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voted4exile · 2 years

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dream’s lore q&a 2022.11.16

Transcript of Dream’s answers to lore questions from his Twitter space on 2022.11.16. Timestamps link to an upload of the Twitter Space on Daily Dream Team Clips channel.

c!Dream’s lore finale [15:27]

Dream lore finale for Dream SMP. That's pretty good. It's a good topic. What about it? Let's talk about it. I think it turned out great. I- I really, I was really happy with it. Obviously, if we had more time and, and everything, we could do, do more. But I'm happy with what we, what we did, with what we were given. And I'm happy with how everything went. It went great.

I quite enjoyed playing the character, and I like, I like, like role-playing and stuff is fun, obviously. Had a good time. It was great. Kind of the daily streams. Streaming with. With Tommy, it went back. It took me back to back in the day. Tommy and Tubbo and everything. It was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it.

I think revealing a lot of the stuff that in terms of intentions. It was all stuff that has kind of already been out there, but not like kind of concise and also not like to Tommy- c!Tommy and c!Tubbo. But you know, it was fun. It was fun. I enjoyed it.

c!Tommy’s limbo [21:15]

“Can you talk about why c!Tommy saw that in his limbo?” I'd say that that's, that's more of a question for Tommy than, than me. Because my reasoning is, well, it's, it's what pushes the story along. But I don't know what the- Tommy's reasoning behind, behind it is and what Tommy's character's reasoning behind it is. So.

I think that the way that I would, I would look, I would interpret it is that-- It's kind of like it, like Tommy wants like-- This, this is what, this is how I would interpret it. And totally, Tommy could completely disagree. So feel free to disregard everything I'm about to say if you don't like it at all.

But I would interpret it as that Tommy really wants like for his friends to, to be able to, you know. If for it to be simple and for him to just be having fun with his friends. You know how, how, he- how it used to be back in the early days of the server and so seeing that but for his, you know, for-- seeing that, but for Dream. You know, the, the-- Dream experiencing what he, you know, what he wants. And of course, Dream is his nemesis, whatever. That's how. That's how I would interpret it.

c!Tommy did not forgive c!Dream [23:31]

“Hi king, can you confirm the interaction between Dream and Tommy wasn't a forgiveness, it was just understanding?” Yeah. No, no, Tommy wasn't forgiving, was not forgiving Dream. I think it was a-- I think Tommy, Tommy had never seen Dream other, as anything other than just this evil, you know, bastard that's doing all these horrible torturous things to him. Which he did and was. And had never, never stopped to think about or, or even imagine, you know, what Dream was like before, you know, in the, in the past. So it was more of a humanizing moment of kind of like a, you know, this person's, this, hey, this person's a human, too. We're both from the same place, whatever.

It was, it was definitely not, “Oh, that means that everything's OK.” Like, I think Tommy said this. Tommy said the same thing in the lore. He was like, “Well, it doesn't, you know, I understand, you know, what your goal is, but this isn't how you do it.” And I think it was one of those things where you-- In my mind, it was, it was a moment of, you know, before in, in the past, you know, you're never going to, if you don't understand somebody's intentions, you don't understand somebody's goals, you don't understand why somebody, what somebody wants and you go into every situation with a, “Well, you're, you know, you're evil or you're, you know, you're a bad person,” you know, whatever. Then you're never going to convince the other person. And it's the same thing with-- You're never gonna make any ground with anybody.

And I think that, so it was, it was the first time where, ever between Tommy and Dream, where they had any, any kind of understanding with each other. Because they had always just been at each other's throats and had always been. You know, fighting for so long. It had never stopped to really, really try and understand each other, but especially for, for Dream. As, as obviously his motives for a million different things had just been, had been up in the air and had been things that not only did the audience not know, but the, the characters themselves don't know either.

But yeah, so I'd say it was, it was 100%. It was not. It was not a forgiveness thing. It was a, it was an understanding. And it wasn't an understanding with a level of forgiveness. It was just understanding it completely. It was just a-- And I think it was more of a Tom- Tommy going up, you know, for the longest time, operating under the impression that Dream is just this, you know, evil bastard that. That, you know, “just enjoys, absolutely enjoys torturing me” and whatever. And, you know, that's the thing is you can interpret things how you like. But I- I'd say that there, there is an element there, and there, there is an element of enjoyment from, you know, from Dream's perspective. Because of, because of the, the past and their history together and whatever. I'm sure Dream does derive some joy from the actions he's seeing, the things he's put Tommy through and whatever.

But obviously those are-- He's not going into it with the intention of, “Oh, I- I- This is my, my goal is just to bring hell to Tommy or bring hell to the server” or whatever. And so I think that the, the moment of understanding is more understanding that if, if that's not, if that's not Dream, if Dream's intention isn't or Dream's main goal is not, you know, being an evil person and, you know, deep down he, he, he does have good intentions even if he's is an evil bastard for the way he went about things. That maybe there is a way to make it work. You know, because if you're just, if you're just pure evil then, you know. You get, get rid of, get rid of it from the earth, you know. Versus if, you know. Oh, you're, you've done horrible things. You deserve to pay, you to deserve to pay for them. You deserve to be punished for them. You deserve to have repercussions from them. But at the same time. Yeah, you can-- There is a way where we can work together because we have the same, we have the same goals, we have the same morals, we have the same, you know, whatever in mind. That’s kind of how I look at it. I don’t know if that-- I don’t know. I think it’s also more up for interpretation.

c!Dream’s plans for the prison [28:23]

“What would have happened if c!Dream's imprisonment had lasted longer?” I don't know what you mean by that. I think that the, the, the biggest, like, behind people, cause people were saying, “Oh, Dream purposely put himself in prison.” So I was like, “Well yeah, but no.” And from my pers- my understanding of it is, yes, Dream did purposefully, you know, put himself into the prison. And the prison was a part of the overall plan in terms of-- It wasn't, it wasn't, I didn't--

The prison wasn't built for Dream. The prison was built for the, for fulfilling Dream's goals overall and the ability to do that and one of those things was to-- Obviously, there'd be, there'd be certain people that would be more likely to get in the way and unlikely to-- And, and also having the understanding of the fact that there was a revival book. Dream, after kind of becoming aware of that and, and coming to possession of one himself, Dream had the idea that, well, you know, what if. What if somebody like Techno or somebody like, you know, somebody strong.

And I'd say, in my mind, that it was originally, when I came up with the idea for it, it was, it was more so based on Technoblade. And the reasoning for it was Dream being scared of the fact. Well, what if there's more? What if there's more revival books and what if death is not, you can't stop somebody with death? Like it's, it's scary knowing that you can, you, you can beat somebody fully and then they're just there. And so he thought the idea of making a prison where if that ever does come to be where somebody is trying to stop, stop him, stop his goals, stop, you know, hurt the server or whatever that they'd be able to be stopped by putting them in the prison. Which is kind of funny because, obviously, it kind of ended up being the opposite but when Dream- c!Dream put himself into the prison. It was, it was thought of as a very, it was thought of as a temporary thing and ended up lasting a lot longer than he had imagined. And also, on top of that, he didn't expect that Awesamdude would let Quackity into fucking torture him. So that obviously made things a million times worse. But.

Just to clarify, the prison wasn't built for Techno, but it was just like. Oh well, Techno's-- Seeing Techno’s power and stuff back then and being like, it was one of those things where it was like. Oh. What if somebody as powerful as Technoblade? You know, there are people that can be as powerful as, as, you know, as me or whatever, as c!Dream and so. What if one of them is is not on our side? Or what if Techno is not in the future? Whatever.

#dream smp #dsmp #c!dream #dreamwastaken #dreblr #c!tommy #tommyinnit #c!techno #technoblade #disc duo #discduo #rivals duo #rivalsduo #my posts #transcript #I cleaned up the twitter autogenerated captions #figured maybe some people would like to see #what dream had said exactly

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ravenkinnie · 1 year

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I love how the movie starts with Gwens monologue about hurting someone she loves without meaning to and how this is constantly called back to through and with different characters. Did Miles hurt spot? Is he hurting his family? Did Miguel doom a whole dimension and his family? Did Peter teach Miles the right things? Who is to blame for universe 42? And of course through Gwen herself. And I’m the end she gets the opportunity to make amends and she decides to do so even if it may come with consequences for herself. It’s not a stupid girl power story. It’s a real human tale about how sometimes even if we mean well we hurt people and things are out of our control but there are still things we can control. Agency we can take back. Painful things we have to face in order to move on. Gwen gets to be both selfish and selfless in the movie. She seeks to protect others but also herself.

In conclusion I think the spin-off game to spiderman 2 should be spiderwoman Gwen Stacy (J?)

when spot said "I created you, you created me" I was so gagged, I love stories of superheroes creating their own nemesis while trying to do good like its NOT miles' fault you know. he tried to save his universe and its not his fault there's no spiderman on earth 42 because he literally didn't know but in case of spot its still his actions that caused him to become this, to lose everything. I loooove superhero stories about trying and never getting it right like at the end of the day there's no way for them to get everything 100% perfect and save the day, there will always be casualties, there will always be lose lose scenarios. I think beyond the spiderverse will tie up the theme of whether spiderman can do both, can have two cakes yk and I wonder how they will do that because I think the answer to whether it's okay to break canon is yeah but the answer to whether spiderman can always get everything done is no lmao maybe the answer is just that hurting people is just kind of inevitable in this line of work, it's about where you go from there like we will see with miles and gwen

also after watching the movie the second time I have to give gwen even more credit (sorry to be a gwen defender on main again) - there are multiple moments in the movie where she hints at having doubts about the spider society, like during the chase scene jessica tells her sth like I know it's your friend but it's the right thing or sth and gwen goes "I just have this gut feeling" and jessica fucking goes "then use your head" which a) sends me b) gwen fucking does when her dad quits and she realises it disrupts the canon event but DOESNT trigger anything which means in some way miguel is wrong about how the rules of the multiverse work (she does ask him after miles goes to earth 42 whether he's sure that's how canon even works but miguel was acting so feral I don't blame people for missing that). like it's a two way decision of wanting to make amends to miles because gwen does care for him but also knowing its not actually gonna destroy the universe - which ties so well with themes of mentorship and growing up past people taking care of you and doing your thing, but also questioning that mentorship the way miles does with peter and gwen with jess but also with trusting miguels canon theory that the whole ass spider society trusts 100%

also spiderman game with spidergwen would be fun but that's an intersection of comics bros and gamers which are both demographics that fucking hate women so we can be sure that doesn't happen

#asks #spiderverse #across the spiderverse #atsv

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tailsrevane · 2 years

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[book review] forgotten realms: the legacy by r.a. salvatore (1992)

drizzt: *literally notices that something is off about “regis”* entreri (disguised as regis): hey drizzt remember ENTRERI, your arch nemesis ENTRERI, that really handsome & deadly & skilled & did i mention handsome ENTRERI? what do you think ENTRERI is up to drizzt: entreri: by the nine, you are taking the fun out of this. I AM LITERALLY ENTRERI. drizzt: you’re acting a little weird today, regis.

you know, i’m suddenly realizing that i don’t think the books i’ve read in this series so far have never actually gone out of their way to say that drizzt was smart? i just kind of always assumed he was supposed to be? is he a himbo twink? i’m starting to think he might be a himbo twink.

i continue to feel basically “whatever” about the drizzt/wulfgar/cattie-brie stuff. i did appreciate cattie-brie standing up for herself, and it wasn’t the most “cishet guy writing a female character standing up for herself” rote shit ever, but it also wasn’t… entirely not that? despite it seeming pretty obvious that some effort was being made? idk, just, mixed feelings here.

wulfgar’s “death” hit decently hard even though he super isn’t one of my favorite characters and i know it isn’t gonna last. the fakeout deaths are getting to be a bit much (a bit ominous considering how early this is in the series tbh), but they’re written evocatively enough that they’re still hitting. for now.

this book… sorta? kinda? slightly? actually takes a few tentative steps forward on the whole awkward racism thing that salvatore himself has publicly “my bad”ed about recentlyish? though, it’s not without its own shortcomings. idk. let’s talk about it.

okay actually, looping back to the cattie-brie stuff, it’s kinda weird that after all the hand-wringing about baby’s first human murder a few books ago (explicitly contrasted with the fact that she’s apparently unfeelingly slaughtered orcs & goblins with no issue), she’s the one who points out that maybe they should have a quick chat with the goblins before using them for target practice? and that that discrepancy isn’t… really… remarked upon? at all? idk, just feels worth mentioning.

also bringing back the sexism angle, drizzt (and the narrator, from what i can tell) seems to think that cattie-brie actually doesn’t give a shit about the poor little gobbies doing their gobby chores (they’re doing a good job!!!!!! be nice to them!!!!!!) and is just sublimating her anger at wulfgar into the whole “hey let’s maybe not do a mass murder without at least offering some non-murder menu options” argument. which, in fairness, cattie-brie does stick to her guns even after the battle that parlaying first was the right thing to do and she would argue for it again. but idk. there’s just so many holes in this thing. like, i’m not expecting it to be perfect or anything, and it did genuinely represent a slight step forward? maybe? but it’s still not great imo.

now, one actual improvement is drizzt actually coming to grips with the fact that his vow never to kill another drow while he kills orcs & goblins & others with impunity is actually pretty fucking racist. that was a genuinely pleasant surprise. i’m going to continue to be pretty guarded about this subject in these books considering, y’know, everything. but it’s nice to see even a little improvement.

but yeah, i think that does it for the stuff i need to take somewhat seriously. so here’s where i talk about why this one mostly ruled.

the fights between drizzt & entreri were obviously kind of headliners for me, and a very big part of why i liked this book so much. also i kind of totally expected entreri’s initial fakeout death to last until the next book he appears in, so having him pop immediately back in like a fucking slasher villain with his freaking bat-winged cloak??? that was so extra, i genuinely love it. no notes. you’re doing great sweetie.

drizzt spent a good amount of the middle of the book tied up and being taunted by other drow and/or entreri, which, y’know, yeah, tie that fucking twink up & show him who’s boss. i am not projecting. i am not.

(... i may be slightly projecting.)

yeah, ok, yeah. u caught me. mostly i’m just glad to have all the horny drow shit back for the first time since the dark elf trilogy. (which i get was actually the most recent series when this was written & originally released, but i read the dark elf trilogy first because it was the only one i was sure i was gonna read at first, shrug!) we start strong with vierna forcing dinin to kneel with a command spell (what no a powerful woman with a whip saying “KNEEL.” and being compelled to obey doesn’t sound good to me at all, why would *sweats*), and when he turns out to be too mouthy she turns him into a fucking drider and rides him around like some kind of fucked-up horse? which like, no the thing itself isn’t especially appealing, but as far as power moves go, nine hells.

ahem.

honestly the only way these books could pander to me more is if they had more orcs (and if those orcs were characters rather than faceless hordes), but i’m still really grooving on them atm. and my understanding is the next book has even more kinky drow bullshit in it, so can’t wait for that!

b-rank

#d&d #dungeons & dragons #forgotten realms #legend of drizzt #book review #books #reviews

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daydadahlias · 9 months

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omg okay jess i don’t even know what to say. i can’t believe i didn’t read scene 14 sooner omg it’s amazing. this may just be your best fic imo. i’m gonna read take notes next and then i can just for sure but holy shit. this fic has fucked me up so bad. i’ve never read anything like it. i’m pretty sure you’ve mentioned before that you act/ have acted and i think that’s one of the many reasons i really love this fic because all of the acting scenes and stuff feel real and honest. not like you researched it. and i did NOT think this fic was going to be as angsts as it was, or at least i didn’t think i was going to be sobbing and pacing and (quietly) screaming at 3am over the last 2 chapters. i really love how well you portrayed luke’s reaction to the break up, even though it wasn’t actually the break up (but i think that makes it worse honestly) and the whole miscommunication between them. the fact the ash thought they were dating the whole time after they had sex was what really got me. i wanna listen to the rest of the twenty minutes of that voicemail! i loved the whole ash knowing luke’s coffee order thing. i loved how ash finally got a good first time, and hopefully many more. i can’t remember if it said that they’re going to tell them eventually, but i love how everyone else is still out of the loop! i really hope sierra and kay kay didn’t break up and i really hope crystal says yes to michael’s proposal and they live happily ever after. i hope calum and roy have a happy ending too. i literally could think of so much more to say but i need sleep haha. i really loved this fic jess. thank you for writing it and thank you for all that you do in the fandom. im gonna go to sleep now and then when i wake up i’m gonna watch the normal heart and die over scene 14. bye bye jess

Hello anon!!!!! Sorry it took me a second to get to this!! I thought I would have time to get to my computer at some point today but apparently not so I’m writing this on my phone while walking my dog apologies.

I really have not thought of scene 14 in over a year so this was a nice little reminder that she is still alive and well :) I don’t know if I’d say it’s my best fic but I definitely love it !!! The writing process was so fun (I remember being 17 writing in the back of my science class instead of paying attention 😭).

And yeah I’ve definitely mentioned acting before !! This was in the absolute height of my acting “career” too lol (read: I wrote a play and was in my senior year of highschool theatre), and knew I had to write something about theatre before I went to college and inevitably left it behind (rip acting i will always love you). I appreciate that it felt real and not researched!!! It definitely was all just personal experience coming through (such as my brief obsession with a high school theatre arch nemesis who played Billy in Bright Star — looking back I def would have casted Ashton as Jimmy if I rewrote the fic now).

I’m usually not a fan of miscommunication OR enemies to lovers in stories lol so this was kind of my go at trying to do what I hated :) I’m glad you liked it!!

Honestly the real shame is that I used to have the full voice mail!!! Back in ye old day, when I was writing, I would voice memo all monologues while planning them so I could transcribe them later so that full voicemail used to exist !! And then my phone crashed a year ago and wiped everything I loved lolz.

And Sierra and KK definitely did not break up!! I’d never do that to my girls. And of COURSE crystal said yes. Call me a sentimentalist but I set all those needs up for happy endings.

As for this last bit, I hope you got to sleep!! And thank you so much for this!!! I love our little fandom :) especially for people like you 💙🥰 and you’re going to love the movie!! Mark Ruffalo and Matt Bomer ate DOWN. Their performances were UNREAL. Keep tissues nearby.

#pigeon #anon #scene 14 #this is so sweet !!!!!!#thank you thank you!!!!!!!#it’s so crazy to look back on that fic #especially when i remember it was like #one of my first 10 fics ???#like I started really strong ahdjdjdj #I should’ve saved it #granted I did post it when the fandom was at a peak so the interaction was so phenomenal #one of the best experiences of my personal life ever tbh it was so fun to post that fic #and I wrote the whole thing in like ?? 3 months ?? it was crazy #17 yo me was a different breed

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bluepenguinstories · 2 years

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Remoras Full Chapter LXIX: Inescapable

Smoke. Sizzle. Heat.

Flick of the wrist. Flip.

Deep breaths. Steam.

I wiped the sweat off my brow. Just a single kind gesture, then I could return to my unbalanced frame of existence.

Slide. Arrange. Carry.

I entered the bedroom. One foot in front of the other. It’s like these past few weeks I’ve been reminding myself how to do basic tasks. How to function without acting out on such violent desires.

“Hey, what’s this? Breakfast in bed?” Asked my guest, who would have been naked had it not been the blue comforter blanket over her.

She had wavy blonde hair, was in her early 20s. In college. Studying some whatever degree. I had a degree, too, and sometimes I think I’d have ended up in the same place in life even without my degree. It’s not like my degree was in Getting Into Fights And Letting People Down, though it would have been more valid putting that on my resume than my actual degree.

As for her, she seemed like a nice enough gal. Poor thing wanted to have some fun, kept getting hit on at the club. I stepped in, but it wasn’t like I was looking for a fight. Honest to goodness, I would have been fine just keeping to myself and drinking myself to oblivion. I didn’t even know why I was there; I hated flashing lights, crowds of people, and electronic music. It was all so grating. The alcohol wasn’t even that good. But she saw me, I saw her, we hit it off. Can’t say how, as I wasn’t exactly drunk, but I was in a hazy state of “I’ve been stewing in my emotions so long that I’m getting high off the fumes” type deal.

“You’re a guest in this house, so may as well treat you like one, wouldn’t you agree?” I winked, then set the tray down on the bed. Scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes. Easy stuff. Diner food. Some would say comfort food. But with all that fat and grease...eh, as long as she was happy.

“Wow,” she took a couple of bites.

I didn’t know whether that was meant as a compliment or not. Didn’t matter: I was gonna brag as if it was one.

“Yeah. I worked at a diner for a few years. Nothing special,” I leaned against the door frame.

That’s right: nothing special.

“Damn. What can’t you do...err…?”

“Nemesis,” I answered, “and you were, again?”

“Helena Troy. Though my roommates just call me Helen.”

“Helen,” I rolled her name off my tongue.

“Aah! That tongue!” She pointed. “Last night!”

I forced out a laugh.

“That’s right. How did it go, again? Who was on top of who?” I acted a little like the oaf I figured I must have once been.

“Mm...I think it was kind of a little of both? Like you were above on one end, but I was above on the other. Or maybe we were both beside each other, but on opposite ends?”

“Right. That can happen sometimes,” I rubbed my chin, as if it was really some grand mystery that needed solving and I just didn’t care to solve it. In reality, it was just a certain position, of that I was sure. Nothing special.

“Damn, Nemesis. You can ward guys off, you’re great in bed, you’re kind, you can cook. Do you have any flaws? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I should wife you.”

We could have had that life: simple, domestic, just living with each other and forgetting all the violence and pain that defined my life. We could have gone out, had some fun, bought groceries with each other. Never mind the fact that she looks similar to someone else, who I liked more, or the fact that we just had a one night stand and I wasn’t interested in spending a second night. But if it could have been a reality, in some boring way...it could have been bliss.

But that wasn’t a possibility.

Hearing those last four words from Helena made a short burst of static rush through my head. Steam rose up and leaked through my ears. I tried to put a lid over it, but the water had already turned to a rolling boil and it would have knocked the lid off anyway.

