects her paper and returns to her seat.

"Kim Minju... Angel?"

"You actually put that as your name on the test? Ahahahaha!" You hear the unmistakable laughter of Chaeyeon coming from the seats.

"Ahh~ It's because I lost a bet with Yena!" A tall and pretty student came walking up to you. "I didn't think you would say it out loud!" She looks at you accusingly.

"Sorry, I was just reading the name on the paper." She takes the test from you in a huff, the rest of the class cackling in laughter. You felt a little sorry for her, but also laugh along with the class - Chaewon mentioned she frequently gets made fun of because her reactions are great, and it certainly seems to be the case. You return the rest of the tests in short order.

"Okay, I think that's the class, I'll go over the questions now. So question 1..." You launch into a discussion of the test, and the class thankfully focuses, all of them quietly scribbling notes so that they don't make the same mistake again. You try to focus on going over the questions too, but you can't take your eyes off Chaewon every time you turn around to address the class - and neither could she, as the two of you catch each other's glance more than once.

The bell rings and the class begins filing out the door. You watch Chaewon and the rest of the class, but as they get to you Chaewon stops in front of you.

"Hey, I have a good joke, care to hear it?"

"Sure." Chaewon proceeds to drop a banana on your head.

"Ouch, what's that for?"

"A banana fell for you, so will you fall for me?" Chaewon asks in a singsong voice, her face turning beet red as she says it. She doesn't even grab her banana before she dashes out the door. Yuri and Yena crack up behind her after seeing the spectacle, calling after Chaewon and rushing past you to catch up to her.

"I hope you got the joke!" Yena calls out as she leaves.

You got the joke, and the question... Are you falling for her?

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

The next office hours roll around, and you are not surprised, but maybe a little disappointed, to see that Chaewon didn't come to office hours. After all it was right after the midterm, so maybe she is off relaxing with her friends and didn't want to study. You shrug and sit down, taking out your laptop and working on schoolwork of your own. The clock hits 7 pm and you pack your stuff, ready to go grab food. When you open the door however, you are surprised to see Chaewon there, dressed simply in a jacket and jeans.

"C-chaewon?"

"Oh oppa, you're done? Great, let's go!"

"What are you doing here, and go where?"

"Oppa, you finished office hours right?"

"Yes...?"

Chaewon takes a deep breath, preparing herself to say something.

"Let's go on a date."

You heart starts pounding, your mouth dry, did you hear her correctly?

"What?"

"L-let's go on a date!" She looks at you, her body seemingly shrinking away from you as she begins deflating like a balloon, losing confidence at your reaction.

"I-I'm sorry Chaewon, I can't." The words leaving your mouth stab at your own heart like a invisible knife.

"Why? But... but-"

"You're my student, I won't date my student."

"You're only two years older!" She starts speaking loudly, her voice rising but also beginning to break.

"I'm sorry, I can't. I-" You twist the knife further on yourself.

"Fine!" Chaewon's face is bright red, unable to face you. Her body is shaking slightly. "I'm sorry I asked!" She shouts at you before turning away from you, walking quickly back down the hallway.

"Chaewon!" You call out to her, but she doesn't stop or turn around. All you hear is a sniffle - it travels down the hallway, a second knife striking straight at your heart.

Why does it hurt even more?

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

Chaewon stops coming to your office hours, often even skipping your tutorial sessions entirely. You try to ask Yena and Yuri about her, but you don't get much out of them other than accusing looks and asking you hotly, "Why do you care?"

You find yourself missing her presence more and more, looking to her empty seat whenever you turn around to address the class, or looking up hopefully when the odd student comes to your office hours. You knew for sure you fell for her hard, but you also knew you couldn't date her then, and certainly not after that evening... you feel like you have a knife permanently buried in your heart, hurting whenever you thought about Chaewon, which was often.

To make matters worse, Professor Bae caught on as well, as she summoned you to her office close to the final exam.

"You wanted to see me professor?"

"Yes, are you still helping Chaewon in office hours?"

"No, she hasn't shown up in a while, why?"

"Her grades have been slipping since the midterm, which is not too unusual, but she has stopped coming to classes too, so I was wondering if you know anything about it."

"I haven't seen her since the midterm."

"I thought she was going to your office hours."

"She... stopped." The professor shoots you a piercing look, but you manage to stay silent, and she doesn’t pursue the matter.

"Fine. What a pity, she was doing so good too." You stand quietly by, unsure of what to say. The professor fires you another piercing look before sighing, dismissing you with a wave of her hand. "You may go." You worry about her, but there’s nothing you could do either. You hang your head and leave.

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

A week before the finals during office hours, you hear a commotion outside the door. As you stride to the door to find out what's going on, it flies open, almost smacking you in the face. This is followed by a short-haired figure flying straight at you. You manage to catch them, stopping their momentum and cushioning them against your chest. You look up to see Eunbi, Hyewon, and Yena standing at the door, all three of them giggling at what happened.

"We brought you a student who needs lots of help, please take care of her!" Eunbi says before the trio of them leave in a rush. You look at the student in your arms as she pushes away from you. You want to say you barely recognize her, but you spent the past two months thinking about her, you'd recognize her anywhere with any hair style.

"Chaewon?"

"Hi oppa." She says softly. Gone is the long-haired Chaewon you knew for most of the year, instead she is sporting a bobbed hair style, curling at the end and raven black instead of the brown she had. You did not think she could look even better than before, but she has taken your breath away along with your heart.

"Your hair, it looks great!"

"Thank you..." She blushes furiously at your compliment. "We-we had a dorm event, so I decided to change my hair for it."

"Good idea, you look beautiful." The words come out from your mouth before you can stop yourself, your face turning beet red. The both of you just stand there staring at the ground, unable to look at each other.

"I-I need some help before the final exam, I missed some classes because of the dorm event, can you help me?"

"Of course, that's why I'm here."

You sit down with her, happy to just see her again. You can't stop smiling, and to your joy neither can she as the two of you go over questions together, almost like the two of you did before the midterms, and before you know it your time together is over. The two of you pack your bags and exit the room, looking at each other, not wanting to say goodbye. You decide to broach the awkward topic you both had floating in your minds.

"Chaewon, about last time-" Chaewon cuts you off however.

"Oppa, I want to focus on the finals right now, I need to get caught up to speed. Thank you for today, I'll see you Thursday." She says in a rush, not looking you in the eye.

"Right, sounds good, I'll see you Thursday."

Thursday couldn't come fast enough.

You counted down the hours, no, minutes, until you could see Chaewon again, and during your Thursday office hours you find yourself unable to concentrate, your ears straining, listening for any footsteps that might be coming towards the classroom. You leap out of your seat when you hear footsteps coming down the hallway, rushing to the door and opening it.

"Ah!" Chaewon shouts in surprise.

"Chaewon! I'm sorry, I heard footsteps so I t-thought it was..." You trail off, embarrassed at your own eagerness to see her. Her face turns red as she figures out the last unsaid word.

"W-well I'm here... shall we go in?"

"Oh... oh, yes." You snap yourself out of your daze, taking a seat next to Chaewon as she brings out her laptop. You go through the last few concepts that Professor Bae covered in class, luckily Chaewon had little problems following.

"Great job Chaewon, I think you have everything covered, you're more than ready for the finals, you'll be fine."

"Thank you so much oppa, I-"

You turn your head to see why she stopped talking, only to realize that once again she is far too close to you once more. You can smell the faint fragrance of her shampoo, and it is intoxicating. Like a moth to a flame you draw even closer to her, looking into her shining eyes. Chaewon's face is bright red, but she doesn't pull back. You lean forward even more, wanting to dive into those big and sparkling eyes... She bites her lower lip before shutting her eyes tightly, her lips slightly pouting. You don't even realize it, but your hand goes to her cheek, cupping her face gently. You close your eyes and lean in...

"Oppa, quick, I have a question! We couldn't figure this out at the dorms and- oh my gadness!" The door bangs open, and Yuri comes barreling in the door, dispelling all the tension in the room. The centimeters between you and Chaewon instantly get pulled to a meter as the two of you separate hastily.

Yuri grins wickedly, processing the situation. "I'm so sorry Chaewon unnie, I'll tell the others that oppa's too busy with you to answer our questions."

"Yuri I'm going to kill you!" Chaewon half screams, blushing madly.

You step in before things get worse.

"Yuri, I'll answer any questions you have, just keep it a secret for Chaewon, please?"

"Okay, first question is this." She takes out a notebook and shows you the question she intended to ask. It was straightforward and you quickly explained the solution for her, writing it down so that she could show the others the solution. She blindsides you with the second question, grinning teasingly at you.

"Do you like Chaewon unnie?"

"I..."

"Answer the question or I tell everyone at the dorm what I saw!" Chaewon raises a helpless fist at Yuri, but she doesn't say anything else either. She looks at you intently, and you see no reason to hide it any longer.

"I do, a lot." You feel the blood rushing to your cheeks as you say it, looking straight at Chaewon. Her eyes widen at your confession, and she shyly bites her lip, turning away from your intense look.

"You're welcome unnie! I'll let you tell him how you feel!" She waves the notebook at you. "Thank you for the answers! Both answers!" She adds cheekily and dashes out the door.

"Jo Yuri you little-!" Chaewon grits her teeth at her friend before turning back to you, the two of you alone again.

"O-oppa, I... I-"

You hush her, grabbing her by the shoulders gently.

"There's no need to say anything now, please focus on the finals, I will see you again for sure." She nods silently, packing her stuff. As she heads out of the classroom she waves at you.

"Thank you for the help oppa, I'll do well for the test."

"I'm not worried, you'll do great, good luck!" You head back to your desk, stowing your laptop in your bag, trying to process what you just said this evening.

The moment you exit the classroom you are ambushed delightfully, feeling the lightest of pecks on your cheek. You can't help but beam as you turn to see Chaewon run down the hallway, her backpack bouncing the whole day. Your woop of joy echoes down the hallway, chasing after her.

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

The day of the finals comes and goes, and you can't wait to see Chaewon again. But it is more than a week later when you find yourself at Professor Bae's office once more.

"Good, you're here."

"Yes professor?"

"Here are the graded finals for your section, I emailed the class and told them to pick them up during one of the office hours, so just have them ready for your section at your next office hours."

"Got it." You flip through the papers idly.

"Chaewon did great."

"That's not what I was-"

"Shut up, I hear all kinds of giggling from your section whenever I mention the teaching assistants, and Chaewon goes completely red in the face. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Of course not professor."

"Did you two date?"

"No! I made it clear to her that I wouldn't date a student in the class."

"Is that why she stopped going to your office hours?" She stares at you with a knowing gaze.

"...Yes."

"Ugh you guys..." She massages her forehead in frustration. "Well you did the right thing, it could've been a serious problem." She smiles at you. "But once you hand the tests back, she's no longer a student of the class... so go after her, I like Chaewon, and I can tell you do too."

"Uh... right, thank you." You're not sure what else to say, your ears burning a little at discussing Chaewon with your professor.

"Go, good job, thank you for helping me this semester."

"Not at all, thank you for the opportunity!" You give a slight bow to the professor and exit, a big grin on your face at the prospect of seeing Chaewon again.

The hours seemingly fly by, until it is time for your last office hours of the semester. Your students come in here and there, picking up their tests and thanking you for your help during the semester, until there was a stack of twelve left.

You hear a soft knock on the door, and you almost pull a muscle with how fast your head turns to the door, just in time to see Chaewon come through to the door, smiling bashfully at you. She looked adorable in her short black hair, wearing a plaid top and a short black skirt.

"Hi oppa."

"Hey Chaewon."

"I'm here to pick up the tests. You can give me the others too, I told the girls I'll pick it up for them."

"Oh okay, great, here you go." You hand over the tests to her, and she quietly puts them in her backpack.

"Thanks."

"No problem..." The atmosphere deadens, the two of you not knowing what to say, despite how much you wanted to see each other. Feeling the emotions strain against your heart, you go first, not holding back what you feel.

"I missed you, I missed you so much! I like you, I-I want to go on that date with you!" You add hastily. "T-that is, if you still want to...?"

Chaewon dives into your arms, hugging you tightly and pushing you back into yuor chair. You hear her mumble against your chest.

"I missed you too..." Sitting in your lap she looks utterly beautiful. Your heart pounds as you hold her in your arms.

"I couldn't believe you rejected me the first time, I cried all night afterwards." She whispers quietly. You hug her tight against your body, peppering her forehead with kisses.

"I-I'm sorry, I really wanted to, but it wouldn't have been right."

"I know... but still!" Her voice rising a little again.

"I'll make it up to you, let's go on that date now. Should we go now?" You ask her, looking into her pained eyes as she remembers the moment after the midterms. She shoots you a glare, her mouth pouting a little.

"No."

"What?"

Chaewon gets off your lap, going to the classroom door and locking it with a click.

"What are you doing? If we're not going on a date, why did you lock the door, why are we staying here?"

"That's so Yuri or Yena don't come and disturb us." She sits back down in your lap, wrapping her arms around you and straddling your hips. "I want more than a date."

