#that ventus does it is a cool quirk

[thetrashthatsmilesback]

All the people who were asking why Sora can use oathkeeper and oblivion at the same time again in re:mind if he no longer had two hearts within him were so annoying: like!!! Because it's fucking badass!!! And it creates a fun play style!!!! Stfu and let those of us who like dual wielding have our fun, you don't have to unlock them!!!

[cinnbar-bun]

Helloooo i'm back, can I request a hc cuddles for Roxas, Sora, Ven and Xion please? (female or gn reader, what inspires you the most I'm not picky, I just like the idea of ​​hugs and touch haha) Thank you in advance, your writings are a bath of happiness!

Roxas, Sora, Ventus, Xion- Cuddling HCs

Roxas

A nervous cuddler until he starts getting into the groove of things.

Likes laying on your chest so he can hear your heartbeat, it really relaxes him. 

He loves cuddling when he wants to go to sleep, it’s his favorite thing ever because you feel so nice and he adores it.

Likes cuddling in private because he gets embarrassed about other people seeing him, he’s not big on PDA. The most he’ll do is have you lean your head on his shoulders or lean his head on your shoulders. 

He’s fine with spooning but he doesn’t like it too much because he can’t see your face.

Nightmare cuddles, he needs them. Sometimes the pain is unreal and he just needs you to hold him.

He likes when you stroke his hair and hold him close, it calms him down and he feels safe with you. 

He’s not openly physical with many people so it’s a sign of trust when he actively seeks you out for comfort. He cherishes you a lot. 

Cuddle quirk: This is going to sound a bit out there but he likes how you smell. Hear me out, it’s just your scent- maybe the smell of perfume, shampoo, cologne, or your clothes- reminds him that you’re physically there. 

On the topic of scents, he doesn’t like overbearing scents, but he tends to like very “cold” and clean scents. Something like fresh laundry detergent or ocean scents are his jam, and it makes him even more of a cuddlebug. 

Sora 

Excited cuddler, even before you were dating. 

He is very much a physically affectionate guy, and he’s gotta be touching/holding you almost every minute or he gets very sad.

He spreads his arms wide or he just wraps his arms around you- that’s how you know he wants to cuddle. 

Even at night, the boy does not want to let go of you. You’re just a tangle of limbs at this point and Riku and Kairi make fun of how disgustingly domestic you two are. 

He doesn’t mind any cuddling position honestly. You wanna be the big spoon? Sure! He is the big spoon? Cool! He just wants to hold you. 

His favorite cuddling position however has to be the pretzel though (that’s what google calls it ig, but think of it like you’re laying on his chest but both your legs are wrapped around each other). 

Goes crazy when he sees you wearing one of his shirts/jackets/sweaters, and he HAS to squeeze you tight and tell you how cute you look. 

Sora tends to enjoy you sitting on his lap and him resting his chin on your head while you’re doing something like reading, playing video games, watching tv. It’s not very comfortable after a while though because he complains his legs fell asleep (what a cutie)

Likes kissing you lots during cuddling sessions. Sometimes it’s just a soft kiss. Sometimes he is making out with you. Sometimes he’s just peppering kisses all over your face because you’re too cute. And other times he likes kissing your nose and seeing you smile.

Cuddle quirk: This boy also talks a mile a minute when you’re cuddling. He can go on and on and on just talking about random things that it takes him a while to realize you fell asleep. It’s okay though, he kisses you and then goes to sleep immediately with you. 

Ventus

A sweetheart. Unlike Sora who does it immediately, or Roxas who hesitates, Ventus likes to ask your permission to cuddle. He doesn’t mind PDA- except maybe if it’s so excessive Terra and Aqua tease him- but he’s pretty much down all the time. 

Big spooner. He loves spooning. He wants to feel manlier and stronger so he likes being the big spoon. 

Secretly though enjoys being the little spoon in private because he does not want Terra and Aqua to tease him. 

A lot of times you two cuddle horizontally on the couch and rest your head on your elbows when you watch tv or movies. 

Pretty chill cuddler, he’s not like Sora who is excessively talking, but he’s a really nice, quiet, and relaxing cuddle. 

