#the second game’s final fight is like you’re old news sucker i’m not afraid of you! take that birdbrain!!

[goldensunset]

neo twewy is interesting because the climax of the story comes before the end of the gameplay + final boss. in og twewy the climax of the story wasn’t until after the final boss. neither game’s ultimate conflict is about having the physical strength or even courage to defeat a particular enemy. both of them are about the protagonists’ development and crucial character-defining decisions. the final bosses aren’t the story climaxes here- in the first game it was still part of the rising action, and in the second game it was actually already part of the falling action. that’s wild to me

[xtoothless]

One Match

This is my first TommyInnit / Reader one-shot. Second POV and you play Cake-Wars with Tommy, Tubbo, and Wilbur. 

Pairing: You/Tommy

Word Count: 3,707

Summary: You play some Cake-Wars with a couple of your comfort streamers :)

Ao3 Link

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[TommyInnit is Live]

You clicked on the notification from Twitch so fast you thought you broke your mouse. It was 4 pm in your hometown of Elkhart (1), Wisconsin. School had ended a few weeks before for the kids, including for you; your Junior year. You were to be a Senior next year, your last year of high school. Most everyone was outside enjoying the weather of mid-June, the warm sun lighting the fields where kids played and adults watched or played along. It seemed like everyone was outside enjoying the sun. Except you.

You were in your room, watching a live video from one of your comfort streamers; TommyInnit. The 17-year-old British blonde from the UK. Like most, you never had any bad days when you watched his streams. Whenever you did have a bad day, it seemed like one of your comfort streamers knew and hit that "Go live" button. 

Tommy was playing Minecraft with a couple of his friends - a couple of your comfort streamers - WilburSoot and Tubbo. They had just started a new survival world, to see who could speed run the quickest. 

The chat on the side of the screen exploded with their answers. A lot said Tommy, others said Tubbo, and a fair amount said, Wilbur. You thought they were all very good at the game but considered it was down to either Wilbur or Tommy. Wilbur was the calmest about it, being quick but also taking his time. Tommy was a ball of chaotic fury; trying to be quick but stressing about beating the game.

"Wha- How the fok does Will already have diamonds?" Tommy screamed, trying to get his character to mine the iron in front of him. You smiled at the screen as he joined Wilbur's voice channel to yell at him.

"Well, Tommy. You just- you just gotta get good at the game." Wilbur's voice said through Discord. 

Tommy leaned back, his mic quieting the sound of him groaning in annoyance, "Ughh, fok off, you little- you know what?". He left Wilbur's voice channel and went to Tubbo's. 

"Tommy?" Tubbo's small voice echoed through the channel.

"I say we team up against Will." Tommy started, making his character jump out of the cave and mine more spruce wood from the mountain he was on, "Look- he's already got diamonds m'kay, let's work together." 

It took a second to hear Tubbo's reply. "...okay?"

"Great. Do you have any iron?"

As they all continued to play, you left to use the bathroom and grab snacks. On your way down the stairs, you rubbed the warm back of your black and white kitten (2) that was sitting on the windowsill. Once out of the bathroom, you check the kitchen cupboards for any snacks.

You found a bag full of fruit candies, caramel suckers, and some off-brand chocolate bars. They were technically your fathers, but he wouldn't notice if some were gone. You grabbed a handful of each and a can of Coca-Cola that was in the fridge. You then ran back, your kitten following up the stairs. 

Once you were seated, you continued to watch the stream with your kitten purring in your lap. Wilbur, Tommy, and Tubbo were all trying to fight blazes in the Nether. Tommy already had 4 blaze rods, while Tubbo had 1. 

"Tubbo, kill that blaze-" he then screamed in fright as his character caught on fire, "Foook! There's one behind. Dammit Tubbo." he then laughed as Tubbo also screamed in fright.

You laughed as you turned to your second monitor and loaded up Minecraft. Your computer loaded it up fairly quickly, given that you were also watching the stream that took a ton of internet to watch. Given that, you decide to play CakeWars. As you joined the round, you looked at the stream as all three made it to the end. 

They all teamed up and were trying to fight the endermen and the ender dragon. Your attention was on your own game that you didn’t realize they had killed the ender dragon and were now declaring victory. Tommy took all the credit as Wilbur laughed. Tubbo giggled and then hit Tommy’s in-game character with his own. 

With that, they decided to play servers. More specifically, the same server you were going to play CakeWars in next. You failed to notice when your screen flashed with the red lettering, “Your cake has been eaten.” 

"Dammit!"

Your teammates tried their hardest to stay alive, but unfortunately, the Yellow team was stronger with their armor and weapons. As you tried to run away, one threw an ender pearl and teleported in front of you.

Using your iron sword, you tried to defend yourself, but their diamond enchanted sword dealt more damage to your leather and iron armor; you died after a couple of hits. You groaned in frustration as you quickly hit "new game". Your kitten got up and sat by your monitor, staring at the loading screen before you pushed him toward his bed.

"Hopefully my teammates are better next round." 

You joined a new game, too focused on that to see that you were on the same server as Tommy, Wilbur, and Tubbo. The game started saying that you were part of the blue team. You looked over at your teammates and read their names. It took you a second until you recognized Tommy's skin and the name "TommyInnit" over his head. "Oh, my god." You looked at your other monitor and saw that Tommy was looking at your character (3). 

"Hello, [Your Username]." His character punched toward you and crouched a couple of times. 

"Hi!" Tubbo's character punched toward you too. 

You crouched back, punching at all three. Wilbur nodded up and down, crouching all the same. You typed into the in-game chat and typed only to your team. "I'm honestly kinda freaking out right now, ngl."

Tommy read it out loud before laughing, "Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of. I see you're a woman- you all know how much I love women." 

You heard Wilbur sigh and Tubbo laughed from the stream as you replied with, "Yes, Tommy, we know how much you love women XD."

He read it out loud and laughed, "I like this one. Hey, [Your Username], do you have a discord?"

Your hands began to shake and get clammy as you read it over a couple of times. As you collected your bricks to upgrade, you typed, "We win and I'll give it to you."

Tommy ran over to the villager selling things for bricks as he read it, "Okay, guys, we need to win. If we do, I'll talk to a girl!" 

That made you laugh, as you covered your cake with endstone and blue wool. The chat on the side of the screen exploded with "Women POG", "TommyInnit talks to a woman???", and - your personal favorite - "Tommy simps over a probably 6-year-old". You laugh out loud as a dono pops up, talking in a robotic voice. 

"Tommy, that could possibly be a young girl. Maybe you shouldn't hit on her?" 

Tommy stumbled over his words as Wilbur and Tubbo laughed and agreed. To save him, you type, "Don't worry chat, I'm 17, thanks for looking out for me though X'D". 

As the game progressed, your team had two emerald points, endstone, obsidian, and blue wool covering your cake, and all members decked in diamond armor and a diamond sword. The other three teams were fighting each other as your team collected and planned your attack. Tommy and Wilbur were going to attack the middle point while you and Tubbo guarded your cake. 

They set off as you and Tubbo collected the bricks and emeralds beside your cake. The two of you just crouched and punched at one another until they came back. Tubbo continued to laugh on stream and Tommy questioned what was going on.

"Me and [Your Username] are just crouching at one another," Tubbo responded, laughing as you jumped and punched at him. 

As you leaned back and closed your eyes laughing, you heard footsteps in your headset and quickly grabbed your mouse. A red member in full leather and an iron sword was running toward your cake. You appeared in front of him as Tubbo finally realized and screamed quietly. In a couple of hits, he died, barely taking away three of your hearts.  

"Tubbo? Tubbo, what happened?" Tommy asked, panic in his voice. 

"There was a red team member attacking our cake. But [Your Username] attacked 'em." Tubbo explained as they got back to their island.

Wilbur came up and jumped in your face, punching at you, "Good job, [Your Username]"

"Thanks." You typed, then another message, "I have a feeling we're gonna win this, but I don't wanna jinx."

You heard Wilbur laugh, "Don't worry. Let's just let the other teams fight and then join later." 

"Yeah, we can sweep up what's left of them!" Tubbo agreed. 

You nodded in-game, collecting the nether stars below you. As soon as you reached 10, you upgraded your resources. You also wanted to get protection but then the green team had taken the middle point. 

"Here you go [Your Username]" You heard Tubbo say through the stream. You crouch in response as a cluster of nether stars were thrown at you. 

Soon after, Wilbur and Tommy did as well. "Let's be honest, [Your Username] is more responsible - other than me, of course," Tommy said.

"Then why don't you take them?" You typed into game chat, challenging the blonde.

The other two laughed as Tommy stood in front of you crouching, "Okay, fine. Given 'em back bitch." 

"Because you called me a b****, I'mma keep them." You said, walking over to your ender chest and putting them inside. You looked at Tommy and crouched once before covering your cake with more wool. 

"Way to go, Tommy, you made her mad," Wilbur said, crouching, having his back to you. 

You laughed once more, falling back into your seat before typing, "I'm not mad, just playing." You retrieved all 12 of the nether stars and upgraded your protection twice. 

As you turned around, you saw a green member - decked in diamond armor - bridging toward your island. You race to the edge and crouch, punching in their direction. They looked up and punched at you, as three more green members also in diamond armor appeared behind him. 

Tubbo alerted the other two and they all crouched at the edge, sword in hand. You clicked on your bow and shot an arrow at the first player. The ringing of a hit echoed through your headset as one got hit back. 

The one you hit looked back up before his teammates switched to ender pearls. You back up, guarding your cake as you watch the green eye fly through the air. 

You ignored the screams of the others on stream as you focused on one green member. They turned as you hit them a couple of times in the back. As they took off around your island, you ate a golden apple and chased after them, cutting them off and landing another blow. 

They turned and tried to hit you, but didn't realize how close they were to the edge and fell. You turned your head to see your teammates fighting off the rest of them. Tubbo was losing a fight by a player who was continuously eating apples. You ran over to him and hit him. Distracted, he tried to fight you but Tubbo's blade had killed him. 

"Thanks [Your Username]!" You heard Tubbo say as Tommy stopped screaming. The rest of green had fled or died. Wilbur had said nothing during that all while Tommy's mouth never seemed to shut. But you've been watching Tommy for so long, it didn't bother you; if anything, it made you laugh as you fought. 

Wilbur's voice echoed through the stream, "Everyone good?" 

Tubbo and Tommy said "Yes", while you nodded in-game. Your cake was never harmed, so you didn't need to rebuild. All your teammates were fine, other than Tubbo was missing more than half of his hearts. 

You all collected emeralds that were still popping out from the ground. Everyone was stocking up on ender pearls and golden apples, roughly a stack of blue wool and arrows. As you closed out of the menu, you heard the sound of breaking blocks as the game said, "Everyone's cake has been eaten." 

Tommy gathered you all around and said some "inspiring" words, "It's just 3 Red, 2 Green, 2 Yellow, and us left. We are the largest, therefore, we should be able to win this. Besides, we are probably the best PVP-ers in the whole match." 

"Don't get too cocky, Tommy." You typed to them, crouching and uncrouching once. 

Tommy laughed and then shrugged on camera, "Well, he's always cocky." Wilbur’s response came through. 

"Hey, you fooking- never mind. Let's attack yellow, they're closest." Tommy said, before turning back to you and Tubbo.

You nod as he led the three of you down the one-block road and to the middle point. One yellow member in iron armor was trying to capture the point from red but panicked when they saw you coming. You ender pearled in front of them and started your attack. They got distracted with you that they couldn't fight off Wilbur from behind. 

"Let's goooo!" Wilbur yelled, running down the three-block path to Yellow's island. The last person panicked when they saw the charging diamond armor and tried to ender pearl away. But the ender pearl hit the side of an island and they fell to their death. 

"Now I feel bad." You quickly typed into game chat. 

"Nah, there's nothing to feel bad about, it happens," Tommy responded to your message. "Now, let's attack Green." 

The four of you charged forward as Red and Green were fighting. Tubbo yelled out and you all stopped. "Let's wait to see how this plays out." He said as you agreed. 

For the next few minutes, you watched as the red team shot at Green as they tried to bridge across. You kept looking around, always cautious if another player tried to scare you. 

A green player got knocked off their bridge and the other was attacked by a red who threw an ender pearl. "Okay, [Your Username], shoot at them to get their attention. You guys ready?" 

Once everyone said they were, you looked down and started building up while crouching. As soon as you got about 8 blocks high, you selected your bow and aimed at the nearest red. You heard the ringing of the bell as the arrow hit them. They all turned to look at you as you started to dig down. An arrow whizzed past your ear as another hit you, making your character fall 6 blocks. 

Your teammates all stood in front of you as the red team came charging. Eating one of your many golden apples, you started to regain health. 

Wilbur fought one Red member with an enchanted diamond sword and enchanted diamond armor. Tommy attacked one member in full enchanted diamond armor and sword, who was building up, which reminded you of Fortnite building. Tubbo and you attacked the last one you was full enchanted diamond armor and sword. Your team had protection 2, but no sharpness on your swords. 

All the sounds around you were swords swinging, characters jumping back from being hit, and Tommy's screaming coming from the stream. You hit the Red member repeatedly, while Tubbo stood back to heal. 

You were down to about 6 hearts, your armor protecting most of your body. Trying to get away quickly, you started to build up; you were dangerously close to the edge. Making sure your character was okay, you started to shoot arrows from above. 

However, you didn't see the Red member who was fighting Tommy ender pearl up and shoot an arrow at you. "[Your Username]! Look out!" Tommy yelled as you were hit. 

Your character fell off the pillar and down toward the abyss. Having only a second to react, you quickly hit your ender pearls and threw one at the pillar. It connected and you teleported. You quickly placed a block underneath you, surviving with 3 hearts. 

"Ohhh! Oh my god!" You screamed as you ate two golden apples. "Holy shit!" 

As you hit 8 hearts, you joined the battle. Tommy was on 2 hearts and was being chased. You ender pearled behind him and attacked the Red member. Tommy must have had gotten him low because you hit him with two swings and he was dead. Tommy stopped running and saw you. "You're alive??" He seemed shocked. 

You crouched a couple of times, nodding. "You gotta tell me how later."

You nod once and turn to help your friends. As you returned with Tommy behind you, you saw that Wilbur was fighting one off and the other had just knocked Tubbo off the edge. You heard him scream as he fell. 