"More than a-" Before you finish your question Chaewon leans into you, her tongue needily probing your lips for access. You allow her in, and her tongue immediately searches for yours, exploring your mouth with passion. You feel her hands on the back of your head, pushing you deeper into the kiss. You elicit a soft moan from her when your tongue eventually pushes back, dipping briefly into her mouth. The moan snaps you out of the passionate makeout.

"Chaewon, we're moving too fast, we haven't even-"

"N-no we're not!" She says... angrily? Determinedly? at you. Her face is red as she follows up in a whisper. "We would've been doing this already if you just said yes then..."

"Chaewon, I, I..."  You fall silent, you don't know what to say to that at all.

"Please oppa, I... I want this so much, probably more than you do. Let's just do it here... okay?"

Stunned, you try to buy yourself some time to collect your thoughts. "W-wait, shouldn't we do this at... your dorm, or my place, or-"

"No, I waited for so long, I don't want to wait any longer." She shuts up all further attempts at conversation, smashing her lips on yours. You give in to her desires, wrapping your hands around her lower back, your tongue matching hers in intensity, fighting for dominance. Her hands go to your shirt, trying to take it off.

"Chaewon wait, that's too risky!"

"Fine!" Her hands go a little bit lower to your pants, unbuckling and unzipping your jeans. You feel a soft hand free your shaft from the confines of your boxers, your member already hard from the hurricane of passion Chaewon has swept you up in. She breaks the kiss momentarily, her other hand going underneath her skirt as she lifts her hips. While you are distracted by the touch of her hand guiding you, Chaewon positions herself just so, and with a dip of her hips you are instantly enveloped inside her.

"Oh god Chaewon!" You are blown away by the sudden explosion of pleasure, Chaewon matching your voice with a low moan of her own. "You're so wet..." You gasp out as she looks at you happily with fulfilled desire.

"I told you, I don't want to wait any longer." She presses her forehead against yours, looking into your eyes as she grinds on you. You struggle to maintain eye contact with her, the tightness of her walls forcing you to close your eyes in pleasure.

"Are you f-feeling good?" Chaewon asks between pants and bounces in your lap. You can only kiss her in reply, moaning into her mouth as she squeezes you tightly, your kiss pushing her to higher levels of arousal.

"Good... oppa you make me feel so good. I'm going crazy... so... good!" With a short squeal Chaewon hugs you tightly, panting heavily before melting into your arms with a soft whimper, her body shuddering through her climax. Her walls contract around you erratically, coating your shaft with her juices.

"Are you okay?" You kiss her cheek and peck at her lips, letting her come down from her high.

"Much better than okay..." She smiles at you giddily, her face flushed red in pleasure. "Your turn." Gripping the back of your chair for leverage she begins grinding on you, whining at how sensitive she feels after her orgasm. Your hands slip under her skirt, grabbing her thighs and squeezing them, letting Chaewon know just how good she's making you feel. Feeling you throb inside her, she ups the pace, sheathing you fully with every bounce in your lap, driving you to your limit.

"Chaewon I'm so close, you should get off-"

She shushes you with a kiss. "I came... prepared oppa. I want to feel you, just do it in me." She rides you with purpose, biting her lip as she looks at you, eagerly anticipating your peak. She continues to bob on top of you, her eyes shining with need, wanting to give you the same pleasure she felt. You kept looking into her eyes, the gaze you exchange with her filled with finally requited love, until you could look no longer.

"Ah, Chaewon, I-mmph!" Chaewon seals your lips with a kiss, your eyes forced shut by the strength of your orgasm. As you peak you pull her down into your lap, burying yourself to the hilt inside her, pouring all of your pent-up feelings into her warmth. Chaewon coos against you, her soft body quivering at being on the receiving end of your climax.

"You feel so hot oppa..." She sighs dreamily. You stroke her cheek tenderly, kissing her as you ride out your orgasm, making sure you have nothing left to give. She gets off you gingerly when you finish, the white mess you left in her slowly trickling down her thighs. You grab some tissues, the two of you cleaning up and readjusting your clothes.

Ready to go, you grasp her hand in yours, your fingers interlocking, Chaewon squeezes your hand in happiness as you look at her.

"Shall we?"

She nods at you, and you reach to unlock the door. She leans against you as the two of you walk down the hallway.

"Oppa, you should have said yes back then, so at one date a week that's about... 12 dates you owe me."

"12?!"

"Yes, 12, I'm still hurt you said no back then." She pouts, grabbing your phone and tapping her number in quickly, calling herself.

"That's my number, I'll see you at 7 tomorrow for our date okay?" She looks at you cutely - surely you're not going to say no?

"That's about 12 dates you owe me. I'll see you at 7 tomorrow for our date okay?" Before you have a chance to reply you hear the unmistakable accent of Yuri, and the blood drains from your face as you see a crowd of eleven come around the corner.

"Oooh what were you two doing for so long in a locked classroom?" Hyewon teases the two of you.

"Kwangbae you're dead!" Chaewon snaps at her, blushing furiously.

"Why are your clothes wrinkled? Don't say you just held hands, I won't believe you!" Yena adds in a singsong voice.

"Oppa you better treat Chaewon well!" Eunbi follows up, half playful, half threatening.

"I-I will..." You can only reply, running your hand through your hair in embarrassment. "Why are you all here?"

"We thought it was suspicious when Chaewon said she could pick up the tests for us, she never does anything nice for us."

"Eunbi unnie what are you saying! I always do nice stuff for you."

"Save it! Anyways oppa, can we borrow Chaewon just for tonight? You can have her every night after that, we want to hear all the details!"

"U-unnie! What are you saying!" Chaewon sputters as her friends separate her from you, pushing her down the hallway. She turns around to wave at you, her face still blushing red at being found out. You wave back at her, smiling like a puppy. You turn around and walk the other way, skipping your way back to your room.

Lying on the bed you check your phone to see a text from Chaewon.

Oppa I'll see you for date #1/12 tomrorow at 7 pm okay? I'll figure out where we should meet later.

Sure, I'll see you tomorrow <3

You debate for a while, finally deciding to add the heart symbol at the end. Turns out that was a mistake as you immediately get a call from her.

"Hello?"

"Ooooh a heart!" The rest of it is a mess of noise as you hear Chaewon screaming at her friends. After what sounds like a mad struggle for the phone you hear Chaewon's voice.

"Hello oppa?"

"A-are you okay there?"

"Yes, sorry for the call. I'm going to teach them a lesson now, I'll show them who Ssamu, the leader of Joyuriz is. Bye, mwah!" She hangs up with a click of the phone. Shaking your head you put down your phone and turn off the lights, unable to take your mind off your new girlfriend - you had so many questions for her, like who is Ssamu, and what is Joyuriz?

Whatever, you'll ask her tomorrow, tomorrow is going to be a good day... And every day with her after that.

A/N: Here’s the smut version, most of it is the same, other than the scene at the end. I hope you enjoy one of the versions, thank you for reading!

[awhitehead17]

Universal Signs

Epilogue / Previous Chapter

A/N: This is the final chapter and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has read this story, who has stuck by it from the start and to everyone who interacted with the story. It's all greatly appreciated, so thank you.

Also on AO3

Enjoy! :D

After slapping a sticky note on the fridge Tim heads out into the gardens of Wayne Manor. He feels the need to be alone and plus he wants some fresh air, the garden is a great place that provides him with both of those things. The note just happens to be letting everyone know where he’s gone off to. It wouldn’t be the first time its happened so they know to leave him be.

Tim walks through the grass and heads into the cluster of trees at the back of the property. Over the last few months, this area has become his escape for solitude. It’s peaceful, hidden away from the manor and no one else goes there. There’s a small gap in the grove, it’s big enough for him to settle on the ground, the tree roots emerging from the ground provide a good support to lean on and the grass there keeps it somewhat comfortable.

He comes here when he needs a break and today is no different. Being inside the manor is suffocating him and Tim just needed to get out, he needed to get away from the same walls in attempts to try and clear his mind.

Settling down on the ground Tim lets out a sigh and takes a moment to observe the nature around him. The leaves on the trees are slowly beginning to turn into a mixture of reds, oranges and browns, a clear sign that autumn is on the way. There are birds chirping away in the trees. There’s an occasional rustling of leaves where there are squirrels hurrying along the branches above him.

After a while he closes his eyes and leans back against the tree root he’s come to favour over time and lets his mind wonder.

It’s been six months since he’s returned home from being in space. At this point he’s somewhat adjusted to being back however there are plenty of times when he struggles with it. There are as many good days as there are bad days, they seem to balance one another out with how often they each occur.

The first month had been the hardest. His emotions were all over the place, everyone was on high alert, there were so many things Tim needed to catch up on like events in the world and even just his family relationships. Tim’s mental health went downhill, not alarmingly so considering what had happened but it was still a cause of concern for his family. He was constantly hit with anxiety, paranoia, disorientation, nightmares and insomnia.

Tim absolutely refused to go to therapy. No matter how much his family tried to convince he just outright refused, even straight up walking out of the room when the word was mentioned. He knows it would be good for him, however what the fuck was he supposed to say? How would he describe about being kidnapped by aliens? They would think he's insane and would probably try to lock him up in an asylum! The easiest way to avoid that is to simply avoid therapy.

He did find though once he told Dick and Jason what happened things became a little easier. A weight disappeared from his shoulders and he could be open with his brothers. Not about everything that occurred but most things and that alone made a difference.

Things stayed rocky throughout the second month and it wasn’t until the third month that things started to improve. Tim started to handle his mental health better, it took some time but he came across a variety of resources online and used those as guidance. While he didn’t magically heal overnight and still had problems, they slowly became less severe and easier to handle.

When the fourth month came around they let the public see Tim for the first time since he returned. That had been a mistake. The Wayne’s are well known in Gotham City (and somewhat the world) so there had been spotlights on them from the moment it got declared Tim was missing. While the spotlight lessened over the course of the two years Tim had been gone, once Tim’s return made it to the news the family were instantly highlighted once again.

Bruce and his team kept Tim out of the way, they kept statements and quotes pretty vague and anonymous. Of course there were lots of conspiracies on what had happened to Tim, where he had been that entire time and how he had managed to return home. If Tim was being honest some of the theories were pretty hilarious, though not one of them even came close to the truth.

The time they decided to get Tim out in public was during the annual charity event that took place in city hall. Majority of his family were attending meaning Tim wouldn’t be alone, the spotlight would theoretically only be on him for a few moments until the next celebrity showed up. Tim had been reluctant at first but after reassurances from his family he said yes. After all if he made an appearance the media may calm down and leave them alone.

The moment Tim stepped out of the limo they arrived in he had been bombarded and it didn’t let up the entire night. Even with his family there and the bodyguards no one really left him alone. The press were savages hunting for food.

Before getting kidnapped Tim could handle the press well, he knew how to play the game, how to avoid and deflect questions and answers, but this time he couldn’t. It was all too overwhelming, his emotions and mind went into overdrive and panic. He couldn’t help the panic attack no matter what, fortunately his family caught on to what was happening and managed to get him away somewhere private by the time the attack happened. They supported him through it and then called it a night. He hasn’t been in public since.

The fifth month had been a mixture of month two and three. Tim had his ups and downs but he was handling it the best he could. His family were always there to support him no matter what.

During the fifth month Tim decided to tell Bruce what had happened. He sat down with his adoptive father, Alfred too, in his office and Tim told him everything that had happened. Tim had been a nervous wreck and it took encouragement from Dick and Jason for him to finally do it.

Both Bruce and Alfred seemed to take it in stride. At first they seemed like they didn’t believe him but after a couple of days thinking about it they said to him they believed him, why would Tim make up something like that? On the other hand his story seemed to only encourage Bruce to try and get him a therapist even more and once again Tim blatantly refused. He argued he was handling it and so on. With reluctance Bruce dropped the topic but Tim knows it’ll come up again soon enough.

Now though, at six months, Tim thinks he’s doing okay (besides the obvious). He would like to believe he’s doing okay. There’s not a day that goes by where he doesn’t think about the aliens that saved him, or some of the events and adventures that had happened when he had been with them.

If there’s anything positive that’s come from his experience it’s that he's decided on a career change. Before getting kidnapped Tim had been working at Wayne Enterprises in the offices doing a mixture of roles. At the time he had been looking into the future of helping Bruce to run the company, he was well on his way to do it too despite his age. However his trip has opened his eyes up and he’s decided a career change seems suitable. He’s now going into astrophysics. A job in the sciences and looking at space, time and the universe.

Tim has only recently started up online courses because he needs to work on getting a degree in the field before moving onto getting an actual job in the area. He’s smart enough for it, and now that he has the interest and even first-hand experience in the area its all the more interesting. He finds it particularly fun when the question “is there life on other planets?” come up.

Apart from the online classes Tim’s time is spent catching up with things and generally chilling around the house unless he's dragged into something by one of his siblings.

Oh, doesn’t that make him think of another major adjustment he’s had to come to terms with. Damian. Bruce’s biological son. Tim knows his story of arriving to the Manor but he doesn’t fully know the details of his past. There was tension between them but they were civil to one another any time they cross paths. It certainly took time, and still is taking time, to get used to that he has a younger sibling. On the bright side at least he’s not the youngest anymore!

