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kasienda · 3 years

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The Five Minute Adventures of Snake Noir: Ch 6 - Miraculous Abuse

Chapter 1: I Want It To Be You

Chapter 2: Best Friends

Chapter 3: Best Laid Plans

Chapter 4: A Thank You

Chapter 5: Unwanted Revelations

Chapter 6: Miraculous Abuse

If Adrien had avoided using the snake before, he now was operating on the other extreme. Ladybug had told him to abuse it, and he’s not sure she would have meant it quite so literally, but well… he and Nino had come up with a list.

It had started with his homework. If he could finish his homework in far less time, he’d have more time to visit Nino and Marinette. Not that it took a lot of time to visit Marinette as it was usually a loop, so even if he spent hours with her, it never took longer than ten minutes as far as the rest of the world was concerned.

He unfortunately couldn’t do all of his homework in a time loop because that would leave whatever he had completed in the last five minutes erased. But he could do all the reading, researching, planning, and studying in a loop. Anything that didn’t require him to write anything down.

Nathalie had only walked on him transformed once.

“Yes, Nathalie?” he had asked, without looking up from his textbook. He hadn’t even thought about it.

She stood stock still and was dead silent. He glanced towards her with a frown - her eyes were comically wide, but that was the only sign that she was shocked. He glanced down, and remembered he was transformed at Aspik.

Read on Ao3

“Oh shit!”

But it had been easy enough to fix. He just reset, destranformed, waited for Nathalie to come in and deliver his schedule changes for the week and leave, and then he transformed again.

And then Nino had realized if he could pack all of his studying into the space of five minutes, Adrien could surely squeeze in some well deserved leisure time as well.

It only took 71 loops to read a hundred thousand words, and Adrien had long ago discovered the joys of fanfiction, but he had never really had time to read more than a bit here or there. Now? With unlimited time and an entire endless library of things to read based on his favorite games and anime? Let’s just say his current power set brought a whole new meaning to the phrase, “Just One More Chapter.”

And a season of anime was only 119 loops. Hell, he had gotten through all 981 episodes of One Piece in 4532 loops, which was still nothing compared to his time as Aspik, and honestly, far less traumatizing.

He had felt slightly guilty about it. He was literally using the powers of time travel to watch anime.

But when he mentioned it to Nino, his friend had just rolled his eyes. “Dude! You’re thinking about this all wrong. You’re a hero and we need you to be okay. This is about avoiding burnout as much as it is about having a good time. It’s so you get enough of a break and enough sleep to be a competent hero that we all need!”

But eventually the stories and shows hadn’t been enough to hold his attention. And he took another of Nino’s ideas and started paying visits to several of his friends.

He had gone to Kagami first. He had no expectations of healing things with her, but he had always wanted to be able to explain so that his apologies might mean something.

“Chat Noir? Is there an akuma?” she asked by way of greeting.

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ah, no. I wanted to talk to you about something, but I also have to erase your memory after the fact to protect identities. Are you okay with that?”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “You have piqued my curiosity. You may proceed.”

He nodded. He had already activated his power before he had landed in her bedroom that was definitely as lavish as his own if not quite as spacious.

“So… more than anything I wanted to apologize to you?”

She frowned. “I’m unaware of anything that you have done that would require an apology.”

“Kagami, I’m Adrien.”

Her eyes went wide for a second. “Ah, I see.” Then, she nodded.

“That’s it?”

“No, it makes a lot of sense.” And then she did something he never would have expected. She smiled. And most of his tension released.

“I just wanted to explain now that I had the ability to. That I wasn’t ever lying to you or running from our dates because I wanted to.”

“You had to sacrifice your own desires for a higher calling.”

“Yeah, that’s it exactly.”

She smiled at him again. “I appreciate you coming to explain and I understand completely why I can’t remember. May I ask you a question?”

“Of course!”

“Were you never in love with Marinette?”

“Well, I… uh… it was hard to see Marinette when I was completely enamored with Ladybug, but…”

She shook her head. “Are you in love with both of them now?”

“I mean, sortve?” He knew Kagami hated when he ended every sentence as if it was a question. “They’re the same person.”

Kagami sighed. “How disappointing.”

“Disappointing?! She’s amazing!”

“I know, but if she’s Ladybug and you’re Chat Noir, I have never had a chance with either of you.”

He felt like he had been thrown off a cliff. “What? You had feelings for Marinette?”

She grinned. “Well, she is amazing, as you always say. At least I know that I have really good taste.”

“Well, I’m sorry to have ruined all your prospects.”

“I will survive. Neither of you define me as a person.”

“You’re pretty amazing, too, you know,” he told her sincerely.

She nodded. “You honor me.”

He laughed. “Kagami, please don’t get all formal on me. I’m still just me.”

“Well, I hope you know that I appreciate all that you and Ladybug do for the city,” Kagami told him, ignoring his request.

“Thank you, Kagami. That means a lot coming from you.”

She nodded in acknowledgment and he knew he was being dismissed, and then he slid the switch on his bracelet and he was on the roof of her family’s manor once again his heart a little lighter.

He had gone to Alya after that. He had been nervous since she was the one who tended to push him aside as Chat Noir. But his fears proved to be completely unfounded as for the most part she could never stop laughing whenever he revealed himself.

“Wait! You’re Adrien?!”

She burst into cackles immediately.

“Why is that so funny?!” He has demanded the first time.

She had just grinned, shaking her head and still chuckling. “I wish I could explain it to you, sunshine.”

“I already know Marinette is Ladybug,” he said.

“Oh good! Then I don’t have to be panicked about accidentally slipping!” And she went back to rolling on the floor laughing.

“You wouldn’t happen to already know Marinette’s other secret would you?” she asked.

His eyebrows scrunched together under his mask. “Umm… that she’s in love with me as Adrien?”

Her face lit up. “Oh see!! You do get it!”

He shook his head. “I do not get it.”

“The two of you managed to get yourself in a love square. You’ve been chasing each other around like two cute little hamsters in hamster balls.”

He sighed, far less amused than Alya at the current state of his Marinette’s relationship. “I’m really glad someone is getting some joy out of this.”

“Hey!” she objected. “I’m only going to know this for another three minutes! Let me have my fun!”

He held up his hands in surrender, and he was smiling in spite of himself. Maybe some time in the future, after he and Marinette could be together, it would be funny to him, too.

“God! This is why it feels like I’m third-wheeling during akuma fights,” she exclaimed.

“You feel like a third wheel?!” he repeated in disbelief. “Have you seen the chaotic energy that is you and Marinette coming up with a plan together? I am definitely the third wheel in that situation.”

And then she was cackling again. “I’m sorry,” she wheezed. “Nino says I can be a bit of a bulldozer when I’m trying to find a solution to something.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” he said dryly.

All the mirth fled her face and she looked at him in concern. “Hey, you okay?”

He nodded. “It’s not like I’m allowed to be anything else.”

“No, don’t say that! You’re allowed to be upset with me! I deserve it sometimes.”

He shook his head. “I’m never going to hold your ability to defeat an akuma against you. I just… have felt a little unneeded lately,” he admitted.

She stared at him for a second and then she burst into laughter again.

And despite still not getting it, he found himself chuckling, too. Her laughter was just that infectious. “Why do you find this so funny?” he asked.

“Because you’re a literal superhero and a model with more money than god, and a heart of absolute gold. You work with her as Ladybug so well I have to deal with crazy conspiracy theorists on the Ladyblog who think the two of you must be telepathic aliens!”

“What? People don’t think that.”

“They do! And it’s annoying. But my point is you’re the real deal, Agreste, and she’s crazy about you, and you know it, and yet you still manage to doubt yourself.”

“I’m glad my struggles and hang ups are so amusing to you,” he said with a pout.

She sat up and fist bumped his shoulder. “Aww! Sunshine! I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant, your insecurity makes you seem sweeter and cuter. And it makes you seem more human. I don’t mean to mock you in any way.”

He searched her face and only found open sincerity.

“Thanks, Alya.”

“So, does she know that you know?”

“I mean, she doesn’t right now. But I’ve told her. Many many times, but it was just like this and she doesn’t remember.”

She softened. “That sounds difficult.”

“It’s apparently better than the alternative,” he said, going for nonchalance, but he didn’t fool her if her scooching to sit right next to him was anything to go by.

“I wish we could all fix it for you, Adrien.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“How are you?”

He shrugged. “I’m okay at the moment. Some days are worse than others. Nino… Nino has been a godsend.”

She smiled. “He is pretty amazing. He knows outside of a loop?”

“He does.”

“I’m glad you have that, Adrien. Marinette was falling apart at the seams before she told me.”

“Does he know about Marinette?” Adrien asked. Sometimes, it seemed like Nino knew more than he was letting on. But maybe his friend was just really respectful of secrets and didn’t ask questions.

“Not from me! And he hasn’t told me about you being Chat Noir either.”

Adrien glanced toward the window.

“Does it bother you that there are secrets between the two of you?” he finally asked.

“No, not these ones. They’re not our secrets. They’re yours, and they’re Marinette’s, so they’re not ours to share.”

“I'm jealous,” he admitted.

She offered him a sympathetic smile. “Someday, you won’t have to be anymore.”

The Snake beeped it’s first warning. “Time’s just about up.”

She offered him a fist bump and then a hug. He reciprocated both. “I’m glad you stopped by, Sunshine. You’re always welcome any time you think my particular brand of company is something that would help you.”

He grinned. “Thank you, Alya.”

“I look forward to the day when all four of us can just be open about everything,” she said.

He snorted. “You and me both.”

His went to his bodyguard next.

“I just wanted to apologize to you for always running off. I don’t mean to make your job harder or get you into trouble. I am literally running away to save the city.”

His bodyguard didn’t say anything. He never said anything. He had just let out a resigned sigh and then patted Adrien’s shoulder.

Adrien took that as forgiveness and reset the loop. There was no sense in sitting there in awkward silence for another four and a half minutes.

When he had told Nathalie one afternoon at her desk outside her office, she looked horrified - frozen as still as a statue trapped in Medusa’s gaze.

“Nathalie?”

“I… all this time?” she whispered.

“Yeah. I know it’s a lot. I know it causes you a bit of grief when I disappear.”

She waved away his concern. “Right now, we’re in some kind of time loop and I won’t remember?”

“But you will,” she said. It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” he confirmed anyway.

“Adrien, I need you to listen to me.”

He nodded.

“I can never find out. Your father can’t either. If you need something because you’re hurt or cornered, or…” she trailed off.

Was she crying?

She cleared her throat.

“Go to your friends. Their parents. Just… not your father, okay? Or me, because I’d have to inform him.”

His brows furrowed together in confusion. “Okay?” It wasn’t hard to to agree despite how weird she was being. He knew Paris needed him and he also knew that his father would never let him continue. Especially if he was seeking help due to an injury or something.

That’s what Nathalie was referring to, right?

She patted him on the shoulder. It was even more awkward than when his bodyguard had done it.

“Adrien, you’re quite impressive as a hero.”

“Thank you,” he said with a smile.

And then there was Marinette. He had learned that it was impossible to tell her he was Adrien without making her cry, which was frustrating because she was also so much more open and affectionate once she knew.

“How do I get you to not breakdown when I tell you this?” he asked her seriously.

She laughed through her tears. “I’m sorry, kitty. I have no idea. It’s just… it’s not fair.”

He smiled. “That’s what Ladybug always says,” he told her casually. She didn’t know that he knew this go around.

“She’s right! You deserve so much, and life… it’s not fair!”

He turned to her seriously. “I don’t need life to be fair, Mari. I just… don’t want to have to wear a mask all the time.” And then he smiled. “I’m glad that you’re okay with me doing this.”

She nodded tearfully. “Anytime, Kitty. Anytime.”

Then during a regular patrol at one point. He had just realized he wanted to make her laugh. So he spent another few hundred loops figuring out which jokes made her laugh the hardest and which ones were absolute duds. Then, on a day when she was having a hard time, he showed up on her balcony and gave her the best one hour comedy of her life.

Her unrestrained laughter was so explosive she had literally fallen out of her chair. Totally worth it.

“Thank you, kitty,” she said wiping the tears induced by her laughter. “You have no idea how much I needed this.”

He hadn’t argued. “Of course, princess. I am always at your service!”

Then, he started working on the perfect confession. He was trying to see if he could get her to kiss him as Chat Noir without revealing his identity because, you know, that always made her cry.

“Can I use the snake to ask you a very important question?” He has asked Ladybug on patrol.

She nodded, and he activated it.

“What do you think it would take to get you to kiss me?”

She laughed. “Are you serious right now? That is your very important question?”

“It is,” he nodded, but offered her a huge grin so she could take it as a joke if she wanted.

“Why? You haven’t been able to be successful yet?” she teased.

“Oh no! I’ve been super successful. All I really have to do is tell you my name.”

She scoffed.

“No, I’m serious!” he boasted with a huge grin splitting his face knowing she only half believed him.

“So, why don’t you just do that?” she asked seriously.

“Because you always cry! And I don’t want to kiss away your tears. I want to make you smile.”

She got quiet. “You know, we can’t be together right?”

“Yeah Marinette,” he whispered. “I know that really well.”

It was silent.

“How long have you known?” she asked softly.

He had no idea how to answer that question. Because time was now very weird for him. In one sense he had only known for a few weeks, on the other he had literally spent so much time in loops that it had to have been at least twice that at this point. Maybe more.

“A while,” he said. “But we’ve already talked about that to death. I’d much rather figure out how to get you to fall desperately in love with this half of me.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You want me to fall desperately in love with you in five minutes?”

He shrugged. “We have a solid foundation of trust and friendship. I’m not starting from nothing. Plus, I’ve fallen in love in less than five minutes before.” With her. He didn’t think he needed to say that though.

She actually smiled. “Yeah, I’ve fallen in love pretty fast before, too.”

And it occurred to him that he had no idea what had made her fall in love with Adrien. He probably could ask her, but that was one more memory that he wanted her to remember having told him.

He could probably just show up on her balcony as regular old Chat Noir and just say something like, “So, Adrien Agreste, huh?” She’d probably tell him, and she’d even remember it. But she wouldn’t know that it was him she was telling.

How the hell had his life gotten so complicated?

“There’s no way I would start crying just from knowing your name though,” she said. “You have to be making that up.”

He just turned to her and raised his eyebrows.

The expression probably didn’t work as well with his transformation covering them.

But she still hesitated. “There’s no way!” she exclaimed, but then she got a thoughtful look in her eyes. “Unless…”

And then her eyes started welling with tears.

And he almost laughed. But he managed to hold it back.

“Oh, come here, bug,” he said instead, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her to him. And he just held her as she shook silently.

“It’s not fair,” she whispered.

“I know,” he said, and then kissed the top of her head. “I know.”

“Do you see my problem now?” he said after another pause.

And she laughed through her tears, which had been his intention, and he smiled.

She pulled away. “I’ve thought about it before, you know.”

“Thought about what?”

“Letting myself fall for Chat Noir?”

He hugged her tighter. “Yeah?”

“It never seemed like it would be that hard. I think if it hadn’t been for Chat Blanc, it would have happened after New York.”

He laughed. “Really? New York was when I thought maybe I should ask out Marinette.”

She looked up at him in horror. “Oh my god! We’re just perpetually screwed, aren’t we? We’re just going to keep missing each other over and over!”

He kissed her hand. “No m’lady,” he assured. “That can’t happen because now I know, and I can’t forget.”

And then she was crying again, harder. “I don’t want to forget either.”

“I know,” he told her, kissing her hand again. “I promise it won’t be forever.”

“I love you, Adrien.”

“I love you, too.”

And that time, of the two of them, it was he who was stronger and able to slide his fingers across the reset.

And he might have stayed in that loop far longer than he should have trying to figure out the way to the heart he had apparently already won.

He learned that she did enjoy his flirting whatever she said to the contrary, but the moments where he was vulnerable and genuine were the ones that seemed to move her the most.

But none of it was quite enough. If he wanted a kiss, he always had to tell her his name.

But despite his failure, pulling himself out of that loop was the hardest thing he had ever done.

And that’s how he knew he was in trouble.

…

“Nino, you have to take this away from me,” Adrien said, holding out the snake miraculous. He had just arrived and released both his transformations.

Nino took it, his eyebrows pinched together. “What? Why?”

“Because I’m scared I’m going to go into a loop and I’m never going to come out of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look! Being here with you, with you knowing everything, is amazing. It’s the only time I feel like myself, unless,” he held up the bracelet, “I’m using this and… it’s getting harder to pull myself out of the loops.”

“Your visits to Ladybug?”

“Yeah,” Adrien admitted. “She told me to go every single day so I would remember what it was like to be loved,” he paused for a second, trying to swallow the sudden lump in his throat. “The problem is I really really like being loved.”

And then he couldn’t hold the tears back anymore.

Nino pulled him by the arm down to the ground and sat right next to him shoulder to shoulder.

Adrien buried his face in his hands.

“For the record, dude,” Nino whispered. “You are loved even outside a loop with Ladybug.”

Adrien threw his arms around Nino. “I honestly don’t know why you put up with me at this point. I feel like you have to put up with a lot.”

Nino grinned. “Hey! I happen to like hanging out with you! This shift has been awesome because I get to see you way more often.”

“And I’m not like messing up date night with Alya or anything, am I?”

“Nah!” Nino waves away his concern. “Alya and I hangout in the mornings and during lunch. Lately Marinette has monopolized her evenings.”

Adrien managed to keep a straight face at that. “If you and her ever do need a day away from the children, I’m sure Marinette and I can figure out a way to take care of ourselves for a day.”

Nino burst out laughing.

“What?! I’m a big boy and Marientte’s a big girl. We can take care of ourselves.”

Nino just shook his head, still snickering.

“Maybe all four of us could do something some time,” Nino suggested, his eyes sparkling.

Adrien narrowed his eyes. Did Nino know? He knew he couldn’t ask without giving it away, and he had just handed over the snake.

“That sounds really nice,” Adrien said, knowing he wouldn’t be able to handle going on a double date that he had to pretend wasn’t a double date. But someday.

He wanted to cry again, but his eyes remained dry.

“So, you just want me to keep it?” Nino asked, holding up the bracelet. “Should I hide it here in the room? Or wear it?”

“Wear it,” Adrien said. That was the only way Nino would know where it was at all times. “But don’t use it. Not even for an akuma.”

He didn’t want Nino to ever experience a loop on the battlefield. Not if he could help it.

“I reserve the right to come save your ass if necessary,” Nino said as he slipped the miraculous around his wrist.

Adrien laughed. “Okay, but please don’t unless you absolutely have to. I don’t need Ladybug pissed at me for giving away a miraculous.”

Nino frowned at him then. “Why are you giving this to me, instead of back to her?”

Adrien’s answer to that was complicated. Partly because he didn’t want Marinette to know that his loops with her were hurting him even as they gave him hope, and he definitely didn’t want her to know that he had fallen to the point of being borderline addicted.

But there was also a strategic element to his choice. He could approach Nino in either form, and Nino would know to trust him.

“You know who I am,” Adrien finally said.

“Will you be okay without it?” Nino asked.

Adrien shrugged. “I don’t know. But I’m definitely not okay with it right now.” He paused, then looked at Nino. “I might be texting and calling you a lot over the next few days.”

