#this duo puts the universe through hell

[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

A long list of Clone Wars headcanons just cause

Sometimes Ahsoka will get the zoomies and how she handles that energy is roughhousing with Anakin who's more than willing to participate 

It becomes a show for the 501 because seeing the small togruta tackle the lanky ass nightmare that is Anakin Skywalker to the floor is hilarious 

They are both guilty of not knowing their strength so some people (cough cough Obi-Wan cough cough) caution them against it they don’t really listen tho which has resulted in some pretty hilarious injuries 

One of those injuries happened when they were playing around and Ahsoka shouldered Anakin so abruptly that he fell back on him tailbone and got the wind knocked out of him she sat by his side laughing her ass off

It took her an unreasonable amount of time to realize he was in pain and when she did she started apologizing like crazy she still gets embarrassed when people bring it up and still apologizes years later

There was another time when Ahsoka turned her back to Anakin when they were roughhousing and he pushed her so hard that she almost fell off of the landing platform they were standing on

He snatched her up by the stomach while muttering “I’m so sorry” and then he started frantically checking to make sure he didn’t seriously hurt her while Ahsoka laughed so hard she swears to this day that she pulled something 

Unfortunately when the laughter stopped she did realize she managed to sprain her wrist and when Anakin found he helped her wrap it

You’d think that they’d learn from these incidents but nope they still play fight like two big dogs 

Even tho Anakin and Ahsoka’s place is pretty clean it’s never really quiet there’s always gotta be some kinda noise 

Sometimes it’s Ahsoka’s music playing loudly in her room, sometimes it’s a holomovie in the living room, and sometimes it’s just them bickering in the kitchen

It doesn’t matter what it is it’s never truly quiet even at night there’s a small amount of noise from Anakin’s snoring (which he denies) and Ahsoka’s purring thing (which she also denies) 

As crazy as it sounds the people closest to them will admit that their noise is strangely comforting  

Anakin and Ahsoka are so freaking similar that it turns heads sometimes they’ll say something the other said but they’ve never heard like “This is where the fun begins” 

It’s stopped Obi-Wan in his tracks before it kinda freaks him out and worries him a little bit but it also puts a small smile on his face when the duo says the same thing at the same time

They’re also able to predict how the other will react once Ahsoka was teaching the clones tricks with her saber and they broke it they felt terrible but they were also terrified about Anakin’s reaction 

Ahsoka was the only calm one in the room and explained to the group that Anakin would pretend to be pissed for about an hour but then he’d “calm down” and ask for the parted to fix it and by that time rolled around she’d already have his favorite holo prepped and food from Dex’s

They listened to her with a healthy amount of skepticism and were happily surprised to find out the next day that she was right  

There was another time when Anakin and Obi-Wan decided to buy Ahsoka her favorite boba to soften the blow that she wasn’t gonna go on a mission Anakin told Obi-Wan that she’d be happy for a minute before asking what happened and he was right 

When Ahsoka got closer to Anakin the clones and everyone else she showed her secret passion for acting like she doesn’t know them in public when they piss her off

It worked a couple of times and one of those times Rex almost got arrested because the officer didn’t believe that they were the commander and captain of the 501st Rex didn’t blame the dude because he couldn’t prove it without Ahsoka’s help and she refused to back him up

Ahsoka finally dropped the act when the cuffs came out but she was still kinda reluctant

She did agree to take a break from that prank and she stopped doing it entirely when Obi-Wan had to bail Anakin out of jail (she bought a lot of boba for a very long time to make up for that one)

They will reference the prank occasionally by asking each other at random points in the day “Do I know you?” 

Like sometimes they’ll be out and Anakin will ask “Have we met before?” most of the time Ahsoka will answer “No actually we haven’t” (this girl is wearing his cloak he’s wearing one of her headwraps and his arm is resting on her head) 

Sometimes Padme will make a big deal of taking Anakin and Ahsoka out to do something just the three of them

Whenever Padme and Anakin show the smallest form of affection towards each other Ahsoka makes a big deal about gagging Anakin makes a bigger deal of “evening it out” 

Like if he kisses Padme and Ahsoka gags he’ll grab her and give her a big smooch on the forehead and then like the little shit that he is he’ll whip his lips calling her greasy

She gets him back by whipping the spit off her forehead with his robes (and also backhanding him which Padme kindly ignores)

Padme will sometimes tease her too like if she grabs Anakin’s hand then she’ll link arms with Ahsoka and make a small comment like “There now you’re even”

Sometimes Ahsoka will get them both back in the moments when they check on each other first she’ll make a big deal about saying “Well kriff me I guess” even if she doesn’t have a scratch on her 

Both Anakin and Padme will make a big deal about checking her for injuries with a couple of comments like “Oh my poor little padawan you have a scratch from training last night how did you cope”

I said in my first post that Ahsoka and Anakin have a playlist and I love the idea that they have different titles for them like “Obi-Wan’s least favorite playlist” “get ready to kick seppie’s ass” “the council pissed me off again” and stuff like that 

It’s all in good fun but they’ll never let anyone else see those titles because they know it’ll get a good scolding from Obi-Wan

The moment Obi-Wan knew Anakin had formed an “unnecessary attachment” wasn’t some big life-or-death moment on the battlefield 

In hindsight it was a pretty funny moment that was caused by Anakin’s stupidity cause he had broken a glass earlier that day and he thought he got all the pieces so he didn’t feel it was necessary to tell Ahsoka

Next thing he knows the poor togruta is gasping in pain and when he goes to check on her she’s sitting on the kitchen floor while the mother of all glass shards is sticking out of her foot 

Now you might be asking “How did Anakin miss a glass shard the size of his hand?” he honestly couldn’t give you an answer but he could tell you was in that moment he realized that he forgot to restock the med kit even though Ahsoka had reminded him about it earlier that day

All Obi-Wan got to see of this was a blur of Anakin holding his profusely bleeding padawan while yelling at the top of his lungs “Move she’s bleeding out!”