It was also thanks to Damian that Tim learnt that his universal translator works on Earth too. Upon his arrival back home, Tim had completely forgotten about the little device installed in his teeth and the remote that came with it. His mind had been on other things after all but it wasn’t until Damian spoke in his native tongue, Arabic, that Tim realised the translator is still implanted in him and it works with Earth languages too.

After that discovery Tim spent a good five hours on YouTube watching a range of videos in a variety of languages. It blew his mind that he could understand every single one of them. However, even though he can understand them, he can’t speak the languages nor can he write or read them. It had been an interesting discovery, now any time Damian speaks Arabic and Tim hears him, he can’t help but snicker at the teen’s language and the kinds of names he calls their siblings.

He sighs again, feeling oddly unsettled. His life seems almost rather dull now in a way. If anyone heard him say that after knowing everything he went through they would call him insane, but it’s like his “space life” had always been one adventure after another, always something to do, or a danger to be aware of. Now that he's back on Earth where there’s not so much of that it feels strange.

With that pleasant thought in his mind Tim opens his eyes up and starts to make a move to leave. He usually comes out to this forestry area to clear his mind but unfortunately today that doesn’t seem to be the case, his mind doesn’t seem to want to shut up. Tim trudges back to the Manor through the gardens as the sun begins to lower signalling the approach of the evening.

The next few days seem to repeat themselves until the weekend rolls around. It’s Saturday when Dick decides he wants to take Tim shopping. It’s a risk going out into public like that, as Tim pointed out to him, but Dick argues it’ll do him good to leave the Manor and how it’ll make a change of scenery for him.

Tim only agreed in the end when they compromised they’ll only be out for no more than three hours. Dick wanted more and Tim would prefer less, three seemed to be a good balance for them. Apparently his brother wanted to get himself some new clothes and there was the fact he needed to get Barbara something for her birthday that’s quickly approaching.

Together they go to the closet mall and Dick drags him into about five different clothing shops. The man gets himself a variety of new autumn clothes and even grabs Tim a fluffy sweater and a new jacket. Tim really did have to stop him when he tried to by an elephant onesie though, Dick may like the damn things but that didn’t mean Tim did.

After clothes shopping Dick decided to duck inside a jeweller’s shop on the way out of the mall. While Dick is inside buying who knows what, Tim choses to wait for him outside the shop. He stands  by the door, leaning against the frame and people-watched as they walked by.

No one paid him much attention as they went about their days. Each person, family, couples all absorbed in whatever activity they were doing or what shop they wanted to get to. It still was bizarre to Tim, even after six months, that everyone here just goes about their days without the slightest bit of clue to what’s out there above and beyond. It makes him wonder what and where he would be if he never got kidnapped.

Tim shifts his position against the frame, propping his back up against it more as he continues to look around. He freezes however when something catches his eyes at the other end of the mall. There’s a small group of people who were stood off to the side by the wall out of the way from everyone that catches his attention. Their heads were ducked together as they spoke to one another and they all had their backs to Tim so he couldn’t see their faces. Tim doesn’t look away though because there’s something about them that seems familiar.

He’s not sure how long he stares at the group of three but they don’t move from their position in that time at all. He doesn’t think they’re up to anything as they don’t seem suspicious but there’s a tugging feeling inside of Tim that’s telling him there’s more to the group.

When one of them turns their head around to observe the surroundings as if trying to find something, Tim gasps. Surely that can’t be…

“Tim!”

Tim blinks and looks away from the group to find Dick standing next to him looking at him curiously.

“What’s gotten into you? You okay, I was calling your name for ages.”

Tim blinks at him again before looking back over the group, he sucks in a breath when he finally sees all three faces of the group. He watches with wide eyes as they start to move from their position and Tim knows he needs to go after them.

Without saying anything he pushes off the door frame and heads in that direction as the group starts walking in the opposite way. If Tim doesn’t catch up to them now then he’ll lose them and that isn’t an option.

However he doesn’t get more than a couple steps away before he's stopped as his arm is caught in a tight grip by his older brother. Tim tugs his arm roughly as he tries to get Dick to let him go. He frantically looks between his brother and the slowly retreating group.

“Dick, please, let me go… I need to go.” Tim begs. He could feel the desperate need to go and approach that group, he could feel his heart pounding and even some excitement stirring inside of him.

Dick’s grip only tightens. “What the hell you on about Tim?” His words are stern but Tim could hear how they’re said with an anxious tone.

Tim tugs his arm again, this time reaching out with his other to shove Dick away. “I’ll explain, I promise, just let me go…”

“No, not until you tell me what you’ve seen.”

When Tim looks over the group was now almost out of sight and Tim could feel his heart dropping. This was his last chance just to make sure he hadn’t been seeing things. Knowing Dick wasn’t going to let him go, Tim shoves him hard and yells at him.

“Let me go!”

In either shock or panic, Dick lets him go and Tim couldn’t be more relieved. As soon as his brother’s hand is off his arm Tim is shoots off in an instant, he ignores all the eyes now staring at him as he runs by them in the direction the group had disappeared from.

Miraculously he manages to catch up to the retreating group. He spots the three familiar figures manoeuvring their way through the crowd heading towards the other end of the mall where an exit is. Tim rushes forward, not caring about how manic he looks as he passes by strangers, and as soon as he’s in hearing range he shouts to try and get their attention.

“Kon! Kon, Cassie! Guys. Bart!”

The shouts get him a few more weird looks but he continues to be oblivious to them as he’s tunnel visioned on the three people in front of him. Thankfully his shouting gets the attention of the right people because the group stop and turn around in their place.

Suddenly Tim couldn’t breathe. There in front of him were the aliens who he thought he would never see again, the aliens who saved his life numerous of times and the ones who returned him home.

Kon, Cassie and Bart stand in front of him staring back seeming just as shocked as he is. For a long time none of them move as they all take in that they’re actually seeing one another again. If Tim weren’t so surprised by their appearance he would be questioning it, but he’s too elevated to give it much thought in that moment.

Without realising it Tim is moving and so were they. They meet in the middle and Tim finds himself wrapped up in a group hug. He breathes deeply, wondering why the action feels so familiar, and even safe, when he hasn’t seen them in six months.

He pulls back and looks wildly between the three of them. He can’t believe they’re here. Could this be a dream?

“Tim! We were just looking for you!” Bart grins brightly.

Tim shoots him a look, then glances at the other two. “Looking for me? Why what’s going on? Wait, wait, wait, how are you guys here? Why are you here?”

Bart’s smile falters a little at Tim’s rapid questions. “Because we wanted to find you.”

Tim shakes his head, feeling a little guilty that his questions came across wrongly. “No, I didn’t mean it like that, I’m just completely surprised to see you that’s all. This is totally unexpected.”

“Tim, as wonderful as it is to see you, do you know a place we can talk privately and not in the middle of… this place.” Cassie says glancing around cautiously.

Tim copies her and he finally realises how many people are looking at them funnily as well as giving them a wide berth as they pass by. Tim nods his head in understanding, this isn’t the kind of topic a group of people can discuss in the middle of the mall.

Just as Tim was thinking of a place they could go for privacy a shout gets his attention.

“Tim what the hell!” He turns around and is met with a furious Dick marching up to him. “What the fuck were you thinking running off like that?”

Tim huffs and rolls his eyes, he gets why Dick is worried but at the end of the day he is in fact an adult and not a toddler. “Dick it’s fine, I’m sorry but this is important.”

Dick studies him for a moment before his eyes flicker over to the three aliens standing opposite them looking awkward at the sudden appearance of his brother.

“Right so, Dick, this is Kon, Cassie and Bart,” he points to each alien in turn, “guys, this is my oldest brother Dick.”

There is a pause between them all and while the aliens look confused he could see the wheels turning inside of Dick’s mind. As if it’s clicked, Dick turns to Tim with wide eyes, “Are these the ones that saved your life?”

Tim smiles, feeling pleased that his brother has remembered his story and those involved. “Yeah that’s right.

“What are they doing here?”

Tim shrugs and turns to the others. “What are you guys doing here, beside looking for me?”

“Can we go somewhere else first Tim. Like away from all the eyes.” Cassie says pointedly.

Next to him Dick looks confused. “Tim what did she say? Wait, how do you understand them? That isn’t any language I’ve heard of.”

Tim blinks trying to comprehend everything going on. The aliens that saved his life are on Earth and he doesn’t know why, his brother is clearly confused and the others are looking at him expectantly. Tim is starting to feel pretty overwhelmed by it all.

In attempts to control his thoughts and emotions Tim takes a deep breath. “Right lets go somewhere else. Then everything can be explained.”

The private place they end up going happens to be a nearby park. It’s a large open space, where people are scattered over the place, it’s private in the sense that no one is paying them any attention and unless someone walks directly next to them, no one can hear their conversation.

The five of them settle down on the grass in a circle, the aliens and even Dick all look a little apprehensive for the choice of location but it’s not like there’s many others. It’s not like Tim and Dick can return home with the aliens in tow and expect Bruce to be okay with it.

“Right,” Tim says getting everyone’s attention. He glances at his friends, while still feeling  completely gobsmacked by the fact they’re here, and gets down to business. Tim needs to find out what’s going on.

Now they’re all sat down Tim blurts out his questions without restraint. “How are you guys here? Why are you here? I thought you were all being punished or put on probation? Did you complete it, did it end and now you’re free to do as you please once again?”

None of them respond to his rapid questioning, they each look at him blankly like they couldn’t understand what he’s saying. When the silence drags out for too long Tim is about to repeat them when Kon speaks up for the group.

The Kryptonian sends him an empathetic look and with patience says, “Let us just explain what’s happened that’s brought us here, hopefully the story will answer your questions.”

Tim has to retrain himself from firing out the questions again. He wants answers! He can’t believe they’re here, he thought he would never see them again but here they are!

Next to him Dick lightly smacks his shoulder to get his attention. “Tim what are they saying? What’s going on?”

His brother is looking awfully confused and concerned. Tim can’t exactly blame him. He’s dragged Dick with him to sit down with practically three strangers and is now witnessing a one-sided conversation because he can’t understand the other three.

“They’re about to explain why they’re on Earth. I honestly thought I would never see them again, I’m just as confused as you are.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea Tim. What if it’s some sort of… trap or something?”

A surge of anger rises inside of Tim at the accusation. He understands Dick’s worries but this isn’t a trap and he knows it. They wouldn’t do that to him, not after everything they went through together.

“Dick shut up for a moment.” Tim snaps at him after a pause once he’s got his emotions under control. “Also they can understand you too, so watch what you say. If you don’t like it, go away and I’ll come find you later, or sit here and be quiet, it’s your choice.”

Dick stares at him, clearly taken back by the aggression of his words. But Tim isn’t relenting. He narrows his eyes at his brother, daring him to say something. In the end Dick raises his hands up in surrender and stays where he is. Once he’s delt with Tim turns back to the aliens.

“Sorry about him, there’s just a little misunderstanding. Please tell me what happened and how you’re here.”

Kon launches into the explanation of what happened after they took Tim home. Apparently they returned back to Krypton before finishing off their collection job, what they had originally been doing when they first met Tim. Once they completed that they were put on probation and were kept under watchful eyes for a long time. They weren’t allowed on any missions, they had to go back to the basic training skills and from there build the trust back up with their so called leaders.

Once some trust was established they were allowed on missions but only with other older members of their squadron, they described it like someone was babysitting them. They also had to report back on anything and everything during the mission. Because of good behaviour from the each of them, they were then allowed out on missions independently as a team some time later.

After more trust had been built, after they had once again proven themselves apparently Kal approached them for a very specific mission that would suit their abilities and past experiences.

Kal had given the three of them the mission of doing recon and observing humans on planet Earth. Apparently their files and databases don’t have enough accurate information on humans and after the fiasco with Tim, it’s about time they start taking human beings into consideration and start learning about them properly.

The three of them were to stay on Earth for an extended period of time to gather the data they need and to regularly report back to the leaders with their findings. They didn’t go into detail on what it is they need to do or what they need to observe but Tim can easily overlook it because at the end of the day they are in fact here on Earth and with him.

“So Kal sent you here on Earth to ‘observe’ humans because of you guys knowing me?” Tim asks just so he’s clear on it all.

The three of them grin and nod in response. Amused, Tim snorts softly. He settles back on the grass, using his elbows to keep him propped up. “Surely he knows that as soon as you land you would try and find me. By the way, how did you find me? I thought I was unable to be tracked?”

“We parked the ship where we dropped you off. We’ve hidden the ship from anyone seeing it or anything detecting it. Once we’ve found a more suitable place we’ll move the ship.” Cassie explains waving her hand around subconsciously as she talks. “Knowing that the city next to it is the one you said you lived in, we took a chance and started looking for you. As you pointed out, we can’t track you, so we’ve been relying on nothing but hope and chance in bumping into you.”

Tim shakes his head in disbelief. So it had been by pure chance that they happened to be in the same part of the city, in the same mall, at the exact same time as Tim.

“I’ve always wanted to come to Earth, especially after meeting you Tim. It’s strange, different from other planets we’ve visited before. Also why are the days so short? Everything is bright because the sun is out and you’d practically blink and it would suddenly be dark, but after that you’d blink another time and it’s light once again.” Bart starts rambling from his position in between Tim and Kon. He looks around curiously, taking in everything and Tim could see him shaking in place, it’s like it’s taking all of Bart’s self-restraint to not go speeding off into the city in his excitement.