Nino laughed. “I can’t promise to answer right away all the time, but you can always do that, man. Always.”

Adrien let his head fall onto Nino’s shoulder. “Have I ever told you that you’re the absolute best?”

“I could stand to hear it a few more times,” Nino said.

Adrien grinned. “Noted.”

…

Chapter 7: The Five Minute Adventures of Ananta

#miraculous ladybug fan fiction #marichat #platonic adrino #trigger warning: addiction #hurt comfort #coping #identity reveal #time loops #The five minute adventures of snake noir #a miraculous reveal #ml spoilers #ml s4 #my own content #this fic writes itself #I'm just the channel #happy reading

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grailfinders · 4 years

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Fate and Phantasms #59: Jeanne d’Arc

Today on Fate and Phantasms, we’re finally finishing up the original roster of servants with The Maiden of Orleans, Jeanne d’Arc! As you might expect from the holy maiden, Jeanne is 100% a Cleric, protecting her soldiers as she leads the charge.

Check out the level-by-level breakdown below the cut, or the build summary over here!

I’d also like to thank everyone who likes or reblogs these posts; I thought this would be a really niche topic, but this blog now has more followers than my main! We’ve still got plenty of servants to go after this, so I hope you’ll continue to enjoy them.

Race and Background

Like most servants, Jeanne’s a Human. Rather, she’s a bundle of magical energy roughly based on the impact a human made on history, but that’s a mouthful, and also not a race, so we’ll stick with Human. This gives her +1 to all stats.

Jeanne’s your typical Folk Hero; came from humble beginnings, achieved great things through sheer determination, and died a fiery death at the hands of those she saved. That last part’s not typical, but it’s also not part of a person’s background. Being a folk hero gives you proficiency with Animal Handling and Survival. You grew up on a farm, so that’s not too wild.

Stats

You receive visions from a higher power, and know other servants’ True Names on sight. That’s pretty wise, so your Wisdom has to be pretty high. Despite having zero formal education, you can argue theology with the best of them through sheer conviction- that’s Charisma. Third is Constitution; you have a martyr complex, so it helps to have some health in the first place before you go throwing it away to save others. Fourth is Dexterity, because it’s just more helpful here. Your Strength isn’t great. I know canon Jeanne can fold street lamps like pretzels, but sacrifices had to be made somewhere. Finally, dump Intelligence. Remember that “zero formal education” thing from earlier? Yeah.

Class Levels

1. Being a Cleric is a given, but being a catholic complicated our choice of domain a bit. Since you’re a monotheist, God falls under every domain, but your personal power set fits best in the Protection domain from an Unearthed Arcana. First level clerics get Spells, which they cast and prepare using their Wisdom. Protection clerics also get a Shield of the Faithful, letting them react to stick a shield or arm between an attacking creature and their target within 5′ of you. This makes the target harder to hit, imposing disadvantage on the attack.

You also have proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma saves, as well as two cleric skills. You’re a part of History, and I’m sure God’ll fill in any blanks you need to know. Religion is an option, but you’re not educated, just really persistent. That’s Persuasion.

For cantrips, Light will help your dumb human eyes see in the dark and make your flag all glowy for your noble phantasms. Mending will help keep the soldiers’ uniforms in one piece while on campaign, and Spare the Dying will help keep the soldiers in one piece while on campaign.

Clerics prepare their spells, so your exact spell list isn’t a part of character creation, but I’ll still go over some to keep in mind. Compelled Duel and Protection from Evil and Good are part of your domain spell list, so you get them for free. The former can keep your squishier teammates safe by forcing an enemy to target you, while the latter can keep a key member safe from aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. Given the number of golems you end up fighting most events, this is a good spell to keep on hand. Some other spells to keep in mind are Bless and Shield of Faith for combat support, and Healing Word to keep everyone on their feet.

Finally, the question of what weapons to use. The closest thing to a flagpole on the simple weapon list would probably be a Spear, used two-handed. However, your strength isn’t going to be great; you’ll mostly be using this to wave your banner around. You should also keep a Dagger on hand as well. I’d prefer a shortsword, but a dagger’s is the only simple finesse weapon, so it’s what we have to put up with.

2. At second level you can Channel Divinity once per short rest. As a protection cleric, you have two options to pick from.

Turn Undead forces a wisdom save on undead within 30′ of you or they have to run away for a minute or until it takes damage.

Radiant Defense channels holy energy into an ally within 30′ of you as an action. The first time they take damage in the next minute, that energy is released on the attacker, dealing 2d10+your level in radiant damage.

3. Third level clerics get second level spells, including your domain spells Aid and Protection from Poison. The former increases three creatures’ HP totals by five for eight hours, while the latter does exactly what the name describes. Some other spells to look at include Prayer of Healing for when you can’t quite take a short rest, Lesser Restoration for disease and conditions, and Augury to start getting some divine visions.

4. Use your first ASI to become a Heavy Armor Master. This reduces all nonmagical slashing, bludgeoning, and piercing damage by 3 while wearing heavy armor. Calling what you wear “heavy” armor is a bit generous, but you’re throwing yourself in front of the enemy with d8s for hit dice, you can be a bit generous with yourself.

You also get another cantrip this level. Resistance adds a d4 to an ally’s saving throw, for when you need to be sure Spartacus doesn’t get charmed.

5. At fifth level, your Turn Undead transforms into Destroy Undead. Now when undead of CR 1/2 or lower fail the save, they just die instantly.

You also get third level spells, including domain spells Protection from Energy and Slow. Sometimes an idiot lizard is throwing fire all over the place and you just don’t want to deal with it, and sometimes the DM gives you a maralith with seven extra attacks. These spells help protect the party from those situations. Some other spells to check out are Aura of Vitality for health regeneration, Beacon of Hope to give your party something to rally around, Daylight for the aesthetic, and Mass Healing Word for when your whole party plays barbarians.

6. You can now Channel Divinity twice between rests, and you are a Blessed Healer. Rather than just healing Brian Blessed, this means that whenever you cast a spell to heal someone else, you also gain life; 2+ the spell’s level, to be exact.

7. Seventh level clerics get fourth level spells. Your domain spells are Guardian of Faith and Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere. The former isn’t that in-character for you, but the latter gives a creature Invincibility at the cost of trapping them inside a hamster ball. Another spell to look over is Divination to ask the big man a question that burning you up inside.

8. Use your next ASI to become an Inspiring Leader. Give the party a 10 minute speech to give them temporary hit points equal to your level + your charisma modifier. You may not know anything about tactics, military history, who you’re fighting, or why you’re fighting, but you’ve got heart, dammit! And that counts for something!

Also, your Destroy Undead kills at CR 1, and you gain a Divine Strike. Once per turn, you can add 1d8 Radiant damage to an attack for some extra holy favor.

9. Ninth level clerics get fifth level spells, including your final domain spells Antilife Shell and Wall of Force. The former can protect you from other creatures, so long as they aren’t forced through the barrier. The latter creates a solid wall between your party and danger, and is likely the closest you’ll get to invincibility at this level. For other spells, Dawn creates a cylinder of radiant damage you can move around the battlefield, and Mass Cure Wounds cures massive amounts of wounds.

10. You learn to call upon Divine Intervention. You use your action to beg the DM for a literal Deus Ex Machina, and roll percentile dice. If you roll lower than your level, you get some help. You can use this feature once per long rest, but if you succeed you have to wait a week before you use it again.

You also get another cantrip. Guidance lets you back seat game with the help of God, giving a creature a d4 it can add to one ability check.

11. Your Destroy Undead cranks up to killing anything CR 2 or lower, and you can prepare 6th level spells. Find the Path is another form of your Revelation skill, letting you find the most direct route to a chosen location, as long as that location stays in one place on the same plane. You could also check out Heal for, you guessed it, more healing.

12. Use your next ASI to become a leader on the battlefield with Tandem Tactician. Now you can Help as a bonus action with a range of 10 feet, and you can help on two attacks if they’re aimed at the same enemy. You’re not that accurate, so why not help out the who are?

13. Thirteenth level clerics get a Divine Strike Improvement, adding an extra d8 of radiant damage when you use it. You also learn seventh level spells! Divine Word can cripple weakened enemies, and more importantly it forces extraplanar creatures back to their own world for 24 hours. Regenerate is even more healing that you won’t have to pay attention to.

14. Your Destroy Undead increases to affect CR 3 undead. Now Mummies and Wights will tremble before your might! ...Isn’t it weird how the other Channel Divinity option doesn’t get any stronger?

15. Fifteenth level clerics get eighth level spells. Holy Aura will protect your party from anything Wall of Force won’t, Antimagic Field will give you a command spell to counteract most of the nonsense the other servants might be using.

16. Use your ASI to bump up your Wisdom for stronger spell saves.

17. Your Destroy Undead now destroys undead of CR 4 or lower, letting you instantly banish any ghost that comes your way. You also gain an Indomitable Defense. At the end of short or long rests, you can resist two types of damage from the following: Bludgeoning, Necrotic, Piercing, Radiant, and Slashing. You can also use your action to pass these resistances to another creature, who’ll hold onto them until your next rest or until you spend a bonus action to take them back.

Finally, you get 9th level spells! Mass Heal and Power Word: Heal will maximize your healing powers to help the rest of your party stay not dead.

18. You can now Channel Divinity three times per short rest.

19. Use your last ASI to round up your Dexterity for more accuracy and better saves and Charisma for more rousing speeches.

20. At your capstone level, your Divine Intervention Improvement means your calls for some holy help are always successful.

Pros:

You can set up a very strong Defense, shutting down and blocking out enemy attacks and spells. You can impose disadvantage, physically block their advance, counter any magic within 30′ of you, or make their attacks blow up in their face with some Radiant Defense.

Whatever damage does go through won’t be a problem thanks to all your Healing, keeping the rest of the party on their feet until the battle’s won.

Intelligence might be your dump stat, but you’ve got a hotline to the one who knows all, so it’s not a big deal. Spells like Divination and Find the Path will help keep the party pointed in the right direction.

Cons:

You can’t really do all that much on your own, offensively speaking. Your highest attacking stat is a 14, and that will only help you swing a dagger around.

Your physical stats aren’t that good in general. 143 HP isn’t bad for a caster, but you want to be on the front lines, so it could be an issue. Aid is a great way to cover this weakness, but that does mean you’ll be spending spells to do so. Your low strength also means you’re stuck with the weakest heavy armor available, so your AC isn’t amazing.

You don’t need to worry about getting hit if the enemy has to shoot through a wall though, so stay on the defensive and pray your allies will take up arms with you.

Next up: Animal Abuse!

#Fate Grand Order #fgo #D&D 5e #Jeanne d'Arc #Fate and Phantasms

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angelofthequeers · 5 years

Text

Happy Holmium

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

My @mlsecretsanta gift for @wedontdeservenino! I hope you enjoy! ❤️💚

AO3 link

“Happy Holmium, Marinette!”

The mere sight of Adrien doesn’t make Marinette want to die now after months of shifting her focus to being his friend over asking him out, but he can’t just look over his shoulder and wave like that and expect her to be okay with –

Wait. What?

“Happy what?” Marinette says.

“Don’t encourage him,” Nino groans. “He’s so proud of it, like he thinks he deserves a freaking award for it.”

“Happy Holmium!” Adrien grins like the cat that got the cream. “Get it? Ho? For holmium? Ho, ho, ho? I could go with Merry Chromium if you prefer!” he adds when Marinette and Alya join Nino in groaning and thumping their heads on the desk.

“I can’t believe I want to marry you,” Marinette mumbles into the desktop.

“Huh?” Adrien says. Marinette lets out a small shriek and whips her head up.

“Nothing!” she cries, waving her hands around and praying to whoever might be listening that her face isn’t turning as scarlet as her alter-ego’s suit.

“Smooth,” Alya snickers, also lifting her head.

“Attention, class!” Ms Bustier calls. “I know it's the final class of the day and your attention may be drifting elsewhere, but I'd like it if you could at least listen to this. Then you can go back to pretending to listen while I pretend to believe you.”

Snickers are heard all around the room, especially when Ms Bustier looks at Kim and Nathaniel. Nathaniel laughs sheepishly, while Kim just gives an impish grin and crosses his arms.

“I thought that since this is your last Christmas with me before you all go to lycée, we could do something a little fun,” Ms Bustier says. “A Secret Santa!”

Excited murmuring breaks out across the room. Except for Adrien, who raises his hand and says, “Um, what’s a Secret Santa?”

“Oh, you poor, sheltered boy,” Chloé drawls, and Sabrina snickers. It’s really been quite astonishing to watch Chloé’s slow, heel-dragging progress from a horrific jerk into a jerk with a heart of gold since being given a second chance with the Bee Miraculous. Marinette suspects that it’s mostly to do with Pollen’s influence pushing her to be a better person outside the mask as well as behind it, but if a kwami’s guidance means continued respite from Chloé’s bullying, Marinette’s not exactly going to complain.

“Now, now, Chloé,” Ms Bustier chides. “Adrien, a Secret Santa is where you draw a random name and must give a gift to that person. I’m giving you all until the last day of term to finalise your gifts, in case anyone wants to get creative, but you must participate. I thought it would be a nice reminder of the bonds you’ve all forged before you leave for lycée.”

“Can we give gifts to people other than our Secret Santa?” Lila pipes up. “Even if I don’t get Adrien, I still have the perfect gift for him. I’m sure you’ll love it, Adrien!”

“Aww!” Rose coos. “That’s so thoughtful of you, Lila!”

Marinette meets Adrien’s gaze and rolls her eyes. Her cheeks grow warm when he immediately hides his mouth behind his hand, no doubt concealing the grin he can’t hold back. Meanwhile, Alya mutters something that sounds vaguely like, “Can’t believe I ever fell for her bull.”

“Of course you can, Lila,” Ms Bustier says. “But your focus must be on the recipient that you draw, otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to them.”

“Oh, of course!” Lila says. “I promise!”

“Right.” Ms Bustier picks up the small box on her desk and shakes it. The sound of rustling fills the air. “When I call on you, come and draw a name from the box. And no re-drawing! That’s not in the spirit of Christmas. Chloé, you first.”

It’s impossible to tell who Chloé had gotten, since she gives no visible reaction, so Marinette can only conclude that she hadn’t gotten Lila or Adrien, since she’d be utterly disgusted or utterly delighted respectively. Next up is Sabrina, then Adrien, and Marinette’s stomach jolts because what if Adrien draws her name? What kind of present would he get her? Oh, she’d die if she got a gift from Adrien –

“Marinette!” Ms Bustier says loudly. Marinette jumps and squeaks and stumbles to the front of the class, ignoring the way Alya’s very pointed look is scorching the back of her neck. She dips her hand into the box, rummages for a second, pulls out a neatly-folded piece of paper, and unfolds it to reveal…Adrien Agreste.

No. Way. She gets to be Adrien’s Secret Santa! Oh, this is perfect! She’ll give him the perfect gift, and he’ll declare his undying love for her, and they’ll run away to an island and get married and have three kids and a hamster –

“Is there a problem, Marinette?” Ms Bustier says.

“N-No! Sorry!” Marinette babbles and rushes back to her seat. Why is she getting so carried away? She hasn’t been like this around Adrien for ages!

“Nice!” Alya hisses with a wide grin when she returns from picking her name and they show each other who they’d drawn. Alya had gotten Rose, which should be easy enough, considering that Rose likes anything pink and flowery and nice-smelling. “What are you gonna get him?”

“I don’t know!” Marinette says. “And after that Christmas disaster last year, I don’t wanna mess this up!”

Alya pats her on the back. “You’ll think of something, girl. You always do.”

Finding the perfect gift for Adrien is all Marinette can think about for the whole afternoon, to the point where Alya eventually shakes her head in disgust and gives up on trying to engage Marinette in conversation at all. It’s not until she’s home and scribbling ideas down in one of her notebooks that she finally speaks for the first time since learning that Adrien is her recipient.

“Rubbish! Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!” She tears the page out of her notebook and scrunches it up, then throws it across the room. “None of this is good enough for him!”

“You’re overthinking things, Marinette,” Tikki says. “Your gift doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to have love poured into it. Like the scarf you made for him!”

“Yeah and look how well that turned out.” Marinette drops her notebook and buries her face in her hands with a groan.

“It did turn out well,” Tikki says patiently. Well, if one happens to be a god of however many thousands of years, patience is probably a necessity for one’s mental survival. “Adrien loved it because it was handmade and full of love. The only reason he didn’t know it was from you was because your signature somehow got lost. But this time, you’re giving the gift to him in person, so he’ll know it’s from you!”

“True. True. Okay…” Marinette takes a deep breath and looks back down at her notebook. “I can do this. I can – no, I can’t! I’m gonna screw this up and he’ll never want to be my friend again!”

“Would you be freaking out like this if it was anyone else?” Tikki says.

“No!” Marinette says. “But Adrien is…how many good gifts does he get, Tikki? Remember last year? His father only let us go to his house after he ran away. I have to make this gift perfect for him!”

“Marinette!” Tikki rests her tiny hands on Marinette’s cheeks. “Adrien would be happy if you gave him a sock, so long as there was love put into it! Maybe you should take a break from this.”

“But I can’t! I have –”

“– three weeks to design and create your gift. One night won’t be disastrous. If you take a step back and clear your head, you can come back with fresh eyes and maybe think of something extraordinary!”

Marinette takes a deep breath and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Right. You’re right. It’s just like artist’s block when I’m designing. Tikki, if we headed for patrol a little earlier, would you mind –?”

“Not at all, Marinette! Ready when you are!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

Although it’s not snowing, the Parisian night air is freezing enough to bite as Ladybug leaps and hops across the rooftops towards the Eiffel Tower. By the time she arrives and swings up to the top, her face is chilly and stinging and her breath billows out in front of her as though she’s a ladybug-scaled dragon.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in,” Chat Noir grins from his perch on the edge of the Tower’s tip. Ladybug just rolls her eyes and plops down next to him, ignoring the heat radiating from his damn cat body because there’s no way she’s going to give him the satisfaction of cuddling up to him for warmth.

“Ha, ha,” Ladybug drawls.

“Don’t you mean Happy Holmium?” Chat Noir says, and Ladybug freezes. “Get it? Holmium?”

“Ho, ho,” she breathes as Ladybug.exe starts to crash. Chat Noir beams – no, it’s Adrien, it’s Adrien behind that mask, how did she never see it before…but what are the chances of Adrien being Chat? Then again, what are the chances that both are spouting the exact same joke?

And it’s not like they don’t look similar. Blond hair, green eyes…she’d just always assumed that they were green because of the Miraculous, like hers had been as Lady Noire, but if they’re naturally green…

“Milady?” Chat Noir says. Ladybug jumps and squeaks.

“Fine! I’m fine!” she babbles. “I guess all I want for Christmas is yttrium, oxygen, and uranium!”

Oh my god. Did I really just say that to Adrien?

Chat Noir blinks and frowns, then snorts and slaps a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter. “Why, bugaboo, if you wanted me for Christmas, all you had to do was ask,” he says. “We have real chemistree, don’t you think?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ladybug says. It’s Chat Noir. Adrien, yes, but it’s Chat Noir, her dorky partner. And besides, she hasn’t been a disaster around Adrien for a while now, so she’s not going to slide right back into turning into one in his presence, thank you very much. Or his presents, as he would say. “You’ll have to try harder than that to make me helium.”