No one can really blame the man for dropping everything he was doing to chase after his former padawan and they also can’t blame him for assuming the worst like her being stabbed or shot

He didn’t know what he was expecting when he walked into the halls of healing but it wasn’t an embarrassed Anakin standing over a cackling Ahsoka as the healers scolded him for causing a scene

He makes a silent note to give Anakin a small lecture about keeping his emotions under control before checking on his giggly grand padawan

[soul-controller]

Tricked By His Tutor

As the sun finally began its descent one Friday afternoon, casting a warm, golden hue over a grand college campus, Nolan Campbell made his exit from the university’s gym. After finishing up a grueling wrestling practice in preparation for his team’s upcoming meet, it was safe to say that the blond-haired jock was eager to get home and relax. But no matter his desires, it seemed as though the universe was doing everything it could to prevent him from achieving that goal. Given the fact that the weekend was now officially beginning, the campus was abuzz as large crowds of students traversed the school quad with excited haste. Luckily though, Nolan was able to overcome the overbearing crowds due to not only his bulky muscular physique but also his tall 6’2” stature.

Then, while waiting for a bus to arrive to take him back to his apartment, Nolan found himself forced to endure the constant staring and flirting from a slew of college cheerleaders. Despite his best attempts to turn them down, the girls refused to give up in their quest to be with him. Although to be completely fair to them, their desire was warranted. Out of all of the men on campus, Nolan was by far the perfect package. On top of that muscular physique of his, the man was blessed with a handsome face and an incredibly charming smile that formed an adorable yet manly set of dimples.

Yet while everyone assumed him to be this absolute beast of a man who easily dominated life like he did on the wrestling mats, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. For some reason, Nolan had always felt extremely unsure of himself and lacked the innate confidence that could have easily been corrupted into an inflated ego. Although there was a general sense of being unsure of himself when it came to his future, the one thing he was absolutely positive about was his happiness that he hadn’t ended up one of those stereotypical jocks who just bullied pathetic nerds or objectified women nonstop. 

After finally getting the girls to leave him alone and set their sights on another nearby jock, the wrestler was able to board his bus and take the ten minute ride to his apartment. After checking his mailbox, Nolan then gave himself one final workout as he rushed up the five flights of stairs until he arrived at his doorstep… where he found a peculiar surprise waiting for him.

Rather than the appearance of some package on his doorstep, he found Arthur, his math tutor, just sitting down waiting for him. Looking him up and down, the jock noticed just how disheveled the usually put-together man appeared. Instead of his normally styled mop of hair, Arthur looked incredibly disheveled on top of tired, at least based on the dark circles that Nolan noticed behind the nerd’s gigantic thick-rimmed glasses. 

In the two years that the duo had been working together, it was safe to say that Nolan had come to view Arthur as a friend of sorts. Nolan would bring his math assignments and questions every week, and Arthur would patiently guide him through the problems, breaking down complex equations and concepts in the simplest way that Nolan could understand. It was clear that Arthur had a gift for teaching, as Nolan found himself suddenly making progress in his math classes and avoiding the threat of academic probation. 

As they spent more time together, an unlikely friendship began to form. Nolan, with his easygoing and friendly personality, found himself opening up to the introverted and slightly awkward Arthur. With the jock opting to be vulnerable with him, it seemed to unlock something within the nerd that encouraged him to finally open up and grow comfortable around him. Over time then, Nolan learned about Arthur's interests and his daily life. Hell, he had even begun to view the nerd as a friend that when he found out that one of his wrestling teammates had been secretly bullying the nerd, the jock immediately put a stop to it! 

So although Nolan would easily describe himself as friends with Arthur given their work together over the past two school years, there had never been an instance where the twig of a nerd had just randomly shown up on his doorstep. After checking his watch and verifying that their appointment wasn’t meant for today, the jock flashed a smile as he tried to figure out what’s going on. "Uh, hey there Arthur. Is everything ok? I thought our appointment wasn’t meant until Sunday night?” 

In response, Arthur began to stand up onto his feet, which caused him to quickly readjust his glasses as they began to slide down his nose. "Oh, hey there, Nolan. I was just in the area and I thought I'd stop by and say hello,” he said, flashing a soft smile towards his client. Ever perceptive, the nerd quickly picked up on the gym bag slung around his shoulder and noticed Nolan’s damp and sweaty body. “Did you have practice or something today?" 

Nolan instantly leaned against the wall, loosening the strap of his gym bag. "Yeah, practice was intense. Coach is being a total hardass about this upcoming meet because it’s one of those rival schools. I legit feel so dead right now,” he responded, offering up a slight chuckle to lighten the mood. “But, how about you? How are your classes and everything going?" 