Honestly though you two are probably surfing the web and then you just quietly snicker and show each other something funny you found or something you might wanna buy. 

“Hey (Y/n), look at this picture, it’s hilarious!” 

“Hey Ven, what do you think of these matching mugs?” “Oh that’s cute. You should get ‘em.” 

9/10 your cuddling leads to a nap. The other 1/10 is interrupted by Terra or Aqua busting down the door and asking you guys a question. 

Cuddles under the stars! Ventus likes telling you stories about them and maybe some constellations you can see, if you’re curious. 

Please let him talk, it’s so cute to see his smile and his eyes light up as he points out a certain constellation or maybe his thoughts on the sky. 

Cuddle quirk: BLANKET THIEF. Do not trust him with your blankets. He’s horrible. You will begin the night spooning and wake up cold after Ven yanked your blanket and has his back faced towards you. 

You’d kill him except for the fact he’s snoring so cutely and you let him be before you grab an extra blanket. 

He will steal that too. 

Xion

Nervous-excited cuddler. She wants to cuddle, a lot, but she gets embarrassed and nervously asks if you could. 

She does not mind it in public, although she’d rather have it be a bit more subtle because otherwise she’d get too flustered. 

She likes being held, so she likes sitting on your lap or being the little spoon. She’s watched and read plenty of romantic movies so she wants the total romantic package. 

She cutely makes a list of all cuddling positions she’s seen and says she wants to try every position with you. I-if you’d like to of course!

She finds she likes spooning or laying on your chest to be her favorite position ever. 

Xion has a habit of tracing over your skin or drawing shapes while you two are cuddling. It’s super cute, oh my gosh, she just wants to remember how you look and every crevice, curve, and scar on your body. She thinks all of you is gorgeous. 

Quiet whispering and talking. She likes to discuss what she today or what she wants to do in the future. 

“Hey, I had a great day with you today. I think next time we go out we should try that new cafe that opened.” 

She loves when you kiss her while cuddling. She feels so spoiled and she’s internally squealing at how happy she is. You make her feel like a princess. 

Likes to watch scary movies as an excuse to cuddle you. Some don’t really scare her in all honesty, but she thinks it’s so romantic if you hold her and keep her close. If you don’t like scary movies she changes her plans to romantic comedies. 

Some days she gets really emotional or down, and likes when you just hold her to remind her she exists. She has some terrible nightmares and likes to cuddle in order to not feel like she’s being actively hunted down again. 

Cuddle quirk: She likes singing when you’re cuddling. Sometimes she’ll hum a song she heard on the radio while out and about, or a random tune she made up. It’s quiet and she’s got a great voice, so sometimes you just stare at her in adoration and she gets caught off-guard like “what’s wrong?” 

When you explain it’s because you love her singing, she hides her face in your chest and mumbles the rest of the song. 

Bonus points: start singing along with her and she’ll perform a duet with you. The smile on her face is so bright and it is even cuter with the red on her cheeks!

[jcmorrigan]

I have attempted to keep my contempt for Kingdom Hearts III to a minimum. However, it has come to my attention that there are several jokes being passed around about how mean and ineffectual Yen Sid is as a teacher. I’m not demanding everyone change their tune right now and like Yen Sid. He’s not for everyone. But I went through a journey over the course of this series going from disliking him to flat-out loving him, and it really dismays me that I can pinpoint why everyone thought he was so bad in III and it, to use a phrase that has almost lost meaning, “doesn’t exist in a vacuum.”