The red member saw you and quickly ate a golden apple as you charged him. You managed to hit him a couple of times in a row and his character got punched off the edge. At the same time, Wilbur had just killed the last Red member. 

You heard the "Let's goooo!" from the stream and jumped up and down. 

You quickly pulled up discord and got your information before pulling up Instagram on your phone. You found Tommy and opened a chat, sending him your discord. All you had to do was wait for him to open it. 

You also added next to the link, "Wait till after stream." 

As a new game was 20 seconds from starting, you realized that Tommy was talking to you. He wanted you to join another game with them. Of course, you agreed and you all selected the green team.

A couple of hours went past and it was getting later and later. The sky outside darkened and you heard your parents coming home from work. You were an only child, so no siblings were trashing the house with their stuff. 

Your kitten kept sitting in front of your screen, watching the particles in-game. You accidentally let the yellow team eat your cake and then died trying to defend it. Wilbur has just died as Tommy and Tubbo ran for their lives. 

But unfortunately, they had to succumb to defeat and Tommy had to end the stream. As he said his goodbyes to chat, you closed out of the stream and stared at your phone. You waited for it to go off, but it didn't. Not until then minutes after. 

When it eventually did, you were on your PC playing Overwatch. The match had just ended, so you checked. It was a discord text from TommyInnit.

You calmed your inner panic before opening your phone. You accepted his buddy request with no hesitation. Another message went off and it had one single word. "Call?" 

At that very moment, you heard your mother shout out to you. You turned back to your phone before responding with, "Yeah, sure, just give me a minute."

Your mother wanted you to eat dinner; which was macaroni and cheese with chicken nuggets (4). You took a plate to your room and set it down on your desk, watching your cat. He seemed to ignore you but you knew he was waiting for a moment when you're not looking. 

You opened your phone and typed in your chat that you were back. Almost a second after you sent it, you were getting a call from Tommy. You accepted the call and said, "Hello?"

"Okay, well, hi- sorry, I really want to ask. How the fuck did you pull off that bow and arrow kill earlier?" You heard his voice on the other end. He seemed nervous but also knew exactly what he wanted to say.

You laughed, "Well, I've always been good at archery. On video games, of course, not so much in real life." 

"Hm, archery. That should be my next vlog- but anyway! How did you survive that first round? I saw you fall. Was it lag?" 

"Nope, I had ender pearls. I just used one quickly. To be honest, I was as surprised as you were. I was not expecting it to work." You responded as you picked up your cat who was trying to sneak over to your food. 

As the two of you talked, a smile never left your face. You two laughed like you were old friends greeting each other for the first time in years. You kept battling your kitten, which entertained Tommy. You talked until it was 9 pm in America. You previously found out from school that it was a 5-hour difference between the US and Great Britain.

"Wait, wait, wait, Tommy? Isn't it like 2 in the morning for you right now?" You asked after he hummed. 

"Uhh, no- wait, yeah, yep, yep, it is. That explains why I'm so tired-" he started laughing which in turn, made you laugh. 

"Ugghh, I should probably go to bed." He yawned midway through his sentence. 

You nodded, although he couldn't see you, "Yeah, you yawning is making me tired." 

"Oh, I'm sorry, well, it was nice meeting you [Your Name], and um, maybe we can play sometime soon." You heard him say.

"Yeah, it would be fun.” You said, “I would love to play some more sometime. I’m sure you can find time in that “Busy schedule” of yours.” 

You heard Tommy laugh from the other end, “Well, I mean, I’m not that busy. But we’ll see. Don’t tell anyone, but more vlogs are coming soon, so, I’m pretty busy this week.” 

“Alright, I won’t keep you up too late. Goodbye Tommy, it was nice meeting you.” You said. 

“Yep, you too. Goodnight!-” he ended the call as he dragged out the last of his sentence. You leaned back in your chair and looked at the ceiling, a smile on your face. That day was one of your best days.

You were definitely looking forward to the next match you would play with TommyInnit.

[eerythingisshaka]

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Jason Momoa x Reader

Word Count: 4.3K

Warnings: Bad attitudes/smut

Vroom vrooooom!!

Your eyes squeezed tightly in annoyance before you started to buck your blankets off of your body, punching your bed in aggravation.  Every weekend it’s the same thing: at 7 am your sleep is disrupted by the violent roar of a motorcycle engine.  You just moved in to your new place a month ago and at first you assumed that the disturbance would be temporary.  People work on their vehicles on the weekend, and testing things may require a few loud repetitious sounds. But EVERY weekend?  The two days out of the week you get to be able to sleep without an alarm blaring and you still have to wake like its a work day.

Today was even worse because it sounded like it was right outside your window.  The funk of fumes made you cough while you got up to look out your window.  No one was outside but you put your shoes on anyway.  No way were you taking this lying down.

No shame in your bonnet game, you walked out in your pajama shorts, tank and slippers to survey your surroundings in the parking lot.  You see some guy hunched over a big old looking bike, his back turned to you.

You marched over to him without abandon, building up your month's worth of frustration to fire off at him.

"Hey man!"

The putter of the engine must've drowned out your words so you shouted again.

"Hey! You know what the hell time it is? Some people are tryna sleep!" you said to the back of his messy man bun.

He turned his face to you slowly with a raised eyebrow, looking amused as his eyes settled on your slippers.

You felt self-conscious, taking a step backward and crossing your arms.  "I had to hear you tinkering at this garbage at ungodly hours for a month!"

He reached for the ignition and turns the motorcycle off.  

"It’s not garbage.  It’s vintage."

His voice boomed in the newfound silence, throwing you off your anger rhythm.  He wipes his dirty hands against his well worn jeans as he comes to a standing, towering over you like a giant.  

You felt a wave of vertigo just looking at him but remained on subject.   "Looks old, like it should be thrown away."

He crossed his arms bouncing momentarily on his toes just making him grander.  "Perhaps you have heard of a concept called recycling, refurbishing, or reusing.  Just because something has lost its luster doesnt mean its a pile of junk."

“Well excuse me for liking the finer things in life.  Couldn’t kill you to trade this in for something better and less noisy!  So keep it down in the meantime.”  You walked off in a huff, scraping the soft soles of your slippers across the pavement.

“Nice to meet you too neighbor, the name is Jason!  I could show you how to sew that hole in your shorts too since you like the finer things!”

You stopped suddenly, sticking your butt out to look at the supposed hole.

“Don’t worry.  Looks good.”  His voice dipped into a tone that sounded predatory.  You walked backwards glaring at him  as you made your way back around the corner out of his line of sight.  

You stopped for a second to feel your behind and come across the hole you got roasted on.  You kiss your teeth, feeling yourself get warm with embarrassment.  It didn’t matter to you because sleep clothes aren’t supposed to always be fancy schmancy.  You peeked around the corner and spied on him as he worked.  He had the nerve to talk about anyone with his dusty olive green Henley on with the sleeves rolled up, showing off his large forearms and that geometric tattoo.  You couldn’t care less about his opinion, long as his motor keeps quiet.   The next weekend, you stayed out hella late catching up with friends after work.  Happy hour was popping and you are a sucker for discounted drinks, especially when they are as good as the ones at your favorite bar.  Your Lyft dropped you off in front of your place at 3 AM and you trudged to your front door and catch a glimpse of something in your peripheral as you dug out your keys.  On top of the trash bag there was a note scrawled on a piece of paper that says RECYCLE.

“What the fuck?”  you say out loud and picked up the note, turning it over you see the signature -Neighbor J.   

You balled up the paper.  “Oh you think you run my life now?  Where the hell he get the nerve even coming up to my front door.  He don’t know me, but he will!”  You cursed out the air, practicing what you plan to say to him next time you see him and plotting your next moves.

A few hours later, morning broke and so did your peace.  A loud banging at your door makes your heart race from surprise.  You prayed silently that it’s no police as you bounded toward your door and look through the peephole.  

You jumped back just as fast when you recognize the face, snatching your bonnet off and fingering your curls loose to be more presentable.  You scuttled over to a nearby mirror to check that your shirt had no stains, and shorts no holes.  All looked clear but you didn’t want to open the door in loosely fitted mickey mouse pajama bottoms, changing fast into some boy shorts.

After a quick change, you finally answered the door, to be greeted by his broad back.  He wore a tank top today, mauve pink of all colors, giving a full show to the power he packed in his arms.  Plus his hair was out of its man bun, showing off its waves, looking so touchable.  His jeans and boots looked like the same ones from the last time you saw him.  You chuckle to yourself over his laziness.

He turned to you like a shampoo commercial with his hands on his hips.  “You put your crap on my bike?”

You crossed your arms and leaned on your frame, shrugging.  “No idea what you’re talking about.

He pulls a cardboard box from beside him with empty water bottles and old cereal boxes.  

“You think it’s funny, playing crap Jenga on my property?”

You rolled your eyes.  “It’s not crap, it’s reusable, remember?  Look, I got your note about recycling.  I just wanted to let you know I am way ahead of you.  My contributions are better than that gas you spew in the air from your bike.”

“Single use plastics are one of the biggest contributors to the destruction of earth’s ecosystems.  Why the hell would you waste money on them anyway?  Get a filter and a steel bottle-”

“Please!  Can you stop telling me what to do like I ain’t grown!  I know how sustainability works, that’s why I’m re-cy-cling!  Now if that’s suddenly a bad to do, I’ll Google that, but you ain’t God here.”

His stare read threatening to you, but you weren’t afraid of him trying you.  He seemed to be the type to not be challenged often and you yourself loved a challenge.  Multitasking the stare down, you memorize his facial features from his shaggy facial hair to the break in his eyebrow from an old scar.  

You work your neck for emphasis.  “Are we done here?”

He scoffs, kicking the box toward you before strolling off.  “Stop using single use plastics.”

“Ok, George of the Jungle!”  You taunt, sending him off with a wave.  Closing your door, you laugh out loud, giving a fist pump to the air.  You won this round whether he acknowledges it or not.  Plus you never heard that engine all day afterwards, catching up on your rest.

--

A couple weekends passed and one hungry morning you realize you’re low on food to eat.  You can’t chill on an empty stomach so you get your stuff to head out to your car.  

The sky was cloudy that day, making you yawn involuntarily as you start your engine.  It sputters, trying to turn over, but won’t kick off.  You tried this four or five more times before you sit back, punching your steering wheel.  Of all days for this to happen, today ain’t it.  

Suddenly the roar of a motorbike distracted you in the distance and a horrible thought passes your brain.  Jason knew his way around a motorbike, so a car shouldn’t be too different, right?

You get out the car and stomp towards the other end of the parking lot where you see you neighbor mounting his motorbike.

“Hey!  Hey!”  You yelled out, waving him down.  He saw and you notice his shoulders jump a little as a smile crawls across his face. You weren’t expecting that reaction.

“I’m gonna be outta your hair, I got my girl fixed up and I’m taking her for a spin.  Continue to catch your beauty sleep, doll,” he says sarcastically.

You look at his bike and gave the tire a kick.  "I'm not worried about that.  Glad you got it up and running."

Jason turned off the engine and scratched his beard, coming to a standing.  "What’s going on?"

You shrug, making Jason laugh hard.

"Now I really know something is up.  This is the first time you are speechless AND the last thing you said was nice? What did you do?"

You tried to fight your attitude because you still needed to ask if he could help you.

"I mean, I still think the bike looks rusty and dusty. Can’t tell it from some junkyard scrap but hey, there’s a pulse!"

Jason pointed at you, clicking his tongue. "And a good morning to you as well."  He kicks on his motor again and begins to move.

"Wait wait!" You shouted.

He turns the bike off again. "Sweetheart, I got little patience."

You groan.  "My car won't start.  I was hoping you could give it a look."

“DO I look like a mechanic?”  he asks, leaning forward on his bike.

You stared at him dumbfounded.  “You literally work on this bike all the time!  No one is doing that shit without some experience!”

“A motorcycle is not a car, ma’am,”  he said.  “Apples and oranges.  Hell, their practically fishes and trees!”

“Do you really wanna insult my intelligence?”

Jason held his hands up in the air.  “I don’t have to do anything when it comes to you.  You come with drama and mess in tow, and I’m tired of hearing it, if we’re being honest.”  He got up from his bike, heading in the opposite direction on you.

A raindrop on your face snapped you back to reality and by the time you looked up the clouds opened up their floodgates.

You covered your head.  “Dammit!  Jason!”   

You ran after him as he continued to stomp on to his place.  “There’s a thing called humility and being a good neighbor and something tells me you haven’t learned that before.”  He stops in the middle of his yard whipping around to face you.  His hair soaked in rain yet maintaining its wave intrigued you.  Most people look like a sad dog in the rain, but the wetness amplified his stoic appeal.

“You’re spoiled,” he says, rain falling off his lips as he enunciated.

“I need help!  That’s all I’m asking!”  

“You don’t ask!  You demand!  You demand I be quiet and play childish games when people call you out.”  His voice became more aggressive with demonstrative movement to emphasize his words.

You clasped your hands together.  “Oh!  Well it looks like you’re just used to doing shit YOUR way, and no one had the BALLS to step to you.  Well I am, so what?”  

You step right under his nose, rain from his body drops in your face.  He looked down at you amused.

“You better run along before you do something you can’t take back,” he warns.

“I don’t have regrets, just learned lessons.  So what you got?”

“What I got?”

“Yeah, what-”

His lips crashed into yours with momentum and strength.  His hands gripped your arms a little too tightly, making your hands splay in a shocked manner, unable to move.  His force mixed with the weather conditions made it hard to breathe and your will to do so causes you to push him back with as much strength as you can.

“What the FUCK WAS THAT?!”  You scream, wiping your mouth to no avail.

He stands there frozen, breathing hard.  “I don’t know what to say.”

“Like hell you don’t!  This the shit I’m saying!”  You gawk at him, seeing his shirt cling to his body as the rain weighs down the fabric.  Jason whipped his hair back unapologetically.  

“I told you.  You’re spoiled.  I don’t kiss your ass, so you’re mad.”

“I don’t remember asking you to kiss me at all, did I?”

He shrugs.  “I didn’t ask you to get in my face and threaten me, yet here we are.  Go dry off,” he says, taking himself back to his place and leaving you in the rain.

--

Later that night, you’re in the midst of finishing up twisting your hair  for the night when you hear the familiar sound of an engine blaring.

You check the time, 12:35 AM.  You’re instantly fuming, twirling a mad finger around your last twist end and putting on your robe.  

