#the last name basis trope for them makes every time they say each other's FIRST NAMES

[theydemily]

name basis trope w/ morgan & prentiss

[catboyebooks]

in case it wasn't clear, i really enjoy this chapter's motive. you can practically feel the authorial glee at getting to write these characters behaving exactly counter to how they normally do. this complicates the mystery in a really fun way. it's also funny — you see this get used as a comedy trope more often, i think. think how many TV shows have done a goofy episode where the joke revolves around the characters acting counter to their typical behavior. while it's being played for suspense/horror here, there's still plenty of comedy, especially in the interactions between komaeda and ibuki (he keeps telling absolutely outrageous lies and she takes him at his word every single time).

but also, i think the main reason this is in the game is to make a point. i think this is intended to settle the question of komaeda's honesty. lemme explain what i mean here:

naturally, out of universe, there's a reason why it's these three characters that end up sick. i think the reason it's three of them that fall ill is to give us multiple examples of how this disease works, and the reason it's these three in particular... well. owari is one of the most straightforward characters in the game, her primary personality traits are being tough and fearless, so it's very easy to see that she's done a complete 180 after falling ill. ibuki is somewhat less straightforward and it might not be immediately apparent that the same has happened to her, but normally she's something of a goofball — she makes a lot of silly puns, clearly enjoys wordplay, and addresses everyone like they're a close friend of hers (she uses first names and -chan honorifics for everybody, which sticks out when nearly everyone else is on a last-name basis with each other). of course the direct opposite of that would be someone who speaks very formally, is too literal-minded to understand puns or metaphors, and takes everything at face value. and then we have komaeda, who is now lying for no reason whenever he opens his mouth.

this should completely settle the question of whether komaeda's been deceiving them up until this point, which would otherwise be a tricky thing to determine. there are plenty of reasons why one would assume he is lying. you could assume he's lying about the hope stuff because it sounds crazy. you could assume he's lying because we know he's lied to the group before and it's worked, he's an effective liar when he needs to be (importantly, he has confessed afterwards every single time he's lied to them). you could assume he was lying to get close to hinata in chapter 1, because that's what maizono did to naegi and there are other parallels clearly present between the first case of that game and the first case in this one. however, this can't be left as an open question because it completely muddies the waters regarding the point this game is trying to make with his character. if we can't know whether or not he's being honest, we can't make sense of his motivations and it would become essentially impossible to get a read on him. that's very much not the point here; you're meant to try and figure out komaeda because his character is used to illustrate many of the themes of the game and because he's also very similar to hinata and it's important to understand him to understand hinata as well.

going through this chapter again it also seems pretty clear to me that komaeda is trying to make himself understood even with a disease that forces him to lie. the lies he's telling initially are completely random, crazy stuff that no one would fall for, as though he's trying to make it as obvious as possible that he's not telling the truth. then, after it's been explained to the group that he's sick with an illness that makes him lie, he says something that is clearly the direct opposite of what he wants to say. the whole rant he goes on about how great despair fever is needs to be read in the inverse, because what he's actually attempting to say is "i feel terrible, this disease is awful, you should all be careful not to catch it, we need to overcome this and persevere for the sake of hope." it seems like it maybe takes a lot out of him to try and work around the disease like this and say something that could be interpreted correctly if you know he's lying, because he passes out immediately after this rant. this is also not the only time he does this this chapter, i can think of at least one other occasion when he tries to make himself understood by saying the direct opposite of what he actually wants to say. we'll get there

[tirsynni]

Okay, mild fandom rant time, because I keep seeing this in the Resident Evil fandom, and the only thing I can think of due to the lack of real basis is that people just prefer enemies-to-lovers or that it’s a beloved trope in the fanon.

The bit where Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy hate each other. Wtf. Where does this come from? Why is it so popular?

We have two -- two -- moments of actual tension between the two in the entire series, and that is it. Wtf.

1) Where the pair meet in RE6. At first, they don’t know who the other one is and that is the only time you see them physically fight. You see them draw guns on each other and hold them on each other even when they recognize each other, Here’s the thing: there’s nothing in the world that could convince me they were ever going to harm the other when they recognized each other. The guns up acted as a barrier as they argued their points. At this time, they were both seriously fucked up but were calming down and talking and I think would have reached a conclusion if fake-Ada had interfered.

2) When Chris and Rebecca interrupted Leon’s vacation/private breakdown in Vendetta.The two argued angrily with each other and were clearly pissed by the other’s inability to see their point. The closest it came to physical was when Chris tried to stop Leon from drinking some more.

Now here’s why I don’t think any of that lends to the antagonistic relationship a lot of fans think they have.

In RE6, despite seeming to be on opposite sides regarding the Ada affair, despite having their guns drawn on each other, they were talking. For the first time in the entire game, Chris seemed semi-calm regarding his teams’ death after a couple moments of talking with Leon. He was actually talking to Leon about this when every other time he just snarled and grew angry. We’ll never know for sure, but I’m confident that, if fake-Ada hadn’t interfered, Chris would have gone with Leon’s argument. He was calming down, he was checking Leon’s conviction. Most importantly, when fake-Ada ran, he quickly agreed with Leon that he would try to bring Ada in alive.

At that time, Chris had been incredibly messed up. He had been beyond poor Piers’s control. He has been angry, aggressive, violent. Yet it took one meeting with Leon to remind him who he was and what he wanted. It was after Leon stopped him and told him that he trusted that he would do the right thing that Chris stopped focusing on revenge and started focusing on doing the right thing. He change his goal, worked hard to be a good partner for Piers, and when he was face-to-face with the person responsible for killing his team, he tried to bring her in.

As for Leon? No one would blame the man for having major trust issues at this point, but he doesn’t hesitate to tell Helena that he trusts Chris. Despite literally just seeing Chris planning to murder Ada, he was confident that Chris would do the right thing and try to bring her in alive. When he said he believed in Chris, everything indicated he sincerely meant it.

Okay, onto Vendetta. I’ve ranted about that scene before, but I believe much of the scene with Leon drinking and the pair arguing has been blown out of proportion. Here’s what is canon: both men had just undergone something traumatizing. Both were reacting to that in that scene. Leon’s choice: going on vacation and drinking. Maybe not the healthiest response but done in a reasonable fashion: off the job, in a safe, out-of-the-way location, literally on a vacation. The fact that he’s merrily day-drinking shows that he wasn’t doing well mentally in that scene. As for Chris? He’s furious, frustrated, emotionally compromised, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to arm him and send him on his merry way? Leon was licking his wounds in true Leon Kennedy fashion by not addressing it and Chris was licking his wounds in true Chris Redfield fashion by aggressively going after his problems and trying to blow them up.

So were they fighting? Absolutely! Was that the last time they fought in the entire movie? Yep! They were both in a rough spot and failing to communicate with the other, but when push came to shove, they clicked. It took no effort after that for them to get on the same page. They worked together smoothly and trusted each other implicitly.

In the rare times we see the pair together in canon, that is the main point with them. They trust each other. Leon states it clearly in 6 and it is shown repeatedly. They trust each other not only in a fight but to have their backs and to make the right decisions. Even after fighting, they show no grudges toward each other. They get on the same page and go forward.

If someone wants to write tension between the pair, it would be remarkably easy. RE6 is a great example of how radically different they each approach their problems. Leon’s game started with his needing to kill a good friend. He is clearly fucked up about it. It’s the first time since RE2 that we see him hesitate to kill a BOW. He is in tears. He is devastated. He screams Adam’s name when he shoots. And then? He doesn’t say another word about it for the rest of the game. Helena repeatedly mentions her sister: after apologizing to Adam’s corpse, Leon doesn’t say his name again for the rest of the game. In RE6 and Vendetta, Chris charges after his problem. He goes for revenge. He wants the bad guy’s head on a pike. In Vendetta, we see Leon literally hide away and drink. They have incredibly different responses to emotional trauma. That could be an amazing source of tension between the pair instead of some strange antagonism.

Hell, I would love to see that possible tension be addressed, but regarding just general antagonism between the two? No. I don’t see it.

[courtlyharlequin]

Breathing Room

Warnings: fluff, no plot just brainrot,  lowkey horn knee, feral and angry Taku coming from nine o’clock because I squeezed too much of her favorite tropes into this

Summary: Humans are strange. Their hobbies and customs are bewildering, but nothing Jade couldn’t handle as he was quick to adapt. Sometimes, he might even partake in said activities. Case in point with hiking. And you, knowing Jade for a decent amount of time as his significant other, came to terms with the fact that he would decline a request to participate in something that didn’t pique his interest. So when you proposed that he play the pocky game with you, you were certain that he would decline. But he didn’t.

A/N: Happy birthday to the Jade simp, @takuyakistall​~! I’m so sorry that this was posted late but you’re already wary of that and thank you for supporting me through such a tough time. Ahhh life just doesn’t want me to simp for my hair wife! I tell you this a lot but I’ll say it again: I’m quite attached to you since you were my first tumblr friend. I didn’t have any in real life or online friends who like twst before meeting you so you mean a lot to me as my first. You always make me laugh whether it be bullying you or rotting over our mains together. Even when we get serious, I still love talking to you. You’re that amazing.  I hope you have an amazing day, one just as amazing as you are. Eat lots of cake and pocky. I love you ♡

“Jade,” you said, tugging at his sleeves.

He sighed through his strained smile as he set down a glass he was polishing. He tucked his hair behind his ear and dusted off his slacks as if he was brushing away invisible crumbs off the garment. It was an ungodly hour. He was working overtime for Mostro Lounge. Today was unusually busy. As vice prefect, Jade took it upon himself to bite off more than he could chew. And he could chew a lot actually. He was a moray eel with two sets of jaws and an immense appetite. In his human form, he only had one set of jaws yet the appetite remained.

The lounge was deserted. Students shuffled to the mirror chambers and headed to their respective dorms to retire for the night. Jade, on the other hand, was sitting on a barstool with an array of glasses and creased brows. You sat by his side, doing your assignments and engaging him in idle chatter here and there. He had promised to help you with your alchemy homework, but alas his duties called for him. In a way. You didn’t mind per se since he helped you understand the material within minutes during his short-lived breaks.

They were about three minutes long and Jade only took two breaks ever since his shift started. You weren’t an expert at reading people like he was, but even you could tell he could use some rest or a pick-me-up at least. Perhaps the latter. Jade was stubborn. He wasn’t going to head to his bedroom until he was done.

“Yes, (y/n)?”

You reached into your book bag and pulled out a small box of biscuits– pocky to be exact. You held it in front of his gaze. He cocked his head.

“Let’s play the pocky game.”

“Maybe later. We can play after I finish. Or tomorrow. It’s late so you should return to your living quarters and get some rest,” Jade said as he turned his attention to his task.

“Please? Think of it as a break. Your last one was about three hours ago.”

“Well, if you put it like that then I shall indulge you, my dear.”

Heat rose to your cheeks as he spun the barstool to make direct eye contact with you. You avoided his gaze as you opened the box, selecting a random stick of pocky and holding it in front of him. He took it and examined it with a perplexed expression.

“What is this?”

“Pocky.”

“Which is?”

“It’s like a cookie biscuit thing with a chocolate covering,” you said, getting yourself your own stick.

“I see. So this ‘pocky’ edible.”

“Yes,” you nodded, biting the pocky.

He mirrored your actions. You watched him chew it thoroughly. His eyes wandered around the ceiling of the lounge. You held your breath as he closed his eyes and exhaled.

“It’s delectable.”

Your shoulders relaxed and he chuckled under his breath. It would have been disappointing if Jade didn’t like pocky. That would mean you couldn’t persuade him to play the pocky game. You looked into his eyes lovingly while he nibbled on the remainder of the stick.

“And what is ‘the pocky game’?” Jade mused.

You took out another biscuit. His brows arched as you waited for him to swallow the last bit of his current pocky stick.

“The objective of the game is to be the last to hold onto the stick as we each take a bite and move closer to the center. Whoever is the last to pull away wins. You take one end and I’ll take the other. I’ll let you have the chocolate end because it’s your first time playing.”

“My, my how kind of you. I almost thought you were the headmaster. All you needed was to comment on your kindness.”

“Ha ha,” you deadpanned.

He brought his hand to chin. He feigned curiosity.

“Though… if you wanted to kiss me you could have just said, (y/n),” Jade gave you a toothy grin, ones he shot at the poor unfortunate freshmen souls that tried to escape the conditions of Octavinelle’s yearly exam contracts before chasing them down the hallways with his brother.

“I-I.. It would be more fun?”

“I jest, my pearl. There’s no shame in wanting to engage in intimacy. I shall indulge you. Though, I have a feeling that I will win every round– seeing as you get flustered even when I embrace you without warning fufu~”

There was not a shred of innocence in his voice. Jade knew where this was going. He was going to do everything in his power to win. He was good at that sort of thing, small ministrations that drove you wild.

When he found out that you were sensitive to neck kisses, chaste or not, he greeted you every morning outside of your first period threshold with a peck on the side of your neck. The first time he did that, you were reduced to a puddle of empty thoughts, a spasm of spiraling emotions and heated cheeks. The following incidents featured your hand instinctively shooting to the spot he kissed, cheeks still hot and bothered. When you had adapted to his rhythm, he kissed your neck in the halls, during lunch, and when he walked you back to your dorm. They were spontaneous and sporadic. They ceased when winter began and you wore a scarf around your neck all day, every day. Of course, that was months ago. The routine faded as your relationship developed. Jade had his share of teasing and came to understand that setting your nerves on fire on a daily basis despite your protests wasn’t exactly healthy. He also came to understand how people might get the wrong idea from neck kisses. He teased you for hours on end for being so lewd, but digressed when you were on the verge of tears due to embarrassment. That didn’t stop his other methods of teasing, but at least you were free from public surprise neck kisses.

Jade loved to tease. He was good at it too. He knew you and your ticks like the back of his hand. You were certainly going to lose this game, but it was better not to let your true feelings show and give him the upper hand.

You inserted the biscuit between Jade’s lips and took a deep breath before taking your end. It was more so a hybrid of a deep breath and a yawn. It was late after all.

Jade’s eyes widened and the stick broke in half. Your eyes widened as well.

“You’re supposed to hold onto the stick for a long as you can, silly.”

He closed his eyes: “Yes, my bad. Shall we try again?”

“One to zero,” you said as you slipped a biscuit into his lips.

“Did that count?”

“Of course it does.”

He pouted as you inhaled and exhaled deeply before taking your end of the pocky. It snapped immediately.

“Jade,” you whined, drawing out the last syllable of his name.

“Apologies, my dear. It seems to be instinctive for me to bite the stick.”

“You can bite. It’s just that the pocky keeps breaking in half whenever you bite it. Maybe try to be more gentle?”

“Two to zero.”

“You’re so cruel, (y/n).”

You giggled as you handed him the stick. He pursed his lips and held the stick out for you to take a bite from your end. You closed our eyes and opened your mouth to take a deep breath once more and the stick snapped before you knew it.

You looked up at Jade to see the pocky awkwardly sticking out of his hand which was covering his face. Mostro Lounge’s dim lights made it difficult to make out many details, but you were positive that Jade Leech was profusely blushing.

“Jade?”

“C-Could you not do that*?”

“Do what?”

What could have possibly reduced him to such an adorable state? He’s usually so composed. He was never this flustered. Out of all the times you tried to get him to break, he was resilient. And here you were, not having any idea as to what you did to make him blush.

“O-Open your mouth.”

“Pardon?”

A yawn escaped from your lips. Jade spun the bar stool around and stared at the glasses with sudden interest.

“Could you not do that?”

“Yawn?”

He nodded.

“Why?”

He mumbled something under his breath.  

“Jade?”

“(y/n), you should have just asked for a kiss.”

The eel stood up curtly from his seat. He towered over you and his eyes glowed in the dark lighting. He pulled out a pocky stick from the box in your petite hands and slipped it in between your lips. There was a small pause before he came crashing down. If he hadn’t been holding your shoulders so firmly, you might’ve fell over from the force that he exerted. He came barreling towards your lips. You weren’t sure if he had even bit the pocky. You felt it snap, but when you parted your mouth to allow his tongue to entangle with yours, you could not find a single trace of the biscuit. The flavor lingered in his mouth, but the pocky itself was nonexistent. Did he swallow it whole?

He did not leave your mind to wander too far from him. He kissed you hungrily and nipped at your lips. His sharp teeth grazed your flesh and you mewled into the kiss. You could hear him growl faintly as he held onto your waist. You wrapped your arms around his neck to deepen the kiss. He tiled your head for a better angle. You pushed him away. You needed to catch your breath.  A string of saliva fell from your lips.

“Jade,” you gasped as he nuzzled his head in the crook of your neck.

“It would be in your best interest if you don’t do that again, especially during mating season. I don’t think I’ll be able to control myself next time. I might break you in half, dearest.”

Your cheeks flushed as you nodded absentmindedly. Mating season?

He bit your neck.You yelped and wriggled out of his embrace.

“Jade!” you hissed, clutching your neck.

“Consider that a small price to pay,” he chuckled.

You huffed.

“I win this time,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah…”

He packed the glasses onto a shelf.

“You’re free to go now. I’ve finished here so you don’t have to keep me company anymore. Would you like me to escort you?”

“No, it’s fine,” you said, trying to stifle a yawn.

“Goodnight, (y/n).”

“Goodnight, Jade. See you tomorrow.”

Though you had agreed not to yawn, it escaped your lips. Luckily, your back was facing Jade as you exited the lounge so he didn’t see you yawn, but rather heard you yawn. You heard a distant bang on the counter as well as a faint “dammit” from a voice you knew all too well.