“He, he. Really?” Chat Noir raises an eyebrow. “Gotta step up your game.”

Ladybug sniffs and tosses her hair. “Na. Don’t be sodium salty.”

“But milady, you make my heart undergo an exothermic reaction!” Chat Noir clasps at his heart and leans against Ladybug, who pushes him away out of sheer habit rather than because she wants to. Since he’s super warm. That’s it.

“Your heart is nothing but nitrogen, oxygen, and iridium,” Ladybug says. Chat Noir pouts.

“Don’t we have patrol, milady?” he says.

“Oh, so you can start it, but you can’t take the reaction?” Ladybug smirks, climbing to her feet. She helps Chat Noir up, winks, and says, “Well, at least I’m well-prepared for the Chemistry test on Friday.”

“If you ever need my tutoring services in future, all you have to do is ask,” Chat Noir says with his usual roguish grin. Hmm. Nice recovery.

“I’ll be sure to pass that on to the five-year-olds,” Ladybug says and reaches out to flick his bell. Then she’s off, swinging away from the Eiffel Tower before Chat Noir can recover his wits, trying not to think about the fact that she’d just done that to Adrien because if she lets her brain think about that little fact, she’ll splat on the streets below.

But hey, at least now she knows exactly what gift to give to Adrien for the Secret Santa!

“Alright, class!” Ms Bustier claps her hands, and everyone quiets down and turns to face the front. “I hope you’ve all got your gifts prepared, because today is Secret Santa day!”

Adrien’s classmates start to cheer, but Adrien’s too busy bouncing in his seat with anticipation to find out who his Secret Santa is. Is it Nino? Or Marinette? Or, heck, even Chloé? Just so long as it’s not Lila. Thank god she hadn’t been his Secret Santa recipient because after all the crap she’s pulled, no way could he make himself put good effort into getting her a gift.

“When I draw out your name, come to the front of the class,” Ms Bustier says, shaking her little box of names from when their recipients had been announced. “Then your Secret Santa will step forward and give their gift.” She reaches into the box, pulls out a slip of paper, unfolds it, and says, “Kim!”

“Aw, yeah!” Kim bursts out of his seat and skids to a halt next to Ms Bustier, who looks like she’s trying her best to be Teacherly Strict and not laugh at his antics. “C’mon, who got me?”

“Thankfully, not me!” Alix calls, and the class snickers at her quip. Kim beams and flips her off.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see that,” Ms Bustier says. “Who was Kim’s Secret Santa?”

After a moment, there’s the sound of someone sliding out of their seat from the back of the class. Adrien tries his very hardest not to slump in relief when he turns and sees that it’s Lila making her way to the front of the class with a neatly-wrapped red present. He tries. But he’s not sure how successful he is, especially at the plastic quality of her smile when she passes him.

“Buon Natale, Kim!” Lila chirps, handing over her gift. Kim whoops and tears the paper off to reveal a shoebox. “I’m so sorry, I would’ve loved to get you an autograph from –”

“Are you kidding?” Kim crows as he yanks the lid off the box. “New sneakers! Thanks, Lila, you’re the best!”

Adrien bites down on his lip to smother his laughter when Kim pulls Lila in for what looks like a super tight one-armed hug and she’s forced to smile brightly and grit out something about it being no trouble at all. Soon enough, Kim and Lila are returning to their seats, and Adrien carefully doesn’t look at Lila so that he doesn’t lose the battle against his laughter.

“Time for our next recipient!” Ms Bustier pulls out another name. “Nathaniel!”

Nathaniel’s Secret Santa turns out to be Juleka, who gifts him a small framed painting in dark colours. Although her artistry isn’t the best, Nathaniel’s bouncing on the spot as he throws his arms around Juleka, and Adrien can’t help but smile at the sight. Both Nathaniel and Juleka understand what it means to be creative from the heart, after all, even if their mediums differ.

Nino’s up next, and his gift from Max is a track of songs that Markov had helped Max create “based on the statistics of your music preferences”. Mylène’s gift from Rose is a pretty, handmade yellow rose pin (“because yellow roses mean friendship!”), and she beams and immediately clips it to her sweater next to her Ladybug pin. Then it’s Marinette’s turn to receive her Secret Santa gift from Ivan, which turns out to be a little black cat plushie with bright green eyes, green paw pads, and a bell attached to its neck.

“I know you like Chat Noir,” Ivan mumbles, scratching the back of his head. “So, I thought…well, I’ve got a friend who makes plushies, and she agreed to make that one for you…”

“It’s perfect!” Marinette stands on her tiptoes to kiss Ivan on the cheek. “Thank you so much, Ivan! I can’t believe it’s handmade!”

Marinette…likes Chat Noir? Enough to receive a handmade plushie based on him? Well, obviously, considering the whole Weredad incident, but…Adrien wasn’t aware that she still felt so strongly about him. He swallows and looks away, otherwise the pure joy on Marinette’s face will do leave him with some very unwelcome thoughts, considering that he’s supposed to be in love with Ladybug.

Wait. Supposed to be? He is in love with Ladybug!

“Adrien!” Ms Bustier says.

“Present!” Adrien blurts out. Everyone else snickers.

“Yes, Adrien, come and receive your present,” says a clearly-amused Ms Bustier. Adrien undertakes the walk of shame with warm cheeks, but the spring is back in his step in no time because now he gets to find out who his Secret Santa is! And what they’re going to give him! Every gift except for Lila’s has been handmade so far, and his gift for Chloé is a friendship bracelet in the colours of Queen Bee, so he can only imagine what his gift will be! “Okay, who was Adrien’s Secret Santa?”

Adrien’s eyes, attuned to the slightest of movements, jump to the dark-haired girl slipping out of her seat with a lumpy red package in her hands. Marinette! His Secret Santa is Marinette! How did he get so lucky? She’s so sweet and talented and amazing, so any gift from her is going to have love poured into it to the seams!

“Happy Christmas, Adrien,” Marinette says with pink cheeks as she hands over her gift, which is soft and squishy. Adrien tries not to look too eager as he runs his finger along the tape and tears the paper off to reveal…a red jacket with black spots? A Ladybug jacket?

“How did you know I liked Ladybug?” Adrien blurts out. Marinette’s pink cheeks darken to crimson.

“Just a lucky guess!” she says. “There’s more if you unfold it!”

There’s a card nestled in the jacket, so Adrien carefully sets it on Ms Bustier’s desk and then unfolds the jacket, and his breath catches in his throat. On the back, in black lettering, is stitched Happy Holmium! with a sprig of holly berries, except that the red berries have black ladybug spots and little black cat paws have been embroidered through the green holly leaves.

“Seriously?” Nino groans when Adrien holds the jacket up. “You’re encouraging that joke?”

“It wasn’t bad,” Marinette argues.

“Finally, someone who appreciates my dashing wit!” Adrien says. He shrugs off his black designer jacket and slips on Marinette’s jacket as fast as he physically can, running his hands over the fleecy material with an undoubtedly goofy grin on his face. “You made me a jacket!”

“Yeah!” Marinette nods rapidly. “Um…you should probably read your card.”

Inside the envelope Adrien had set on Ms Bustier’s desk is a Christmas card with a photo of Ladybug on the front, no doubt from Alya’s extensive stash. But it’s what’s inside the card that makes Adrien’s breath catch in his throat:

Dear Adrien,

Happy Holmium! You’re one of my dearest friends and I’m so lucky to have you in my life, especially since I’d say we have real chemistree. You make my heart undergo an exothermic reaction and all I want for Christmas is yttrium, oxygen, and uranium, even if your heart is nitrogen, oxygen, and iridium. At least I’m not sodium salty over puns. You’ll have to try harder to make me helium next time.

Love,

Marinette

Exothermic reaction? Chemistree? Y-O-U and N-O-Ir? Sodium salty and helium? But…how? There’s only one person who knows that all those specific jokes had passed between him and…Ladybug.

“No way,” he breathes. Her cheeks now dark scarlet, Marinette looks down at the ground, twisting the toe of her boot against the wooden floor. Dark pigtails, bright blue eyes…kind, sweet, warm, amazing…she’s been in front of him the whole time! “You – I don’t –”

“Can we hurry this up?” Alix complains. “Some of us have gifts to get, y’know! And give,” she hastily adds when Ms Bustier looks at her.

Adrien reaches out, almost in a daze, and runs his fingers along Marinette’s cheek and down to her chin, giving her just enough of a nudge to raise her head. Those bluebell eyes punch him in the gut, leaving him breathless and unable to breathe, and before he knows what he’s doing, he’s cupping her face and leaning in and the class is audibly holding their breaths.

“Milady?” he murmurs against her mouth, so quiet that only the two of them can hear. Marinette gives him a soft little smile and at that moment, Adrien wonders how the hell he’s never realised that she’s Ladybug, because she’s just as radiant.

“You should be careful who you joke with, kitty,” Marinette replies. “Hearing the same joke again is old.”

Adrien huffs out a laugh, which Marinette mirrors, her eyes crinkling and lighting up as she laughs too. His eyes dart to her lips, a movement that doesn’t go unnoticed as she also chances a peek at his mouth. But just as Adrien’s leaning in –

“Excuse me, Ms Bustier, but Alix is right!” Lila’s sickly-sweet voice rings clear in the classroom, and Adrien jumps away from Marinette and scratches the back of his head with a little laugh. “We really should get through the rest of the Secret Santas!”

“Aww, come on, Lila!” Rose says. “We’ve been waiting so long for this to happen!”

“It’s okay,” Adrien says. He reaches out to take Marinette’s hand, and she flushes as red as her alter-ego’s suit and looks away while biting her lip. “We can finish this later. Right, princess?”

“Aww!” all the girls coo, apart from Lila.

“Y-Yeah,” Marinette stammers. “Sorry, we’re just holding the whole class up.”

“Don’t apologise,” Ms Bustier says with a wide grin and another name in her hand. “It’s wonderful to see such love at Christmas! Rose, you’re up next! Although I doubt anyone can outdo Adrien and Marinette here.”

Christmas card and original jacket in hand, Adrien heads back to his seat with Marinette behind him, squeezing past Rose on her way to the front. As Rose squeals over the miniature notebook of pressed flowers from Alya, Adrien turns in his seat and catches Marinette’s eye, winking when she finally looks at him. She blushes and looks down, and although Adrien wishes he could pull out the old Chat Noir charm and delight in the fact that his lady really does love him back, they can do that later. After all, they’ve got all the time in the world now.

“Happy Holmium, Adrien!” Marinette says with a little giggle that lights up his world. Adrien beams back.

“Happy Holmium, Marinette,” he says.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fic #aotq fic #ml secret santa #chemistry jokes #marinette dupain-cheng #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #miracuclass #dorks in love #love square #identity reveal #secret santa #adrinette #adrienette

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kissjane · 4 years

Text

ANIMAL COMPANY / (Not so) Short fic

#13 from this prompt list

Guys! That’s it! This is the last one from the list! I did it! The file for these is 64.5k words, and I did them all in two months. It was super fun, but not gonna lie, I’m glad to be done with it. And as promised to a certain evil mastermind, “Mouse AU” is the last one posted.

Both going to grab the same thing and touching hands, then making eye contact

For all Lucas’ lamenting about wanting to live alone, so he could walk around naked, eat pizza at every hour of the day, and never have to listen to any of his roommates get it on ever again, now that he actually was living out that long-desired dream, he was… lonely, for lack of a better word.

When he had realized he was talking to himself, and replying, he had figured he needed something alive to keep him company.

And so he had decided to go to the pet store, to see if he could actually commit to the immense job of keeping an innocent animal happy, healthy and alive.

It was, however, not an easy task. He’d had a staring contest with a black-and-white cat, and he’d been playing for a while with a cute Pomeranian, but he hadn’t fallen in love. The birds had been entertaining for a while, and he actually felt a connection with this yellow puff that kept flying into the cage and seemed to love taking baths and ruffling its feathers, but when the store clerk had started explaining about shells to sharpen their claws and different grain mixes and fake eggs for the bird to breed on, he’d given up.

The fish were pretty, but boring, and the tortoises had a temper. Lucas didn’t feel like sharing his flat with a snappy, mean animal – he was perfectly fine filling out that slot all by himself, thank you.

He had tried to find the walking sticks between the non-walking ones, and given up after a few minutes. The ant farm reminded him too much of a middle school science project. A chicken sounded good in theory – a fresh egg daily was a big boon – but the idea of a chicken in a flat was preposterous. And while he was all for recycling and taking care of the environment, a worm composting station just sounded dirty.

So he was getting a bit desperate, wandering further down the aisles. He turned a corner, and suddenly found himself in front of a cage with one single white mouse in it.

The animal was sitting up on its haunches, looking at Lucas, its whiskers trembling as it sniffed. It looked kinda cute, and Lucas wanted to pet it, to see if maybe he could take this tiny thing home. He opened the cage and reached out for the tiny animal, when suddenly a large hand, with silver rings on multiple fingers, carefully grabbed the mouse right before Lucas could.

“Hey!”, Lucas protested without thinking, turning towards the intruder. “I was going to pet him!”

“Well, I guess…”, a male voice replied, and the hand was extended towards Lucas, not letting go of the mouse.

Lucas gingerly extended a finger towards the animal’s fur, and touched it, trying hard to stroke the frightened little thing, who was now squeaking loudly. However, the hand of the guy was kinda in the way, and so Lucas looked up, and – promptly forgot all about the mouse.

The hand with all the silver rings appeared to belong to some sort of ethereal creature right out of Lucas’ gayest fantasies.

“So did you pet him enough?”, the god in front of him said, but Lucas suddenly had difficulty understanding French.

“Huh?”, he croaked out, undignified, sounding rather like the frogs he had given wide berth earlier.

The guy laughed, and fuck, if it wasn’t like the sun broke through the clouds and lit up the whole store.

“Did that satisfy your urge to pet him? I mean, I don’t mind if you want to do it again, but I promised Brian a mouse soon, so, yeah…”

His voice died off apologetically, and Lucas swallowed back a lump.

It was stupid, really, to get disappointed. Men like this weren’t put on earth for Lucas, as much as he might wish it to be otherwise. Of course this guy had better things to do than stand in a pet store with a mouse in his goddamn sexy hands, being drooled over by a total stranger.

“Oh! Oh, uh, yeah,” he said, praying his cheeks weren’t as red as they felt. “Sorry, uh, yeah, sure. Wouldn’t want to keep Brian waiting.” He chuckled in embarrassment.

The guy nodded emphatically.

“Yeah, my baby boy gets a bit impatient sometimes, so…”

Oh. Lucas hadn’t given too much thought as to who or what Brian might be, but it made sense. He pictured a cute toddler with the same messy hair and grey eyes as his dad – fucking adorable, there was no other word for it, waiting anxiously for its new pet. His vivid imagination played the scene out with full-colour detail – a spacious flat somewhere in Paris, a pretty wife holding on to Brian, the guy stepping through the door with the mouse in a small cage, Brian escaping his mom’s hold and hugging his dad’s legs, jumping up and down in excitement.

He had to swallow down another lump.

“Oh, yeah, I understand,” he said, while stepping aside so the guy could pass him on his way to the register. “Does he like mice, your son?”

“They’re his favourite,” the guy said, putting the mouse in a small box and moving past Lucas. “And it’s been two weeks, so you can imagine he’s pretty hungry. Have a nice day!”

Wait. What? The scene in front of Lucas’ eyes changed screeched to a halt, and then picked up again, this time with a creepy toddler biting into the mouse, blood smeared around the corners of his mouth, while the pretty mom wiped the back of her hand around her own lips, stained red, as the guy looked on proudly.

“He’s gonna… eat… that mouse?”, Lucas squealed in horror. The guy, who had almost turned the corner, slowed down and looked over his shoulder at Lucas.

“What else would he do with it?”

Lucas’ mouth fell open. He pinched himself, convinced he somehow entered a fucked-up horror dream, but he flinched at the pinch, so he must be awake.

“What… fucking parent lets his kid eat mice?”

The guy stared at him for a long beat, and then suddenly, that sunshine smile broke through again. He stepped closer to Lucas, who recoiled in disgust.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!”, the guy said as Lucas kept backing away from him. “I guess I did call him my baby, didn’t I? Brian is not my son, though, he’s my pet snake!”

Lucas’ head spun.

“First of all,” he spluttered, “who the fuck calls his snake Brian? What kind of a name is that?”

The guy shrugged.

“It suits him. If you saw him, you’d know.”

Lucas shivered visibly.

“Oh, come on,” the other man said. “Don’t tell me you don’t like snakes. Brian is cute, I swear.”

Lucas wasn’t convinced.

“If you say so… But anyway, more importantly, you can’t just let that tiny mouse be eaten by a snake! Look at him!”

The guy did look at the mouse, and then back at Lucas.

“But Brian needs to eat.”

“But I wanted to buy that mouse! I wanted a pet!”

It was a lie, because Lucas had in no way committed to the wretched thing, but he couldn’t just let it be taken to an early, gruesome death.

“Ah.”

The guy seemed to understand the issue, as he looked from Lucas to the mouse with his piercing eyes, biting his bottom lip. Dammit, Lucas really couldn’t look too closely at that, because he felt his resolve weaken. He might just agree to be fed to Brian himself, if only to keep the guy’s eyes on him.

“What if I helped you find another pet?”

Fuck. Suddenly Lucas didn’t give a damn about the fate of the poor little mouse – it seemed to look at him with hurtful eyes now, upset at Lucas’ betrayal – if the alternative was staying close to this guy while they wandered through the pet store together, discussing the pros and cons of each animal.

“Uh… well, I would have to warn you. That mouse was kinda my last hope.”

“I will take the risk. For Brian.”

Lucas dithered for only a few seconds, in which the mouse didn’t deign him worthy of another look, before he caved.

“I guess.”

“Okay, let’s go then! I’m Eliott, by the way. Brian’s dad.”

He laughed, and the sound of it made a shiver roll deliciously slow over Lucas’ spine. He managed to keep himself mostly in check though, rolling his eyes as he extended a hand.

“Lucas.”

And they set forth on another tour of the aisles, Eliott trying to emphasize all the advantages of the creatures they came across, and Lucas nixing them all with a sad shake of his head. Eliott had to agree with lots of Lucas’ arguments – spiders were too creepy to keep willingly in the house, hamsters were smelly, and chameleons sounded cool, but all they did was lounge around under a heat lamp.

So when they found themselves back where they started out, they both looked at the small box in Eliott’s hand.

“I mean, maybe Brian could wait another day to eat… He did seem very hungry but I’m reasonably sure it wouldn’t kill him…”

Eliott looked at Lucas with a pout and honest-to-God puppy dog eyes, and Lucas couldn’t help but laugh.

“I guess I can survive without a pet, too… It might be a close call, though.”

“Yeah,” Eliott nodded, suddenly serious. “Not a risk I’d be willing to take, though.”

Lucas’ breath hitched. Eliott was watching him intently, and Lucas was pretty sure this time he wasn’t succeeding at keeping the blush off his cheeks.

Suddenly though, Eliott jumped.

“Oh, Lucas! I know! I know exactly what you need!”