Stomping outside, you see him clear as day, outlined by the parking lot lights.  Jason sits on his bike revving it over and over as you walked closer and closer.  You get about 30 feet away from him when he turns the bike off.

“You fucking get on my damn nerves.  I’m sick of this!”  You shout at him.  

He got off his bike, standing with his hands in his pockets.  Soon as you were within arms length, you raise your hand and bring it to the back of his neck, pulling him into you.  You were ready this time, opening up to take hi essence in with your own.  Your fingers clutch the roots of his hair, pulling yourself up to him as much as possible until he helped you.  Wrapping his arms around your waist, he doesn’t miss a beat in your mouth as he lifts you to his level and you wrap your arms around his neck.  You bit his lips, groaning into his mouth excitedly.  

“I told you, I step up if you try me.”  you say.

He licks his wounded lips, eyes heavy with anguish.  “And I can take a hit, if necessary.”

You both stumble back to your place, fighting to feel each other’s skin quicker than you could get undressed.  You let your robe fall off at the door.

Your scratch at the bottom of Jason’s shirt, pulling it up as he surrenders his arms to your tugs, shaking his hair loose once you’ve freed him.

He pulled your hair back roughly, exposing your neck to his tongue grazing the pulse point of your neck.  Your nails dig into his hips as you fight the ticklish sensation, making him groan.

“Watch those claws, kitty,”  he warns, taking liberties with your body. The palms of his hands feel rough against your stomach when he traces your curves up to your breasts.  You breathe erratically, feeling the warm arousal build as your nipples greet his fingertips, but you pushed him back roughly.  As he stumbles, he looks at you defensively.

“Am I moving too fast?”  He asks as his chest rises and falls heavily.  You take your shirt off, standing in just your underwear.  He starts to unbutton his pants…

“Stop!  Don’t.”  You command.

He freezes in mid zipper pull, looking frustrated.  “Look if this ain’t happening, just-”

“Did I say nothing is happening?  I told you to stop.  And it would be good if you just listened, for once,”  you say, dropping your voice lower and quieter.  You walked up to him, moving his hand aside, pushing him against the wall.

“You find me attractive, right?”  You ask as your fingers find his zipper and pull it the rest of the way down.

He keeps his poker face as you stare him down.  “I do.  You’re very sexy.”

As he admits this, your palm slides down his stomach and under his waistband.  Under your touch you feel him grow, making your heart skip.

“Not sexy enough.  You still got some growing up to do I see,”  you reply as you pull his bottoms down, letting his dick recoil from its boundaries.  

Jason exhales sharply, bracing his back against the wall.  “You don’t have to.”

You settle down to your knees, observing the specimen before you, gripping his shaft as you look up at him.  “You don’t want me to?”

His hair framing his face, he pulls it back taking a deep breath.  “You got my dick in your hands, and you think I’m backing down now?”

“Then tell me what you want me to do…”  You say quietly, biting your lip as you watch him while stroking him, blowing slowly along his length, lips puckered and tempting.

He reached for the top of your head gently massaging your scalp.  “I want that big mouth to show me what it can do.”

You smirk, letting your tongue flutter around his tip, warming him up.  You feel his scalp massage slow as your lips softly kiss his member.  His head falls backward as you open your mouth wider, swallowing his girth deeper.  You look up at him, massaging his balls. 

“Oh God, you’re amazing.  Your mouth so soft,”  he moans, looking down at you, jutting his hips towards your face minutely.  

You allow your throat to open a bit more, taking hold of his thighs as he pushes himself into your mouth deeper. 

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful.  Just look at you.”  He pulls out of you, bending down to take you in for a kiss.  He tastes himself within your mouth, fully devouring your mouth in a kiss.  You hold his hands against your face as he embraces you, feeling overwhelmed with passion.

“Fuck me, now.”  You growl into his face, getting up.  He pushes you against the wall he once stood, pulling your underwear down to your ankles, you steady your hands on his wide shoulders.  

He stands up looking you deep into your eyes as you reach for his dick, coaxing him to move on, but he grabs your wrists, setting them on his shoulders.  

“You’re too impatient,”  He says, running his finger across your cheek, nuzzling his nose against yours.  

You exhale.  “Damn right I am.  The one thing we can get along about, you’re trying to postpone.”

He chuckles, feeling between your thighs.  “You’re this wet for me?  You like me more than I thought.”

You roll your eyes, closing them when his fingers fit so easily inside of you, digging your nails into his shoulders.  “Maybe I just like the sex.  Thought of that?”

He shrugs.  “Let’s see what fits and talk later.  Your pink looks real good.”  

He grips his hands under you, lifting you and wrapping your legs around his waist in one movement.

As he holds you, you feel for his dick, helping to guide his tip to your entrance.

“Teamwork, right?”  You gasp as he spreads you wider, pushing himself inside of you.  You exclaim, gripping the back of his neck for dear life.

“Did I hurt you?”  He asks.

You shake your head.  “No, keep going.  I want more.”

He obeys, pushing further inside your walls.  

“That’s it baby, deeper.”  You encourage him, you tighten up around him as your body relaxes to the new sensation.

Jason’s hands travel around your back, holding you close as works his length into you, working his hips like it’s his job.

“Ah, your pussy is so good baby.”  Jason moans in your ears.

“This pussy is good to you cuz that dick.  Give it to me, harder.”

Jason rams his length inside you, holding still as you writhe, repeating the action over and over.

“Yes, oh yes,”  you cry out, feeling tears reach the corners of your eyes, feeling a wave of pleasure creep and spread throughout your body.

Jason pounds your deeper, harder as you cry out, digging into his back, he pulls your mouth to his, kissing you passionately.  

“You take me so well.  I knew you were tough.  Keep cumming, I want all of you on me,”  he says.  You cover his mouth.

“Shut up, or I won’t stop,” you feel your body buckle under the pressure.  It became too much.

Jason opens his mouth, sucking two of your fingers as his pace quickens.

“I’m close baby, hang on.”  Jason cautions, gripping your breasts and he rests into the crook of your neck, giving all of himself into you.

His hand moves between your breasts, tracing your sweat with his lips.  He grunts with a guttural tone, “Looks good.”

“Pull…”  you say weakly between breaths, barely able to think straight.  Your body feels like it’s floating away from you as you hit another orgasm before you feel yourself go empty.  You look down to see Jason jacking against your stomach, strips of white paint your belly as he howls in euphoria.

You notice your heartbeat for the first time, pounding in your chest but you felt no stress.  Your mind is hazy as Jason talks but you can’t fully register what he’s saying.  He holds your face, looking concerned as he picks you up to take you to his bedroom lying you down.

You feel a towel on your stomach as you lay on your back, completely checked out of your surroundings.

“Sure, you can spend the night, no problem.”  Jason says half-jokingly as he crawls to the other side of the bed, pulling a blanket over the both of you.  You feel his hands in your hair, gentle massaging your curls as your eyes close.

The next morning, you wake with a fright, feeling this arm laid across your waist like a boa constrictor.  A snore behind your head makes you nearly jump out of bed.

“Good morning, beautiful,” a gruff sounding Jason stretches, kissing your shoulder.

“Whoa, whoa.  Don’t do that,” you say, sitting up and covering yourself in your section of the blanket.

Jason tousles his hair, moving closer to you.  “Oh no?  I can’t initiate this time?”

You push his face back.  “You can’t initiate ever!  This isn’t a back to back thing, so don’t think you got rights to me.  Where are my clothes?”

You see your drawers, robe and shirt by the front door.  “Can you close your eyes as I get my stuff?”

Jason lays back with his hands behind his head.  “Take the blanket.  I don’t mind my body being out.”

You make a face.  “Ew, just close your eyes and turn your head.”  Jason covers his face like he’s getting ready to play Tag.

You gather your panties, slipping them on.

“You don’t have to run off so fast, we were just getting to know each other better.”  JAson says behind his hands.

You talk through your shirt.  “Bullshit.  Don’t make this bigger than it is.”

Jason drops his hands.  “So there’s nothing to discuss?” 

You shrug your robe on, running your fingers over your twists that are now sexed over and slept on as best you could.  “I’ve already forgotten what we are talking about.”

He nods.  “Well I am glad you got function back to your legs.”  He smiles widely.

You groan.  “Happens all the time, you aren’t special.  And take your trash out, smells like shit in here.”

“That’s just sex in the air, sweetheart.”  Jason waves you goodbye as you flip him off, walking out the door.  When you reach your place, you take a deep breath, feeling the aftermath of last night coursing through your body still.  You felt positively sore, like after a good workout.  It replays in your head over and over; his hands on your body, his deep kisses,  his taste.  You shake your head, trying to free your mind.  No way is he taking up any space in your memory.  It’s over and done.  You take the morning to shower off, somewhat thoughtfully.

The next day you got ready for work, feeling better than you had in a while.  Dick was not the reason, so you thought.  You felt all around more positive until your peace became disturbed.

“No, no, no, NO!”  You yell out.  “It’s not even the fucking weekend!”

You pick up your purse, looking for your keys.  You curse yourself for keeping car keys and house keys separate until you remember you are without a working vehicle.

“FUCK!”  You didn’t want to see, you wouldn’t.  You’ll text your job and tell them what’s up and call a car.  Problem solved.  

You get out of your place, locking the door and notice the hood of your car up and Jason sitting in the front seat.

He turns off the engine, closing the hood, leaning on the car as he looked at you.  “Turns out I know cars after all.”

“Am I supposed to say thank you?  For stealing my keys?”  you say with a sour disposition.

He tosses the keys in the air, catching them.  “You left them at my place.  I thought it was an invitation.”

“None of it was an invitation.  Give them to me.”  You walk up to him with your hand out like a three year old.  When he drops them in your hand, he doesn’t let go.

“Say….”

You tighten your lips for what felt like an eternity until you say, “Thanks!”

He lets go with a smile and walks away.  “I swear I was gonna do it regardless, but you had to initiate so…”

“You kissed me first!”  you shout a little too loudly for a neighborhood.

He looks back winking at you.  “And don’t throw something away that’s reusable.”

Masterlist

[atomic-taco-muffin]

The Lost Princess Chapter 12

I love this series okay?! Leave me alone!

Warnings: Fluff/angst?

Rating: SFW

(pouty Sora is my new favorite thing)

You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had arrived in Olympus Coliseum. The four of you entered the Coliseum Gates, where two giant golden statues of gladiators clashing swords stood around the entrance. The four of you walked across the grounds and entered the Coliseum. Walking into the dim lobby, the cracks in the stone visible underfoot, a satyr was putting up a sign on the wall near an entrance. A “closed” sign was tied in the dark doorway and a large pedestal was placed against a wall near a lit torch. You and Sora walked up to the busy-looking satyr. 

“Um...” you said. 

“Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya? Move that pedestal over there for me,” the satyr said, not looking at you two and pointed to  the pedestal, still facing the sign on the wall. 

“I gotta spruce this place up for the game,” he said. You, Sora, Donald and Goofy walked over to the pedestal and attempted to move it, but it didn’t budge. 

“It weighs a ton!” Sora said. The four of you went to go talk to the satyr again.

“It’s way too heavy!” Sora said. 

 “What? Too heavy? Since when have you been such a little—” the satyr said as he turned around, expecting to see someone much taller. He looked down at you and Sora. 

“Oh. Wrong guy. What’re you doing here?” he said as he hopped down to your level and gaited toward Donald, who backed away. 

“This here’s the world-famous Coliseum—heroes only! And I got my hands full preparing for the games. So run along, pip-squeaks,” he said. Sora pouted and the satyr put his hands on his hips. 

“Look, it’s like this,” Phil said as he paced around. “Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the Coliseum.”

“You’ve got heroes standing right in front of you,” Donald said as he crossed his arms. Goofy placed his hands on you and Sora’s shoulders, and the two of smiled. 

“Yup. He’s a real hero chosen by the Keyblade! And she has the power of a spirit!” Goofy said. 

“And we’re heroes, too,” Donald said, pointing to himself.

“Heroes? Those runts?” Phil asked shocked. He laughed loudly, slapping his large belly. 

“What’s so funny? We’ve fought a bunch of monsters!” you said. 

“Hey, if you can’t even move this...” Phil said as he attempted to push the pedestal forward, making no progress. 

“You can’t call yourself...” He tried pushing with his back against it, his hooves slipping on the floor. Sora crossed his arms sternly.

“A hero!” He wore himself out and sat on the ground, trying to catch his breath. 

“Okay, so it takes more than brawn,” Phil said as he stood back up. 

“Well, well, let’s see what you can do. This trial is tough. You got what it takes? You ready?” he asked. 

“I’m ready!” Sora said. 

“Me too!” you said. 

“Okay, kids. Let’s see what you’ve got,” Phil said. You and the others entered the Coliseum, where several piles of barrels were set up around the arena. 

“The rules are simple: Bust all the barrels within the time limit. Ready? Go!” Phil said. You and Sora took down all the barrels with seconds to spare. 

“Not bad! For beginners, that is,” Phil said. You and Sora blasted through a harder course. 

“Hey, you’re better than I thought!” Phil said. You and Sora soon returned back into the lobby. 

“You know, you two ain’t bad,” Phil said. Sora scratched his head, chuckling while you smiled brightly. 

“Looks like we’re headed for the games,” Sora said as he puts his hands behind his head, smiling. 

“Afraid not,” Phil said. 

“Why not?” you asked surprised. 

“Two words: You guys ain’t heroes.” Goofy counted the words on his fingers and became confused. 

“Come on!” Sora whined. 

“Wanna become real heroes? Start by mastering this spell,” Phil said as he gave you four the Thunder spell and you walked outside, stopping when you four heard a voice. 

“Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn’t you say?” he said. 

“Who are you?” Donald asked. 

“Whoa, hold on there, fuzz boy. Wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?” He walked over to you four, the blue flame dancing on his head. He stood behind you and Sora, placing his long-fingered hand on you and Sora’s shoulder. 

“Well, then, hey, get a load of this,” he said. A piece of papyrus appeared in your hand, much to you and Sora’s surprise. 

“A pass?” Sora asked. 

“It’s all yours,” Hades said. He started to leave after giving you two the Entry Pass. 

“Good luck, kiddos. I’m pulling for you, little shorties,” he said. The four of you ran back inside and talked to Phil, giving him the Entry Pass. 