Tim laughs at his comments, Bart is just the same as he remembers. They all are really and it fills Tim with a warmth he can’t describe.

“How have you been since you’ve been back? Is everything alright, run into any trouble?” Kon asks him sounding concerned. Tim notices the way his eyes drift over to Dick who is currently on his phone not paying them much attention. Tim gets the feeling Kon may be feeling a bit protective of him, especially after seeing how Dick had unintentionally treated him earlier.

Tim shrugs, pulling a face as he looks around the park. “No more than what was expected to be honest.” He looks back at the alien. “So far, and touch wood, I haven’t run into or even seen any League members. There’s been my own personal stuff I’ve had to deal with but nothing like what you’re thinking of really.”

Cassie sits up straighter, she’s also eyeing Dick like he could be a threat of some kind. “And him there?”

Tim rolls his eyes in response. When will everyone stop treating him like a kid that constantly needs to be protected? “He’s fine. He gets a little over-protective and after not seeing me for a couple years, especially after what happened, he wants to make sure I’m fine. He’s not a threat.”

Both Cassie and Kon don’t seem satisfied with his answer but they let it go. Tim lets out a long breath. “So what now? You guys are here, what did you have in mind once you found me? How are you planning on completing your mission?”

“We were hoping you would be able to show us things about the human life.” Bart says looking at him hopefully. “After all, you know what you’d be talking about, there’s also the matter of fact no one can understand us except you because of the translator.”

“Yeah okay, I think I’d be able to help you. After all, it’s the least I can do since you saved my life several times. However I won’t be able to be with you all hours of the day, I have commitments to deal with as well.” Tim points out. He would love to help them out but he can’t just drop his life to do so, not that there’s really much going on but that’s not the point.

The three of them nod in unison, clearly understanding what Tim meant. “Any help would be great Tim, thank you.”

They get talking about a few other bits, like what they have discovered since being on Earth for themselves. During that conversation there were a lot of snarky comments made about how underdeveloped humans were, surprisingly those comments no longer annoy Tim, he simply rolls his eyes and moves onto the next thing.

Tim’s broken out of the conversation after Dick nudges him to get his attention. Tim blinks at him, completely forgetting he was even there to begin with. “Tim it’s getting late, we should probably get heading home.”

Tim glances at the clock on his own phone and is surprised to see the time. They’ve spent hours talking and catching up.

After a brief conversation about where they could meet up the next day, they settle on a time and place before parting ways. Once they were out of hearing range Dick puts his attention on Tim. “So they were the aliens who saved you? I didn’t expect to meet them, they don’t look like what I expected them to.”

Tim rolls his eyes. “I have described to you before what they look like Dick, not all aliens are huge and green with tentacles, antennas and multiple eyes.” He certainly isn’t going to tell Dick that there are in fact aliens that look exactly like that.

Dick laughs at his sarcasm. “You know that’s not what I meant. They each have a different language yet you spoke to the three of them with no problems.”

“Yeah that’s because of the universal translator I have planted in my teeth. Its one of the first things they did when they found me. Once it was implanted I was able to understand everything they said, it’s how they all communicate out there.”

The two of them finally reach the car and climb inside.

“So what are they doing here on Earth?” Dick asks as he starts the car up and begins driving them home.

“They’re here because they’ve been sent to do recon on humans, they need to report back their findings to their leaders. While being here they decided to come and find me, they have also asked if I could help them out. Since they saved my life, agreeing to help them isn’t an issue, it’s the least I could do.”

Dick asks him a few more questions about what they discussed, his brother is still put off by the fact they all have different languages and yet they can all understand one another, but on the most part he seems okay with them.

It makes Tim wonder if he should let his family officially meet the aliens, if he did how would it all play out? Communication will obviously be an issue, Tim will have to be their translator but it may be worth considering in the long run. The aliens showing their powers to the family would certainly be interesting and with how private Wayne Manor is, they could get away with it and not be spotted.

Those thoughts remain in Tim’s mind for the rest of the day, into the night and stay with him until the next day when he meets the aliens again. Tim makes sure to keep them all away from too crowded areas (they ended up in the park again) and makes sure he’s prepared for anything that may go wrong. It’s one of the first times he’s left the grounds on his own since returning home and he’s nervous. His anxiety does calm down a little when he finally meets with his friends but he stays alert just in case.

They have a brilliant day together. Tim answers as many questions as he can when they each ask him stuff, he also shows them what he could, stuff that really helps humans in their day to day lives, for example his mobile phone. Alongside that Tim introduces them to the internet. Witnessing them using google for the first time was as amusing as it was painful to watch.

Don’t even get him started about when Bart tried to talk to Siri.

When their day starts drawing to close, Tim’s earlier thoughts come back to the fore front of his mind. In the end he decides to bite the bullet and turns to the aliens.

“How would you all like to meet my family?”

There's a pregnant pause between them and before anyone could reply Tim starts rambling on. “I know that communication may be an issue but we can get around that. I think it would be good for you to meet the ones I spend most of my time with. Not only that, I can then also show you what human family life is like, how homes operate and what gardens can be like. It may be worth considering?”

When there’s more silence Tim winces, curing himself for his eagerness. It’s stupid, of course they wouldn’t like the idea. Why would they –

“Yeah okay. That sounds interesting, of course only if you’re sure about it.” Kon says eventually looking thoughtful.

Tim whips his head around and stares at him. “Really? You want to?”

Kon shares a look with the other two, who nod in response, and turns back to Tim. “Like I said, if you’re sure about it, yeah.”

“Okay, okay…” Tim mumbles now getting equally excited and nervous about this happening. After they agreed Tim called Alfred up and asked the butler to come and pick them up. While on the phone Tim explained to Alfred the situation and how he’ll have company with him. God bless his soul, Alfred took it all in stride. While he seemed dubious about it, he agreed to let them come back to the manor.

Once Alfred arrived Tim took the others to the car and guided them inside. He greets Alfred before diving into an explanation on how cars work.

The journey back to the Manor is a short one and Tim has the fantastic opportunity to watch the awe expression cross his friends faces as they see the manor for the first time. Despite how many places they have travelled to, it seems like this really captures their attention, something that’s truly impressed them and Tim couldn’t help but feel slightly proud of that.

Once they’ve parked up, Alfred goes ahead first, probably with the main intentions of warning everyone what’s about to happen. Tim hovers behind for a while as he lets his friends stare at his home and the surrounding gardens. When more time than necessary has passed, Tim gently nudges them up towards the stairs, saying he’ll take them on a tour later on.

When they enter the manor they’re greeted with the sight of Alfred, Bruce Jason and Cass standing in the hallway watching them come in. Once they were all in Tim closes the door behind them and moves so he’s standing in front of his friends and faces his family.

Tim shuffles uncomfortably in his place, he’s feeling the apprehension of this meeting now more than ever. Taking a deep breath he addresses those in the room. “Everyone I would like you to meet Kon-el of Krypton, Cassandra of Themyscira and Bartholomew of Keystone. These three are the ones who saved my life while I was gone, without them I would have died long ago and never would have returned home. I owe them everything.”

Tim stares at each family member in turn, observing their reactions. Alfred of course is aware of them already and seems pretty neutral, Jason narrows his eyes at the aliens in distrust but doesn’t comment, Cass looks at his friends with curiosity which seems to be on the more positive side of things and finally Bruce seems stoic as ever, Tim couldn’t really tell what he’s thinking.

Eventually the thick atmosphere in the air is broken when Bruce steps forward, eyeing each alien carefully until a smile takes over his face and he relaxes his posture, letting go of what Tim could describe as the ‘alpha’ persona (the one where Bruce tries to make it clear he’s the one in charge and has all the dominance in the room).

“Thank you for helping my son and bringing him home. If I could ever repay you please let me know.”

Of course the aliens could understand Bruce but if they spoke then he wouldn’t understand them. In return to Bruce’s words, they each smile appreciatively and duck their heads. Bruce doesn’t seem bothered by the lack of verbal response, he resumes on as normal.

“Since we have guests how about something to eat. Tim, I’m sure your friends would be interested in trying some of our food?”

Tim glances at the trio, raising an eyebrow in question. They each look back at him and shrug nonchalantly, clearly not bothered either way, or at least that’s Kon and Cassie, Bart on the other hand looks as eager as ever to try food.

Tim turns back to Bruce. “Yeah they’ll eat. I hope you have a lot because Bart will literally eat everything in  the house. He’s a Speedster and naturally eats more than the average person.” Tim laughs letting his adoptive father, and even Alfred, know in advance.

“There’ll be plenty Timothy, no need to worry about that. Now if you would like to follow me, I’ll show you where we will be eating.”

Without waiting Alfred turns around and heads into the depths of the manor. After sending a glare at each of their guests, Jason is quick to follow Alfred. Cass smiles politely and trails behind Jason with Bruce behind her.

The trio glance at Tim, clearly waiting for his cue before doing anything. Tim rolls his eyes and gestures on ahead, “Go, it’s going to be fine. Plus you’re going to absolutely love Alfred’s food, it’s the best.”

“If you say so…” Cassie mutters walking ahead.

Bart is about to speed off down the corridor but Kon catches his arm just in time to stop him from doing so. “Bart. Be careful, this isn’t somewhere you can easily run around in.”

“After we’ve eaten I can show you the gardens Bart, its plenty big enough outside for you to have free reign.” Tim says, knowing the Speedster’s way of dealing with his energy. Bart rapidly nods in response and starts after Cassie, not in a run but certainly a quick walk.

Then it’s just Kon and Tim left. They share a knowing smile. “It’s good to see you again Tim and it’s great to know that you’re still safe.”

Tim grins, feeling warmth rise up inside of him. Before saying anything he gestures for them to get walking, as they do he speaks up. “I missed you guys too. While I don’t particularly miss space and everything out there, I miss being with you three on the ship. I certainly wasn’t expecting to ever see you again.”

Kon shrugs, a sheepish smile playing on his lips. “Well we, or rather I, planned to visit you from the moment our probation was mentioned. I knew as soon as we had free reign again, we were going to come and visit you.”

Tim’s eyes widen at that. So even before they parted ways, Kon and the others had wanted to continue seeing him. “Well I’m glad you’re here, and that you’ll be here for an extended amount of time too.”

When they reach the dining room, they stop just short of the door. From inside loud sounds where being made and Tim dreads what kind of chaos he's about to walk into. It’s just another usual family dinner at this stage, there’s always some kind of drama going on. He turns to Kon with a thought, before he enters the room he shoots him a sly look, unable to help himself. The Kryptonian has no idea what he’s about to be in for.

“I’ve experienced your life Kon, now you get to experience mine. It’s probably going to be the wildest adventure you’ve had yet and that’s truly saying something, I hope you’re prepared.”

As he walks into the dining room, Tim leaves behind a bewildered looking Kon. For the first time since everything had happened, Tim is actually forward to what the future will bring. He knows that ups and downs will happen but he’s also excited to see what’ll occur with his new friends by his side as they learn about his way of life. It’s certainly going to be an experience.

[sinsbymanka]

Writing Tag Game

Okay listen I’m on vacation XD hence why I’m ignoring everyone’s tags/taking forever to respond. But I’ve been tagged in this A LOT and I really liked it/wanted to do it so thank you to everyone who tagged me (oh my god I’m so sorry if I missed one of you there were SO MANY): @noire-pandora, @in-arlathan, @thevikingwoman, @morganlefaye79, @elveny, @kunstpause, @pikapeppa

I’m not tagging anyone because I’m tagging everyone since I’m too lazy to find my tag list (I’m on VACATION). If you’ve not gotten tagged and wanted to do this, say I tagged you. 

How many works do you have on Ao3?

147 - I have 145 linked to my profile and two in the anonymous collection. 

What's your total Ao3 wordcount?

1,468,248. Almost 1.5 million!! 

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Of Miracles and Heroes (FenHawke, Cadash/Varric, Varania/Blackwall): 269

Interspecies Relationships Have Their Ups and Downs (Shakarian): 145

Don’t Make it Hawkeward (Varric/Hawke): 135

The Ambassador’s Vices (Josephine/Adaar): 111

The Girl with the Arrow Tattoo (Cadash/Varric): 101

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do (but - to be honest - it takes me FOREVER). I love comments. It’s so much easier to not leave comments than leave comments, so every time someone leaves one I’m blown away. I feel like - for leaving me a comment - you’re definitely owed an answer! I do apologize that it takes me awhile though - I am very bad at answering because they mean a lot to me and I get easily overwhelmed by the AO3 inbox I don’t know why. Blame anxiety. 

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I’ll be honest, I don’t like angsty endings so I don’t have many of them. By far the angstiest ending I have is Flowers, Lies, and Forgiveness. This is a Bianca Davri/Varric Tethras fic set during the final act of DA2. I wrote it from Bianca’s POV - showing Varric unraveling under the pressure of Kirkwall and Bianca’s complicated feelings about infidelity to her husband who clearly cares about her as well. I wrote it for @hollyand-writes who always lets me lean into the tragic “fucked upness” of the pairing when I’m feeling like making Varric suffer.  