“Eh, it’s alright. This new segment of my math course is pretty difficult, but I’m always down for a challenge,” he replied with a lighthearted laugh. “I was tired of doing nonstop readings so I decided to just take a walk to clear my head. Before I knew it, I was here on your doorstep.” 

After eliciting his own chuckle, Nolan made his way past Arthur as he finally slid his key into the apartment door and unlocked it. Upon looking back, the jock felt oddly sorry for the guy. For some reason the frail shaggy-haired man was always taking the hardest possible courses each semester, which meant that he was too busy to go out and be social. As a result, Nolan couldn’t help but feel as though he was the closest thing to a friend that Arthur had. 

Given the fact that he was planning on just sitting on his couch and relaxing all night anyway, the man realized what would be the problem in having company then? “Ah, I see. Well, I was thinking of getting some pizza and maybe just chilling and watching some TV for the rest of the night. You wanna come in and hang out for a bit?" 

Arthur rapidly blinked in surprise, apparently not expecting an invitation from the jock. "Um, sure, that would be great. I think some time away from the textbooks would probably be good for me. I can’t stop seeing equations whenever I close my eyes,” he chuckled, which caused Nolan to do the same as he finally opened the door and allowed the nerd to walk in first. 

Upon shutting the door behind him, Nolan slumped to the side and allowed his gym bag to fall off his shoulders and onto the floor with a heavy thud. With that weight literally lifted off his shoulders, the man looked down at himself and realized just how sweaty he was. “Uh hey, if you don’t mind, I’m going to shower real quick,” he began, leading Arthur further into the apartment until the duo were in his living room. After reaching out towards an end table and grabbing onto the remote, the jock began to hold it out towards the nerd. “You can just go ahead and sit down and watch some TV I guess. I promise it will only take a few minutes and then we’ll order some pizza and just relax for a bit!” But to the jock’s confusion, the nerd refused to take ahold of the remote. 

Turning away from the TV and sofa, Arthur looked around the man’s apartment before beginning to speak. “Uh, before you go, can I say something,” he asked, which resulted in Nolan nodding his head in approval. “Ok, well uh, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate you Nolan. I know this probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but I don’t really have any friends here. These tutoring sessions have been genuinely quite rewarding because I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as perfect as you.” 

Upon hearing that last sentence, Nolan’s eyebrows raised as he tried to understand what that meant. Was Arthur just being sweet to him or was he trying to be vulnerable and reveal a new piece about himself in terms of his sexuality? Although Nolan was quite comfortable with his sexuality as a straight man, he wasn’t actively homophobic or anything so the concept of his friend being open like that was quite sweet in his eyes. 

But before he could even respond, Arthur continued to speak. “So uh yeah, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate your friendship,” he said, punctuating his sentence by extending out an open hand for a handshake. 

Finally, Nolan was given the ability to respond and he tried his best to be comforting to the man. “Aw, it’s no problem at all man. You’re a pretty great guy yourself and I appreciate all of your help. You’ve truly saved my ass so many times over the years that I can’t repay you enough,” he exclaimed, softly chuckling as he began to also extend his hand out for the handshake. 

“Oh really? Well now that you mention it, I actually do have an idea of how you can make it up to me,” Arthur replied, his grin shifting into a smirk as he suddenly grabbed onto Nolan’s hand and wrapped it in a tight embrace. 

Immediately, Nolan’s grin faded and his eyes widened as he felt a sensation similar to electricity rushing through his body. Confused about what’s happening to him, the jock stared into Arthur’s eyes, which remained narrowed and instantly made Nolan feel uneasy. Although he could have continued staring for a while in search of answers, the wrestler was stunned to find a bright flash of light suddenly fill the room up. Worried about blinding the light was becoming, the man clenched his eyes shut and grit his teeth as a sudden pain overcame his body. As he continued to scream, he could have sworn that he felt as though his body was being completely torn apart. 

But as quickly as the light and pain had emerged, they faded just as fast and Nolan found himself struggling to catch his breath. With each deep inhale and exhale he took, he couldn’t help but notice how high-pitched and labored his breathing sounded. But as Nolan finally peeled apart his eyelids to look over at Arthur, a sudden gasp escaped from his throat. Rather than staring at his tutor, he instead found himself staring at his own body. 

Unnerved and with no other option coming to mind, the man looked down and revealed a terrifying sight. Rather than his thick and muscular body, his glance down revealed Arthur’s lanky arms while his sweat-stained tank top had been replaced with an oversized and more nerdy shirt. As he held out his hands and looked at just how pale and unimpressive they were, the young jock couldn’t help but scream as he realized that he was now in the body of a weak nerd! 

Despite the ear-piercing scream he made, Nolan found himself unable to produce any words or move no matter how hard he tried. He couldn’t help but wonder if he was somehow stuck by whatever had caused his body swap with Arthur or if he was so petrified and in shock that his body had no idea what to do. But as he looked back across the room at the nerd now occupying his body, it quickly became clear that the new jock had no problem moving around. 

As he observed how Arthur looked around and smirked, Nolan got to watch in horror as the nerd quickly looked down before using his new wide pair of hands to pull off the damp and sweaty tank top to reveal the jock’s ripped and fully shirtless torso. Upon tossing the clothing onto the floor just a few feet away from the discarded gym bag, the former nerd grabbed onto his plump pecs before eliciting a maniacal laugh. 