“Hey, how’d you get this?” Phil asked. 

“Can we enter the games now?” you asked. 

“Well... I guess so. We start with the preliminaries! Some real weirdos signed up for the games. Better watch yourself.” You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy fought through the starting matches of the preliminaries. Afterward, you talked to Phil in the Coliseum. 

“You’re no heroes yet, but you ain’t doing bad. Lucky you came to me for coaching,” Phil said. He stroked his goatee as a soldier entered the arena. You and Sora stared at him and he stared back through spiky blond hair, his long red cape flying behind him, boots digging into the ground.

“Something tells me he’ll be a tough one to beat. Who knows, maybe you’ll end up facing him,” Phil said. You and the trio fought through more matches and spoke with Phil.

“Say, you’re better than I thought, kiddos! Wish he was here to see this,” he said. 

“Who?” you asked. 

“Hercules. He’s a hero if ever there was one. Too bad he’s off visiting his father.” You and the trio fought through more of the preliminaries and celebrated while Hades watched from the barracks. 

“Those little punks is your next opponent, okay?” he said. The blond soldier leaned against the wall next to him. 

“Now, don’t blow it. Just take them out. Specifically the girl. She’s a got a power that is very interesting to me,” Hades said.  

“The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid? Sorry, but my contract says—” Cloud said. 

“I know! You think I don’t know? I wrote the contract! I know it says you’re only required to kill Hercules in this tournament. But you’ve gotta fight that kid to get to him. Come on,” Hades snapped as he pointed to you and Sora, who was talking to Phil and scratching his head. 

“Hey, it’s like that old goat says: Rule 11: It’s all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it!” Hades said as he punched the air. “I mean, a casualty along the way is no big deal, right?” He smiled and Cloud stood up and walked away. 

“Geez. Stiffer than the stiffs back home. Still, suckers like him are hard to come by...” Hades said. In the darkness behind him, a large creature snarled. You, Sora, Donald, and Goofy finished the preliminaries and entered the final match against Cloud. Sora attacks with his Keyblade, while Goofy moves in with his shield and you with your dagger and your powers. Cloud swung his giant sword and knocked the three of you back. 

“That’s the best you can do?” Cloud asked. Sora slid forward and struck, but he dodged backward and jumped into the air. Cloud slammed his sword into the ground with unnatural strength, knocking out Donald. Giving a loud yell, Cloud surged forward and struck, knocking Goofy out before he can heal Donald. You did your best against Cloud, but being a recruit of SOLDIER, his experience was unmatched, and he knocked the wind out of you. He walked over to a kneeling You, Sora, Donald and Goofy unconscious around them, and he peered down at the you. Phil ran in with a white towel, but Hades stopped him. Cloud raised his sword and you closed his eyes, bracing yourself. Cloud lowered his sword to your surprise, and you heard footsteps behind you, turning just as a giant black claw crashed down on you. You and Sora looked up to see an enormous three-headed beast with red eyes growling over you two. Darkness emanated from its jaws, each of its razor sharp teeth bared. Sora gasped as Hades retreated into the barracks. 

“Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot: Accidents happen,” he said. The beast moved in to attack you and Sora, but was pushed back by an incredibly strong man. 

“Herc!” Phil said. Hercules held back the monster, shouting to Phil.

“Phil, get them out of here!” he said. The five of you raced out of the Coliseum. 

“Whew, that was close! That was Cerberus, the guardian of the Underworld. Herc should be able to handle him. But then again, maybe not... This doesn’t look good. I hope Herc’s okay. Wish I could go in!” Phil said. You and Sora started to run back into the Coliseum.

“Kids, you’re not entering the arena, are ya? This ain’t just some match. This is for real!” Phil said. 

“I’m not afraid. You can decide if I’m hero material or not,” you said. 

“Me neither,” Sora said. 

“Careful, kids!” Phil said. Sora and company reentered the Coliseum arena, where Hercules had Cloud slung over his shoulder, Cerberus’s giant jaws bearing down on him, inches away. The beast’s ears perked up, hearing your entrance and you turn around, allowing Hercules to run Cloud to the Lobby, past Phil. 

“Kids, I got two words of advice for you: Attack!“ Phil said. Cerberus roared and stomped around the arena, sending large fireballs at you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Sora managed to stay out of the beast’s path, Donald sending Thunder spells at its three heads and you throwing your dagger at the beast. One of the fireballs headed Sora’s way, and he deflected it with his Keyblade, hitting the center head square in the eyes. The beast stopped, roaring, and attempted to bite him as he attacks. Backing up, Cerberus reared up on its hind legs, and dropped to the ground, sending a shockwave to the trio. You healed Sora with a Potion as the beast’s mouth foamed with dark energy. It moved forward sending dark matter spewing out of its mouth and into the ground. Sora rolled to dodge as the energy pooled and shot up from under him. Goofy, finding a way on top of the beast, sent his shield flying at the multiple heads. Sora moved in as it tried to bite at Goofy and knocked out the beast, which fell to the ground loudly. Later, Hercules and Phil were addressing you, Sora, Donald, and Goofy in the Lobby. Phil read from a piece of papyrus as Hercules stood with his arms crossed. 

“Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further—” Phil said. 

“Hey! What do you mean ��junior heroes’?” Donald interrupted. 

“You rookies still don’t understand what it takes to be a true hero.” 

“So, what does it take?” Goofy asked. 

“Well, that’s just something you’ll have to find out for yourselves. Just the way that I did,” Hercules said as he smiled. 

“No problem. We’ll start by proving ourselves in the games,” you said. You and Sora smiled, him lifting a fist proudly. 

“There ain’t gonna be any games for a while,” Phil said as he motioned to the “closed” sign over the arena entrance. 

“Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first,” he said. 

“Okay, we’ll be back,” Sora said. He waved, and the four of you leave as Hercules waved goodbye and Phil stroked his beard. 

“I still can’t believe that squirt actually beat Cerberus,” Phil said. 

“Just between us, I’d already worn Cerberus down by the time the little guy jumped in,” Herc said. 

“My lips are sealed.” At the Coliseum Gates, you saw Cloud sitting near the exit and you and Sora walked up to him. 

“Hey, are you alright?” you asked. Cloud looked up to see you.

“Yeah,” he said. 

“So why did you go along with him, anyway?” Sora asked. Cloud leaned his head pensively on his hands. 

“I’m looking for someone. Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired,” he said. He stood up and looked to the sky. 

“I fell into darkness, and I couldn’t find the light,” he said. 

“You’ll find it. We’re searching, too,” you said. Cloud looked back at you and Sora. 

“For your light?” he asked. You and Sora nodded and Cloud moved closer to you two, placing something in Sora’s hand. 

“Don’t lose sight of it,” he said. He started to walk away, and Sora nods and you looked in his hand. 

“How about a rematch sometime? Fair and square, no dark powers involved,” Sora said. He moved toward Cloud, waving his hand in the air. Cloud turned his head, running a hand through his hair. 

“I think I’ll pass,” he said. Despite this answer, You and Sora smiled as Cloud leaves. With Sonic Blade in hand, You and Sora exited the Coliseum, the doors slamming behind them. Later that night, Hades stood in the Coliseum Gates, fuming. He held a Hercules statue in his hand. 

“He’s strong, he’s kind,” he said. The statue flexed his muscles. 

“He’s always there for you, and he’s handsome to boot,” he said. The statue crossed his arms and winked. 

“He’s perfect. Perfect. Perfectly infuriating! He makes me crazy,” he said. Hades turned red, roasting the statue. The hair on his head blazing hot, he exploded in a burst of flames. As the smoke settled around him, he caught his breath and returned to his cool blue shade. 

“Wait a minute. What are you worried about? All the pieces are in place. Relax. Here’s what you do. Let Hercules train the kids. In the next games, I’ll take care of them,” he said. He made a fist as the horned witch appeared behind him, her staff held firmly in her hands. 

“Who invited you to the party? Stay out of this. This is my show,” he said. 

“As you wish. Fight to your heart’s content,” she said. Hades smirked, nodding, before noting the witch’s tone, and scowling as she disappeared.

[catbowserauthor]

After Seven Years DBZ AU Fanfiction

So, this whole story branched from this beautiful picture:

As far as I know, this is the artist's website: https://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=50521500

And my own belief that the scene in the anime where Gohan see his father again after him being dead for 7 years needed a lot more impact than it did. Anyone that knows my writing knows that I am an utter sucker for the father-son relationship between Goku and Gohan. So here's my take on an alternative version of their reunion after seven years in the Buu Saga:

**

It was a day of new experiences for everyone.

 Gohan, for all his experience fighting, had never been to a Tournament. Well, aside from the Cell Games and the less he thought about that, the better. That day would forever be burned in his mind and he’d no desire to linger on it today. This was a day to be celebrated.

 His father was coming back.

 One day, he said. 24 hours.

 It could have been five minutes and that would have been enough. Any time was enough after seven years.

 Seven years. Seven years that didn’t have to be. Seven years that wouldn’t have been if I had just—

 Shaking his head, Gohan fought the thoughts. They still came, frequently. He’d grown rather accustomed to them and usually focused on distracting himself. Here, with his father so close, with their old friends gathered, the thoughts began to rapid fire.

  Look how many people have gathered just to see Dad. Look how many lives he touched, look how many people long to see him again if only for a few moments.

 Look how many lives you ruined .

 Shaking his head again, Gohan grasped his sunglasses and pressed them harder against his face. So many people had asked about his outfit, about why that and why not a gi. They knew he had one.

 His answer was partially truthful. He did think the outfit was a neat one. After all, how many people got to dress up as a superhero? How many people got to BE a superhero?

 There was something else to it too though that he didn’t touch on, that he didn’t want to touch on.

 He hadn’t earned a gi.

 Not in front of his father. It was one thing to train with a Goten but he and his father...

 After what he...

 No. He had no right to a gi.

 “Gohan?”

 Looking down, he spied Goten tugging on his pant leg. “What’s up, squirt?”

 “Are you okay,” Goten narrowed his eyes. “Your ki feels funny.”

 Krillin, not too far ahead, laughed. “It’s gonna feel funny, kiddo. Your brother hasn’t seen your dad in seven years! YOUR ki feels funny too!”

 Goten looked up at his mother, “Is that bad?”

 ChiChi smiled. “No, sweetie. It just means you’re nervous and that’s okay. But just you wait, your dad is going to love you.”

 Goten nodded, though he hardly seemed convinced and stuck as close to ChiChi’s leg as he could. Gohan gave him a nod of reassurance but was fearful his mom was handling that. Normally, he would have been babbling about how much Dad would be so excited to find out he had a second son but right now, he didn’t have the emotional energy for it.

 Gohan shifted his eyes to the left. He still couldn’t believe Piccolo came but maybe he should not have been so surprised. For all the airs the Namekian put on not being emotional or caring about his father, Gohan saw right through it.

 “...they weren’t able to bring him back?”

 His mother’s voice through his thoughts and he had to admit, the crack and tremble in it was mirrored in his own heart. It was possible after all. The rules of the afterlife were pretty strict and while Goku had certainly earned his fair share of bending them, what if he WASN’T able to come?

 The disappointment crashed on his heart like a battlefield. So long and all he wanted was a moment, a simple single moment...

 Yamcha and Krillin, as always, pasted a smile with reassurances “No worries, we’ll go comb the area.”

 “Good idea...”

 The sound of displaced air was unmistakable. It was a sound Gohan had grown accustomed to both in training and in every day life. The distinct sound of instant transmission.

 A turn, a shift of the feet and there he was.

 Standing there, not ten feet away, a goofy smile, the small old gi and Baba floating by his side. If not for the halo above his head, you might have thought he was just returning from a fishing trip. “Hey guys! I’m back!”

 Voice was the same. Eyes the same. Face the same. Posture the same. Nothing different. Just like it had been the morning of the Cell Games. How he’d laughed during breakfast on the Lookout and set Gohan up on his shoulders for a bit while they waited. How he’d grinned up at him and talked about showing him where the biggest fish swam once the day was over.

 The fishing trip they never got to take.

 Grandpa had shown him, said there was only one place Goku could have been talking about. He’d been right and the fish had been humongous and just right for a good fish fry. But without Goku there to show him and laugh with him and say how much Gohan resembled a drowned monkey, it wasn’t the the same; the fish had tasted coarse and dry despite nothing being different about seasoning or preparation.

 Fish still tasted coarse to him.

 “Goku!”

“Wow...pinch me.”

“Welcome back!”

 Gohan heard them, saw them. He saw them trembling, sobbing, fighting to keep in their tears. His father, here again...

 “So...are you guys just going to stand there and stare at me all day?”

 It was like a switch was thrown and suddenly everyone...Krillin, Yamcha, Bulma, Oolong...they all rushed Goku as if he would vanish any moment. Amid tears, sobbing and choked voices, his father’s voice rang out over all else, clear as a bell.

 Yet, he couldn’t find himself moving. He felt frozen in place. He was vaguely aware of his mother saying how much she missed him and Dad saying he missed her too and then...

 “I think there’s a little me hiding behind your leg ChiChi.”

 Of course. Goten.

 Prying his eyes away from his father—his here-in-front-of-him father—he saw his little brother lay eyes on their father for the first time.

 Because of you.  He only knows him as stories and tales because of you.

 “...I’m Goten.”

 He has to introduce himself because his father doesn’t know him because of you.

 “And I’m Goku. Hey!”

 Your own father was robbed of knowing his second child because of you.

 Goten stood there, half hidden a good second or two more, unsure, reluctant, before finally rushing out in a rapid ‘do it all out or not at all’ dash.

 He doesn’t know how great Dad is because of you.

  He’s afraid to approach him because he’s a stranger.

 And he’s a stranger BECAUSE OF YOU.

 “ Hey...Gohan. Aren’t you gonna say hello?”

 It was like he was hearing it through water. He saw his father put Goten down and he was vaguely aware of Mother saying “Go on, Gohan.” Yet he stayed rooted in place, as if bound to the earth.

 “...are you mad at me, Gohan?” The slight pout and pain in Goku’s voice was impossible to miss.

 Mad? Mad at HIM? What did I have to be mad at him about?

 At himself, sure. But at Dad...no. No.

 “You sure shot up like a weed! You’re a giant!”

 Oh if he’d been there...

 Your fault! YOU’RE the reason he wasn’t there!