He grabbed Lucas’ hand, and for a dizzying second, Lucas was too distracted by the contact to move. But Eliott tugged, and Lucas had no choice to follow him, and before he knew it, Eliott was showing him an enclosure with a grand flourishing gesture.

“What’s that?”

Lucas peered in, and then –

“A rabbit! It’s perfect, Lucas!”

Inside the cage was a tiny grey rabbit with floppy ears, and Lucas felt his heart melt.

“Oooh, you’re cute! Look, Eliott, he’s so fucking cute!”

“He is,” Eliott said, his voice low, and Lucas looked over his shoulder to see if anything was wrong, but Eliott just smiled, his eyes sparkling.

“What do you think, then? Worthy alternative for a mouse?”

Lucas pondered for a minute.

“Yeah. Come on, help me flag down an attendant so I can take him home.”

Together, they listened to a tired-looking clerk enumerating the important points in rabbit care, and loading their arms with the necessary equipment and food before finally taking them to the register where Eliott paid for his mouse and Lucas for the rabbit and all its accessories.

“So,” Eliott said, as they stepped outside. “What are you going to name him?”

“I don’t know yet,” Lucas truthfully replied, looking at the ball of grey fur. “But it’ll be better than Brian, I know that. I’m a way better pet dad than you.”

Eliott laughed brightly.

“I feel like I’m kinda his dad, too. I mean, I helped pick out his house and his toys and everything.”

Lucas was inclined to agree, but sadly, this was as far as things were going to go. Eliott would go home and feed Brian the mouse, and Lucas would pour all his affection into his new roomie.

“Maybe, uh…”

Eliott hesitated.

“What?”, Lucas asked curiously.

“Maybe I could come visit him sometime? And you, too, obviously.”

Lucas whipped his head up in surprise.

“And, you could come see Brian, too, I mean, if you wanted…”

Lucas smiled widely.

“Is this your way of asking my number?”

Eliott mirrored Lucas’ smile.

“Yeah. After all, don’t you think our pets would be better off with two dads?”

And as he punched in his number into Eliott’s phone, Lucas’ imagination got kickstarted again, showing him vividly another flat somewhere in Paris, with a rabbit enclosure next to a glass aquarium in which Brian was leisurely devouring a mouse, and two boys cuddled up in front of them, kissing each other. It beat living alone, for sure.

#I write things #50 cliché prompts #Elu #skam france fanfic #☯#I AM DONE

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mx-in-words · 5 years

Text

monsta x reaction to him not being your first bias

Hi, sweet! I'd love to know how the boys would react when they discovered that your bias was initially another member.

plot: in a party, all the monsta x members with you and some friends start playing truth or dare. Minhyuk asks you to hug your first bias even if you date one of the members.

↬ Shownu

He got in shook when you hugged jooheon

jh: OH YEAHHHH with all the respect hyung.

shownu just ...

He is mad ( •̀ω•́ )

he didn't think you would have another bias

you were his and how could this even...

he gave a yellow smile and just let it go

at home, you realise he was a bit off

you: baby please, talk to me

in his mind, he was thinking about how could he stole you from jooheon

maybe joo is better than him

he would make you happier, more loved

and he was afraid that he could lose you

you hold his hands, making him seat with you in the bed

you: listen very carefully okay? I love you so much. My heart hurts because I can see how far those thoughts are going inside this pretty head of yours.

you: Let me explain, I used to not know you and joo was cute on TV and shows. That's it. When I actually saw you for the first time, I just had this feeling that nobody else in the room matter you know? This feeling was so unique and I still feel it for you. Everyday. Stop stressing yourself and overthinking. I am yours and I will never love someone like I love you.

he kissed you like it was the first and last kiss

he might cry who knows

Shownu wants to show that he feels the same for you. And he will. Everyday.

sh: You are my world, I am so sorry. I love you so so so much that I don't know how to live without your love. Thanks baby

cuties 🥺

↬ Wonho

it's so sad the way he opened his arms and you were already hugging hyungwon.

you: sorry baby, he was the model 🥺

hyungwon just kept quiet because all he wants is to survive so he can one day sleep for weeks.

the night went and wonho pretended he was okay (very bad he is not a good actor).

but at home

prepare yourself for the drama

wh: so hyungwon huh? He is better looking than me, I agree

you: keep this attitude and I will not talk like an adult about this.

Wonho knew you were right.

you: trust me okay?

he hugged you, he just needs your affection right know

you: came here.

he lay down on your chest, while you pass your fingers through his hair

you: first of all, hyungwon is a sleepy bitch. Second of all, how could you ever? You know you are my angel. Do my actions makes you question my love?

wh: never. I never felt lonely until I met you. Now, if I don't have you beside me, life is just life, it's not exciting and... I trust you. I just don't want to lose you.

you: you won't. I promise you.

you: to prove my love, I will do some ramen for my men.

wh: god I love you so much

he really does, so much more than ramen, you can count on that.

↬ Kihyun

with all my heart, kihyun part will hurt, be ready.

kihyun actions hurt me sometimes (?)

his pride is too big, which results in him saying things he shouldn't.

so when he saw you hugging shownu, that was it. All the polite kihyun is dead by jealous and pride.

kh: I knew already, she is the type of girl who likes useless muscles, what can I say?

sh: I think you should watch out your words dude.

mh: it's just a joke kihyun, relax man.

kh: watch out shownu? Or what? You will steal my girl? All yours.

that's it. You picked your things and left.

Kyun offered you a ride but you refused, you called a taxi and went to your shared house with kihyun.

You put all your things in the visiting room and gave him a silent treatment for a week.

he did everything, flowers, crying at your door, calling you all the time.

so one day, you went out with friends and when you opened the door, you saw kihyun crying on the sofa.

that broke your heart, so you decided that was time to talk.

you set down, holding his hands.

kh: I am very sorry baby I... I know I had hurt you okay? I am an asshole but please forgive me, I will never act like a child again.

you: had you talked with shownu?

kh: yes, he forgave me.

you: you have to understand one thing and I want you to pay attention, I am here WITH YOU and I want to be treated like your lover. I deserve the same respect as you do. If you are afraid to lose me or jealous, talk to me but don't attack me, okay?

kh: okay I promise.

you: also tomorrow I want a princess day with food, spa, shopping and sex I don't care.

kh: done, my princess. I love you.

and thank god this fight is over

yay 😚✌🏼

↬ Minhyuk

Already knew but pretend to be shook

listen minhyuk is your best friend partner in crime bf and private devil

so he knew kihyun was your bias before you knew him

mh: HOW COULD I BE BETRAYED LIKE THIS right in front of my salad

you: we are not a gay porn min quit it

kihyun was shook btw

minhyuk took this opportunity to make kihyun life harder because why not

mh: some people like to steal their FRIENDS girlfriend's. Watch out boys, a hamster can be bad eventually.

mh: owowowowowooowww Kihyun can you please not BREATH that close of my gf please? Just bc you were her bias doesn't mean she is single wow know your limits dude.

you: minhyuk stop jesus

mh: don't tell jesus what to do

later at your place, you could feel minhyuk very clingy

you: just for you to know, you are my world okay? I wouldn't leave for nothing and anyone. You know this right? I love you minhyuk.

minhyuk: I mean I know haha. But is good to listen... I love you so much, please don't leave me kihyun is so annoying.

you: I love you bitch

mh: I will never stop loving you

you: bitch

heart eyes mothrfuckr

yes this is the most romantic shit I have ever seen guys. 💗

↬ Hyungwon

really? Minhyuk???

he never asked you about your bias and those things

hyungwon.exe stopped working

actually he expected to be another member like shownu or wonho, even jooheon

but minhyuk? He was totally the opposite of him.

he kinda questioned why did you like him then?

maybe you were better with minhyuk? he was confused.

hyungwon is straightforward about his feelings so he waited for you when you both got at home to talk about this.

hw: so you prefer minhyuk personality?

you: baby no!!! look, minhyuk is nice ofc but... I didn't fall for him. You are the funniest, sweeter, kindest man that I had ever meet. I love to wake up with you being lazy, and the fact that you always talk to me and wait for the right moments. Please don't get these kinds of questions pop in your head okay? I love you, all of you, and only you.

hw: somehow that was everything I needed to hear, thanks baby. I love you too, all of you.

you: great let's watch my kdrama now.

hw: you mean, you watch while I take a nap cuddling with you?

you: that's exactly what I just said.

hw: perfect.

↬ Jooheon

Oh 🥵🥵🥵 this gif makes my body feel things

he was soft expecting your hug

but he saw you hugging kyun?

what

daddy did not like this attitude of yours

you know jooheon is pretty clear about how you are HIS babygirl

he won't be mad at you tbh

it was just a silly joke, so he just says to changkyun to not steal his girl and everyone thought it was fine

but deep down you knew it

oh you knew you were literally fucked

he won't let this pass

so when you got at home, you ran and locked yourself at the bathroom

jh: babygirl, are you okay?

you: please don't punish me, daddy, I swear I only love you. changkyun will never love me good like you, I will never love him like I love you please!!!!

jh: open the door and I will think about it.

When you opened the door, jooheon hugged you.

jh: is okay babygirl, I will be nice this time because you are so cute saying that you love me huh, so sweet. Let's go to bed, you seen tired, let daddy cuddle you okay?

you: thank you daddy 🥺

he actually fools you and made you scream his name all night.

Oops 🥵

but actually told you that he loves you and he knows you love him.

He trusts you.

He would give his life for you.

↬ Changkyun

Haaaa bitch this little tease won't EVER lose a chance to be cocky.

when you hugged wonho, it was his chance

ck: so wait, I am really that good in sex that makes you forget about mister muscles?

jh: jesus please don't

ck: honestly wonho you lose this godness TO ME? wow, what a dumb bitch wonho.

you: okay we get it please stop I love you bye

he stopped

but he knew

oh he knew that you were flustered

bc hell yeah he made you forget that wonho existed so ;)

and he is doing that because he knows you love him and he loves you. So why be jealous when you can SHOW OFF YOUR LOVE AND MAKE PPL LIFE'S MISERABLE?

satan collect your son. PLEASE

at home, you felt worried about him, thinking he may doubt you.

you: so... You know that you are so much better than wonho right?

ck: yeah I know

you: okay.... And hm... I love you so much.

ck: baby, I know. I am not insecure about it, relax, I know you love me and I love you and we will get married one day and have a little baby and be happy okay? That is on god's plan.

you: okay... Right. Are you sure you are okay?

he just looked at you

And kissed you so hard, that you left a low moan escape.

ck: keep doing those sounds for me and I might start the baby plan right now.

I hate him.

#monsta x reactions #monsta x imagines #mx scenarios #monsta x #ot7 #shownu #wonho #hyungwon #Kihyun #Minhyuk #jooheon #changkyun #fluff #mx reactions #kpop reactions #mx #mx au #monsta x au

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emotionalcello-makefanfics · 5 years

Link

Summary:

“When did the mark show?” Jason asked.

“I got it when I was born, they must’ve been older than me.” “That must be.” “Do you want to have a soul mark too one day?” Jason doesn’t hesitate, “No.”

or, Tim has a soul mark, Jason doesn't.

Click the title to read on AO3, and click Keep Reading to read here~

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Word Count : 4k

As a 12-year-old boy, Jason should’ve been in bed by now. But being a 12-year-old boy on the poor side of Gotham, rules like that don’t apply to him.

Meeting fellow kids roaming these streets doing suspicious things is common, but none of those kids actually fortunate enough to have a camera that pristine looking. That’s when Jason spots a little boy, can’t be older than 10, snooping between the alleys. Clothes too tidy and smelling too nice to be a kid from around here.

On the little boy’s sight is –holly mackerel- a batmobile!

“Hey, you’re gonna swipe that?” Jason says to the boy, who jumps a foot back right away, holding his camera protectively.

“I can’t give you this camera!” the boy stammers.

“I don’t steal from other kids, I was talking about that,” Jason nods to the fancy car’s direction.

The kid looks at the fancy car, then at Jason, then at the car again then at Jason with even a more twisted look like Jason’s crazy.

“You’re about to steal the batmobile???”

“Nah, just the tires.”

“Wha—No!”

“Well, I gotta eat, and you can’t stop me.”

“Wait! It’s armed, you could’ve gotten hurt.”

“Hm, armed huh? If it’s a vigilante’s car, then at least it got motion sensors.”

“Yo-You’re right, it’s about around two-meter radius,” he informed.

Jason looks at the little pip-squeak in a smirk, “Now you’re helping me?”

The kid is just as surprised, then he mulls over it before shrugging.

“It’s not deadly, it’ll just send a signal to Batman. Plus, I bet he must have a lot of spare tires. So, get that bread,” the kid nods, then smiling mischievously, “If you can.”

Jason scoffed, “Oh, it’s on.”

Jason grabbed his box of tools and walks in, moving his feet quickly and stops, then another feet then stops, mimicking the movement of a mouse, and Jason knows exactly how those nightmare rodents move. The sensors can’t possibly alert every movement, not in this part of the city where small creatures and rodents are an epidemic.

When he finally reaches the car, no alarm triggered and alive. He quickly works with the tires and takes it off in record time. He walks back to the little alley with the heavy and sweet tire on his shoulder. He drops it beside the kid’s face who has a hanging jaw. Jason bows and waves his hand.

“Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here next week!”

“Will you?” the kid asked excitedly.

Something about the little kid’s cute face, his face is clear and pale, making the blush on his face pops out... that it makes Jason smile.

“Of course, since it’s my turf, but first, you’re gonna tell me why a rich toddler like you doing in this part of town.”

“Toddl- wha- I’m 12! I’m no toddler!”

Jason is perplexed to hear that too, “There’s no way a small kid like you is the same age as me!”

The kid lands a punch on Jason’s arms, and it only felt like a flutter more than a punch. His cheeks puffed angrily and Jason feels like he could squee, the kid looks like a little hamster.

“I’m twelve!” the kid declared again, now in fury.

“Alright alright, you’re twelve,” Jason raise his hands in surrender, “Still, you’re not from around here, are you? I don’t think you should be here.”

Because with that cute itty bitty face, soft-looking hair and big blue eyes, predators or human traffickers or pedophiles would kidnap him in a flash.

Not that Jason never brushed against the risk, not that he feigns ignorance from the disappearing of fellow pickpockets around his age.

“Well, you can’t stop me! I’ve been going here since I was 9! And I’m fine,” the kid counters with puffed chest and confidence.

Jason doesn’t hide his mortified awe for the little kid. Nine fucking years old around these parts, alone, in the middle of the night, and still alive. That is idiotic and suicidal, but he’d be lying if he doesn’t admit that this kid is a mad lad with balls of steel.

Other privileged kids wouldn’t even walk these roads in daylight just by the sight of the hobos, prostitutes, drug dealers, drug users passed out on the streets, and the smell of something that just died.

“Stop you?” Jason chuckled, “Nah, if you been doing this since you’re 9, you earn my respect.”

He put an arm around the small frame, his fresh smell of baby powder feels comforting and a stark difference from the stench around him.

“Now, you gonna tell me what you’ve been doing and how you’ve been doing it, because I don’t believe in miracles that you survive here that long.”

++++++

The kid’s name is Tim, Tim Drake, that Tim Drake as in the millionaire. A millionaire kid going to the most crime-infested part of town. If he had met someone other than Jason, man, Tim with that cute face would’ve been kidnapped as soon as a predator sets eye on him.

It’s not that Jason cared, but he told Tim that Jason should accompany him when he’s out on crime alley... To steal more tires, of course for the tires, in case Tim ever bumped into the fancy car again.

Somehow that’s not the most shocking thing about Tim.

Oh god, Tim was not the badass rebellious prince from the city of lights that Jason had originally thought. Because why else a Drake would go wandering about at night at the most dangerous place of the most dangerous city? Jason admired Tim because he was a goddamn rebel despite that cute little innocent face and his privileged background.

Turns out the kid is just a furry fanatic.

“Batman is not a furry!” Tim screamed, bet he wakes up the whole neighborhood with that shrill voice.

“He dresses up a part animal and part man, that’s anthropomorphic enough to be considered a furry!”

Jason likes to mess with Tim, likes to see him flustered like this. All pouty and blushing. When he smiles, it’s like looking at a baby giggle. Soft, round and dangerously adorable that’ll make any person melt.

Tim takes off his jacket suddenly, for whatever reason it was. Maybe the exhaust from the air conditioner’s condenser on the rooftop they’re hanging out on is too warm for him.

A strange mark on his shoulder peeking through the neckline of his shirt, and Jason feels his heart hammered against his ribs.

“You... You have a soul mark??”

“Oh, this,” Tim looks over his shoulder, “Yeah, I do, you?”

Jason shakes his head. He looks at Tim meekly, “Can I see it?”

Tim looks taken back, and it makes Jason wants to retract his request, but then Tim pulls his neckline sideways till the base of his shoulder. The mark on Tim’s shoulder is a red outline of a diamond and a bird silhouette on the inside. It’s pretty big for a soul mark, almost as wide as a clenched fist.

A soul mark means that you have someone that’s destined for you and suppose to be perfect for you. That someone has the same soul mark in the same position as yours. Not everyone has them, but sometimes you don’t have them because they’re not born yet, or they had died.

“When did the mark show?” Jason asked.

“I got it when I was born, they must’ve been older than me.”

“That must be.”

“Do you want to have a soul mark too one day?”

Jason doesn’t hesitate, “No.”

+++++++++

Jason looks up to the sky that night, waiting for someone. The stench of oil still stuck on his body and mostly his hand even though he washes them clean. A vigilante drops to the ground in front of him. Dressed in a black and red bodysuit, and ‘R’ logo on his left chest, and a fluttering black cape. His black domino mask covered the eye area, perfectly following the silhouette of his face, it’s the new Robin.

“You’re not fooling anyone,” Jason said amusedly, and see the masked vigilante flash a cheeky smile.

“I suppose not.”

He’s still so little, but look at him go. With that smug smile, cart-wheeling like a champion gymnast, parkouring from building to building without fear and beating crimelords twice his size. Jason knew Tim was a badass the moment they met.

“You ready to go?” Tim asked.

“In your costume? Is your boss gonna like that?”

“Fuck Batman,” Tim suddenly snapped.

“Whoa, Timmy you good?”

“I’m fine!” Then two seconds passed, “I’m not,” he said softer this time.

Jason pressed his lips and frowned thoughtfully.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, let’s just eat?”

Tim lights up right away. He knows Tim is just as happy as him to hang out again. It’s been months since they see each other. They haven’t met for a while after Tim said he needed to be Robin.

They bought sloppy joes from Jason’s favosite stand because the vendor sells it dirt cheap. Tim, with all the new strength on his lanky arms, wrap Jason’s torso and lifts both of them up with a grapple to the top of the roof. Tim smiled smugly when Jason was surprised, amazed, and incredibly in disbelieve how Tim can just lift Jason up.

Jason is a bit bigger than Tim, though undoubtedly Tim must’ve gained strenght from the intense training, Jason is still heavier.

After sharing Jason’s awe to Tim and letting Tim boast about it, they sat by the edge of the roof. It takes Jason back to sit on the roof with Tim.

“I was worried about you,” Jason stated between bites, and it makes Tim stop and darts a look at Jason, “Scared the shit out of me the entire time you’re gone after you’re off to be... that.” Jason nods Tim’s way, looking at the entire suit.