“You fucking idiot, I can’t believe you fell for that fake sympathy shit,” he bellowed, his tone drenched in a cocky and condescending tone. Once finished, the man then lifted up his arm and flexed a bicep, smirking as he gripped the rock hard muscle. “Fuck yeah!” 

Upon witnessing the nerd’s behavior, Nolan was understandably quite confused. In those two years of knowing him, he had never witnessed Arthur behave like this. To make matters worse, he was doing it in Nolan’s real body. Like, what the fuck did his so-called friend do to him?! 

Refusing to continue looking at the nerd flaunting and flexing those stolen muscles, Nolan forced himself to tilt his head down and observe his new body. After using his hands to rub his upper arms and feel no indication of any muscle, the man wasn’t shocked to lift up his shirt as well and find that there was no hint of muscle whatsoever. Instead, he only found pale skin with patchy chest hair and a slight sliver of fat around his stomach and hip area. Upon letting go of the shirt and allowing it to fall back down to cover his depressing new torso, the man’s new gangly fingers traversed up his neck, which ultimately led to an exploration of his new face. Allowing his fingers to graze along his bulbous new nose and bump into the thick pair of glasses that covered a good 30% of his face, the man was horrified by how peculiar and strange the entire experience was. Hoping that he was somehow having a post-workout nap, Nolan tried his best to wake himself up from this nightmare by pinching or slapping himself. But of course, that worked to no avail and only made it clear to him that this was all real and he had truly been betrayed by his friend. 

Speaking of this so-called friend, Nolan’s attention was once again caught by Arthur as the former jock watched the nerd lift up his new muscular arm and shove his angular nose deep into his ripe and sweaty armpit. “Fuck, you smell good,” he purred, allowing one hand to reach down and fondle the massive bulge that was now straining against the pair of athletic shorts Nolan had been wearing. “Well, I guess I should say I smell good now…”

Although watching such an obscene display was quite horrific to witness given the body swap element, Arthur’s behavior finally caused Nolan to break out of his stupor and demand answers. “What the fuck did you do to me dude,” he angrily asked, picking up but not acknowledging the higher-pitched and whiny tone he now spoke with. 

In response, Arthur allowed an oddly fitting dopey chuckle to escape from his lips as he turned his palm outwards and revealed a small little device that resembled one of those prank shock rings wrapped around his middle finger. “What do you think I did, dumbass? I stole that precious little body of yours and now there’s nothing you can do about it!” 

Immediately, the threat of forever being stuck in this body caused Nolan to jump into action as he reached out with haste to touch the device and cause the duo to swap back to their normal bodies. But unfortunately, the jock inherited the nerd’s poor hand-eye coordination and thus missed his foe’s hand entirely as he attempted to swipe it. 

“Damn, you suck ass now dude! I doubt you could even throw a football at this point with those twigs for arms,” Arthur cackled, smirking as he pulled the device off of his finger and held it up in the air. Before Nolan could attempt a second swipe at the device, the new nerd’s eyes widened as he watched the device get tossed down to the ground and a loud crack echo through the room. Just to rub in his defeat though, the new jock smirked before lifting up a foot and bringing it down hard on the device to shatter it into a million pieces. “Looks like those wrestling days of yours are far behind you now, huh?” 

Realizing that his chance of swapping back was now utterly destroyed, the former jock found himself suddenly breaking down in tears and falling to the ground as the gravity of the situation hit him. Rather than being a muscular jock who had the world at the palm of his hands and squandered it, now he’ll just be this average and meek nerd that has no friends and spends all of his free time studying textbooks! 

“Why?!” he blubbered in between intense sobs, “What have I ever done to you? I thought I was your friend!” 

In response, Arthur led out a loud guffaw as he leaned down to stare directly into Nolan’s eyes. Upon narrowing his eyes and finding himself staring intensely at his old body, a cheerful tone emerged in the new jock’s voice. “All of you muscular buffoons are all the same. Even if you didn’t fuck me like your teammates, you still refused to stand up to them! I’ve spent my entire life being ridiculed and tormented by asshole jocks and I finally had enough. I got one of my friends in the engineering department to help me build that prototype for me and now that it worked, I never have to worry about feeling worthless again!” 

Furious about how he had been grouped up with people he could agree were total assholes, Nolan immediately began to lash out in hopes of making sure that even if he was outpowered, he wasn’t outspoken. “You motherfucker,” he screamed, adopting the most aggressive tone he could manifest while rushing towards his friend-turned-enemy. “I’ll tell everyone what the fuck you did to me. You won’t get away with this, Arthur! Maybe you deserved to get your ass beat by those jocks all the time!” 

In response, the transformed nerd instantly reached out and grabbed the weakened jock by the throat. Hearing the man’s last sentence caused Arthur to snap as he instantly changed his plans about handling the body-swapped man. “You know that’s not my name anymore, Arthur… I was going to just let you go on and live your life without any interference, but fuck that. You’ve fucked with the right one nerd, and now you’ll be lucky if you don’t spend the next two years of your life getting tormented in the worst ways imaginable.” 