 “You’re looking well, Gohan. Been showing Goten to eat all those veggies?”

 Yes. Yes, I have. I hated it but swallowed them and put on a strong face because you weren’t there to do it, Dad.

 Because of YOU!

 “You look like you could keep right on up with me! Piccolo and Vegeta been keeping you on your toes?”

 Yes. My style is a mix of them and yours. I tried to keep it just yours. I fought to keep it just yours but the more I sparred with them, the more it changed and I lost it and oh Dad, I’m so sorry...

 BECAUSE OF YOU!

 “Sure have missed all of you. Especially you, little man.”

 That word. The one stupid, little phrase.

 It all came flooding back in images and sounds and smells...

 Hey, that was a good left hook, little man.

  Bit too slow, little man, tighten your stance.

  Aw, your mom’ll love the flowers, little man.

 Not a bad try, little man. You’re so close to Super Saiyan. Let’s go again.

  I don’t care if your fifty, you’re always gonna be my little man.

 Like water through a broken dam, Gohan’s feet were suddenly moving, slam, slam, slam against the ground. He pushed his sunglasses up against his forehead, cursing the tears that made his whole vision misty but he could still see the blurry form of black and orange and he leapt for it.

 Strong arms wrapped around him and Gohan clamped his own arms around that neck so tightly that a lesser man would have fallen.

 But his father was not a lesser man.

 Gohan buried his face into the side of Goku’s neck, tears freely flowing down his face now and he dug his fingers into that familiar gi and yes, yes, yes, he was here.

 “I’m sorry,” Gohan found himself saying and it mattered not that he was nearly a grown man himself. Right now, all that guilt, all that pain that he had repressed and let scab over the last seven years was raw and fresh and he might as well had been a little boy again. “I’m so sorry, Daddy.”

 Goku’s hands glided upward, pushed the bandana away (Goten would catch both it and the sunglasses as they fell) and ruffled that head of black hair. “Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about?”

 “...my fault.” He murmured into his father’s neck and only Goku and perhaps Piccolo could make it out. “All my fault. That you’ve missed all this. My fault.”

 “Little man. No.” Goku kept his time low and the others, out of respect had backed away. “No, none of this was your fault.”

 “My fault.” He repeated. “I did all this to us. My fault.”

 “Gohan.” There was a sharpness to Goku’s tone, one rarely heard. “Are you listening to me?”

 He nodded, slightly against his father’s neck but didn’t move otherwise.

 “Good cause I know you’re smart.” Goku gently pushed Gohan away, just slightly so he could look at his face. A face bright red with tears staining his cheeks. “I don’t blame you and neither does anyone else. You did the best that you could and that’s all I’ll ever ask you to do.” He rested a hand on his son’s cheek, gently rubbing at a few loose tears. “I’m here now, for today. So let’s appreciate that, okay?”

 That warm smile, the genuineness of those words. Gohan didn’t know if he could ever believe them, entirely. If those voices of guilt would ever be utterly silenced. If his heart would ever stop hurting completely.

 But for today, with his father here, he could pretend.

[thinkyoureholy]

The Game Played Right [11; End]

a/n : hhhhh this is it y’all...I want to thank all of you for giving this series love like I was overwhelmed with the amount of love and support I got for this series I never really expected it. I want to thank the anon that requested this in the first place, I hope you liked it even a little it was so fun to write.

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Pairing : Kim Junmyeon / Reader

Genre : Angst, Smut, Fluff, CEO!AU

Words : 1.7k

Pt 1. Pt 2. Pt 3. Pt 4. Pt 5. Pt 6. Pt 7. Pt 8. Pt 9. Pt 10. Pt 11.

-Junmyeon’s P.O.V-

I stood before the auditorium full of shareholders and directors alike, spotting my father sitting in the front row along with Sooyeon. I had no idea why he would bring her along but knowing her she probably begged to come along in hopes that I’d reconsider and beg for her to marry me to save the company. What she didn’t know about me is that if I say I’m going to do something then I stick by it no matter what. Especially with something this big. No matter how my life turned out after this moment there was no way in hell I’d ever regret this decision.

“Hello and thank you all for coming to this very important meeting. I know it was very last minute so I’m grateful you all decided to take some time out of your busy schedules to attend. I called you all here to share some very important news that will affect the company. Though I had hoped it wouldn’t come down to this I was left with no other choice.” I paused to take a deep breath, my eyes scanning the room before meeting a pair of eyes I have grown to love unconditionally. She gave me an encouraging smile, before nodding her head. I sighed heavily before continuing, “I have decided to step down from my position as the company’s CEO. I will no longer have anything to do with Noor.”

“What the hell are you talking about? You’re the CEO you can’t just quit!” A man yelled in outrage from his seat, others joining him.

The auditorium was filled with their malicious comments, my thoughts barely loud enough for me to hear. I knew there was going to be some backlash but I didn’t expect it to be this bad, most of them didn’t even like me in the first place. I had thought they’d all be glad to see me go but I guess they’re as two faced as always. Any time the company faced problems I was always the one that took the blame but now that the company is doing better they’re afraid that if I leave everything would go to shit once again.

“I’m not quitting.” I said in a stern voice, annoyed with their fake concern, “I was pushed out. I never thought I’d be leaving the company either but I was given no other choice. I wasn’t going to be treated like a puppet anymore and have my life become my father’s play thing.”

That was the last I said before bowing deeply to the crowd. I turned on my heel and walked off the stage, ignoring the shouts coming from them. Once outside I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding, feeling a hand wrap around my wrist gently. I raised my head to meet Y/N’s warm gaze, the corners of her lips raising up the slightest bit. I gave her a small smile, pulling her towards me but before I could wrap her up in a hug the doors burst open again. My father stormed out of the auditorium with Sooyeon hot on his tail. I could tell this had gone further than she had anticipated by the look in her eyes. My father said nothing as he took a step closer to me, slapping me hard across the face. I heard both Sooyeon and Y/N gasp at the sight, the sound bouncing off the walls as my head turned to left at the force behind the slap. I felt Y/N try to take a step forward but I held onto her hand tightly, moving her to stand behind me. I didn’t want my father to set his sights on her. If he was angry than he should let his anger out on me and not Y/N. Knowing my father he’d have no problem going after her but I wasn’t going to let that happen any time soon.

I ground my teeth together, setting my jaw as I raised my head to look at him and opened my mouth to say something. Before I could he slapped me across the face for the second time, this time even harder than the first. I could see him raise his hand once more but saw Y/N reach out to grab his wrist in her hand tightly.

“Stop it...please.” Y/N all but pleaded with him, her voice breaking slightly.

My father just broke out of her grasp, taking a step towards her but I blocked his path. I hid Y/N behind me, my eyes meeting his as I felt my own anger rising.

“If you're going to let out your anger, let it out on me but don't you dare lay a hand-”

“Finish that sentence boy and I swear-” He cut me off but found himself unable to finish his own sentence.

He sighed heavily, “I've let you do whatever the hell you've wanted for the past twenty-seven years of your life but this is one thing I won't let you do. Are you really going to give up everything that makes you who you are for some slut like her?”

I took a step towards him at hearing him call her like that but Y/N held onto me tightly, keeping me in place. Instead I used my words, “I’ve told you before, I don’t need any of the things that supposedly make me who I am because they’re useless to me. Those things don’t make up who I am. I am not you. Unlike you if I had to choose between money and Y/N then my answer is obvious. Whether you accept my decision or not I don’t fucking care but you’re going to have to deal with it”

That was the last I said before turning my back on the old man for the last time, dragging Y/N along with me.

-

-Y/N’s P.O.V-

Junmyeon said nothing the whole drive back to my place, his hands gripping the steering wheel to the point his knuckles had gone white. As much as I wanted to say something I kept my mouth shut, waiting for him to calm down enough to talk. Though when he opened his mouth I was shocked to hear the words that fell from his mouth.

“I love you.”

I turned to look at him wide eyed, confused as to where this sudden confession of love came from. I could tell he was still livid but all he could say was that he loved me? I was confused to say the least. I had expected him to start cursing or rant about his father and how unfair he was being towards his only son but no...I get an I love you instead. Though I was confused with his words I couldn’t help but let a breathy laugh fall from my lips.

“Seriously? You just got slapped across the face twice...and that’s all you can think to say?”

Junmyeon cracked the smallest of smiles, glancing at me quickly before returning his gaze to the road, “I just had to say it that’s all.”

“As much as I love hearing those words I can’t help but be confused over hearing that come out of your mouth at a time like this. Come on, let everything out. I know you’re dying to.”

He simply shook his head at me, reaching over to grab my hand in his tightly, “What happened happened. Me ranting about it isn’t going to change anything and quite frankly I don’t want anything to change. I don’t regret letting go of everything. None of that ever mattered to me if you weren’t by my side.”

“I’m trying really hard not to cringe at your words but you’re just getting cheesier and cheesier.” I said jokingly, trying to get him to laugh.

I succeeded, happy to hear that laugh I adored. He lowered his head for a split second before raising it, focusing on the road. It got quiet after that as I took the time to stare at his face. I frowned at seeing the big angry red mark on his cheek, noticing how swollen is had gotten. I reached out to gingerly brush my fingers against the skin, the frown on my face deepening at the way he flinched at my touch. I sighed heavily, resting my arm on his shoulder as my fingers played with the hair on the nape of his neck.

“You have no idea how much I wanted to sucker punch that old man for even laying a finger on you.”

He chuckled at my words before he pulled over, parking the car as he turned in his seat to face me properly, “I’m fine, just another battle scar.”

I rolled my eyes at his words. Silence settled over us as we stared into each other’s eyes. Looking into his eyes I was reminded of everything we had been through. In such a small amount of time we had been through more than some people go through in a lifetime. Those same eyes I was staring into now caused me so much pain, so much heartbreak but they were the same eyes that taught me how to love. Sure I had been in love before but it was nothing compared to this. The love I felt when looking at his was like nothing I had ever experienced before. As cheesy as that sounds I felt like I finally found my true love with him, my soulmate. Everything we went through, all the trials and tribulations really made our love stronger. As I looked into his eyes I finally realized that all the tears, the fights, the harsh words exchanged, everything was all worth it.

“I love you.” I said softly after awhile of just staring into each other’s eyes.

Junmyeon grinned at hearing those words, reaching over to cup the side of my face in his hand gently as he leaned forward. He lips pressed against mine in a soft kiss. This kiss wasn’t rushed or lustful but full of love. I could feel the love he had for me in that one kiss, my heart rate skyrocketing at the feeling.

“I love you too...so so so much.” He said in a low voice, resting his forehead against mine before planting a fleeting kiss on my cheek.

[letsperaltiago]

If you don’t mind, I’ll walk the line |Jake x Amy|

I Love You-prompt request #42: Is this okay? 

Requested by @phxntom-pain! 

Look, I’m a sucker for pining pre-relationship Peraltiago and also new-relatiosnhip Peraltiago, soooo here we go! Hope you like it! 

Also this isn’t proof read yet, so sorry in advance for typos and other mishaps!

Word count: 2.5K

It’s all the little things he has to get used to. All the thoughts, words and gestures he had to hold back before; he’s now actually allowed to put them all into motion. Yet, it’s still new and he still somewhat feels uncertain. Mostly because he finds it hard to know where to start and where to stop. The last thing he wants to do is to cross the line. Amy Santiago is too damn important for that.

They’ve only been dating - considering the evening where they finally said “screw light and breezy” as the actual starting point - for a bit over a week. It’s still brand new. And though Jake absolutely loves it, already considering it the best thing that has ever happened to him, it also manages to keep him on his toes. Not to say that he doesn’t feel comfortable around Amy. On the contrary: he’s sometimes afraid that he feels too comfortable around her. It’s only been a week, right? That exact thought strikes him a lot; more than he’d like it to. Guess Sophia did leave some scarring, though he hated to admit it. The last thing he wanted to was to compare them, but he also knew very well that Amy and Sophia were nothing alike. Yet he couldn’t help but hear Sophia’s haunting words from their last day together, whenever he felt like bursting with love in front of his new girlfriend.

“I just don’t think I accidentally love you back…”

Honestly he hadn’t thought three months with Sophia had been too soon, but her reacting the way she to his three accidental confessions of love did affect him. Jake wasn’t stupid though. He also knew very well, looking past what happened with Sophia, that one week was way too soon for an “I love you”. But man, did he feel like exploding every time Amy was within his sight. A zoo had moved into Jake’s stomach. Exactly, not just butterflies. Amy Santiago made him feel the whole damn Bronx zoo. Today was no exception. Tuesday. 10 days after agreeing to screw ‘light and breezy’. Yes, Jake kept count of the days and if the whole world wouldn’t judge him for it, he’d throw him and Amy a 10 day anniversary-party. Then again, Jake had a filter a knew that he’d have to wait for them to cross the one month-mark. At the very least.

Anyways, it was Tuesday and time for lunch. The squad had decided to get some food from the Chinese take-away place down the street from the precinct. Being the good friend that she is - also in need of fresh air and more steps for her pedometer -  Amy had quickly offered to pick it up and save the delivery expenses.

“The delivery is only a couple of bucks, Santiago. Don’t worry about it,” the sarge had gently brushed off her offer.  

“I want to though. It’s just a few blocks and I could use a brisk walk.” She had already picked up her coat, and put her hair in a signature ponytail in order to keep it intact in case the weather outside was windy. Always prepared Santiago-style.

“Just let her go, Sarge. It’ll make her day,” Rosa added without looking up from where she was currently stirring milk into her fresh cup of coffee. Amy smiled widely at the sound of her friend’s comment, lowkey enjoying the support though she also knew the curly-haired detective’s comment contained a certain amount of mocking.

Enhancing his already huge muscles, their sergeant shrugged in defeat before dealing the number and placing the phone to his ear. He wasn’t getting anywhere with this. “Sure… Go ahead, Santiago.”

“Awesome! See you in a bit,” and with that said, Amy rushed out the break-room and through the busy bullpen before suddenly bumping into a firm chest, as she was too busy wrapping her scarf around her neck.

“Wow there!” The chest uttered.

“Oh, sorry! I wasn’t-“ she looked up to meet a couple of familiar brown eyes. Her before nervous o-shaped lips suddenly transitioned into a calm smile.

“Should I be worried that you’re fleeing the place as soon as I step in? Also… A scarf?” Jake squinted his eyes at his girlfriend’s (his girlfriend!!!) choice of outwear, adding a teasing smile for the sake of it.