It took every fiber in your body to restrain yourself from turning around. You knew all too well that if you turned around, he would’ve rushed towards you and snapped you in half just like a pocky stick. It was best to give him a little breathing room even if you were hot and bothered yourself.

*Note: To initiate the mating process, moray eels open their mouths very wide at each other to signal the start of it. This trait carries over to when (y/n) yawns as Jade took it as a sign for his eel-y instincts.

[fortunaaamajor]

Something in the Way (Fred Weasley)

Fred Weasley x Reader

The trope of everyone else knowing two people are in love before the two have figured it out is just so adorable to me, I love reading it so thought I’d try my hand at writing it...

Fem!Reader, no house mentioned, no specific physical features

Warnings: None I don’t think

Word Count: 1.6k

Although I am using the Harry Potter universe as a basis for this story I do not support JK Rowling or her views.

Fred and Y/N’s relationship was special, everyone knew that. What they shared was unlike anything anyone had ever seen. Fred and Y/N’s relationship was loving and tender, both always willing to put the other first whatever the cost. Fred and Y/N’s relationship was lasting, for the last three years they had been looking at each other like they were the sole reason for the stars in the sky, the mists on the mountains and the full, glowing moon. 

Except Fred and Y/N’s relationship didn’t exist. The two had been dancing around each other all this time, never quite getting close enough to call it love.

This was why their family and friends were on high alert, overanalyzing every look, comment, or touch exchanged by the pair. Sometimes it was the glance thrown by Ginny to George as Fred adjusted Y/N’s scarf to keep her warmer. Sometimes it was Mr and Mrs Weasley whispering conspiracies about how they couldn’t pinpoint the look in Fred’s eyes when he stared at Y/N intently at dinner earlier. Sometimes it was the abrupt and secretive silence that engulfed Harry, Hermione and Ron when Y/N appeared in front of them, bringing an end to their discussion about how oblivious the two were.

Just the other day at the Burrow the twins had been helping to decorate the tree when Molly had piped up 

“Will Y/N be visiting this Christmas?” Fred’s head whipped round to frown at his mother as he finished adjusting some of the shiny muggle ‘tinsel’ Arthur Weasley had gleefully presented to his family, 

“Why would Y/N be visiting?” he had questioned, shaking his head slightly and looking towards George, who averted his eyes towards a particulary intriguing bewitched bauble. 

“Oh no reason,” Molly’s face fell “I just wanted to make sure she had some plans is all, dear...”

“Yeah, she does. She’s away until the new year actually” Fred had huffed, confused as to why his mother seemed more keen to spend time with his best friend than with him.

It was a frosty Saturday in January that Y/N had sent an owl saying she was popping in that afternoon to check out the stock for the new year. The air was clean and crisp yet cold enough that not many shoppers were braving the chill to visit Diagon Alley. The boys leant against the counter, George fumbling with some packaging distractedly. Ron was also working that day, taking his sweet time stacking some Blaze Boxes in the corner. Fred’s eyes kept darting to the clock, 

“When did she say she’d stop by again?” he asked nonchalantly, causing George to look up

“Eh, just said afternoon I think mate, don’t worry though I’m sure we won’t be too busy to have her in” he gestured to the empty shop. 

Fred stayed silent. In the corner a loud bang erupted as Ron dropped one of the boxes. Bright sparks whizzed round the room, popping and fizzing as Ron stood swearing at the front of the shop. George began to laugh but was interrupted by his twin, fist was clenched and brow furrowed - 

“Bloody hell Ron, save some stock for us to actually sell, would you?”

Fred’s tone was snarky and a comment that biting sounded so strange leaving his mouth that it took all three boys aback for a moment. 

“I’m not sure who spiked your cereal this morning but you can lose that tone with me... maybe when Y/N gets here you’ll be a bit nicer!” Ron pouted.

“Y/N’s clearly forgotten about her plans for this afternoon, or she’d be here by now.” Fred muttered, pushing past George on his way to the stock room. 

George and Ron exchanged familiar confused looks, over the three years Y/N had been in Fred’s life an entirely new language of bewildered or disbelieving stares had formed amongst the Weasleys. Fred didn’t emerge until the bell above the door rang and Y/N’s soft voice greeted them all joyfully. As if a weight had been lifted off his chest he bounded past the till and embraced her tightly. 

“I missed you, loser.”

Only a week later, the twins were sitting opposite each other, both focusing on checking the shop’s accounts (or so Fred thought) George had been turning the last interaction between his brother and Y/N over and over in his mind, wondering how on earth Fred hadn’t connected his bad mood to the absence of his dearest ‘friend’. He coughed and sat up, straightening his back, but failed to make eye contact with his brother who was still hunched over the large leather-bound book.

“Why do you think Y/N is single?” he pondered aloud, noting the way Fred’s head flicked up at the mention of her name alone. 

“That’s obvious - nobody we know is good enough for her.” Fred stated, as if George was silly for not considering such a simple explanation. 

“Ah yeah... obviously,” George coughed, attempting to hide his laugh. He made eye contact with his twin “are you sure we don’t know anyone?” he asked slowly, hoping Fred might finally catch on.

“Listen, I don’t know what this is all about but if you’re thinking of trying anything I would advise you to check the mirror to confirm that you closely resemble a mountain troll.. and I know it’s been 2 days since you last showered, therefore Y/N would never even consider it, okay?” Fred snapped 

George spluttered with laughter before managing to stammer out 

“First off, we’re identical you absolute savage.” 

Fred just shook his head, “Anyone with taste knows I’m the better looking twin.”

Fred wasn’t just fiercely protective of Y/N but he would also go to the ends of the earth for her, this much was clear to everyone...except her. It started with one, two, three butterbeers on him and developed into Y/N being able to attend plans with the twins without her purse. It was established that Fred would not allow her to part with as much as a knut whilst in his company. Nor would he allow her to spend it on his company, any product she showed interest in (or looked at for more than five seconds) was hastily put aside for her, sometimes with a shimmering ribbon clumsily knotted round it. 

“As a gift, on the house, absolutely no need for your money darling” he would assure her every single time. 

In fact, the only payment he would accept was if she came to work for Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes - “you’d be amazing, Y/N you’re so good with kids, and I know you can really push sales - who could say no to you?” he had pleaded, whilst she flushed red and chuckled... “funnily enough Freddie, pretty much everyone apart from you can say no to me, you poor sod!”

This hypothesis was correct, and had been proven time and time again. When everyone gathered for dinner at Harry and Ginny’s house instead of apparating in Fred, Y/N and George had stood shivering on the doorstep, waiting for the door to be answered. When Ginny pulled it open all three of them bundled in to the warm hallway, slipping off coats and hats. 

“Why didn’t you guys apparate? It’s bloody freezing out there tonight!” she had remarked, noting that all three had cheeks flushed with cold and pink shading the tips of their noses. George tutted and glared at Fred, speaking lowly so only Ginny could hear 

“Because, my dear sister, Y/N doesn’t really like apparating so obviously Fred wouldn���t allow it!”  At the same time Y/N piped up, not having heard his comment,

“We all fancied a walk I think didn’t we Freddie?... George?”

George rolled his eyes but nodded enthusiastically and Y/N beamed as Ginny led them through to the dining room as the feeling in their fingertips began to return. 

The spread that had been prepared looked divine, the smell travelled through the whole house and made Fred’s mouth water. 

Food was shared around and wine poured, everyone caught up on the excitement of Christmas and the New Year, and congratulated the twins on the  soaring sales of the new launch. George took the chance to mention his new girlfriend, Guenevere, to the group - causing Ginny and Hermione to squeal with delight and Ron to lean over and smack him on the back in congratulations. Harry nodded along with the conversation, focused on the plate infront of him. That is, until he looked at Fred quizically

“When do you think you’ll meet someone, Fred?” he asked gently, with not a hint of malice in his voice, if anything he was trying to nudge Fred’s thoughts of the future towards Y/N, who sat on his left. 

The atmosphere in the room felt a little like a joke that everyone except Fred and Y/N were in on, everyone waited with baited breath for Fred to talk. They gasped slightly when he turned to face Y/N... then George...

“Um, I don’t know, really, at the moment I’m alright just hanging out with George and Y/N, they’re all I really need just now... and you guys, of course, and the shop. But that all goes without saying”

The entire table let out a frustrated sigh, they had been so close but were once again disappointed with his answer, Fred was none the wiser. 

‘Goes without saying my arse’ George (and the others) thought grumpily. All they wanted was Fred to say it, to say anything, to call it what it was.

The two had been dancing around each other almost four years, still never getting close enough to call it love.

A/N: Thought I’d give another bit of Fred writing a go, as my George one has been so much more popular than my last Fred one, give the boy a chance! Also this kind of invites a part two, so if anyone has any suggestions of scenarios in which these two finally get together, send em my way. Much love.

[morkyun]

I already sent this ask on your writing blog but I see that your asks functions is turned on here again so!! Assign a trope and a member to your moots 💛

omgg I already apologized for this situation but again, I'm so sorry you had to come to my side blog to leave this ask sjdjs you're so pure by doing this 💕💕💗💝💗 so *stretch arms* im ready 😌

I wanted to do moots x monsta x at first but I'm gonna do something different this time 👀👀

@valentines-jae [mark, meet-cute!au]

and there she was, at nine in the morning taking the subway to college. it was such a blessing to not live too far away from her school. taking a deep sigh, the doors open to let some passengers step down of the subway. closing her eyes, listening to the music on one of her earphones, suddenly a loud groan was enough to take her out of her mind. looking forward, she saw a boy in casual clothes and a bucket hat being smashed by the doors.

holding a giggle, she saw how the stranger looked at her with a pink tint on his cheeks, obvious embarrassment showing on his face. it was matter of seconds until the doors opened again and the boy stumbled backwards until he was sitting again on his previous seat.

not leaving his eyes from the girl, she smiled covering her mouth with her hand, she always found cute when strangers were trapped between the subway doors because of their expressions.

"you ok?" asked the girl getting close to him. the boy smiled and nodded.

"yeah, that was embarrassing, huh?" his shy smile made the girl giggle not averting her eyes from his.

"don't worry, that happens more frequent than you can imagine." her voice echoed in his ears, making him flash a huge smile. it wasn't soft like the girls he used to listen to everyday, and it was something that he loved. it was so soothing and soft, something he could feel with the tips of his fingers.

"I'm sorry you need to see that everyday." her eyes sparkled as she giggled.

"don't worry, I haven't seen such cool people being smashed by the doors, guess that's a universal thing, huh?" she said on a rather playful tone, which made him feel at ease. nodding with his smile still plastered on his face, he thought how he liked her voice...

"I really like your voice." he pointed, consequence of the sudden adrenaline of the situation. he didn't noticed what he just said, opening his eyes when he saw the blush covering the girl cheeks. both of them started to giggle, and somehow, something switched between them.

both their cheeks got so blushed of the immense chemistry between them, and, little did they know that, the boy lost his stop and now he needed to ask her about directions. just an excuse to spend the day with that dazzling and beautiful smile.

@sarah-simps [jooheon, coworkers!au]

"come on! everybody will know we're missing there!" she said, licking her lips.

"I'm sorry! I swear I'm doing my best!" he replied closing his eyes groaning loudly enough to rumble on the room. "I'm almost there." he said again with a smile looking at her.

"HA!! I WON!" letting a squeak, she got up from her place cleaning the ice cream from the corner of her lips.

"hey that's not fair!!" jooheon pouted with the last bit of his ice cream on his mouth. "you cheated!"

"no I didn't!"

"SARAH, JOOHEON, WHERE ARE YOU?" the voice of their coworker from outside the room shouted loudly for them to listen. getting on their feet, they got put of the janitors room, because yes, this is what they did on a daily basis.

there was this time where they found each other on said room to see who could beat each other on eating or drink fastly, and whoever that won, needed to pay for the food they used.

this day, they decided to play with ice cream, which resulted on both of them with brain freeze but, it was totally worth it.

"I'll beat you next time." he whispered getting his wallet out, not happy to do so.

"aww, honey, you'll do better next time... but not today, so pay! loser!" she said with a triumphant smile ready to take some customers orders.

@kyunsies [changkyun, historical!au]

he's so cute. that's what all her friends said whenever they saw him walking past the window of her home.

changkyun. that was his name. a boy who used to come around her house every thursday to visit his parents in order to take care of his younger siblings. she didn't knew much about him, only that he was a couple of years older and that he was a foreigner, but that's all, and that second one was pretty obvious considering he had feline eyes, comparing to everyone's round ones.

he got all the girls of town sighing, wishing to have a single second to talk to him. but he was quite reserved.

the girl on her side, preferred to admire him from a far, constantly seeing her friends getting rejected by him, but in the sweetest way. he always said he wasn't ready for a relationship and, considering the amount of girls behind his back, it was quite understandable.

her friends used to go to her house every thursday to bake some cookies to sell on fridays and then going shopping on saturday. it was something that became like a ritual with the passing time, but now it seemed like they only came to her house to admire the said boy.

"I'll go get more sugar. please try not to drool too much over him." the girl said looking how her friends almost ignored him. if it wasn't for the low "mhm's", she would've thought she was speaking to the void.

with a smile, shaking her head, she took her straw hat and got out of the house. without much though, she got to the store pretty quickly. greeting the old man who was in charge of the place, her eyes traveled through the aisles trying to find the sugar.

she was deep in thought, when she felt a strong grip on her legs, trapping her on the spot. gasping loudly, she lowered her face looking at a girl with cute pigtails smiling at her.

"mom!" the little girl said hiding her face on the older girl's legs.

squating in front of the kid, the girl was about to ask if she was lost, when a pair of legs appeared behind the little girl's frame.

"it looks like you found my little sister, or should I say, she found you?" that voice. the girl raised her head looking directly at that boy. that same boy that used to take away every other girls breaths.

"looks like it." she said with a smile, looking back at the little girl.

"I'm sorry she called you mom. she gets pretty attached when she sees pretty girls."

the older girl blushed getting up on her place. "pretty, huh?"

"yeah," the boy said again taking her little sister on his arms. "and she never misses..." with a huge smile, his eyes flew to hers once again, and for the first time, she could see his charming smile two cute dimples showing on his cheeks.

@imnameimss [wonho, motorcyclist!au]

"he'll be here on ten minutes, I need to get my makeup done!" the girl said, panicking.

"come on, let me do your eyeliner! I swear I'll do it better than last time!" her friend, who just came over to her house, got closer to the girl touching her shoulders.

"ok, but you better do it better and not make me look like cleopatra!" the second girl laughed, taking the eyeliner from her hands, starting to draw on her face.

after a few minutes, she was ready. "now put some lipstick and you're done."

letting out a sigh, the asian girl smiled at her reflection applying some lipstick on her lips, when she heard her phone ring. with a huge smile, she saw it was him.

"hoseok!"

"come down love, I'm here." he said, his voice soft and, she could swear he had a huge smile on his face as well as her.

"I'll be there in a minute." after saying that, she got her leather jacket and bag from the bed and said goodbye to her friend.

with quick steps, she got to the reception of the building, looking at the man infront of her, laying back on his motorcycle, crossing his arms making the muscles to look prominent under the jacket.

"you look gorgeous." he sweet talked, kissing her cheek.

"when do I not?" with a soft giggle, she got on the motorcycle after the boy, circling the boy's waist with her arms.

tonight it was about them. school was just a month away from being over and she was sure she was going to spend her life with him. but feeling the cold breeze on her face, made her appreaciate the moment, holding tighter his body, causing a smirk on the boy's face.

@kyunswifey [changkyun, soulmates!au]

"a purple flower!" his parents screamt looking at the pretty purple cocoon lying on their son's hands.

the rule of their world was that, when you met your soulmate, the flower could bloom entirely. said flower could appear on the most random places, and apparently, changkyun found it on his jacket after getting back from school.

it was easy to lose the cocoon, that's why he rushed to his house and showed it to his parents, who helped him finding a perfect capsule for he little item.

he was sixteen when he got it, but now that he was twenty two and almost all his friends had found their soulmates, he slowly started to think that love wasn't for him and that his soulmate simply got lost of found someone else, but that was almost impossible as his cocoon was still shining on purple and ready to open.

sighing, he got up from bed ready to do his daily run around the block where he lived. he put on his shoes and opened the door closing it behind him. putting his hoodie over his head, he took a deep breath before starting to stretch his legs.

it was common to be found the streets alone, but not today. he was following his normal route, when he noticed what it seemed like two people fighting. at first, he thought of just running past them, but a loud whimper stopped him from keeping his way.

it was a girl's voice.

following the sound, he found himself minutes later running away with the girls hand on his. her hand felt cold, but somewhere deep in his heart, felt so right holding it.

getting to a convenience store, they got inside ready to buy some water bottles and to make the girl calm down after such adrenaline rush.

"hey," he said looking at her, noticing the glossy eyes she had. she must be so scared yet. "you know how to get back home? you want help or something?" he asked getting his breath back to normal.

the girl nodded crossing his arms around her on some kind of protective shield. "yeah, I just need to call my roommate..."

after a few minutes of getting their breaths back, and of them growing more comfortable with each other somehow, there was time to say goodbye, now that her roommate was outside the store on an uber.

"well, it was my pleasure to meet you..."

"changkyun. the name's changkyun." the girl nodded giving her name too.

late that night, when he was able to go back to his house, he lied on his bed thinking about what just happened that night. sighing deeply, his head turned to his side, looking at the flower... flower?!