After holding onto the nerd and watching as his eyes began to bulge out, the new jock finally let go and pushed the man back until his light weight caused him to fly several feet before stumbling back even further until he slammed against the front door. “Now get the fuck out of my apartment before I beat your pathetic ass,” he warned, watching as the still-sobbing nerd instantly obeyed his order and fled as fast as his weak and frail body would allow.

“Fuck, that felt good,” the new Nolan moaned as he reached down and began to fondle his crotch once more. Although he knew getting revenge would be quite hot, he never realized just how hot it would be to humiliate and torment people in ways similar to what he experienced! Looking down and watching as a pre-cum stain began to emerge in the front of his shorts, the new jock smirked before turning and making his way towards his bathroom. Although he was eager to get started repeating the cycle of torment that he had endured, Nolan was more desperate to get acquainted with every part of his new and bigger body…

Eager to read more stories like this? Head over to my Patreon to discover tons of hot transformation fiction including stories like this one!

[kkuroshie]

Your journey

[ Newjeans x F! volleyball player won the poll]

Words: 1310

Pairing: Newjeans x F! volleyball player

part 1 [part 2] [part 3]

School bell rings

"Oi, Y/n Wakatoshi!" Hana smacks your shoulder. Hana has been your best friend since you were 8 years old. You two met at the volleyball club at your old school, where you became known as the "killer duo"—a nickname you both hate. Hana is super outgoing and always happy, and she loves being your setter in tournaments. You look at her with a confused expression.

"Don't look at me like that, man. It's our dream! This place is huge, and Hybe University is so expensive!" she exclaims, grinning at the school. You're walking beside her, drinking your favorite beverage since you were 10 years old. "Okay, so our schedule… OMG! We have the same classes until the end of the year!" Hana laughs, thrilled that she won't be lonely with you around.

As you both find your classroom, Hana peeks through the door and sees a teacher already inside. "Are we late?" she asks, glancing at you. "No," you reply, putting your phone back in your pocket. The teacher approaches both of you.

"Oh my… both of you are so tall! I'm Ms. Suki," she says, offering her hand for a handshake. Hana shakes her hand with a smile. "Hi, Ms. Suki. This is Y/n. She's not a fan of physical contact with other people," Hana explains, rubbing her neck. "Oh, I see. Well, that's fine. Let's go in and introduce yourselves," Ms. Suki says, opening the door wider to let you both in.

As you walk into the classroom, you can feel everyone staring at you, including the boys. Yes, both of you are tall—you're 196 cm, and Hana is 189.5 cm. Facing the front, you notice some of the girls at the back looking shocked, and one of them seems familiar. Hana starts the introductions.

"Hi, everyone! I'm Hana Habia. I'm 19 years old, 189.5 cm tall, and I love playing volleyball with Y/n," she says, bowing and then smiling at you. "Oh, hi. I'm Y/n Wakatoshi. I'm also 19, and I'm 196 cm tall," you say, bowing and then taking a sip of your drink.

[newjeans pov]

"Yahhh!!! We have 'NEW' classmates today!" Hanni exclaims, looking at her members. "I hope they're kind. You know I hate bullies," Danielle pouts. "Some rumors said they were girls, so maybe we can be friends with them," Minji says, chewing bubble gum. "Yeah, and they sai—" Hyein is cut off by their teacher.

"Okay, class, let's give them a warm welcome," Ms. Suki announces.

NewJeans is shocked by your height and looks. Hanni nudges Minji repeatedly. "Yes, Hanni, I'm not blind—they are tall as hell," Minji mutters. All the students are taken aback.

[ Your POV]

Ms. Suki directs you both to your seats. "Hana, Y/n, you can take those empty seats in the middle row." As you make your way to the seats, you can hear whispers and feel the stares following you. Hana plops down with a grin, and you sit beside her, quietly sipping your drink.

The class begins, and Ms. Suki starts with the usual first-day introductions and a brief overview of the semester. Your mind drifts off a bit as you survey the classroom. Your eyes land on the familiar girl from earlier—she's part of the group at the back, all wearing matching outfits. You realize they're NewJeans, the popular K-pop group.

As the class progresses, Hanni, who sits behind you, taps your shoulder. You turn around, and she smiles warmly. "Hey, I'm Hanni. Welcome to Hybe University," she says softly.

You nod, returning the smile. "Thanks."

During the break, Hana excitedly talks about the class with you, while you notice the NewJeans members glancing your way, seemingly curious about you and Hana. After a few moments, Minji approaches with a friendly wave.

"Hi, I'm Minji. You two seem really cool. We were thinking maybe we could all have lunch together?" she suggests.

Hana looks at you with sparkling eyes. "What do you think, Y/n?"

You shrug slightly but smile. "Sure, why not?"

At lunchtime, you find yourselves at a large table in the cafeteria, surrounded by NewJeans and a few of their friends. The atmosphere is lively and welcoming, with everyone sharing stories and laughs. You learn that NewJeans are not just talented performers but also down-to-earth and fun to be around.

After lunch, in the bustling hallway of Hybe University

As you and Hana are walking back to class with NewJeans, you're deep in conversation about the latest volleyball strategies and upcoming tournaments. Suddenly, you hear someone calling out your names.

"Y/n! Hana!" The voice belongs to Coach Tanaka, the head coach of Hybe University's volleyball team. He approaches you both with a determined look on his face, flanked by several team members who look equally eager.

"Yes, Coach?" Hana responds, her eyes lighting up with curiosity.