Historically, Yen Sid has been a punching bag for this fandom. I know. I was there. Doing some of the punching. The problem was we were given Organization XIII and weren’t really sure what to do with them. For one, if you didn’t play CoM in between 1 and II (and not having SEEN Marluxia trying to chess-game everyone to their deaths), which was my story, you got Naminé saying “Good or bad, I cannot say” followed almost immediately by Yen Sid saying that though the Organization would pretend to have emotions , it was a ruse. I can’t pinpoint exactly why the Organization XIII fandom happened (I’m not sure it was so simple as “They’re hot”), but if it was anything like my case, I think it stems deep down from seeing these cool character designs and quirks on a bunch of VILLAINS and feeling the pull of the good/bad binary that suggests you can’t enjoy them as villains and must make them redeemable enough to make fan content of. This is starting to veer into a whole other essay, so I’ll cut it off here - I’ll just say if you know me, you know I figured out that “fun team for fan content” and “moral role models” are not necessarily symbiotic. ANYWAY. ABOUT YEN SID. The other thing I think we have to remember is that at the time, the only people who understood how Nobodies felt were the Nobodies. Ansem the Wise also thought they were emotionless evil. We found out in DDD, whether or not that was planned in advance, that Xemnas basically conditioned them to think of themselves that way. 358/2 Days is so poignant in its depiction of the Sea Salt Trio because you see how the rest have been groomed to be divided and not care about friendship or emotions. So in a way, the Organization defense squad was right, and I think that ended up being kind of the point - Yen Sid was telling us all we knew about this “mysterious entity” that didn’t interact with humanity, and that arc was concluded through Ansem realizing he should’ve treated Roxas like a human person. So that clears away KHII Yen Sid.

BBS Yen Sid was where I really grew to love him as a character. He understands that Terra and Ven need to follow their hearts, and in their individual visits, he basically tells them “Eraqus would not like this, but I know it’s important to you and I trust you, so I’m going to look the other way.” When Aqua visits him, you see a completely new side of him. It always hurts me so much when he has to tell Aqua that Xehanort and Terra have murdered Eraqus. Because he pauses a bit before saying Xehanort’s name. That man was his friend, and all this time, he was hoping there was redeemability in him. (Perhaps contributing to him being later jaded toward Xemnas’ associates, hmm?) But he pauses even longer before saying Terra’s name, and I sincerely believe this is because he recognizes the pain he feels at knowing Xehanort isn’t the person he thought he was...and even more than not wanting to feel it, he doesn’t want Aqua to feel that way about Terra. Yet he knows in the end she deserves the truth. Also, BBS kind of acts “fix fic” toward Fantasia itself, of all things. When I took my stance on KHII Yen Sid, this made me retroactively look at Fantasia and go “What a jerk in how he treats Mickey.” Which really isn’t the case at all - he’s tough but fair, and Mickey kinda BROUGHT THE WATERY APOCALYPSE DOWN UPON HIS LABORATORY. But the end credits scene of Yen Sid and Mickey deliberately subverts Fantasia. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice has Yen Sid strip Mickey of the hat, which Mickey doesn’t want to give up. BBS ends on the note of Mickey feeling that, since he couldn’t save his friends, he didn’t deserve the Keyblade (which is the same pattern as Yen Sid’s hat) anymore, and he tried to give it up. Yen Sid instead hands it BACK to him encouragingly, and this is likely where he awarded Mickey mastery. It takes a scene where we’re used to him punishing the naughty trickster and flips it on its head - when Mickey himself thinks he’s finally gone too far and nothing but a failure, Yen Sid wants him to keep dreaming, keep growing, keep learning.

DDD! Yen Sid tests Riku and Sora for Mastery, and ultimately encourages Riku to self-actualize! He assures Riku it’s okay to mix Light and Dark, which is almost UNHEARD of in this universe! He reaches out to Kairi, he allows Lea a second chance - he’s on top of it all!

So let’s get into KHIII. People have said Yen Sid berates Sora too much. And I’m not saying that’s not true. People have said it’s stupid that Yen Sid doesn’t actually act like a “teacher” or introduce a lot of the mechanics from BBS he would’ve known about, like armor or skimmers. And it kind of is. But I think it’s the old KHII sourness that’s bleeding into this interpretation, because honestly...this is not a Yen Sid problem.

This problem affects the characterization of pretty much every main cast member in KHIII.