"god..." he gasped getting up on his feet running out of his apartment again. without noticing if he had put the right shoes or a thick jacket, he started running where to the convenience store, just to find the girl there, on her pijamas looking anxiously at the close sign of the store. smiling, feeling his heart beat strong inside his ribcage, he approached to her.

"hey... you..."

@lex-iiiii [changkyun, exes to lovers!au]

"I just don't get how he did that to me..."

"once again, you just didn't tried to listen to him. running away from your problems doesn't do any good, and you can notice now that you're heartbroken over the wrong thing!" her friend said sitting infront of her, drinking from her coffee.

"how are you so sure he didn't cheated on me!? I saw him!"

"no, you just saw a glimpse of him talking with another girl and suddenly though your best option was to run away and break up with him, without even telling him!!"

"whatever... it's not like he cares. if he cared he'd be banging his fist on your door day and night to talk to me."

"what are you talking about? of course he does! but you're too caught up in your thoughts, that you haven't noticed." the friend said again with a stressful expression. "please just talk to him, it's been three days! you're damaging the relationship that was just blooming!"

and after her listening to her friend, she was sure she needed to talk to him. but how?

when it was time to get back to home, the door was loudly opened, getting the attention of all of the customers and staff inside the store.

"changkyun?" the girl asked watching his, boyfriend? ex? panting and trying to regain his breath after what it seemed to be running from miles away.

"I need to talk to you," he said looking intently at her eyes. "please..."

"I don't know..." she said closing her eyes tightly, scared of hearing the worst.

the boy took her by the shoulders making her snap her eyes open. "please, let me remind you how much I love you and, if you still take me back, I'd love to express on every way possible how much I missed you these three days..." he said and smiled breathlessly. "damn, that sounds like I can't live without you, which is true, but that's our secret." he winked, getting a smile from her.

"ok, I'm all ears."

@hyunubear [shownu, royalty!au]

knock, knock.

"I told my maids not to bother." the girl said standing from her bed letting her book on the nightstand.

rushing to the door, she opened the door, opening her eyes in shock of not expecting him to be there.

"hyunwoo..."

"princess." he said bowing slightly his head at her. his clothes were pretty basic for someone who worked as the princess bodyguard.

"what are you doing here?" she said nervously closing her arms infront of her chest.

"I saw light from under the door," he said looking at the candles lit up inside of the room. "I know you can't sleep when you get stressed or anxious, want some company?"

his voice, tender and deep, like if they were about to share the darkest secret of the kingdom.

"hyunwoo," the girl said rubbing her temples. "it's past midnight, shouldn't you be guarding?"

the boy smiled. "how better could I take care of the princess than being with her?"

a loud sigh was heard from her side, taking a step back, she opened the door wider for him to come in.

he, gladly, got inside and sat on the bed. they were long time friends, and he used to act all tough infront of her parents, the king and queen, but when they were alone, it was like they traveled back in time when they were just friends not caring about the kingdom issues.

"I've been thinking out my fate as next queen, when are my parents going to introduce the man I'm supposed to marry?" she said sitting beside him. putting her head on his shoulder, he started to rub her back.

"I don't know what's in store for you, what's your destiny, but one thing's clear," he whispered, looking down. "I'm gonna be here protecting you, no matter what."

the girl separated from him, only to find his eyes already on her figure. hyunwoo was sure there wasn't better time than when she was like this, vulnerable and with that hopeful look on her face that made her eyes spark. it reminded him, not of the powerful princess, but of his best friend.

"please never leave my side..." she said lowly, getting slowly closer to him, engulfing him into a hug.

"never, my lady."

@uh0paque [wonho, haters to lovers!au]

"I don't care if you two don't get along, that's how you two were arranged, please behave like the grown ups you are."

grown ups. yeah sure.

"there's no way I'm sharing the same air as you, how am I even supposed to share a whole room?" his voice sounded desperate, as if they had some kind of illness.

"shut up, it's not like I adore your face either." spitting the words, both of them scoffed getting into the room.

finding each other smashing the other trying to get into the room first, there was a noticeable thing inside the room, something they couldn't believe it was.

"fuck no."

"shut up dickhead, it's not like I'm gonna sleep on the floor either."

yeah. there was one bed.

"this has to be a nightmare."

"just for you to know, I'm not sleeping on the floor." hoseok said before getting out of the room. it was just one day. just one day. he kept on repeating to himself.

late that night, he returned to the room, opening the door with the key, finding the other person sitting on the bed on deep thought.

"hey," he said loudly for them to listen. "what are you thinking about?"

"mind your business."

after several not-too-kind words to each other, hoseok found himself lying on the floor with some thin blankets covering his body.

seeing his body quivering in coldness, it was hard to concentrate on even sleeping comfortably. "get up here dumbass."

"no!" the boy denied gripping the blankets tighter to his body, which didn't helped much. proud getting the best of him instead of accepting he wasn't willing to lose his comfort lying on the cold floor.

"stop being so stubborn and get up here!" sending a whispered scream, the boy huffed getting up in his place to lie down in bed beside his partner, but not too close.

"your body keeps trembling." pointing it out, hoseok knitted his brows.

"sorry, I was almost freezing down there." he said looking at his hands.

with a deep sigh and extending a hand infront of him, they made hoseok tilt his head.

"give me your hands! I can't be spelling everything to you." if it wasn't for the lack of light, you could be able to see the pink blush on their cheeks.

hoseok gave his hands, hesitating. wrapping their hands around his, he could feel the warmth quickly running through his skin, making it shiver. "you're warm..." he said with a little pout.

after a few minutes, he could feel them drift to sleep. hoseok smiled at the view. with a warm heart and warm body, he cuddled into his pillow and found his dreams quickly than expected.

@moongaera [jongho, childhood friends!au]

"I didn't expected you to be here so soon!" the boy said out of breath, getting to the girl side.

"why would i be late? this is our tree of all times after all." she said touching the grass at her side, signaling for him to sit beside her.

and he did so. they've been friends since they have memory, but because of him pursuing his dreams as a well-known idol and she studying abroad, they lost complete contact until this day.

their families wanted to do a gathering for christmas, considering both families always got along pretty well.

"I missed you so much when you were gone for the first moths." he said looking at his hands on his lap. she smiled nodding.

"I missed you too when I got down the plane. I thought about how you and I would be together, but we had different dreams and decided to went for them..."

"you did your best, considering we, indeed, have different dreams." he smiled. "I'm so proud of you. I've always been, I hope you understand how much I've been hoping for this day to come just so I can see your clumsy ass again." he said getting hit instantly by his best friend.

"shut up, you love this clumsy ass."

both of them laughed loudly, and it felt so right to be together again. letting a loud sigh, the girl looked up to the sky with a smile still painted on her face.

"I just wish that, in the afterlife we can find each other."

the boy smiled brightly and nodded. "we will, I'll look for you until we can get together for eternity. I promise."

intertwining his pinky with hers, they promised, to look for each other until the end of times.

@chaotichae [hyungwon, barista!au]

there was him again, getting your order once again with that damned smile and that damned sparkling eyes and...

ah... how you wished to have his number. you found yourself pacing on your bedroom every night trying to find ways of talking to him, but everything you had planned seemed too complicated when you were infront of him.

by now, he knew your usual order and, you didn't know if you either feel flattered or stupid because it's always he'd knew your order, damn, you went to that cafe almost everyday just to see his cute face.

you were doomed. oh so doomed.

and then you though, that you should stop seeking him. you were afraid you were behaving like a psycho and instead of trying to seem friendly, you were acting a little bit too much invested in who he was.

so you stopped visiting the cafe. today it was a whole month before the last time you've visited the place and your legs tickled, wanting to run away to the coffee shop. but just when you were about to do so, your friends or work always distracted you to do so.

today you were on your way on getting off from your work, when unconsciously, your legs moved for their own, and without you could even notice, you were standing infront of the shop.

hitting yourself mentally, you shake your head ready to walk away, when the door opened shocking you.

"hey!" he called and you couldn't help but almost trip on your feet trying to back away from your reality, but he was there! infront of you. "it's been a while, I've missed seeing you around." he said taking his apron and glasses off. you could barely register his words.

"I- uh, I've been busy and... yeah, I've missed you too." oh god, someone take me away from here. aliens, where are you when needed?

he flashed a big smile and held out a hand. "wait here." in matter of seconds, he was back without his typical uniform and you opened your eyes tilting your head.

"my turn is over so... I was thinking we could talk, like normal people and not like, barista and client." he said scratching the back of his neck, making you feel hot on your cheeks.

"y-yeah! I'd love that!"

[buggachat]

A Love Letter to LadyNoir

I said I was going to write an essay about how great LadyNoir is, and I wasn’t lying.

DISCLAIMER I: All sides of the love square are wonderful! I love them all a lot, and this is in no way hate for any side. It’s kind of hard to say “this side is my favorite” without comparing it to the other sides at least a little, but the other sides are still amazing and I love them to bits too!!

DISCLAIMER II: Yes, Chat Noir is an ass to Ladybug when it comes to being rejected. This is absolutely true and I’m not going to defend that. Ladybug has every right to not want to be with Chat Noir, and him repeatedly asking her out and then openly moping about it when she says no, despite KNOWING she’ll say no, is very Bad. I’m not here to defend that. However, Ladybug and Chat Noir are 14, and Chat Noir is not only navigating love for the first time, but relationships in general as well. I’m not excusing it, and this is Definitely and Objectively a flaw of his, but it’s something he can (and I expect WILL) overcome and grow out of as he matures and realizes the error in his ways.

And after he grows out of it? Once Chat Noir matures and learns to be more respectful to Ladybug’s feelings? You know what’s left? The best ship ever, that’s what. 

Here’s a list in no particular order about all the amazing things the LadyNoir side of the love square has to offer, and why it’s my favorite:

• Their aesthetic is literally picnics on top of the Eiffel Tower under the setting sun and racing each other across Paris’ rooftops.

• Do you like soulmate AUs? Because LadyNoir is basically a soulmate AU in and of itself. They are creation and destruction and the most obvious representation of the yin/yang part of the love square. They’re two halves of a whole. They balance each other out.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir actually argue with each other! This may sound like a bad thing, but... they’re the first side of the love square to get comfortable enough to tell each other when they’re upset with the other. I feel like that’s a pretty important thing. Adrichat is not yet secure enough with Marinette to argue with her, and Maribug is not yet secure enough with Adrien to argue with him. Ladybug and Chat Noir are so comfortable and secure in their dynamic with each other that they can be totally honest with each other when the other upsets them. basically, they can bicker like an old married couple and it’s beautiful

•They share a burden that literally nobody else in Paris has. The temporary heroes have gotten a taste of what it’s like, sure, but nobody but Ladybug and Chat Noir truly understand the lengths that they have to go through to keep their secrets, the frustration of having to slip away from friends/family to transform at a moment’s notice, etc... 

Picture: Ladybug’s responsibilities start weighing her down, so she goes to confide in Chat Noir, the only other person who can at all understand what she’s going through. He holds her and reminds her of how amazing she is, tells her how much he believes in her, reassures her that he’ll always be there by her side no matter what, offers to take some of the burden off of her shoulders, and then ends it all with a silly joke that makes her laugh.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir sharing stories about their kwamis, horror stories about the worst-possible-times they had to transform, laughing about their worst excuses, etc. They have so much to bond over that is so specific to them.

• This may sound silly at first, but hear me out..... LadyNoir is the most honest side of the love square. Yes, they have the most secrets between them (they literally don’t even know each other’s names), but they also have the least amount of secrets. Does that make sense? Let me explain:

Ladybug is fully and completely aware that Chat Noir has a name and life that she doesn’t know about, and vice versa. They are completely aware that the other has secrets, and have openly consented to not knowing them. Yes, they know the least about each other— but they’ve agreed to not know those things, which cannot be said for other sides of the love square.

• The amount of trust between them. They literally trust each other with their lives on a daily basis, not to mention the amount of trust they have that the other wont take a peak when they have to detransform near each other.

• How in sync they are with each other. Ladybug and Chat Noir just understand each other so innately, even with minimal verbal communication. They understand each other’s body language so well, and I don’t know how many times Ladybug gave the vaguest instruction to Chat Noir and he just knew what she meant.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir met first. This isn’t really important, but I wanted to point it out anyways. The first time the love square ever met was when they were Ladybug and Chat Noir, and Ladybug was the first friend Adrien made besides Chloé. I just think this is a cute fun fact so I wanted to throw it in here.

• The forbidden love aspect. They can’t know each other’s secret identities... they don’t even know each other’s names, and loving each other is putting them at risk for being taken advantage by Hawkmoth... but imagine them hiding away on a dark rooftop, stealing kisses and telling each other about how much they love each other despite it all. 

• There is so much ‘Adrien and Marinette never met AU’ potential with LadyNoir. Imagine it with pre-established LadyNoir... and imagine their reveal, and they don’t know each other, and they actually get to meet each other. Imagine the potential of a fic about a long-standing and committed relationship between two people who never learned each other’s names, finally meeting for the actual first time. Imagine them getting to know things about each other’s personal lives, introducing them to their friends and family, slowly learning about all the things that they’d had to hide from each other for so many years......... honestly, it’s a trope/au that I love SO MUCH and honestly isn’t touched on nearly enough. I could go on about it forever.

• Relationships dwindle and get strained... Adrien and Marinette might graduate high school, go to different universities, and lose touch. Or maybe they might become too busy to be able to make time for each other... LadyNoir, though? Ladybug and Chat Noir are stuck together at LEAST until Hawkmoth is defeated, whether they like it or not. 

• Enemies AU potential. I mean, Hawkmoth is literally Chat Noir’s father... imagine an AU where Adrien has been tricked by his father into thinking he’s on the good side, that what he’s doing will save his mother’s life and no one will actually get hurt, and then he meets Ladybug, sees her give her big speech to Paris, and falls in love. Chat Noir fighting with trying to justify his father’s actions vs knowing that Ladybug is objectively good. Ladybug seeing the good in Chat Noir, knowing that he’s not evil like Hawkmoth, and actively reaching out to him... so much potential, you guys.

• Ladybug and Chat Noir are the most confident versions of themselves... which means that, as their relationship progresses and they get to know each other, they’ll slowly learn each other’s insecurities, short-comings, greatest fears, etc. LadyNoir starts with masks, and then the two slowly open up and learn about the vulnerable side of each other, and I think that progression is amazing.

Like yeah, Marinette learning that Adrien has a joking/flirty/silly side to him is great and all... but you know what I think’s even cuter? Ladybug learning that Chat Noir has a timid/sad side to him. And Adrien learning that Marinette has a powerful/confident side to her? Great. Chat Noir learning that Ladybug has a clumsy/awkward/insecure side to her? Amazing.

• The FLIRTING AND BANTER. And I don’t just mean Chat Noir... Pre-Glaciator, Ladybug would sometimes flirt back with Chat Noir if the situation wasn’t too dire. 

I mean seriously... these two together have so much chemistry. They’re so funny to watch on screen together / read fanfics of, and the way they bounce off each other is just priceless.

Now imagine them dating. Imagine all their playful banter and flirting, but tenfold. 

• Ladybug pets Chat Noir like a cat.

That is all.

• Do you like angst? Because oh boy... the amount of close calls that they’ve had together... the amount of times they’ve watched the other get hurt. The emotional toll that takes on them. The way Ladybug frets over him and pulls him up when he’s injured, the way that we’ve seen them look at each other and fear that it could be the last, the way that Chat Noir has literally sacrificed his life for her multiple times....

There is an infinite amount of potential for "my love dying in my arms”, “I thought I was going to lose you”, and physical hurt/comfort scenarios with these guys, and all with a happy ending because of the Miraculous Ladybug Cure. Like, seriously.... there’s so much potential.

•They’re so emotionally supportive with each other. Seriously... the way they treat each other is so caring. Like, they care deeply about each other’s mental health, and the fact that these emotional scenes happen in the middle of such dire situations really helps to emphasize how much they’re willing to set aside in order to take care of each other.

In conclusion: The ML writing staff made the "Chat Noir can’t take rejection” subplot to nerf LadyNoir because otherwise it would be too powerful.

[halothenthehorns]

All in the Family

Chapter 1: The Accident...

It is recommended, though by no means a must if you know the Marauders history enough to be reading fanfiction about them, you read We Were first. The first five chapters are slightly AU to the continuity of this fic, but the grand point and especially the final chapter are key to the beginning of this fic as you get plopped in the middle. Link is below or you can find it in my profile.

Before you get started; Warnings include- Explicit Wolfstar (Remus/Sirius), and on the whole a rather flimsy premise that I honestly created to indulge myself because I didn't let myself do it the first time. A lot less logically based and a lot more I just felt like having fun with this one. It's not to say I'll let this degenerate into tropes and one note things, but there's going to be even less reading of the books involved, as in literally they're just interacting around the story with only passing mentions of what's going on in there. If you want a much more grounded basis and more 'realistic' approach to a reading series, I put my heart and every cell of my mind into The Life that Never Lived, PDF's upon request. I'm pretty sure this one grew from my funny bone that I broke when I was seven.

HPHPHPHP

The dungeons where Potions were held had always felt like the most oblique part of the castle, and Sirius had been in every corner of it to claim as such. It wasn't entirely the fault of the dark stone walls, sweltering hot air from the many flames, or the often unexplained fumes. The feeling seemed to seep up straight from the cold stone floor no matter how many fires were lit, as if the wooden stool itself were trying to pin them all with the unknown.

Sirius had never been more grateful for a Potions class to be over, and that was really saying something. It was the last one of this bleeding school semester, and if he had to spend one more day glaring at a cauldron and somehow inexplicably turning it the wrong color one more time without the usual helpful hint from Peter telling him why, he was going to chuck every last drop of it in Slughorn's face for constantly telling him he'd figure it out!