"I've heard about your impressive records from your old school," Coach Tanaka begins, glancing at the clipboard in his hand. "Your coach from back home sent us your stats, and they're phenomenal. We're in need of strong players this season, and I'd like to invite both of you to join our volleyball team."

You and Hana exchange excited glances. Joining the Hybe University volleyball team had always been part of your dream, but you didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

"We'd love to, Coach!" Hana exclaims before you can respond, her enthusiasm bubbling over.

Coach Tanaka grins. "Great! We have practice this evening at 5 PM. I’d love for you both to join us and meet the rest of the team. How does that sound?"

"Perfect," you reply, feeling a surge of excitement. "We'll be there."

As Coach Tanaka and the team walk away, the NewJeans members crowd around you, equally thrilled.

"That's amazing!" Minji says, her eyes wide with excitement. "We have to come and watch your practice!"

"Definitely," Hanni adds. "We’ll be your cheer squad."

Later that evening, at the volleyball court

You and Hana arrive at the gymnasium, changed into your athletic gear and ready for practice. The atmosphere is electric, with the sounds of bouncing balls and sneakers squeaking on the polished floor. The rest of the team is already warming up, and Coach Tanaka waves you over.

"Everyone, gather up!" Coach Tanaka calls, and the team forms a circle around him. "These are our new recruits, Y/n and Hana. They come highly recommended, and I'm confident they'll be great assets to our team."

The team welcomes you warmly, and you and Hana quickly join in the warm-ups. As practice progresses, it becomes clear that your skills blend seamlessly with the team’s dynamics. Hana's precise sets and your powerful spikes impress everyone, including the coach.

From the bleachers, you can see NewJeans cheering you on, their support adding to your motivation. The practice session ends with a friendly scrimmage, where you and Hana demonstrate why you were known as the "killer duo." Your teamwork is fluid and intuitive, leaving both your new teammates and spectators in awe.

After practice, Coach Tanaka gathers everyone again. "Fantastic work, everyone. Y/n, Hana, you two fit right in. Welcome to the team."

Breathless but exhilarated, you and Hana nod, grinning from ear to ear. As you walk off the court, NewJeans rushes over, their excitement infectious.

"You guys were incredible!" Danielle says, practically bouncing with energy.

"Thanks," you reply, feeling a warm sense of accomplishment. "It feels great to be part of the team."

Hana wraps an arm around your shoulders, her face glowing with happiness. "This is just the beginning, Y/n. We're going to achieve great things here."

With your best friend by your side and a new team to support you, the future at Hybe University looks brighter than ever. And with NewJeans cheering you on, you know you'll always have a support system, both on and off the court.

part 2 is here !

[demonicchicken1121]

Alastor, Rosie, and Cannibal Town: an Analysis (I’m fucking at it (Alastor Posting) again)

Ok I know that a lot of people have already been talking about this, but I really want to analyze Alastors behavior in cannibal town and how it’s so much different than how he behaves literally anywhere else.

Alastors true motives, personality, opinions, etc are widely debated in the fandom. Does he actually care about Charlie or the hotel? What’s his beef with Lucifer? Why did he make a deal and who was it with? Al is such a mysterious and closed off character, and his demeanor changes so frequently that no one in or out of universe really knows much about him. I personally think that the closest we get to seeing Alastor in his truest and most authentic self is when he’s in cannibal town.

From the moment they arrive, Alastors demeanor changes dramatically, even from a few moments before, when Charlie was venting about her relationship issues. He seems genuinely excited to be there and see Rosie, to the point where he seems to forget he brought Charlie here for a reason (hell I think he forgets Charlie is even there at a few points.)

Al and Rosie HAVE seen each other since he returned to hell, at the overlord meeting, but they didn’t really have the time to interact. Even so, they are so in tune with each other. This man was gone for seven years and here they are gaslight gatekeep girlbossing like nothing happened.

But once they actually have the opportunity to interact outside of the overlord meeting they’re super excited to catch up. The only other time he shows this much enthusiasm to see someone is with Mimzy, but things quickly goes south when she puts the hotel is danger. Alastors friendship with mimzy feels very onesided, and it seems that she only shows up when she needs something. While Alastor and Rosie clearly ask each other for favors, it feels a lot more equal in a way where they each get an equal amount of benefit.

And while we haven’t seen much of them yet, I get the vibe that they hang out in their free time and respect each others boundaries and schedules. I think Al went through cannibal town hoping to see her in the prequel comic, but figured she was busy after the extermination and instead asked some of the residents to say hello on his behalf. But that’s just a theory, a gam-

Also just a little thing I noticed, when rosie is joking about Charlie being too young for Alastor, Charlie looks visibly annoyed, but Alastors body language and expression don’t change. He tends to react relatively strongly when anyone (Angel) makes a move on him or assumes he’s dating anyone, but I think he knows Rosie well enough to know she’s joking.

Alastor lets his guard down so much in this part of the episode. He’s really in his element and his behavior seems so natural and genuine.

I love how he’s so willing to just roast Susan. Every iconic duo has that one person they fucking hate and will not be subtle about how much they fucking hate them. It’s especially funny with alastor, who’s usually really pretentious and passive aggressive when he insults someone, but with Susan it’s just

“✨Ornery old bitch?✨” also this is the only time in the entire series that alastor swears in a genuinely humorous way. In almost every other example, he is trying to intimidate someone or piss them off, and also when his staff was broken.