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending

I prefer happy endings so almost EVERYTHING has a happy ending. My favorite endings, so far, are for Cheating the Dread Wolf, which is my Varric/Cadash/Solas polycule (or as I like to refer to it - Solas has a dwarf kink) and The Viscount’s Mistress which is my Hurt/Comfort Cadash/Varric Trespasser bullshit. 

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

I have not written crossovers - but I am very into AUs in another setting that belongs to a different fictional universe. Most recently I got back into my Downton Abbey bullshit and wrote Flappers for Fen’harel which is basically a Downton Abbey AU Solas/Cadash and I’m not taking comments about the outrageousness of it. 

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yep. Honestly though? Over the two years I’ve been active in Fandom, the shitty comments can be counted on one hand and usually came from the same people over and over again, who are easily blocked, and should stop seeking out clearly labeled content they don’t like. Me and my work are not for everyone - that’s REALLY okay. I’ve blocked people for no other reason than making things I don’t like - that doesn’t mean they’re bad people. 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

GOD DO I.

I am extremely sex and kink positive. Because of this - a lot of my work involves sex in some way or another. I think sex is a beautiful part of many (although not all) relationships, and that it’s frequently glossed over in mainstream media (particularly queer, kinky, and polyam sex). 

This ranges from sort of vanilla slow burns (My Cole/Bea fic, Compassion for an Assassin, has smut which hasn’t been posted yet. It’s Cole’s first time and is fairly vanilla and romantic, and occurs approximately 40k into the fic) to some pretty dubious consent near 24/7 dom/sub dynamics with BDSM kinks (I’ve written JUST as much of the Sereda/Gorim problematic smut as @jarakrisafis has in our series Forced Moves). 

There’s very few kinks I’m not willing to touch at least to try out - even if I end up not liking them. And the ones that aren’t for me are 100% allowed to exist and I will fight for them to the bloody end. My only recommendation is CLEARLY labeling your shit and not being afraid to add a tag if someone asks you to. 

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of? I’ve seen ideas I’ve tried on picked up by other people - but I don’t consider that stealing and it’s hard to trace “who has been inspired by who” because we ALL have been inspired by thousands of other people and frankly more stuff for me when I pull you over to my weird AUs and rarepairs. 

I also think that’s a huge part of not getting stolen - I’ve got so much weird niche shit that only a couple people read that stealing from me is going to most likely be caught IMMEDIATELY the audience is so small. 

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t believe so!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I’ve got some co-written secret smut with @blarfkey which almost nobody has seen, I’ve borrowed @tightassets Hawke, Lavellan, and Shepard for fics that she has illustrated, borrowed @tuffypelly‘s Adaars for some great fics, and my most ambitious project - the Forced Moves series with @jarakrisafis. It started out as us just exchanging gifts back and forth but we’ve wrangled it into Gambits and Countergambits, an Aeducan-origin prequel, that I’m VERY proud of. 

I love co-writing very much, but it’s very important to find the right partner and for it to be someone you trust completely. 

What's your all time favourite ship?

This is a stupidly hard question because I am, at heart, a multi-shipper. 

I love Varric/Hawke and Varric/Cadash. I’m also a sucker for Solas/Cadash. My fandom pool noodle is Varric/Cadash/Solas which I adore, and I’m very fond of Cole/Cadash. 

Most recently I’ve been DEEP in Aeducan/Gorim Saelac, Bhelen/Rica/Vartag, and Aeducan/Brosca feels. Dwarf origins are the best origins in my opinion and those characters are PERFECT. 

What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I fully plan on finishing everything. My writing style changed a lot, for the better, in a short period of time. I need to integrate my old style/new style and had to get a pep talk about how to do that. Now I’m ready to try as soon as I finish Compassion for an Assassin. 

What are your writing strengths? 

I write very sexy, hot smut. I also really like playing with character voice and making sure I get them “right” so I do a lot of experimenting before publishing a new character for the first time. 

I struggle to write action scenes - it’s like pulling fucking teeth - but people really LOVE my action scenes and they read well. So that’s something I’m proud of even if it feels like doing fucking pull ups. 

What are your writing weaknesses?

I never learned anything. My experiences with English and writing teachers were overwhelmingly negative. I’m unsure if I’m just not cut out for classes or if they were that bad, but I always left feeling like there was one “right” way to do it, and everything I liked was “bad”, so what was the point of “learning” anything? 

It turns out there’s this very pompous, pretentious thought process in writing where people “assume” things must be done, but GOOD writing teachers teach you the rules and then how to break them. I either never had a good writing teacher or got too intimidated to give them a chance before bouncing. 

So I’m exceedingly self-taught. I lack the vocabulary to discuss plot structure, characterization, grammar, etc. I instinctively know most of these things based on trial and error and reading, but I didn’t learn them and I miss a lot of nuance in the rules, but until recently I was still too intimidated and unsure of myself to admit that or take it seriously. 

So - my defense mechanism is NOT taking ANYTHING seriously. If my writing is a joke to me, it’s gotta be a joke to everyone else, but that’s been a shield to hide behind instead of being thoughtful about things. I’m here to have fun, yes, but there’s nothing wrong with learning a technique to the art. 

I’ve learned - mostly thanks to @blarfkey who is an amazing person and a wonderful teacher - that I am a good writer based on my self-teaching. And being intimidated of people who throw around impressive sounding words is a weakness that I am working on. 

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? 

Use sparingly and with good reason. It should be short and explained later or clear from context. 

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter on message boards back in the fucking day. Thankfully none of it exists anywhere anymore. 

What's your favourite fic you've written?

This is such a sappy answer and I’m so sorry. My favorite things have been written for and because of people I love and care about. When I read them, I’m not just reading the story, but remembering the relationships I’ve made and how important they are. 

So, my top three fics for THAT reason: 

1. Cheating the Dread Wolf - written for @blarfkey who inspired the idea and ruthlessly encouraged me to make it happen. This fic was so healing for me because it heavily features Fatherhood within it - and I lost my father in June 2020. I don’t know if I’d have been able to do it without her and it was so important for me to do. 

2. Gambits and Countergambits - written with @jarakrisafis and the culmination of a years worth of gifting shit back and forth and crafting a shared universe. The worldbuilding, smut, relationships, EVERYTHING about this fic is so deeply and passionately cared about by both of us and to our knowledge it is completely, totally unique.  

3. Relentless, Ridiculous, and Rakish - one of my only primarily gen-fics focusing on a forming brother/sister relationship between Maria Cadash and @tuffypelly‘s Otsar Adaar. I very much enjoyed writing it for her <3 

And then my overall favorite fic: 

The Viscount’s Mistress: I have a lot of opinions about how fanfiction treats the anchor’s meltdown and the aftermath. It’s one of the things in DAI that resonated with me SO much as someone who lives with chronic pain and a disability. I loved the fact my OC was in the same shoes and STILL saving the world. This is very much a fic that explores all the dark sides of trauma, pain, and the mental health effects of it. But it ends on a happy and hopeful note.  

[wh33zy]

My Read On Hiroki and Why He Gets On My Last Good Goddamn Nerve

First thing I want to make clear: I am not biased here. Although my favorite Egoist fanfiction on the planet is “Turning Back Time” By Lucicelo, this read on him is solely based off of my observations, interpretations, and is backed up with proof in the manga. I actually used to like Hiroki in the past, even made a fanfic and everything many moons ago (I was 16-17 shhhhh).  

Christ, where do I even begin with this fool? Strap in for this one, folks!

Welp, I guess we should start off by saying he’s a narcissist. This isn’t an insult, Hiroki is a textbook narc, he suffers from this. Why we’re starting here is because this is the baseline for his mindset and explains the drive behind most, if not all of his actions. This also explains the whole issue behind his ‘pride’ and avoiding things that are ‘embarrassing’. This also is a huge factor as to why the Egoist relationship just doesn’t fucking work and why if a relationship with Akihiko happened, Akihiko wouldn’t have been the likeable character he is now.

Hiroki is probably the most self centered character Nakamura has created next to Taka-no-means-no. In chapters told from his points of view, you never see him even consider anyone else or how they would feel. It’s all about how everything is impacting him and assuming that he’s always in the right or that he’s the victim in all this. During the stupid America thing, his head is so far up his asshole that he didn’t remember Nowaki being interested in studying a science nor their conversation about going to America because he thought it was appropriate to work on papers for school during a time he’s supposed to hang with Nowaki. 

Not to mention, most of his actions are completely self-serving. One of the majorly terrible things he did was sleeping with Akihiko. Instead of helping his friend through being devastated about unrequited love, he just took advantage of his emotionally vulnerable crush instead of the friend Akihiko needed. I think THIS is why Akihiko was so pissed off afterwards. Not just at himself but at Hiroki using his grief as an opportunity to make Akihiko fall in love with him. 

One that sticks out particular in terms of being self-serving is when he does nice things for others. But, almost all of those nice things are motivated by wanting to quell guilt or he’s fucking hammered. That was the main reason why he took care of Nowaki when he was sick which makes me confident that Hiroki wouldn’t have done anything at all if he wasn’t motivated by guilt. Why did he celebrate Valentine’s Day with Nowaki? Guilt! Why did he decide to take a bath with him? Guilt! Why did he even bother sending those bride photos back to his parents with that letter? GUILT! It’s hardly ever because it’s just a nice thing to fucking do or even the right thing. The only other time he told Nowaki he loved him? He was drunk! 

Narcissistic Rage: He’s not just a hothead, I think it goes deeper. While him being the Kamijou the Devil is funny at all, it’s literally just him in bouts of narc rage. That’s because students not listening to the lecture makes Hiroki feel like he lost control of his class and the fact that he’s being ignored in a threat to his self esteem. This also explains the many times he gets extremely angry when there’s an inkling that he is wrong and him lashing out by trying to hurt the person threatening/challenging him. So, not only do students get things thrown at them but it also explains why Nowaki does as well. HIs stubborness also stems from this, because he believes he’s right at all costs. 

Narcissistic Selective Memory: I bet there are a lot of problematic things about Hiroki that people forgot because only Nowaki’s faults are brought up anymore. While everyone loves to dogpile on Nowaki about him being a stalker, so was Hiroki! Hiroki was just as bad IF NOT WORSE! He not only wore disguises but he also would time his stalking to such a precise degree so that he and Nowaki would bump into each other so they could walk home together. He made a pattern to do this every seven or so times that he’d stalk Nowaki so that Nowaki wouldn’t catch on (but he DID because our boy is perceptive as hell). In a more recent chapter, Hiroki criticizes Nowaki for being a scary stalker.

Superiority Complex: So high and mighty, this guy. But, this is mainly evident by the way he treats Nowaki. For almost the entire relationship, Hiroki has treated Nowaki like a child. He would poo-poo Nowaki’s rightful concerns and accomplishments. He’d constantly talk down to him. Like, if this guy wasn’t making fun of Nowaki he was putting him down. This is what lead to Nowaki finally blowing up at him which brings us to our next thing- 

He didn’t just take advantage of Akihiko, oh no, he fully takes advantage of Nowaki’s kindness/selflessness. Hiroki is aware of what he can get away with, evident by the way he assumes that Nowaki will just stay quiet and agree. Also by the way he will automatically just reject whatever Nowaki has said to him because he knows Nowaki is too nice to fight back. If Nowaki is openly upset, this is where Hiroki’s guilt starts. 

Hiroki is Junjou Romantica’s BIGGEST HYPOCRITE: Not just from him only pointing out and criticizing bad things Nowaki did even though he did them himself, but the fact that he can’t take criticism himself. I think it’s very weird for someone to constantly be so judgmental of everyone around them but then not be able to take what they’re dishing out. This is evident why the way he acts when Nowaki was “sick” and was telling him that he ran off with the idea before he fully listened. You think Hiroki accepted that and changed? Haha, NO. 

Which also ties into his emotional immaturity. Listen, Hiroki, fuckface...can I call you fuckface? I’m gonna call you fuckface: you can’t tell someone that you don’t care what they do while also not wanting to act like you want to be in a relationship and then get mad if it seems like they’re taking your advice. You also shouldn’t hop into a relationship when you’re still in love with someone else. THAT’S RIGHT! You guys think Hiroki has gotten over Akihiko at all? Absolutely fucking NOT. He even said that he’d always love Akihiko but that he loves Nowaki ‘a different way’, but I’m not sure what that different way is? I mean, the first thing Hiroki thought about in terms of Nowaki was not his kindness or concern for his well-being, but that his hands were similar to Akihiko’s. Also, the whole thing about Nowaki not being allowed to call him by his first name but Akihiko being able to that is just another red flag to me. He’s also immature in the way that he barely faces his problems. He has run away figuratively and literally many many many many many times. Lastly, he barely takes any initiative in the relationship and has Nowaki constantly carrying their relationship. 

Which brings me to the part that boils my fucking blood: Hiroki treats Akihiko better than Nowaki and is a lot softer with him. With the way he speaks to Akihiko vs Nowaki, who gets to refer to him by his first name, the way he’d drop everything to read a manuscript- it is so fucking obvious that Hiroki would treat Akihiko so much better if they were together. I sometimes get the inkling that it frustrates Hiroki that Nowaki isn’t Akihiko. 