“You? Scared? I never would’ve thought, you’re a pretty ballsy kid too,” Tim bites in the sloppy joe, and the filling spilled over to the side. “You didn’t look scared when I told you back then.”

“Because I know it’s pointless to try to stop you. You’re so dead set on it. Besides, you’re free to do whatever you want. Your life, your decisions, who am I to stop you?”

Jason muses to the time when Tim told him he wanted to be Robin because Batman is not ‘stable’ after the first one become Nightwing, whatever that means. Jason doesn't know why Tim should care about stuff like that, but Tim did, and that’s basically all there is to it for Jason to know.

Ever since Tim said he needed to be Robin, Jason was worried but mostly doubtful. But Jason has seen the glint in Tim’s eyes, filled with determination and resolve. Saying anything against it would’ve hurt Tim. So, Jason pretends that he’s not bothered by it.

“That’s the first time I heard that,” Tim said.

“Heard what?”

“Someone telling me to do whatever I want.”

Jason then hit by a realization that only struck now, becoming Robin must’ve been the one thing he wanted to do. Jason knew about his parents being strict about the family business and all, and how they often not in the house. Leaving little Tim alone in that big fancy house.

Well, technically Tim is not that little Tim he met the first time anymore. They’re grown up a little.

“Batman’s gotta be more chill though, right?”

“Ugh, he has even more rules for me to follow.”

“What? The rule-breaker himself? What a joke,” Jason playfully scorned.

“He said it’s for my own safety, but I don’t know, sometimes I think he’s just doesn’t trust me, or maybe I’m not as good as the first Robin and—Eek!”

Jason quickly gets a hold of Tim’s arm before his friend can finish that sentence. He’s glaring, but not at Tim nor is he the cause of it.

“You are, the most badass little brat I had ever met, and you’re scary smart and also a fast learner. If anything, maybe he’s afraid you’ll outsmart him!” Jason doesn’t mean to compliment, love him or hate him, he’s spitting facts.

“Yeah right,” Tim dismissed it, but his sheepish smile and the pink tint on his cheeks means that Jason’s words serve its purpose.

“Just give it time, Tim. You’re one strong-ass fucker,” Tim chocked on his bread and spits out a chunk from his mouth, but Jason continued, “And I bet he’ll see that soon, and he’ll be wrong to ever handicap you.”

Tim clears his throat. Now his face is all red, almost like his suit, “Wow, I didn’t know that’s how you see me.” Tim cracked a smile and bumps his shoulders with Jason’s

“Just saying the truth.” Jason glance away, chomping down on his joes.

“I think you’re cool too, Jay.”

Jason feels his ears burn at the nickname, it’s really been too long since they have met. Jason never forgets that name, but he never knew that he missed being called that name, how familiar it sounds with Tim’s voice, like a friendly call home. Nostalgic, safe, and so dear to him.

The night feels warm.

“Oh, I’m cool huh?” Jason accepts it, he knows he’s pretty cool.

“Mhm, at first I wanted to ask you to be Robin.”

“Me?” Jason says incredulously, “No way.”

“But it would’ve suit you so well! You’re strong, you’re street smart too.”

“Then why didn’t you ever ask me?”

“Because it’s not just a whim. It would’ve meant asking you to be a vigilante, risking your identity and adapting into a different life entirely. And it’s dangerous, and life-threatening, I don’t want to ask you to sacrifice yourself because of my wish, so, I did it myself.”

Tim puts it out simply, flatly, like a friggin’ walk in the park. But not to Jason, it hits him like tons of bricks from the fiftieth story that’s he should’ve seen coming. What Tim does is dangerous. Those supervillains won't see him as a kid, but an enemy. As strong and agile as Tim is, those monsters can easily snap Tim in two.

A shudder runs down his spine.

“If it’s that dangerous, then I should’ve stopped you too,” Jason beats himself over it.

“C’ mon, don’t say that now, you were so supportive a minute ago,” Tim joked.

But Jason snaps, “But you could’ve died! You could’ve gotten an injury and then...”

Stupid. Jason is so stupid sometimes. Why bother with that now? Why even say those things to Tim? Of course Tim knew the risk before taking that damned mantel.

Jason looks at Tim, his face is so young but his resolve and stubbornness of his choice makes him look way more mature than his age should’ve allowed. It’s not fair.

There’s nothing Jason could’ve done. This is the path that Tim chooses, along with many others that he will take. It’s a path different from where Jason is walking. It feels like that one day they’ll walk even further apart until they can’t see each other across the road anymore.

But what can Jason do?

“You better not die, or I will dig your grave, revive you, and then kill you myself.” Jason is joking, but mostly serious. His hands feel cold and clammy at the possibility of finding Tim’s death on TV.

Tim wraps his shoulders with a strong arm and a firm squeeze.

Tim doesn’t say anything, he’s just there. His pretty little head perched on his shoulder. His raven black hair is damp and smell of sweat, but there’s the faint smell of baby powder, and Jason feels calm because of it. They lean on each other until the night is too cold and Tim had to leave.

That itself speaks volumes.

Again, Jason couldn’t do anything to what Tim has chosen for himself, even though it will inevitability mean that they’ll be walking separate ways.

++++++++++++

“Boss, need anything else from me before I go?” Jason pulls his head from the car’s hood and closed it, seeing his boss just walked out of her office.

“No, you go ahead boy, I know it’s Friday,” she giggled knowingly.

The owner of the car repairs is a friendly old woman that looks like she would bake you cookies with milk while hearing your stories and give good advice. Mrs. Knope is not that at all.

She’s a capable mechanic with magical hands that can revive any vehicle there is. Jason learned a lot from her, also indebted to her a lot for giving him a place to stay and a place to work for the last two years and counting. She also can’t cook for shit, so Jason’s cooking might’ve earned him the job and place more than his skill.

Jason nods in gratitude her way and runs upstairs to his room to change into something cleaner.

Every Friday, he would meet with Tim, whether it’s as Red Robin or Tim Drake-Wayne, doesn’t matter to Jason, Tim is Tim no matter the alias and last name.

Tim bailed on him for a month now because of a case. Today is different though, Jason has to meet him today. It’s Tim’s birthday. Jason got a present for him that he’s been keeping for a while.

They met mostly at nights, maybe it’s a force of habits to do so.

But Jason doesn’t mind. He gets a bonus of Red Robin sometimes, and the night is quiet, fewer people would recognize the famous Drake-Wayne. They got their time for themselves.

“Hello stranger,” Tim snoops behind him when Jason is on the way to their usual diner. He’s getting good at quietly snooping around quietly.

“Hello yourself stranger.”

The diner is quiet at this hour. It opens 24 hours and it’s their favorite place to eat breakfast food at night because they serve breakfast lunch and dinner no matter when you order them.

Jason ordered a burger, Tim ordered pancakes with coffee.

Tim is usually very tired when they meet, hence the habit of always ordering coffee. But he’s been awfully gleeful since they walk in here.

“Okay, spill it out,” Jason said, rolling his eyes.

“No! You first,” Tim rejected, and his doe eyes open wide in anticipation.

What face is Jason making now that Tim said that? Well, not that he minded.

“Happy birthday, Timmy,” Jason pulls out a flat rectangle from the inside pocket of his jacket and slide it in front of Tim.

Jason thought Tim knew about his birthday, thought it was the reason why Tim is all giddy. But he froze in surprise to see the blue striped box laying on his part of the table.

He turns those clear blue eyes at Jason, who feels nervous now.

“Oh, damn, it is my birthday, I forgot!” Tim cheered and tears the wrappers to pieces.

Jason’s heart thumps when Tim finally sees inside the box, bracing for any reactions at all. Any.

Tim takes it out of the box. Those powerful fists that had cracked some bones unclench and lifts what’s inside and hold it out preciously.

It’s an old comic book. An old series that’s long discontinued. Tim had all the volumes, except one.

“Volume 16 Yu Yu Hakusho...” Tim whispered under his breath, and opened it not too wide, careful not to crease the area near the binding. Tim’s face went from disbelieving to a tearful smile.

Jason doesn’t understand what’s about the manga that Tim likes so much. It’s about a middle school student who died and came back to life and became a supernatural detective. Okay, he understands why Tim likes it, but not to a point to obsess over it enough to make his eyes all glassy in tears.

“How?” Tim says in overdramatic mirth, “How did you get this? I went far and wide and auction to auction but never got it.”

“Coincidence. I moved into my boss’ place, his grandson used to come over for the summer and left a bunch of stuff. I was tidying things up when I found that thing pressed between neglected homeworks. I asked my boss about it, and I bought it from the grandson.

“Oh man,” Tim hugs the comic book to his chest, “Thank you, this is awesome.”

Tim gave him the happiest gummy smile. It’s been a while since Jason gets to see Tim that way. He’s been drinking too much coffee and getting too wrapped up in his nightlife. Jason got a little heart attack whenever there’s a villain on the loose or an alien attack and see Red Robin pops in with young justice.

It’s no easy feat being a vigilante, Jason knew, but Tim’s a perfectionist, and that’s what Jason worries the most. He keeps his grades up, and somehow, now at 17 years old, he’s working at Wayne Inc. And then have a night job protecting people of a city with one of the highest crime rates? Unbelievable.

Tim is amazing, but Jason knows Tim is spreading himself too thin.

“You know...” Tim says, finally looking away from his comic, “My birthday is tomorrow actually.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t get to meet you tomorrow.”

“Why is that though?”

Oh yeah, why is that? Huh.

“Let's meet tomorrow and hang out then! Meet when the sun is out once in a while, sounds good?”

“Just the two of us?” is the air conditioner working? It suddenly feels warmer, damn global warming.

“Yeah, it’ll be fun!”

Jason didn’t plan this, but his mind is already listing places he wants to take Tim tomorrow. He can’t help the smile creeping upon his face.

“Cool,” Jason says uncoolly.

“So, where do--” “About my--”

They said and stop simultaneously.

“Your turn, what about your news?” Jason rests his face on his hand, enjoying the blushing Tim all excited. His blue eyes twinkle like sunlight on the sea waves. Smiling carelessly with excitement showing his perfectly tidy teeth. Tim looks as happy as if he’s twelve again. Before the vigilante life, before adulthood, before his parents died. It makes Jason happy to see Tim happy.

Tim bites his lips and leans forward, putting his palm on the side of his lips like he’s about to say the biggest secret he has.

“I found my soulmate!” Tim cheered in a secretive whisper.

“Oh, dude that’s awesome! When?”

“Like a few weeks ago on this mission I just finished, it’s... but you have to keep it a secret okay?”

“I’m no tattletale, I’m bringing this to my grave, c’ mon spill so I can judge this person.”

Tim smiled offendedly at Jason’s joke, and leans forward even closer across the table and whisper to Jason’s ear.

“It’s Superboy.”

“That’s... You mean th-!”

“Sssh! Keep quiet,” Tim giggled like a lovestruck teen, wait, he is.

“How did you find out?”

“When we’re fighting a pack of robots, and his shirt torn open. And I was... gosh I think I froze for a second. We’ve been partners for years, we also had met at a gala when Bruce adopted me, multiple times! I practically knew him forever. I confessed right away. Bruce doesn’t like it for some reason, but whatever.”

“You took my advice huh?”

“Yup! I can do whatever I want. I like Superboy, he’s cool, and we get along well, and we’ve been dating for a few days now. And... he’s just really great.” Tim’s face melts into a blushing soft smile.

Jason smiles too.

“You look happy, Tim.”

Tim looks at Jason with his sincere blue eyes, with that bright smile directed at him, but not for him, “I am.”

They chat some more until Tim has to go home.

Then they walk to separate ways. Tim towards the city, and Jason to the dark alleys.

Jason waits for two hours. Text Tim that he can’t meet him because his boss needs him to work tomorrow urgently. Says his apologies. Says one more happy birthday. Says simple best wishes.

Then Jason lay on his bed. For a long time, he doesn’t fall asleep. Despite how tired he is, his mind cruelly up all night long, thinking of things he can’t change.

#jaytimweek #jaytimbingo2019 #soulmate au #soul marks #anxiety #soulmate aversion #hand holding #danger #childhood friends #fluff and angst #tbh that's eveyfic of mine yeah i'm unoriginal #jaytim fanfic #Civilian!Jason #Robin!tim #RedRobin!Tim #not canon compliant #happy birthday to Jason #emocel's

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smilesthroughfandoms · 5 years

Text

Every Single Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode in one sentence or less

I’ll probably post a more in depth-review later this week, as I have opinions literally no one wants to hear but I will proclaim anyway, and then I’ll probably also due a revision of my ‘Past Queens Connection to Star’ post from way back in season 2. Cause that needs an update.

Anyway, enjoy!

Star Comes to Earth: Princess Cinnamon Roll that Could Kill you comes to earth and meets Misunderstood Safe Kid.

Party With a Pony: Spoopy Wardens hunt for the glitter pony while Star gets ice for Marco’s sweaty back.

Matchmaker: In which we learn it was probably a bad idea to give Star the wand in the first place.

School Spirit: Star misunderstands football and Marco tries to get Ferguson to blow his whistle not in that way.

Monster Arm: “Not my bowels! I love my bowels!”

The Other Exchange Student: Star is jealous of the meatball man from Bakersfieldville.

Cheer Up Star: “It’s supposed to be ironic!”

Quest Buy: Very accurate depiction of what it is like to work in retail.

Diaz Family Vacation: Both Marco and Star see new sides of their dads but that’s not necessarily a good thing

Brittney’s Party: Star and Marco party on a bus that Ludo hijacks

Mewberty: Star gets horny and snares boys in her web but not in that way

Pixtopia: Marco messed up and Alfonso marries Ferguson’s rebound

Lobster Claws: “… You can’t eat children.” “Really? Not even the annoying ones?”

Sleep Spell: “Camera Phooone!”

Blood Moon Ball: We’re suppose to ship them now, right?

Fortune Cookies: Love is never the answer kids

Freeze Day: Father Time offers Star and Marco some mud before riding away on his wheel-mobile pulled by giant time-hamsters I am not making this up.

Royal Pain: King Santa Claus destroy mini-golf

St. Olga’s Reform School for Wayward Princesses: Princess Prison sure is a nightma–OH MY GOD ARE THOSE CLUBS?!

Mewnipendence Day: No wonder monsters hate Mewmans so much.

The Banagic Wand: Star still doesn’t get Earth and like all of us, Marco is always hungry.

Interdemensional Field Trip: Miss Skullnick fears the “Big Change” while Marco sends Jackie cat memes

Marco Grows a Beard: Ludo is out, Toffee is in, and Marco will probbaly be terrified of beards forever

Storm the Castle: “SURPRISE!”

My New Wand!: DIP DOOOWN

Ludo in the Wild: Wait, since when did Ludo become badass?

Mr. Candle Cares: “Star and I have recently become smooch buddies… On the lips.”

Red Belt: Marco searches for a meaning in life and Star searches for hammer.

Star on Wheels: *epic remix of Marco saying Star is in trouble*

Fetch: Marco can’t open juice and Star runs away from her problems and sending thank you cards

Star vs. Echo Creek: Star gets high and destroys a police car

Wand to Wand: Both Ludo and Star are terrible at magic also major ship tease

Starstruck: Star and her idol Sailor Super Saiyan destroy a park and Marco is 100002% done with this shit

Camping Trip: King Butterfly has a mid-life crisis and tries to control an eagle

Starsitting: They’re gonna be great parents some day.

On the Job: Buff Dad is best dad and buff babies are adorable

Goblin Dogs: “You might think this line is long, but listen to my goblin song!~”

By the Book: Ludo and Star still suck at magic and Glossaryck is a bigger troll than Alex Hirsch

Game of Flags: And I thought my family was dysfunctional...

Girls’ Day Out: Janna is back and is still awesome btw

Sleepover: “TRUTH! STAR HAS A CRUSH ON MA–” *cue fandom freakout*

Gift of the Card: R.I.P. Rasticore Chaosus Disastorvayne… He couldn’ get his fucking chainsaw to work

Friendenemies: Star becomes one with Christmas tree while Tom and Marco go on a date and sing a romantic pop ballad.

Is Mystery: Meatfork is apparently a family name and Ludo is really starting to freak me out tbh

Hungry Larry: “He’s still hungry…”

Spider with a Top Hat: He tries and he is awesome and that’s all that matters

Into the Wand: SPAAAAADESS!!!

Pizza Thing: Marco is OCD about mushroom and Pony Head buys skinny jeans

Page Turner: Moon, how did you miss Toffee in the orb he was right there!

Naysaya: Marco is a mood in this episode

Bon Bon the Birthday Clown: Honestly my favorite episode overall

Raid the Cave: Glossaryck is the true neutral asshole.

Trickstar: Weird Al is a treasure and I’ll mes up anyone who makes Marco cry!

Baby: Aw, look at the little deadly baby, I love her!

Running With Scissors: Marco gets a new edition to his shipping harem and she is so cute!

Mathmagic: Why did the chicken cross the road?

The Bounce Lounge: Marco is definitely the mom friend.

Crystal Clear: The Chancellor guy is amazing and Rhombulus just needs a hug and wAS THAT ECLIPSA IN THE BACKGROUND?

The Hard Way: “SURPRISE!” 2.0

Heinous: Oh, so that’s how Marco got all that money.

All Belts Are Off: This is the negative side of “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” trope done splendidly

Collateral Damage: Marco how do you not know what a possum is?

Just Friends: I’m fine! *blows up sign to prove just how fine I am*

Face the Music: This song is actually a banger

Star Crushed: Looking back, I’m starting to think the writing peaked at this episode....

BATTLE FOR MEWNI EDITION!!!!!

Return to Mewni: This is… just an exposition filler. Not much else to say….

Moon the Undaunted: B4! B4! B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4 B4!

Book Be Gone: Seriously, did Glossy take trolling lessons from Alex Hirsch this is hilarious!

Marco and the King: This is the “Pro-tag teen hangs out with older adult figure” done slightly better

Puddle Defender: Aw, look at the little buff babies, they’re getting so big!

King Ludo: The mime stole the show.

Toffee: Yeah, I think the writing peaked somewhere around here...

Scent of Hoodie: Huh, so Ponyhead can be written as likeable, who would’ve thought?

Rest in Pudding: The colors are not doing the censors any favor here, huh?

Club Snubbed: I literally yelled “Phrasing!” whenever they dropped the title

Stranger Danger: Is she the new antagonist of the series? I can’t tell

Demoncism: Tom is a wonderful baby boy and Ponyhead is written as likeable, part 2!

Sophmore Slump: *sobbing* Jackie deserved better, dang it!

Lint Catcher: I’m starting to wonder if there is any competant authority figure in Mewni

Trial by Squire: I think the writers were all like” You think these guys will ship anyone with Marco?” and decided to test that theory.

Princess Turdina: I got more lore out of this episode than I thought I would.

Starfari: Welp, she makes me uncomfortable.

Sweet Dreams: *Sailor Moon-ing intensifies*

Lava Lake Beack: Proof that this fandom will ship anyone with Marco at the slightest inclanation

Death Peck: Rich Pigeon is my new favorite birb and Ponyhead is written as likeable for the third time

Ponymonium: Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Night Life: The writers made so many new ships they had to get rid of an old one!