He hadn’t expected anything else, so of course he got a pair of rolling eyes back, Those were also attached to a smile, of course. “Mock me if you will, but we’re in October and the weather is unpredictable.”

“Just admit that you’re constantly cold, Santiago.”

This little comment showed that he actually knew her a lot better than most people - including herself - thought and it caused blood a rush of blood to her cheeks. Befor she could even think of objecting, she was nervously tugging a strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. Jake could only stand and look, fighting the urge to pull her in for a kiss right then and there in front of the entire buzzing bullpen. A  cough of his broke the tension, saving them both from further yearning and problems with HR.

“Anyhow… Where are you even going? Isn’t it time for lunch?”

“Oh, I’m going to grab lunch for everyone,” she suddenly remembered how they’d ended up here in the first place, both still standing by the bullpen’s gate. Something immediately clicked in Jake’s brain. Though he’d been outside since the early hours, chasing some idiot perp who thought he could get away with robbing a delhi, he was willing to take another walk if it meant spending time with Amy.

“Care for some good-looking company?”

The fact that this question followed her statement without hesitance only made Amy’s heart pound faster for the man. There was honestly no one else she’d rather spend time with than him, and the fact that he felt that way too was very soothing to Amy. Dating and dealing with anxiety hadn’t always been a easy cocktail to drink, but Jake made it easier. So far so good, right?

“Sure,” she sent him a warm smile, automatically reaching for his hand but soon enough clenching her fist and diverting it. Professionalism was key and they were still very much inside the precinct.

15 minutes later, the two detectives were waiting in line for their order. Apparently, the rest of the precinct and half of Brooklyn had had the same exact  idea for lunch. The Chinese eatery was buzzing like a fairground, and both Jake and Amy could recognise at least a dozen of faces from around the city: colleagues from their own and neighbour precincts, old suspects and other random acquaintances.  

“Damn, what is up with Brooklyn today?” Jake frowned as they got into the back of the line.

“Payday was yesterday,” Amy stated matter of a factly, checking her phone for the order number that the sergeant had texted her.

“Ah, yes. Makes sense, ‘cause there’s no way in hell Anderson from PR can afford both Chinese for lunch and the new Dragon Quest Heroes-game…” After a few seconds of silence that’s when he realised the other detective was no longer looking at her phone, but instead him and this time with a confused frown.

“Okay, I had to drop by PR to see Holt and while I was waiting for him, I got in real deep with Anderson. Don’t judge!”

They took a few steps forward, feeling people joining the line behind them as Amy let him off the hook with a smile and a shake of the head. A comfortable silence between fell over the two, momentarily shielding them from the noise around them. The shorter of the two, whose scarf had blown into a messy ,’hanging on for dear life’-type of positions around her neck, suddenly started fidgeting with the long piece of black material. Still very much caught in this bubble, where only the two of them existed, Jake stared mesmerisingly as the black-haired got her hands all caught up. There was something so stupidly capturing and naturally beautiful about her - even as her eyes shot daggers at her scarf and nose scrunched with displeasure. Small grunts anf sighs escaped her tightly sealed lipped as to keep herself from cursing, which Jake knew she definitely could though she wasn’t proud of it.

Then, without even thinking like it was a deeply rooted instinct within himself, he took a step closer to her and grabbed the two ends of her scarf. She froze at his sudden closeness, just momentarily, before letting go of the tricky ends and tilting her head upwards to look at him. Currently busy fixing her scarf for her, he wasn’t looking directly at her face, but she was definitely looking at him. He could feel it. Right then and there he wished fixing a scarf was harder, just so he had an excuse to stand this close to her for a bit longer, but his hands eventually stopped moving when he realised he’d succeeded the task. No matter how unnatural or weird it might’ve seemed to the bystanders in line, he couldn’t get himself to let go of the fabric around her neck.  So he just stood there, holding onto the two ends with his hands as he finally replaced his vision to look straight back at her.

Like gravity he slowly started to pull her in closer by the scarf, slowly ducking his head to reach her few inches shorter height. Though they were very close by then as Amy just let him use her scarf to draw her in, Jake still had a pretty good sight of her face and he could tell that her eyes were wandering. They weren’t focused, itching for him like his was for her, but looked rather… anxious. This very small act, though probably unconscious on her part, drew him out of the moment and caused him to freeze nose tip to nose tip with his partner. It was all it took to pause his instincts and get him way too deep into his head.

It took him back to a few months prior, when he was with Sophia, and reminded him of how any kind of PDA was a no-no with her. He somewhat understood and agreed, since they professionally speak were enemies, but it still hurt. Every time he wanted to kiss her or even just grab her hand at or anywhere near the courthouse or her office, he’d have to stop himself. He couldn’t help but consider that maybe he was just the one who was a bit too all over the place with his feelings, and women actually didn’t like this kind of stuff. Maybe it was just better to keep feelings and the public space as separate things. Amy wasn’t his object to prance around with, even if he simply did it out of care and envy. It was not like actually cared whether or not people saw them. Sometimes he just craved her attention; her touch - just to make sure that she was indeed real and no longer a dream,

He swallowed, silently but prominently, as if to prepare himself for a crash and burn. Their noses were still pressed against one another; his hands were still keeping her close by the scarf and her eyes were still wandering around his face.

“Is this… okay?” She couldn’t help but notice how his breath hitched as he said it.

A huge frown immediately crept onto her beautiful face and it felt like a kick to the gut. “What do you mean?”

“This.” He pulled back, causing bridge of her nose suddenly feeling empty, to look into her eyes with grave sincerity which honestly almost scared Amy a bit. “Like, I know we’re out in public, but I wasn’t thinking straight and I just-” he took another deep breath, having run out of air. “I think I just, even unconsciously, want to like… Hold you and hug you and kiss you all the time. But I know it’s also kinda inappropriate-“

“Peralta. Shut up,” she giggled amusingly, shaking her head at him as she grabbed the sides of his open leather jacket to pull him into a kiss. Keeping in mind that they were in the midst of a few dozens of people, Amy allowed her lips to gently dance across his, letting him know that they were more than okay. Unable to grab her scarf, since her hands were in the way, he quickly found an alternative in putting his hands on her hips to pull her in close. The kiss had an entire firework factory explode in his stomach, still not understanding both why he had the coolest girlfriend or how she was actually her girlfriend. Though still pressed against hers, his lips spread into a wide grin and he could feel hers smile back; which without a doubt was the best feeling in the entire world. No doubt. So into it that the world disappeared, he barely notice her lips leaving his, when she slightly drew her head back to look him in the eyes.

“I know us being colleagues is a matter that we need to be careful about, but when we’re not back at the precinct or out on duty, then don’t…” She paused, running her tongue across her upper lip in thought and almost killing Jake, before continuing. “Don’t worry about it. It’s just me, okay?” Her right hand let go of the zipper on his jacket, only to slide up his collarbone, neck and ending on his cheek. She smiled and immediately reassured him. “Do whatever you’d done with any other girlfriend. Grab my hand, play with my hair, kiss me in line for Chinese take away in front of random people… It’s okay.”

A heavy, calm sigh escaped his body. “I just didn’t want to do it, just because I’m such a damn smitten fool, if you felt weird about it. I guess I’m still high on this whole us-thing.”

“You think I’m not? God, Jake. The only reason why I rarely do anything PDA-ish or sometimes look nervous when you initiate some is because… I can’t believe it’s you, you know? I can’t believe that I can do all these stupid, cute things to you without it being weird or wrong. And I can’t believe that I’m the girl that you can do all these stupid, cute things to. Doesn’t mean it’s not okay… Okay?”

“Okay,” he smiled, feeling like a heavy burden was lifted from his shoulders. The line moved, so they eventually had to let go of each other and go along with it. She felt him grab her hand, intertwining their fingers and couldn’t help but smile to herself. It’s stupid how such a small gesture could make her feel so giddy. Next thing she knew, he ducked his head to reach her ear’s level.

“Expect a lot of me smacking your butt and calling you sickly cute names from now on, Santiago. This is boyfriend-Jake and you’re getting the full experience from now on.”

“Jake…”

[spacecath]

Politics, Reylo fanfic

Here’s the very first chapter of my Reylo fanfic under the working title Politics (a possible title I’ve always known you). Like many before me, I was toying with the idea of “what if Rey said yes” and since I couldn’t get it out of my system, I wrote what might have happened.

I’ll put it up on AO3 as soon as I figure out where this story is going and write a few more chapters.

Also I should really really get back to editing my WIP (working title Nexus - thematically a cross between Norse mythology and Star Wars), but my heart is a sucker for a quick fix, ergo am here, hoping someone would stumble upon my post and be kind enough to give me feedback.

“Please,” he says, his troubled eyes imploring, his extended hand trembling. That she could somehow deal with. What she finds unbearable is how his voice cracks even in that short word, a word that could be a stand-alone book, containing the history of Ben Solo’s lonely life. And how he swallows the rest of the words, as if afraid to let them float around him, his full mouth one long, tight line behind which those unsaid words jumble. Another join me swallowed in fear of rejection.

She can’t say yes, not yet, but doesn’t say no either. She makes a few steps - not towards him, but aside, - for he’s blocking her view of the mutilated Snoke’s body by the throne and his slaughtered guard all around it. They did it together, in unison, standing side by side or back to back, protecting each other. They can work together in the battle. But outside the battlefield  there are minefields of politics and diplomacy, and right and wrong words and false pretenses. And lots of fake smiles, she has already had a glimpse of it all.

Her eyes dart toward the holo-projector with shiny, moving dots - all what’s left of the decimated Resistance she belongs to with all her heart. She should be there, with Poe and Finn and Ben’s own mother, Princess Leia. Not here with him. And yet, she’s here because she believed she could change him, mold the Force in him into something she can work with, and even though he didn’t exactly turn out to be clay in her hands, he made some difficult decisions because of her. She presses fingers on her temples. She knows she has to act fast, but she also knows she has to be careful what exactly she is saying yes to.

She’s not sure she can put in words everything that’s been happening between them during those sessions where Force made them see each other; she can’t define it, she can’t vivisect her own feelings. But she knows it’s bigger than both of them.

She glances again towards the leftovers of Snoke’s body.

Maybe everything is politics as they say. Maybe she should use the leverage she has at this particular moment and work from there, use her undeniable influence on the new Supreme leader of the First order. Not listen to her divided heart. Just use her brain to calculate the best possible outcome. She wouldn’t have survived all those scavenging years on Jakku alone if she weren’t capable of that.

His grandfather’s lightsaber is hanging limply in his hand  - the same one he used to kill Snoke, the  same one she threw to him to save his life, while her heart was beating somewhere in her throat as she watched him trapped in the powerful stranglehold of one of the stubborn guards. She summons it and it finds her palm with a snap. It feels like a natural extension of her arm. She feels almost naked without it now.

Ben doesn’t even flinch, but his eyes never leave hers. Maybe he does trust her, at least a little.

“If I stay, it has to be under my conditions,” she says, looking firmly at him. He cocks his head to the side, but doesn’t reply immediately. He can play this game too, Rey thinks, feeling less sorry for him than just a second ago.

“Which are….?”

“You immediately stop this madness,” she points at the screen. She can swear that there are less dots than just a few seconds ago. Her heart is racing and the labor of breathing makes her sweat with the burden of the decision.

“I want the Resistance pardoned. Each and every one of them. You will not follow in Snoke’s steps. We don’t need that kind of leadership. We need laws, just laws, and an assembly representing everyone in the Galaxy, and we need the warmongers prosecuted.”

Ben’s face is unreadable.

“The Republic proved itself to be corrupted and inefficient. It’s past, Rey. And that past died for a reason,” he says.

She’s running out of time, she can’t afford to lose precious minutes as the still existing First order army under the command of that sadistic General Hux exterminates her friends. And yet, she has to negotiate for if she just says yes…..

“If you want me to join you in ruling the Galaxy, then we have to devise a plan of how not to rule, how to develop the institutions for that purpose. Maybe the old Republic wasn’t good enough, maybe the New Republic isn’t powerful enough, but there has to be structure. There must never be another egomaniac out of control.”

“Anything else?” he asks in a hollow voice. He’s obviously not entirely pleased with her demands, but at least he didn’t say no. Rey feels encouraged.

“General Hux’s army needs to be downsized.”

To this he readily nods and her heart feels a few tons lighter.

“And I want to train the next generation of Jedi. We need them, need us. I want to find force sensitive children and point them in the right direction. This order must live on.”

Ben’s face is a stone mask. She suspects this demand to be the biggest in his eyes. So while she’s poking in his wounds, she decides to stick it all in.

“I’ll enlist Luke to help me run it.”

Ben closes his eyes. His gloved hand twitches and then curls in a tight fist.

“Remember, pardon for each and every one of the Resistance,” she adds. “Including him.”

She steals a glance towards the holo-projector and he follows her eyes.

“No,” he says firmly.

“My demands are not negotiable,” she says, but her eyes nervously twitch towards the black screen. It’s blacker than ever. There are fewer dots there now, she can swear.

Ben’s steady gaze is focused on her.

“No,” he says once more. “There will be no more Jedi. Trained or untrained. That order is dead. I made a vow long time ago I would stop that madness. Do you think I’m called Jedi killer for no reason?”

Rey swings her lightsaber and stops in right under Ben’s chin. She holds it there, looking firmly at his dark eyes.

“Then the deal is off! I might come from nothing, but whether you like it or not, I’m going to be a Jedi, even if I turn out to be a second-rate one!” she seethes, realizing this should’ve been her first demand. Her mind is frantic, open to him. She feels him rummaging through it, digging deep down, discovering that Rey is almost reduced to a frightened little girl, scared she would soon be friendless.

If only she had more time to negotiate, if only she were better at this game called politics!

The ghostly light reflects off Ben’s darkened face making the scar on his cheek a deep furrow.

“You’re not as bad at it as you think,” he says wryly and lightly pushes her hand holding the saber away. She’s not sure if he’s responding to her words or her thoughts.

“But you have no time to negotiate details, Rey. You better say yes to me if you still want to have any friends left at the end of this day,” he says smoothly.

How much she despises him at this moment! And herself for walking into his trap. But there’s not much to be done now. She has to save what she can.

“I won’t give up on this,” she says. “But you’re right,  I have no time for long negotiations. And last but not least: this between us, this is business only. Politics. Don’t get any ideas,” she adds defiantly.