Does that mean Minimum is better than Egoist? Yeah, no. Akihiko would not have blossomed into the beautiful flower that he is now with Hiroki because there would be no motivation for him to change. Hiroki would enable his bad qualities since he’s accepting of a lot of Akihiko’s faults and the strained relationship with his family by both of their lack of empathy. Evident by the way Hiroki did fuck all to encourage Akihiko to move on in a healthy way and the way he kind of idolizes him. The other side of the clash is Akihiko not putting up with Hiroki’s narcissism, immaturity, and quirks as a whole. Akihiko does not take any of Hiroki’s bullshit, even now.

So, what even is Egoist then? Well, kind of quoting Bojack Horseman here, Hiroki sunk his claws into the one person on the planet who will put up with his bullshit and make him the center of the universe. Nowaki is wearing rose colored glasses, so all the red flags just look like flags. 

[microsuedemouse]

last night I had an Absolute Stranger pop up in my notes to be totally hostile out of nowhere about my interpretations of some fictional characters. I took the initiative to block them because they were engaging in bad faith and clearly had no interest in discussing the subject. now they don't have to see my content anymore and everyone wins! but I've been thinking about it ever since, and I wanted to share some thoughts here, with those of you who are reasonable and not just trying to start arguments with people you've never interacted with before. I know that at times I've collected large numbers of young, passionate followers, so I think this is a discussion worth having with anyone who's willing to converse in good faith!

one of the most fundamental truths of how human beings interact with fiction is that every single member of the audience is going to have a different take on the story. if you ask me, this is also one of the most beautiful and interesting things about engaging with other fans of something. everyone is bringing something different to the table when they sit down to read, watch, listen, play, or otherwise take in the tale. everyone is going to have their own context through which to understand the characters and events in the story. when you're dealing with literally anything that isn't expressly stated by the storytelling, you're dealing with interpretation, and there is never only one correct way to interpret a story or character. this just isn't how fiction works.

let me give you a good, clear example of what I mean. several years ago, in one of my university classes, I read Karen Russell's short story St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. the story is about a group of girls - maybe werewolves, maybe only feral children; it's left somewhat ambiguous - who are taken from their wolf families and re-educated by nuns to be proper young ladies. they're made to sit up straight and cut their wild hair and speak only in human languages, giving up the howling and growling they've used all their lives. it's difficult and unnatural for them. when my prof asked us what the story reminded us of, I was the one who brought up residential schools, and it seemed that a lot of my classmates agreed with me: the similarities were striking, even if Russell hadn't had that in mind. but an autistic classmate of mine had a different comparison to make - to her, the story was uncomfortably reminiscent of the treatment received by many autistic children, being forced to give up everything that comes naturally to them and conform to other people's expectations of their behaviour. both of these reads were completely legitimate.

you don't have to have an english or literature degree to understand this concept. think back to your early experiences writing essays in school, based on a book you'd been assigned to read. think about your teachers telling you: make a point, and then use evidence to convince me. this is one of the most basic ways that we engage with fiction on an academic level. and when it comes to fandom, we don't even have to go that far! while many fans love to put a lot of thought into their interpretations, headcanons, fanfics, meta, and other fanworks, many don't. there are a lot of reasons for this, from wanting to see yourself reflected in the characters you love to simply having fun shaking things up. you don't have to justify your interpretations (or your reinterpretations). you're allowed to play in the sandbox just because it's a good time.

a lot of us, when we really love a story or character, get incredibly passionate about our interpretations. that's normal and understandable. and so, naturally, we're also going to find people whose interpretations fly in the face of our own. but people who disagree with you are not inherently wrong. people are incredibly complex, which means two things: one, real people are going to have all kinds of complex factors affecting how they read a story, and two, there are virtually infinite ways to interpret fictional people when the information you're working with is necessarily limited. when they're working from the same baseline information, two people can have two wildly different understandings of a character and neither of them is objectively more correct than the other.

(this intersects a lot with conversations about coding and authorial intent. both of these are their own huge discussions that I'm not going to get into in detail here. both are important in their own ways, but when you cut down to the bone, the basic truth remains that audience interpretations are still going to go in all directions and that's still allowed. even when you're working exclusively with interpretations that aim to be entirely canon-compliant, neither coding nor authorial intent is the same thing as explicit canon. yes, it's still crappy to erase heavy queer-coding [for example] in media where that's the best representation that creators can offer us; that's a matter of social issues intersecting with fiction, which is another huge discussion of its own. but even what qualifies as 'heavy' coding is going to vary from one audience member to the next.)

for me, this incredible variety of interpretation is one of fandom's greatest strengths! I have made friends with people whose character interpretations are incredibly different from mine, or whose favourite ships are the ones I can't stand, or who hated stories I loved. I think trading these ideas, discussing the differences in our readings of the same subject matter, is so interesting. learning how someone reads a character or storyline, and why they read it that way, is always really illuminating for me! discussing our differing interpretations can be such an interesting way to learn about other people's points of view and broaden your own perspective. I so strongly encourage it. embrace the passion you share, rather than starting arguments about things that ultimately don't have much in the way of impact on your real-world existence. for sure, yeah, block the weirdo who romanticises an abusive ship that gives you the creeps. but when you meet someone who headcanons your favourite character to be a completely different sexuality than you do, or who ships your brotp romantically... there's huge potential there for some really engaging conversations.

this isn't a manifesto. the topic of fan interpretation is enormous, and includes so many smaller discussions, and intersects with so many other issues. I'm not claiming to have covered all the bases here. I just really encourage you all to accept that there are no Objectively Correct Opinions - that's not how opinions work! you know that, I know you do! and when you do come across work that's just so far from your interpretation that you can't stand it... just don't engage. scroll on past. block the poster if you want. no one is making you look at fanwork that you don't like. you are not obligated to interact with the people creating that work in any way. please, for the love of god, curate your own fandom experience. someone doodling fanart for a ship that doesn't jibe with you isn't hurting you. you have the power to remove it from in front of your eyes and go find something else you like better. go engage with things that do interest you!! you will be happier for it!!!

[unnuevosoltransformalarealidad]

Love Awaits

Title: Love Awaits Summary: Y/N is in college and has developed a crush on one of her professors.Some actions from him towards her, confused her. Does he feel the same way? Y/N finds out in an odd way. Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader Prompt: Student/Teacher square from the @anyfandomgoesbingo​​ 2020 Warnings: Mention of alcohol, party, vomiting, annoying family, fluff Word Count: 3748 A/N: This is an alternate universe; I do not own any of the characters used here.

^

A few weeks before your birthday, your best friends had picked you up from your school department on the campus. They had to wait for you because you had a meeting with your English Literature professor. 

-Is that your professor? — Lily, one of your best friends asked -Yes, why? — you asked -He is really cute — Rose, your other best friend said and you rolled your eyes -Don’t you like it? — Lily asked and you just didn’t say anything

The three of you headed to the bar near the campus to have a drink and enjoy the rest of the day. Your birthday was coming and they were organizing a little party. You needed to warn them about that because you didn’t want to celebrate it, not the way they wanted it. You were able to convince them to do something small on your birthday, you weren’t in the mood for a big celebration.

On the day of your birthday, you’d arranged with Lily and Rose that you were going to pick them up from their departments, and from there they'd leave you in your department so you could finish the rest of your classes. When you entered the building you saw that Professor Hiddleston was leaving the dean’s office, you rushed to avoid him but it was too late, he had already saw you

-Aren’t you late for class Y/N? — he asked -Kind of, Mr. Hiddleston — you said

You’ve met Professor Hiddleston when you were in high school, he was your Literature teacher and you loved his classes, and you loved him, you were practically in love with him, as every female student in that school. You had a different relationship with him than with your other professors, mostly because you’ve known him for the past five years or so. 

-Y/N? Are you listening? — He interrupted your thoughts -Sorry, what?

You were enjoying the view, he looked gorgeous, it seemed he hadn't had his hair cut for a while because the curls were starting to appear and they looked amazing on him. He had a questioning look on his face.

-I’m sorry, Mr. Hiddleston — you apologized -Aren’t you late? Again? — He reprimanded you — If you keep missing classes you aren’t going to pass and you’re not going to graduate — he mentioned -I know and I’m sorry. But... — You paused mid-sentence -What is it? — He asked worried Can you put that I attended the classes from today? Look, Mr. Hiddleston — you sighed — I know it’s a lot to ask but I’ll promise you that I won’t miss classes anymore — You explained -You promise? — He asked you considering your explanation -I’ll promise — You said making puppy eyes. He remained in silence for a few minutes. -Ok, fine — He removed his glasses sighing — Now leave before someone sees you. -Thanks, Mr. Hiddleston — You smiled — I owe you You headed out of the building as fast as you could when you ran into Lily and Rose. -What are you doing here? — you asked them -We came to pick you up — Lily said -We knew that you were going to miss that class — Rose added -What’s the matter with Professor Hiddleston? — Lily inquired

The girls were head over heels with the man and you couldn’t blame them. He was truly beautiful. They knew that my relationship with him was different than with the other professors, but they didn’t know why and it was something they were dying to know. -Nothing — You said -Oh! Come on, Y/N! Tell us — They said in unison You explained to them that you’ve met him in high school and that every girl was in love with him. You also explained that you had some interest in common about old literature and that he encouraged you to major in English Literature. -But I didn’t know he was teaching here. If I only knew, I would’ve chosen another school — You said -Yeah, right. — Both girls said and we all shared a laugh

That night it was your birthday party. Your house was packed, almost the whole campus had attended, the word spread too fast and luckily your house was big enough to host that kind of party. Truth is, you didn’t care much at that point who was there, you were having a great time with your friends, and the people who were there too, so everyone was happy. You were chatting with a classmate when Lily and Rose came running towards you with the biggest smiles on their faces. -What? — you asked them because they were giggling, they have had too much alcohol -He is here! — Rose says all flustered -Who? — you asked confused -The cute guy -The teacher — Lily explained -That’s impossible — you said — You’re imagining things. You should stop drinking

They left you alone, and unconsciously you started to wonder if it was true that he was there. And there he was, trying to reach the kitchen where it was less crowded. He was looking so beautiful, he was wearing a white shirt and a tight pair of jeans, with his curls slightly loose. I tried to ignore him and avoid his gaze, but it was too difficult. When I tried to leave the kitchen, he was coming to where I was.

-Hey — Tom said greeting you -Hi — you said in a shy tone -Enjoying the party? -Yeah, you? -Happy birthday, by the way — he commented — Why didn't you mention it today? Well, I’m not the type of person who shares private information, besides I don’t think that anyone in here knows that — You said — But thanks You didn’t mean to sound so rude, but the little alcohol you had was doing its effects, and now, the conversation was uncomfortable and he could notice. -Anyway — you said trying to lighten the mood — How did you find out about the party?  -I was passing by actually, some people outside recognized me and they invited me to come in — he admitted — I didn’t mean to intrude, I can leave if you want -No, no, please. Stay and enjoy the party — you said and turned around to leave him -Thanks — he said and I smiled flustered

A few hours later, everyone was already gone and the house was a huge mess. Lily and Rose were nowhere to be found, they probably were fast asleep in their rooms.  Before you started cleaning, you sat on one of the couches to relax a little and that’s when you realized that Mr. Hiddleston was still there. -May I? — He asked and you nodded -I didn’t know you were still here — you said — I thought you’d left as soon as I left you alone — you admitted -I enjoyed the party. Thank you for letting me stay — he said and then he smiled — you need a hand? — He asked you -Oh no, please, It’s not necessary -I insist — he said standing up -Thanks — You smiled — Let’s start here and then we move onto the other rooms -Perfect. The air between you was weird. Definitely, something was happening, but you weren’t able to see it. He seemed to be flirting with you or was just the alcohol speaking? Either way, you were feeling strange when he was close to me, so you went to another room.

An hour later, you were cleaning the kitchen when he showed up. -Do you need help here? — He asked you — The backyard and the living room are cleaned now -No, thanks. I’m almost done — you said still cleaning -Are you alright? — He asked you — You look kind of pale — you just nodded Actually, you weren’t feeling quite good, you were dizzy and about to get sick. The smells of the rubbish mixed with the alcohol were affecting you, making you nauseous. He noticed that you were slowing down the cleaning so he approached you to help you -Y/N, are you feeling good? — He asked you again — you are balancing yourself -What? — you asked him and everything went black You woke up and everything was spinning, the smell that was in the kitchen was too strong making you feel even more nauseous. -What happened? — you asked -It’s okay, take it easy — he said and he handed you a glass with juice — Here, take this, it will help you -Thanks — you said taking the glass -Your body gave up. The smell here is quite strong and made you feel sick. Don’t worry, I’ll finish cleaning — he said -Can you help me to get up, please? -Yes, of course — he gave you his hand for you to take it He helped you and sat you next to an open window to get some fresh air. Instead of helping you, the air made everything worse and you ended up throwing up in the trash can that made you nauseous in the first place and made you feel nauseous again, making you fainting again, just in time for Tom to be able to catch you. When you woke up the second time, you were laid down on the couch in the living room. He was sitting next to you, holding a glass of water this time. -How are you feeling? — he asked you concerned -I’ve been better — you said and smiled -You gave me quite a scare, darling — he said — If I hadn’t caught you, you’ve hit your head pretty bad -Thank you — you said all blushed. He called you darling like it was something normal.  -Don’t mention it. The kitchen is all clean, and the bags are all outside — he added -Mr. Hiddleston, it wasn’t necessary. Thank you so much -My pleasure — he smiled You talked a little more about life and other stuff. You enjoyed talking with him like this, like two friends, but the exhaustion was calling and you needed to rest. The following day you had to go to work and then you had your annual birthday dinner with your family. Luckily it was one time a year you saw them. Tom noticed that you were starting to doze off, so he laid you on the couch, and before leaving he left you a note next to your phone.