Deep Dive: “Chicken butt”

Monster Bash: Well, that explains the cheekmarks.

Stump Day: I think they just made an episode based around a picture from that bookcover.

Holiday Special: *insert every cheesy Christmas/Holiday episode trope here*

The Bog Beast of Boggabah: The title is fun to say and the episode is average at best.

Total Eclipsa the Moon: Seriously, I’m supposed to think she’s an ultimate villain.

Butterfly Trap: In which we are all Sean, don’t lie we were all him at the end

Ludo, Where Art Thou?: Dennis is best brother, hands down.

Is Another Mystery: *sniff* I got more emotional over this episode than anyone else did and I’m not sure how I feel about that

Marco Jr.: I… I just… Why? What’s the point?

Skooled!: Epic advertisment fakeout combined with wonderful character development and lore with a shock ending makes a 8/10 episode.

Booth Buddies: Old Man McGucket ships Starco, proceed to react accordingly

Bam Ui Pati!: Ponyhead is kinda likeable in this episod–nevermind she’s back.

Tough Love: Oh man, it’s happening! It’s happening guys here we go!

Divide: We are going to war everybody–And they’re all dead. That was quick.

Conquer: They should have paid Alex HIrsch to voice Glossaryck at this point, it’d be more in character for him.

Butterfly Follies: Proof that someone will always complain about politics no matter what.

Escape from the Pie Folk: Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that he kinda resembles Eclipsa more than Festivia?

Moon Remembers: I was expecting a freakout but was pleasantly surprised

Swim Suit: I’m starting to get a bad feeling about Rhombulus

Ransomgram: Why is everyone in this dimesnion hot?!

Lake House Fever: She’s a good mom

Yada Yada Berries: They missed an opportunity to have a Seinfeld actor guest-star, just saying

Down by the River: I’m glad that she can relax

The Ponyhead Show!: And Ponyhead is offically no longer likeable, can someone toss her into an abyss please?

Surviving the Spiderbites: SpiderSlime is canon proceed to react accordingly

Out of Buisness: How did this place go out of buisness???

Kelly's World: Man, they’re really setting these non-Starco ships up to fail, huh?

Curse of the Blood Moon: Pfft, yeah, sure, Starco won’t be canon at all!

Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell: I think Ludo has the most consistent character arc out of the entire show’s history.

Ghost of Butterfly Castle: Moon, Star is your daughter and Star supports Eclipsa, why would you not tell her?

Cornball: This episode has a heartwarming lesson that I hope more people come to realize

Meteora's Lesson: I’ll take any Toffee scenes I can get

The Knight Shift: I honestly don’t remember what happened n this episode

Queen-Napped: Seriously, can someone please dropkick Ponyhead into an abyss?

Junkin' Janna: The JanTom interaction I’ve been waiting for

A Spell with No Name: These types of episodes stopped being charming awhile ago

A Boy and His DC-700XE: I think Tomco has more ground to stand-on then Starco at this point

The Monster and The Queen: Don Panchito voices Globgor! There’s hope for this show yet!

Cornonation: They’re the best couple/parents/anything around!

Doop-Doop: I honestly think Rick just put Morty through some flux-capacitor or something

Britta's Tacos: Hey, remember these people that we suddenly brought back? No? Me neither!

Beach Day: This feels like a Season 1 episode and it’s nice

Gone Baby Gone: I want a TV show aout them now! Disney, please!

Sad Teen Hotline: Mr. Diaz is way to invested in Star’s love life.

Jannanigans: Hello last minute Janna character development!

Mama Star: So that’s how Mewni came to be--and I don’t care anymore

Ready, Aim, Fire!: Let’s get that finale ball rolling people!

The Right Way: Ok, that spell is actually pretty badass.

Here to Help: There, Starco’s finally canon will you guys just shut up now!

Pizza Party: Moon you idiot you ruined everything!

The Tavern at the End of the Multiverse: Toffee was right all along... I think we all knew that in some way

Cleaved: I expect nothing substanial and that’s what I got

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svtfoe2 #svtfoe3 #svtfoe4 #battle for mewni #smilesthroughfandoms #Don't repost without my permission #seriously don't #these are my opinions #scary i know

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norcumii · 6 years

Text

Reblogged from the prior tumbl, originally posted 02/04/2016. Question submitted by @makiruz. Slightly reformatted to avoid a readmore cut and whatnot.

In Full of Sith, they always ask new guests how they got into Star Wars. And you know? That's a good question, how did you got into Star Wars?

HEH. Oooh, that’s a bit of a loaded question. So I’ll give you the short answer, which I suspect would fit the thing you mentioned what I haven’t heard of; and then because I’m a wordy bastard what overshares, the long answer which is more accurate and has content warnings for self harm and suicide.

SHORT ANSWER

It was the 80’s. I was young, in single digits, though I couldn’t tell you exactly what age. I was already dealing with an irregular sleep cycle, though all I knew was I had a flashlight, a pile of books near/on my bed, and a thick pound puppies duvet to read under.

I don’t know if I was in my room or on my way to/from the bathroom, but I could hear my parents watching something downstairs. Swooshy noises, a shrill screee, and some thwoom bzzts.

Of course I went downstairs.

I don’t know if it was episode 5 or 6. I’ve a fondness for 6, but carbonite left a HUGE fucking impression on me, and my parents have always approved of muppets, so Yoda.

I knew I loved it. I didn’t have any toys, though I think somewhere there was a print edition of A New Hope running around. I do recall multiple sleepovers at my grandmother’s place – a tiny house on acres and acres of woods – and she’d sometimes pull out Return of the Jedi and we’d watch it together on her tiny TV. Later on I’d be in bed, staring out at woods and trees that I knew, but seemed huge to a little kid, and I’d dream of Ewoks.

RotJ was Gram’s favorite, and for many years mine, too.

I like Ewoks.

VERY LONG ANSWER

TW: mental illness, depression, self harm, suicide, abuse

In late elementary, early middle school, my brother and I were basically reading ANYTHING we could get our hands on. He sometimes dove into books that didn’t interest me, so I’d read the first of something and then be bored and he’d keep going.

Star Wars EU was one of those. It was too grim for me. I think I didn’t run into any of the really good writers. It was all Han and Luke and Leia on the covers, so take that for what you will. There also was no Wookiepeia, so I was depending heavily on the writers’ abilities to convey things to someone very visual, yet pretty impatient with descriptions, so it never took.

I was in high school when The Phantom Menace came out. Mine honorable brother was off at college, so it was with great excitement on my part, and bemused tolerance on my parents’, that they and I went off to the theater.

On the one hand, I was dazzled.

On the other, there was Jar Jar. There was the fact that I hadn’t been impressed with the re-release of the OT – Han shot first. FITE ME. There was the fact that TPM didn’t feel like Star Wars, which was darker and grittier and…simpler to me.

So I wrote it off. Packed Star Wars away as “one of those things” that I’d been into, but felt like I was moving past. I was obsessed with Gargoyles, I was looking at going to college, and I would keep m’damn ewoks without needing to try to extend that vision with gungans.

College sucked. I went in, not sure if I wanted to go into English, for writing, or Psych, because I had always been what I’d now call The Mom Friend. I met a nice guy who tried, but things never really clicked between us, and there was an interesting bit that he was mad about Star Wars and insisted that I read the Rogue Squadron books.

That was a Good Decision. Dating him, not so much.

I had a huge assortment of Life Issues. Got into an abusive relationship that would end up lasting 14 years. Transferred schools. Got the fucking Psych degree, though literally only by the grace of a professor who didn’t want to see the kid not graduate just ‘cause she couldn’t numbers and I did go in and try. Talked to him and still couldn’t with the maths but the effort was there to bump me a few points above failing.

I was burnt out. I was depressed. I tried killing myself a few times – not very good at it, as you can see. Took up self-harm as a coping mechanism. Failed in the still never successful search for a decent therapist in Pittsburgh. Got a job slinging food, because needed some kind of income, and people without pressure was nice. The keeping on a schedule thing failed, leading to an average of 4 hours sleep a night. Losing contact with family and friends because I couldn’t stand the pressure of “how are you?” and “what’s going on in your life?” Clinging to Warcraft because repetitively farming was better than clawing open my back or neck again, and the people there were ok with some rando dropping out of sight on a dime, and only a persistent few had the grace and spirit to make it past some serious defensive issues of mine.

I stopped writing. Stopped caring about Gargoyles, stopped being able to see into that AU I’d made for myself of a crazy clan and the weird human who survived cancer with them.

Stopped going on IM, for the same reasons I stopped talking to people.

I still kept track of some folks via LiveJournal. A handful of the Gargoyles folks who were determined, gods know why and thank you, since I know several are here on the tumbles and I genuinely love you to bits.

I quit my job after five years, because enough was enough between the fact that it had all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship and I was fucking tired of being a manager without any actual authority, and the endless hamster wheel of hiring and people quitting because it was a nice, but highly dysfunctional place.

I missed the customers, though. Several of them are here too, and it’s kinda funny ‘cause I know in at least one case I talked to them about Star Wars. I still hope they’re not too shellshocked that I kinda went down the rabbit hole pretty deep.

Started getting more sleep. Not less anxiety, not less depressed. Tried out a few depression medications, with very mixed results.

Then one day @dogmatix came into the LJ area I still hung out in. Enthusiastically recommending to all and sundry that if there is even a shred of interest in Star Wars, THERE IS THIS THING YOU SHOULD READ.

She drew a Wookiee. That was a character?

I’d always liked Wookiees.

And I needed something to read.

Star Wars was one of those things, from back in the day before things went to shit. Low investment, since if I didn’t like it or didn’t care, then eh. Whatevs. Dogmatix was one of the Gargs holdouts still in my circle (or whatever it is that I was hovering at the edges of), and in the past I’d liked her recommendations more often than I disliked them.

I’m also endlessly weak to her art.

Wookiee.

So I did that thing. That so many of us here have done. It took me about 2 weeks to get through Re-Entry. It had trouble taking root in the depression, but Obi-Wan going crackers was something I could empathize with and appreciate.

There was the hope that had been missing from the EU novels I’d tried reading back in the day.

There was Wookieepedia, which meant I could stop and see what a Nautolan was. I had tabs open for DAYS so when someone named Adi or Gallia who were apparently the same person? I could see who that was. I got stupidly distressed that Abella didn’t have an entry, until I twigged and checked for a Chitanook, and holy shit I could never tell what character was going to crop up as canon, obscure EU character, or home brewed.

I honestly expected to set it aside, get updates as they happened, and gradually step away because that’s how things were going at the time.

But I still needed something to read, to stave off empty hours when my brain was too full of screaming.

On Ebon Wings. I’d loved The Crow when I’d seen it back in high school, and that story tapped into the powerful visuals and the lovely message I’d adored and in ways I still don’t quite understand it somehow validated that I could be mad and still be ok. Maybe. Maybe not now, but someday.

Maybe.

So I gave in and got a Tumbl. I’d been a stubborn holdout, regularly checking the same half dozen feeds daily because dammit, I don’t wanna go through the trouble and I was close to giving up on LJ and another journaly thing? That was stupid. But I wanted to follow Flamethrower and Dogmatix, and it made it infinitely easier to follow several blogs (and oh GODS one of those is a mutual and holy fuck I swear I screamed the day that happened and it’s still a high to realize).

Dogmatix wrote Möbius and Accidental Timeshare, wherein Venge goes universe hopping. That’s also a weakness of mine.

I’d been kvetching IRL about the treadmill and wanting something to watch, and someone mentioned in Dogmatix’s feed The Clone Wars – which conveniently was on Netflix. So I figured what the hell. I was disinclined to like clones – ‘cause yeesh, they’re the reason the Jedi all died, and yeah, ok, the Order was SERIOUSLY FUCKED UP, but.

I still had never seen Episodes 2 or 3.

I turned on the Clone Wars movie, and within ten minutes I nearly fell off the back of the treadmill due to crying.

THIS was the Star Wars of my youth. THIS was what I remembered. A little grim. Lots of quips.

That sound. Lightsabers igniting. A-wings rumbling overhead. Blasterfire, and that music.

I had to stop and calm down and for the first time in ages WRITE [, because I just had to ramble about how it all hit me in the feels]. I had no idea I’d missed this.

By the end of the movie I’d decided ok, I wanted more. Wasn’t sold on these clone fellas, and damned if I could tell one set of armor from another (this is ALSO due to the treadmill screen being calibrated to be a compromise of a very short person – me – and a very tall person, which means neither person gets a decent view but that’s not what the treadmill tv is for).

I’d been told there was an order to the episodes, but I didn’t care. Continuity is for those who think about the future, and I was still regularly suicidal.

So the first episode I watched was Yoda romping around a planet, playing with droids while three clone troopers tried to babysit his mad little ass.

They had me, all in one episode. I loved these guys. They had individuality, I could tell them apart by the voices (which is sometimes just as important to me as visuals) even if I couldn’t name them, and the personalities –

They were loyal. Their primary concern was old batty Yoda which I had adored as a child because MUPPETS. They were willing to die to keep him safe and there was this lovely reciprocity in taking care of each other and all of them, clones and Jedi alike were doomed to extinction and I don’t think I knew yet HOW the clones were except they weren’t in the OT so there was shit going down.

Tragic figures, loyal found family, incredible voice acting, Batty Old Yoda who OH YEAH FUCKING KICKED SO MUCH ASS I COULD NEVER GET ENOUGH.

I wanted to keep those three clones. I was willing to keep them all.

Final blow, that knocked me into the fandom so hard I’ll be surprised if I ever leave?

THIS.

The origins of Balance. This is the post that started a simple notion, to try to write something when I’d gone….anywhere from 7 to 10 years of not writing A SINGLE. DAMNED. THING of substance – and that was after thinking I might try to get a degree related to it.

Darth Wraith was a tentative idea. I was scared @deadcatwithaflamethrower would be irked I wanted to play in her sandbox (oh my gods I was inserting myself into a conversation with her this amazing person who wrote blindingly well and so damn much and how the FUCK was I daring to speak up about a silly half DREAM I’d had because once again I couldn’t sleep).

Then, because I was trying to break out of the depression, the cycles of mental ill health, and if I was on this tumbls thing, fuck it, I’d try the IM thing again.

I’d been gone long enough that pretty much no one on my contact list was still there. That…was ok. There wasn’t the pressure.

And Dogmatix popped on, asking if I wanted to share details about this Sith Qui-Gon thing.

I had A SCENE. ONE. SCENE. And she was spinning it off into this EPIC, which at first I was gleeful because she had neat ideas and I couldn’t wait to see what she would do with it and then wait, she’s not talking about writing it herself, this is more about something WE could work on.

Thank gods it was IM, because I had a little panic about commitment to a project when I regularly was sure I wasn’t going to see tomorrow and if I didn’t wake up one morning that’d be MORE than ok.

Still. There was that itch. The visuals in my brain. The characters I’d started to like in Flamethrower’s universe, which had formed my mental voices for them.

The only sound in my head for so long was just screaming.

Writing down that scene in Knock On Effect, where Venge meets Wraith – that felt good. It never changed much from the first draft to what was posted. The rest grew, and quickly. It was clear if we were doing this, then there were multiple stories, spanning in universe years.

And then there were spinoffs. Wonderful ideas and plots spiraling away from this one notion, and gods I wanted to write about those glorious clones.

How’d I get into Star Wars?

Chance. One strange little step at a time, and a bunch of miracles and horrors that kept me bleeding but not dying. Damn good fic. The kindness of friends. The generosity of strangers.

The tragedy of a once great order of space monks, and their allies-forced-to-be-betrayers clones.

One little picture, of Qui-Gon Jinn with Sith eyes.

#tumblageddon #reviving from the purge #star wars #tw #self harm #suicide #depression #mental illness #abuse #emotional #Norcumi has Opinions again #deadcatwithaflamethrower #dogmatix #i did not expect to cry when writing this #star wars saved my life #literally

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colitisandme · 5 years

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One of my favourite ‘me quotes’ is ‘Cake is the cornerstone of any nutritious meal’ I used this quote whenever I wanted cake, or to justify eating cake which was at least once a week. Could be big cakes the size of my face, or tiny ones, so whenever I ate them I felt like a giant... didn’t matter. Cake just makes me happy. I am such a foodie. I love sharing foods, trying different cuisines, talking about food, cooking, oh it just became such a big part of me. And the thing is we take food so much for granted. I bet if you were to list what food you had last week, chances are you wouldn’t be able to remember because it all becomes a delicious blur. A meal consists of a cocophany of satisfied slurps, chomps and munches and no one remembers the ins and outs, because food is bloody delicious, incredibly emotive and also vital for energy and fuel so we can keep going.

It’s safe to say my relationship with food has changed. I am wary of it. Its rude, it can be aggressive and mean... It sneaks up on me after I have eaten it and wants all the attention, like a drunk at a party, who hogs the music and every other song screams “shut up, shut up this song is telling the story of my life” whist caterwauling the ear shattering lyrics of John Bon Jovi ‘It’s my life’ at 10,000 decibels. It hurts me. Every day. It makes me worry. It makes me plan my day around it. It governs my life.

It’s amazing how much pleasure food gave me and how every social event revolved around eating - “lets go out for dinner” or “oooh let’s check out this place I hear it does great food” or “drinks and nibbles after work? Or “Let’s catch up over dinner” It just forms such a large part of our social activities and it’s unavoidable. IT’S EVERYWHERE. adverts, supermarkets, TV, free samples.. tempting us and it’s difficult what to know what to do without all those social foodie cues. I have been watching a lot of cooking shows as apparently I like to torture myself and live vicariously through others. I swear the other day I was watching MasterChef Australia and someone brought out a sugar fest of yumminess and a little bit of drool came out... my dreams involve eating, my thoughts involve food, and when I pass Italian restaurants or desert bars, customers get a viewing of me practically licking the window like a demented, feral animal, as they tuck into their Pasta Arrabiata and ice cream sundaes.

Because my GP has been as useful as a chocolate cattle prod over giving me any help with diet, lifestyle or general survival skills to help me live with IBD. I turned to my wonderful Homeopath. I was advised to cut out Sugar, dairy, wheat and gluten. I went green. That pretty much covered my whole diet. What the hell was I going to eat? No bread, cheese, pasta, milk? Maybe I would end up chewing on Cardboard? Is cardboard even nutritious? Can you get it in different flavours? I panicked. This was scary. I took a deep breath then vowed that in two days I would do it. Then I prepared my self for a farewell feast of a lifetime. Over that weekend I gorged on cake, cookies, cheese, crackers. I shovelled in food like a happy hamster. All weekend long. If I could have squirrelled it away in my cheeks I would have done. Gladly. It didn’t matter what I ate, because it shot through me like a rocket. But pain or no pain I was determined to do it. On Sunday. I brought dairy free milk, gluten free pasta and meat and fish and instructed my husband to eat anything I counted as delicious, which he did like the trouper he is.... then Beige Monday began.

I am not going to lie, it’s hard. It’s hard giving up things you love. It’s doubly hard watching your loved ones eat what the hell they want, and don’t have to deal with bum fireworks and crying on the toilet because your arse has turned into a shining beacon of despair. I have never resented my friends, my husband or family for their co-operative digestive systems, but it does sometimes suck when you go to a party and there’s nothing you can eat without turning your bowels into a Catherine wheel on bonfire night.