“Flaws? Yeah, I have plenty. It’s pretty ridiculous to think someone doesn’t have any flaws, you know?” I smirked.

“Somehow I doubt that,” she smirked right back. “Name one.”

She must have thought we were playing a game. Maybe we were. It would have been better to keep it somewhat passive rather than full-aggressive.

“Well, I’m quick to hold a grudge, for one. I can’t let things go, not until I feel like what’s been wronged has been set right. Next, I have horrible anger issues, like, just the worst.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, no, I’ve punched so many holes in walls, yet no matter how many times I patch them back up, I find new holes that I’ve punched in. It’s never going to end. I could snap at a moment’s notice. Hell, I’m pissed off right now because the very notion that we’d be in a relationship…”

Yep. There it was.

“Hey, what’s wrong with that? I was kidding, anyway?”

“Ha,” I scoffed, and my voice raised as I followed up. “Great that you think such a thing is a joke to you. I wanted to keep things simple. Casual. Do you know what would have happened if we were in a relationship? I’d be yelling nonstop. I’ve only had one girlfriend in my entire life, and trust me, she’s out of my life for good and you can bet it’s because of me. Do you want that? Constant yelling over stupid things?”

“No! I don’t even want that right now!” She broke into tears. I took a step back, but…

“Good. You can finish your plate, and then I want you to get dressed and out of here,” I lowered my voice and stepped out of the room.

I went back into the kitchen. I didn’t turn to look her way, but I noticed her walk out of the room. I heard the sound of a plate tapping against the steel side of the garbage container.

She must have lost her appetite. Can’t say that I blame her.

She walked out. Didn’t say a word.

I could have said something. Apologized. But what good would it have done? I already said that I wasn’t one to forgive, and I didn’t exactly want to be forgiven. In a sick way, part of me must have relished in the fact that I upset her and drove her away.

Well, wherever that sick part of me was, it didn’t stick around long. Once she was out the door, with a slam, no less, I felt a sour taste in the back of my throat. It was a type of bitterness, but one turned inward.

I walked toward the nearest wall, in the hallway between the kitchen and the bedroom that Helena had stayed in.

My fist met the wall where I stood and remained there for at least a minute. I thought I could see steam billowing out from my knuckles.

“Why did I do that? It didn’t have to be a romantic relationship. We didn’t even have to see each other again. Was there any reason for me to be so mean, so hurtful? Why do I prevent any good from happening?” I asked. I thought it would have turned into a sob, but there were no tears.

That wouldn’t do any good. I wanted tears.

I slammed my fist into the wall again, and this time, I saw cracks form.

“Oh crap…” I mouthed out the words.

See, there was just one problem with me punching a hole in a wall: I’ve never actually patched a wall before.

“Well, looks like I’ve got a project on my hands,” I chuckled. It was a humorless one, but I was committed to the job. After all, this wasn’t even my house that I was staying at.

After looking up online how to patch a wall, I went to the local home goods store and picked up the necessary items.

A couple hours later, I was working on that wall and had my phone beside me on a small step ladder.

It was about noon. I had yet to eat. Didn’t know if I would, either.

The food I cooked was for Helena. I didn’t make any breakfast for myself, and by the time I kicked her out, I wasn’t feeling hungry enough to make anything, either. So then comes lunch, right? Well...I was busy. I couldn’t just eat and work on a wall at the same time.

My phone did a little grasshopper dance. Which was to say, it vibrated in place on that little stool.

“Really?” I groaned, and thought over who it might be.

I didn’t give Helena my number last night, did I?

I pressed speaker. If it was one of those spam calls to tell me about my car warranty, I’d be real pissed. Wasting precious seconds of my time when I didn’t even have a car. Who did those people (if they were even people at all) think I was?

“Hey Nemesis, what’cha up to?” Asked the familiar buzz of one chipper Heidi.

Holy hell. Two H’s in a row.

“Hey Heidi. What do you want?”

“You didn’t answer my question,” she pouted.

“Boo-hoo. You didn’t answer mine. I asked you to text before you call me.”

“Oh, oopsies. Is now a bad time?”

“Is any time ever a good time? Now are you going to tell me what you want?”

“I wanted to talk to you! Now what are you up to?”

“Doing something productive for once.”

“Which means?”

“I’m learning to patch a hole in a wall.”

“Ooh. Handyman Nemesis?”

“Hardly. I’m just doing what I should. This isn’t even my house.”

“Whose house is it?”

“Just a friend’s.”

“You have a friend?!” Heidi got excited.

“No. I misspoke. I meant, just someone who’s friendly. She said I could stay here as long as I liked, so I’ve just been staying here.”

“What’s she like?”

“Why do you want to know? It’s not your house.”

“But she’s your friend!”

“I don’t have friends,” I grit my teeth, “anyway, she’s nice. She’s got a house in Alaska, which is where I’m staying. She’s living at an airport right now.”

“What’s her name?”

“Cybele.”

“Do you like her?”

“What kind of question is that? I don’t like people. I get along with people, but that’s different.”

“But you’re staying at her house.”

“Because I’m taking advantage of her kindness. I’m an asshole.”

“You are not.”

“Am too. I’m a gaping, prolapsed anus.”

“Eww.”

“Don’t try to argue with me, because I’ll gross you out.”

“I don’t think you’re that bad.”

“Oh really? I’ve been having one night stands while staying out here. I could’ve made friends with any one of those ladies I took home, and in fact, I could’ve taken them to a hotel instead of the person who decided to treat me with some semblance of kindness.”

“Why do you do it, then?”

“I suppose the same reason why someone might turn to alcoholism: to forget their mind for a little while. I don’t feel any of the effects from the night before. I often can’t recall if it felt good in the moment. I just want to forget about all the hurt and the hate I have in my head. In its own twisted way, the life I’ve been living lately is the closest to normal I’ve been in a while.”

“Doesn’t sound like normal.”

“You know I’m a violent person. I was hired by your father to protect you because of it. To me, this is as close to normalcy as I can get.”

“I know. I don’t know all the details, but I know.”

“So what about you? What have you been up to?”

“Oh, just spending some time with Princess. We’ve been painting each other’s nails.”

“Princess? Who’s that?”

“Don’t you know? My wife!”

“Your wife?”

“Well, sometimes wife, sometimes husband. As husband, he’s Prince, as wife, she’s Princess. It’s not confusing, Nemesis.”

“Of course not! I just didn’t know until you told me.”

“If things don’t work out with you and this Cybele girl, you could stay with us.”

“I don’t know. I think I’m done associating with anything mafia-related.”

“We’re not mafia related! We both cut ties with our families!”

“Yeah, but you’re still related, and I’m sure your dad, one of your dads, anyway, has got bodyguards patrolling your mansion. I’d rather not deal with any of that stuff.”

“First, we don’t have a mansion, we have a maison. Second, you’re the only bodyguard Princess and I need.”

“And yet I’m not there,” I groaned. “Don’t rely on me to save your life if you’re in danger. I don’t have a good track record of saving people.”

“You saved me at the wedding. Didn’t it feel good to do that?”

“Should it have?”

I set down the paint brush. I did the patchwork. Now I needed to wait. I picked up my phone and walked over to the bedroom where not long ago, I had Helen over. I set the phone on the dresser, and sat at the edge of the bed.

“I felt no satisfaction,” I admitted, “maybe I should have. But at the time all I could think about was the life I wished to take. Do you know that, Heidi? There’s someone I hate. Someone I told myself I would kill.”

“Yeah. Daddy mentioned it.”

“Tch. Fucking snitch. Can’t even trust a mafia boss.”

Heidi laughed on the other end.

“You really can’t, can you?” She said while laughing.

“Here’s the thing: I’ve had my chances. I’ve tried. I’ve failed twice. Worse, I...wait, why am I telling you this? I’m talking about murder. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“Mafia,” Heidi reminded me.

“Oh, right. Well, I should still want to kill this person. I’ve lost family, I’ve lost friends, if I can’t do this, what else do I have to live for?”

“You have plenty.” “I have nothing to live for.”

“What about that friend of yours? Cybele?”

“Not even she could save me.”

“What’s going to save you?”

“I don’t know. I just...I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“You can’t exactly live for someone else, either.”

“I know. But that’s what I’ve been doing: I told myself I was doing this for my father, or the woman I loved. One’s turned into a vague memory, and the other’s the reason I said I would never love again. I wanted to hold onto them, however faint they were, but I’m only hurting instead.”

“What would heal you? Would killing this person?”

“I don’t know,” I shook my head. “It wouldn’t give me anything, but I’m sure it would be satisfying. But after that, I’ll have nothing else left. So I’ve been trying to move on. Just forget about it, this hurt and hatred of mine, because...even as I ruin everything around me, I must still want to live.”

“You haven’t ruined everything around you.”

“No, not yet,” I agreed.

There’s still time.

This pot is boiling over, and steam is leaking from the lid.

My armor was tucked away in a closet. I’ve been avoiding that thing. It reminded me too much of what I lost, and what I used to be. Neither of those things were of any good to me now.

I wasn’t at Wheaty’s house for very long. While I appreciated the hospitality, and left without any hard feelings, I just couldn’t bring myself to stay for more than a few days. Once I repaired my armor, I left with little more than a note to inform of my departure.

Their house was moderate in size, a yellow brick building with a ceramic tile roof. The door was made of finely knit wheatgrass. The door handle was brass, and had a crisp, icy feel whenever I reached for it.

When you walked in, the kitchen was immediately to your left, divided by a ceramic pillar. To the right overlooking the kitchen was a small space where a dollhouse sat. Straight ahead, in the back, was the living room, with a large TV on the wall, and a reclining sofa with its back to anyone who wasn’t already in the living room.

The back of the sofa was high enough that I didn’t know there was anyone sitting down until two heads with short, brown hair peeked out from the top.

They both disappeared just as fast, only for two small children to run out. One with a pink polka-dot dress, and the other in a black t-shirt and sweatpants.

“Who’s the strange woman?” The one in the polka-dot dress asked.

“Uh...this is Nemesis,” Wheaty introduced me while his arms shook. “I swear, she’s normal. Probably. I hope so.”

“Dad’s brought home a strange woman,” the other little girl muttered.

“She’s going to stay over for a little while. You don’t mind the basement, do you?” He asked.

I shrugged.

“Really? Are you sure you’re just going to agree to it? What if it’s a creepy basement?”

I shrugged again. At that point, I didn’t care what disaster befell my life. Though I doubted there would be anything to worry about.

“Well...it’s messy. Buncha broken computers ‘n junk. There’s a small couch you can sleep on. It’s not much.”

“I don’t need much,” I told him.

Those two kids gasped upon seeing me open my mouth.

“Oh, right. The one in the dress is Frosty, and the other one is Mini-Wheats,” Wheaty introduced me to his kids. “They’re 4 and 5 each. I’ll try not to let them bother you too much. You’re free to eat with us.”

I nodded. He showed me to the basement, which was the first door on the right, down the hall. At the end of the hall was his room, and the two sisters apparently shared a room across the way from the basement door.

I went down, and was struck by a crisp cold. If my armor was working like it usually did, I could have regulated my body heat. To think that once, I lived in an area where the cold didn’t bother me.

There was a bench and a bar tucked away in a corner. Stacks of textbooks for learning various computer languages rested on the couch. I had to move them off the couch before I could even sit down, let alone lay down. The armor that I had beside me was folded up, still broken, and I set it to the side with those musty textbooks as well.

Boxes were stacked all around the basement, and I wasn’t so keen on finding out what was in each box. I had to squeeze through two pillars of stacked boxes to get to the tiny bathroom in the basement. Oddly, over the toilet was a knit felt blanket. I took it, of course, after taking a huge piss.

I still didn’t have a pillow. I shivered. I already knew I wouldn’t get much sleep. Maybe if I tried to sleep during the day, but I couldn’t do that, either. Not when there was work to be done.

Groggy. Sluggish.

I fold in on myself.

I fell off from that tiny couch at a quarter to noon. Not a bad sleep, all things considered, although I wished to consider less things.

Upstairs, the father and his two daughters sat at their round, small dining room table, situated right outside the kitchen, next to a sliding glass door which led to the backyard. All three of them ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, along with sliced baby carrots.

“Want some PB&J?” Wheaty offered, waving his bready monstrosity around.

“No, thank you. I’ll make my own food.”

If I recall, all I ate that morning was a slice of toast.

Wheaty spent much of his time alone in his room. Whenever I came up from the basement for any reason, he was nowhere to be found, while his daughters were either playing with toys or watching some cartoons on TV. In his own words, his job was ‘cyber insecurity’.

“Why are you strange?” Mini-Wheats looked up and asked me when I walked up to the two girls playing with a dollhouse.

“I don’t know. I just am,” I answered, as I lacked an answer.

“You can be the dragon,” Frosty handed me a plastic dinosaur figure.

“Me? The dragon?”

“Yes. Every dollhouse needs a dragon.”

“Why can’t I be the knight?” I asked.

“That position’s already covered,” Mini-Wheats explained, and held up a plastic dog figure.

“A dog taking the place of a knight. What is the world coming to?”

I played with them, though. It was worth sucking in my pride which was silly to hold in the first place. Sometimes, I watched TV shows with them. Most of the shows had a moral lesson at the end, like ‘don’t burn your house down, no matter how much fun the idea seems’. You know, baby stuff.

I assumed that when I wasn’t busy, he would spend time with his daughters as well. It’s just that outside of meals, I didn’t see him around much. Then again, I wasn’t around that much, either.

I spent much of my time alone in the basement. There was a metal folding table where I laid out my armor. I’d sometimes come up and leave the house to find parts I needed, but most of the parts could be found by scrapping parts of old and broken computers found in the basement.

Once, while hard at work on repairs, one of the kids found their way into the basement.

“What’cha doin’?” Frosty asked.

“Fixing my equipment,” I explained while still working. Had my safety goggles on and soldering iron and everything.

“Is it a robot?”

“Uh. No.”

“It looks like a robot.”

“I guess in a sense, it’s alive…” I gulped, “honestly, I don’t like it anymore. It makes me uncomfortable to wear it.”

“Why do you still have it?”

That was a good point. Why did kids have to be smart sometimes? Was I ever smart as a kid? Probably not.

“It’s one of the few things from my past that I have left.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I used to be a different person and now I’m all that’s left.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It makes perfect sense,” I argued, “I’m just not going to explain it.”

“Okay.”

She crawled about the basement. I wasn’t about to watch her. If she got hurt, that was her problem.

I glanced over. Just in case she actually did get hurt. She was hanging upside down from the couch.

“You can fix that. You must know a lot of things,” she pointed.

“Not really,” I argued, “I just learned whatever was useful for me.”

“What does that mean?”

“It just means what it means. I had this friend once, Mac, and he’d always be like, ‘Nem, you never think things through. You need to actually learn things’, well, he’d usually help with the smart stuff. He’s not around nowadays, so I learned to rely on myself.”

“Why isn’t he around?”

“Because I moved.”

“Can’t call or send letters?”

“It would be impossible.”

“Why?”

“I can’t explain it.”

“Okay. I get it.”

Good. Now I can get back to work, I thought. Oh, how foolish I was.

“So because you moved and can’t talk, you’re no longer friends?”

“Correct.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s how it works.”

“Okay.”

I cranked a bolt with a spare wrench I found littered on the floor.

“You have big arms,” Frosty pointed out.

I glanced over. She was now sitting on the workout bench and imitating a bench press.

“Be careful,” I warned her.

“I want big muscles like you,” she said.

“They’re overrated.”

“What does that mean?”

“They don’t mean much if you don’t put them to use.”

“I’ll put mine to use.”

“How?”

“I’ll beat mean people up!”

I twitched. Either a cringe or a nervous tick.

“Don’t beat people up. I’d rather you not grow up to be like me.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m not a good person.”

“Okay.”

“If you want to have a good life, you should also avoid making friends and falling in love.”

“Why?”

“Because you could lose them at any time.”

“Huh.”

Just ‘huh’? No ‘okay’ this time?

“Don’t cry if I end up making more friends than you,” she added.

Ah, there it is.

“Heh. I won’t,” I cracked a smile.

The last time I wore that armor was the day I left Wheaty’s house and soared toward Cybele’s.

So why was I wearing it? What was I doing out in the tundra?

After all the trouble I went with avoiding thinking about Remora, I still ended up going to the place where she could be found. I really was full of shit. I couldn’t resist pursuing my enemy forever. Not when the prospect of a normal life wasn’t within reach.

I wandered. I wasn’t near that diner, and my movements were too staggered. There must have been some part of me that still didn’t wish to fight. That, as I’ve said, was tired of fighting everything in hopes that it would solve my problems.

I don’t know for sure if she’s around, I tried to justify myself. I knew why I was there, no matter what justification I used. I’m just here to visit Cybele.

Yeah. I couldn’t have made that excuse with any ounce of honesty. If I wanted to squeeze some honesty, I could have told myself that I cared about her, and appreciated all that she had done for me. If I truly wished to see her, it wouldn’t be just to see her, but so that I’d have another distraction from my true goal.

The air was still, but felt heavy.

I couldn’t walk another step. Not if it meant taking a life.

I dropped to my knees, then lowered myself onto the rocky ground. There was very little ice left this time of year. What little there was evaporated into a mist that waved about. I imagined that with all the steam emanating from me, that I could have melted this whole area.

I’ll lay here. I’ll let myself die.

I hope they never find me. I hope they never bury a grave for me.

Maybe this too is justice.

My eyes closed. My thoughts went from morbid to peaceful. Or rather, not peaceful, but empty. Ceasing to be. I thought that was peace enough.

“Get up.”

Two flat, cold, dispassionate words filled my ears.

I opened my eyes, imagined them bloodshot, and stood straight up.

There stood Remora with her faded blue hair which mingled with her silky black hair. She held that black staff which she fought with last time.

“You,” I seethed.

“If you were looking for a place to rest, you could have done so anywhere,” she went on, “you chose here.”

“I know,” I replied. My helmet was up, and I was sure I sounded like I was full of rage. Maybe I was. But I tried to control it, just as I always did. “I wanted to avoid this place, but thoughts of you have plagued my mind. They won’t let me rest.”

“I figured as much. Do you wish to ease your burden?” She asked.

Her expression was blank. She spoke with clarity. Neither awkward, nor confident. They just were. She had neither a scowl, nor a sorrowful frown.

In that moment, she looked every bit like the killer I had imagined her to be.

“Yes,” I bowed my head. “Because you are here, I take it you too wish for this to end?”

She nodded.

“Tell me, Remora,” I would have once called her ‘killer’. Somehow, even if this would have been our final fight, I felt she deserved more dignity than that, “will anyone interrupt us this time?”

She shook her head.

“No Sunny? No Demetria?”

She shook her head once more.

I still had my doubts. The landscape may have been barren enough, but there were large stones, not large enough to be considered mountainous, which stood nearby. For all I knew, someone could have been hiding behind them.

“Thank you,” I extended what little gratitude I had for the one I hated so dearly.

“My mind hasn’t changed from last time: I don’t wish to kill you, but I do wish to put an end to this,” she stated.

You have no idea how mutual that sentiment is.

I brought out the double-tipped spear from the wrist attachments of my armor and charged forth. As soon as I swung it toward her, she blocked it with her staff.

I pushed down on my spear, and aimed to thrust the tip into her chest. To let the blade get wet with red from entering inside her.

She not only kicked her leg up and pushed the spear back upward, but while it was pushed away, she spun her staff and flung it out of my hand where it landed in the soil behind me. While disarmed, she swung her staff down.

I slid back in time and grabbed my spear from out of the ground.

“Are you sure you’re okay with me using my armor to fight you?” I looked up and asked. “After all, I have an inherent advantage over you.”

“It doesn’t bother me. After all,” she clicked on her staff and that axe popped out. “You don’t have as much of an advantage as you think.”

“Ha,” I staked my staff back into the ground and removed my armor.

“It bothers me,” I declared while tossing my armor aside. “It’s only fair that both of us fight unarmored.”

Remora cracked a smile.

“As you wish.”

As someone who recently watched The Princess Bride, I don’t approve of those words coming out of Remora’s mouth.

I was met with a rush of cool air. I had on the purple and violet striped corduroy cardigan that Cybele had gifted me a while back ago.

“I don’t think that’s the right attire for this environment,” Remora said as she continued to smile.

“I didn’t dress for the environment. I dressed for sentimental reasons.”

“All the same, if you spend enough time here, you could walk outside with shorts and a t-shirt and be just fine.”

“Are you mocking me?”

She shook her head.

“If anything, I am sincere to a fault.”

I didn’t know what kind of game she was playing. I didn’t even know why I was bothering to ask. Digging a hole to the center of the earth with a plastic spoon would have been easier than trying to understand Remora.

I split my double-tipped spear in two. As two short stakes, I ran at her, took swift jabs against her head. Each time, she turned her head, or turned to the side. I tried to close in on her, take one strike from the side, and the other straight into her, but she blocked one with her poleaxe and turned the other way, and with a shit-eating grin, kicked up and knocked one of my stakes out of my hand.

I gasped and went to retrieve it, but she raised her axe down, ready to strike. Worse, with my arms stretched out, I was a prime target.

As she swung down, I leaped back and flipped upside down. I stood on my hands, then propelled myself forward. She turned once again, but she was mistaken if she thought I was aiming to kick her in the face. When I landed, I slashed across from my left side and tore the fabric off her sleeve.

The slash left a shallow cut, and for a moment, she winced and grabbed onto her wrist, but that moment faded too soon and she looked up with that same smile she held from the start.

“Good one,” she said.

“You could have avoided that strike if you wanted to,” I scowled.

“Don’t be so sure. My strengths don’t lie in how many hits I can avoid. In fact, I’ve taken many. But I’m nothing if not resilient.”

“Let’s put that to the test,” I let slip a smile in turn.

I dashed toward the missing half of my spear, reattached them, and charged.

She stared. It was strange. Her smile faded, and a fierceness took over in her eyes. By all indication, it would seem like she was taking me seriously. And yet…

When I spun my spear around, she didn’t make a move.