He'd never packed up his bag faster, even managing to multitask by muttering under his breath how stupid all this was. He was the first person to make it to the door, but collided with someone even less pleasant to see than the three people he'd most been avoiding lately. He cursed loudly, earning several dirty looks as the rest of the class was now passing. His bag had ripped upon stumbling into his little brother and smashed to the ground, sending his things flying and managing to spray him with ink.

Regulus hesitated in the doorway, muttering a quick, "sorry Sirius."

"Oh, it knows my name," Sirius growled under his breath, though his tone was far less hateful than usual, considering this was the first time he'd had a proper conversation with someone in nearly three weeks. His little brother was hardly his first choice, given his proud Slytherin status and being two years younger didn't remotely have them coming near each other most days, a fact he was usually grateful for.

"Yes, he does," Regulus' scowl looked remarkably close to Sirius', the two put side by side at once was rather eerie. His tone though was even more friendly than Sirius', which wasn't all that hard as he tried to explain his abrupt appearance. "I ah, I came sprinting down here to see if I could catch Slughorn, ask him if I could pick up an extra credit assignment."

Sirius straightened with his stuff still half strewn around, but again that pull for someone to talk to seemed greater, especially as he glanced back and saw who hadn't left yet, so he responded no matter how unenthusiastically. "Yeah, what you struggling with?" While tapping his bag and mending the tear, slowly bending down to pick each item back up while he absently listened. Regulus even began to help him while he explained in short, precise sentences like he was practicing for the teacher.

Frank Longbottom and Alice Smith slipped in past the two Black brothers at the doorway and found the room mostly empty, and they shared an exasperated look as they wondered if they'd just walked in on Slughorn telling this group off again. They were early for their next class after all, but the teacher was nowhere in sight. They did get a full view of what started quite an interesting journey.

James was hanging by Evans' cauldron, trying to chat happily with her, but mostly waiting for Sirius to leave first. He could hardly stand to look at him these days, let alone pass by him in such a restricted place, yet the wanker had struck up a conversation with Regulus of all people, someone he'd hardly spoken a whole sentence to in the past five years, but no, he'd chosen now! Probably just waiting for them to walk past first, like this was all still some game to him.

Remus and Peter were hovering on edge right beside him, Remus fidgeting with what was left of his cauldron on the desk while Evans was trying to pack hers up and being hampered by James staying in her way. "Won't you at least consider coming? It's our last game of the season! What if you're my good luck charm, you've always been the best at those! Do you really want to be the reason Gryffindor loses?"

"They've gotten on just fine without me there the past years," Lily snipped. She never knew why she even bothered responding to him half the time, but considering it no more discouraged him than ignoring him, at least this way she got to vent.

She tried to sidestep past him, James once again stepped into her way, and the two collided with each other, their hands accidentally slipping into her cauldron Remus had just mistakenly dumped his own potion into.

Whatever the concoction the two mixed together created upended the entire world.

At first though, nothing really changed. There was no marvelous flash of light, no force of nature that showed everyone outside of this room had vanished. Lily simply made a gagging noise as she pulled her hand out of the vat and glared furiously at the oddly pale teen, pulling her wand out at once with her less dominant hand she hadn't tried to catch herself with and banish the gunk off while hissing at him, "You are so lucky I turned that in already Lupin! What the hell did you even create? I've never seen this before," she finished with a critical eye at the now steaming mess, that vanished before their eyes.

"Wow Remus, you should do that more often, really makes cleanup easier," Peter chuckled while Remus looked rather concerned.

"I, err, I'll admit, I really screwed up my potion worse than usual. I think I added three things I actually wasn't supposed to, so you've got me."

James just flung the mess from his hand, which also vanished before it had even landed on anyone, and glanced back hopefully like he'd thought his source for this mess had left already.

He hadn't.

His face was turned in their general direction, like he'd been trying to subtly glance over and hope for the same, but now he was looking right through James. That wasn't uncommon lately, but the stunned look of confusion on his face was enough James grudgingly turned his head the other way to see what.

Back on the lip of the cauldron, was a slim red book with a golden one on the spine. It was just sitting there, like Evans had left it on purpose, but it certainly hadn't been a second ago.

Lily took his distraction as a chance to bolt from the room, Regulus gave his brother an awkward wave goodbye and went back out towards Slughorn's office since he'd clearly missed him, and Alice and Frank tried to casually step back out as well. Even being a year above those four had not left them oblivious to their fight. The whole school was aware of the fact the four Marauders had not been seen together in quite some time, and neither of them particularly felt like putting their nose into why.

James was still frowning in confusion at the odd title stamped across, which simply read Harry Potter Year One.

"Err, did either of you-" James looked at the two as if in some kind of explanation, but both gave a mystified shake to their head. James couldn't help it, he still looked automatically towards his best mate, and then he caught himself and realized they were the only four left. Sirius' eyes had still been locked in on the odd object, really ridiculous his mind supplied as James had no relatives named Harry, and wondered if this was some odd attempt at a prank?

Sirius didn't stick around to care, completely forgetting the rest of his things, he turned on his heel and finally exited as well, when they all heard a shriek.

As one, the four bolted up to the Entrance Hall, Alice and Frank right behind them as they hadn't wandered off far, to see Lily standing in the middle and stamping her foot in frustration upon seeing them. "Damn, I thought someone would have reacted to that."

"Err, Evans," James began in concern as if for her health.

"Where is everybody!" She demanded while gesturing to the Great Hall where there should have been a packed lunch crowd. Nobody was in there, and now that they were listening for it, the din of a castle filled with people, was deadly silent all around them.

As if given a signal, everyone began shouting all at once, sure the ruckus would cause someone to appear, but the only other arrival was Regulus coming up from the stairs as well, looking at all of them with great concern. "Geez, you lots shouting usually has a much greater audience."

"Thank you Regulus for that helpful insert!" Sirius snapped.

Regulus ignored that and seemed to look around himself and really acknowledge his own words, before realization slammed into him as well as he whispered, "What's going on?"

"We'd all like to know that," Frank put his hands up in frustration, this was what he and his girlfriend got for getting to class early.

"This is ridiculous," Lily seethed, stomping up towards the stairs. She was intending to barge into every crevice of this place and find someone other than these idiots to deal with. She didn't know what the school was playing at, but it wasn't funny.

Alice and Frank followed her as they still considered her the least craziest compared to the others.

Sirius still couldn't bring himself to look at the other three and bolted out onto the grounds for an exit, and Regulus couldn't think of anything better to do but follow him.

James waited until they were back alone before nodding to Peter, who pulled the Marauder's Map back out and cast the charm to activate it. On cue, the magical ink appeared, spreading through the tattered paper, but only revealing eight names instead of the several hundreds it normally housed.

"What the bloody hell?" Remus demanded, snatching it away as if sure somehow Peter had cast it wrong. He deactivated it and retried five times before looking up in exasperation, to see James flipping through the book. "Of all times, you chose now to pursue one of those!" Remus demanded.

"Remus, what the bloody hell was in that potion," James whispered to him.

Remus looked at him askance. "I told you I don't know, I was, well I-" it was hard to admit how thoroughly distracted he'd been, even more than usual in his potions classes. His past two attempts had been utter messes as well. Somehow without Sirius by his side and being a constant distraction, he'd found a way to blow up his more recent attempts, so he'd been rather proud this one had only changed the wrong color seven times. "What's your point?"

"This," James waved it around, his face still looking somehow detached as if he had no clue what he was really saying, "it's-" he broke off, and Remus huffed in exasperation as he snatched it away.

"Yes James, it has words, glory look at that they're even strung together with sentences! What's the big-" he stopped abruptly at what he saw quite clearly had Prongs so thrown off. Remus could feel it now, this book was giving off as if the most powerful magic to exist, certainly that he'd ever been around.

"This isn't, there's no way-" he tried to protest what his eyes weren't changing.

"What?" Peter demanded in exasperation of the two.

"That's from the future." James stated coolly.

Peter laughed, realized neither was pulling his leg, and then yanked the book to him as well.

"It, it's a joke or-" he tried to say, but it was the exact same to his eyes as well.

"Remus, what the bloody hell did you mix with Lily's Profligare potion?" James asked again like he'd have another answer!

"I, I told you, I have no clue!" Remus insisted, his heart restricting painfully in his chest.

"Why aren't their words in the rest of this book?" Peter asked curiously. There were an easy three hundred pages to this thing, but only the first sentence was visible. The rest was blank.

"Put that down," Remus suddenly yelped, slapping it away from him. It thudded to the ground and even skidded a few feet while Wormtail looked offended.

"Merlin Remus, James was holding it for a whole five minutes and he didn't explode."

"Let's prioritize for a minute," James insisted. "Ignore that thing and figure out where everyone is, maybe show that to Dumbledore-"

"That might be a problem, as there's no one else here!" Remus snarled.

"Well I'll say one thing, Evans sure can make one good banishing potion," Regulus commented as he stepped back into the Entrance Hall minus Sirius.

The question burst out of James before he could consider doing otherwise, "where's your better half?"

Regulus scowled hatefully, hesitated, but still answered, "still wandering the damn grounds, think he said something about checking the bottom of the lake. I don't know what you lot are fighting about, but for him to be saying that even as a joke really is something."

James flinched with the first spot of guilt he'd felt, and Remus looked away as if he hadn't even heard. Peter took the opportunity to shove the map back out of sight before he twisted his fingers together and just deciding to ignore that as well and said, "We might as well go find the other three and show at least them. Something Dark is going on around here, perhaps we shouldn't go wandering off."

"Oh that's nice, just leave him out on the grounds by himself then if that's what you're thinking," Regulus muttered as his two friends seemed to agree and took off up the stairs, Peter having to jog to keep up.

They found them already up to the second floor, and with every empty room they'd opened, they'd become increasingly more panicked. This just wasn't natural! Even during the holidays you were likely to run across someone by now! A ghost even! What was left of the Marauders caught up to them, and Lily's near hysterics weren't helped with their answer to this.

"Just come back downstairs!" James was trying to put his hands up in a comforting, surrendering gesture to the vivid redhead who hadn't stopped shouting for a solid minute, so her face was as bright as her hair. "We found something you lot really should see!"

It took a bit more persuading and Frank and Alice agreeing first before Lily conceded searching every room wasn't helping.

They went back downstairs and saw Sirius had rejoined his little brother, and the two were frozen in place over what had already been discovered with the book still open on the ground for all to see.

"You wanted to show me a book!" Lily demanded as she looked murderously at Potter. "How is that helping to find out what happened!"

"Just look at it," Potter insisted.

Without touching it, she went to where it had fallen on the floor, and then she too along with Frank and Alice saw.

Scrawled across the top was the title The Boy Who Lived, which meant nothing to anyone so their eyes skipped down to below that, which was just under the date 1981. Six years from now.

[benkouji726]

Five times they behaved liked an old married couple and one time they really were

Written for MalexWeek 2020, Day 2. Fic Prompt: Trope Day.

Summary: They found their way back together.

The fic actually contains 2 tropes: 90% of “The Old Married Couple” and 10% of “Shipper on Deck” because I like cliches SO MUCH.

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

1. Bickering

They had been staring at each other across the booth in Crashdown for five minutes now.

Michael broke down first. “Looks like they all bail on us.”

Alex snorted. “Gee, what clued you in? Is it the fact that we’ve been sitting here for half an hour now and still no one showed up? Or the texts we JUST received from our so-called friends declaring they all have to ‘BAIL ON US’?” He even made the air quote gesture, the bastard.

So something crawled over someone’s ass and died today. “Really? Your are gonna be like this.”

Alex ignored him. Great.

“Do you want me to leave?” He asked, and pathetically hoped Alex would say no. Because even a snappy Alex was still better than no Alex at all.

Alex answered his question with a question. Of course he did. “Do YOU want to leave?”

Michael shook his head, and decided to throw in some moment of truth. “Honestly? I think they set us up, because in the past two weeks I may or may not have whined many times to them about how much I missed you.”

Alex seemed oddly angered by that. “Well, you sure have a funny way of showing that. Because last time I checked, my phone number is still the same, and I go to the same bar and the same diner on a daily basis, safe to say I’m not the hardest person to find.”

Michael muttered something under his breath.

“What is that? I crack code, I don’t read lips.”

“I said I didn’t want to see you dating someone else!” Shit. That was a mistake.

Alex froze for a moment, then he said, slowly. “You mean you don’t want to see me dating after you and my best friend ended your relationship which lasted almost ONE YEAR right in front of me?”

Michael deflated. “OK. That’s fair. But I really missed you. Can’t we just like, be friends? We’re still friends, right?” He might sound a little too desperate, but he honestly didn’t care anymore.

“I don’t know, Michael”, shit, why did he always have this chill when Alex called his first name? It’s like Pavlovian reaction at this point. “How do we do it? Say ‘what’s up, bro’ every time we see each other?”

So he really was gonna be like that. Well, takes two to tango.

“Or we could, you know, discuss our mutual dislike of the disgusting eating habit of dipping the fries in the milk shake thing”, he pretended to think for a moment, “oh, sorry I forgot. It’s only MY dislike.”

Alex smiled at that. He took a fry, dipped it into his milkshake, threw it into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and then said, still smiling sweetly, “Yet you screamed so loud that one time when I dipped your cock into the milkshake and licked it clean.”

Michael choked on his clean, fry-crumbs-free milkshake. “You are not playing fair.”

“And you’re surprised? I didn’t climb the military ladder so fast by being nice.” Alex smirked.

Michael smirked right back. “Yeah, you’re kind of a sore loser. You didn’t speak to me for two days when I beat you at Mario Kart”.

“That’s because you cheated!”

“How does one cheat at MARIO KART?”

“I don’t know! Maybe you used your Tele...” Alex stopped himself abruptly when their waitress appeared to ask them if they needed some refill.

They both declined and headed right back into their argument about who was the better gamer.

When Michael finally stood up to get their bills (they argued about who should pay the bills too, Michael won), it was already two hours later, and they both had a big smile on their faces.

Alex watched Michael go to the cashier, a little too intensely, so he didn’t notice the little old lady at first, she had to wave her hand in front of him to get his attention.

He turned to her, confused. “Uh, can I help you?”

She patted on his shoulder. “My husband and I were like this too”, she said, wistfully, “we used to bicker all the time, but our hearts were in the right place”, she looked at Michael’s direction and back to Alex, “you and your young man are gonna be just fine.” She patted him once more, and went away.

Huh.

——————————————

2. Finishing each other’s sentences

They were at the supermarket together when Alex said, “why...”

“Does Liz need so many eggs? Beats me. She said she needs them to do some kind of experiment, but I highly suspect it.”

“And why...”

“Did she send us to get these? According to her, we need the legwork and some fresh air because she said and I quote, you are talking in codes and I reek of oil at this point.”

“I’m...”

“Getting a little annoyed by me right now? You want me to stop finishing your sentences? Well, it’s not my fault you are this predictable.” He was asking for trouble, Michael knew. But he couldn’t help it. Alex and Forrest had broken up for a week now, and Alex still didn’t tell him, he had to be informed by Izzy, it was a little irritating.

Alex narrowed his eyes. “You think you know me so well.”

“Apparently I do.” He smiled innocently.

“You’re not that complex either, you know”, Alex stepped forward, right into his personal space, “I can read you like an open book.”

So it was game on.

For the next two weeks, they were trying their best to beat each other to the punch, finishing each other’s sentences, sometimes even saying things before the other could even open his mouth.

Kyle snapped at last.

“Would you PLEASE stop?” He groaned, “We get it. You’re dating now and you are stupidly in love and you know each other SO WELL. Just, get a room, OK? Other people are still trying to find their soulmates or something.”

“We are not...” They spoke at the same time.

“Great, you’re upgrading to saying things unanimously now?” Kyle threw his hand into the air. “I give up.”

They both blushed. Unanimously.

——————————————

3. Touching casually

They were both leaning onto the table to study some printed out files from another secret government agency that Alex found and hacked, Alex was writing out code patterns to determine which one fit the file, when Michael suddenly discovered something.

In a hurry to write down his thoughts, he didn’t try to get another pen. He reached out, grabbed Alex’s pen-holding hand, and wrote down a keyword. His head bowed beneath Alex’s chin, some of his curls brushed his face, so Alex used his free hand to brush it away, he lingered a moment there, as Michael finished writing the word but his hand stayed there, thumb gently rubbing Alex’s in a slow circle.

Then Alex pulled away, and they continued discussing the file.

Things escalated real fast after that.

At first it was just a hand on the back, a pat on the shoulder, that sort of things. But then they often stood near enough that their hips were touching, Michael sometimes threw his arm around Alex’s shoulder when they were laughing together, or Alex would play with Michael’s hair when they were sitting on the same side of the booth, listening to their friends or talking to them. It was nothing sexual, they were friends, friends stayed in each other’s personal space ALL THE TIME, right?

Then one day, they were having a group movie night. They decided to sit on the sofa, so naturally no one else wanted to sit on it. With that much room, they sat down, a foot or so between them.

Halfway through the movie though, Alex was rubbing his right knee. Michael took one glance at him, and immediately sat beside him. He lifted Alex’s right leg onto his left, and put his hand on Alex’s knee. Alex let out a moan.

The whole group was looking at them now. Alex blushed.

“I, his hand...” Alex took a breath and regained some control back, “you all know aliens run hot right? His hand is like a thermos, it’s good for my knee.”