When you woke up the next day, you had a strong headache, remembering you one more time that you should stop drinking. You didn’t remember much of what happened the night before or why you were still wearing the clothing from the party. You got up to grab your phone to check the time when you noticed the piece of paper next to it.

Thank you for last night; I had an amazing time with you I really enjoyed the party, seriously Tom H. PS: I hope I can give you a birthday present soon

When you finished reading the note, you had a huge smile painted. You started to remember what happened, you felt embarrassed. He saw you throwing up, how were you going to look at him the next time you saw him? you thought. You checked the time and you had at least two hours before you had to leave for work, so you went to the kitchen to get breakfast ready, and after that, you needed to get ready for work and for the dinner with your family. Definitely, it was going to be a long day. When you arrived at work, you had a notification of an unread email

From: Pr. Thomas Hiddleston I already have your birthday present. Can I see you? Tom From: Y/N Y/L/N It wasn’t necessary, really. Yes, we can. Here’s my number, it’s better if you text me, I don’t check my emails regularly. See you soon Y/N

A few minutes later, you received a text from an unknown number, it was from Mr. Hiddleston. You saved his number and you arranged a “date” after the end of your work.

You ended your shift a little bit earlier than usual, giving you just the right amount of time to change your outfit for your date with Mr. Hiddleston. You weren’t sure if you were going to have time to change again for your dinner, so you picked an outfit that was appropriate for both events.

When you arrived at the bar, he was already there waiting for you. When he saw you, his eyes lightened up and his smile grew bigger. You look great — he said -Thanks — you blushed -Shall we? — he asked you and you nodded You got inside and he took you to a booth towards the end of the place to get some privacy. You talked about your job, and how you were doing at school, you also told him about your plans for tonight. -You don’t sound too excited about it — he told you -I’m not. It’s always the same topic of conversation when I’ll graduate and my love life. My mom is really annoying — you laughed He smiled at you and he took something from his coat -Here — he said handing you a little box — this is for you -Seriously, Mr. Hiddleston? — You said — This wasn’t necessary -It is, I crashed into your party — He said — and please, call me Tom -Well, Tom, it’s beautiful — You said with the open box. It was a necklace with a small star in it -May I? -Please — You said moving your hair so he could put it on -Perfect — he said close to your ear You talked a lot, you shared some laughs. You didn’t want to go, but you were getting late for dinner. You were enjoying his company, and certainly, he was enjoying it too. Tom called the waitress and asked her for a cupcake with a candle in it. -Tom — you said in a warning tone -This isn’t a birthday without a cake — he said and laugh -Definitely not — you blushed -Happy birthday, love — he said when the waitress came — Make a wish before you blow the candle -Thanks, Tom — you smiled and he caressed your hand Your heart was pounding fast, everything was perfect with him. You were considering skipping the family dinner, only to spend more time with him. You were sharing the cupcake when your phone started to buzz; your family was waiting for you. -It’s my mom — you said sad -It’s okay, dove — he said — I understand -Can we meet later, Mr. Hiddleston? -It would be my pleasure — he said — Let me know where and I’ll meet you there. He walked you to your car, he kissed your cheek before you left. You were really happy -Please, call me. Don’t hesitate — he said and waved goodbye.

You drove to the restaurant where the dinner was held feeling really happy. When you got there, your whole family was there and your mom had a long face, clearly, she was pissed off. -It was about time — she said -Yeah, sorry about that — You apologized — I was with the girls — you explained Dinner went pretty well, the conversation was interesting and everyone was having a good time. You sent a text to Tom telling him that you had arrived safely and that your mum had already scolded you for being late. You were having a great time, you were catching up with your sisters when your mom interrupted you. -Are you still working? -Yeap — you said emphasizing the final p — Still in the same job -And what about school? -What about it? — you asked -Are you planning to graduate anytime soon? — she asked you, knowing how much you hate talking about that -I’ll graduate when it has to be. Nobody is rushing me — you said -That’s a beautiful necklace, Y/N/N — your dad said changing the subject -Thanks — you said smiling -Who gave it to you? — your mom asked -A friend -This friend is a boyfriend we don’t know about? — Your mom pushes you -No mom — you said pissed off — It’s just a friend You were uncomfortable. You wanted to leave but you couldn’t do it alone, you asked your sisters if they wanted to have a drink and catch up, they agreed instantly. You texted Tom where you were heading and to meet you there. You thanked your parents for the dinner and you left with your sisters.

Once in the bar, you were having a lot of fun with your sisters, it was good to enjoy some time with them, you missed them a lot. You ran into some of your sisters’ friends, everyone was happy, you were having a blast. You noticed that Tom had arrived and he was looking for you -That cute guy is checking on you — Your sister told you -What? — You said — No way, I’m not… -Don’t say you are not that beautiful because it’s not true -So? What do you want me to do? — you asked her -Go talk to him -No way! I came here with you -Oh! Come on Y/N! Go! We’ll talk later — she encouraged you -No way! — You refused — Don’t even think about it. I’m not going to embarrassed myself — you admitted -You don’t have to face him silly — she said — Go to the bar, he is going to approach you -Yeah right — You said rolling your eyes -Trust me. Go and have fun — She kicked me out of our booth You did what she said and went to the bar. When you’re about to ask for a drink, Tom touched your shoulder -Hey — he greeted you — Took you long enough -I came with my sisters — you explained -I thought you were avoiding me — he joked -Why would I do that? — you asked him with a smile -Let me buy you a drink — he said and you nodded Tom ordered two beers, handing you one. -Happy birthday, love — he said next to you -Thanks — you said shyly A little while later and with our drinks gone, he moved a strand of hair behind your ear. -Shall we dance? — he whispered and you nodded He grabbed your hand taking you to a less crowded part where you could dance but where you could have some privacy. Tom got a little closer to me, my heartbeat was really fast, the alcohol, being close to him, his body heat, everything that was happening was surreal, you were really happy. He placed a hand on your cheek and you melted against his touch, his soft hands were perfect. For a moment you forgot you were in a crowded bar, you were too focused on him. -May I? — he mouthed and you nodded He closed the distance and kissed you. His soft lips tasted beer, you put your hands around his neck, and he placed his other hand on your waist, the perfect kiss. When you broke the kiss for air, you both were smiling, you placed your head near the crook of his neck, you could smell his cologne, a mix of mint and spicy. He moved his face and kissed your forehead. You looked at him and he had the biggest smile -You don’t have any idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that -I know. I wanted to do it too — you blushed and kissed him again Unfortunately, you couldn’t spend too much time together, it was too risky for both of you. He was still your professor.

You started to date in secret. You had at least one semester more of classes before you could graduate. At some point, it got difficult. You couldn’t go on regular dates, you couldn’t spend too much time together, there were too many things you couldn’t do. But the both of you were aware of the sacrifice you had to make. You both knew that in the end, it was worthy. That semester went by pretty quickly, today you were taking your final exam. The only one who knew was Tom, he stayed with you countless nights, he comforted you when you wanted to give up, he stayed with you every step on the road. After the exam, you went to the bar where everything started. You texted Tom to meet you there

Y/N: I’m heading to Bruno’s. See you there. TH: Be there in 10.

When Tom arrived, you were already there. He greeted you with a kiss and a handshake to the bartender. The bartender gave us two beers. -Do you want to talk about it? — Tom asked you, caressing your back, you seemed to be having a hard time. — I know you worked so hard for this, but you’ll have a second chance, love. Don’t worry You didn’t say anything, you just pull your card out of your bag and hand it to him. He opened it and he is speechless -Are you serious? — you smiled — Is it true? — you nodded -Yes! — You said crying — I passed it -I thought… -I know, but I didn’t want to anyone get involved, just you -I knew you could do it — he admitted — I’m really happy for you, dove. Congratulations — he said and kissed me The bartender was happy for me too, as a graduation gift, he gave us another round of beers. You wanted to celebrate it only with the person who got involved and supported you. Just Tom and you, not anyone else. -Do you know what this means Mr. Hiddleston? — you asked smirking -Yes, my dear — he said — I love you Y/N It was the first time that he said it, in almost a year of relationship none of you had said it. You looked at him surprised. You kissed him -I love you too, Tom.

Tag List (Let me know if you want to be added)

@zombitch-inthemegacoven​ | @iguessweallcrazyithinktho​ | @void-hoechlin | @mrspeacem1nusone​ | @thevelvetseries​ | @bitchy-witchy-post-mortem​ | @caplanbuckybarnes​ | @just-the-hiddles​ | 

[whetstonefires]

Do you think the DC fandom maybe, Infantilizes Tim a little too much? Like for a rich kid character who's main trauma for a long time was a getting left home alone too much there's an oddly amount of meta abt how much how much his parents hurt him~ compared to, y'know the two poor characters who grew up with physically abusive dad's+druggie mom's, or the two that were raised assassin cult's, etc

…well, yeah, I do kind of think that? His whole schtick for so long was being too old for his age in ways that didn’t sacrifice his jokey, relatable teenager energies. It’s weird how little of that we see anymore, sometimes.

And then DC broke him and discarded him and he’s sort of awkwardly hanging around getting reimagined as more woobie with every fan generation. It is weird!

But tbh I do get it. And I think the reason his parents’ failure of him and his vulnerability get played up so much, and Jason and Steph’s sufferings (while used a lot for things like motivation and context) not dwelt on quite so much in the same lugubrious style, are kind of the same reason.

Which is that canon didn’t commit to it. Jason and Steph’s experiences with bad parenting were foregrounded and retconned more dramatically awful several times. (There’s some definite classism in how that was approached imo, and I’m never budging on being mad about DC retconning out Catherine being sick and then ignoring her forever in all Jason characterization because a drug death invalidates a person ig, great message during the opioid crisis guys.)

They engaged and coped with it–Steph (and Cass, our #1 canon batfam parental abuse victim) pretty directly, Jason a little less so because of the dubious and fluctuating canon status of most of the content more specific than ‘poverty, homelessness, theft, parental drugs and crime in there somewhere,’ so most of his parent issues have been focused on Bruce. He sure has dug into them tho. 😂 Rarely well or productively, thanks DC, but it’s explicitly part of his character, is my point.

Whereas upper-middle-class Tim was always treated by the narrative as fortunate and unharmed by his experiences with his parents. Even though they were clearly behaving badly in several ways, and Tim showed signs of being harmed by it.

Tim outside of immediate moments of frustration always was of the opinion he was Fine, and Very Fortunate Actually.

Therefore a huge chunk of the numerous everyone who’s got parent-related mental and emotional harm, but has struggled to have that validated and hasn’t responded with a lot of anger toward the parent, identifies with Tim. The only one who’s never really lashed out at his parents for fucking up with him. The one who still needs it explored, because canon ultimately didn’t.

[editing post to put in a readmore because lol it’s long, post otherwise unchanged]

(Dick obviously didn’t ever have any Issues with the Graysons, but he Angry Teenagered at Bruce so hard it changed Bruce’s characterization permanently, rip.)

The things Jason, Steph, and Cass have been through are dramatic, obvious, and fit stereotypes because that’s what they’re based on.

That’s important content to have, but because it’s right out there in your face even people who identify with it quite a lot are less likely to feel the need to work all the way through it again in fanworks. That part’s there. It’s text.

(Well actually Jason having been physically abused kind of wasn’t? I think? It was mostly assumed on the basis of stereotyping and Jason’s not caring about the man much even as he felt possessive of information about his death, which is valid. I don’t actually know what’s up with Willis now, Lobdell did some weird shit that lacked emotional resonance or staying power because he’s Lobdell and has no soul.

Cass’ wandering years are also ludicrously underdeveloped. But very very few comics fans or writers can personally relate to being amazing child warriors with no grasp of language living feral under bridges. That part of her life is consistently represented in terms of absences, in terms of its deviation from the norm and the deficits of normality it left her with, which is typical but unfortunate.) 

-

The interesting things to do with these characters are often informed by the bad stuff in their childhoods, but there’s relatively rarely that much more to say about the fact that those things were bad. They know they’re bad. They’ve had a lot of on-panel rage about it, as discussed above. Steph and Cass both beat the shit out of their dads.

Jason is, in fandom especially, a sort of Platonic ideal of a kid who’s mad about his bad childhood and really bad at figuring out where to point that rage.

(Damian is a whole other kettle of fish, because he’s been lumbered by so many detailed retcons coming so fast no two people can seem to construct compatible models of what his early childhood was like, and even more because he’s still ‘a child’ enough that he’s necessarily in a different stage of processing than someone who’s officially only a few years older than him at this point, but still functionally 8 and also 20 years older, and whose parents are no longer in the picture to continue screwing up.