I locked eyes with her, trying to see if her pupils made any sort of movement. When she caught me staring, her smile returned.

I swung my spear downward, from the right side slashing left. She ducked down while sliding to the left. I spun, tried slashing from the left. She just made the same motion.

She really must be mocking me. What? Does she not think I’m serious?

I spun my spear once more. Traced her eyes. I didn’t see anything different than before.

Let’s see how you dodge this, I thought as I performed a direct stab.

It should have caught her by surprise. Instead, she grabbed onto it before the bladed end could touch her.

“You dance well, but it doesn’t match the song being played,” she commented while continuing to hold my spear in place.

“What?”

She let go and turned to the side.

My spear drove forth, but missed her, and in that same window, she knocked me down with a swift kick to the side. I fell with a thud.

“How?” I rasped.

“You were right: your armor was a handicap.”

She’s right – without it, I’m more fragile.

“You tricked me!” I accused. To that, she just shook her head before raising her axe over her head.

As soon as she struck down, I rolled out of the way, leaped up, and tried another strike at her arm. This time, however, it didn’t work. She raised her axe up and split the spear in half. As it dropped to the ground, she quickly snatched it into her other palm.

“Thanks for that,” she smirked.

“You...you bastard!”

“That may be. I didn’t tell you to remove your armor. That was your decision. If you wish to fight me on equal footing, that’s your decision, but just know: we were never on equal footing.”

My scowl deepened. To think she really was this cruel.

“Oh, but don’t get me wrong. I’m sure you could kill me, if that’s what you wanted. I’m just as vulnerable as you are. You want to kill me? Be aware of your own vulnerability. Fight as if you have something to lose.”

So that’s it? This whole time, she’s been thinking I’m not serious?

No. Maybe she’s right. I have to put aside any doubt.

I nodded and ran back toward my armor.

I didn’t get far before she took off after me and before I could even react, she took a swipe right against my back, with the half of my own weapon which she stole. The back of my cardigan was torn and a deep gash formed as I fell over.

“AAA –!” I yelled.

She stomped me to the ground, just as my hand reached out to my armor.

It stung. It stung so much.

So this is pain? My, how I missed this.

I glanced over. Her axe hung overhead.

Damn. She’s more serious than I thought.

I crawled up to my armor.

“What? Going to put it back on after all? Was it too much to handle without protection?”

Quite the opposite.

Just as the axe was about to fall, I turned with sword and hand and chipped off the metal of the axe.

I rolled away, sword tucked in, and leaped up.

Thick at the base like a clever, with serrated edges at the ends. It was a bloodied, red, curved blade. To think it still functioned, and not only that, wasn’t rusted.

You were the weapon I used to kill before. Fitting that it would be the weapon I use now.

I tossed the spear aside.

Blade in hand, I ran toward her and struck blow after furious blow. Slash down from each angle. Rather than try to block, she just kept taking steps back. She couldn’t even get a hit in with her axe. One moment, she tried to swing, but I just swiped it away and chipped another bit off of the axe.

In spite of it all, she continued to smile.

“What? Something funny?” I asked, pressing my blade against her axe.

“Not at all. I’m just glad to have met you,” she replied with that carefree attitude.

It made no sense.

She swiped at my left arm with the half of the spear. Blood spilled, but the wound wasn’t too deep, and I pressed on.

Damn it. I forgot about that.

“How’s your back?” She asked.

“It’s burning up,” I answered.

“Ah. As for me, I’m still a little wet from earlier,” she said while tapping on her wrist.

“I know what you mean,” I winced while allowing myself to smile, “after that little swipe you gave me.”

I thrust my sword in and hoped it would land, but her axe, whatever remained of it, blocked it. She swiped with the spear, this time against my cheek. Blood trickled down. With my other hand, I swiped at hers.

We both wiped our cheeks and leaped back.

“Yes. Now you’re dancing to the right tune,” she raised her voice in a joyous rapture.

“I think I know what you mean now.”

“I kept thinking, ‘a sword would really suit her better’. Glad to see I was right.”

“Yet your weapon doesn’t suit you at all,” I pointed toward the thing that was running low on durability.

“Nonsense. I can make any weapon work,” she dismissed.

In a sense, she may be right. That jagged mess that was an axe looks like it could do more damage than when it was polished.

We ran back toward each other, and as she swung her axe forth, I ducked down and slashed against the side of her stomach. It tore against her jacket and through her flesh. She held tight to her wound and wrapped the torn piece of jacket against it, but even then could do little more than stumble back.

No. She should have been able to dodge that.

“What are you doing?” I demanded.

She just looked up and smiled.

Images ran through my mind once more: me, on top of her, as I choked her out, and begged her to punch me. Begged her to end my life, all while I tried to end hers.

I was so close, too, but she didn’t even try to fight back.

“Haa...haa…” She huffed, shook her head, and advanced toward me.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said, with labored breaths, “this wound isn’t fatal. I can keep going.”

This time, I didn’t run toward her.

“What do you want?!” I demanded to know once more, hand on my chest, loud.

“I said, didn’t I? I don’t want to kill you, but I do want this to end,” was all she had to say.

I watched her fasten the remains of her jacket into a knot to block off the bleeding before she ran forth, uneven steps, and dragging her axe against the ground.

“STOP!” I yelled.

When she swung her axe upward, I stepped off to the side, then sliced the axe off of her staff. It became nothing more than a broken stick.

“There. Now…” Wait. What am I doing?!

Remora struck me across the face with the broken staff. It cut against my other cheek. There was no smile on her face that time, but I think it was because her game was already over.

I kneed her in the stomach, then forced my full weight against her as we both fell to the ground.

My sword over her face, I stared down at her. She stared back, with that same blank expression which I was used to seeing from her, and not that strange smile she had for most of the fight.

“I don’t want you to die!” I yelled down at her, saliva catching against her scratched up face. The blood of my own scratched up face falling upon hers.

“I thought you wanted to kill me,” she stated.

“I did! But I don’t want you to die!”

Tears fell from my face. I didn’t even know what I was saying. My hands shook, and I soon fell.

“What do you want, Nemesis?” Was what she asked next.

“I don’t know!”

She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me close to her. I sobbed into her shoulders.

Her hands shook, but I still felt them as she stroked my hair.

“Why would you do this?” I asked her.

“I just wanted to give you what you wanted,” she whispered.

“I don’t even know what I want! I thought I wanted to kill you, but I can’t bear the thought of life without you. I just want something to work, but nothing does.”

“Pain doesn’t always heal.”

“I hate you,” I sobbed.

“I know,” she held me tighter. “But I’m glad.”

“Why…?”

“Love can be hard when all you know is pain. ‘Can I even feel love, or is pain all I’m capable of?’ But...I think you’ll be okay.”

“How do you know?”

“Haa...haa...I’m...sorry.”

“Sorry? Why?”

She let go from her grasp. I leaned up and stared as the sword had found its way into her chest. She knew. She knew this whole time and she chose to embrace me.

“You won,” she cracked a smile, before closing her eyes. I let go of the blade that had been in my hand. Had I been so numb as not to have noticed?

I stood up, walked back, shaking, and fell to the ground.

“I...I did it? I did it,” I repeated those words. Confused? Overjoyed? In shock? Enraged? Anguished? I couldn’t tell.

I shook all over, and the tears wouldn’t stop. I began to laugh, as that’s all I could think to do.

I didn’t even notice a car pull up beside me until someone walked out and up to me. Someone who wore thin, black leather boots, and a long, white lab coat.

She leaned down, grabbed my ear, and pulled me up.

“Hey!” I yelled, and looked beside to see some strange blonde woman with messy hair and a blank expression. Almost like Remora’s.

“You’re going to help me get her into the car,” she told me, and pointed to Remora’s faint body.

“Like hell I will! Why should I help you?” I shouted at the strange woman, despite the panic I was in.

“Because I’m a doctor and she’s my patient, and you’re responsible for the position she’s in.”

She must have emerged from behind those rocks, I was sure of it.

“She’s dead!”

“I’ll be the one to declare that. Until then, she’s still my patient.”

In that moment, I didn’t even care. I just did what that doctor said.

Was this a set up? Did Remora plan for this as well?

The doctor and I loaded her up into the back of the van. I suppose you could have called it an ‘ambulance’ but that strange doctor preferred the word ‘doctormobile’.

Once Remora lay there, flat on a gurney, the doctor, who introduced herself as Dr. Cole-Slaw, began wrapping around the wound, checking a pulse, and pulled out a defibrillator.

A couple of shocks. As far as I could tell, nothing.

A cold sweat ran over me. To think I would watch her, the one lifeless, and feel anything but satisfied.

“You two are idiots,” she said, while wiping off sweat with a towel.

“Do you think she’ll make it?” I asked.

“I’m a good doctor,” Dr. Cole-Slaw responded.

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“She asked me to watch from afar, but not to interfere. I thought that was ridiculous, but I told her I would accept, if she agreed to attend therapy if she survived. So, I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure she survives.”

“Therapy, huh?” I smiled. Even through tears and uncertainty. Damn, I wanted her to make it as well and I hated myself for that, just as much as I hated her. “I might have to consider that as well.”

#nemesis #remoras full #remora #writing #stories #action #violence #fiction #the nice chapter #I couldve shortened it down to 6900 words but I wasnt committed enough to the bit

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kuroopaisen · 4 years

Text

little changes | i (miya atsumu)

➵ miya atsumu is the bane of your existence. but, that means different things at different times of your life.

PART TWO

wc: 6.9k (i know)

warnings: f!reader, cursing (too much tbh)

a/n: hi i couldn’t get this out of head so here you go,,, there’ll be a second part tomorrow

The first time you'd met, he'd pushed you into a puddle.

"Slow down!" You yelled, chest heaving as you tried to catch up to the two boys ahead of you. Even at seven years old, their legs were significantly longer than yours.

The twins scrambled to a stop, looking over their shoulders at you.

"Hurry up!" Atsumu yapped. "If you can't keep up, we're gonna leave you behind."

"That's unfair!" You pouted, stumbling to a stop in front of them. "You can't just leave me out!"

Atsumu stared at you for a moment.

One clean shove, and you were on your butt, muck and water splashing up around you.

"What'd you do that for?" You yapped, looking up at the boy with a glare strong enough to kill a god.

"You were bein' annoyin'."

"Hey!"

"That's not cool, 'Tsumu," Osamu sighed, holding out a hand to you.

Atsumu shrugged, letting out a long, exaggerated yawn.

That was the day you decided that Miya Atsumu was your arch-nemesis.

Not much had changed since that day. Miya Atsumu was, to put it lightly, the bane of your existence.

Middle school brought him no maturity. If anything, he got worse. He treated you like a nuisance, your friendship with Osamu be damned. But unfortunately, the two of them were rarely apart. And apparently being around you was better than being bored.

"You can't spike a ball for shit," he mumbled, shaking his head at you.

"Oi, language!"

"Shuddup," he rolled his eyes, turning his back to you. "You're so borin'."

He always called you that. Boring.

You glared at him, clenching your fists. You were just trying to play along with them. Sure, your volleyball skills left something to be desired. But Osamu didn't mind. And you wanted to play with your friend, his shitstain of a brother be damned.

"Yeah, well–" You sucked in your breath, trying to think of something very cruel – but not profane, because you're only eleven and swearing is one of the worst things you could do – to say to him. "You're a bastard!"

He looked over his shoulder at you, one eyebrow raised. Did his silence spell your victory?

"Pig."

Nope.

That was just the first of many monikers Miya Atsumu gave to you. He had so many, in fact, that it seemed he was allergic to calling you by your name. Pig seemed to be a particular favourite.

But, you always prided yourself on being tough. It took more than a few paltry words to do some real damage to you. And you were determined to not let Atsumu get the upper hand.

And yet, some days he did. They were rare, but they stung like nothing else. It was the days he got possessive. The days he told you to piss off, that he wanted to hang out with Osamu and he didn't want you there to ruin it.

You told yourself that it didn't matter. That you couldn't care less what he thought of you. But it wasn't enough to shift that awful little feeling that came with being told you were unwanted.

"Don't listen to him," Osamu sighed, hand clumsily patting your back. "He's just… like that. He sucks."

You sniffed, wiping your nose with the back of your hand. "Yeah."

You were just mad at yourself for crying. Thankfully, Atsumu had stalked off before you'd crumpled. But still. You'd let him get to you. You were better than that, right? Better than him.

"I still like you," Osamu swallowed, fumbling with the right words to say in a situation like this. "I'll beat him up for you, if you want."

You shook your head, a little too vigorously. "Nah, I don't want you to get into a fight with your brother because of me."

That's what it came down to, really. The feeling that you were in the way of something important. Of something that mattered more than you. The spiteful look Atsumu would shoot you whenever Osamu spent time with you instead of him hurt most.

Osamu shook his head. "Nah, it's fine. I really want an excuse to deck him in the face sometimes."

You giggled at that. It was the first time you'd smiled all day. "Thanks, 'Samu."

--------

With each year that passed, Miya Atsumu seemed to get worse. And with each year that passed, you were baffled.

How could someone have such a garbage personality? And worse yet, why was he blessed with such immense talent? You weren't an idiot, and you weren't the sort to deny credit when it was due. The twins were good. You knew jack-shit about volleyball – you'd sworn off it ever since Atsumu had been such a bastard about it – but you knew enough to know they were impressive.

They were just first years, but they were already on the starting line-up of the volleyball team. And you were quite proud of Osamu for that. It was nice to see other people recognising his talents. He'd been humble enough about it, too. Atsumu was another matter, but you'd developed something of a talent for tuning him out. So long as he wasn't insulting you directly, you could ignore him quite well. Life was much better for it.

The only bad thing about Osamu joining the volleyball team was the fact that he now hung out with them. Which wasn't a problem, per say; you were welcome to join, and they were all cordial enough. No, the issue was that sometimes spoke about girls. And nothing was more infuriating than hearing teenage boys advise one another on how to impress girls.

"You're saying I should just… ignore her?" One of the second years frowned at one of the older boys.

"Yeah," the third year nodded. "If you ignore her, she'll get all anxious about it, and she'll keep thinkin' about you."

"Huh," the second year nodded, blinking slowly. "Isn't that kind of… I dunno… mean?"

"Very," you mumbled.

"Huh?"

"If you do that, you'll seem like an asshole. Girls don't like guys like that," you sighed, head rested on Osamu's knee as you looked up at the sky.

Hanging out with the volleyball team wasn't high on your list of favourite activities. But, you had nothing better to do.

"I thought girls liked 'bad boys'," one of the third years laughed.

"I don't wanna make any generalisations," you shrugged. "But it's better if you're friends first. So you've gotta be nice to her."

You had absolutely no experience to speak of. But it seemed like the right thing to say.

"You're only saying that because you've got a thing for Osamu."

You hadn't planned on a murder today. But Suna had just changed your plans.

"Do not," you mumbled, shutting your eyes. Don't bite back, you thought to yourself. If you bite back, they'll just tease you more.

You'd actually thought about it, once. You were sixteen, after all, and ready to yearn. But, as hard as you'd tried to convince yourself that you felt something more for Osamu had fallen flat. The thought of kissing him made you laugh, when it should've made you blush. You hadn't mentioned that to him, though. Having a girl laugh at the thought of intimacy with you was probably at least a little humiliating, regardless of who she was.

"You're lying on him as we speak," one of the team snickered.

"Because I'm tired." You opened one eye to take a glance at the team. You took a moment to visualise punching them all in the face, one by one. It was almost rhapsodic. "You all suck."

"You're not even good enough for 'Samu, anyway."

Oh. Oh.

You bolted upright, glare immediately honing in on him. "Excuse me?"

Atsumu raised an eyebrow at you. "So you think you're good enough for him?"

You opened your mouth to reply. Fuck, you didn't have anything snappy to say. Was strangling him out of the question? Oh God, you could feel your face growing redder by the second. You needed to do something–

"Oi, don't use me as an excuse to make fun of her," Osamu sighed. "You don't really think that highly of me."

"That's cold, 'Samu," Atsumu grimaced. "You really think I'd be okay with you datin' this cow?"

"What did you just call me?"

"Do you like it more when I call you a pig?"

"What on earth gave you that idea, you bastard?"

Osamu rolled his eyes as the tirade began. Not a day went by without something like this happening. Atsumu said something contrarian, and you exploded like a little firecracker. You weren't the sort to start fights, usually. But there was something about Atsumu that always managed to get under your skin.

He'd hoped that finally entering high school would've taught Atsumu how to behave. He should've known to be wiser than to indulge himself in some wishful thinking.

"Does he always provoke her?" Aran asked, frowning.

Osamu nodded. "Uh huh. He gets a kick out of it."

"Hmm," Aran nodded, "knowing everything I do about Atsumu, that makes perfect sense."

"I keep tellin' her not to respond. It just eggs him on."

"Well, I guess it's kinda hard not to," Aran shrugged.

Osamu sighed. "Y'know, sometimes I just wish they'd get along."

Aran laughed, shaking his head. "Sorry man, can't see that happening any time soon."

--------

Being a teenager fucking sucked.

Getting dumped by an admittedly shitty boyfriend might've been some kind of rite of passage, but that didn't make it hurt any less. You'd tried to count your blessings, small as they may be. At least he hadn't dumped you over text, right?

Maybe it would've been better if he had dumped you over text. That would've given you a few hours at least to pull yourself together. Instead, he'd pulled you aside just before class had started, telling you that he was done with you. He hadn't even given you the chance to speak.

And then you'd had to walk into class and pretend everything was okay. A whole school day was far too long to try and pretend you had it together.

Behind the gym was the only place you'd managed to find the silence in which to mourn. You would've gone and cried in the bathroom if you could, but there was always someone in there. You didn't want to make a scene. And surely, nobody would come behind the gym.

"Oi."

Oh, fuck.

"What do you want?" You mumbled, lacking the courage to look at him.

"I was just tryin' to clear my head before practice," he said. "What're you doin' out here?”

"None of your business," you sniffed, your shoulders hunched and your fists scrunching the fabric of your skirt.

He sat down.

No. No, no, no.

"So," he cleared his throat, not quite looking at you. "I heard about… your ex."

"Great," you sniffed, rubbing your nose with the back of your hand. It'd already reached Atsumu? How much did he know?

"Are you… alright?" His voice was quiet, unsure.

"What do you think?" You hissed, drawing your knees up to your chest.

"Sorry," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just, uh… you've seemed kinda off today."

You shot him a look.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I just…" He sighed, hanging his head.

You pressed your lips together, trying to sift through the jumble of thoughts in your mind. It wasn't that you'd expected your relationship with that asshole to last. Far from it. You just hadn't expected it to go… like this. Not after he'd taken so much from you.

"It's just that–" The words escaped from you with a hitched breath. "It's just that… I gave him a lot, you know?" You took a deep breath. You weren't about to admit everything to fucking Atsumu of all people. But you just wanted to talk. To put the pain into words. "And he didn't have the decency to… to treat me with respect. He… He…"

"Did he hurt you?" Atsumu's tone was sharp; sharper than you'd ever heard it. He still wasn't looking directly at you. If anything, that was a small comfort.

"Not physically or anything," you shook your head, relaxing your fists. "It's just that he… he treated me like shit. And… and I liked him more than I should've, I know that, but…"

You made a valiant effort at swallowing the lump in your throat. "It just fucking sucks, you know?"

You don't know why you're telling him all this. You'd already said more than you'd wanted to. But damn, did it feel good to get it off your chest.

Did you seem a bit pathetic? Fuck it. Atsumu already thought poorly of you. Letting him see you like this wouldn't be a massive hit to your pride.

And, to his credit, he's listening. You think.

"I think–" You sniffed, taking a deep breath. This was the worst part of all. "I think he's been hooking up with Eiko. Or, at least, he's been trying to."

"What, really?" Oh, he'd looked pissed. You'd never seen this amount vitriol in his face before. Not even when he was arguing with you.

"Yeah." You nodded weakly. You knew it probably wasn't Eiko's fault. And even if she had 'seduced' him, he'd still chosen to dump you over it. You just didn't have the energy to direct your anger at anyone but him.

"Fuckin' piece of shit," he grumbled. You could see him clenching his fists. You'd never thought he'd get this angry on your behalf. "I'm gonna kill him."

"Don't." You nearly reached over to grab his arm. But, you didn't. "Please, I just… I just want this to pass, okay? I don't want to create a mess."

Atsumu stared at you for one long moment. You knew he was weighing up whether or not he should listen to you. Then, he sighed. "Fine."

"Thank you," you mumbled, fiddling with the hem of your shirt. You didn't know what to say, now.

"Well," he cleared his throat, finally meeting your gaze, "if he tries anythin' with you, lemme know, okay?"

You blinked, your own brow just as furrowed as his.

"He's a pig," he grunted, "and… and you deserve better than that, 'kay?"

You stared at him. Had those words really just come from his mouth? "I thought I was the pig."

Atsumu said nothing. He doesn't know what to say. You'd never really interacted like this before. Without the barbs.

He wanted to say that, even though he makes fun of you all the time, you matter. Frankly, he doesn't really know what he'd do if you weren't there for him to pick on. He's used to you being around, you know? That bred at least a little fondness. And the thought that someone had genuinely, actually hurt you pissed him off.

But he doesn't say any of that. Because he doesn't know how to. Hell, he doesn't even know what that means.

"I, uh," he cleared his throat, standing to his feet. "I've gotta get back to practice."

He wants to tell you to text him if you need anything. But, he doesn't think that'll be very comforting, coming from him. So, he walked away.

"Hey, uh, Miya?"

He stopped in his tracks, just as surprised as you were. You never called him by his name.

"Could you, uh… could you keep this between us?" You asked, your throat alarmingly dry. "I'd rather 'Samu didn't know about this. I'm worried that… that he might do something stupid."

Atsumu looked over his shoulder at you. It's a small moment, a quiet one.

He just shrugs. "'Kay."