“You know”, Liz began, “You don’t need to explain here. People do this all the time for their loved ones, it’s sweet.”

“But”, Isobel cut in, stopping whatever Alex was trying to say, “next time, don’t do it in front of us, maybe? If I hear my brother-in-law moan again when I die, it’ll still be too soon.”

“Guys, stop teasing them”, Max said, at which point Alex had already given up, “they’re not even dating”.

“Yeah”, Maria went in for the final blow, “because the old married couple don’t date anymore. You guys really should make more of an effort if you want to keep the sparks alive, you know?”

“You mean we should just ditch you all to enjoy our little world, just the two of us?” Alex crooked his head, playing along.

“Aww, honey, you’d do that for me, for us? I thought you said we should keep our friends company or they’d be too boring a bunch.” Michael added.

He never took his hand off Alex’s knee.

——————————————

4. Pet names

“Darlin’, I’m home!” Michael called out, as he entered their secret base.

Kyle looked up, confused. “Since when did you begin to use pet names for each other?”

Alex didn’t even spare Michael a glance. “I didn’t. He is just being a dick.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you wound me. And you’re such a pretty liar, considering you called me ‘Mikey’ just the other day.”

“Sarcastically, yes.” Alex rolled his eyes. “Now would you please cut the bullshit and come look at this?”

Michael fluttered his eyelashes: “For you, sweet cheeks? Of course.”

Kyle wanted to leave. He also wanted to die a little.

Then Alex turned his full attention to Michael, and said in an almost robotic voice. “Gee, you are so kind, my little teddy bear.”

Kyle was wrong. He didn’t want to die a little. He wanted to die A LOT.

Michael, on the other hand, smiled like a cat finally got the cream. “Don’t mention it, pumpkin.”

His eyes twinkling, his tone teasing. But there was also genuine softness and gentleness in his overall demeanor, like he was standing in front of the most precious person in his whole life, and he called his name.

Alex rolled his eyes again. But when he looked back down, there was a secret smile tugging at his lips.

——————————————

5. Couple’s therapy

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” How was this his life, Alex wanted to ask.

To his credit, Michael looked bashful for once. “I’ve been seeing this therapist for four months now. And she said we could use a couple’s therapy, so she gave me this Groupon. I thought it’d be great for us.”

Alex stared. “You do know we’re not actually a couple, right?”

Michael looked a bit hurt by that, but he recovered quickly, “We kinda are, though. We both haven’t seen any other people for about half a year now. We spend almost all of our free time together. We touch each other constantly. We talk about everything and anything. Everyone assumes we’re at least hooking up, some think we already eloped!”

“Friends also do that kind of things together. And other people’s opinions really don’t bother me”, Alex didn’t look at him while saying this, so there was still hope right?

At this point, any hope was worth fighting for.

“Yeah, except friends aren’t normally in love with each other.” He said, looking right into Alex’s eyes, daring him to deny it.

Alex hesitated, and resigned. “When is it?”

—————————————

Dr Brown already knew so much about him it was a little unsettling.

“Have you talked anything other than me during your sessions?” Alex couldn’t help to ask.

“Of course!” Michael sounded offended. Meanwhile Dr Brown said, calmly, “Very little.”

Michael threw a betrayed glare at her, but she just smiled.

“So, what do you want to know?” Alex was always direct, “fair warning though. I refuse to talk about my childhood, my parents, my family, my job, my gay struggles, or anything from my past, including my past with Michael.”

“That’s OK”, Dr Brown still smiled, not bothered at all. “I only have one question for you.”

“What’s that?”

“You walked in, already in combat mode, because you treat any foreign environment as a threat, not to mention this foreign environment might force you to open up which you only do when you are around a certain and small group of people. But then Michael walked in too, and your stance changed. You were still in combat mode, but you also put yourself in a protective position, slightly in front of him. Meanwhile, you relaxed noticeably as if you trusted him with all you’ve got. When you sat down, you leaned to him unconsciously, and every time he spoke or touched you, you were calmed and grounded.”

Alex’s voice was raw when he spoke. “That was not a question.”

“So my question is”, she continued, “why do you still deny it, when you’re clearly in love with each other and already in a steady relationship?”

Alex didn’t have an answer for that. He got up and left.

————————————

+1 “How is your headache”

He’d been avoiding Michael for three days now. He was miserable in all of the days.

He was debating whether he should quit being a coward and finally get what he wanted when there was a knock on his door.

He was not even a little surprised that it was Michael.

He was surprised by the flower though.

“What is this?”

Michael held out the flower, eyes pleading. “Wanna take you out for a date.”

“I haven’t slept well these past days, my head kinda hurts, going out is not something I want to do now,” Alex said, and rushed to say the next bit because Michael looked devastated, “But we could stay in, order some take out, and watch Star Wars together?”

Michael relaxed a fraction. “You mean rewatch Star Wars.”

“Yeah, well, I have this habit of falling in love with something and never managing to fall out of it, don’t I?”

Michael smiled, a little teary. “Guess we have that in common.”

——————————————

They ate, they talked, they watched Star Wars.

Then Michael was crowding Alex into the back of the couch, and asked tentatively: “how is your headache, honey?”

To that, Alex replied with a kiss.

[launenji]

Center of Your Universe - A KNJ Fanfic | Prologue

Pairing: idol!Kim Namjoon x idol!Reader Status: Ongoing Word Count: 3031 Genre: Rivals2Lovers. Fluff. Eventual implied smut and angst. Slow burn. idol!AU Summary: It’s 2019 and Kim Namjoon is conquering the globe with his Bangtan brothers by his side. However, BTS can’t seem to shake their top girl group rival from chasing their names across music charts and award nominations worldwide. Now, the boys have no problem with that in any way; in fact they’ve come to respect the girls of HELIOS and their never ending climb to fame that seemed to match their own success. The only real “problem” Namjoon sees is that HELIOS’ confident, fearless, and overall badass of a leader seems to absolutely hate him. And as much as he doesn’t want to admit it, it does keep him awake at night. A/N: Hello! After a year of diving into BTS and reading fanfics about the boys, I wanted to write my own with the beloved Rivals2Lovers trope, because who doesn’t love that good shit? So this is my first official fanfiction, this will be ongoing although I’m not sure how many parts I’ll be producing, but I have the entire story line written out! I also am fairly new to how kpop fanfics are generally published on tumblr, but I’ll do my best. I hope you enjoy this story as much as I have creating it! Prologue | Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3

Prologue: Definitely a (fan)Boy with Luv

March 2019 There was an unspoken rule that came about RM of BTS’ personal life, and that was to live as Kim Namjoon as soon as he steps foot in his hometown of Ilsan. RM existed while he was at work in Seoul; busy with performance schedules, writing lyrics, producing beats, recording content, and basically leading the biggest boy band of the generation to great heights of fame and success. That’s who Kim Namjoon is on a near daily basis. So when Namjoon can find the time to take a few days off and head back to his childhood home for some much needed rest, he’s only Namjoon; a regular twenty five year old guy who loves long walks among nature and grabbing drinks with old friends. And right now he was Namjoon; a regular twenty five year old guy at his parent’s home, dressed in a tank top and sweats, head bopping to his latest musical discovery on Spotify as he pours an entire bag of chips in a bowl for a mid afternoon snack in preparation for some much needed catching up on his netflix shows. Pausing the song on his phone and housing his earbuds in their case, he shimmies over to the couch with his bowl of chips in a small celebratory dance for these rare days where he can go home and actually relax. No pressing schedules to attend, no pulling out his hair to create the right lyrics for their next song, no band/roommates screaming and chasing each other around their shared Hannam apartment after yet another failed prank attempt; just him alone in the house ready to kick back and finally relax.

Armed with his snacks, drink, and the tv remote, he makes himself comfortable on the couch and finally finds that one show he’s been dying to catch up on. However, just as he’s about to press play, the front door swings open with a loud bang. “PUT. THE REMOTE. DOWN.” 

A shrill voice echoes through the family apartment as the newcomer rushes in, hastily chucking her bag and keys on the counter before skidding to a stop between Namjoon and his only source of rest and relaxation for the night. Kim Kyungmin, loving younger sister to BTS’ beloved leader, stands before him with arms folded and with an unyielding glare. “Just because you’re home for the weekend doesn’t mean you can hog the tv the whole time you’re here, hand it over.” She extends out her palm, fingers flexing for the remote. Namjoon groans. “Minnie, I was LITERALLY about to watch my show, can’t you just record what you want to watch and watch it later? Y’know, when I’m usually not here?” Namjoon scoots to the other end of the couch in an attempt to continue on with his planned afternoon of relaxation. However Kyungmin manages to lunge for the remote and swipe it away at the last second, holding it above her head much to her older brother’s annoyance. “Not when you’re watching something you can literally watch anywhere else.” She shifts her pointed glare at his phone then at him before plopping down in his original spot on the couch, quickly switching through the channels to find the show she’s desperately looking for. “That doesn’t solve my solution to you recording your show and watching it later.” Namjoon points out, shoving a chip in his mouth as he watches his sister reach her designated channel. It’s a Knowing Bros episode that seemed to have just started. “If I do that then I can’t react to the episode in real time with Miyoung.” Kyungmin states matter of factly, thumbs flying across her phone as she texts her friend in question. Feeling defeated, Namjoon gives up his quest for his solo Netflix and Chill night he originally planned and settles to watch along with his sister. At least it was a show he actually did enjoy, especially when he was able to be on it with his members at one point. He reminisces his time on the show as he watches as the cast banter over some new found popular trend, the guests of the episode haven’t seemed to arrive just yet. “So who’s on the show this time?” In an immediate response to Namjoon’s question, the classroom door on tv whips open revealing four of the most recognizable women in Kpop; Lee Yuna, Chung Sumi, Han Hyojin, and their leader, Y/N L/N “It’s HELIOS!” Kyungmin lets out a high pitched squeal that Namjoon cringes away from. HELIOS. Arguably the most famous idol girl group to come out of Kpop history to date and BTS’ current standing rivals in the game. Namjoon internally scoffs; okay, so maybe the term “rival” seemed a little too harsh for their relationship to the girls. Let it be clear that there was no beef between Kpop’s fastest rising boy and girl groups despite what the media may try to spin about them. Namjoon and the boys actually do respect the ladies of HELIOS to a high regard and honestly believe that they deserve every inch of recognition and success they’ve received over the years. If the boys of BTS can understand anything, it’s the struggle of trying to make it in such a competitive and demanding environment that is the world of Korean entertainment. Much like them, HELIOS came from humble beginnings; hailing from a small entertainment company established by one of the most respected music producers in the industry. Despite debuting a couple years after BTS, HELIOS grew to be a well known name among teens and young adults. Their unique take on the “girl crush” concept and their unconventional practices of flourishing naturally as an idol group captured the hearts of many, and soon became a trending topic alongside BTS. Namjoon saw many similarities between BTS and HELIOS in the way they’ve grown to their current point of success. Much like the boys, HELIOS liked to connect with their fans personally, most of their viewership grew from watching their growth as an idol group on social media. In fact, the girls each had their own social media accounts and were good at posting daily doses of their lives on and off stage whenever they could. Their fans felt like they could really relate to them on a personal level; recognizing that, at times, these four beloved idols were just girls following their dreams. Other times, their fans were often reduced to a squealing-to-near-tears mess, as currently exhibited by Kyungmin. Namjoon was surprised she hadn’t started frothing at the mouth at this point. “Ugh! I just love them sooooo much!” Kyungmin groaned, voicing out her text message before tossing her phone aside and giving her undivided attention to the tv. On screen, HELIOS stood at the doorway as the hosts of Knowing Bros gaped in awe at their presence. The three women stood strategically in formation with you front and center. Namjoon let out a quiet sigh through his nose. Now while BTS and HELIOS had no history of any animosity towards each other (actually the only interactions they’ve really had was congratulating each other on a job well done in between set switches), the only “problem” Namjoon could find was that you, HELIOS’ renowned leader, seem to hate his fucking guts. He has voiced his concerns plenty of times to his members, especially after passing you and the girls by during music shows. You had a tendency to give everyone but him the time of day, and Namjoon didn’t know why. “You’re probably looking too much into it, hyung,” He remembers Jungkook telling him after another failed attempt to talk to the fellow leader. “I mean, you never talk to her, so I don’t think she has a reason to hate you.” “He’s right,” Jimin pipes up from across the dressing room. “It could be the way she is, after all she always looks like she’s got a 1.5 meter pole stuck up her- Ow! What!? I was just kidding!” His remark was short lived with a swift smack to the back of the head and a warning glare from Hoseok. Though it was rude to say, Namjoon couldn’t deny that, to a certain extent, you did look a little uptight most of the time. 

Watching closely on screen, he studied your resting bitch face-like expression. Despite being dressed in a standard school uniform that admittedly made you look cute, you looked like you were ready to take names and kick some ass while poised in your signature power stance. One hand over a hip cocked to the side as your sharp gaze trailed over the Knowing Bros cast before walking in. Even your movements seemed powerful, as if they were carefully calculated with one foot strutting in front of the other in perfect sync with the sway of your hips, not that he was paying attention to that specific detail. His eyes quickly shifted over to your other members as they moved more naturally on to the set and waved their hi’s to the hosts. Everyone gave their applause as the girls took their place at the podium in front of the classroom. “Please introduce yourselves!” Clearing your throat, you throw on a smirk before making a creative introduction. “Hello, we are from the “Top Tier Global Rising Stars” High School.” The other girls share similar smiles as you before dropping into their standard greeting. “2, 3, Shine On! Hello, we are HELIOS!” The studio erupts in applause and awes of amazement welcoming the girls. Namjoon looked over to Kyungmin with her knees drawn to her chest and chin resting on top, staring intently at the tv. “What? No more weird orgasm sounds for your favorite girls?” That earned him a hard smack to the face. “Shh!” Well, this was his day off to relax. So as he slumped lower into the couch, Namjoon carried on watching the show alongside his sister. About 10 minutes into the show’s friendly banter, Namjoon realized that wasn’t much he knew about the ladies that made up HELIOS until now. For instance, he learned that Lee Yuna was actually the eldest of the group, being the same age as Yoongi. Their fans, appropriately named HALOS, dubbed her as one of the most beautiful women in Korea as she joked about her nickname “The Universal Beauty” to rival Seokjin’s title of “Worldwide Handsome.” 

He also learned that the second youngest, Chung Sumi, was actually a naturally talented rapper who freestyled over beats she found on Youtube and posted them on soundcloud during her highschool days, which prompted her to be the first signed trainee at their entertainment company. It reminded him slightly of his underground rapping days leading up to his own path to an idol.

He even learned that Han Hyojin, their own maknae, could basically do anything from singing to rapping to dancing, making her a deadly triple threat for her young age. She could definitely give Jimin, Taehyung, Hoseok, and Jungkook all a run for their money. But what intrigued him the most was your backstory, something that you never revealed until this point. “So Y/N, you’re not actually from Korea?” Kang Hodong inquires. You shake your head in affirmation. “But you speak Korean so well!” Seo Janghoon chimes in, “Where are you from?” “The States, California specifically.” You respond, prompting a stock sound of amazement over the broadcast. “Another idol from California!” “Speak English for us! Come on!” This causes you to scoff, shaking your head. “What would you want me to say?” “Introduce yourself in English!” Yuna urges you with a bright smile, a round of cheers in the room encourages the idea. Namjoon stared in awe as he watched you introduce yourself in your native tongue to the camera. You seemed more comfortable and natural talking in English and it captivated him in a weird sort of way. Both Kim siblings kept their attention on you as the cast prods on with questions about your personal life and Namjoon can’t help but feel much more admiration for you as an idol and leader who’s made it this far after hearing your story. You share to the cast that you were nothing short of ordinary growing up. You’ve lived a normal life with your hard working parents and siblings. You were an average student with no strong ambitions to pursue for the future. The only passion you did have growing up was dancing, and it brought you as far as signing with your company to become a trainee after graduating high school. Without anything else to lose, you eventually made your way to Korea in hopes to find a suitable career that included dancing, however being an idol was totally out of your range. “So you initially didn’t want to be an idol?” Kim Heechul asks earnestly, you give a small shrug. “I didn’t think I was really cut out for it.” You answer cooly, then turn to your members with a soft expression. “But training with my members made me realize that I could do it and make something out of it.” Your girls return the heartfelt smile, something only Namjoon could completely recognize as a genuine bond between members. It tugged at his heartstring seeing this; despite your cold demeanor, you actually do care immensely for the people around you, which he could heavily relate to. If Kim Namjoon wasn’t impressed by you before, he surely was now. However that still doesn’t change the fact you can’t seem to stand him whenever he’s around you. The show finally cuts to commercial, giving Kyungmin enough time to call her friend and squeal about the events of the show. “And she was a cheerleading captain during high school! Can she BE any cooler!?” Namjoon watched incredulously as his sister took her conversation to her room for a quick break. He remembered teasing her once, when his fame with BTS began to rise exponentially, to never ask him for autographs or connections to any idols she may find herself gushing over in the near future, because he swore he’d never do it. Kyungmin only scoffed at her older brother’s feigning arrogance. “Oh please, you’ll never catch me drooling over any idol group at your expense.” If only she could see herself in a few years giving into the HELIOS craze and buying every single piece of merch she could. The look on Namjoon’s face was unbelievable when he came home one day to find Kyungmin framing a huge poster of your face to put in her bedroom. Her piercing glare stopped her brother from prodding any further with her newest obsession. “Not one word.” And with that, she carried your framed face off to her bedroom where it hangs next to her doorway. Well at least she hasn’t asked for your autograph. Not that he could get it anyway, you would definitely reject him if he even so much as breathed in your general direction. Despite finding out his sister was a die hard HALO, he was proud that she at least had good role models to look up to. However, the idea of her number one bias being the very person that hated him wouldn’t stop bothering Namjoon. Would he ever figure out why you just flat out disliked him? Should he even care at all? Why should he? It’s not like you two were friends. Did he want to be friends with you? Namjoon is pulled out of his inner monologue by his sister walking back into the living room with her hand over her mouth and eyes wide at something currently on her phone. She honestly looked like she was ready to cry. He rolled his eyes at her, now that’s just being a little too dramatic. “Alright, what is it now?” 