Sora is now more focused on his own failings than trying to help others (please compare his reaction to Rapunzel to his reaction to Quasimodo back in DDD to see how selfish he’s become). Riku has almost nothing to say or do. Kairi has been watered down - no sense of humor or sass or initiative, to say nothing of the great offensive death scene. Aqua’s time in the Realm of Darkness seems to have had no noticeable effect on her until Re:Mind retroactively patched it in, and her solitude wasn’t explored. Ventus gets barely anything to do or say beyond being a yes-man. The conflict between the Wayfinder Trio? Swept under the rug. Same with Sea Salt, though at least Axel, Roxas, and Xion all feel like themselves, at least. Vexen, whose primary character trait was “grump who hates everyone,” decides midgame that he is no longer grumpy and does not hate everyone. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness? Don’t even get me started; there is no similarity between this ominous harbinger of Master Xehanort’s will and the mad scientist nihilist from KH1. Master Xehanort himself? Has magically gone from “I must explore the Darkness to see what answers of the universe will be revealed when Kingdom Hearts comes, despite the Light acting as a policing force I find unfair” (BBS) to “I hate that everyone acts like a good person but it’s so fake. I want to remake the world and rule over it to make it better” (KHIII). Meanwhile, Eraqus, whose arc centered around fanaticism taken to an extreme that led him to attack his own adoptive child, is now the voice of forgiveness, acting as forgiveness for Xehanort when it was Eraqus’ lack of forgiveness for any slight that kicked off the problem in the first place. I personally love Ienzo as he is, probably because he’s more sincerely happy now and the seeds were planted in DDD for this characterization, but if you add it up, he’s very jarringly different than the Zexion we were used to.

Yen Sid is a victim of the same character assassination that hit pretty much EVERYONE else in this game. Why is he a bad teacher? Because the guy in charge of writing his dialogue didn’t bother to line it up with BBS or DDD for consistency. Why didn’t he show the characters how to do anything worth anything? Because, again, the designers of III decided to switch the BBS mechanics for Attraction Flows and Formchanges without taking lore and continuity into consideration (and for the record, I love Attraction Flows and Formchanges, but we couldn’t have everything, and we need to be aware of the fact that game design dictates a lot of the story; the reason Sora is missing so much power in the first place is because we need to justify starting the game at level 1). At the very least, they allowed Yen Sid to actually travel to the Keyblade Graveyard to rescue his charges when everyone had a betting pool on him “Sitting in his chair doing nothing” during the end times. And that probably involved a lot of haggling over licensing of Fantasia. They at least wanted to show him caring about the others to that degree.

Like I said, Yen Sid isn’t for everyone. If you don’t like him because you just don’t like him, fine. I didn’t come here to try and change everyone’s mind. But I just think it’s a little bit unfair to harp on how much of a “bad teacher” he is in III when this lines up with none of his prior characterization, but lines up perfectly with how much the rest of the cast is bad everything-else.

[chikoriita]

just follow me, I know the area

Prompt 2

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts

Rating: G

Tags: Terra/Aqua, fluff, tooth rotting fluff

Read on AO3

For the first time in a decade, the King and Queen announced that they would hold the Million Dreams Festival once more. Upon receiving their invitation, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus immediately packed their bags to attend. They did have lifetime passes after all, thanks to Ven.

Aqua was in no rush to explore the festival. They had all the time in the world to check everything out. Food, music, rides, and all that came with such a festive atmosphere. As the trio strolled down Main Street, she reminisced on the last time she was here and compared it today. The most glaring difference was having her boys by her side. All she remembered from the last time was the hurt she felt from their rift. Still, all of that was in the past now, and it was bright and shining new day with Terra and Ventus.

The latter nudged her in the side. “Why are you so quiet?” He teased. “Are you bored?” Ventus spun around and waved at all of the bright decorations around them.

Aqua laughed. “I’m just amazed at how this place changed over the years,” she pointed out.

Ven grinned, snapping photos of all the festival arrangements. “The King and Queen outdid themselves. It looks cooler than the last one.”

Terra grinned. “I’m excited to see the new tracks they put into the Royal Raceway. At least “Captain Dark” won’t be around to make a ruckus this time. Or was he actually Captain Justice?”

She laughed at the thought of Pete’s identity crisis during the last festival. Pete hadn’t been seen in a while; apparently last anyone had seen of him, he’d been hanging around Maleficent. Aqua didn’t mind his absence. She wanted nothing more than to enjoy this vacation.

“Pete is loony, but he does have a cool hideout,” she said.

Terra raised a brow. “What hideout? I explored nearly every inch of town!”