The next time you're watching them play, you're not just cheering for Osamu.

--------

It's over. Finally.

And you couldn't be more relieved.

Of course, you were going to miss your friends. And of course, all the changes that were about to come your way were fucking terrifying.

But high school sucked. And being a teenager sucked. You couldn't wait to move on from all of that. To make a real person of yourself. And you were going to Tokyo. Tokyo. You'd always lived in Hyogo; the thought of living somewhere so vastly different was downright exhilarating.

But before all that, you had to survive your goodbyes. You'd made it through the graduation ceremony well enough; in truth, you'd zoned out a little.

But now you were all outside, and it was finally time to say goodbye for good. And quite frankly, you hadn't expected to be so emotional. Honestly, you were just proud of yourself for keeping it together. Nobody else was crying – yet – and you'd be damned if you were the first person to lose composure.

You'd managed to say goodbye to most of your friends with a smile, and you'd even bid farewell to your beloved literature teacher without getting too miserable. Surely, there wouldn't be too many people left to see.

A flash of grey and yellow at your right.

Oh no. You had to speak to Osamu. That'd do it.

"Oi!" You called out, hurdling towards him.

Osamu turned around, raising a hand at you. Atsumu glanced in your direction, but he made no effort to greet you. Asshole.

"C'mere," Osamu smiled, opening his arms up.

You threw yourself into them, wrapping your arms around his neck as you supported yourself on your tip-toes. He smiled, chuckling in your ear. Good God, you were going to miss him.

"We did it," you smiled, squeezing him tight.

"Somehow." It was subtle, but you could feel the joy in his voice.

"Good job on getting into TSUJI," you beamed, dropping down as he released you from his grasp.

"Thanks," he smiled, reaching a hand up and ruffling your hair. "University of Tokyo’s nothin' to sniff at, you know."

You blushed, despite yourself. "Yeah, well…"

"Stop bein’ so humble," he said, punching you gently in the shoulder. "Make me proud, you hear?"

"You too."

And that's enough. That's all you need to say. He wasn't big on words, and that was okay. It had always been okay. You knew that you guys would stay friends. Even if everyone else fell away, if you drifted from all these people you held close… you knew you'd have 'Samu.

You heard a voice calling you. You straightened your shoulders, looking up at Osamu resolutely. "I'll see you this weekend, yeah?"

"Sure," he shrugged, nodding at you.

You smiled back, feeling that persistent sting at the corners of your eyes. Your eyes flicked over to Atsumu for just a moment. He'd turned away from you once you'd thrown your arms around Osamu, opting instead to speak to some of the first years. You wondered, for one short moment, if you should try and talk to him.

Nah.

You swallowed, turning around to walk towards whoever had called your name. If you spent any more time standing still, you might not be able to hold back the tears.

You felt a tug on your sleeve, pulling you downwards.

"Oi."

You'd know that voice anywhere. "You're so rude." You shot him a glare, straightening yourself out.

Things had mellowed out a little since that day behind the gym. You wouldn't go so far as to say you were friends; he was still abrasive, and you were still struck by the urge to punch him in the face whenever he came into your field of vision.

But his words had been a little gentler. Insults abounded, but he seemed a bit more mindful. Like he was checking your mood before pushing your buttons.

Or maybe you were just imagining it. Maybe you just wanted that weird little moment between the two of you to mean something.

"What do you want, Miya?" You sighed, after a long silence.

He'd just been standing there, completely silent. He hadn't even bit back. His lips were pursed as he stared at nothing in particular. What an earth is he thinking about? You wondered.

Then, finally, he looked at you. "Wanna live together?"

You froze. Why was he so… like this? "Excuse me?"

He shrugged, hands in his pockets and an obnoxiously bored look on his face. "That's easier than findin' a roommate, right? We already know each other, and we'll both be in Tokyo."

No congratulations. No words of kindness. Nothing. Just straight to business. You weren't sure if that or the offer he'd just made was more baffling.

You bit your lip. Could there be anything worse than living with this fool? Maybe you could end up with a shitty roommate – but he'd also be a shitty roommate. How much worse could a total stranger be?

"Hey. Dickhead."

You jumped, looking up to meet his eyes. "Oh, uh… Let me think about it."

"'Kay."

And then, he was gone.

'Kay? 'Kay? That's all he'd had to say to you? After asking you to live with him? How'd he even come up with that idea? Had Osamu told him to do it? Oh, maybe it was his parents. They were quite fond of you, after all. Perhaps they thought you could keep their son in line or something.

But that wasn't your responsibility! You didn't want it to be your responsibility!

You shook your head. No, you weren't going to let this dominate your thoughts. You would worry about Atsumu later. For now, you just had to focus on getting through the rest of today.

--------

Your reasons for living with Miya Atsumu were simple.

One: you'd avoid each other. Surely, even if you were in the same apartment, you'd give each other a wide enough berth to ensure some sense of privacy.

Two: you could live like an absolute pig and it wouldn't matter. Who cared if you didn't do your dishes that evening? It only affected him. And fuck him.

Three: you'd heard one too many horror stories about friendships being torn to pieces because of shit like this. You didn't want to risk that.

Four: you didn't want to live with a stranger.

Simple as that.

And those were the four reasons you'd told Osamu, in a paltry attempt to justify yourself. He'd been sceptical, of course – and he'd said, without an ounce of goodwill, "you don't know just how bad he is to live with" – but he hadn't tried to stop you.

But one semester was already over and done with. And things were fine.

Honestly, you were still surprised that he'd even asked this of you. But, his reasons were his own, and frankly, you didn't care what they were.

Yes, he lived like a pig. And God, you'd heard him in bed one too many times because apparently he doesn't know how to be quiet.

"It's not my fault you're not gettin' any," he'd say. You always wanted to bite back and say that you were getting more than enough, thank you very much. You were just polite enough to be quiet. But, you always decided – quite wisely – that it wasn't an argument worth getting into.

But, there's something about the freedom of simply not caring if your roommate would get mad at you for some stupid mistake that made it all worth it. You were allowed to fuck up, to make all those silly mistakes every did in that transitory stage from high school to adulthood. Nothing you could do would ruin an important friendship.

You got to learn how to be a decent person without the consequences.

"Would ya mind if I had some friends over?"

Believe it or not, but this was a big step for him. A few weeks ago, and he would've just brought them over, your feelings be damned.

"When?"

"Thursday evenin'."

"What for?"

"Just catchin' up," he shrugged.

"Is this you asking me if I'm okay with it, or is it you asking me to get out of the house?" You raised an eyebrow at him, stirring your tea.

He flashed you a grin.

You rolled your eyes. "Really?"

"Come on," he propped his chin up on his fist, beaming at you from across the kitchen counter. "Surely, you don't wanna be around when there's a buncha guys in the apartment. Do you?"

"So you're going to bring them over regardless of what I say?"

Nevermind. This wasn't a step for him at all.

"Essentially," he shrugged.

You groaned, lolling your head back.

"Can't you just go to the library or somethin'?" He pouted.

"I don't have any assignments to work on," you frowned. "It's literally only week two."

"Aren't you always tellin' me it's better to get ahead early?" He raised an eyebrow at him.

You narrowed your eyes at him, biting the inside of your cheek. "Week two's overkill."

"Well, just… do your weekly readings or somethin'."

"I'd rather do them from the comfort of my own bed."

Atsumu groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I already told 'em they could come over."

Oh, you were so ready to throttle him.

"Can't you just… make yourself busy?" He shrugged. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable or anythin'."

"You should've thought about that before inviting them over," you growled. "Shit, what are you planning on getting up to, anyway?"

He shrugged. "It'll just stress you out."

"Miya, what the fuck–"

"One of the guys thinks you're hot."

You blinked. He really knew how to be blunt, didn't he?

"And?"

"I can't promise he won't try'n hit on you."

"Yeah, and?"

Atsumu shrugged. "I dunno. I just… thought you might be a bit uncomfortable with that."

"How does he even know what I look like?"

"I showed 'em a photo."

Oh God. Of course he did.

"Why on earth would you do that?"

"I mentioned that my roommate's a chick. They wanted to see."

"Miya," you sighed, gripping your own hair. "What – and I cannot stress this enough – the fuck?"

"It didn't seem like a big deal at the time," he tilted his head at you, smiling. "I mean, I'm just as surprised at you that someone finds you attractive–"

"Shut up."

"– but I just thought you should know. Clear things up before they get too awkward, you know?"

No, you didn't.

But, you didn't really want to have this conversation anymore.

"Fine," you sighed, turning to pour the rest of your tea down the sink. For some reason, you didn't really want it anymore. "I'll find something to do."

Shouldn't be too hard. Maybe a bar or a pub would have a student's night. Maybe one of your friends would be free. There was always something to do in the city.

"I owe you one," Atsumu grinned. You had half a mind to knock his teeth out then and there.

"You really do," you sighed, rinsing your cup out.

"Already got something in mind."

"Sounds like there's a catch," you mumbled, looking over your shoulder at him.

"No catch," he held his hands up, giving you what you assumed was his best smile.

"Has anyone ever told you you've got an untrustworthy face, Miya?"

"All the time," he grinned. "Nah, but really. No catch."

You titled your head at him, waiting for a proposal of some kind.

"I'll buy you pizza."

You scoffed. "Really? That's your consolation?"

"I'll get you the expensive shit," he shrugged. "Friday night. Promise."

"Can you even afford anything that's not from the cheapskate menu?"

"Can you?"

You shrugged at that one.

"Nah, I promise, it'll be good," he sighed. "I'll make it worth it, 'kay?"

--------

Friday nights were for Atsumu.

You weren't quite sure how it started. Something to do with him being exhausted from volleyball practice. Something to do with you being exhausted from university. Something else about how neither of you had any energy left to go out and socialise.

Whatever it was, you'd settled into a comfortable rhythm. Friday night, pizza, and a shitty movie.

These days, you actually liked having him around. Not that you were going to admit to it, though. No, you'd rather die than do anything like that.

You weren't quite sure why you'd suddenly adjusted to him. Was it because you'd known him for so long? Even if he was an absolute nuisance, he was familiar. Someone you could be a goblin around, without having to worry about him wanting to end your friendship over it. No, you'd been involved with each other far too long for that.

And honestly, it was kind of nice to have someone to relax around. While you'd managed to find some people you clicked with at university… making friends was hard. There was no-one you could be an absolute pig with yet.

So, Atsumu would do for now.

You'd just finished watching Neil Breen's Fateful Findings. It had been surprisingly easy to find a copy with Japanese subtitles; that being said, you didn't feel it had given you any clarity as to what was actually going on. Atsumu had loved it, though. He'd already tried throwing some of the quotes back at you. That was sure to make him harder to live with for at least the next week or two.

"Wanna play Smash?" He was sprawled out on the couch, looking at you with a painfully cocky expression.

"Absolutely not."

"Worried I'll beat your ass again?" Did he have to smirk after every second thing he said?

You glared at him. "Wanna say that to my face?"

He grinned, turning to face you head on. "Worried I'll beat your ass again?"

"I was having an off day," you mumbled.

"Wanna prove that, or…"

You bit the inside of your cheek. If you did play, there were two possible outcomes. The first was that you won. If you won, it'd shut him up, and you could go on with your pride more or less intact. The second was that you lost. And you weren't quite sure if you could handle his ego.

"I'll prove it to you right now," you snapped. "On this couch, with my fists."

He blinked at you.

"You're going down for good, Miya."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," you nodded. "I'm gonna make you squirm like the worm you are."

He laughed. A real, genuine laugh. The sort that relieved all tension from his body, erasing any hint of his usual insufferable expression.

He was actually kind of handsome.

You'd always known he had a nice body – you weren't blind, you were just too proud to admit it. And it'd gotten even nicer since graduation. Practice paid off, it seemed.

And there was something appealing about his relaxed air. About how he didn't seem to take life too seriously. It almost made him enjoyable to be around.

Maybe that's why so many girls were interested in him.

Wait, no. They only liked him because they hadn't spoken to him yet.

Oh, right. Girls.

Something shifted in your chest. Something you had never noticed before. Something so quiet, so understated that you hadn't even realised it had made its way in there.

Oh God, you thought, what the fuck is happening to me?

Whatever it was, you didn't like it.

Miya Atsumu was hot. That, unfortunately, was a fact you were now uncomfortably aware of.

"Oi." A hand was being waved in front of your face. You jumped. "Pay attention, you pig."

Oh, nope. There he was. There's the Atsumu you were used to.

"You're a fucking bastard," you mumbled, shrinking into yourself.

You're weren't quite sure what you were saying. You'd just flicked onto autopilot. But you knew that your words were comfortable, familiar. Little insults that a child would throw around. Anything to stave off whatever that weird stirring in your stomach was.

--------

In many ways, realising Miya Atsumu was actually kind of hot ruined your life.

Were you being over-dramatic? Probably. But had things changed? Definitely. To a large extent, it was on you; glances stolen when he wasn't looking, your mind wandering to places it really shouldn't.

But he'd been acting up, too. Standing far too close to you when you were in the kitchen – close enough that you could feel his chest against your back, reaching over your head to grab a cup while damn-near draping his body over you, walking around without a shirt on in the common area…

One time, when you'd dressed up all nice for a friend's birthday, he'd brazenly checked you out. He hadn't said anything – he'd just stared. When you asked him what was wrong, he just shrugged and told you to have fun. And, of course, he'd smirked at you. You'd been ready and willing to kill him.

Whenever you were on the couch, he always seemed to reach over you and take the remote himself instead of simply asking you to hand it to him. And sure, that wasn't all too weird – but he tended to get really close, and catch your eye for just a moment with that little smirk on his lips. Each and every time, you felt like you were going to explode.

You'd taken to sticking pillows between you on the couch, because you wouldn't be surprised if he decided to lay his head on your lap or some shit on a whim.

Maybe he was messing with you, but this sort of behaviour wasn't totally un-Atsumu. You'd seen him act like this with people before. It's just that you two had never really been close enough to warrant it. Was it just a symptom of the fact that you guys were kind of friends now? Was he just treating you like everyone else?

But some part of you was even angrier at that. You didn't want to be treated like everyone else.

God, you felt stupid for even feeling like that. Especially when you'd had an awkward morning chat with a few of his bedfellows – where each and every time, you couldn't help but marvel at the fact that he was punching so far above his weight. How on earth were people this beautiful paying attention to him?

That was starting to make more and more sense recently.

You tried not to think about it.

But that was getting harder and harder to you. You'd been kind of lonely. Some quiet part of you wanted a serious relationship; someone to come home to of an evening, to relax and unwind with. You'd even been actively looking. Not that you were about to admit that to anyone.

But men are shit. Especially ones in their early twenties.

But as resolutely as you believed that, there you were, preparing for yet another date. You'd have a particularly messy string of disasters recently; men who did little more than stare at your tits, men who had nothing interesting to say, men who thought that being an asshole was a personality…

Tonight, you hoped, would be different. Sure, you'd met this guy in an econ elective – you'd needed something easy to bring your GPA up – and that certainly wasn't a point in his favour. But, he'd taken in interest in you, despite the fact you'd never really spoken before. A few months ago, you might've turned him down. But surely he'd be better than the drivel Tinder unfailingly turned out.

Only problem was that he wanted to go somewhere chic. Somewhere fancy. Somewhere that was, quite frankly, out of your comfort zone.

"Another date?" Atsumu scoffed, leaning on the doorframe to the bathroom.

"What's it to you?" You grumbled, leant in close to the bathroom mirror. You couldn't get your makeup to look how you wanted it to; everything just seemed a little wonky, a little uneven. And your foundation hadn't settled nicely into your face. It just sat there, a tacky second skin you just wanted to slough off.

"Nothin'," Atsumu shrugged. "You've just never gone out on a Friday before."

Oh. That's right.

You shrugged, biting your cheek. "It's the only day he could get a reservation." In truth, you hadn't even thought about it.

"Same guy as before?"

You shook your head. You couldn't actually remember the last guy you'd told Atsumu about. The amount of bad dates you'd been on was getting embarrassing. "Nah. This one's a classy bastard."

He snorted. "You're kiddin', right?"

You shook your head. "I'm going to have to let him pay for the date because I genuinely don't think I can afford it."

"Yikes," he chuckled. "You know, I never really took you for a gold digger."

You had half a mind to throw your mascara at him. "Shut up."

"If you keep faffin', you'll be late."

Shit, He was right. You checked your phone. 5:25. You had five minutes to leave. You picked it up and made your way to the door, ready to squeeze past Atsumu. You turned, dashing back to the mirror and poking at your hair.

"Stop worryin'," he chuckled, waving a hand at you as he began to walk away. "You look nice."

Those words stuck with you all the way to the restaurant. They were so simple, so innocuous, but… They were touching, coming from him.

And when your date was talking to you about something you simply didn't find interesting, you couldn't get that look on Atsumu's face out of your head.

--------

The date was a veritable disaster. Possibly the worst you'd had in a while.

First of all, the guy was a total asshole. And not just the Atsumu kind – no, this one was rich. He'd had his entire life handed to him on a silver platter, and it showed. You could tolerate it, at first. But when he'd literally said, "I don't think the poor should be allowed to vote," you knew you couldn't stick around.

Second of all, you couldn't stop thinking of Atsumu and his damn smirk.

You'd gotten up without even giving your date an explanation. You'd stormed out of the restaurant in a rage, resolute on walking all the way home.

Why did it always turn out this way? The guys were either assholes, or far too self-centred for a proper relationship. If they were neither of those things, there was just no chemistry between the two of you.

God, were you the problem? Were good people just not attracted to you?

What were you supposed to do?

To top it all off, it began to rain when you were just halfway home.

As you slammed the door, you looked as awful as you felt.

Atsumu flinched, sprawled out in front of the television. He sat up a little straighter, looking at you from over the back of the couch.

"Yikes!" He scoffed. "You look like shit!"

Your breath caught in your throat. No. No, you weren't going to take this from him right now. Not tonight.

"Y'know, you wouldn't've gotten rained off if you'd just stayed in," he chuckled, propelling himself off the couch and ambling his way over to you. "What a waste…"

He came to a stop in front of you, hands stuffed in the pockets of his sweatpants. He had that look on his face; that insufferable smirk he whipped out whenever he'd beaten you in something menial. That smirk that, in any other circumstance, would've made you want to punch him. But tonight, it just made you want to cry.

"You haven't said anythin'," he frowned, tilting his head at you. "You okay?"

You wanted to lie. You wanted to tell him that it was fine, that the mascara dappling your cheeks was just the result of the rain.

But you couldn't. You couldn't get the words out of your mouth.

You took a deep breath.

You stopped breathing. His arms were around you, pulling you into his chest. It was rough, the embrace of someone who wasn't used to tenderness. There's this strange stiffness to it, an admission that he doesn't really know what he's doing. But as he rests his head on your chin, you couldn't be more grateful for his efforts. Your hands found their way to his chest, balled up and tense.

"Hey," he mumbled, "hey. It's going to be okay."

You looked up at him, your throat sore from holding back a sob and eyes stinging from unshed tears.

Maybe it's because you're emotional. Or because you're tired. Or maybe it's because you're lonely, and he said a few nice things to you today.

You kissed him.

It's hot, open-mouthed as your fists grasped his shirt, pulling him down to meet you.

Your head is swimming; what the fuck is happening?

His arms tensed around you, his lips moving to meet yours.

This is what you want. This is what you've wanted for a while now. You hadn't wanted to go on all those shitty dates. You hadn't wanted to waste your time with men you didn't care about. What you'd wanted was–

He froze.

So did you.

His hands are holding your forearms firmly as he stepped back, an inscrutable expression on his face.

"No, baby." He shook his head. "Not like this."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

You flew down the hall, slamming your bedroom door.

You sank to the floor, arms finding their way around your knees. You didn't want to cry. You didn't want to dignify this evening with that. You weren't going to pity your own shitty mistakes.

Fuck the date. That wasn't even the worst part of the night.

You'd just kissed Miya fucking Atsumu. Things were finally going okay between the two of you. He'd been treating you like a human being.

And now you'd ruined it.

#haikyuu x reader #atsumu x reader #miya atsumu x reader #haikyuu imagines #atsumu scenarios #atsumu imagines #haikyuuwritersnet #IDK WHAT TAGS ARE #also i can't believe i'm putting in this much effort for atsumu #mayhaps i enjoy him a little #ANYWAY here's part one of my labour of love #2nd part's up tomorrow!

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sour-n-salty-citrus · 3 years

Note

Do you have any hopes for the season finale? I saw in another ask, you described the dynamic between rick and morty this season as "very weak, distant, and downright frankly boring" and I completely agree with you! I hope that, because this is most we'll see rick and morty interacting this season, it'll have at least a few moments of what makes their dynamic so interesting to watch.