We’ll see, echoes in her brain and for a brief moment she’s not sure if it’s him responding through their ever present Force connection or her imagination.

“While I deal with General Hux, you contact Resistance and tell them about the ceasefire. Let’s not exterminate each other while we’re trying to figure this out,” he says rushing out of the throne room, and down to corridor towards the command bridge.

Rey gets in front of the screen, trying to get through to Poe. The seconds seem as long as years and while waiting to hear from him, fears and thoughts multiply in her head.

What did she just get herself into? She agreed to stay with Ben partly to make sure there’s balance in Force, between dark and light, to make sure something finally changes in this eternal fight for power, partly for selfish reasons, to save her friends. But the truth is, there’s more to it, much more. There are reasons she doesn’t even dare think about let alone voice aloud. She doesn’t get to those hidden corners of her mind for Poe picks up the line and she finds herself retelling the events in the throne room and enthusiastically presenting her newly formed plan.

__________

The first resistance to the idea comes quite expectedly from the Resistance itself. Poe is visibly disappointed in her. His huge, warm eyes are full of reproach he doesn’t voice. Finn, on the other hand, is loud and furious.

“You are so blind, Rey!” he screams at her.

They both refuse to comply and it takes lots of words and reasons to get them to even listen to her. She’s stoic while listening to both of them screaming at her; she’s patient while they’re listing all the reasons against her acceptance of Ben’s offer, but finally she gets them to see how this might work. Regardless of what they say, Rey is adamant in her decision. She’s always been like that. Once she would choose her way, there was no hesitation or looking back.

To appease them, she lets them see the throne room and Snoke’s corpse and even look at dark silhouette of Ben hovering in the background, giving orders to the soldiers to dispose of the bodies.

“We can make it work. We can bring balance to the Galaxy once and for all. Just give us a chance. Promise me you will lay low and wait until you hear from me.”

Poe’s face is full of doubt, Finn’s is closed and glaring.

“I don’t want you there with him, all alone,” Finn seethes. Rey’s first thought is to address this as one his bouts of over-protectiveness, as she normally would, but that usually starts a discussion and she has no time for that discussion now.

She leans into the screen, shielding it from Ben pacing up and down behind her.

“You have nothing to fight this with. Lay low and give me a chance to work this out. As soon as we have your agreement, we’ll proceed to contact the others. No one will chase you while I’m here, think about it. There’s a big change coming, I can feel it. Just let it happen.”

Poe and Finn exchange glances and unwillingly nod.

“But I want to check on you in person as soon as possible,” Finn adds.

In the background Leia’s eyes are two bright spots on her face. For a fleeting moment she looks as if she can’t believe her luck but then the face of her unforgiving son comes on screen behind Rey’s back and those eyes fill with doubt. ___________

“They’re in,” Rey says to Ben over her shoulder. She is beyond exhausted, her lids suddenly heavy. Her body aches from Snoke’s torture, from the excruciating battle, the cut on her arm scorched with blood and itchy.

“Good,” he says. “Now Hux. I left him on the bridge with more questions than answers.”

He’s relentless and focused, and for a moment Rey wishes he could be a bit more … human is probably the word she is looking for. Human as in softer, more compassionate, more aware she is not feeling entirely well.

Still she gets up and stands next to him to meet General Hux. This is probably the most important meeting of the day and it will determine how their plan to bring peace to the Galaxy will proceed, so it is entirely understandable Ben is anxious to get it over with.

To say that General Hux is a bundle of nerves would be an understatement. Ben made him stop the attack on the Resistance without explaining the reasons behind it. General Hux doesn’t comply easily, but Ben shows no wavering and Hux as all frightened animals reacts to the change in his new master. He stands at the door and takes in everything in the room, and then winces on seeing Rey next to Ben.

“What is this supposed to mean?” he screams. “I demand an explanation!”

“We are changing the rules, Hux,” Ben says firmly. “I will act as Supreme Leader for the time being with Rey’s help until we figure out how to bring balance to the Galaxy. Enough is enough,” he adds quietly.

“You must be out of your mind!” Hue yells. “With her! With that rebel scum!”

Rey finds herself amused by the venom he spits in her direction. He is powerless and he knows it. This is just to vent his frustration.

“There are no more rebel scums, or Resistance people,” she says brightly. “Just us, people, citizens of the Galaxy. Isn’t that great?”

She can feel Ben snorting next to her, but her eyes are on Hux’ red face. He gasps for air and tries to find the words to express his anger at her and then his hand twitches towards his weapon.

Ben’s force-chokehold instantaneously puts him at ease.

“We need to downsize your army,” Ben say seriously. “Half of your men will be needed to rebuild destroyed planets.” He releases him but stands in front of him still alert.

“But they’re warriors, not construction workers,” Hux spits, but doesn’t make a move, eyeing Ben with fear.

“I’m sure they’ll be just as good in rebuilding as they were in destroying,” Rey says, smiling at him, and he turns to go after one filthy, hateful look in her direction.

Ben eases on the spot when Hux exits and flips his hair out of his eyes.

There’s human for you, Rey thinks to herself, suddenly remembering what’s even prompted her to follow him here and trust him with her life. There’s that weird, disjointed twoness they share in their mutual attempt to fight loneliness that came from being different, from not belonging anywhere.

“You must be exhausted,” Ben says, finally reading fatigue on her face. “Let me show you your quarters.”

My quarters! Rey thinks, for it hasn’t even cross her mind that she would need a place for such mundane things like sleeping, or changing her clothes, or taking a shower.

He leads her down several long corridors and finally gets to a seemingly secluded part of the ship, guarded by two knights of Ren. When they enter through the sliding door, she finds herself standing in an oval corridor bordered with several doors.

“I’m here,” he gestures towards a big door in front of them. “You’re next to me.”

Her unease makes her glance at him quickly. He better not be planning anything she hasn’t agreed upon.

He must have felt it, for he glances toward the guard, another knight of Ren at the far end of the corridor.

“I don’t trust Hux, so you need to stay close to me. My knights will be guarding us.”

She just nods and follows him inside the compartment.

It’s grey and not very big. And it’s so cold, her teeth involuntarily chatter. In a way it reminds her of a tomb. She walks around, trying to picture this as her home for the next undefined period of time and fails. However compared to what she had on Jakku, this is sheer luxury. There’s a bed, although narrowish, but with sheets and a few pillows, and even a desk with a lamp. And there’s a locker for her things, albeit she has none, for it never occurred to her to take anything with her but her lightsaber. She’s immediately drawn to the mirror above the desk. Her exhausted, bruised face staring back at her scares her.

   “I didn’t know I looked this bad,” she murmurs.

“It’s been a long day,” Ben says neutrally. “The fresher is over there.”

He goes through the narrow door in the left corner and comes back quickly with an unidentified box. Rey sits on the bed, exhausted.

“Let me get that for you,” he says, looking closely at the cut on her upper arm, and immediately opening the box containing different bottles and bandages. He gets to attending to her wound without waiting for her consent, but she’s way too tired to protest. He doesn’t use the Force, but applies a salve manually, and it burns her so much, it would probably wake all her senses at once if she weren’t already electrified by the proximity of his warm fingers on her skin.

It all ends too soon. He applies the plaster over her cut, and gets up to go.

“Thank you,” she says over her shoulder.

“You’re welcome, Sleep tight,” he says and turns to leave.

A keen sense of being so alone in this whole uncertain schema, of being somehow cut from everyone she cared about and also from those she might care about a lot more in the future, washes over her and she looks after Ben almost willing him to come back and sit with her until she falls asleep. But Ben exits without looking back and she’s left alone with her heart equally full of hope and doubt.

______

And then instead of just shutting down, her brain goes in overwork mode and sleep escapes her for a long time. She lies in that freezing compartment, alert, wide awake, but not only because of the cold. She thinks back at her lonely years on Jakku, filled with waiting and longing, as the time when she was all alone in the world and yet, never completely forsaken, never entirely abandoned. For something, someone was always there with her. She didn’t know at the time what it was and being so young, she didn’t even ask herself who or what that might have been. She just accepted it as it was. Sometimes she hoped it was her mother, the mother she never knew, watching somehow over her and she would cry herself to sleep trying to drown her sorrow in her tears.

And when the Force started rising in her, the presence took the shape of Ben.

Was it him all the time? Or was it just the way of the Force, making her recognize the energy they shared?

The first time she really saw him, when he took off his mask for her in the interrogation room, it felt as if meeting someone she knew all her life, without even being aware of it.

I know you, she wanted to say. I’ve always known you.

But as so many things between them, that, too, was left unsaid.

[lia-nikiforov]

Fall 2017 Anime Watchlist

Blablabla school is kicking my butt blablabla I shouldn’t even be doing this blablabla THERE’S A LOT OF GOOD ANIME THIS SEASON

So naturally I’m gonna go back to my worst to best format for this list. Get the trash out first

Dropped

Dies Irae: Aren’t these villains named after actual historical Nazis who were directly involved with orchestrating the holocaust soooo cooooool , so interesting, such tortured profound souls that--- ugh, I just threw up in my mouth a little. I don’t care if the Nazis are the villains, making them into complex, appealing characters is unacceptable, less so given the times we live in.

(get it, it’s a real nazi getting punched in the face, aren’t you glad you follow me so I can provide you this quality content)

Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha de aru: Yuusha no Sho: Because I wasn’t a big fan of the first season, I thought this might make for decent hate-watch, but it’s just not bad enough to warrant it. It’s also criminally boring. And because part of what made the original so bad was the ending, and this being a prequel we already know how it ends, there’s no point to it imho. I enjoy screaming at the void about shows I find stupid, but this one isn’t even worth the time. Ballroom is all the hatewatch material I’ll ever need

Black Clover: I could say a lot about this show’s egregious lack of uniqueness and originality, or how poorly executed the whole thing is, but really the only thing you need to know about this and why it’s an insufferable watch is:

THE!!!! PROTAGONIST !!!!!NEVER!!!!! STOPS!!!!! YELLING!!!!!! 

Inuyashiki: My first problema with this show is the main dude is supposed to be 58 years old but he looks older than most 65+. It’s a dumb little thing, but it completely breaks my suspense of disbelief. Other than that, the writing is just so viscerally hateful it’s extremely uncomfortable to watch. What I’d understood from the synopsis was that the aliens had accidentally merged the old man and the young dude into a single robot body, but the way it is presented  -with the old guy as the hero and the young guy as the villain- the moral of the story seems to be basically “millennials are killing the diamond industry”, or, in terms of a more well-known -though perhaps too easy- meme:

Urahara: I really wanted to like this show and support these young female creators in an industry that tends to not give them any opportunities. It’s not like it’s bad at all, nor is it offensive, it’s just really boring. The visuals are adorable, but the characters feel completely unreal –three high school girls run their own shop in Harajuku?-, especially pigtail girl who delivers every line like she was trying super hard to sound like an ojousama archetype. The show is completely committed to its Harajuku kawaii culture aesthetic and attitude, which is commendable but also something that honestly make me a little uncomfortable for no particular reason. I also feel extremely robbed off actual transformation sequences in this magical girl show. In a less busy season I might hold on to see where this went, but as it is, I’d rather wait and see how it ends and then decide if I should spend time on it.

Utter trash that I’m still gonna watch because I hate myself or something

Ousama Game: I think it’s important to make a distinction between hate-watch and irony-watch. Hatewatch is something you do with a show that’s terrible and probably offensive, but it never touches so-bad-it’s-good territory.  You can pick the show apart for all of  its flaws, be it an ill-conceived plot, poor characterization, or, you know, being grossly mysoginistic. Examples of shows I’ve hatewatched include KADO, Sailor Moon Crystal and Super Lovers. An Irony-watch is a show that pretty much everyone can agree is a dumpster fire, and it succeeds so much in its terribleness it’s histerical. Hand Shakers and Neo Yokio are prime examples of quality irony-watch material. And so is Ousama Game. It’s not even worth pointing out its flaws because there’s just nowhere to start, there is not a single thing this show does right and it’s hysterical. Of course it has the squick factor of having some gross fetish with people’s tongues lolling out and their faces getting ridiculously contracted in gross fashion when they die, but other than that, it takes itself so seriously and mixed with its 2006 low budget aesthetic the whole thing is madly hilarious.

Welcome to the Ballroom: This is my choice for hatewatch show of the seaon. After the disgusting dung that was episode 15, I’ve lost all hopes of the show ever getting “better” as was repeatedly promised by fans of the manga once the queen lord and savior Chinatsu appeared. Lo and behold, Chinatsu’s character arc is to learn to be more “feminine” and to let herself be “controlled” by Tatara. Throw in some casual homophobia just for good measure. I really have to wonder why the mangaka set out to write a manga about a sport that necessarily requires a man and a woman in partnership if she hates women so much and can’t treat them as anything above second-class citizens-

(srsly show, why do you hate women so much)

Sengoku Night Blood: It’s been a while since we got a dumbass Sengoku bishonen show that wasn’t aggressively boring. This one though, still challenges my tolerance limits for being dumbass ridiculous with its premise of vampire/werewolf Sengoku daimyo. The costumes and character designs are super ridiculous yet strangely non-distinctive. I have a hard time figuring out who is who because most lack their historical counterparts most notable features, and there’s a lot of same-face-iness everywhere. The show is clearly not afraid of embracing its otoge origins, the “love event” moments are terribly transparent. I just wish either the female character was completely erased or that the guys would stop treating her so badly. I know she’s useless, but I don’t understand why the show has dudes saying things such as “it’s really bothersome that you’re here” and frame them as if they were suuuuper romantic.

(lmfao there are no gifs for this one, maybe I’m the only sucker watching it)

Juuni Taisen: To be honest I was ready to drop this one after confirming it was gonna be more Nisio Isin fake philosophical bullshit that is actually just otaku fanservice. Instead I got schlocky ultra violence garbage and it’s actually kinda fun? Look, I’m gonna come clean, I’m just watching it for the necromancer chip’n-dale rabbit with high heels and a huge fluffy tail, but if that’s not a good reason to watch a show, none is.