And speaking of his staff, I think it was actually a big deal that Alastor let Charlie use it, even tho it was for a very short time. This does show that whether or not he actually cares about her, Alastor does have a certain amount of trust and respect for Charlie. Despite that, I don’t think he would have done this if he wasn’t in cannibal town and with Rosie. The staff is clearly very important to him and likely holds some amount of his power, given how he reacted when it was broken.

As weird as this sentence is out of context, I think Alastor feels very safe in cannibal down. Rosie and probably the other cannibals genuinely like and respect him. it speaks volumes that not only he let Charlie use his staff, but he put himself in the position that would leave him vulnerable to Rosie if Charlie were to turn on him. While he knows it’s highly unlikely that would happen, I think it’s still worth noting that he intentionally left himself in such a vulnerable position in cannibal town and nowhere else.

Something else interesting I noticed, is that “ready for this” is one of the only songs that Alastor is interacting with another character, and isn’t competing for the spotlight. He is walking all over Vox in “stayed gone”, and getting walked all over by Lucifer in “Hells greatest dad”, but here, he’s very in tune with everyone else. He and Rosie are on equal footing and he feels secure enough to fade into the background a bit, harmonizing with the cannibals and letting Charlie take the lead.

So yeah, I feel like Cannibal town is alastors home in hell. His relationship with Rosie is probably the most positive relationship he has in the whole show. I think viv has mentioned that Alastor wasn’t a cannibal before he died, and I’m not sure if that’s still canon, but if it is, I can definitely see him becoming a cannibal when he became friends with Rosie. I can also see Rosie being one of his first friends in hell, maybe they even rose to power together. I’m clearly getting into some more speculative headcanons because I do what I want, but I’m putting them in their own section.

Now for headcanons with little to no substantial evidence ✨✨✨

I do actually really like the idea that they became friends very quickly and rose to power together. I like the idea that they were friends before Alastor became this super powerful force in hell. It also makes sense that he would trust someone who wanted to be his friend back when people weren’t constantly asking for favors or testing his power. Bc I do think that there was a short period of time between him arriving in hell and rising to power. (I have a lot of ideas about how he got his powers which probably will get its own post, but to brief, he wasn’t super powerful when he arrived in hell.) it makes sense that him and Rosie would have become friends in that period.

When he did start rising to power, I think Rosie would have guided him, given that he was a relatively new sinner. She would help him find overlords to target, possibly even letting him recruit cannibals to help him take them down. After he was finished broadcasting their screams, he would return their bodies to Rosie for her to sell. Maybe any cannibals who helped him would get discounts or first pickings.

This makes sense to me bc not only would it help explain why Alastor has never seen Rosie as a rival or a target, but also it would help explain why they’re so close. Nothing builds a friendship better than overthrowing incredible forces of power. Also they totally square dance on the weekends.

Viv please I need an episode that’s nothing but these two dicking around in cannibal town for twenty minutes.

[poppadom0912]

Uncle and Niece

Characters: Will Halstead x Daughter!Reader, Jay Halstead x Niece!Reader, Adam Ruzek, Kelly Severide, Sylvie Brett, Antonio Dawson

Warnings: Nothing

Summary: Everyone is introduced to the uncle and niece duo.

A/N: The ending of this was very rushed because it got really awkward and I didn't want it to get to long. I dont really like this but I am posting this in celebration of me getting my first job!!!!

*****

Jay hummed to himself, idly scrolling through his phone reading some messages while he took the occasional sip of his coffee. He managed to get a full night sleep without getting woken up by someone calling about a crime scene, allowing him to wake up earlier than usual.

Making sure everything was clean and clear, Jay clipped his gun and badge to his belt, slipping on his jacket but before he could open the door on his own accord, his doorbell rung, confusing him as to who would be at his apartment at this time.

With caution, Jay opened to door and was surprised to be met with a frantic looking Will. The doctors hair was a total mess, bags under his eyes, his coat haphazardly put on over his scrubs, his bag just about sitting on his shoulder with his hand clutching a smaller hand.

"I am so sorry but I need a really big favour man." Will said, panting as he just about managed to get all his words out. He looked like hell but his little girl on the other hand, no a single hair of hers was out of place.

Looking back and forth from the father and daughter duo, Jay eventually connected the dots, sighing as he did so. Going through all the possible scenarios in his head as to what the worse would happen if he went forward with this really big favour.

"The daycare at Med isn't open and no one is available to babysit but I had no idea you were working. You know what? Leave it, it's fine, forget I ever asked." Will rambled, only now noticing that Jay was leaving for work.

"Dude, it's fine." Jay shook his head, huffing as though he was hurt at Will trying to leave. "I'll take her to work with me. Everyone will love her and it'll be our first official time hanging out together."

"You sure?" Will replied, apprehensive as he let go of Faith's hand, letting her hold Jay's instead. "I owe you man."

"Nah, it's fine." Jay shook his head again, smiling down at his niece. "We'll have fun at the precinct."

"Alright Faith, be good for Uncle Jay Jay, okay? Make sure he stays out of trouble." Will said, bending down so he was eye level with his daughter. A smile she inherited from him plastered her lips as she bid her goodbyes, pressing a loving kiss on his cheek as she waved him away.