(Ok i started airing my grievances with this season, which ended up being... long, so skip this paragraph (starting at / / /) to get to my thoughts on the finale)

Oh gosh I remember that ask (I think-). And yeah, maybe I'm being a bit overly critical. I'll probably look back on this season with retrospect, and a kinder, fonder view. Ik androgynousblackbox (think thats right) made a great point about it being the season FOR rickorty shippers. And sure, I agree on some bits, like Rick acting all pissy and partying the way you would if your ex got with someone new in the planetina ep. Overall though, i think my problem lies in that I was enjoying more individual moments than episodes themselves, especially the middle three. For example- Amortycan Grickfitti. Like, I really liked the idea of the Ship getting on a crazy adventure with Summer and Morty (and Chutback). I like the idea of a Beth-Jerry-Rick adventure. But put together, it's just kinda... meh? You know? I liked the first half of the Thanksgiving special... but it kinda dragged on after that. I get that they want to give other characters (particularly female ones) more attention, which is completely understandable and i encourage it(!) but I can't help but find it underwhelming. Like, Summer in the voltron ep was like- girl how are you STILL vying for Rick's attention! He's the worst! Haven't we done this already? (I will say though I ADORE how far Beth has come, props to her for continuing to seeing through her dad's BS. I was worried the character would relapse into a more typical s1/s2 Beth, and I'm glad she didn't). Some of these plots, funnily enough, seem more fitting of the comics (they actually had a voltron parody already). Fun and entertaining for two or three-something issues, not so much a 22 minute episode. i think most of my complaints come from the dynamic between our titular characters- ok, I know I'm very biased (I mean you can see it), but I came to the show primarily for their relationship. It doesn't even feel drama-fueled, just that they kinda... can't be arsed. I'm torn because on the one hand, they're unhealthily codependent and this separation is probably a good thing, but on the other... it doesn't feel natural? I'm not sure if that's the right word- it's like, season 4 had them practically joint at the hip, but all that's suddenly flung out the window. It just kinda feels like this "i got better things to do" vibe from both of them and its strange. The only time they both got a solo adventure (I'm classifying "solo" as an adventure where they spent a significantly large portion of time together, without the other family members) was in the sperm ep and Thanksgiving ep. And, well, in the Thanksgiving ep Morty felt like a side character in his own show, and the sperm ep... um. Yeah. I don't think it's AS bad as people were saying, but I was cringing the whole time (the second hand embarrassment for Morty was so strong I had to turn off the episode multiple times and return to it. It's just like- godammit MORTY). And I think there's good reason those two seemed to be the most disliked episodes overall. They're the ones RaM spend the most time together and it's... meh. Meh? Meh. I don't mean to say the season overall is bad (it has loads of good points, and its amazing for Smith family as a whole) just that if we're talking specifically about the dynamic between these two? Yeah, I wouldn't recommend a single episode from this season so far to use as an example of their relationship.

/ / /

There's one thing this season has been pretty good at, though. And it's showing us what happens when Rick is alone.

And that brings me to the finale.

"Who is Rick without Morty?"

Well... we already know the answer to that. Pathetic. Sad. Lonely.

This season has been phenomenal in humbling Rick. (And trust me I'm happy for it- every time someone beats the crap outta this shitty old man I'm like YES!!! IT'S WHAT HE DESERVES!). Ep 1 had his "nemesis" clearly besting him, ep 2 had Beth making constant digs (love her) and overall pointing out his extreme callousness and cruelty towards even himself(ves). Ep 3- when Morty shows interest in a girl and ditches him (like seriously it's not like he's moving out, chill) he immediately goes on a bender and develops a deep attachment to the first person he can (wearing yellow, funnily enough). Ep 4, he devotes himself to becoming an "honest man" for his new child, only for it to instantly be taken away from him. Ep 5 highlights how RICK is the asshole for making fun of and taking advantage of someone well-meaning and honest, if "simple", and how literally not cool that is. Ep 6 has his crazy rivalry with the president, and they both get smacked down a couple pegs for that. Ep 7 shows what happens when he allows himself to get carried away, and that he can end up driving everyone else away in the process (lucky they still wanted to save his ass when he needed them). And episode 8? Hooooo boy. Episode. 8. We see a direct parallel in Birdperson with Morty, and the whole "Rick and [insert] 100 years!" Rick has few people he cares about, arguably only one or two that he truly devotes himself to, but when he does, boy does he go HARD. We see younger Rick, optimistic, energetic, friendly and hopeful. And we see all of that crushed in minutes. Rick is desperate for a companion, someone to see the stars with. He needs someone there, someone he can trust and rely on to stay. Someone like Morty. So without Morty, who is Rick?

No one.

And the thing is, Morty doesn't need Rick anymore. Not like Rick needs him. In season 1, Morty was this bright-eyed kid who was new to the cosmos and the multiverse, who needed his grandpa there with him as they explored all these places together. But that's not him anymore. That's not them.

The promo has Morty using the portal gun to go somewhere w/o Rick's permission (i like to think it's boob world lol). It doesn't matter to me as much where he's going, as much as he's doing it alone. He doesn't just not need Rick there, he doesn't want him.

(Also correct me if im wrong but I've missed that sweet portal gun so much. I think the last ep was like- the first time this season we saw it).

Morty's response to Rick? "Replace me!". And wow. Wow. WOW. Morty doesn't give a FUCK! I think Rick thinks that because he's so smart, that he can offer so much, that Morty will come crawling back, and I don't think he will.

Hopes for the finale! Hmm. I mean, I definitely hope "evil" Morty makes a reappearance, haha. I think we all do tbh ;). I want to see some Morty development too, this season has been very Rick-centric (not that there's anything wrong with that!) so I wanna see what's in store for Our Boy. I really hope we get to see the Citadel again, and see the state it's in, but I doubt it. We know something super big is in store, it's just a question of what? Other hopes I have is some Summer + Beth action (please let them team up Im BEGGING) and Jerry too ahaha. I'd love if some other side characters made an appearance as well. Oh- I'm definitely expecting a dramatic cliffhanger at the end of the first half leading to the second half, with the kind of angsty music that leads into the credits (pls that shit is so good (OH WAIT imagine if it was like, for the damaged coda, but like- the chopin version or smth so it could be more subtle maybe bruhhhh)). Ok haha, maybe that's asking too much, the writers made it clear in the story train ep that they weren't gonna do that big dramatic showdown (... unless 👀). Oh, I'd also love some Premium Angst too, like someone getting kidnapped/nearly dying (like ACTUALLY nearly dying). These stakes better be so damn high I could spear a man on them! OH, also I remember androgynousblackbox (is that right? I hope it is) mentioned something along the lines that they could be driving Rick and Morty apart this season in order to have them come back together stronger than ever in an explosive finale, which, I'm strongly hoping for myself.

Thanks if you made it this far! If you have any thoughts on or hopes of your own for the finale please feel free to share! :D

#ohmygod im sorry #i rambled way too long #akdjsksaksn #someone needs to take this phone away #also AGAIN im not shitting on s5 as a whole i actually quite like it #its just the RaM dynamic thats lacking #but again that could be intention so ig we'll see #RaM #rick and morty #meta #?#long post #citrus speaks #oh wait i should probably tag to be safe #rickorty mention

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green-t-ea · 3 years

Note

i would love to hear you info dump about etho :D

So I'm always down to talk about etho and the lore he builds into his let's play over the years so I'm just gonna go on a stream of tangents mostly about his single player because hhhhhhooo the lore this man comes up with.

His original world back in beta and alpha Minecraft is lovingly nicknamed "Chocolate island" because way way back then the mad man was designing a passive mob farm that required his spawn continent had no grass on it what do ever so the whole island was made into dirt by hoeing it and letting it decompose back to dirt. This was way back before hunger was even a thing when etho was studying mob behavior with some of the earliest parts of the redstone community, also investing the first ever redstone clock the ticker (late he would go on to invent the hopper clock the most widely used redstone clock, fun) this is also around the time of the invention of the EATS road. Ethos advanced transportation system. It was the fastest way to travel back in alpha using series of water roads that would propel boats forwards along set tacks at high speed. He even created an EATS road that had a note block theme from one of his favorite games Cave story that would play as your rode along. So way back when etho had a few encounters with his arch nemesis general spaz, a general/leader of creepers and other mobs. It's frequently implied back then that etho can speak to creepers. (He would spend many minutes talking with random creepers who wouldn't attack him or blow up because of ai pathing being jank) and he could speak with the general. This is also when it's revealed that well. We the growers exist in etho lore, he has camera equipment that lets us observe him and his world that follows him around. Creepers hate being observed by these extra planar beings (us) and thus target the equipment we veiw from and blow up near etho. The compromise is etho will keep living in his world unaccosted by creepers if he never lets the world be viewed in such a way again. Etho agrees, cut to black. But etho gives no fucks and has no remorse back then and we cut back to him burning down general spaz's house and blowing it up with him inside. General Spaz is presumed dead and etho goes back to his experiments on mob behavior (it's implied this is kind of a war crime by general spaz's veiw since it's uhh kinda implied most mobs are sentient to a point and creepers have always been able to speak to etho but uhh yeah. Your mcyt is a war criminal)

During later subscriber specials it's revealed general spaz survived (although is likely maimed or scared in some way because no way did he escape that without wounds) and is now kind of rivals with etho. They have a jousting match once.

Us the veiwers remain watching in the world through all their scuffles

(this has gotten very long as we havet even made it halfway through the lore to be found in the chocolate island saga [only like 1 out of many spaz encounters fully described] so I'll probably continue this a bit later in a reblog!)

Part (1/?)

#etho #green rambles #i can and will explain the lets play world lore over and over and infodump about chocolate island forever.#i love choclate island so much

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needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves · 4 years

Note

fluffy smut w transformers prime megatron and fem s/o pretty pls👉👈? it dont matter if it human or cybertronian🤗🤗

I read this as ‘pretty s/o’, sooo you’re gonna get Megatron with someone soft and pretty for once, instead of the usual brat s/o. Lets go

“You all done, darling?”

“Yeah. Are you...sure it was okay? Using your card?”

“Darling, you deserve to be pampered. You’re my queen! The world itself is yours.”

You might have been dating a warlord, but god was he just sweet to you. He was gone all day, and to make up for it, he let you have his card, and go shopping. You had bought pretty clothes, jewelry, and you even got your hair done up. You looked like a pretty little thing, and you couldn’t help but get a bit of a big head about it. You flagged down Breakdown, who was here to help you with your things. After someone from inside the store helped you load up, he opened the front door for you.

“Hoo, feels like I got some junk in the trunk. You really went ham, huh?”

“I couldn’t help it! There were so many pretty things!”

“So I see. New perfume too, right?”

“Yes! Think Meggy would like it?”

“You could roll in shit and he’d STILL think you were his little flower.”

“In a rude way, that’s kinda sweet. Thanks for picking me up by the way, I know it was a hassle.”

“No, it’s fine! Megatron wanted you to come back in something sturdy, so that’s pretty much my job.”

“I can’t lie, you’re the biggest, strongest truck I know.”

“Aw shucks. Gonna make me blush.”

It was no secret that most mechs adored you. You were kind, you were sweet. Human or not, you were adored amongst the decepticons. After getting ground bridged, you were on the Nemesis in just a minute, Breakdown holding you and your things in his hands. Then you saw him. You opened your arms to your Megatron, and he lit up like christmas lights.

“There’s my little earth flower! I take it you had your fill of shopping?”

“I...may have gone a bit of overboard. I hope that’s okay-”

“Darling. I said go and had fun. You clearly had fun. Look at you, radiant as the sun.”

He took you in his servos, and he carefully held your little face. You blushed like a lovesick idiot underneath his gaze.

“Oh stop..~”

Megatron was about to continue, before Breakdown cleared his vocal processor.

“Master, her things?”

“Right. Take them to our room, if you will.”

You nudged his hand.

“Oh! I did get you something! We gotta go with him!”

“As you wish, my dear.”

You were able to finally settle down into your room amongst your things, and he was sitting on his berth, waiting for you to come out of the walk-in closet.

“Darling? How much longer? I’m being kept in suspense here!”

“I’m almost done! Shush!”

You double checked yourself in the mirror, added another spray of perfume. Perfect. You finally stepped out, gesturing to yourself. A pink, frilly set of bra and panties, with white ribbons and white stockings. He gave you a good look over, clearly approving.

“You...like it?”

“I do, honestly. You got this for me?”

“I mean...yeah. I was shopping for me all day, but I genuinely haven't stopped thinking about you, so...yeah, this was for you.”

“Oh...my little flower.”

He carefully took you in his servos, pulling you to his chest.

“I’m sorry you’ve been feeling lonely. Even if I’ve been busy, you don’t deserve that.”

He was careful as he kissed the nape of your neck. You chuckled as he carefully combed through your hair.

“It’s...okay. You’re here now.”

“I am. And I’ll do ANYTHING you want, if it means properly apologizing. Name it.”

“Just...kiss me. Be soft with me. I wanna feel like you love me.”

That was more than enough for Megatron. He was careful to pull away your bra, lightly running his glossa across your breasts. You dipped your hands in your panties, touching yourself as he toyed with your chest. It had been so long since he was so gentle, so compassionate with you.

“You’re so precious to me. So beautiful, so wonderful.”

“Mmph...Suck a little harder. Just like that.”

He obeyed, just how you asked. His servos combed through your hair, and in between the suckling, he kissed you and cooed sweet nothings to you. He flicked one of your nipples with his glossa, chuckling as you jumped a little.

“You’re close.”

“Mhmm...You could hump me or something for your turn-”

“No. This...this is enough for me. YOU’RE enough for me.”

“Oh hush…~”

It took only a few more moments longer, before you came. He cuddled against you as you did so, and you couldn’t be mad at him. As much as he made you feel lonely sometimes, he really did love you, honestly and truly.

#asks #megatron #lemon

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jq37 · 3 years

Text

The Case File – Mice and Murder Ep 3

The Case of the Curious Clues

Before we start, a quick plea to Grant O’Brien: Please stop finding clues. I can only take notes so fast. You’re killing me Grant. Moving on...

We start off this episode with yet another flashback, this time to the final confrontation of Sly and his supposedly dead arch nemesis Fletcher Cottonbottom at Reichenbunny Falls (...Brennan please). Fletcher was using a local castle as a storage center for munitions but Sly tipped off the cops before they could be moved. They do some repartee back and forth before Fletcher, the madman, handcuffs them together and jumps off the edge. They hit the water but Sly is able to lockpick himself out and escape while Fletcher disappears beneath the waves.

You know what I got from that story? No body.

Anyway, we jump back to the present where there *is* a body, Squire Badger’s specifically. Everyone in the room who isn’t a PC thinks that this must either be the work of ghosts or Mrs. M who was the only person in the room when it happened (allegedly).

This is a crucial time for clue gathering and Brennan keeps everyone in initiative for investigative purposes. Now, *so much* stuff happens here that I’m not going to recap every single detail--just the major clues and the things that seem relevant. I’m serious, this is like the volume of info we usually get in the once per season later game lore dump ep but it’s episode THREE.

Daisy tries to find a secret door but critically fails. She clocks Gangie, a fellow criminal, and in the moment Rekha and Katie decide that they prob have worked together in the past even though they are very different kinds of criminals.

Buck, who is outside listening to what’s going on in the room notices that his ankle knife is missing which is Concerning considering a man was just knifed to death.

Sly has Lars guard the door (he opens it and Buck is discovered, whoops) and then rolls a NATURAL 20 plus NINE to investigate so Brennan just has to tell him literally everything. RIP to him and me. Anyway, here’s the rundown (along with some of the stuff other ppl got):

Mrs. M’s hands are covered in blood but she couldn’t have done it. Based on her personality for one and for other reasons we’ll get to.

The wound is much messier than it would be if a person stabbed themselves typically.

There is a note in Squire Badger’s handwriting that says “Sylvester Cross I am afraid” No indication of if that was the whole message or if he got interrupted (maybe Buck could figure it out with his handwriting checking skills). Daisy from across the room clocks that Sly’s name is written on the paper but can’t read the rest.

The knife is a hunting knife with a pronghorn handle--an animal not common in England but very common in Texas (and Buck is sweating obv).

There is a slight layer of charcoal type dust on everything on the big resolute desk in the room (which makes sense, ash from the fireplace) but there is parchment type dust on the bust of Barkus Aurelius (OK, that one’s good) on the table and that’s the only place that dust is. Ian later notices that the date on the bust is wrong.

Speaking of, the desk (which we learn later was put in and taken out of storage once Loan Hall was modernized) is bolted to the ground and a lot of stuff has been thrown off it as if by a powerful force but Sly notices that it’s just the metal stuff like things made of silver or with screws. Stone things like the bust and other non-metal things have stayed put. Plus he smells ozone. This was the work of magnets, not ghosts, he concludes. And, for the record, Grant figured this out himself!

Mrs. M’s eyes are rapidly dilating. She is questioned about what happened and she says that she was told she was fired and would receive a small pension.

(Not a part of Sly’s clue dump but Buck rolls a 24 with disadvantage to persuade everyone he didn’t do it but then 2 nat 1s in a row to see if Harding--who said he was standing outside the door--is suspect. Buck thinks he’s at most a stooge but he did roll a nat 1 so who knows?)

Anyway, back to Mrs. M. Gangie fully believes Mrs. M is innocent and scared. She doesn’t quite remember what happened for a couple of seconds in there and it’s clear this is not the first time she’s had missing time. Sly calls Longfoot (the bunny photographer) over to take a picture of Mrs. M which everyone is a little appalled at until they realize he’s making a point. When the flash goes off, she bugs out like she did in episode 1 and forgets that the picture was ever taken. Sly then has Dr. Magpie list the symptoms of epilepsy. It seems that Mrs. M had an episode triggered by the flash she mentioned seeing and then lost time. It’s possible that what she thought she saw after that she didn’t actually see.

[While Sly is monologuing this Rekha texts Brennan and gets a 17 to swipe the “I am afraid” note. Sly doesn’t notice.]

So if it wasn’t her, then who was it? There’s only one door into the study and anyone who walked in would have to have walked past Mr. Harding, Shellcrest, Calliope, and Tabitha (who is having a marvelous time being in the midst of so much drama). Ah, but who said there was only one door? Sly has Harding pull a sconce and a SECRET DOOR OPENS! Woo! Finally! It’s a classic bookshelf one that opens into the hallway and there is some extremely fine crushed glass under the door. Hmm.

Sly clocks that there is something under the desk but we don’t know what it is because Brennan texts it to him and it’s redacted. There are actually a couple of redacted texts that go around this ep so we are def missing information.

OK, that’s more or less everything.

Sly notices that the page is missing and Grant gasps while Rekha does an excellent job of pretending like she doesn’t even remember what paper is being talked about. Constance asks if it’s possible that Mrs. M totally made up the memory because of her epilepsy and between Dr. Magpie and Sly they determine that that’s uncommon but possible. Dr. Magpie says that everyone should leave so he and Sly can examine the body and Sly says that someone should watch Gangie at all times.

At this point, Harding and Gilfoyle (the butler) say they should establish where everyone was at the time of the murder. A lot of the staff and guests have solid alibis cause they were in big groups/cleaning up together. But the PCs were off alone (or with each other) and had reasons to want to guy dead so they’re prime suspects. Sly even admits that he’s one too. Also everyone dogpiles Ian because Raph makes it so fun.

Harding mentions the letter that was given to Buck (the one selling his shares in BB and giving voting writes to his rival Josiah) and asks him to read it. Buck reads it and gives a streamlined version of the truth, saying everything except for the part with the proxy vote. With a 26 he is able to allay everyone’s suspicions for now, but now he’s purposefully hidden the truth in a way that can be readily called out if anyone sees the letter or the contract which he resolves to find.

Buster distracts the group so Daisy can “check the body for a pulse” aka: check the body for the contract. She doesn’t find a it but does find a key attached to a piece of red silk--something that would be weird for him to be carrying around instead of his valet. She figures this must open whatever locked drawer the contract is in and swipes it but Sly clocks her stealing it (his perception ties her sleathiness but an earlier Bless from Ian tips him over the edge--poetic).

Calliope says that everyone is kinds suspect, including Sly, but *someone* has to solve this and Sly’s their best bet so everyone should just stay put and they can guard the exits. The butler says that, besides the front door, there are some towers that poke up above ground and a servant's exit/entrance by the elevator in the kitchen wing but they can lock down both and have someone guard the front doors.

The butler is like, lmao yeah Sly I know you didn’t do it and I’m not gonna stand guard here but you know, everyone is keeping an eye on y’all. And then he leaves the PCs, Mrs. M, Constance, and Dr. Magpie in the room with the body.

Lars is about to go watch the kitchen staff but, before he goes, Sly says to him that he saw Cottonbottom and is obviously quite scared. Gangie, who used to work for the guy, overhears and asks what’s going on. Sly assumes Gangie is playing coy but rolls high enough to know that he isn’t. He saw a starkly white Cottonbottom and one of his known conspirators doesn’t know he’s back? Perhaps it was a ghost after all.

Case Notes

My 2 fave bits of this episode were “bad to bad bad bad” (and the further riffing) and Daisy throwing increasingly bigger books at Sly.

Even with a Nat 1, Sly gets a 16 on Investigation. Wild.

I don’t think Rekha got enough props for her “Cross examination” line so I’m mentioning it here.

Brennan said the ozone question was still open--but I assumed it was like the electricity smell from an electromagnet. That would make sense, right? Maybe he meant they hadn’t found the source of it specifically yet?

Brennan says Buck’s knife is a pronghorn knife. I assume they’re made from the animal’s horns? Even if they’re the kind that fall off every season, is that weird? Or is it just like human hair wigs? Also, does this world have leather?

I love that the dice keep supporting the narrative that Daisy simply cannot get her shit together when she’s with Sly because he distracts her too much. Delicious. Their whole relationship is delicious.

OK, I am a tiny bit suspicious of Calliope. It’s partially the way she took control of the situation near the end and partially the fact that she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would be involved in this which would make her heel turn delicious. No hard evidence and obv she couldn’t be the person who actually stabbed a guy but idk. Just spitballing. I’m very curious about whether we’ve met everyone we’re going to meet more or less or if there are still outside people/hidden inside people. Because, in real life, a murderer could be literally anyone but in a story, you can’t just introduce a new villain all of a sudden at the end. Bad storytelling. Weak payoff. We’ll see how things start to pan out.

#dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #mice and murder #mice and murder spoilers #the case file

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fireemblems24 · 3 years

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SS Chapter 18 & 19

Whew, felt like it took a long time to reach this next chapter. Life's been busier than usual lately, but here we are.

Spoilers possibly up until Silver Snow Chapter 18 (and other routes around the same time).

Pre-Battle 18

Should I tag this as Verdant Wind spoilers since they basically follow the same plot? Only slightly kidding.

We storming the capital now! Woot! Is Edelgard really going down in one freaking chapter though?

Are they finally going to acknowledge that Byleth's marching to chop down his former student? Because so far he's felt exactly nothing about Edelgard. Not regret, not longing, not horniness, not anger, not vengeance. It's like she's some faceless evil emperor he's never meant before for all the emotional impact their former relationship's had in part 2 so far.