Not bad, but not quite good

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryoukou: This was another one that wasn’t quite on my radar before the season began, I only checked it out because it got excellent reviews. It’s actually surprisingly charming, although the pacing is slow, the muted color palette can be tiring and nothing really seems to be happening. I honestly struggled to stay awake during episode 2. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with the show, I’m considering dropping it because I’m just watching too much stuff and don’t have time, but I’ll wait for episode 3 to make my final decision (I’ll probably watch it Monday)

Shokoku no Altair: After the really good Sultan arc, apparently we had to go through another speed course on how to acquire new members for the party. I’m pretty much resigned to this not being the epic historical drama Arslan also failed to be, but it’s still sad to see this one getting the crappy production values while Inuyashiki is a lavishly animated production about bitter old men hating youngsters. Anyway, as long as further arcs can replicate the level of excitement and intrigue of the sultanlu arc, I’ll be looking forward to it and how Mahmut’s story unfolds. 

Fate/Apocrypha: You can tell how trashy the summer season was that Fate, which was one of my favorite shows of the season, is barely in the middle of the pack of this crowded Fall season. It’s also worth noting that I’ve lost a lot of the goodwill I’d mustered for the show after the writers remembered Palurdo-kun was supposed to be the protagonist, so now that he’s taken the center stage (and become Astolfo’s Master, which is a travesty, Astolfo deserves so much better than satisfying otaku’s otokonoko fetiches orz) I find myself rolling my eyes more often than not. Still hope to get cool fights out of this one and more Astolfo and Mordred.

GARO Vanishing Line: MAPPA brings us a new iteration of the GARO franchise, this time with a modern setting that throws back to ultra macho 80s anime OVAs aesthetic –I wouldn’t know, never watched those-. The hero is a buff uber muscular dude that literally prays at women’s boobs and Zaruba is a giant motorcycle that thinks women stink. The production values are impressive, both fight scenes are incredibly cinematic and exciting. The hypermasculinity borders on the hilarious, but I wish it could do away with the sexist humor, which luckily hasn’t been abundant enough to be insufferable. It’s a little soon to judge because they’re barely introducing us to the characters, but I’m still hoping this won’t devolve into shit territory like Crimson Moon did.

Kino no Tabi: Full disclosure, I only watched the first season of Kino a few months ago, so I have it very fresh in my memory. Since I didn’t know that this new season was more a soft reboot rather than a sequel, I thought I needed to watch the first one to check this one out. Turns out it wasn’t necessary, but I’m still glad I did it because the first season is fantastic. Which is why I’m a little concerned about this one, because the reinterpretation of the Colisseum story was… not good. It rushed through the story and made Kino look like a psychopath. The first episode was good so I’m crossing my fingers that this won’t turn into a horrible mess, but so far I’m feeling cautious and worried. But even if this one turns out to be a good reboot, I’d 100% recommend you check out the original.

Anime is in Fact Good

Classicaloid: Another show that came back with a different director and that I worry will struggle to replicate what made the first season special. There are some tonal things that make the change very evident, but so far it has overall been pretty great nonetheless, Classicaloid insane business as usual. I must say “New character appears claiming to be X’s relative, X believes it and starts treating N better to the detriment of the established cast” is a trope I’m not too fond of, but I’m willing to give them some time purely because they have a Hippopotamus that can do Musik. Honestly watching anime makes one write the weirdest of sentences.

Hoozuki no Reitetsu. Something comedy shows have in their favor is that if they come back, even after a long time, it feels like they never left. Hoozuki’s the same old Hoozuki and it’s a load of fun. I’ve loved both episodes so far, I can’t even pick a favorite skit of the ones we’ve had so far because all of them were so good. There’s not really a lot to say, if you liked the first season you’ll like this one. As usual it’s only detriment is you may miss some of the jokes if you’re not familiar with Japanese folklore, but there’s a lot of fun to be had nonetheless. 

Recovery of an MMO Junkie: Honestly, I’m very quick to judge a book by its cover, or in this case, an anime by its title. In this case, I promptly dismissed this as yet another otaku oriented harem videogame fantasy or whatever without even reading the synopsis. Then I heard the positive reactions to it and decided to give it a shot and boy was I pleasantly surprised! Not only does it feature a woman in her thirties as a protagonist –which is insanely rare! But it also focuses on delightfully adorable romance that breaches the barriers of gender. And honestly, there’s that scene in episode two in which Moriko sends a text and then horrified realizes it’s 2:00 am and feels super ashamed about it and it was so relatable I was 100% sold.

Best of the season

(don’t mind the order, I’ve loved all of these equally

Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau: So I may have misunderstood what this was about. I rarely read plot synopsis, so for some reason –I guess at first I thought the title was Kujira wa Sora- I thought there would be flying whales. There aren’t, but that’s definitely not a detriment to this incredible fantasy dystopian world. The color palette and the watercolor texture of the backgrounds gives it a magical atmosphere that is just a delight to watch. Although there’s a lot of exposition, none has felt like a forced infodump. The pacing is overall fantastic, and although the characters are a mystery for the most part, they’re already very endearing. This season is ripe with enchanting fantasy worlds and I’m really hyped about it. 

Houseki no Kuni: I was concerned about the CG designs on this one, but they work surprisingly well! The plot is still a bit unclear, but they’ve done a really good job in building the characters through their relationships to one another. Even though we don’t know a lot about them, I felt a lot of empathy for Cinnabar and Diamond and Bort, and Phos is a pretty nice point of view character to follow around. I’m definitely intrigued by the concept, and the execution has been great so far.

Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond: I hadn’t realized how much I missed this show until I watched the first episode of this new season. The loss of Rie Matsumoto’s wonderful directorial vision is very noticeable in the straightforwardness of the storytelling, but otherwise the show is surprisingly still a load of bombastic fun with endearing characters and fascinating world building. I particularly liked the hospital episode. I’m not sure where this story is going, but I’m excited to go along for the ride.

The Ancient Magus Bride: It’s important to note that the first episode has a lot of questionable material (please, can Elias never ever call Chise a puppy ever again), but I have to commend a great production when I see it. Readers of the manga assure that the questionable content will be contextualized later on, so I’m hopeful, because I’m already really sold on this show and I really don’t want it to be gross. It’s hard to explain or describe, but it just has this fantasy magical charm and a beautiful production that got me hooked from start to finish. It has been hyped to hell and back and so far it has lived up to my expectations. I think, apart from the lovely production values, the characters feel very real and deep from start to finish. It’s hard to explain why I feel so drawn to this show that should have so many red alarms ringing in my head, but I can’t help feel completely charmed by it

How am I gonna survive such a busy season with so much homework? Will I die trying? Will Ballroom ever stop hating women and gay people? Stay tuned to find out! And let me know which shows you’re watching this season!

[garrettdoeseverything]

In Which Our Hero Gushes About His School De-stresser

I’ve been a big fan of video games, but I’ve never really dived into the indie scene until now. I really wanted to broaden my horizons with these games, and this goal certainly did that. As I’ve become an adult and matured in my approach to media, I’ve noticed that you can actually get a lot out of video games. If you have the right mindset, they can be just as enriching an experience as Literature, Visual Art, or Film. I could probably ramble on and on about these games, but for the sake of time, I’m just going to give you a brief overview of my experiences with each game. So let’s get started!

Since there’s no official ending to this game, I decided to call it “finished” when I reached the end of my second in-game year, when all of my goals had been reached. It’s dangerous that this game has no end, because I could easily play this game indefinitely. Stardew Valley has made it to a lot of Top 10s and favorites lists, and this game earns all of those placements. This game is one of the best examples I’ve seen of a new developer taking a good idea from the past and building it into something better.

Stardew has a heavy Harvest Moon influence, for sure, but also incorporates elements from RPG games, Animal Crossing, and Minecraft. There are so many things I love about this game: the leveling up in different skill areas, the time-management challenge, and the character / play customization, among others.

The most compelling thing for me, however, was restoring the town to its old glory and befriending the NPCs. I fully went into this game expecting the NPCs to be these flat characters, but boy was I wrong. It’s a diverse cast with poignant backstories. They have their own cliques, their own goals, and their own conflicts with other NPCs. Stardew covers a variety of issues we see in our modern-day society, including PTSD, depression, disability, poverty, the environment, and race, just to name a few. There are aspiring artists, conniving corporate managers, and rebellious youth. I found myself making spreadsheets of what gifts everyone liked, just so I could unlock more backstory.

I definitely recommend it to anyone who loves Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing games.

This game is arguably the most beautiful pixel art game you will ever play. I want to hang screenshots of this game on my freaking wall. From wide photogenic vistas to minute details, this game is visually impressive. And the soundtrack only heightens your sense of immersion.

This game also gives a lot of challenges. I'm referring not only to the challenging difficulty, but also to how Hyperlight Drifter challenges typical storytelling. When speaking to NPCs, all you get to decipher what they’re saying is their body language and some pictures to illustrate a narrative. Think of those children’s books with just pictures and no words – conversation in this game is exactly like that. As you interact with the world, you create the narrative. I’ve seen people take issue with this, but I really enjoy it. It was exciting to fill in the gaps yourself and make some theories about what happened to the worlds' various inhabitants.

Gameplay-wise, you mostly fight monsters in fast-paced combat that is the epitome of the phrase “easy to learn but hard to master.” Even in the late game, when you have lots of upgrades, the game demands that you stay on your toes. You pay for every careless move. You also do a lot of exploring and looking for secrets, but I felt like the game was a little too inscrutable with these at first. I eventually figured out that the game left you clues, if only I could have had a hint at it during the early game.

I’ve heard people say that this game is similar to the Zelda games, but the cryptic Sci-Fi setting, the searching for secrets, and the upgrade system make it feel more like a Metroid game to me. I have soooo many things to say about this game, and not enough time to say it. I may even come back to this game at a later time and give you guys my extended thoughts on it.

If games were food, then Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove is like a nostalgic & comforting grilled cheese sandwich. It deserves all the praise it gets. I’m going to break down this review into the different campaigns, since each one is so different:

Continuing with food metaphors, Shovel of Hope (2014) is the vanilla flavor of the campaigns. I don’t mean that in a bad way, either – this game is one heck of a good vanilla. The level design quality of this game is on par with the classics that it tries to evoke. Using only a few simple controls and attacks (with some cool spell upgrades to boot), you progress through more and more intricate platforming challenges. The soundtrack is catchy, the retro-ness is spot on, and the characters are all memorable. It feels like all the NES games packed into one unique super-platformer experience.

Plague of Shadows (2015) builds upon the foundation Shovel of Hope made in ways I did not expect them to go. At first I was worried, because I struggled with Plague Knight’s controls and level design, and I wasn’t really sold on the story. But the more I played, the more this alchemist villain bombed his way into my heart. Speaking of which, Plague Knight’s bomb crafting system is one of the most unique gameplay mechanics I’ve ever seen. You mix and match powders and casings to change the way your bombs explode, which in turn changes how you fight and jump around. Your play style changes from Shovel Knight’s straightforward jump-and-pogo to a more calculated, experimental, methodical approach. Your gameplay eventually begins to match Plague Knight’s character. And that, my friends, is good game design. By the time I came to end of the game, I could finally handle his controls decently, and the story even ended up better than I anticipated. My only complaint is that I wish Plague Knight got a level or two that were totally unique to his campaign. The small changes made to each level were good, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Specter of Torment (2017) is probably the one campaign that I will keep playing and replaying the most. Specter Knight is just so cool. I picked up with his controls the quicker than the two other games, and from then on the game was just one jumping, slashing, sliding joyride. The sense of momentum and the complex platform challenges make you feel like a ninja, zipping this way and that. Best of all, Specter Knight has his own unique levels in the form of flashbacks. Maybe I’m just a sucker for tragic backstories, but to me, the story is far better than the previous two installments. It really moves you by the end. Add in the quirky hubworld of the Tower of Fate, and you have a game that, for me, is the best installment of the series yet.

Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor is a quirky game that deliberately breaks a lot of video game conventions. It’s gutsy to develop a game like this. You are the cursed janitor of a spaceport, with hopes of someday leaving to go to a better life someplace else. But you have to break the curse before you can leave. You roam around the spaceport picking up trash, praying to various shrines for luck, and keeping a few valuable things you find for yourself, all the while avoiding the mysterious police that like to bully you and steal your money. You can sell what you find at the various markets, or incinerate it for a cheap buck from your employer.

The game embraces the fact that you are not a hero. All around you are these warriors, wizards, pilots, and other big-shots that are all on their way to some epic quest, while you are the NPC that is there in the background, adhering to a day-by-day schedule and taking in the world around you as you go.

The routine was calming, almost meditative, for me. I don’t think it may be for everyone, especially those who like fast-paced games, but I enjoyed spending an in-game day or two after homework was done to help relax. There’s always something new to see, or something new to pick up.

Furthermore, it’s not afraid to talk about important social issues. It depicts poverty without being condescending or preachy. Every now and then the game works against you in acquiring your goals – prejudice of NPCs, bad luck, and oppressive social systems all begin to weigh on your character. Just when you’re feeling frustrated about a certain thing that happened in the game, you have an “a-ha!” moment where you realize people in poverty might experience exactly the same. It’s simultaneously cute, weird, and poignant. If you approach this game with an open mind, I think you will enjoy it.

Fez was one of those games I had heard about for a long time and never got around to playing, and was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this challenge in the first place. Being a newcomer to the indie scene, Fez for me appears to be a game that has aged pretty well and is still a compelling one to pick up.

Fez is a 2-D platformer, with the twist that the main character, Gomez, has a fez that can shift dimensions and alter how the terrain appears. In reality, his world is 3-D on a cube, but can only be seen in two dimensions at a time. I think I explained that well enough?

Anyway, lots of clever puzzles ensue on this premise. If you ever played Portal, think back to when you first saw how the portal mechanic worked and thought, “Wow, this changes everything.” That’s kind of how I reacted to Fez. The dimension shifting took a bit of getting used to, but once I did, I quite enjoyed myself. I love a good puzzle game, and this one delivered exactly that. I also think how fitting that the game is based on cube-to-flat dimensions, and the game espouses pixel art to match that mechanic. Quite clever. There’s even lots of secrets and background lore to find out, but some were even more enigmatic than Hyper Light Drifter. Really. Setbacks aside, there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of solving a good riddle, and Fez delivers this quite well.

Congratulations, you made it to the end! Thanks for humoring me as I gushed on and on about these games. If you want to talk more about them, feel free to pick my brain! I only scratched the surface with these games. We haven’t even covered the themes I found in them! But that can be for some other time.

Goal 3 complete!