Kyungmin wordlessly turned her phone towards her brother, revealing your personal twitter profile and your newest post. It was a new concept photo of you with the silhouettes of the rest of HELIOS behind you. Dressed in shades of burgundy and maroon, you held a finger to your red painted lips. The caption that goes with it is simple and vague, but gets its point across. “HALOS, you ready? One more time~ D-10”

Namjoon counts down the days quickly in his head, leading up to what seems to be your comeback date. Coincidentally, it’s the day after BTS’ planned announcement for their own comeback; Map Of The Soul: Persona. 

He sits back and bites the inside of his cheek, deep in thought. If HELIOS was releasing their new album the same time BTS is, then you will most likely be promoting on music shows within the next coming months too. That meant more chances to pass you by in the studios and more time to figure out what the hell was your problem with him. Was it weird that the thought alone made him a little excited for your comeback more than his? His eyes caught sight of the show that just returned on air, now with you on screen teaching the hosts the moves of your latest single. He felt his cheeks heat up just a bit as he witnessed you sway your hips to the beat of your song before forcibly ripping his gaze away to look out the window instead. Yeah, it was pretty weird, and he really needed to stop dwelling on you so much. But that night, he laid in his bed, unable to get you out of his mind. 

Even though he told himself to not get hung up over you, here he was under his covers at 3 AM scrolling through your Instagram, looking at every single selfie, candid shot, and freestyle dance video you’ve posted since your debut; still thinking about the fact that even though you intrigued him, you still didn’t like him. Eventually he scrolled back to your teaser photo he saw earlier that day, brows furrowing at your post before locking his phone out of frustration. Okay, he had to stop. At this rate he was going to turn into his sister, another  HALO sucked into the HELIOS craze. But was that really a bad thing?

[studiopoprocks]

Whenever you get to it... fluff alphabet with shoto? Maybe? Please? 💜💜

Todoroki Shoto Fluff Alphabet

A - Affection (How do they show how much they care in their day to day lives)

It’s pretty obvious that Shoto hadn’t really been shown any sort of affection before you. But once this boy gets some, he’s addicted. He’s almost always touching you in some way get your mind out of the gutter. From hand holding, to cuddling, Todo will be beisde you, and enjoying the fact you’re with him. He always makes sure to tell you that you’re his angel, and that he loves you. It’s the little thing that count.

B - Before (How did they act before the relationship/ what was the relationship like?)

Met at a hero’s gala, and snuck out together. You both agreed that whenever you’re dragged along with your pro parent, you’d met up. Usually ending up in deep conversations, in the middle of a big fancy garden. You both kept your distance physically, before you actually got into a relationship, but emotionally; you’ve always had a deep convection.

C - Comfort (How they act when their S/O is sad)

Now you’d assume he is completely clueless on this type of thing. WRONG! This boy can tell the moment you start to feel down, instantly going in for a hug. But if that doesn’t work, or he finds you crying he’ll go through his mental checklist. Firstly wrapping you up in any nearest blanket, hugging you while wrapping it around your frame. Then wraps his arms around you while you burry your face in his neck. Boy would never force you tell him whats wrong, but will always listen and offer his advice if you want him to.

D - Dawn (What are mornings like?)

Always wake up together. Even if one of you has to get up earlier. You take turns making breakfast if it’s the weekend, but it’s usually more like lunch beacause any days off you get is spent cuddling in bed, watching whatever is on TV. Once he becomes a Pro though, you’ll absolutely refuse to get out of bed at 4:30am, but you’ll always wake up to talk and kiss him goodbye.

E - Embarrassed (How does their S/O make them flustered? How do they return the favour?)

(This was a specific request so I’m going to make it longer)

Shoto has a very stoic face, however it’s easy to tell when he’s flustered, just examine his quirk. When you first started talking, he refused to left you hold his right hand. Due to the fact that you had unexpectedly grabbed it once, and he almost ended up burning your delicate skin. Anything could make him fluster and act up. Conpliments, PDA, kisses, even you just acting cute. (Strangely he doesn’t get flustered with hugs) it’s kinda funny to watch the boy accidentally light his shirt on fire, or end up encasing his hand in ice. On the opposite side though, he returns the favour ten fold. He doesn’t mean to, he’s so blunt that it doesn’t register to him that it might make you flustered. He’ll say things like ‘I live for you, you’re the reason I want to get up in the morning’ out of complete nowhere! He has a bad habit of doing it at fan signings, cuz he’s getting so many questions about your relationship. ‘My favourite thing about her? Obviously everything.’ Complete and utter straight face the entire time. That doesn’t mean to say that he doesn’t enjoy you’re super cute blushing face, or how you get when you’re flustered.

F - First date (Were did you go and what did you do for your first date together)

You never had an official ‘first date’ due to meeting at hero galas. However, the day you two started dating was kinda like it. It had only been a few weeks since school started, but here you were at another gala. Shoto had quickly found you, walking with you to the garden, not too far from the hall. The music was so loud that you could hear it all the way from outside, but it just added to the ambience. Of course you had snuck food from the hall, making yourself a a makeshift picnic under the starts. It was calming, and you even slow danced at one point, laughing as you enjoyed each other’s company.

G - Gentle (How Gentle are they with their S/O? Or do they like to rough house with them?)

Shoto genuinely believes you are made out of porcelain. Yes, he knows you can handle yourself, but he’s still not risking anything. One of his worst fears is turning into his father, which includes being rough with his s/o. He will still train with you, without holding back, but you best be ready for him to check every inch of your skin afterwards.

H - Habit (What do they repeatally do in the relationship?)

Todo has this habit of always making sure you’re at a comfortable temperature. It stems from always wanting to look after you, and plus if you need an adjustment, he would happily cuddle you to the right temperature. If he notices a small shiver, he’ll instantly offer up his jacket. If you start sweating, boi is already looking up the nearest ice cream store. But nothing works better then him regulating your temperature himself.

I - Intreating (What do they find fascinating about their S/O? And vise versa?)

It’s kinda sad, but a big draw to you was because you totally excepted him dispite all flaws or scars. He find it so amazing how when even talking about villains, you never talk negatively about looks, or thing that they can’t control. Only about their crimes or morals. He cherishes how you look beyond the surface, and wonders how he got so lucky.

J - Jealousy (How easily do they get jealous, and how do they deal with it)

Now Todoroki doesn’t get jelouse. Let me rephrase that; Todoroki is good at hiding that he’s jealous. He completely trusts you, and knows you wouldn’t cheat on him. He’ll let you deal with any clingy fans, HOWEVER if he notices that you need help. RIP to whoever is crushing on you. Will come up right beside you, left arm protectively over your shoulder. That’s around the time any creep starts noticing the ice creeping up their leg. ‘Something you wanna say to MY girlfriend?’ Que death glare until they leave.

K - Knick Knack (A random momento they still have from their S/O)

You had accidentally left one of your favourite mugs at Shotos, and of course he used it every chance he got. In until he broke it. He had felt horrible, but told you right away, after cleaning up the mess. Dispite his knowledge though, you had glued it back together and painted gold along the cracks. The reason being: ‘I read somewhere that people repaire broken objects with gold, showing how it adds to the beauty of it’ of course you count use it to drink, but it turned into a plant pot. Along with his favourite thing in his room.

L - Location (Favourite place to go on dates)

Loves taking you to do nature related things. His go to is a clearing that looks over the city, you’ll often have picnics there, then stargaze for a bit. It’s quite nice, and not too far from his place. His sister had shown it to him when he was younger, and he went there to clear his mind every so often. So now he clears his head with you, a win win for both of you because he makes the best picnics!

M - Movie (What cliché movie trope has actually happened in the relationship?)

You ever see those movies where everyone is at a big dance, but everyone is wearing masks? Two strangers (who actually know eachother) meet, and dance the night away. Well this happened to the clueless pair of you. You guys basically confided in eachother, telling one another about the crush developing for each other. Both only realizing it the next time you saw eachother, promising to wear the same outfit as last time. XD

N - Nickname (What do they call their S/O?)

Names he calls his S/O:

‘Snowflake’ doesn’t mean it in a weak sort of way.

‘My love’ often used around Endeavor

‘Beautiful Star’ refers back to the first date thing.

Names his S/O calls him:

‘Cuddle bug’ cuz boi is touch starved.

‘My other half... and half’ started off as a joke, due to Bakugo. Ultimately it ended up as a reoccurring name of affection.

O - On Cloud Nine (How they act when they are in love/ Is it obvious to everyone around them?)

Todoroki is a very stoic person, so it’s not very obvious. Heck, half the class didn’t even realize you two were dating, until Shoto started getting protective of you due to something Mineta said. But once they knew, it became so obvious. He would follow you around, making sure you were okay after every training session, and even genuinely smile on a daily basis. You’re both super attentive to eachother, and seemed to always be holding hands!

P - PDA (Do they like showing off their s/o, or are a little shy to kiss in public)

Probably the most you’ll get is constant hand holding. He likes knowing your always beside him, and vise versa. Usually fingers interlaced, on Shoto’s right side, for two reasons. 1. Your hands won’t get clamy due to the cold, and 2. Because he can’t always control his fire when his emotions act up. However if for some reason you have to go, he’ll hold your conjoined hands up to his heart and say his goodbye. Maybe giving your forehead a kiss on special days.

Q - Quirk (A random ability they have, that’s helpful in a relationship)

Todoroki has this amazing ability to talk everything out with you. He hates fighting due to his childhood, so he always makes sure everything is out in the open. As to not have any misunderstandings EVER. He will and wants you to open up about everything from incecurities, to every bit of your day. Too many problems have come through miscommunication, and he isn’t about to allow your relationship to do the same.

R - Rearly (Something they love to do, but it doesn’t happen often)

Absolutely loves ice skating with you! But specifically on Christmas Eve, with all the lights and songs surrounding you both. He wouldn’t let go of your hand, and is constantly heating you up with his quirk. Sneaky boy heats up his lips, in hopes you’ll kiss him more. (First Christmas together he gave you your gift in the middle of the frozen ice)

S - Special (Something that only them and their S/O do together)

After the first month of dating, Shoto started bringing you to see his mom. You’re kind heart reminded him so much of Rei, and honestly he though you two should meet because you’re going to be apart of the distinctional family. He seems to feel a lot more at eas when you’re there, so it’s turned into a personal thing you do together.

T - Together (How often do they spend time with their S/O?)

Not enough! Between school or hero work, you bearly get anytime to yourselves. You always make a point of having date night, but sometimes due to how hard the week was: date night becomes movie + cuddle night. Of course you always fall asleep together, but half the time one of you is already passed out before the other gets home.

U - United (In which way does the relationship become a whole? Marriage?)

Basically once you’ve become part of the family. Weekly visits to see his mom, helping his siblings out with various things, and even standing up to Endever. (Also is that a patchy guy in the shadows smiling at you?) if this boy had opened both his heart and his family up to you, you best believe a ring (thx to dads credit card) is coming your way.

V - Value (What do they treasure the most in their relationship?)

Shoto values the time you spend together so much! It’s rare that you two have more then a day to spend together, so he’s going to make the most out of it. Expect to do 5 or more things in the day, and be joined at the hip for the majority of it. On the off chance that you both end up haveing the weekend off together, Todo is already booking flights. It’s usually a last minute type thing, but hey, who would pass up a trip to Tokyo with their boyfriend?

W - Wish (What do they hope will come from the relationship?)

He wants the chance to be better. He wants to be the best husband (and hopefully father) in the world. He’s never had a very good family life, and honestly he wants one. Especially one with you, because duh, you’d make a great wife! (And maybe mom) and hey if you decide you don’t want kids, then he’s totally fine with that, as long as you get him a pet.

X - XOXO (Favourite types of kisses and hugs)

Shoto is a sucker for curling up in your lap, while you run your fingers through his hair. He’ll hug your waist as you massage the days stress away. That combined with a sleepy goodnight kiss, this boi would die happy and content. He tends to get nightmares, but your goodnight kisses scare them away. Without you, he honestly doesn’t sleep well.

Y - Yearning (How do they cope when they're missing their partner?)

Originally, he was totally okay for the first day or two. But this boy didn’t realize how genuinely touch starved he was, especially without you. Calls every day, just to say hi and that he misses you. Will surround himself in your stuff, and gifts you’ve given him. Stole back his sweater just because it smelt like you. When you finally return, he won’t leave your side for the whole day.

Z - Zeal (Will they go great lengths for the sake of the relationship? What kind?)

Todo would empty his fathers entire bank account for you. He’s willing to to almost anything you ask of him, because he believes that you deserve it. It’s kinda funny when you ask for something small, and he takes it to a whole new level. You ask him to cook more often because you’re busy, he just signed up for a chef class. Ask him to open up about what he’s dealing with? He will sit down right there and let you comfort him. He respects your wishes, and enjoys when you ask him for stuff, because you should be able to lean on eachother anytime.

[lee-vc]

Meet Virika "Cutie-2" Maheswaran-Universe! What I imagine Steven and Connie's daughter to be like. Her design and bits of her personality were inspired by Mabel from Gravity Falls. At the time of the story, she would be about 7-8 years old, I'm thinking, still thinking about how the timeline would be set up. I'm just posting up pics and designs I thought up really. I'm gonna try and post up art like every Tues and Friday. So onto to some head-canons about her: Virika is a Hindi name meaning "Bravery." Her nickname is "Vivi." Her "middle name" was, of course, given to her by Garnet. Just as Steven was "Cutie Pie", his daughter would of course be "Cutie-2"! Legally, her last name is indeed "Maheswaran-Universe." Connie and Steven didn't really take each other last names when they married, just kept both of their names and they wanted their daughter to have both names too. Although Steven is no longer resentful of how his father raised him, he still wants Vivi to have all the things he didn't really experience as a child. Namely, normal human child things. So she goes to school, lives in a proper house, goes to the Doctor on a regular basis and all that jazz! But that doesn't mean she's completely sheltered from Gem stuff either! Since the time she was a baby, Steven and Connie bring Vivi down to Beach City for her summer Vacation from school! She plays Video Games with Amethyst, goes exploring Little Homeworld and learning about Gem culture with Pearl and even is apart of Ruby's scout trope! (She already has 5 merit badges!) On her 5 birthday, Pearl knitted a "Crystal Gem" sweater for Vivi (which she never takes off). Like Steven was in her early youth, she optimistic, friendly, extroverted and bubbly. Even more so since Steven and Connie make sure to shelter her from some of the more traumatic facts of Steven's life. That's not to say they'll never tell her but they're waiting until she's older. She's pretty much met all of the Crystal Gems, including the Diamonds and Spinel at one point. She finds the Diamonds to be a bit intimidating but she still loves them. They are her great aunts after all! She, of course, loves Spinel the best and absolutely considers Spinel to be her "Best Friend." She even tried styling her hair after hers so they could be "Hair buddies." And she absolutely adores her cousins! Being an only child, they're like her older brothers but she wishes she could see them more often. - Powers - Bubbles At first, Connie and Steven were sure that Vivi was fully human with the only hint her of her Gem heritage being the subtle Pink glow to her eyes that can only be seen in just the right light. But when she turned 1, she displayed her first bit of gem powers. That being, whenever she sneezed, a Pink bubble would involuntarily form around her (which Steven always had to pop.) This involuntary self-bubble sneeze still happens to this day. Healing She also inherited Steven's healing powers. It was first discovered it when drawing with Pearl and had gotten a paper cut. After putting her finger in her mouth, she pulled it out so Pearl could put a band-aid on it only to see the wound had healed. So far she's only used this to heal little cuts and scraps she's gotten from time to time. It's unknown if she inherited any other Gem powers from Steven but her parents aren't exactly rushing to discover that fact. If more powers do show up, they'll handle it. For now, they just want Vivi to enjoy her life as much as possible.

[alwaysspeakshermind]

Top 5  Anti-Varchie Arguments & Why They Make No Sense

#4: “Varchie’s boring/predictable, love at first sight is so cliché(d).”

Love at first sight is so clichéd? Okay, sure, I’ll allow that.

I’ll even agree.

But think contextually for a sec: love-at-first-sight is so clichéd as opposed to what? The utterly original, never-been-done-before uniqueness of best-friends-to-lovers that Barchie and also Bughead, why do people who say they want to see a friends-to-lovers relationship keep forgetting Bughead’s in that category? represents? The novel concept of enemies-to-lovers that is Cheryl/Toni (and Veggie if you squint)? The dated-in-the-past-but-sparks-still-fly (Falice, Tom Keller/Sierra McCoy, Fred/Hermione) or misunderstood-outsider-falls-in-love-with-“perfect”-America’s Sweetheart (Bughead, and also Kevin/Joaquin, Kevin/Fangs)? 

Come on.

Whether it’s your cup of tea or not, a trope is a trope is a trope. There are only so many combinations possible when it comes to romantic dynamics, and since fiction and reality have both existed for a really long time, there’s no one trope that hasn’t already been done a million times over. So…what’s the point of harping on this particular one? Or any other trope just because it’s not your personal favorite?