ARE WE GONNA GET RHEA BACK SOON??? Please. I want to see what role she's going to play. There's still so much I don't know about her.

Ok, seeing the map, I don't see Edelgard, but I do see both Hubert and the Death Knight despite defeating them a million times already.

They really shouldn't let us fight the Death Knight so many times if they wanted him to come across intimidating. Even early on, Lysithea with Dark Spikes and Dimitri with a horse killer weapon just melt him. Maybe it's harder on Maddening.

Battle 18

Ugh, I hate split maps. No, Seteth, I don't want to split up.

Hubert sounds so sinister. OMG I love him. He doesn't care - at all - that there were his former classmates.

So Lysithea nuked the Death Knight into another dimension . . . again. Is he dead for real this time? Because it seemed official this time. Finally.

Oh, unique dialogue with Hubert and Ferdinand. The drama. Too bad his Boltings have a 0% hit chance on Ferdinand.

Now time to waste Hubert's second Bolting.

LAMO that Imperial Soldier lady also has Bolting, but Linhardt just waited her out. She did a total of 1 damage to him lol. She's got 5 though and that's annoying, so Petra just took her out.

Having Byleth finish Hubert off since I bet there's more unique dialogue.

Hubert threatening Byleth. Name a more iconic duo.

OMG Byleth' gaunlets broke lamo. Guess someone else will actually finish Hubert.

Wow, Hubert's generic dialogue "not even death will make you consequential." Told that to poor Bernie. Still took an arrow to the face though.

And seems like he's dead-dead this time.

Does he always give you a Goddess Icon when he dies. Because that's funny if he does.

Oh - MVP Petra! She deserves it. She's really catching up to Ferdie and Sylvain. It's just - she never dodges like Ferdinand does, and can't take the punishment Sylvain does.

Post-Battle 18/Pre-Battle 19

WAIT - WAIT - WAIT - WAIT. DEDUE. DEDUE IS HERE? MY BOY? HE'S HERE. WHY IS HE HERE? 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Yeah, wtf is he doing in Enbarr?

Oh - Dedue here's for Edelgard's blood. Nice.

Does this mean I get to use Dedue????

Holy shit, Dedue. He infiltrated Enbarr and gathered intell?

What a champ.

Dedue is low-key the best spy in this game guys. Gathered intel to help an invading army take a castle literally under Edelgard's and Hubert's noses and let's not forget how he broke Dimitri out of prison.

Dedue 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

And Rhea's inside! We get to see Rhea AND Dedue again.

Wait, why is Dedue leaving me? No 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Don't worry Dedue. In another playthrough, I am pampering you and Dimitri and in the next one, you two are getting married pairing up.

I'm guessing we're not going back to Garreg Mach between these battles? Because that would be - eh - make no sense.

Oh, so now we have the "I don't want to kill Edelgard" or "Can we walk the same path as her." Why are those two my only options though? Where's the "fuck yeah" option? It's way more fun to embrace the kill 'em all thing. Except Dimitri and Dedue because my heart

Ok, Caspar, you're forgiven for your CF nonsense calling Edelgard out.

Why is Seteth always lying to me? He keeps saying "I'll leave it in your hands." But then doesn't and yells at me.

Battle 19

Ok. I decided I'm playing these two back-to-back.

Does Verdant Wind do this too? Fight Hubert and the Death Knight, then jump straight to Edelgard, no month in-between?

Because it if it does - it's going to take forever to get to Azure Moon, because, unfortunately, I won't be able to play this game for close to a month after this because of work and other stuff.

Mannnn, I am NOT looking forward to this map with my VW gang. In SS, my Sylvain, Ferdinand, and Petra are all super reliable. And Lysithea can nuke anything. No one in my VW gang is as good as any of those four (though, Claude has gotten more speed lately - thank the stars).

OMG DEDUE IS BACK. HE came, but he's green. WHYYYYY.

So . . . does Dedue have unique battle dialogue with Edelgard? She's all that's left and he's marching towards her. I think I'm going to test this. I'd laugh my butt off if he crit and killed her.

No unique dialogue, but it feels good letting Dedue get a hit on here. I get Dedue could kill her. I could just keep healing him, and she's got no one left. Should I do it guys?

I think I'm going to do it.

I'll let Byleth peck at her with his puny magic damage so I can get that dialogue, and then Dedue's killing Edelgard next round probably.

LAMO Sothis is a false Goddes, but like, she's living in Byleth's head so. We know she's not false.

Oh, well, Edelgard crit Dedue. So I just reset things and my ever reliable Lysithea nuked Edelgard onto another planet, as she does.

Weird she and Lysithea got unique dialogue though.

Ohhh cut scene. Why does Edelgard have a sword though?

Why is Edelgard asking Byleth to kill her? I guess it makes sense. He was her teacher here.

She does know all these people are killing each other because of her, right?

Oh, wow, he just lopped her head off. That's maybe as badass as when Byleth just offed Randolph (or however you say his name). I'm legit impressed the game didn't milk that harder.

Though they did that "I wanted to walk with you line . . ." Which . . . I'll take it. That's not too bad. She did, but what a twisted path she's walking.

I'm a bit conflicted about her death here though. It seemed kind of . . . weird? I expected Edelgard, from the way she talks in CF, to do down fighting. Not pleading to "my teacher" on her knees and panting.

MVP Lysithea. Guess landing that last hit on Edelgard motivated her.

Post-Battle 19

Are we finally gonna see Rhea?

Why did Hubert right us a letter?

Oh, it's about those mage people. And they want revenge. How original. If they're the enemies of all of Fodlan, why did you fight with them? Like why not take them out, then Rhea, who doesn't . . . you know . . . want to destroy the world?

Hubert and Dedue the real MVPs of this route though.

I can't with the name "those who slither in the dark" though. How lame.

Seteth said "kill every last one of them" though.

RHEA. REAH's BACK. 😭😭

And her hair is down! She looks pretty. She looks sickely though.

Oh, we going to learn some stuff now?

I don't remember who Nemesis is. So he's a grave robber. And a genocider. Wonderful. So is that when Seteth's wife died? Or?

I'm guessing we don't get playable Rhea, though I bet someone would've told me already if we did, because she's in such poor shape.

Now we get to kick the people's ass who killed Jeralt?

RHEA IS COMING WITH US

OMG Caspar wants to carry Rhea on his back 😂and then Dorothea has to point out how that might not work for our short king.

No one really mentioned Edelgard and Hubert dying though. Maybe in the monastery?

Guess I'll find out later. Now to go play these exact same maps, but with the Golden Deer!

#fire emblem 3 houses #fire emblem three houses #silver snow #dedue molinaro #rhea

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all-pacas · 3 years

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today on helen plays forbidden west:

I BEAT THE GAME

* anyway i really really really do not like or trust tilda’s “lol let’s just carefully activate every single horus in the world” plan * regalla fight was kind of a bummer. i get that she was sort of a fake antagonist but … eh. * anyway i spared her * oh hey sylens * reluctant team up time????? or enemies time??? LET’S FIND OUT * SYLENS IS GOING TO THE BASEEEEEEEEE * love sylens hating every single one of aloy’s friends (but being right about tilda) * "erend and i tried speaking to sylens… but apparently our 'tribal prattle is unnecessary'" HAHAHAHA JOIN TEAM BASE SYLENS, JOIN IT * i love how everyone is like “tilda is the fucking worst, not even a human, cold as ice,” and with sylens it’s just UGH THAT ASSHOLE * HA CONFIRMED TILDA AND ELISABET WERE GIRLFRIENDS * copy pasting from discord: * i feel like they had about a week and a half -- ted and elisabet -- where they were almost friends, visionaries in arms, and then elisabet wised up but ted never realized they weren't friends * IN A WEIRD WAY I THINK TED REALLY DID LIKE HER. like he's incapable of human feeling but i think part of him really did want to paternalistically but kind of genuinely live and meet lis's kids and guide them * because that's the closest he can understand "human caring" * honestly i was half expecting the elisabet code to open the door to his bunker, like he's so deranged he HONESTLY THOUGHT she might wanna hang out * dfgdfg poor elisabet no wonder she had no friends her options were tilda and ted * “at least she had bestie trav!” TRUE SHE PLAYED SO MUCH HACKEY SACK WITH TRAV * ie: he would just sometimes throw one at the back of her head * and she'd be like TRAVis and he's like "naw you're supposed ta hit it back to me” * honestly sylens’s distaste for the quen is PRETTY LEGIT. like he’s the worst but he’s not wrong. the quen are pretty fucking sus. * okay new theory: the “sirius base was destroyed” thing is a lie, and the zeniths are just the advance party * ALVA HAS A GIRLFRIEND!! * OH NO FORBIDDEN ERSA LORE * OH NO THIS IS INCREDIBLE * aloy almost crying when she talks about varl i’m NOT OKAY * zo asking aloy to retrieve her seeds if the worst happens and talking about varl I AM NOT!!! OKAY!!! * oh no kotallo is getting a tattoo to remember varl I AM NOT OKAY * time to beat this fucking game guys * okay erend whining the entire time he and aloy are adventuring together is really funny. like it should be annoying but no it’s super funny. * IS BETA PATCHING THE SPECTORS INTO GAIA/HEPHAESTUS * NOPE SHE JUST HACKED THE CAULDRONS GOD I LOVE THIS * THUNDERJAW ARMYYYYYYYY * “in case we don’t make it………i just have one regret………ALL THIS CLIMBING” HAHAHA erend * lol aloy looks at her friends climbing the ridge and turns back to help zo and only zo up the last bit * oh i see regalla found a fun way to die good for her nice knowing you * HI ZENITHS * HI TIME TO FUCKING DIE * HI DINOSAUR ARMY * HI ERIK * TIME TO FUCKING DIE * OH GOOD ZO INCOMING KILL HIM ZO * RIGHT IN THE BACK GOOD JOB ZO * NOW WE’RE HAVING FUN RIGHT god love zo * nemesis, greek goddess of retribution and absolute justice, huh? btw, i did notice earlier that the zeniths are using roman gods for their AIs, which is honestly a pretty nice touch * SYLENS WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR MAGIC ORB * betaaaaaaaa * WELL I KNOW WHAT THE THIRD GAME IS GONNA BE ABOUT * okay (game paused), so the zeniths built a robot army, a NEW faro plague, on sirius. just like the first one, they lost control of it and it killed most of them — so they fled to earth, stocking up on supplies and trying to nab GAIA in order to find a new planet to settle and i guess draw nemesis to earth and leave it there? * GOD okay yeah i love “nemesis” as a name now. nemesis commonly means “greatest enemy,” but she was the greek goddess of absolute judgement originally: helping those who had been treated injustly and punishing those who had taken too much or behaved unjustly. justice on an absolute black and white scale. she wasn’t about punishment or enemies, but striking down those who had risen too high. the zeniths call it nemesis because it is their enemy, but nemesis is also trying to strike them down for rising too highly and acting with too much hubris. * anyway ken amada in persona 3 was my favorite little murderer and his persona was nemesis and so apparently this knowledge has proved useful for me * and tilda just killed gerard and the game isn’t over whoops * OH so nemesis is not a literal faro plague, it’s a SUPER AI * OH i was just thinking that nemesis’s schtick sounds a lot like HEPHAESTUS and yeah it’s literally. nemesis is literally the Glitch. * tilda: come with me and let everyone on earth and also beta die :) * SHE’S A COLLECTOR SHE WANTS GENUINES * so here’s the thing. it’s good that aloy sent alva off to figure out what secrets tilda was hiding, but i’m not actually sure it made a _difference_ — surely tilda would have made the same “you’re coming with me, we need to leave earth” speech either way? i am not actually sure tilda realizes aloy (and elisabet) finds that reprehensible. also what is tilda’s plan, actually? sure, she creates a new planet with aloy and whoever else she finds worth collecting, but she doesn’t have the embryos, she can’t populate that planet. just lives together on an empty world? with her art and her collections? SPACE CAPITALISTS, MAN. * but aloy clearly already had pegged that tilda was… sincere, but also morally vacant. if anything, all alva did was provide proof that aloy was right to suspect her. * what’s interesting is that i think tilda was being sincere about almost everything: she really did hate the other zeniths, she really does hate the emptiness of minds — she’s like sylens, but with _culture_ instead of _science_ — and she really did want to help clear them out. i think she even really did think she loved elisabet. she certainly admired her, and i’m not sure that tilda has any real understanding of love besides “admirable things i want to own.” of course, where her plan differed from team aloy was that tilda still believed in the zenith’s ultimate goals — to flee and start a new planet — she just didn’t want to deal with _them_ anymore. i think, had the Glitch never happened, she might have been willing to team up with Team Aloy against the zeniths and been content to live on earth if she could create a little compound for herself — _maybe_ — but she’s simply not willing to be selfless. the idea of putting herself second is utterly foreign to her. * so when team aloy was gathering up for this mission i was thinking: we have aloy (a nora), erend (oseram), kotallo (tenekth), zo (utaru), sylens (banuk… maybe), and alva (quen). of all the major tribes, the only one we’re actually missing is a carja member of the team, which is odd. i really thought talanah was going to be that person, unless i somehow missed the chance to recruit her. but it does seem like the third game’s plot is going to be “fix GAIA and everyone needs to put their political bullshit aside and get ready for war,” which — IDK. ultimately the little meridian field trip at the start of the game had no purpose — i mean, aloy found out about sylens, but that could have been done in other ways — and for all that the carja have been a major influence throughout this game — the oseram rebellion against them, the tenekth and regalla’s civil war over the idea of diplomacy with them — it’s odd that we see and hear almost nothing _from_ them. i can’t imagine a third game not involving them in this effort, especially as the carja have the wealth and infrastructure and ability to build forts, but it is _weird_ how present yet absent they are in this. unless the game is planning on making the carja the bad faction, which i _also_ can’t see, as we just had a civil war with them last game and the game really wants us to like avad and get behind his dreams of peace and diplomacy — not to mention that he’s already started that unification process on his own by reaching out to all the other tribes and trying to open borders and establish friendships. i don’t believe we should go Roman Empire Everyone Is Carja Now, but the framework is _there_. * anyway hi sylens * “you’re the last person to act sensibly in the face of impossible odds” i mean sylens isn’t wrong * honestly love sylens and aloy’s last conversation * sylens is putting himself first, but he — unlike tilda — does understand and respect aloy enough to ask and respect her wishes, and then she actually GETS THROUGH TO HIM and he sees THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP and i’m sure he’s like “lol anyway i still have a rocket ship see ya” GOD love this lack of redemption arc, love how he and aloy HAAAAAATE one another but are not enemies and are usually on the same side, i love him as a character * GOD * “hope it’s really over this time” and aloy’s little “ooof” look * ALOY PUTTING ELISABET’S NECKLACE NEXT TO ROST’S UGH BOTH OF HER PARENTS * GAIA HAS ALMOST ALL HER FUNCTIONS NOW * THE GANG IS LEAVING TO START PROJECT CLAN UNITY * lmao erend went straight to vegas of course he did * alvaaaaaa staying in america * sylens is still in the base with aloy and beta got what a weird trio * still missing two but omg ARTEMIS IS BACK people can have cows now!!! and CATS AND DOGS FOR ALL * okay i loved this game * it does feel transitional in a way — it lacked the first game’s mystery and drive and sense of impending doom, but the story itself was still really good and clearly in ultimate service for setting up the third game: earth vs. THE ALIEN EMBODIMENT OF CAPITALISM * but it also really focused on giving aloy a FAMILY. she already “had” elisabet, but getting her to mourn rost, giving her a SISTER, giving her GAIA, giving her varl and zo and kotallo and alva and erend and EVEN SYLENS, teaching her to rely on others and work with others and leveraging that into what comes next, which is going to be TRIBE UNITY * god! the world is going to be so different! i’m sure that NEMESIS will cause the machines to go feral again in some way, HEPHAESTUS is still loose and i imagine the next game will start with trying to finally wrangle that asshole, but everyone — lmao the tribes are all going to get some CULTURE SHOCK, i didn’t quite see if GAIA had apollo back but i think so? she’s just missing HEPHAESTUS and HADES, right? we’re about to get a HELLA tech revolution lmao * i imagine there will be a timeskip to allow zo to have a BABY oh my god i want to know its gender and if they name it after vala or varl or something that makes me cry!! the zeniths were fleeing but didn’t seem like they were planning to leave RIGHT that second had team aloy not gotten in their way, so i imagine there’s some leeway in the timeline before NEMESIS shows up? * also i didn’t mention this before but wow the music in this game was way, way better than the first game. like it was REALLY GOOD. good background music, good battle music, good world music, good SINGING, like the first game’s music was fine but this game was REALLY GOOD * HAHAHA SPECIAL THANKS TO THE RIJKSMUSEUM ie “special thanks for letting them say our space capitalist stole half their collection” * speaking of which, special thanks to guerilla games, a dutch studio, deciding they would have one (1) dutch character and that she would be the final boss. LOVE THAT FOR THEM. * GOD THIS GAME WAS GOOD TIME TO PLAY IT AGAIN * varl i miss you already you were the best and i love you still

#forbidden west spoilers #i finished the game i just want to write essays on every single character and relationship

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beybladefanboy · 4 years

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Beyblade Seasons Ranked

Here is my personal ranking, from worst to best, of the seasons of Beyblade Metal Fight: Metal Fusion, Metal Masters, Metal Fury, and the awkward spin-off Shogun Steel. Yeah, let’s get into that:

4 Shogun Steel

Honestly even if I did like Shogun Steel for what it is, it would still be at the bottom just by default. It can barely be considered part of the Metal Saga. The main characters in the last three seasons are either absent or reduced to supporting roles in favour of new characters who aren’t nearly as interesting or likeable. It is by definition a spin off. It feels very disjointed from the rest of the series because of these factors along with the lighter tone, the changes to the Beyblade system, and even some continuity errors particularly with Fury. Bringing back Doji again was also the biggest leap in logic this whole series made and feels downright lazy. The whole story just feels like a watered down Fusion with many of the story beats being similar and some characters never growing past mere echoes of the old characters. Some of the bey battles are fun and Ren and Takanosuke are decent characters but there’s a reason this show doesn’t get much attention. It falls into the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy trap of being overly dependent on original series sucker punches for its appeal and not putting as much effort into the new stuff. So as a result, the new stuff, some of which has potential, isn’t as fleshed out as it should be. This show is honestly fine on its own but awful when compared to the Metal Saga and it is comparing itself to the Metal Saga. This show intentionally put itself in the Metal Saga’s shadow and seemed content with being just that: a shadow of greatness.

3 Metal Masters

Okay, this is where I’m gonna start pissing people off. Don’t get me wrong, Masters is great and I don’t think it’s clearly worse than the other two seasons or anything. I think the main three seasons are very close in quality and putting them in any kind of order was incredibly difficult. However, I do think Masters is slightly weaker than Fusion and Fury. First off, it introduces Masamune. I don’t like Masamune. I find his whole “I’m the number 1 blader” shtick incredibly obnoxious and he’s everything I don’t like in real Americans: self absorbed, disloyal, big mouthed, entitled, and just annoying in general. He did have good character development over the course of the season but I personally can’t stand him. The pacing of this season also isn’t the best. With the exception of the Dark Tsubasa arc (which I’ll get to!), the season is just a normal world tournament until they get to America, which I don’t find very interesting. Kenta is also criminally underused. In Fusion he was basically a second main character and there are some episodes specifically following him. Then in Masters, he’s pushed aside in favour of side characters. People say Fury underused characters, and I’ll get to that, but holy crap, Masters gave Kenta no room to grow. Aside from him though, the other characters are used really well. I particularly like how Kyoya and Ryuga are incorporated. This is actually the season where I grew attached to Ryuga during my viewing in December. I was starting to like him in Fusion but this season cemented my newfound attachment. This season also gave us the dark Tsubasa arc, which is one of my favourite plot points from the show overall. It’s a fascinating look into the mind of a character I already really liked and it allowed Tsubasa to develop a lot. I love the conclusion that you cannot drive out the darkness in yourself, you have to accept it as part of who you are in order to properly control it. It’s brilliant, and I can personally relate this message to my own life. The dark Tsubasa arc is probably the strongest part of the season overall as the rest of it until we get to the HD Academy conflict kind of drags for me. However, when we do finally get to the HD Academy conflict, it is very fun. The whole “spiral energy” thing was actually pretty creative and while brainwashing isn’t a new concept for this show, I think they went more in depth with it in this season and it was pretty interesting. So yeah, still a really good season.

2 Metal Fusion

If I was ranking based on nostalgia, this would be number one. In fact, it probably deserves to be number one. However, I do have a few problems with this season that hold it back and it’s not the pacing. Actually, out of all the seasons, Fusion probably has the best pacing. The main villains, Doji and Ryuga, are introduced early in the season and all the characters are developed throughout the season, building up to the final tournament: Battle Bladers, which is also set up fairly early. The story is predictable but very well-structured. My biggest problem with this season is the plot twist with Gingka’s dad. Not only is it painfully obvious, but the reveal of the twist drags the plot to a screeching halt for nearly an entire episode, hurting the pacing and making an entire episode an exposition dump. It also made Gingka’s dad a terrible character. You can argue that him abandoning his teenage son and making him believe he was dead was for the greater good, although I personally still think it’s messed up, but breaking Gingka’s point counter like that was a step way too far. That moment serves to further the story by forcing Gingka to work harder to get into Battle Bladers. But did it have to be his dad who broke the point counter? I argue it didn’t. Gingka’s dad was flat out abusive to his son on that occasion and was pretty cold to him in general as Phoenix and yet the plot and even some of the characters praise Ryo for doing this. Why?! The way the story is structured puts Ryo in the right for abusing his son which disgusts me. That is my biggest problem with this season and possibly the whole series to be honest. I hate it that much. However, apart from that and those random filler episodes with Sora that in my opinion were boring, this season was really solid. Like I said, the story is told well and the characters are all introduced and developed well. Battle Bladers is definitely the highlight of this season, having the most intense battles and hardest hitting moments. Those episodes are exhausting to watch, because of Reiji and Ryuga. Reiji was randomly introduced in Battle Bladers and decided to try and rival Ryuga in how much he could traumatize the characters (and younger me). I have no idea why they decided to do that, but it worked. Ryuga in this season is the best villain in the whole series. He has such a presence to him: his (dubbed) voice, his sadistic expressions, his abilities, the music that plays when he’s onescreen. He’s over the top but in my opinion, Ryuga is the perfect balance between entertaining and intimidating. He’s even slightly sympathetic by the end of the season when he gets taken over by dark power and is seen trying to fight its control. They managed to both make Ryuga an irredeemable psychopath and found a believable way to redeem him. I love that in the end, Gingka isn’t fighting to defeat Ryuga, he’s fighting to defeat the dark power, which came from the greed and hatred of humans. Basically, the problem isn’t humanity, it’s humanity’s greed/hatred and being consumed by these feelings lead to evil. That is genius. This season also had two of my favourite battles in the entire series: Kyoya vs Ryuga, and Gingka vs Ryuga.