Recently. Food has waged war on my body. Not just foods that are considered yummy. Nope. I mean any foods. Even friendly foods. The whole process of digestion has become a cruel game of chance. “Tonight let’s see what the tombola of digestive distress has in store for you this time” *spin * spin *spin* .... “congratulations tonight you will be having horrendous hiccups which make you sound like a dying giraffe, and will make you want to hit yourself in the face to make them stop, bloatedness where you are going to balloon to the size of a whale and finally constipation for 3 days... thanks for playing and tune in next time for another thrilling addition...” Every time I eat or now even drink water I ask myself Is this going to make me writhe in agony, or is this just going to be mildly upsetting? A week or so ago whilst eating, I practically threw my plate across the room. My body was screaming. The pain was intense. Every time I breathed, moved .. oh my god. It was awful. And I admit I had a moment of sheer frustration and exhaustion I ended up swearing at my food, chastising it. asking my sweet potato fries what the hell I had done to them to make them behave in such an aggressive mannor. Screaming “EVERYTHING ON THIS PLATE IS DESIGNED NOT TO HURT ME, SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HURTING ME YOU FOOD OF LIES” I could not make the pain stop. After many cuddles from my husband, who listened to me talking about the evils of ham, I crawled to bed clutching my panda waterbottle and desperately tried, through gritted teeth to practice mindfulness and meditation to help ease the pain, and prayed that I wouldn’t have to call an ambulance at 2 in the morning as I truly hate hospitals.

Sometimes I can eat twice a day sometimes once a day. Very occasionally 3 meals a day (on these days I give myself a gold star and victory dairy free, gluten free cookie and do a victory dance to myself. My IBD symptoms can range anything from aching joints and muscles, dry skin, weight loss, nausea, pain, diarrhoea, constipation, extreme fatigue, brain fog... the list goes on. And would you believe that the simple process of eating and the follow up of digestion makes all these things worse, as the nutrients don’t get to wherever they need to go and those that do, there aren’t enough to aid me, and so I take a butt load of natural suppliments to help my body function. I guess at the moment the battle of me vs food goes on and usually food wins but occasionally it doesn’t, and those are the days that although I lament the loss of cake, I hold my head high, go to my cupboard and make some chia, dairy free, cocoa and gf brownies and snuggle down and watch MasterChef. Because whether I can participate or not, I will always be a foodie at heart.

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raisingsupergirl · 6 years

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All the Freakin’ Livelong Day

I'm usually a glass-half-full kind of guy. I typically feel pretty fortunate or blessed or what have you. And with all things considered (beautiful weather, a happy wife, health kids, etc., etc.), I really should have a positive outlook on life. But there was something this past week that really had me feeling sorry for myself. Rather, there were a lot of things.

There are 168 hours in a seven-day period. And this past week, I used all of 'em. I worked as a physical therapist for 50 hours. I worked as an editor preparing for the launch of the awesomeness that is GoHavok.com for 14 hours. I gave 6 hours to practicing and performing with the music team at church. And I pressure washed my house for 8 hours, though the last hour or so was less pressure washing and more scraping at the fence with a hand scrubber because the power washer decided to break on the home stretch. Oh, and my garage door motor broke, too, so I spent a couple of hours deciding that it couldn't be fixed before I called a repair man and forked over my paycheck. So if we're counting, that's 80 hours worth of work in various forms. And then if we add in 56 hours worth of sleeping (8 hours/night, which I actually DID get in order to survive the 12-hour work days), that leaves 32 hours. And that may sound like a lot, but factor in such luxuries as eating, travel time, and showering, I can tell you with authority that the time left over is negligible.

So as you can imagine, there were times when I was feeling a little spread thin. Especially when my wife would send me a picture of my two little angels doing some especially cute thing while I was away at work. Especially when I would get home at night and said angels were already asleep. Especially when the garage door guy handed me a bill for almost exactly the same amount as the hard-earned overtime money I'd made. In short, I felt a whole lot like the proverbial hamster stuck in the wheel, only not nearly as cute.

But as I pulled into church at 7:30 on Sunday morning, feeling the full crankiness of a night owl forced to awake before sunrise, I met a dude who completely changed my perspective. Here's what happened—he flagged me down, held a crooked cigarette in the air, and asked me for a light. Through my morning brain-fog, it took a moment for me to register his request, and his pitiable state. But when I looked at him, I saw a skinny man in dirty scrubs, blood-shot eyes, and a bruised and swollen left hand.

So I pushed the lighter thingy on my truck (unsure if it actually worked), and as we waited for it to heat up, he started telling me about the pitiful hand he'd been dealt. He'd just come from a "treatment" facility where they'd prohibited him from asking anyone for a light (the humanity!), and now he didn't have anywhere to go because he'd had a seizure at the treatment facility and lost his wallet (and all the money in it), so he could no longer afford the local motel where he'd been staying. And then he spotted the apple I was eating and asked if I had another one. But since I wasn't in the habit of bringing a back-up apple with me on such occasions, he settled for the light and a couple dollars.

But as this guy nodded and turned away, I couldn't help feeling a tug at my heart. I imagined the drug den he was bound for, the hopelessness he must be feeling. And so I hastily asked his name so I could pray for him, and that's when he started crying. He thanked me because he wasn't sure the treatment center was in his "past," yet. I invited him to church, but he just nodded and bit his lip. I told him we met at 10:30 every Sunday, and that I'd have the whole church pray for him. The pain swelled in his eyes, but he said nothing. Instead, he nodded again and then turned and walked away, leaving me standing there, dumbfounded.

Eventually, I went on into church, but that man's condition, reaction, and fate hung with me. It reminded me of a meme I'd seen the day before that said, "Remember, no matter what you're going through, your life is someone else's dream," and it had a picture of a little, starving kid in the some third-world country, and I started to feel incredibly selfish.

I started to think back on all the things that had worn me down all week. The overtime I'd worked at a wonderful job that allowed me to pay for the broken garage door and support my amazing family. The time I'd chosen to put in to help create GoHavok.com, a website that represented a company seven years in the making. The fences and siding that I'd pressure washed so MY house could look good. The God that I had the chance to praise with a gift that He'd given me. And those 32 hours I had left over? I'd spent some of them having a pizza and movie night with my family from the comfort of my living room, and watching my oldest play in a soccer game, and going out to lunch with my family, my mom, and my wife's parents.

Life's funny. We always assume we deserve more. We dream of a situation better than the one we have. And yet, we rarely stop to consider how things could be worse. Blame it on the media, society, or the devil, but when it comes down to it, it's a choice, just like everything else. I'm sure I'll fall back into the rut, feeling crushed by my privileged condition, but for now, at least, I can't help feeling thankful for the countless blessings poured over me and the occasional chance to make someone else's day just a little more hopeful. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few unused hours left in the week and some important work (i.e. cuddles) to take care of.

#poverty #drug addiction #overworked #feeling thankful #momblr #mumblr #dadblr #amwriting

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awed-frog · 7 years

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This is going to be a mess - I had to erase the original post because the bots just wouldn’t stop coming, so here is how it all started -

And here are your kind requests -

So - thank you for your lovely asks and PMs - here we go.

(Keep in mind that those moments were hugely embarrassing to me, so you shouldn’t find them funny or anything. They’re tragic stories I’m relating for your moral betterment - that is all.)

1) The ‘The Greeks Made Me Do It’ story

As a bit of background, I was eighteen and had just moved to another city to start my studies. I’d been there for a month, knew literally no one, had no idea where half my classes were and my ideals of switching to a Sophisticated Look and becoming A Lady had miserably failed, which means I was walking around wearing this insanely expensive, Managing Director of the IMF coat plus combat boots and frayed jeans plus a lopsided handmade scarf and 'Marilyn going on Morticia’ lipstick (I worried - a lot - about being the only weirdo and the only unfinished person in the entire town, because that was before I met Hamster Girl and Colour Matching Girl and I spend as much on weed as you do for rent but everything I own is see-through, threadbare or ripped Guy). Plus, I couldn’t speak or understand the local language all that well, and I’d taken to nodding and smiling whatever people said, which generally made me look like an idiot and meant I never knew what was going on.

(And, yes, it’s tempting and it seems like the easier option, but seriously - don’t do that.)

All of that means I was more or less living in the university library so I could pretend I had a purpose in life and, well, going from a high school library to a real academic library was like stepping into the Restricted Section - I mean, of course, I read what I was supposed to read, and I lost myself in serious books that had little to do with my actual subjects (that was my Minoan period - I’m sure every Classics student had one), but there were also the - uhm - other books, you know? All those studies about homosexuality in the Greek world, and how Mapplethorpe’s pictures were connected with frescoes of Saint Sebastian, and people having sex with statues and kings trying to trick their young wives into anal and truly lurid collections of Greek art which my high school teacher had once described as ‘Something you should probably have a look at, but if I let you borrow my copy your parents would not be happy with me’. And on that particular day, I had actually devoted my afternoon to a no-nonsense book about Eastern influences in Greek art, and well, the study of lovers and concubines on Greek amphorae was a sort of a plan B to relax a bit between chapters, because I was reading in a foreign language and it was hard work and when you don’t know anyone, it’s like you’re the only one working, right, and everyone else is off to wild parties and poetry lectures and screenings of a Guatemalan movie you never knew existed and that’s depressing af, so yay for weird art - but at around five I realized the day was done and I didn’t want to give the dirty book back because, come on, it wasn’t that dirty and I had a right to read it and it was complemented with passages by Theophrastus and Plato, plus it had come to me via the now defunct goblin-based system of tunnels underground the reading room -

~note - for younger readers, these things~

- so I didn’t want to give it back and go through the hassle of requesting it again, and I remember the fuck it moment that came over me - I was eighteen, I was studying the damn stuff, so I’d borrow the damn book and if the librarians disapproved, well, they could bite me.

(Obviously, they didn’t disapprove. The bored guy at the service desk didn’t even look at me, because nobody looks at you, ever, and your life is your own, so go live it.)

And next, I had to go shopping because there’s only so much time you can survive on cold cereal - and suddenly there I was, in a big and foreign supermarket, a dirty book burning a hole through my old Invicta, my Queen of England coat clashing with everything else I was wearing, and I was moving from aisle to aisle without making eye contact and trying to remember what spices were called in French, and I’d almost made it - I was collecting my mismatched groceries on the other side of the till when the bloody alarm started blaring, and two uniformed guards appeared out of thin air and it was like one of those slow-motion scenes in movies, right, when the dust in the air glimmers like gold and sound is no longer a thing and someone’s talking and everybody is staring and when God pushed the ‘resume normal speed’ button the two men were gesturing and smiling smugly and there was this old lady next to me and she was taking in my luxurious coat and my frayed jeans and putting two and two together - I physically felt her horrified, gleeful gaze on me like scalding water - and Jesus, I could see the headlines in my local paper already ‘Young Promise of Sci-Fi Literature Arrested’ (I was writing fantasy back then, but most normal people don’t seem to know the difference) and there were my parents, okay, my poor parents walking with their heads down as formerly friendly neighbours threw garbage at them and someone would interview my history teacher and he was bound to say, ‘She was something of a strange girl, but I never thought she’d end up in prison’ and next, of course, came the walk of shame in front of all twelve tills, with dozens of proper adults (people with families and eggs in their baskets, women with tasteful lipstick and women with kids and doggies instead of books about dead prostitutes) staring at me in disapproval, and What has the world come to and I heard that today, young women are as likely to commit crimes as young men and Do you think she’s on drugs? and then I was forced into the Small Room of Humiliation and asked to please empty my bag, so out came the frosting I was planning to eat raw and the crown of garlic I’d bought because it looked pretty and had no intention of ever using and a giant-ass bag of rice and as I looked on, horrified, I realized nothing made sense with anything and even those burly, middle-aged men could see that just fine - but, well, every single horrifying, meaningless item was on the receipt, so they had me empty my pockets (one condom, safety pins, a Swiss knife, an IKEA pencil and a very smooth and round rock, God have mercy on me) and next we all looked at one another like, What now? and that’s when I truly gave up on rational thinking, okay, because my first instinct is always to be of service, and so I said, in my heavily accented French, ‘The library book has a barcode, maybe that’s the problem?’ and of course, they hadn’t really looked at the book yet - it was face down on the formica table, looking all prim and innocent in its unassuming dark blue cover, but when the older man picked it up with his bear paw, I suddenly realized the front of it was quite different - I sat there and saw his eyebrows disappear into his hairline as he took in the big-ass picture (a painting of a woman fellating a much younger man) and the title (something along the lines of, THE JOYLESS SEX - TALES OF THE PLEASURE WOMEN, in all capitals, because books about Greek art don’t sell all that well, so anything to do with sex is pimped up to trick the unsuspecting general audience into giving it a shot) and of course he had to open it, because that’s how humans are wired, okay, and the thing right in the middle was a goat-like creature doing unspeakable things with two women and every single cell in my body wanted to explode and disappear and shout ‘IT’S MANDATORY READING FOR THIS CLASS I’M TAKING’, which was a lie, anyway, and I couldn’t get the words out and I couldn’t look up and I couldn’t look away - after a few excruciating minutes (seconds? hours?), the guy scanned the book on his barcode machine and yep, that’s when we all learned that library books respond to the same anti-theft thingies that pick up on stolen wine and cookies and fine cheeses, and Sorry, miss, and You have a good evening, now, and he was extremely uncreepy about it, but it was still hard to find my way out because of the WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOUNG PEOPLE UP THESE DAYS bewilderment that was shining like a beacon around his entire body, so, yeah - that was pretty embarrassing.

2) The ‘A Four-Part Seduction’ story

This actually happened almost one year before my adventure with the scanning machine - I was in my last year of high school, had kissed exactly 1 (one) boy, failed to seduce 3 (three) other boys despite my fox-like cunning and my sunny disposition, and I was now ready to sacrifice everything (well: my sanity and my dignity) for The Boy - a basketball player with a long, horse-like face and zero talent in anything whom for some reason I fancied the pants off.

(Looking back, I think I liked he was quiet and kind, and the age-old problem when you’re attracted to mysteriously self-effacing people is that you’re never quite sure - is there a colourful and occasionally wild ocean behind their silent lips and far-off gaze, or are they not saying anything because an evolutionary mishap converted half their brain into a second spleen, and therefore they were left with the mental capacity of a vivacious Mexican mole lizard? The joy is in finding out.)

Anyway, I have a feeling things haven’t changed all that much, but back then when you were intent on romantic hunting, you usually enlisted the help of your closest friends - people who inevitably were:

your age

unexperienced

not very familiar with The Boy and

generally speaking, completely unsuited to hatching a failproof seduction plan of any kind.

On this particular occasion, my advisors were:

a girl who’d been the better half of a couple for time untold (three months, two weeks and five days) and was thus The Expert

another girl who’d done ‘not it, but almost’ with an unnamed boy she’d met over the summer

a third girl who still didn’t quite understand what ‘it’ meant and

my only guy friend who was actually in love with me and I only found out about that twenty years later and that was one true what the fuck moment, because then I wondered what else I hadn’t seen when I was a teenager even if it was there in plain sight (like the fact my German teacher preyed on young boys, for instance,but that’s another story).

So, well - part A of The Plan - getting to know him better - had failed miserably, because what can you discuss with someone you only see once a week in French class and you have a monster crush on? I mostly pestered him about homework dates and then stared mutely at his hands as he turned the pages of his school diary and my God, he must have thought I was an anxious, forgetful idiot with absolutely zero life, ‘which means he already knows you better than most people,’ my best friend said consolingly, before trying out her married name signature (Alice DiCaprio) one more time. And as for part B - that had succeeded, but at what cost? Because through a string of sleights of hand and corruption, we’d managed to shift half our classmates around on the seating chart, so I was now sharing a desk with The Boy himself, but so far that had resulted in some awkward staring (mine), a couple of embarrassed smiles (his) and about 50 000 volt of electricity going through my entire body every time his elbow bumped into my arm by mistake (which happened a lot, because he was left-handed and I’m not and we were sitting the wrong way around).

Now, this had been going on for weeks when the skies suddenly opened above me and the teacher, an I’m frankly disappointed in how everything turned out ‘68 hippy, assigned us a written essay on Victor Hugo and socialism, something that, as an anxious, forgetful idiot with absolutely zero life, I knew quite a lot about. Plus, I was good at French, and that’s how The Boy turned towards me and asked if I’d be willing to help him, his hazel eyes all clear and earnest, shining like stolen jewels on his horse-like face, and being a Cosmo reader, I heard myself laugh throatily and ask, ‘Sure - what will you give me in return?’ and fuck, how do these things happen and why are we not in control of our own bodies and also thank God, because he blinked at me and then said, in a slow voice I read as flirtatious, ‘I’ll buy you a drink’. And that’s how we all entered part C - there were weekly meetings with him in the library to write the essay together, and daily meetings with my girlfriends to analyse everything we’d ever said to each other and I think he was looking at you during break and I saw him blush twice now, he must be sensitive and My sister knows his cousin, I can tell her to ask him if he’s seeing anyone and also long walks by the river with my long-suffering guy friend during which I rambled on and on about how shiny The Boy’s hair was and he contributed to this mind-blowingly fascinating conversation mostly in uhms and grunts.

(Again, how could I have been so stupid? I mean, it was for the best in the end, but - ouch.)

And one windy evening of March, lo and behold, it was finally time for part D (no pun intended) - a bona fide D-A-T-E with The Boy, and possibly there’d be fireworks and he’d say, I’ve been wanting to kiss you for weeks and some tourist would snap a candid photo of us and then marvel at it, years and years later, because Do you ever wonder what happened to this couple, Mabel? Look at how happy and in love and beautiful they are and I’m not saying cover of the National Geographic, but cover of the National Geographic. Also, movies had taught me what was supposed to happen, you know?,

which is why I borrowed make up and rollers from one of my friends and did a clothes pre-selection with her and then a second selection with my guy friend -

(I remember him sitting cross-legged on my bed and strumming my mom’s guitar as I hid behind the closet door to try on The Makeover Outfit and how his expression barely changed when he saw me in a skirt for the first time - how he said, ‘You look - good. He’s an idiot if he doesn’t go for it,’ and how the music turned into something slow and mournful as I disappeared again to put my jeans back on, and what the hell?)