Also there’s no question that if he brings up an abusive thing the League did, he will be validated by his current environment about his realization that it was in fact bad. There’s a lot of fic on that theme! But it doesn’t have the same tone precisely because it is usually understood that that support will be there if he wants it. Realizing that his previous context contained things that were wrong keeps being made the focus of his arc.)

The badness of Tim’s childhood, on the other hand, was mainly in subtext. Even when we were clearly meant to understand Jack was fucking up, like when he canceled plans with Tim at the last minute to go on a date with Tim’s stepmother, or that infamous time he came to apologize for not being a great parent and got mad Tim was distracted by a crisis on TV so he flew into a rage and took the TV and smashed it and was like ‘that’ll teach you,’ it wasn’t leaned into.

The story didn’t treat Jack as a minor villain to be overcome but like a sort of environmental hazard of childhood, like homework, to be endured and coped with. Tim said things like ‘it’s fine’ and ‘at least he left the computer.’

(And like. It’s not about having a TV and computer in his room. It’s about not letting a child have boundaries, pointedly not respecting a child’s possessions, creating an emotionally insecure environment, punishing minor infractions in proportion to their momentary impact on your own ego, physically lashing out at a proxy for the child…)

Rather like Tom King later didn’t understand about the punching from Bruce, whoever did that story (probably Dixon? I don’t care enough to check) did not understand how serious a case of bad parenting that scene was. That is most definitely textbook abusive behavior. (It’s a hell of a lot more common abusive behavior than being a lame supervillain or shooting you when you screw up, and a lot more specific than ‘was a thug, might have hit me, dead now.’)

And Tim was never allowed to be mad at his parents about it. It was fine. He needed to be ignored so he had the freedom to be Robin. He deserved his dad being mad at him because he was keeping secrets. He complained too much, although objectively he did not.

The universe punished him for ‘complaining,’ more than once. We cut straight from him shunting aside his disappointment that his postcard from his parents was just to say they weren’t coming home yet after all with ‘if it will stop all the fights they’ve been having lately it’s more than fine’ to them getting kidnapped.

He agreed not to come on the rescue mission. His mom never made it home, and his dad was in a coma for a while. And then ultimately Jack died as a result of Tim’s decision to be Robin, immediately after finally deciding to accept it.

So Tim walks around feeling a huge burden of responsibility for his parents’ deaths, and completely unable to process any hurt they did him as real or valid, especially in comparison with the far more blatant awfulness other people have been through, and canon is clearly never going to address it. Or even acknowledge it properly.

Let me repeat that because it’s kind of my main point:

People are fixated on getting Tim’s emotional abuse validated because that’s an incredibly important step in recovering from emotional abuse, and it’s one canon consistently denied him.

How ‘bad’ things are ‘in comparison to’ problems other people have is a bad and unhealthy way to engage with trauma. Okay? That’s just a really harmful framework to apply to pain.

It’s also a way that both Tim and people with experiences similar to Tim’s are encouraged to engage with their own experiences, compounding the existing problems.

So. Not a form of relatable DC was ever actually aiming for when they tried so hard (and pretty effectively) to make him a relatable character as Robin, but an enduring one for a lot of fans.

-

So Tim’s childhood is a natural target for fanworks in a different way than the traumas that have been made explicit and taken seriously by the text. And then a lot of that got compounded by the way the introduction of Damian as Robin was handled, and the lack of resolution that got. And his current status as not quite having a place in the family anymore.

So between the level of projection encouraged by that context and how relatively difficult to access Tim’s Robin run has become ten years after the fact, this has led to a lot of fanworks on these themes that are based mostly on other fanworks, and stray further and further from the original content.

So at this point there’s an entire wing of Tim’s fandom wherein this side of him has expanded enormously, and he primarily exists to suffer, frequently in ways that 1) escalate to a point that is inarguably ‘valid’ and hard to dismiss and 2) set him up to rebound from it in whatever way the writer finds emotionally satisfying or useful–being ultimately cared for and reassured by people who value him (the most infantilizing option but like, popular for obvious reasons), or unveiling his brilliant scheme that was causing him to pretend to be passive in the face of mistreatment, or turning around and using his genius ninja skills to wrest power back from his abusers, or just laying down some sick burns about being treated fairly.

But not that many of the last one, because that’s mostly done with other batfam members.

Tim’s become a vehicle for a lot of vicarious coping that Steph and Jason just aren’t appropriate for, because they get angry and they get even. And those are stories that exist already, so there’s less scope for telling your own.

And because Jason’s reaction pattern is ultimately so masculine (i’ll make them all sorry! with my guns! blam blam!) while Tim’s is pretty gender-neutral, the demographics of fanfic mean that the bulk of the people using Tim vicariously in this manner are female-aligned, which has over time feminized this archetype of him a lot. Sometimes in ways I find really uncomfortable, like there’s a lot of forced pregnancy stuff which activates my panic buttons. x.x

But, ultimately, it’s fandom. People are going to do what they’re going to do, DC in their perpetual fail has hung Tim out to dry in narrative terms, and I’d rather the people who are using Tim for victimization narratives over the people who can’t dismiss or discredit him fast enough now that his position has been filled. 🤷‍♀️ What we gonna do? Fave’s in an awkward spot. DC hates us. This is the life in this comic book pit. XD

-

Also if you’re the same anon who left me a callout about op of that weird Steph post in my inbox, or if you aren’t @ that person, 1) I refuse to get involved so I’m not answering that ask 2) those aren’t even particularly dramatic fandom crimes? That’s pretty normal? That’s just…Caring Too Much About Ships And Disagreeing With Me.

Do I also feel those opinions are kinda bad? Yeah. But I disagree with everyone about something. Chill.

[brightbeautifulthings]

Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In by Bernie Sanders

"In my view, we have got to send a message to the billionaire class: 'You can't have it all.' You can't get huge tax breaks while children in this country go hungry. You can't continue getting tax breaks by shipping American jobs to China. You can't hide your profits in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens while there are massive unmet needs in every corner of this nation. Your greed has got to end. You cannot take advantage of all the benefits of America if you refuse to accept your responsibilities as Americans."

Year Read: 2020

Rating: 4/5

Thoughts: I'm really proud of myself for finishing this because I don't often read nonfiction and it's an intimidating 450 pages. That being said, it's also very accessible. Sanders keeps up a conversational tone that's easy to follow, and while his points are well-researched and well-supported by evidence, they're never too complicated for the typical reader to grasp. After providing a brief history of his upbringing and his rise in politics, the first section of the book follows the historic campaign for presidency funded entirely by grassroots support. He spent so much time meeting with ordinary people and having meetings in small towns, places most politicians never even glance at. It was unprecedented, and while Sanders ultimately didn't win the candidacy, I think we can still consider it an amazing success in getting his agenda out there. Part of the reason we talk about things like a $15 federal minimum wage and universal healthcare like they're things that can actually happen in the near future instead of like wild leftist/socialist ideas is because Sanders put those ideas out into the world, one small town at a time, and made them acceptable. I hope more potential politicians look at all the hard work he and his campaign put in and realize it's possible to do the same. He already left a blueprint for it.

The rest of the book covers Sanders' platform in detail, and it's one of the things I really admire about him. I liked Sanders before, but I like him even more now. There's no smoke and mirrors with him. He's not a millionaire or funded by millionaires. He's just a Jewish guy from Brooklyn who spends more time talking about the issues than trying to get funding or blindsiding his followers with fancy rhetoric--something I wish more politicians would focus on. I don't care about Hillary Clinton's e-mail scandal or where Donald Trump is having his New Year's Eve party. I want to hear what politicians stand for and what they're going to fight for, and Sanders is all about that. He cares about poor people, rural people, working class people, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, veterans, sick people, people with disabilities or mental illness, the elderly. All those populations that get ignored and overlooked, Sanders has legislation to protect them. Further, he shows that progressive politics are good for everyone, urban and rural alike, which is something Democrats have largely failed to bring together. It was overwhelming, at times, to read about a politician who cares so much about people and isn't separated from them by money and media, and I'm glad I read it at the end of The Orange Menace's reign of terror, when hope actually feels possible again.

There's a big, 100-page section in the middle of the book about economic reform. While it's the hardest part of the book to get through, it's also the most necessary, since pretty much all of Sanders' ideas circle back to this main issue. It's totally bonkers for the super rich to own so much of the country's wealth while huge numbers of families in America don't know where their next meal is coming from. Sanders can fund pretty much every welfare program in the book, combat climate change, and have enough money left over to make college tuition free, all without raising taxes on middle and working class people. Holding the super wealthy and major corporations accountable would fund all of it. One of the best parts of Sanders' rhetoric is that it's all backed by actual science and research, which feels like a small miracle in this era of spin and misinformation. Parts of the book made me so angry I wanted to throw it against the wall, not because of Sanders' agenda, but because of the terrible things our country has done (and continues to do) to its most vulnerable populations. I learned a lot, and I would encourage both readers interested in grassroots politics and ones who feel totally disenchanted by the current political system to pick this up. It's well worth reading.

[letstrywritingmaybe]

Another Universe

It’s duncney week and I wanted to participate, thank you to @marshunter06 for all your encouragement and all that you do for the fandom! I love you lots! (Also y’all should go read Just One Universe by Mars! This fic is absolutely inspired by it!)💙

Tonight, Trent was determined to do it tonight. He’s on his third date with the girl he’s been crushing on since she bested him during a debate practice at the beginning of high school. Three years later they’ve grown to be good friends and he finally got the courage to ask her out, Courtney smiled and nodded shyly as the rest of the debate team cheered them on. It’s no secret Trent was in love with the Captain of the debate team, he helped her campaign for junior class president and ran as her VP helping secure her win. At this rate they would be the high school sweetheart couple everyone knew would get together. Sure their romance was taking a while, but they had all the time in the world to make it right. Too bad this wasn’t the right universe for them to stay together, he should’ve known when he failed to get their first kiss after their first date then again after their second date. Third times the charm, but he wasn’t the one to seal the deal.

They were at a hockey game, it was Wednesday night rivalry featuring the Montreal Canadians and the Toronto Maple Leaves. Trent wasn’t super into hockey, but he knew Courtney was a huge fan of the Canadians due to the fact that they're her hometown team, she was even dressed in a jersey for the game while he chose to wear a normal t-shirt. That should’ve been another clue to how this night would go. The game was just about to start when they found their seats, which unfortunately made everything go downhill. Right next to them was a punk teen with a green mohawk wearing a Maple Leaves’ jersey. He immediately butted heads with Courtney and they spent the rest of the night getting into each other’s faces and yelling at their respective teams as well as cheering when they scored. Trent had no idea what was going on, he only knew that the score was tied and the third period was about to begin. If only he paid more attention to the sport instead of the two teens who couldn’t stop glaring at each other.

“Oh come on! That was totally slashing! Get your heads out of your asses Ref!”

“Shut up Duncan, we’re on a power play, stop trying to distract my team!”

“Well your team committed a penalty!”

“So did yours with that high stick last period!”

“We got penalized for that already, besides your guy was in the way.”

“It’s called having a good defense, not that you would know anything about that.”

The two were so busy arguing, that they didn’t notice the kiss cam scanning the crowd to claim their next victim. This was exactly the moment Trent was waiting for, his opportunity was coming? He just had to calm Courtney down for a few seconds. He stands up and just as he’s about to tap her on the shoulder the camera stops right in front of Courtney and Duncan arguing once again. Someone in the background yells out for them to kiss, confused, they both turn to see the camera pointed right at them. She was ready to tell them to move on, but Duncan decided to go for it, you miss every shot you don’t take, so why not?

“Oh no, we’re not…”

“Courtney, just shut up.”

He catches her completely off guard with his hand on her waist pulling her over to him to claim her lips in a kiss. She wanted to push him away, but the moment their lips met, she melted into the kiss. This was her first kiss and he had stolen it from her, she should be seething with anger, but somehow it felt right. The crowd behind them cheered and the video ended up on both of the team’s Twitter accounts framing the two as lovers from rival teams. It takes her half a second to realize she was supposed to be annoyed at him, but she really did enjoy the kiss. She shoves him off, he nearly tumbles into the seats below them, luckily the kiss cam had moved on by then to save him the embarrassment.

“Fucking hell, why did you do that!”

“You stole my first kiss asshole!”

The sound of a goal being made forced their attention away as the Canadians managed to score with five minutes left in the last period, giving them the lead. Immediately Courtney gloats while Duncan yells that the game isn’t over yet. Once again they become lost in each other completely forgetting about Trent’s existence. He lets out a sigh as he sits down again, he really should’ve paid more attention to hockey when his dad was explaining it to him. He admits defeat as he sees his crush all wrapped up in her supposed hatred for her enemy, there’s a fine line between love and hate, their passion definitely tipped them over to the love side. Maybe in another universe he would get the chance to be her first kiss, but they’re just meant to be friends in this timeline. He smiles as he watches the two of them continue to cheer for their teams, at least he would have a funny story to tell their future kids one day.

Also available on ao3!