1 Metal Fury

Yeah, I said it. Fury is my personal favourite season. It probably has more wrong with it than Masters and Fusion but honestly, Fury’s strengths more than make up for its weaker parts for me. The only problem I have with Fury that actively hinders my enjoyment is Kyoya’s poorly handled arc, which I’ve been over multiple times and wrote a whole fanfiction rectifying. To sum it up briefly: it was rushed and weakened Kyoya’s character when it had the chance to develop him. I will admit this season also had too few episodes. I don’t think it was rushed per say, it just feels like parts are missing. There should’ve been more leading up to Nemesis’ revival and an actual epilogue episode because as it stands now, Fury ends really suddenly without much actual confirmation of where the characters we know and love ended up. It’s kind of jarring. Overall however, I really love Fury. I love the adventure style story and there's so much variety to the bey battles this time around, both in terms of the beys themselves and the stadiums. It’s just more interesting to watch. It also did a great job giving all the major characters victories, not just Gingka. This is something Masters also did well and a gripe I have with Fusion: Gingka gets all the major victories in Metal Fusion and pushes the other characters to the wayside. Well, Masters and Fury fixed this issue in my opinion. The very final fight of Fury against the shadow Nemesis could’ve been executed better in my opinion. However, it hits all the right emotional beats for a final battle and still grabs my attention rewatching it, so I can put aside my criticisms of it while watching it. Also, I like that “destiny” is something these characters are controlling themselves and can go either way rather than being some unstoppable force that they will all give in to eventually otherwise they’re villains. Because that’s how Yugioh does it and it’s probably my biggest problem with that show. In that series, it feels like the characters are all just blindly accepting “destiny” and those that don’t, Kaiba and Marik most notably, are deemed villains for wanting to take control over their lives and not be governed by some invisible force. Yes, I know Marik went to some horrible extremes using this logic but it still bothers me that the only characters in that show that don’t throw their lives away blindly following someone else’s whims are deemed villains. It’s just kind of messed up. Fury thankfully subverts this. “Destiny” is not an unstoppable force in Beyblade, it’s the will of the characters and those characters are allowed to make their own choices. It makes the story more interesting and the characters more likeable because the characters are the ones driving the story, which feels so much more natural. Yeah, I really like the characters in Fury. Honestly, I’m more attached to Yuki, King, and Chris than anyone introduced in Masters and the other legendary blader characters all bring something different and interesting to the table that I don’t think older characters could have. I also like how the old characters are used. Sure, Tsubasa and Yu are underused this season. But guess who also got a lot of focus last season? Tsubasa and Yu. And some of the characters who were underused in Masters, Kyoya and Kenta, get more focus in this season. They did mess up Kyoya’s arc in my opinion but the effort is there and I appreciate his presence before and after that. Kenta especially was severely underused in Masters so this season decided to make him relevant again and they did it in such an endearing way. You all know how much I love Ryuga and Kenta’s friendship. It’s one of the things that should have gotten more focus but what we do get is good enough build up. This season was the one that drew the most emotion out of me during my most recent viewing and that was because of Ryuga and Kenta. I was devastated by Ryuga’s death (even if he may not actually be dead, that’s certainly what it felt like in the moment) and the scene where he gives Kenta his power was the most touching moment in the entire show for me.

Well, that ranking probably pissed some people off. Again, I love the classic three seasons. (I’m not a fan of Shogun Steel but it has its moments.) Choosing between the three of them like that was incredibly difficult, especially Fusion and Fury. In the end, I just had to go with my gut.

#beyblade #beyblade metal fight #beyblade metal saga #metal fusion #metal masters #metal fury #shogun steel #metal fury is underrated #i mention Yugioh as well #I talk about that show on my main blog #I do recommend it #but damn do I hate the way it handles the destiny theme #honestly fury is the only story I've seen that handles the destiny theme well #fusion handles it decently too #but the way fury did it kinda blew me away

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sanchoyo · 3 years

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danny phantom season 2, ep 12-16 thoughts! these episodes, in comparison to the first 10 or so, felt way more laid back and low-stakes, which I appreciate sometimes. I didn't appreciate how lazy jack's halfa design was in masters of time, it made me so annoyed I redesigned it. 👎🏻 u_u

see prev episode thoughts in this tag <3

-'picking a fight with me and my upgraded form!' 'you upgraded to a mullet?' DANNNNY. YOU CANT SAY THAT TO TECHNUS. YOUVE HAD A MULLET TWICE NOW ('fun' split danny, and evil future danny BOTH HAD THEM). I HAVE THE RECEIPTS.

-danny seeing technus hurting valerie and yelling I AM GOING TO BREAK YOU IN HALF. SAMEEEE <3

-axion labs is now a part of vladco. FUCK YOU VLAD. hes not even really IN this episode, but just thought I'd throw out a nice fuck you anyway.

-'capable of blasting a single person into space in (2) minutes!' tucker. that would kill someone. i mean yeah they might get to space, but theres NO WAY THEY WOULDNT CATCH FIRE, OR THEIR ORGANS WOULDNT LIQUIFY BECAUSE OF THE STRAIN. THEY'D PROBABLY PASS OUT BEFORE THEN, BUT. ...no, okay, I get why vlad bought this company. this is RIGHT up his alley.

-danny KNOWS VAL DIDNT DO THIS, THAT SOMEONE STOLE THE SUIT. AND SPENDING ALL NIGHT CHATTING WITH HER. <3 and val is a 9TH DEGREE BLACKBELT?? danny's mom is, too!! omg and she hunts ghosts, his parents would love her. and her fav fruit is kumquat bc its a funny word. im so with danny val is amazing. I love her and I Do Not Want To Hear It From Sam.

-I knew danny wanted to be an astronaut, but the bowling tidbit is like. yes give me more useless info abt these characters, I love tiny details that make them feel more human, and im glad hes got hobbies aside from ghost stuff, we dont really see a lot of that!!! (I mean, we knew 'fun' danny from when he split himself in half liked bowling, so obv it makes sense he LIKES it, but hes very GOOD at it. so proud of him, bowling king) val calling him neil armstrong and them teasing each other. LOVE THAT.

-technus you are my favorite grandpa for setting this up. SAM WHY ARE YOU BEING SO CREEPY BE HAPPY FOR YOUR FRIEND!!! STOP SPYING ON THEM!!! who actually cares if technus did 'set them up' together, theyre having fun and enjoy each others company!!! 'you think the universe wants you two to be together?' 'i dunno, but maybe /I/ do!' EXACTLY DANNY!!! SOO TRUE.

-and valerie being happy sam said she wants to try and be happy for them and make room at the lunch table for them. and hugging sam over it. VAL NEEDS MORE FRIENDS.

-VAL GOING AFTER TECHNUS IN HER SUIT WITH (1) MILK, AND (1) TREE BRANCH AND KEYS!!!. I LOVE YOUUUU BEST GIRL. her new suit kicks ass

-dannys like 'HEY IM AN ASTRONAUT :D' AW. ...HES IN SPACE... the fact he's actually intending to give her the ring. with SAMS NAME ON IT?? IM CRINGING DANNY NO. YOU CANT DO THAT...thank god he didnt. thank god valerie cut it off and said they can just stay friends for now. tbh, they both have a lot on their plates!! they obv both still like each other...it can be a future thing!! when she knows about phantom! youre 14 theres no need to rush. I just want her to have friends and be happy :(

-...danny struggles to do (1) pull up. SAME. but all the ghost fighting in phantom form REALLY doesnt carry over at ALL? that sucks

-sam being as fit as she is, is not just a goth. shes a goth jock.

-honey I Shrank Our Kid, One of his Enemies, and his Bully: the episode

-dash's crush on phantom is So Obvious. fitness buddies :) watching them interact always makes me laugh. also, phantom, with PANTS. 'how many costume changes you gonna go through, what is this, vegas??' DASSH DJKSFHASKDF

-MADDIE GOING AFTER THE MOUSE WITH A BROOM, WHAT THE FUCK. AAAH. JUST BUY SOME KIND OF MOUSE TRAP.

-danny likes lime and vinegar chips. which sound very good.

-'our boy finally has the physical prowess of a 60 year old president!' ...poor danny LMAO

-'what's wrong with beauty pageants' oh tucker you sweet naïve child. what ISNT wrong with them. who approved this for a high school?? (I mean, yes. unfortunately child pageants exist, but...) also danny and tucker once again treating the pretty girls like objects. I need to meet the grown man who wrote this, I just want to talk...

-prince aragon's dragon form reminds me of maleficent (color scheme wise) which is always a bonus. considering the episode is called beauty marked, I feel like the sleeping beauty references are deliberate

-sam with the fake fangs. once again her accessories never miss. hate the 'not like other girls, girls who get sucked into this kind of thing are all shallow and all want to be carbon copies' bs tho.

-sam trying to be the Worst Bride, being rude as shit. DORA IS GOING TO GET KILLED. DID YOU MISS THE PART WHERE SHE SAID THE PRINCE WILL HAVE HER HEAD IF YOU ARENT THE IDEAL BRIDE. YOU /KNOW/ DANNY WILL COME SAVE YOU. JUST ACT CHILL UNTIL THEN. even if you were doing fine to get him to take off the crown, consider maybe not letting his poor sister get punished also?? sure, she could also take off the crown and has dragon powers, but did you know that for sure?? dora didnt even really realize it until you guys talked!! (or at least, she was scared to stand up to him. you had no guarantee she would...) but. good for dora. ANOTHER friendly ghost to add to the List :)

-tucker is so under appreciated in his time. if he was doing a tech-based campaign today he'd have a better shot. people in 2004 had NO IDEA how much tech would be a part of our day-to-day lives...altho. tbh if you're going to be running for student council president, maybe you should..focus on things to actually improve the school? since he's going for a tech angle, he could say like, he would be running fundraisers for the schools computers to be upgraded, etc? we've already SEEN he can be good at money-making entrepreneur type stuff!!

-oh my god wait. this episode is JUST YUGIOH?????! A REBORN PHAROH USING A TEENAGER AS A VESSEL?? YESSSSSS

-tucker using his new minion to feed him grapes and carry him. AND LOCUSTS ONTO THE BULLIES. I love how when he's possessed, he gains winged eyeliner.

-this episode is giving me big 'plankton makes everyone in bikini bottom his slaves and build monuments of him from the spongebob movie' vibes. and the pharaoh has a traitor who works for him? VERY big yugioh vibes. aknadin confirmed

-I like that danny is still completely exhausted after using ghostly wail. (still patiently waiting on him to get duplication)

-LOVE the fenton's 80s outfits. I get hes 14 and embarrassed by everything they do because theyre his parents, but. cmon, this is one objectively cool thing theyve done. love 80s fashion.

-...was vlad just standing on that streetlight waiting for danny to come out? how'd he know they'd be coming out the back? how long has he been up there???

-oh, wait, his ecto-acne has flareups? that SUCKS. danny was...well I dont want to say he was LUCKY HE HALF-DIED, but he was lucky his was pretty instant (I'm assuming that had to do with the power/scale of the portals being different?) I remember in the ep we met him, vlad made a point of saying he was stuck in a hospital for a long time, so. that really actually sucks and I feel bad. not that it excuses anything he's done...but like. it does suck.

-vlad being so sure danny wouldnt help him he made it somehow contagious to his friends to make sure he'd get help? danny is a nice boy, he wouldve helped if it was anyone else. the only reason he wouldn't have is because of the shit vlad did to him, on purpose. vlad 100% dug his own grave by being the biggest asshole, so it is very hard to feel bad for him.

-clockwork is back!!! and making danny learn lessons The Hard Way. Uhhh, okay. I kind of get Danny’s logic, that time traveling this far back would prevent vlad from becoming a halfa also, ergo no arch nemesis or ectoacne to worry about. But the fact that was basically the first solution Danny came up with to solve this problem is actually so funny. It’s so extreme

-APPRICIATION FOR THESE 80S LESBIAN BG CHARACTERS.

-vlad telling maddie in the lab (in the 80s) he has something he's wanted to tell her 'for a long time'...how long have they known each other? I assumed they met in college, since jack always calls vlad his college buddy/roommate, so jack and vlad for sure met in college, but did vlad know maddie longer? thats surprising if so. Tho we don’t know what year of college they’re in so they could mean they met as freshmen and a few years have past…speaking of maddie shes crushing the 80s look.

-vlad blames jack, but. maybe dont stick your face 2 inches from the portal??! THIS FEELS LIKE LAB SAFETY BASICS. IF SOMETHING HAS POTENTIAL TO BE DANGEROUS, DONT GET NEAR IT. WITH YOUR FACE UNPROTECTED IN ANY WAY. (altho jack didnt really give a Big Warning besides screaming BONZAI. so. also that, but cmon.) also, they need gloves, goggles, and to pull all of their hair back tbh. but fuck lab safety, I guess!

-cryyyyinnng at how lazy they were with jack's ghost form design, its just plasmius' design on jack!!! you couldve given him his own design!!

-there. I did that in about 10 minutes and its somehow less lazy than what made it into the show. embarrassing! better yet, I think the episode would've been better if maddie would've gotten the ectoacne. or maybe its just me, wanting to see her design! anyway. I'm sure people have already done redesigns of them both as halfas. I have to go look after I finish this watch through. Also mildly frustrated jacks resentment and bitterness is basically also a copy paste of vlads backstory. They’re different characters, I really don’t think jack would stew in bitterness and jealousy the same way vlad would!! I also don’t think he’d give up after one time of trying to hunt ghosts and getting laughed at. Our canon timeline says different…I dunno, I get it was for laughs, but I’m annoyed because the POTENTIAL this plot has…

-did vlad really wear a stupid cheese hat to his wedding. ok actually that kinda rules. and the cheese door knocker. the dairy-only buffet table. vlad still got rich, just on being the New Dairy King. (Assuming that means he owns a lot of dairy businesses?) ok! this actually is great. hope maddie isn't lactose intolerant!

-'no matter how hard I tried, I could never get rid of my ghost half, the half I knew Maddie could never accept' ohh, ouch, what a horrible thing to say to her HALF GHOST SON. 'YOUR MOM WILL NEVER ACCEPT YOU' BASICALLY.

-maddie strapping danny to the table with a lazer pointed at him in a secret lab she keeps from vlad that she makes a point of saying is sound proof so he can scream all he wants...CHRIST. DANNYS POOR PYSCHE.

-also, not to feel bad for alternate vlad (because, he did lie to maddie saying jack blames her and never wants to see her again...) but. being married to a woman 20+ years and she immediately goes back to jack? if she didnt love vlad and feels like she had to hide shit from him, and says she wasted her best years with him, WHY MARRY HIM. it feels like leading him on!!! cannot believe im feeling bad for vlad, but. this alternate timeline vlad is significantly Less Horrible than Our Vlad. did she not think she'd get funding for her ghost stuff? (which, fair assumption since they're considered 'ghost fanatics/nuts in canon...but...) why did she think jack or vlad would be her ONLY OPTIONS? be like your sister. be single. Actually, this au could’ve been really interesting if after the accident, vlad lied to her and said jack never wanted to see her again, but she stays single. Imagine how much that would bug vlad… like, in her mind, it was never a competition it was jack or no one type situation…

-danny being like 'leave him ALONE' this jack is a HOMEWRECKER, DANNY. let them go to court and settle this at the least. ...or just throw vlad into the portal. (100% human, defenseless vlad) CHRIST, MADDIE THATS BRUTAL. THATS MURDER.

-danny seeing his mom immediately accepting him and his dad being half ghosts in this universe, if I was him this would be a great sign that his universe's maddie would also.

-*maddie voice* "clockwork will help!" *2 seconds later, with clockwork* "I will Not Help." TOUGH LOVE KING. YES LET DANNY SEE THE SODA HIMSELF AND DEVOLP BETTER OBSERVATION SKILLS.

-when clockwork ""reset time to the way it was"" just before danny "meddled"" ...did he really erase a whole alternate timeline? ...damn. because maddie and danny both called it an alternate timeline by name, it splitting when the college incident went different, so it wouldnt have really mattered if he reset it, right. like because danny's timeline is on a different stream? why didnt clockwork just. show danny a replay and not Reset That Timeline. wh...I wonder how many people that Erased From Existence. Anyway! once again stating clockwork is casually terrifying!

#danny phantom #dp thoughts #sanchoyorambles

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rightsockjin · 4 years

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Hi, can i request 21 and Yoongi please?

Here you go! I hope you enjoy!

Summary: Collage AU! Yoongi and you are in the same psychology class and he really can not stand you...

Rating: K+

Genre: FLuffY flufF Fluff... It’s fluff. but like a lil..

This was really fun to write and I can’t wait until I get to write the rest! Please send in an ask if you want to request a prompt!

Prompt list

She’s just so obnoxious,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Then stop talking to her,” Joon said with a shrug as he turned the page of his book.

Waves of frustration ran through him. He didn’t really think that Joon wasn’t looking at him. He knew he was overreacting but he needed to blow off steam.

“I can’t,” he groaned for what felt like the millionth time.

“Why?”

Questions.

That was what Joon was made up of.

Whats and whens and whys.

Yoongi, being the introvert he was, usually wasn’t fond of people like this but Kim Namjoon had been an exception.

He’d never tell him that though.

It was too fun to roll his eyes at his -

Fr-

Frien-

Fr-fr-

*cough* friend *cough*

He did just that before running a hand through his dark hair.

“If I had a 500 won for every time you ask a question-“

“You’d be rolling in money- yeah I know,” Joon said, still not looking up. Carefully, he highlighted a sentence.

Yoongi watched as the perfect yellow line appeared against the slightly beige page filled with poetry.

Namjoon was anal about things like his notes and books and writing.

Yoongi on the other hand, wrote like a kindergartener and didn’t give a single shit.

Still... It was kind of satisfying to watch him highlight words.

“Still, I don’t see why you keep in contact with her if she gets on your nerves.”

Yoongi scoffed.

How many times must he explain?

“Because!”

When he didn’t continue, Namjoon finally glanced up through his lashes as if this would be enough to egg him on to continue.

Yoongi raised his eyebrows, daring him to ask another question as he crossed his arms.

With an exasperated sigh, Namjoon grabbed a bookmark from his pence bag that was carefully coordinated by color and stuck it between the pages before he closed it and set it aside on the table they were sharing to study.

Study, being a loose explanation for their presence on campus since Yoongi had only set his multiple psychology books on the surface of the table and hasn’t touched them since he sat down half an hour ago.

“I‘ll bite,” Joon said, a smirk on his face as he straightened and pushed his glasses on the bridge of his tiny nose.

Yoongi smiled and waited for his Fr-Joon to ask him to continue.

Hey, he may be an introvert, but he had feelings and emotions that he wanted to get off his chest and Namjoon was a fantastic listener.

He never took his sarcasm to heart.

This is one of the many reasons that Yoongi liked...

Anyway-

“Because of what, Yoongi?”

A dopey smile graced Namjoon’s face as he rested his round cheeks on his knuckles.

This is what he was talking about.

Full attention bitch!

“Because,” Yoongi said once again as if it was an inconvenience to speak at all, “she’s the smartest person in my psyc classes! I refuse to acquaint myself with anyone who isn’t level with my intellect.”

Namjoon rolled his eyes tapping his long fingers against his dimples cheek.

“Big words for such a small man,” he said before breaking out into high pitched giggles.

“You know what isn’t small?” Yoongi challenged.

“Your ego-“

“My dick- awe come on man! Just once let me have my fun,” Yoongi groaned slamming a hand on one of the biggest and heaviest books he had.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the library aid glare in his direction.

He smiled and waved cheekily but shrunk into himself slightly before he turned back to Joon and his infuriating smile.

“You look like a big baby in those overalls,” Yoongi said when he couldn’t think of a good comeback.

Namjoon smiled and leaned back, his hands threaded in his hair.

“That’s the aesthetic I was going for.”

Stupid tree hugger.

Yoongi opened his mouth to say something else.

Probably something about his obnoxious habit of tapping his pens on the table when a chair was pulled up on his left quickly followed by one on his right.

Hoseok and Seokjin

Or as he liked to refer to them in his head-

Icarus and Narcissist

-weren’t exactly his friends rather, they were Namjoon’s friends but he tolerated them on most days as long as they didn’t come on too strong.

Today was one of those days that they got on his nerves instantly.

“Yo,” Hoseok half yelled, getting an annoyed “shh” from the library aid, his chair turned so the back was facing the table and his legs were spread on either side.

“How’s it going,” Seokjin added.

“Did your class end early?” Namjoon asked, looking down at his watch in confusion.

“Nah,” Hoseok answered looking at Seokjin mischievously.

“We snuck out of the lecture half way through.”

Namjoon scrunched his nose in distaste while shooting the library aid an awkward smile at Hoseok’s loudness.

“That is so irresponsible Hobi! Don’t expect me to stay up with you two all night for the next test like I did last time-“

“Oh don’t start with the lectures Namjoonie,” Hoseok groaned.

“We just snuck out of one, we clearly don’t want to listen to boring people drone on and on and on....”