- and at nine pm, I was ready - I had leveled up and transformed, or so it seemed - gone was the windbreaker, and the crappy Converse, and the overlarge plaid shirt - instead, my hair was curled in the right way and my skirt was short but not too short and I’d even bought a push-up bra which was uncomfortable as hell but Who cares, uh?, who cares? And let’s pretend my make-up was still perfect after biking twenty minutes in the half rain, because when I walked into the bar, some catchy song was on and my brand-new hoop earrings were catching the light just so and I was the Goddess of French and Sex and WITNESS ME and we saw each other at once - he was sitting with his friends, the Popular Good-at-Hockey Guys, and he turned as he heard the door open, as if he’d been expecting me, and he immediately smiled and came towards me and ‘So, what can I get you?’ and of course I ordered wine, because I was Sophisticated and also A Lady and as he pushed his way towards the counter I sat down at the only table for two and subtly (I hope) adjusted my cleavage and crossed my legs and wondered whether I should whip my copy of Rimbaud’s Les Illuminations out of my (well: my mom’s) purse just to make it extra clear I meant business, or if that would be considered impolite - a kind of, ‘You took forever to get me that drink’ reproach - and as I was still trying to decide, he came right back, all perfect and tall and horsey-looking in a grey shirt, and he was carrying my wine and a pint of dark beer and some idiotic voice in my head said, ‘Yes, we’d known each other for months, but I remember the night we truly fell in love - your father used to drink these strong beers, you know, and that evening-’ and before that thought could go anywhere, The Boy was there, at my table - he handed me the wine (our fingers touched) and he said ‘Thanks again, really - I would have been dead without you’ and then - and then he walked away and fucking sat down with his friends again because apparently he was a damn sophist underneath that equine disguise and he’d promised me a drink and now I had a drink and what the fuck? and for the second time that night I considered turning to Rimbaud, but you should never turn to Rimbaud because he was an addict and a killer, so I drained my wine in one gulp, looked around desperately, my vision already fogging over, for someone I could bother - there was no one I really knew, only older people and party people and cool people who were already looking at me weirdly - I shrugged my coat on and waved joyfully at The Boy on my way out and man, it’s been twenty years but sometimes I still wonder at it - I don’t think he wanted to be rude, I’m sure he was like me, awkward and empty-headed and inexperienced, and he now works with snakes in Canada so maybe there was something interesting about him, but after I never go to the movies guy and Do you go to this school? guy and Sorry, I’m looking for someone who’ll choke me during sex guy and - mostly - the ghost music / still not sure he existed for real guy, well - that was a crushing moment and the end of my grand plans and when I started to simply tell guys ‘I like you’ and also follow them home before they could realize what was going on and, whatever, if you’re looking for dating advice, that works much, much better.

[Thanks again for your messages - if you like my writing, please visit my AO3 page!]

#ask #short stories #short story #embarrassing teenage memories #wow it's good to be a grown up #anyway #i hope you liked these!#it feels weird to write about myself #but i expect you guys can relate about this stuff?#we've all been there and stuff #:)

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isolavirtuosa · 7 years

Text

Unlikely Office Romances 25

[fanfiction] Gundam Wing, 1x2x1

It’s the last part! Thanks for reading <3

Previous Parts

25 under the cut

- 25 -

“What are you doing here?!” Mariemaia demanded, and not in a happy way.

“We came to visit,” I said cheerfully.

“I thought you were on earth,” Quatre said. He scratched his chin, studying us both.

“What kind of loser comes to work during his vacation?” Mari tsked. She went back to examining her dead body.

“Wow, I’m so glad we flew all the way here to see you ungrateful jerks,” I said. “Let’s just go, Heero.”

Heero ignored me and started peering at the body. “Did you examine the fracturing on the right humerus?”

“Of course,” Mariemaia said, shaking her head.

“Are you that starved to be looking at dead bodies?” I muttered. “It’s been what? A whole three months?”

“I like dead bodies,” Heero protested.

I gawked at him.

He didn’t notice, because he was too busy looking at the dead body.

“You look… tan,” Quatre observed.

“We receive a lot of direct sunlight on earth,” Heero offered, despite being completely engrossed in what he was doing.

“We learned how to surf,” I put in.

Quatre smiled at that. “Really?”

“Yeah, we spent a lot of time in Australia.”

“Well, I gathered that from the pictures you were sending,” he said. “Heero was too cute with all those animals.”

“I know, right?” I gushed. Heero really was too cute.

“I’m not cute,” the man himself growled, then went back to arguing with Mariemaia about science crap.

“So you’re really just here to visit?”

I glanced at Heero. “Weirdly, yeah.” I left out the bit about Heero being homesick to see Mariemaia and his stupid hamsters. Quatre probably understood with his creepy space heart.

“Decided what you’re going to do with the rest of your life yet?”

“Right now, I’m leaning towards beach bum slash cargo pilot.”

“I can see that.”

My eyes fixed on Heero. He looked completely at ease.

“That’s not going to work for him, though, is it?” Quatre said, giving me a knowing look.

“His home is here,” I said with a little shrug.

“And your home is with him.”

I was physically repelled by that statement. “Why do you have to say things like that?!”

“Because they’re true?”

“Ughhh,” I groaned.

“I’ve been saying it since the war,” he said, looking pleased with himself.

“You have not,” I protested.

“There was always something inevitable about you two.”

“Uh, more like we are the most unlikely office romance ever.”

“Can you two girl-talk more quietly?” Heero complained, glaring at us over the top of his glasses.

I flipped him off, which Heero just sniffed at before turning his attention back to Mariemaia.

“Why don’t we go upstairs and get some coffee, since I am clearly not needed here anymore,” Quatre suggested, watching as Heero completely took over his job.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I rather drink terrible coffee than be here,” I agreed.

We headed up the elevator.

“Are you two okay?” Quatre asked, but he didn’t sound worried.

“Yeah, we’re good,” I said. “We have a lot of… communication issues, but… we’re happy.”

“You look happy,” he agreed.

“Is it my gorgeous sun-kissed skin?”

“Well, that just looks cancerous to me.”

“God, you sound like Heero sometimes.”

“Do I?” Quatre asked, sounding oddly pleased.

“I’m going to start calling you Instructor Q,” I muttered.

“I like doctor better.”

“Dr. Q it is.”

Wufei looked so annoyed to see me that I wrapped him in a hug.

Everyone else was out of the office, so it was kind of lonely. I almost wanted to alphabetize the storage room for old time’s sake. I was incredibly bored waiting for Heero, who decided to stay until the end of the working day despite being not an employee.

We headed to Mariemaia’s place after that, which was really Heero’s place. She was housesitting for him while we were gone. The hamsters wriggled their noses at us, and Heero seemed to take some kind of freakish delight in handing them sunflower seeds.

Okay, they were cute. But it was mostly cuteness by proximity to Heero.

“You’re not tired of him yet?” Mariemaia asked me while Heero washed the dishes. She made it sound like a joke, but it wasn’t.

“He drives me insane,” I answered honestly.

She eyed me.

“I like being driven insane?”

She cracked a smile.

“I can hear you,” Heero growled over the sound of running water.

“Of course you can, you mutant freak,” I muttered.

He raised up his middle finger without turning to look at me.

I cracked up.

Mariemaia just stared at his back incredulously. “You are a bad influence, Duo,” she finally concluded.

“He needs to express his aggression instead of bottling it up all the time,” I said, waving away her worries.

“I guess so…” Mariemaia said. She wrinkled her nose. “I feel like I’m looking at a stranger.”

Heero turned around sharply at that, a slight crease in his brow.

“I love ya, big bro,” she said, blowing him a kiss.

Heero looked disgruntled but appeased when he went back to washing the dishes.

“Hey, so he started doing mixed martial arts fighting!” I announced.

Mari went back to looking incredulous.

Heero and I walked back to the ship with our fingers twined.

He almost didn’t mind PDAs at all anymore. I still had to respect his ‘stop kissing me in public or I will knock you unconscious’ request, though.

I couldn’t help that I liked kissing Heero Yuy. I just needed to learn some self-control.

Kissing in the ship was fine, though.

“Do you really want to stay here for a whole two weeks?” I said, suddenly pulling away from him.

“Yes?” he said, his eyes asking me why we weren’t kissing anymore.

I gave him a peck, which quickly turned into a French, which quickly led to the bed. “Hey, wait, but seriously.”

Heero stared at me.

“What the hell am I supposed to do while you’re playing scientist in your lab?” I complained.

“Get a life?” Heero suggested. He got so much sassier when I was keeping him from what he wanted.

“Well, I’d love to, but Tro and Hil are on L3, so…”

“You only have two friends?”

“I only have two friends that I want to spend time with.”

Heero studied my face, sorting through the teasing and the joking to find the truth. “Why don’t you take the ship and stay on L3 until I’m finished?”

We’d been together so much lately that I’d forgotten that we could actually be in separate places at separate times. “Yeah?”

Heero nodded, playing with the hem of my t-shirt.

“Yeah?” I repeated, getting him to meet my gaze.

“I’ll miss you,” he said in a clipped monotone.

“I’ll miss you too, robot boyfriend,” I said, nipping his nose.

Heero scrunched his nose up, trying to protect it from my assault. The corners of his eyes crinkled in the faintest smile.

He still had a terrible smile, but I loved it.

“Okay, I’ll head over to L3,” I said, letting him pull my shirt over my head. “Give me something to remember you by.”

He stared at me like I was an idiot.

I took that as an open invitation to take off his pants.

For all our bickering, I thought we were very compatible in the bedroom.

Heero was still figuring things out, but he approached every sexual act like doctorate coursework that needed to be studied constantly and practiced thoroughly. I didn’t mind being his test subject.

“That is very nice,” I encouraged him, running my fingers through his hair while his head moved between my legs. “Very, very nice, top of the class.”

He glared at me.

I pulled his hair a little.

He growled.

I dropped my head back, deciding that my life was pretty great at the moment.

“Duo?”

“Mm?” I murmured, feeling very sated and relaxed.

Heero wiped his mouth with the back of his arm and came up off of the floor, settling his knees around my legs. “I would like to penetrate you.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his serious expression.

He frowned.

“I would enjoy being penetrated by you very much,” I offered.

He studied my face, and when I had gotten my amusement under control, he nodded. He was starting to understand that I didn’t mean to make fun of him, that I laughed when I was happy.

And he made me very happy.

He was such a cutie pie when he topped, with his serious blue eyes focused completely on mine, trying to read my every need to know how to better give me pleasure.

“Mm, like that,” I encouraged, directing him where to go.

He was like a very serious puppy sometimes. It made my heart ache, made me want to make stupid declarations that I couldn’t take back.

Instead I just held onto his hips very tightly and showed him what to do to make me unravel.

Big things come in small packages.

We cleaned up and got ready for bed, standing in front of the tiny bathroom mirror together while we brushed our teeth.

“We haven’t been away from one another for more than a few hours in months,” I observed through my toothpaste-filled mouth. “Are you sure you can survive being separated from me, your one true love?”

“I’ll try,” Heero said, spitting into the sink.

“You sound real broken up about it.”

“It will be an adjustment.”

“An adjustment…”

“But we’re separate people, living separate lives.”

“I see.”

His eyes caught mine in the mirror. “It’s strange how… you’ve become so much a part of me, and yet… just last year we barely spoke.”

“Pretty crazy,” I agreed, pressing my cheek to his as I hugged him from behind.

We looked at our reflections together.

“Two weeks is a long time,” I hummed.

“It’s actually a significantly short period of time in the scheme of a human being’s life.”

I groaned.

Heero smiled his threatening, terrifying smile.

I kissed his cute cheek. I was so smitten with this bizarre man.

“Mariemaia said that I’d… changed since we left.”

“Yeah, kinda,” I agreed.

“She said you changed, too.”

“Whaaaat?”

Heero shook his head at me.

“I’m always the same old me,” I protested. “Speaking of which, how about we have one more little sendoff before bed?” I suggested, rolling my hips into his very cute butt.

“We just got washed up,” Heero said. He wasn’t protesting so much as stating a fact.

“We can get washed up again,” I said cheerfully. “Whaddya say? A little in-n-out for the road?”

“You’re ridiculous,” he informed me, already moving back towards the bed.

“That’s my middle name!” I declared, throwing my boxers on the floor.

“You don’t have a middle name,” Heero responded automatically, already stripped naked with his clothes neatly folded on the dresser.

I admired his efficiency.

As much of a cutie pie as Heero was when he topped, he was downright adorable when he bottomed.

Heero Yuy was versatile.

“Duo…” he murmured, touching my face, holding my hand, kissing me anywhere he could.

Goddamn if I didn’t always come first.

I held onto him for as long as I could before he rolled over to his side of the bed.

The next morning we had an anticlimactic goodbye.

“Bye,” Heero said, swinging his bag over his shoulder and leaving.

“Hey!” I protested, chasing him into the shipyard in just my boxers.

“Is something the matter?”

I stared at him.

He stared back. Then he turned abruptly on his heel and continued leaving.

I caught his arm, and I felt the tension in it, knew that he had let me do it but hadn’t wanted to. “Give me a proper goodbye, Yuy!” I demanded, whirling him around.

He looked sad.

Of course, he wouldn’t look sad to a normal person. There was just this slight extra frowniness to his frown.

“See you soon,” I said, giving him a smooch.

“Soon,” he agreed, squeezing my hand and quickly walking away.

We didn’t know what we were going to do. We talked about opening a bounty hunting office. We talked about Heero becoming an agent. We talked about me being a housewife. We even talked about working for the Preventers part-time while running a bakery on the side. I don’t know why, because neither of us baked. We talked about just being together, sitting in my ship and looking at all the stars in the distance, and that was all we needed.

I had no idea what the fuck I was doing with my life, and that was okay.

Now I was going to visit my two best friends while they hunted down illegal aircraft operators on L3. Then I would go back to L1 and pick up my robot boyfriend, and we’d blast off into space together on our next probably pretty dull adventure.

Someone should write a book about it.

#gundam wing #fanfiction #1x2x1 #1x2 #unlikely office romances isola

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onlygotafewdollas · 5 years

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You have great taste in music! I really like R&B-style songs too! My playlist is so long bc whenever I hear a kpop song I like, I just it to the playlist rather than my library. Pdx101 is the first (and only) survival type show I've seen, it was simultaneously great and awful, but I'm glad I watched it. Yeah, evil editing can be annoying and it's unnecessary, I'm more interested in watching the performances and seeing them put them together and having fun -carat anon 1/?

I've heard of Immortal Songs, but I haven't watched it, I've seen clips where svt was on it tho. Being indecisive is something I can honestly relate to. I'm sure you'll make the right decision regarding the carat bong tho. I like talking to you too, it's fun! We seem to have quite a bit in common. Also, nope I'm a ghost, I died twice, after both MV teasers, this comeback is gonna slap me with a ton of bricks. Oh I've heard of Vincent Blue I think! I saw him on Youtube, I think he did a cover of something that I really liked, I think Jimin Park was also in the video maybe. I'll definitely give it a listen! Lmao I could totally see Seokmin being like "let's walk!" and I'd be like, "seriously? do we have to?" but then he'd make some cute puppy dog face and I'd cave. Hmmm I'm not sure if Shua would've watched YOI, I haven't seen it either, I'd rather watch something like BNHA with him Okay Sims is so good! That was one of my favourite things to do with my friends when I was younger, playing Sims alone is fun, but with other people, it's a whole different experience. I feel like Wonwoo would enjoy it and find it really amusing. YES OMG THE SECOND TEASER, I'M EVEN LESS READY NOW. LIKE ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL ME? Oh that must've been really hard on you, I got into kpop around that time so tbh it felt weird to get into SHINee plus I don't really stan older gen groups. But I really like Key's solo debut! Honestly that whole album is so good. Omg I love Monsta X! I got to see them in concert last month, it was honestly the best experience I've ever had, they're unbelievable on stage. Who's your bias? Mine's Jooheon. I stan a lot of groups, and listen to a whole lot more, maybe I have a problem lmao, but svt are my ults. I love that you went with dog breeds, they all fit so well! You did a good job for such a difficult question haha. I had fun looking up pics of those dog breeds since I haven't heard of some of them. Is it safe to assume you prefer dogs over cats or are you an animal lover who loves all animals? What's your favourite animal outside of those? Oh Anne! My name spelt backwards is Anne J. I'll let you figure that out lmao. We're getting close to the reveal now? When is it supposed to be again? -carat anon

1. Ahh thanks!! R&B just hits different LOL. I think it really allows for singers to show off their voices and technical talent. Def def def check out Vincent Blue tho!

2. Same with the whole drama and evil editing thing. Honestly the only reason I started watching Under 19 was because I was really bored and was interested in how some of the boys would perform but it started to get kinda dramatic with guys leaving and getting kicked out and blah blah blah so I tend to stick with other kinds of entertainment shows.

3. I literally just saw the second teaser and I’m gonna have to agree with you on this one, I’m dead too. Don’t even know how I made it this far as a carat without actually dying from shock from how freaking amazing they are. Hit is gonna be such a frickin bop. DROP IT ALREADY YOU COWARDS

4. oh YUP Seokmin could ask me to do anything and I’d do it willingly, no questions asked. I’m also definitely the friend in my group that insists that we can walk no matter the distance so he wouldn’t even have to try that hard with the puppy face but let’s be real I’d fake being annoyed about it so he’d give me the puppy eyes LOL

4. Ooh yes BNHA!! Or maybe even like SNK, Tokyo Ghoul, Death Parade...or we could tackle having a Naruto marathon LOL. I was caught up with Naruto at one point but then I stopped watching it and now I’m totally lost again hahaha. I also started rewatching One Piece last summer and got to episode 400 something...maybe I’ll get back on that again,,,

5. Man my parents only let me play educational computer games when I was younger so the only experience I have with sims is watching other people play! I could see the appeal tho

6. Yea, Jonghyun’s death was something that really made me stop and think about how life can be so uncertain. It was really rough bc he was one of my biases and his funeral was on my birthday that year too and idk I kinda just didn’t really know how to continue being a fan of theirs after that. But like I said, I recently got back into them and just relish the fact that his voice has been immortalized through their older songs :’)

7. DAMN HOW Y’ALL BE AFFORDING KPOP CONCERT TICKETS?? I know someone that’s gonna be seeing Svt in Seoul for Ode To You and I’m over here with my broke ass tryna figure out how to save for if they ever come to the states sdlkfjsdjflsdkfjsldkf

8. My bias is Hyungwon bc he’s like...a living meme. There’s that one gif of him sipping his starbucks and looking all shady and it makes me laugh bc I’ve totally done the same thing before and actually do it pretty frequently LMAO. But I also really like Shownu. Have you watched his mukbang series with M2??? That show got me through the last few weeks of college I swear to god, and especially the eps where Wonho was a guest star had me DEAD

9. Yea I don’t like actively stan a lot of groups but listen to a bunch here and there so I get what you mean! I guess for a while I was really into SNSD but it never got to the point that I’d say I was a stan. Svt and SHINee will always be my true loves (though yea Monsta X is creeping up there too)

10. HAHA THANK U I picked dog breeds bc I was gonna do animals but I feel like that’d get boring bc like everyone says Jun and Woo are like cats, Hoshi calls himself a tiger and ppl think he’s a hamster, Mingyu is a puppy, etc. So I figured since I love dogs a lot and I also love svt a lot....why not combine the two lolol

11. I do love both dogs and cats (and all other animals) but if I had to only choose one to have as a pet I’d go with a dog for sure!! They’re just,,,so pure,,,precious BABIES. My favorite dog breed is probably the samoyed! I love that they have those cute smiles. Just thinking about it makes my heart melt :’) But other than dogs, I had a phase where I was SUPER into pandas. I think part of it was that I identified with having really bad dark circles and always being tired LOL. Lowkey I still am obsessed with them but you can’t pet pandas soooooooo...

12. So...Jenna? Unless I’m somehow a dumbass? LOL

We really do seem to have a lot in common, so I’m excited for the reveal! If I remember correctly, it’s on the day that Hit gets dropped heh

But also with the whole carat bong thing,,,I heard they might not be selling V1 anymore???? So???? I might be forced to buy V2???? idk man idk

#carat anon #these are getting longer and longer LOL

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