Yes, Love At First Sight is the bread-and-butter of many fairytales and/or Disney movies. But it’s by no means alone in that regard. 

Best friends/childhood friends-to-lovers has been a longtime staple of books, TV shows, rom-coms, and musicals (Harry Potter, Kim Possible, 13 Going On 30, Phantom of the Opera, and Lion King all say hello), and so has enemies-to-lovers (27 Dresses, The Proposal, You’ve Got Mail, Tangled, etc.). I’m not even going to bother touching on the sparks-still-fly/loner-loves-”good” kid thing, because the first is the golden goose for Hallmark, Lifetime, an a billion-and-one romance novels, while the second is YA fiction in a nutshell. And if you’re one of those “I can’t help it, friends-to-lovers is my crack” kind of people, it might be worth noting that “Love At First Sight” is plenty of other people’s crack. Also, if your complaint against a trope you find overused is a valid argument, so is someone else’s. Childhood-best-friends-to-lovers may feel newer and unique to you, but it doesn’t to everyone. Some people are as tired of it as you are of Love At First Sight. 

And even if your claim is that “love at first sight’s not realistic/there’s like zero basis for it in the real world/it’s the exception not the rule,” that claim also extends to Childhood Best-Friends-To-Lovers and Enemies-To-Lovers. 

In the real world, the Best-Friends-To-Lovers thing is about as common as Love At First Sight, with the latter maybe being a bit more common, since the overwhelming majority of people tend to notice attraction within the first fifteen minutes of meeting someone and the overwhelming majority of childhood best friends grow up thinking of each other as a sibling. (Important distinction: when childhood best friends do grow up, fall in love and get married, they don’t tend to take until high school/college to figure out how they feel. They’re typically aware of it from puberty/slightly before puberty onward, and it doesn’t change because they already know everything there is to know about that person...they know if they’re attracted to them; they know if they’re not.) And both those tropes are more common in everyday life than enemies-to-lovers since, in truth, most people don’t want to have anything to do with the antagonistic person who made their life miserable.

So realism/unrealism? Kind of a shifting-sands argument. Especially within the context of a show that puts an ex-“gang” member in as sheriff and deputizes other “gang” members, one of whom is named Sweet Pea, of all things. I mean, if you truly feel morally obligated to reality-police Riverdale, there are far more pressing issues than the likelihood of two teens meeting each other one time and deciding within five minutes that “This is The One” (which is not even how it happens except for Archie, but still).

What it really comes down to is not the trope itself, but how well the trope is executed. 

In other words, it’s not what you’re given...it’s what you do with what you’re given. Every trope has been done many times before. Like it or not, that is an undeniable fact. Arguing that something has little-to-no value purely on the basis of its commonality is in essence weighting originality (theory) over style (practical application). To illustrate why this kind of thinking is a critical mistake, let’s put it this way: weighting originality over style is like saying Riverdale Season 3 is better than Riverdale Season 1. 

...Which, as even the most casual of Riverdale viewers knows, is not the case.

Is S3 more ambitious than S1? Yes. Does S3 contain more jaw-dropping plot twists than S1? Absolutely. Are there some damn fun episodes in S3? For sure. But guess what? S3 also contains far more plot holes, inane plot “twists” and contradictory developments/sheer why-are-you-trying-to-make-fetch-happen-with-this-storyline moments because S3 goes so hard for shock value/the unexpected, that it effectively lapses on execution and winds up with a more creative, but ultimately less-compelling finished product than S1. Moral to the story? Creativity is good, but devotion to creativity at the exclusion of all else is not. If a few predictable elements aren’t mixed into an unpredictable world (or vice versa), everything ceases to shock. On Riverdale, because things are always so wild, the biggest surprises are usually when things unfold normally/don’t go haywire.

Now.

Me personally, I’ve shipped every trope at least once. I’m in the habit of making myself set aside all preconceived notions when beginning a new show/book/movie, because I never know what, if any, ship I’ll go for. Historically, I’m about 50-50 on Childhood-best-friends-to-lovers—sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. Enemies-to-lovers—usually, I dig it, sometimes it’s a big, fat no from me, dawg. Love At First Sight however, I am overwhelmingly prejudiced against. And when I say overwhelmingly prejudiced, I mean that as a rule, I flat-out hate it. I find it stupid. It annoys me. I roll my eyes and make jokes.

But, here I am. Writing a bunch of long-ass Tumblr posts in defense of a fictional relationship that makes a direct play on the Love At First Sight trope.

So why are Archie and Veronica my huge exception? 

Well, for one thing, their relationship kicks off in a manner that is highly evocative of the comics. The instant Archie sees Veronica, all of time (for him) stands still. The one solitary thing he’s aware of from the moment she steps into Pop’s and he looks up is her. No matter what he’s doing, he ends up looking at her, and after a very short amount of time, the same goes for Veronica (though of course, she tries to play it cool). Regardless of how I feel about the cheesiness of the trope, the execution of the scene is fricking cute.

For another: it actually is an unusual trope, and I was surprised to see it used. 

Don’t get me wrong, the whole see-a-person-across-a-crowded-room deal is a cliché and it’s a million percent been done to death. But the funny thing is, Love At First Sight is such a clichéd cliché that it’s hardly ever used nowadays. By virtue of its extreme clichédness in fact, it has accidentally and ironically become fresh again because the second someone suggests it, someone else inevitably goes, “Nah, that’s too clichéd, we can’t do that.” In all honesty, I can’t remember one TV show or non-90s-Disney movie I watched in the last ten years where that trope was used over any/all of the other tropes available. I actually intended to make a list of the books/movies/shows I know of that have used the friends/enemies to lovers trope for comparison purposes, but it was getting so long with just the books section I ended up going, “Haha, no,” and scrapped that plan. (But for the record, almost every single Jane Austen novel is on that list.)

So, in summary: Love At First Sight clichéd? Yep. For sure.

Too clichéd?

Nope.

Certainly no more, and arguably less, than the other tropes Riverdale’s many ships adhere to. So if you’re not nonstop complaining about those other ships on the basis of the overdone/predictability factor, it shouldn’t be an issue that Varchie’s relationship is built around a recognizable trope that has been out-of-use by most everyone except Disney for a good while now. (Besides, some tropes are considered timeless for a reason.) 

And seriously, if we’re going to go down the Disney path, let’s stop a second and recall how many Disney Channel shows/movies in the last decade utilized Best-Friends-To-Lovers and Enemies-To-Lovers. Or hey, what about Nickelodeon shows? Or  maybe cop/CSI/civil service-type shows where best friend partners/partners who hate each other eventually fall in love?

Again, a relationship is not automatically made “boring” because it falls within the parameters of a well-known trope, and “predictable” does not automatically mean “bad.” If that were truly the case, no fictional relationship from probably the 18th century onward would have any popularity and/or critical acclaim. And if you try to argue that that’s just how it is for you personally: predictable/clichéd = boring, you should probably keep in mind that when measured by those standards, every single other ship on Riverdale is, by definition, boring. 

Every.

Single.

One.

Not just Varchie. 

So if you really are passionate about Riverdale not focusing on a “boring, predictable, clichéd ship instead of an interesting one,” you might want to take a break from griping about Archie and Veronica and start examining exactly how original those "interesting” ships you’re touting actually are. And if that’s not really what you mean, if you don’t really buy into the line you’re selling (i.e., you’re just using “they’re so boring” as an excuse to disguise the fact that you don’t like Varchie because they prevent your preferred ship from happening), you might also want to consider just being honest about that. 

Because when you build your argument around a point that encompasses more relationships than just the one you’re criticizing, it makes you look like you’re either extremely clueless in not realizing that your complaint also applies to your ship/other ships, or else a giant hypocrite.

[teamoliv-archive]

I don’t have much for unpopular opinions, but I’ll try this instead: what’s your take on the whole situation regarding RWBY and their recent decisions in the latest season? (Frcstbxte)

send me controversial or unpopular opinions and I’ll tell you if I agree or disagree 🐸 ☕️

Hoo boy. People are going to unfollow me for this one guaranteed due to how may super strong opinions people have about this. This one’s getting a cut to avoid drama.

I do want to stress that I don’t want to devalue or invalidate anyone’s complaints regarding the show. Enjoyment is a highly personal thing and if you’re frustrated, upset, disappointed, or otherwise had negative feelings don’t let this convince you that you’re not allowed to feel the way you do about the volume.. My gripes are more on the mechanical and storytelling aspects of things and with the arguments used to criticize the volume. I only hope I can make my case on why the commonly complained about parts of the show don’t warrant the vitriol in my opinion. I likely won’t convince too many people, but I’d like to make my case here anyway.

I honestly believe a lot of the complaints about the latest season from a writing standpoint are short-sighted, lack scope, and/or just miss the point of what we’re looking at. From an overall storytelling perspective this was definitely the most well put together season the show has had so far and a lot of the complaints only address individual concerns that some fans had regarding things not happening the way they wanted to without a regard for the overall plot. This is why I think a lot of the complaints don’t measure up and where my actual gripes with the part lie.

1. Theme

You cannot consider yourself to have analyzed a work without first looking at its overall theme. RWBY’s structure doubles up on this as not only does the show as a whole have its overarching themes and plot, but each individual volume has their own to deal with as well. Here the theme is trust, as directly stated in the opening lyrics and it’s a common source of problems and solutions throughout the the show. 

From an overarching standpoint, we have Salem doing her darnedest to break apart any alliances that could be formed against her. I do not believe this is because she fears humanity in terms of tactical numbers. This simply isn’t that kind of show. The writers have said in interviews that they take most of their story and theme cues from the magical girl genre. You know, the same “love and friendship conquers all” magical girl genre that all those shows not named Madoka Magicka use as the basis for their protagonists. The silver eye power seems fueled by that exact sentiment and I think that’s going to be a huge factor close to the end. This is not a setting where pragmatism and strategic thinking will carry the day- keep that in mind.

2. RWBY vs. Ironwood

This is the part everyone’s been talking about and I think a lot of the hard-line side-taking in either direction is missing the point entirely. This conflict was always going to happen and both sides have fault to bear.

The two sides can be seen as having their own character arcs on a macro scale. Individual character motivations weren’t nearly as important as they were in previous volumes and it helps to see them mostly through the lens of Ruby and Ironwood. The basic core of the problem throughout the series is this, Team RWBY has decided to go along with Ironwood’s plan for lack of one themselves, but don’t trust him with the whole truth until they know how he’ll react to it. This is a man with an army and a paranoid streak after all. This, of course, is a decision that winds up instrumental in triggering Ironwood’s paranoid shitstorm later in the volume.

That said, I don’t believe the problem is Ruby’s decision making- It’s the narrative. The whole reason this comes across as weird and contrived is that we are never told the reason Ruby and co. don’t trust Ironwood with the information from the lamp. By all accounts up until this point there was no visible reason for them to do so and we’re simply never told WHY. Answering this simple question would have made the entire rest of the narrative make a lot more sense were she just given a believable reason to hold the info back, let alone any reason at all.

Now let’s bounce back to Ironwood. I’m going to just go out and say I grew tired of the “Ironwood did no wrong.” discourse pretty quickly because, again, people are missing the point. For this one, we have to look back into the theme- trust. When Ironwood has his breakdown, he not only turns his back on Ruby and her team for lying to him, but he goes right into his martial law plan also betraying the trust of the council, Robyn, and the people of Mantle who are now going to be sacrificed for the sake of salvaging his original plan. Despite Ruby and co’s actions making the situation worse, we aren’t meant to see Ironwood’s new solution as a better alternative purely on the moral cost of what he’s doing. This is what is called in screenwriting the “Moral Line” defined as a vision of right and wrong as told through the protagonists. We’re meant to sympathize with Ruby owning up to lying to Ironwood and trying to move forward despite the setbacks, not cheer for Ironwood calling them out and forcing out a more pragmatic path.

To me, I think this stems from a common sentiment shared in a lot of popular media and deconstruction of tropes that idealism is a naive and childish flaw and that proper strategic logic is what solves problems. Again, I predict that due to the genre inspirations of this story, this won’t be the case at all. Ironwood is going to fail because he turned his back on moral idealism, trust, and friendship in favor of planning and decisive action no matter the cost, not despite it. Harriet summarized the entire philosophy well during her fight with Ruby:

“It’s not excessive if it’s necessary!”

This line feels, to me, like a reflection of everything that Team RWBY is now fighting against and we should be able to understand as an audience from a moral standpoint why this is the way it is.

As a small aside, let’s cap this off with the RWBY vs. ACE-Ops fight. A lot of people called foul because the ACE-Ops lost and I just don’t understand why. The moment the fight started, I knew what the outcome was going to be purely because the story as it was set up simply couldn’t progress otherwise. Much like Mercury and Emerald in volume 5, RWBY matching and defeating the ACE-Ops shows the progression of the main characters. Them choosing to fight also shows RWBY the final stakes moving forward and symbolically shows them that the might of the entire Atlas army is now their enemy moving forward. 

With this in mind, I want to go back to Ironwood’s martial law plan and defend some aspects of his character that should be. Up until the point of Ironwood’s breakdown it was seriously and soberly treated as a last resort option with a clear understanding by Ironwood, Winter, and the ACE-Ops that they knew exactly what was it was going to imply. This does not make them evil and it’s important to understand that. However the Tin Man needs a heart and this brings us to Ironwood’s fatal flaw. The real bad decision was that the martial law plan was enacted despite already having the unity of the people of Mantle behind them. He lost far more than the stands to gain with his decision, thinking only from a tactical and strategic standpoint regardless of what he has to sacrifice to get there. Those sacrifices have already all but left him facing Salem alone. If he survives next volume, I’ll be surprised.

3. Qrow and Clover

For a few moments, I do want to discuss Clover and Qrow’s dynamic because it’s very important to Qrow’s story throughout the part. Regardless of how you choose to interpret their exchanges, the important takeaway here is that for the first time in possibly decades Qrow had a friend he can talk to as an equal and not have Ozpin’s plans or a generational gap in the way. 

Ever since we were introduced to Qrow, he’s shown himself to be a dysfunctional loner who is only just recently trying to seriously pick himself back up off his feet. I believe the fact that he was finally shown that he can actually have friends is a huge factor in this. His life has always been dominated by his feelings and doomsaying. He spends every interaction waiting for the other shoe to drop and uses his own semblance as an excuse to perpetuate that worldview.

And this is why I think Qrow’s fight with Clover makes total sense to have happened. He’s one of Oz’s main team and also has a fatal flaw.

The cowardly lion needed courage and he died for his cowardice.

The tin man needs a heart and lost all his allies in the pursuit of his goals.

The scarecrow needs a brain and his emotional decision-making cost him his friend’s life.

This is a genuine tragedy, literary-speaking in fact. Qrow’s awful situation was one of his own making and he knows it, but I can’t imagine him doing anything else. One thing that I’ve seen throughout the show about Qrow is that he’s never given up trying to stop Salem- he’s an idealist like Ruby and in my opinion has been subverting the mentor archetype beautifully. However, every time he’s made a major decision in the series, he’s done it on an emotional or practical level. No real thinking ever goes into what he does. When Clover calmly announces to Qrow what was just ordered and Robyn summarily attacks him, his first instinct is to try and stop the fight.

I’m going to break here to discuss Robyn’s actions at this moment- another common complaint. Would we really expect someone like her to have done anything different with the news that the city she’s worked so hard to work with all those years was just cast aside? This would have been seen to anyone in her position as nothing less than a double-cross given how just a few hours ago everything for the evacuation was moving apace. From a characters standpoint, I don’t get why anyone would fault Robyn for being furious at this aside from “It’s not the smart thing to do right now.” No, it’s not, but I’m also very tired of seeing people complain about characters making non-optimal decisions. Not everyone things with perfect logic, strategy, or sense at every given moment. This is a perfectly human response to finding out your loved ones were just given a death sentence. She lashed out at Clover over lack of Ironwood face to punch.

With this in mind, Qrow’s decision to fight Clover is a bit more personal. He’s treating it more or less the same way that he treated Raven joining with Cinder a few parts ago. Qrow is clearly very much against the idea of leaving what’s left of Mantle to die and now has a lot of aggression to take out seeing how calmly and without complaint Clover takes the order. The only friend Qrow’s had in a long time chose his duty over him and he doesn’t know how to take that- so they fight. It’s safe to assume that Qrow is likely in a highly emotional state and, as we’ve established before, not thinking about what he’s doing. Robyn is passed out in the wreckage, Tyrian is left unattended, and they’re miles away from any real contact from anyone. Bluntly, he screwed up, he screwed up big time, but his character leads me to believe he wouldn’t really have done anything else.

Then we see Qrow in engage in a little something we in the literary community call “seriously fucking up.” In the heat of the moment, he decides to trust Tyrian at his word and it ends about as well as to be expected. Qrow made a mistake, one of the biggest mistakes in the entire series and one that looks plainly obvious and avoidable to the audience, but only when you consider it through the lens of someone who’s making calm and rational decisions. Yes, Qrow fucked up, I’m not defending his decision making; I’m defending the scene and why that faulty decision making was the only thing that could really happen. 

4. Winter and Penny

The biggest complaint regarding these two is Penny leaving Winter behind at the end of the part. Frankly, for this one I’ve got nothing so I’m not going to pretend I have an answer to the complaints. Much like Ruby early on, the show just outright refuses to give us the reason she left. Winter getting the maiden powers might have been part of the plan, but I don’t think Ironwood would be so inflexible as to not settle for Penny getting it instead. The only thing I can imagine that could be going through her head is that she still wants to try and save Mantle and live up to her title, trusting Winter can handle herself. However, again like with Ruby, I don’t believe that the character is to blame here, but the narrative just refusing to give us an explanation and leaving us to sit there in frustrated confusion. We might get it next part, but I don’t like that...