Ven interrupted before she could answer. “Look!” He waved a flyer. “The triplets need a taste tester for their new ice cream flavors! I’m going to check it out, if it’s okay with you.”

“Aw, do you need permission from your grown ups?” Terra teased with a ruffle of his hair. Scrooge McDuck did Ven no favors when he gave him the kiddie pass; Terra would always hold it over him.

Ven glared at him. “I was only being considerate. We are here together.”

Aqua intervened before Terra countered. “We are here to have fun. There’s plenty of time for us to spend in the next few days.” She waved him away. “Good luck with the ice cream flavors.”

He sped away as soon as he got the approval. Terra chuckled. “Off he goes leaving us geezers behind. What are we going to do without him Aqua?” He slung an arm around her shoulders.

“Well,” Aqua drew out anticipation with that one word. “We could always see if Pete’s hideout is around still.” She shrugged his arm off and grabbed his hand. “C’mon, I know the area!”

“Okay, okay!” He followed as she pulled him through the festival toward a manhole. “I still don’t see what the big deal is about a hideout.”

—

Aqua tried and failed to hold back her smirk when they arrived to their destination. It was still as colorful and loud as it had been a decade ago. The giant pinball mechanism glowed enticingly. Come! Jump on! It will be fun, it seemed to say. She wasn’t inclined to resist.

Terra whistled. “Okay this is kinda cool.” From his mouth, it was high praise. “Does the pinball machine actually work?”

She raised a blue eyebrow at him. “Do you want to try it out?”

“Only if you do.”

Aqua accepted the challenge and ran ahead to go up the stairs. He followed closely behind and caught her hand before she jumped onto the spring.

“Wait. Let’s do it together.” Terra took her other hand as well.

Aqua glanced up at him. His brown eyes gazed down at her solemnly. “Terra, are you alright?” she softly asked.

He took a small step closer, eliminating the space between them. “It’s just…We’ve been apart all these years, and even before, we weren’t on the best of terms. And I don’t want…” He trailed off, thinking of the right words to say. “Like you said. We’re here to have fun. We used to have fun when we were kids, right?”

Aqua thought back to their childhood, long before Ven came to live with them. She spent her days following Terra as he got them into various shenanigans around the Land of Departure. Back then there was no competition of mastery or even Keyblades. Aqua simply adored her time with Terra, and if she was honest with herself, he reciprocated that feeling.

She squeezed his hands tightly. “We truly did. But you know what’s great about being grown up?” She asked with a smirk.

He quirked his lip up. “What, Aqua?”

“There’s no one to stop us from playing on a life-sized pinball machine all day.” Aqua tugged him quickly onto the spring. She jumped; Terra tripped. They had a split second before the spring launched them into the air. In that split second, Aqua saw the biggest smile, a real one, on Terra’s face. As they glided through the air, hands clasped tightly together, Aqua couldn’t help but return the sentiment.

Later when they found Ven to watch fireworks, Aqua’s face was flushed and Terra’s hair mussed. If you asked them, they would swear that it was because of the pinball antics. Nothing else transpired that afternoon.

Nothing that Ven could know about his grownups, that is.

[bookwormally]

The last of the light has bled from the sky and Ven sighs as he leans on the windowsill and watches the stars blink to life in the dark. He could watch the sky for hours, and has, but even now he can feel the tug on the back of his shirt. Without turning around, he swats at it. “You’re being needy.”

“It’s winter. Close the damn window.”

“No.” Ven watches the sky, tracing the constellations he knows until he’s counted seven of them. Only then does he look over his shoulder.

Vanitas is wrapped in two heavy blankets and glaring at him. “I’m not sharing with you.”

Ven sticks his tongue out. “You absolutely are.”

“No, your fingers are cold now and I’m not touching that.”

He looks at his fingers and then reaches to shut the window. The room is nice and chilly, just how Ven likes it. Sure, he can sleep almost anywhere, but he loves a cool room with a blanket to curl up in. Even better are arms wrapped around him under said blankets.

Ven crawls the small distance to the burrito Vanitas has made of himself. He tugs at the blanket, but Vanitas smirks at him. “No loose ends.”