“I hope you have fun failing your next exam.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Hoseok said clearly unbothered, “you said that last time as well.”

Yoongi rolled his eyes. He’d never told Namjoon but that Hoseok really struck a nerve with him.

He was always relying on Namjoon to make sure he passed his classes since all of them were in the same minor- music.

He never did anything on his own and in general, Yoongi couldn’t help but feel he was using him.

Maybe he was jealous.

But nope that wasn’t it Yoongi didn’t do feelings aside from annoyance.

“Whatever,” Joon said, turning his attention back to Yoongi, “anyway, can’t you just- I don’t know, talk to her minimally?”

“Talk to who?” Seokjin asked curiously.

“Her?” Hoseok added, his eyes wide.

“Does Yoongles have a girlfriend?”

“Thanks a lot,” Yoongi said, staring directly at Namjoon with a ‘look at what you did’ expression.

Namjoon shrugged and blushed.

That was another thing.

Namjoon didn’t have a single filter.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” Yoongi clarifies.

“I have a nemeses,” he said, his fist clenching on the table and his eyebrows connecting.

A slight silence followed after that.

Then like dominos, Hoseok burst out laughing, closely followed by Jin and then finally by Namjoon.

Yoongi felt his cheeks warm as the boys raucously laughed. Hoseok slapping his leg, Namjoon covering his mouth and Seokjin rocking in his chair.

“Wha-well she is! She’s like... top of my class! It’s always between me and her and it’s gone to her head!”

“Ah- Uh- a nemesis?” Hoseok asked between explosive laughter.

“Or like arch-enemy,” Yoongi said with a thoughtful sigh, accepting his fate as the boys laughed louder.

Even Namjoon, who was just as anal about following the rules- which Yoongi guesses had something to do with the pretty Library aid was laughing his full belly laugh.

“An arch-enemy?” Seokjin asked for clarity.

Yoongi nodded.

“She’s like my mortal enemy,” he finished.

Yeah

That felt right.

It was a couple more seconds in which the aid glared in their direction and their laughter died down.

Yoongi waited patiently for them to quiet so he could continue. Might as well. They all knew now.

When they finally did, Namjoon noticed the way the aid was looking at them and blushed, hiding in his oversized hoodie.

“Don’t you think that’s a little over the top?” Seokjin asked, whipping a tear from the corner of his eye.

“No.” He answered simply.

And he wasn’t.

You were everything he couldn’t stand.

You were inquisitive like Namjoon.

You were overtly loud like Hoseok.

And you were as full of yourself as Seokjin.

And on top of that, you were a genius?

You had all of their worst qualities, and

He.

Couldn’t.

Stand.

You.

Namjoon cleared his throat then, drawing his attention back to the group.

He looked flummoxed.

“Maybe we should go eat or something... I’m starting to feel bad for the people studying.”

“Yeah,” Hoseok giggles looking in the direction that Namjoon kept glancing in.

“It has nothing to do with the death glares that glasses is giving us, right?”

He pointed over at the aid who was indeed shooting daggers in their directions

“No!” Namjoon said instantly.

“It’s just that the library is supposed to be a quiet place for studying-“

“Don’t get your knickers in a twist English boy,” Hoseok said.

Yoongi scoffed.

“The best you could come up with was English boy?”

“Well I’m not an English boy,” Hoseok answered dramatically swooning.

“Clearly,” Namjoon murmured, putting his stuff in his satchel.

Yoongi began to pack up as well. He really had planned on getting some reading done while he was hanging out with Joon but he quite obviously got side tracked.

He’d have to do it later.

“So where do we wanna eat, gang?” Hoseok asked, standing up.

“I think I’m gonna pass,” Yoongi said, realizing that he hadn’t started on the paper he was supposed to do yesterday either for his music theory class.

“Awe no,” Hoseok moaned grabbing Yoongi’s shoulders, “it’s all of us or none of us!”

Yoongi huffed and pushed his arms off of him, “then I guess it’s none of us. I have a shit ton of homework to do and you people distract me.”

Namjoon crossed his bag over his chest and squinted at him.

“But hyung,” Namjoon began, “you’re the one who asked to meet in the first place.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It’s really not that hard,” you said as you spread your perfect color coded notes all over the table that you and Yoongi were working on.

Then your computer

And your pens that were sorted by thickness and color.

And your textbooks.

When you were done, Yoongi only had about a quarter of the space you had.

Given, he just had his laptop and a single notebook-

No pen though.

It was still rude how you had taken the entirety of the space available for BOTH of you.

“It’s rooted in the way that humans tend to identify with colors and pictures. We can’t help but to interpret art in a way that speaks to us which is why it’s so useful for therapy.”

“I know that,” Yoongi snapped with a roll of his eyes, “I just don’t know if it’s the most useful strategy when it comes to someone who’s never been in therapy before.”

He bit at his thumb in thought.

“Why wouldn’t it be? It would take a lot of pressure off of the psychologist and the patient so they don’t feel cornered into talking about their feelings.”

“Well what if the patient is uncomfortable with their art work? Or they have no interest in drawing or music? How would you go about that?”

Yeah.

Art therapy was great.

Honestly, that’s the branch that Yoongi wanted to study and had chosen the topic for that exact reason.

He just hadn’t expected you to choose it as well.

Now, he was trying-

And failing

-At trying to discredit the practice.

“You have them look or listen instead. Then they can just write what they feel. It’s simple Yoongi.”

He grunted, leaning back against his chair.

“Okay fine. Put that into the powerpoint,” he conceded.

“I will.”

You booted up your computer and he lost himself in the sound of the keys you pressed.

On his screen, he could see the shared PowerPoint and her cursor moving. He’d done maybe two of the slides on it because you were so over the top controlling that he’d given up trying to contribute.

“Hey Yoongi,” you said as you continued to type.

He peeked up at the sound of your voice from behind his screen.

“Can I ask you an uncomfortable question?”

Yoongi’s blood ran cold.

She seemed to take his lack of negation as confirmation.

“How long have you been in love with me?”

How long had he-

Had he-

Wha-what?

Were you kidding?

Yoongi laughed. Obviously it was a joke.

But you stopped typing and looked over at Yoongi.

Your hands were folded on the table next to your notebook.

Your glasses rested on the tip of your nose.

Your bun was messy. Strands of hair framed your face.

The top button of your white shirt was undone.

You weren’t amused.

“Wait,” he leaned forward, slapping his hands on the table and leaning forward, “you’re not serious are you?”

With a single finger, you pushed the black frames up slowly.

Tiredly.

“I am.”

How could someone misread him so badly?

Yoongi took a deep breath.

“Y/N,” deep breath, “I am not in love with you.”

With a soft smile that sent his stomach in a frenzy and a scowl on his face you leaned forward.

“Has anyone ever told you that there is a fine line between love and hate?”

“That’s just a theory,” Yoongi said instantly leaning back. If that’s all you were going off of then you had no basis to your hypothesis.

“A theory grounded on the intensity of emotions and the predictability or lack thereof of human psyche.”

He scoffed.

Not Yoongi’s.

He only held disdain for you.

While he really hadn’t thought that you would notice his clear dislike of you, he was a little confused as to why you would think it would lead to him falling in love with you.

This wasn’t a romcom.

Right?

“Look, Y/N,” he chuckled, “the only feelings I have for you are-“

Stop.

Don’t say it.

“Contempt.”

You raised an eyebrow at that.

A pretty smile-

What? Where did that come from?

A smirk tugged at your lips.

“We’ll see how long that lasts.”

Yoongi couldn’t take it any longer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He’d had enough.

ENOUGH.

You hadn’t spoken to him ever since your presentation.

And it was a great presentation!

He even spoke and everything!

People were shocked.

He was pretty sure almost everyone in that class thought he was mute.

He had even been extra nice right before so that you won’t give him a bad peer review.

So. *Inhale*

*exhale*

Why in the name of all that is holy did you suddenly decide to not speak to him or even so much as glance at him?

He walked into class that day and had been kind enough to save you a seat.

Out of the pure kindness of his heart mind you.

Kindness that he displayed for no one.

And yet you had bypassed him entirely and sat way in the back without so much as a friendly hand wave.

What a bit-

*tire screech*

In the end, he supposed it didn’t matter.

You’d been a pain in his side since you both started your degrees and it would be much easier to destroy you if you weren’t friendly.

Fine.

Okay.

Good.

If it was a war you wanted it was a war you would get.

…

...

....but why hadn’t you talked to him?

Had he hurt your feelings?

Maybe he shouldn’t have told you that he hated you.

Well not that he hated you more like he just thought you were beneath him or something like...

He surmised that girls tended not to like when men told them they hated them.

He’d been rude.

But it wasn’t his fault...

After all, isn’t it rude to assume someone is in love with you?

Conceded at the very least.

He knew you were full of yourself, what with your hanging mirror key chain and selfie studded phone case, but that was just too far.

To assume that because someone didn’t like you...

They were in love with you?

You were clearly in the wrong field.

Yoongi must have scoffed out loud because Hoseok, whom had been the first of the Fr-

*gag*

Of the boys to show up, looked up from his pizza menu quizzically.

“What’s on your mind Yoongles?”

“For the millionth time, Hoseok-”

“I doubt it’s been a million times-”

“Please,” he sighed, “don’t call me Yoongles. My name is Yoongi... call me hyung if you want-”

Hoseok made a high pitched noise somewhere in the back of his throat and put a hand over his chest.

“I thought you would never ask!”

He launched himself across the table and wrapped his arms around his neck, his cheek pressed against him.

“Tha’usen’t a’question...”

it was then that two sets of footsteps neared their table near the back and Yoongi felt his cheeks burn.

“Get off me,” he said in a monotone voice, using his palm to push Hoseok’s face off of his.

Joon and Seokjin stood side by side watching the two sitting men with confusion written all over their faces.

“Okay who died,” Jin asked looking at Hoseok’s now down cast expression.

“My Love for Yoongi hyung,” he said melodramatically.

Yoongi rolled his eyes and scooted towards the end of the booth so Joon or Jin could slide in.

It was Jin that sat next to him.

Joon slid into the opposite side only for Hoseok to wrap himself around his strong arms.

“You love me don’t you Namjoonie?”

“Sure,” Namjoon said, patting his friend’s head.

Hoseok shot Yoongi a smug glare as if he was meant to be hurt by his actions but he couldn’t care less.

He shrugged.

Clearly not taking kindly to being ignored, Hoseok cleared his throat

“Keep your balls blue Hyung...”

Namjoon scrunched up his whole face and pulled his arm from Hoseok’s grasp.

“Dude,” he said, “we’re about to eat!”

“Where did that even come from,” Seokjin questioned, looking Yoongi up and down as if the answer was written on him.

“I have no idea,” Yoongi answered with a slightly embarrassed shrug.

“Yoongi hyung’s been muttering about that girl in his class for the last 10 minutes. My guess is he’s frustrated.”

Joon and Jin turned to look at Yoongi who looked at Hoseok disgustedly.

“How many times do I have to say that I DON’T like her?”

The three men blinked at him in confusion.

“When have you ever had to clarify that?” Namjoon asked with his eyes wide.

Ha-hadn’t he?

Yoongi realized his mistake.

He’d told you that.

Not the guys.

Well Fuck.

“I just meant that I shouldn’t have to clarify that.” Yoongi said, trying to ignore Seokjin and Hoseok’s excited looks.

“Don’t push my buttons,” he warned just as a waitress approached with a fake smile and tired eyes.

“We won’t,” Jin assured making Yoongi relax slightly.

Then under his breath

“Looks like someone else already is.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Y/N,” Yoongi yelled after you as you hurried out of class.

You had a stack of books in your arms and your bag seemed extra heavy.

Your hair was pulled up and out of your face again.

You seemed to be in a hurry.

You didn’t stop. Maybe you hadn’t heard him.

He called out to you again but you seemed to be walking faster.

He sped up.

So did you.

“Y/N!”

But you didn’t slow and then you got lost in the crowd.

Yoongi stood in the middle of the sidewalk totally confused.

With a sigh, he walked back to his car and drove home for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yoongi grabbed your wrist loosely so that you could pull out of his hold if you wanted.

He didn’t wanna like...

Freak you out or something.

To his surprise, you didn’t pull away.

You stopped walking.

He had a whole speech planned out.

He’d written questions

He had his journal in his hand color coded and everything!

At Namjoon’s suggestion.

So why is it that now that he was looking into your eyes that he froze?

“Yes?” You asked with the most monotone expression he’d ever seen.

He opened and closed his mouth in confusion.

He looked like a fish out of water.

Why was he so thirsty?

He felt like he’d eaten a whole box of saltines.

As he looked at you he realized...

Had you always been this pretty?

He blushed profusely.

He let go of your hand.

He said nothing.

And now HE took off in the opposite direction.

See...

Yoongi wasn’t used to feelings.

As it was he didn’t even like the idea of calling the boys his...

Fr-

Frie-

*clearing throat* FrIEndS.

He’d never really had friends before anyway and he’d been just fine.

Feelings weren’t part of the equation ever.

It was business.

They were in similar classes and that was that.

So why did his hate for you, suddenly not feel so bad?

So heavy?

Why did Yoongi feel like he could fly?

Without thinking, he must have made it to the dorms because the next thing he remembered, he was standing before Seokjin’s door panting and sweating.

When he opened the door, he was surprised to see both Joon and Hobi-

Hoseok

-in the room.

They looked at him expectantly.

Like they already knew what he was going to say.

But they couldn’t know.

Though... Namjoon was highly receptive. He had a way of reading Yoongi that he’d never considered and was always ready to listen. He’d always made time for him even when his perfectly made schedule didn’t match Yoongi’s request to meet up.

Hoseok smiles at him from one of the beds. His body was stretched out across Joon’s lap.

There was a little sun sticker on his nose and two stars on his forehead.

Yoongi couldn’t help but smile back.

Hoseok may be annoying but he sure as hell knew how to make Yoongi smile and forget his current situation.

“Yoongi?” Seokjin asked.

“Did you...” with wide surprised eyes, “run here???”

His perfect nose twitched in concern.

“Hey hyung,” Yoongi said with a tiny bow.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah,” he answered, clearly surprised at Yoongi’s honorific.

He opened the door wider and let the flushed man in.

The room was small.

It felt cramped with all four of them in there.

Especially with Namjoon’s long legs but no one mentioned it.

“Is something wrong hyung,” Namjoon asked with concern on his features.

Ugh. Feelings.

“I Uh- no...”

“You know,” Jin began closing the door and sitting on the bed opposite Joon and Hobi-

Hoseok.

“For a psychology major you really don’t do a great job of analyzing your own feelings.”

...

He had a point.

How was Yoongi supposed to help other people when he couldn’t even help himself emotionally?

He cleared his throat, realizing that they were all looking at him expectantly.

“This is a safe place hyung,” Hoseok said with a smile, sitting up as if this made it more official.

Yoongi has to admit...

his... friends...made him feel safe.

With a deep, pained breath, Yoongi began.

“You guys know that girl I’m always complaining about?”

“Your mortal enemy ™️ ?” Hoseok asked excitedly.

Like a puppy.

A cute puppy.

Yoongi smiled.

“Y/N... yeah... uh she’s been ignoring me lately.”

Seokjin places a hand on his shoulder so he would look at him.

“What did you do?”

Yoongi scoffed

“No-nothing! I didn’t... okay well I did tell her I didn’t really like her but I mean- it’s not like it was news? Isn’t it obvious I don’t like her?”

The room was dead silent.

Yoongi expected his friends-

Hey that was getting easier to think about-

-to instantly say that it was clear as day that he hated your guts.

Instead, all the boys, his friends, avoided his gaze.

“Isn’t it?” He pressed in concern.

“Hyung,” Namjoon began with a pained expression, “if I'm being honest... I always thought you had a crush on her.”

Wait what?

“Yeah,” Hobi joined in as soon as he realized he didn’t have to be the one to break the ice, “you’re always saying how intelligent she is. How you only associate yourself with her. Damn you barely associate yourself with us! The fact you want to speak with her is kind of huge!”

“But... but I- No! That’s only because I need someone to be partners with in class!”

“Then why,” Seokjin cut in, his voice firm, as if he had the winning argument and he knew it, “do you insist on talking to her outside of class all of a sudden?”

Yoongi was ready.

He opened his mouth ready to explain exactly why he wanted to speak with her after class when-

He had nothing.

Not one thing.

There should be no reason for him to want to speak with you outside of class.

He should only be putting up with your smart... cute...-

*bleh*

mouth in class.

He closed his mouth and looked down at his thighs.

“Dude... have you ever considered that maybe... just maybe... you hate her so much because you’re attracted to her?”

Yoongi looked over at Namjoon. His eyes were soft. It was just a question.

Namjoon would have made a good psychologist.

Yoongi thought back to all those times he’d been irrationally angry

Like that time he’d gotten a lower grade than you by one mark.

Or that time you had corrected him in front of the entire class when he had answered a question in class.

Or even recently, worse still, when you began to ignore him.

Under the anger were other feelings.

Pride.

Surprise in like a good way.

Hurt...

“Wait let me get this straight,” Yoongi said as his heart raced.

The boys waited with baited breath.

“You’re telling me that you think I’ve fallen in love with my self professed mortal enemy?”

Hoseok blinked at him then from out of nowhere, he pulled out a sticker sheet and peeled one off.

He aggressively placed what looked like a smiley face on his forehead.

“Gold star for hyung!”

“That’s not a star Hobi,” Namjoon said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well I don’t have any more stars! I only have smiley faces!”

Yoongi groaned, reaching up to pull the sticker off but one pleading look from Hoseok and he retreated.

Hobi smiled.

“ I don’t know if you’re in love per se... I think maybe you have a crush on her? It’s just always felt like behind all your complaining there was-“

“Love,” Hoseok interrupted.

Namjoon glared at him turning to look at him.

He was met with a little tree sticker on his nose.

Namjoon stared at it surprised and effectively shut up.

“Yoongi hyung’s in love,” Hoseok singsonged.

Yoongi felt his cheeks reddened deeply. He held his face in his hands to cover it up but his ears were a five away.

“Look how red he is!” Jin said beside him.

“Oh my God it’s true!” Hoseok said with a gasp.

“Do you really like her Yoongi?” Namjoon asked.

This was what hell was made of.

~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<3~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was later that same day that you guys had class together again.

This time, Yoongi knew what he had to do.

When time was called for the class to be dismissed, Yoongi was prepared. He packed everything quickly and ran after you without calling out your name.

This way you couldn’t run.

Was that creepy?

That sounded creepy.

Anyway.

He tapped your shoulder and as if in slow motion you turned.

A pink aura surrounded you.

Your eyes sparkled.

Wow... you’re really pretty.

AND YOU WERE SPEAKING TO HIM.

Focus Min Yoongi!

“Wh-what?”

Smooth Casanova.

“I asked what you wanted.” You answered with a concerned expression.

“Oh... right,” Yoongi said, rolling his shoulders back and taking a deep breath.

“I just wanted to apologize.”

You raised your eyebrows,

Yoongi?

Apologize?

“For what?”

“For... for telling you I dislike you.”

“If I remember correctly, you mentioned contempt.” You said, your arms crossed but you didn’t seem mad. Just curious.

“Right. Well it was wrong of me to say. You are very smart and capable if it wasn’t obvious from our perfect score on the presentation.” He complimented

“Right, yeah, I know,” you said.

Silence.

“Well if that’s it then I have to go.”

Yoongi reached out for you, grabbing your hand with his much bigger one.

A fierce blush blossomed across his cheeks when u didn’t pull away.

It felt nice to hold your hand.

“I... I also wanted to say that...” this was it.

This was the movement everything changed.

Do or die.

Fight or flight!

“Yes?”

You knew.

He could tell in the way you smiled at him.

The way you raised a perfect eyebrow.

You knew.

It had come down to this.

Yoongi thought back to that day when you had first proposed the idea that he might well be in love with you.

And then he wondered…

Had you been ignoring him…

To prove a point?

It was a fact, psychologically, that distance made the heart grow fonder.

It wasn’t just a saying.

It was a genuine way for couples to appreciate what they had.

A common practice suggested by therapist.

Had you...had you just forced him to come to terms with his-

He cleared his throat.

“You... you were right... about um... your-your theory.”

He couldn’t look at you.

Yoongi was never one to show his true feelings.

Did he even have any?

...

But damn it they were bursting for his every pore at that moment.

He felt you take a step closer to him.

His heart stopped.

He looked up at you slightly.

You had a pleasant smile on your face.

You tightened your grip on his hand.

Your face was getting closer.

His blood pumped through his veins at inhuman speeds.

He could smell your summery perfume.

Your lips were inches away.

Yoongi has kissed girls before.

But something about the prospect of kissing you had him feeling like it was his first kiss all over again.

His eyes fluttered closed.

He puckered his lips.

But the kiss never came.

He opened his eyes only to see your face, still very close.

A smile on your mouth.

The mouth he thought should have been on his.

You reached up with your free hand and plucked something from his forehead.

You showed it to him.

The sticker.

Hoseok’s smiley face.

“You had this on your forehead,” you clarified.

He was mortified.

He’d forgotten...

“My friend....”

Friend.

“My friend put it on me earlier and I guess I forgot about it....”

You shrugged, placing the sticker on his cheek instead.

“Cute,” you said before you got on your toes and placed a soft peck on the places you’d set the sticker.

How-

Did you just-

Was that-

You kissed-

“Do you maybe wanna get an ice cream? We can talk more if you’d like?”

Yoongi nodded dumbly, letting you lead the way.

You smiled up at him.

He smiled down at you.

He reached up and touched the sticker with tender fingers.

He’d have to thank Hoseok later.

Yoongi fucking loved stickers.

Masterllist

#request #bta request #bts #suga #bts yoongi #yoongi fluff #yoongi angst #yoongi smut #yoongi crack #yoongi x reader #yoongi fanfic #bts request #Bts namjoon #bts suga #bts jimin #bts jhope #bts jin #bts jungkook #bts v

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