5. Can I Talk About Watts Now?

With that out of the way, I do have one really bizarre complaint regarding the part that no one else seems to talk talk about.

I am very disappointed with Watts. This is mostly just be griping about lost potential so bear with a small rant.

There was a lot of setup regarding Watts as a threat and when he got the codes. We’re told that given time he could control literally all of Atlas (because apparently two-factor authentication and dead man’s switches don’t exist but that’s a logical gripe for another day). My question is why this wasn’t capitalized on. I wanted a repeat of the mechanical soldiers turning on the Vale citizens. We could have had automated vehicles wreaking havoc, fights between people and robots, and all sorts of fun stuff. You can argue that Watts was distracted by Ironwood’s trap and didn’t have the time to really cut loose and I’ll accept that, but I just wish we could have seen more. Any Watts RPers out there who want some ideas, you’re free to steal this one.

[smallblueandloud]

Haaaa! There are so many I want to know about in the latest ask meme! So a bunch of them are : 1, 4, 8, 22, 23, 39 and 45, if you'll answer to any of them!

yes, of course i will! thank you for being so quick!! for this ask meme, which is still open! under a cut because this got long, lol, sorry to ramble.

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

percy jackson and the olympians. it was the first time i ever shipped anything, the first time i ever discussed headcanons, the first time i had to wait for something to be released (an…. entire….. year…. for the house of hades. and after the ending of mark of athena!!). 

actually, i think the first fandom i ever read fanfic for was harry potter. but i only started talking with a fic writer and getting fandom friends with pjo. so i stand by my answer for involvement, lol.

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

honestly? again, percy jackson. the fandom was so young that fanon was out of control during my formative years, and it really messed up my idea of the characterization of the characters. i have such a solid basis of harry potter, and pjo isn’t… like that for me? and i blame the fandom, lol. on the other hand, i made a good friend over talking about pjo, and i read some phenomenal fanfic, so, y’know. not a total loss.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

A HA HA. i don’t know what fandom this is referring to?? i’m so multifandom that "current” fandom isn’t “latest” fandom and “latest” fandom is usually a fad. technically, i think my “latest” fandom is… (gasp) frozen? just because i’ve never been really interested in it before.

but! since i know you’re here for doctor who (and since it’s still technically my strongest fandom), i’ll tell that story, because i personally think it’s hilarious. see, there was this awesome author that i loved on fanfic.net. i’d read all of their pjo fics (i think there was like, three of them) and was desperate for more and they had a doctor who fic? so i clicked on it?

here’s the zinger. it was an amy/11 fic set while he was regenerating into 12. like. clara was there and everything. BASICALLY EVERYTHING I DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT THESE DAYS.

but i was interested! this seemed interesting! regeneration! angst! heck yeah!

i went and read up on the worldbuilding on a wiki that i remember being… very moffat positive? oof, lol. a lot of emphasis on the doctor’s name and all. but then i started to go through the fanfic.net spiral (go through an author’s favorites, read the interesting fics, go through THOSE authors’ profiles, find new ones through their favorites lists) and found a really long river&rose bad wolf fixit? basically turn left but also all of seasons 5 and 6. (i actually thought it was canon compliant?? my relationship with doctor who canon is NEBULOUS, lol.)

eventually, a f t e r putting in investments such as: reading nancy’s masterwork of a series rewrite (go read it i am begging you), reading all the fanfic i could find, getting invested in ships with characters who i couldn’t pick out of a lineup, etc, T H E N i actually got around to watching seasons 1-4.

and here we are!

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

my fmab fic. i feel like i rushed it and it killed my desire to write anything else for that fandom. i want to rewrite it - i loved the concept - but i don’t know if i should… repost it? add a note in the summary saying “i’m sorry! i don’t think it sucks anymore!!” or what? sigh.

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

i’m EXTREMELY proud of the 13&martha fic. (and the 11rose god complex rewrite’s gonna be pretty good, if i do say so myself.)

uh? also the xmen fic that no one’s read? i was pretty deep cherik trash when i wrote it, which admittedly takes up too much space in the fic now (in my own personal opinion), but i love the trope of “longtime enemies who used to be friends have standing agreements allowing them to drop the antagonism and help each other out”, and i feel like i managed to articulate that in the fic! i’d dive deeper into it if i rewrote it, but ah well.

39. What is your greatest strength as a writer?

i have no idea?? i like the way i write dialogue, although it’s gotten harder (paradoxically) as i’ve written more.

i guess, predictably, that it’s emotions. i write about them a lot (oops) and i’m proud of how it turns out?

also characterization! i’m really proud of my characterization!! i make sure i can hear a character say the dialogue i’ve given them, and the thoughts i’ve given them, and i’m really, really proud of it. :)

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

mmmph. i’m supposed to choose??

probably everything by @ink-splotch, which is cheating, i know. if i had to choose one of her fics i’d probably go with the trans girl!harry fic, because it’s so, so wonderful.

uh, also honorable mention to this leia fic by @notbecauseofvictories because it is literally. everything i aspire to in writing, wrapped up in less than 2k.

second honorable mention to every single other star wars fanfic i’ve ever read, because that fandom is CRAZY TALENTED. for other fandoms, see last night’s post.

thank you for sending this! i had a lot of fun answering, lol.

[sceptilemasterr]

MW Act 1, Scene 6 - Analysis

Title: Most Wanted: The Hollywood Killer (A CIU Screenplay)

Main Pairings: Dave x Sam

Other Pairings: N/A

Genre: Full Rewrite

Rating: PG-13 for violence, blood, swearing, alcohol, and sexuality

Summary: While talking to the crime lab’s eccentric trio, Sam and Dave learn more about Tull... and each other.

Previous Scene: The Other Case

Masterlist: Link

INT. L.A.P.D. STATION - CRIME LAB - NIGHT

The crime lab is a scene best described as “organized chaos.” Pop music blares from a speaker sitting at the workstation of a man with short black hair, glasses, and a blue cardigan, spinning idly in his chair. This is NIKHIL MANTHA, forensic specialist. Opposite him at another workstation is a man with messy brown hair and a patterned sweater, gritting his teeth in annoyance as he stares at his computer screen; this is REZA FASSIHI, data analyst.

HAYLEY ROSE (ON SPEAKER) (singing): Sirens flickering in your tail lights, your long-lost love’s your only flaw...

REZA: Nikhil, can we please turn that off? This wasn’t a good song four years ago, and it’s still not good now!

NIKHIL: But that’s the point! Pop princess Hayley Rose experimenting with a contrived club album with a hokey country twist? “Outlaw” is incredible in its American awfulness.

REZA: How does that make any sense?!

As the music plays in the background while they continue, the third occupant of the room ignores their argument entirely. MIRASOL BAUTISTA, criminal profiler and psychoanalyst, sits at her own workstation, frowning at whatever she is reading on the screen. She wears a white blazer and has her dark hair tied back into a bun.

NIKHIL: ...it isn’t my fault your tastes are embarrassingly mainstream-

MIRASOL (muttering): The contrarian hipster act, clearly a false front meant to get on people’s nerves. Typically seen in those with low self-esteem and-

NIKHIL: Ouch. I heard that, Mirasol.

MIRASOL: Oh, I know.

The door swings open, and Sam and Dave enter. Sam blinks in surprise at the music. Dave doesn’t bat an eye as he strides up to Nikhil’s workstation and hits the power button.

DAVE (deadpan): Oops.

NIKHIL: Hey! Excuse me, Dave, we were listening to that-

REZA: Correction: you were listening to that.

NIKHIL: Mirasol secretly enjoyed it!

MIRASOL: Excuse me, what?! I will murder you, Nikhil.

REZA: She’s not kidding, Nikhil. You weren’t here for the time she brought a live grenade to work, but-

DAVE: Look, as entertaining as this conversation is, right now, we’ve got a killer to catch. And more importantly, we’ve got company.

Mirasol, Nikhil, and Reza all look up and notice Sam for the first time.

DAVE: This is Sam Massey, U.S. Marshal. Massey, meet the Three Stooges. That’s Reza, our data analyst and resident computer nerd.

REZA (frowning): “Nerd?” Excuse you, Dave, I’m a data analyst and digital security consultant and a moderator for the Crown and the Flame official fansite... Okay, I may be a ‘computer nerd.’

Sam nods, clearly not understanding most of what Reza is talking about.

SAM: ...Pleasure.

DAVE: Over there is Nikhil, forensic analyst and card-carrying hipster.

NIKHIL: Nice to meet you, Marshal. I have to say, this ‘thing’ you’re doing with your outfit? Talk about defying the mainstream L.A. look with your rough-and-tumble style. Such a middle finger to the masses.

Sam crosses her arms, frowning.

SAM: I’m not trying to do a “thing.”

NIKHIL: Exactly, right? Everyone else is always trying too hard. But you get it!

SAM: Uh...

Dave shakes his head in amusement before moving on.

DAVE: Anyway, the cheerful one over there is Dr. Bautista, our criminal profiler and psychoanalyst.

MIRASOL: Just call me Mirasol. These two clowns don’t go by fancy titles, why should I?

SAM: I can respect that.

DAVE: Right, well, that’s the introductions. So, what have you all got for us?

NIKHIL: Perfect timing, actually. I’ve just finished my initial run-through of the forensics. Don’t have much to work with, but I was able to analyze those bullet casings you found, plus the autopsies and ballistics.

SAM: Let’s hear what you’ve got. I’ve got a hunch I want confirmed.

They walk over to Nikhil’s workstation. Nikhil swivels in his chair to face them.

DAVE: How’s it look?

NIKHIL: The autopsy and ballistics reports indicate an abdominal wound from a sawed-off shotgun, fired from approximately three feet away. Casings confirm standard double-aught buckshot. (shakes head) Can’t have been pretty.

SAM: Point-blank, straight to the gut. Tull’s specialty, the sick bastard.

DAVE: Anything else?

NIKHIL: Well, I’ve got an educated guess on the type of shotgun he used. It’s hard to tell for sure, but from what we could get from the camera footage, I’d say an old-school Easton 850, sawed-off.

SAM: Wait. Did you say an Easton 850?

NIKHIL: Why, does that mean something to you?

Sam gets a faraway look in her eyes, staring at a point on the wall. She says nothing for a long moment. Finally, she shakes her head and turns away.

SAM: No. You just... don’t see those every day.

From her station, Mirasol watches Sam with a calculating look. Dave notices and walks over to her, Sam following.

DAVE: Dr. Bautista, what do we have?

MIRASOL: I’ve told you not to call me that.

DAVE (smirks): Why do you think I keep doing it?

Mirasol rolls her eyes and turns away from him, facing Sam.

MIRASOL: Beckham had your file sent over, Massey. Frequent physical altercations. Questionable use of force. Repeated altercations... fascinating stuff.

SAM: Alright, alright. Let’s cut to the chase. What have you got?

MIRASOL: Let’s see... Propensity for violence and hot-headedness, such as when you brought in a fugitive with multiple broken bones. Then the report of you telling a fugitive with hostages to, and I quote: “Grow a backbone, dirtbag.”

NIKHIL: Ooh, I want that on a shirt.

MIRASOL: And then there’s the raid on the New Flores Cartel, where the massive property damage perfectly showcases your flagrant disregard for-

SAM: Okay, okay, we get the idea! Lemme rephrase: what have you got on Tull?

MIRASOL: Oh, don’t worry. I’ve already put together his profile too, or at least a preliminary one from what little we know.

DAVE: Perfect. Let’s hear it.

MIRASOL: He’s a hired killer, but he’s brutal when he doesn’t need to be, even when it makes his job harder. Clearly enjoys inflicting pain. He’s clever but unstable, with textbook signs of egocentrism, obsessive behavior, and possible narcissism.

DAVE (sarcastically): This guy just gets better and better.

SAM: Anything else?

MIRASOL: Just that... look. I’m not easily disturbed; hell, I read the profiles of psychopaths for a living. Sometimes even for fun. But this guy... he scares me.

Sam nods in understanding.

SAM: Then we just gotta be scarier.

She turns away from Mirasol and heads over to Reza’s station, Dave following close behind. As she approaches, Reza springs awkwardly to his feet, accidentally knocking over his chair as he offers an excited handshake.

REZA: Wow, a Texas Marshal, surrounded by L.A. glitz and glamour! Love it! The fish-out-of-water thing is a classic trope in the industry, y’know.

Sam shakes his hand, looking puzzled.

SAM: The... data analysis industry?

REZA: What? No, the entertainment industry! I’m also an aspiring screenwriter, you know.

NIKHIL: Emphasis on the ‘aspiring’ part. He’s never actually finished a script.

REZA: Shut up, Nikhil! Anyway, my point is that I’m a bit of a film buff.

SAM: Huh. Sounds like that might come in handy in this town.

REZA: Yeah, I know, it’s not really... wait, what?

SAM: Hey, from what I’ve seen, Hollywood’s a special kind of crazy. Might help to have someone who speaks the language.

REZA: Ha! Boom! How’s that defeat taste, Nikhil? Someone actually appreciates me for once!

Nikhil groans and rolls his eyes as Reza picks his chair back up and sits down.

REZA: And speaking of ‘Hollywood’ and ‘crazy,’ by the way, I’ve pulled up some info on the main victim.

DAVE: Gavin? Could be a lead. But what about Tull?

REZA (frowning): Not much. From what I can tell, he surfaced suddenly about a year ago as a paid killer. Other than that, I could barely find anything.

SAM (frowning): What do you mean he ‘surfaced suddenly?’ Where the hell was he before that?

REZA: It’s the weirdest part of this whole thing. Far as I can tell, he emerged from thin air last year. His first kill happened in rural Montana, and before that... the guy just vanishes.

DAVE: Fake name, maybe?

REZA (shakes head): Nothing I can find. But I’ll keep looking. Gavin, on the other hand... with how much he’s posted about himself online, the guy practically did my job for me.

Reza swivels his monitor. Sam and Dave look at the screen, which is displaying a celebrity blog site titled “Dirty Hollywood.”

REZA: His personal blog is plenty already, but the real interesting part is this one. “Dirty Hollywood.” It’s a celeb gossip blog, and with the things he’s posted, he’s made quite a few enemies.

SAM: Could lead us to whoever hired Tull.

DAVE: Agreed. So, who’s on the list of Gavin’s potential enemies, then?

REZA: Honestly? Literally everyone he’s posted about. I can list all of them for you, but we’d be here all day-

DAVE: Give us the three most likely, then. Anything in the past week or so

REZA: Well, let’s see... he leaked some emails from screenwriter Josh Neely, exposing him as a plagiarist.

DAVE: Hold on. I spotted Neely on the tape, just before the murder. He was arguing pretty fiercely with Gavin!

Sam raises her eyebrows.

SAM: Damn. We’ve got our connection, then.

DAVE: Not so fast. Lots of celebrities were at that party, it doesn’t mean anything on its own. Reza, who else?

REZA: Gavin also posted evidence that Ryan Summers was making large, discreet payments to an unknown woman. Sure, Gavin never actually says she’s a call girl, but he sure as hell implies it.

DAVE: Huh. Ryan never mentioned that...

SAM: First-name basis with Ryan Summers? Really.

DAVE: Yeah, he’s a good friend of mine. We play poker on the weekends.

SAM: I’m not sure what’s harder to believe: that your poker face is that good, or that you’re actually telling the truth.

REZA: Anyway, the third suspect is pretty timely, considering Nikhil’s taste in music. Gavin leaked some of Hayley Rose’s, uh... illicit photos from her personal phone.

SAM: She’s the singer you were just listening to? How did Gavin get all this?

REZA: Whatever it was, it definitely wasn’t legal.

Dave sighs, shaking his head in disgust.

DAVE: Typical. Thanks for the leads, though. Let us know if you can find any more on Tull, okay?

REZA: You got it.

Sam and Dave step toward the door, out of earshot of the analysts.

SAM: So what the hell does any of that tell us?

DAVE: I admit it’s not much to go on. What about the gun?

SAM: What about it?

DAVE: You seemed familiar with that specific model when Nikhil mentioned it. Do you know something?

SAM (muttering): Ugh. Of course. Goddamn detective.

Dave raises an eyebrow.

SAM: Nothing that would help the case. Look, Tull’s a killer for hire, right? So, first things first, we should look into the people he offended. Find out who hired him.

DAVE: That’s fair. It’s as good a place as any to start. Let’s go; I’ll drive.

SAM: Hope you drive fast. Every second we waste is another second Tull’s out there, a free man.

Sam heads for the door, but stops when she notices Dave hasn’t moved. He studies her, frowning.

SAM: ...What?

DAVE: Look. If we’re gonna be partners on this, I need you to level with me. Why are you really here?

SAM: It’s my job-

DAVE: Massey, I’m a detective. Half my job is knowing when someone’s lying. We do have Marshals in California, y’know. Something made you get on a plane and fly halfway across the country to nab Tull yourself. Something makes you look like you’re gonna punch a hole in the wall when you think about him.

Sam sighs in defeat.

SAM: Alright. Fine. It’s personal.

DAVE: There. Was that so hard?

SAM: Look. Tull killed someone close to me. I’d rather not say any more right now.

Dave nods and opens the door to head out of the lab.

DAVE: That’s fair. Listen, Massey: we’re gonna get this bastard. That much I can promise you.

SAM: Damn straight.

Next Scene: Good Cop, Bad Cop

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