“Oh, come on. You know I like seeing the stars come out. I won’t put my fingers on you, promise!”

“You, Ventus, are a liar. You always wait until I’m relaxed and then press them to the first bit of skin you find.”

This is true, but only because Vanitas makes the best half-shriek that Ven has ever heard. He curls his fingers into his palms and rubs them together. “Look, I’m warming them up right now. Untangle yourself and we’ll both warm up faster.”

Vanitas watches him, eyes bright in the dark room. The only light comes from the moon outside and the small light glowing beside the bed. Ven reaches out and runs his finger down its side. The light grows dimmer, just a soft glow to spare them total darkness. Vanitas’s eyes catch the limited light and reflect it slightly, a predator’s gaze.

Ven’s fingers move to his cheek, still soft as they brush Vanitas’s cheek instead. Fingers escape the blanket wrap to hold them there. Vanitas closes his eyes and tips his head to kiss Ventus’s palm. Already, warmth floods him. Ven leans closer, lowering his hand until their forehead touch. Vanitas slides their noses together, eyes so bright this close. Ven’s breath catches no matter how many times they’ve been this close, no matter how many times they’ve looked at one another.

Red eyes close and their breath mingles. Ven has the barest distance to close.

He presses his fingers to the back of Vanitas’s neck and is rewarded with a jump that bashes their noses together. Swearing, Vanitas pulls back, rubbing at his nose. “You’re such a bitch.”

Rubbing his nose, Ventus grins at him. “You started it.”

“How can you claim that I started this?”

Ven shrugs and tugs at the blankets. They unravel now that Vanitas isn’t holding them closed. “Clearly, this darkness is from you.”

Vanitas rolls his eyes. “Shitty pranks are not darkness. That’s just…rude behavior.”

“Now, you sound like Aqua.” Ven wraps one of the blankets over his shoulders and flops down on his stomach next to Vanitas.

His other half grumbles under his breath and turns on his side to look at Ventus. “You’re supposed to be the civilized one.”

Ven shrugs again. “We lost all the civility ages ago. Shame.”

Vanitas’s lips quirk. “You have none.”

“Nope.” Ven smirks back at him and then extends a hand. “Come here.”

Wresting his remaining blanket around, Vanitas moves closer, completing their blanket wrap. Ven wraps an arm around his waist and snuggles close. “You’re so warm.”

“Because I wasn’t hanging half out the window in the middle of winter. Amazing how that works.” Vanitas nudges one of his feet between Ven’s and wraps both arms around him. Despite his complaints and critiques, he’s content to warm Ventus up.

Ven snuggles closer, pressing his face to Vanitas’s shoulder. “Mmm,” he hums. “Incredible.”

Vanitas sighs and plays with the ends of his hair, pulling them away from Ventus’s neck. “You’re already falling asleep, aren’t you?”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Ventus blows a raspberry at him and then kisses Vanitas’s neck. “Maybe a bit.”

Vanitas shivers and presses his cheek to the top of Ventus’s head. “It’s fine, I guess.” He pauses, grip going just a bit tighter. “Only if you promise to be here when I wake up.”

Ven tangles his fingers in the back of Vanitas’s shirt. He presses them as close as they can get, until their hearts are beating right beside each other. “Of course,” he says, softer than before. “I’ll always be here, Vanitas.”

A sigh brushes through the spikes of his hair. “Promise, just for this morning.” Because there is no forever.

“I’ll be here in the morning, waiting for you.” Ven slides one hand up Vanitas’s back. He lifts his head and presses their foreheads back together. “Waiting for you to grumble awake so I can say, ‘Good morning, Vani.’”

Vanitas shivers again and this time when their noses brush together, they’re both closing the gap. No chill from winter’s breath reaches the two of them, wrapped in warmth and love. A tangle of limbs, it’s hard to tell where one of them ends and the other begins. Ven presses them closer, closer, as if he might still be able to make them the Ventus that was. Vanitas exhales against his cheek.

“I love you,” one of them whispers.

“I love you,” echoes back.

By the time dawn begins to light the sky, the only thing the sun can reach is their hands, fingers intertwined and still holding on.