"Bye daddy! I love you too much!" Faith shouted down the hallway, watching Will hurry into the elevator, not wanting to be late. "I love you!"

"I love you too baby!" Will shouted in reply, enthusiastically reciprocating her wave which totally contrasted his completely messed up appearance.

With the elevator doors closing, Jay and Faith were left alone for the first time in both their lives. Looking down at the three year old, the three year old craning her neck to look up at her thirty something uncle, she gave him a toothy grin sending this weird feeling in Jay's gut. All of a sudden, he felt this strong urge to protect this little being with all his livelihood no matter what the universe sent this way. It was weird.

"Okay, let's go to work."

*****

For the entire car ride, without being prompted to, Faith was rambling on about anything that came to mind and Jay was intently listening even though he struggled to make out a few words. Faith spoke about her toys, her amazing father and how excited she was now that she was three since it was her birthday a month before Will suddenly showed up in Chicago.

With her much smaller hand in his, it was weird as to how something so small could exist but it was a miracle it could, the uncle and niece duo walked into the 21st precinct. Jay patiently held her hand at all times as she took one step at a time, the steps were much bigger than the normal ones she was used to but she denied any of his help.

Before Jay could make a clean escape, making a dash towards the metal gates, he was stopped by a very familiar voice causing him to come to a halt, screwing his eyes shut at the impending doom he was about to face.

"Chuckles, what do you have here?" Trudy projected, her hands on her hips when she noticed the tiny human being accompanying one of her detectives.

"Sargent, this is my brothers daughter Faith. Remember Will? The doctor?" Jay replied apprehensively, crossing his fingers he wouldn't get reemed in the middle of the district.

"Sure, anyways, Faith is an amazing name for such an adorable girl." Trudy, shrugged it off, leaning over the desk as she started gushing over the toddler. "I see your uncle missed out on those beautiful red locks, disappointing really."

Faith smiled, giggling despite not understanding what Trudy meant but Jay did and he felt slightly offended. "Okayy and that's enough for one day, we'll be upstairs if you need us sarge."

"It's time to say bye now Faith. Say bye Trudy!"

"Bye Bye!" Faith smiled, waving at the older woman who unbeknownst to her had become the most amazing person in the three year olds eyes.

*****

Whoever came up into intelligence, their footsteps could be heard against the wood flooring, allowing all the detectives to know who was coming up based on the force or speed but this was confusing.

There was definitely more than one person, one being bigger than the other but both going at the same slow pace. No one was able to make out who it was till they made an appearance.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Jay and Faith made it to the top of the staircase and were in the bullpen. For Jay, it was nothing amazing and he was here everyday, it was basically his second home but for Faith, it was both scary but amazing.

"Woah! Who's incredibly adorable kid did you kidnap?" Adam teased, a smirk on his face, being the first to notice the little girl that no one knew. Getting up from his spinning chair, he set down his coffee and leaned against his desk to get a better look at the duo.

"Jay, you never told us you had a daughter." Erin said accusingly, also smirking as she joined in the teasing. She was slightly shocked but easily hid it along with her confusion and slight irritation.

"Her name is Faith and she's my niece." Jay said with some pride, introducing Faith to all his colleagues. "My brother put me on babysitting today, so I expect all of you to be on your best behaviour."

"Sir yes sir." Adam's smirk didn't falter, walking towards the pair, bending down so he could offer his hand. "It's lovely to meet you Faith, I'm Adam."

"Hi." Faith replied, taking his hand confidently but she didn't move, simply holding it. She smiled at him, flashing a toothy grin in his direction. "Are you a superhero like Jay Jay too?"

"Indeed I am, aren't you smart?" Adam said rhetorically, pushing himself up so everyone else could talk to you. "We're gonna get along great."

"So Adam's already introduced himself." Jay rolled his eyes, pointing at Adam who stood proudly with his hands in his pocket. "This is Antonio, Erin, Al and my boss is Hank. They're all detectives like me."

At his last five words, Faith's whiskey coloured eyes automatically brightened and everyone noticed. She shuffled on her feet, her eyes sparkling in wonder as she looked at them all.

"Hey, you wanna hear a funny story about your uncle cause I've got too many." Antonio spoke up, smiling at the widening smile on the three-year-olds face at the mention of stories. Without a second thought, her hand was out of Jay's grasp and she walked straight to the Latino who picked her up, sitting her on his desk.

Besides Hank and Al, Antonio had the most and probably best experience with children and it definitely showed.

With a soft smile, Jay watched as the senior detective divuldged into a most likely embarrassing story before he walked away, slipping past Erin and moving towards Hank who he had much to explain to.

*****

Thanking all the forces in power today, Jay's brows scrunched in confusion at the purple hair tie that had somehow ended up around his fingers, a cute plastic flower cheaply glued to the front of it.

Throughout the day, Faith had been given a tour of the bullpen and even had the chance of manning the front desk with Trudy when intelligence went out.

It was just after lunch and Faith had woken up from a very good nap, the painless indentations on her face proving such. But, her hair had gotten completely messed up and Jay was now stuck.

Faith giggled at the confusion painting her uncles face, the adorable sounds washing away any of the impatience Jay just had. It was crazy how the toddler made him feel, even though she wasn't his own child.

"You know what, you look great Faith." Jay shrugged, tucking her red curls behind her ears, patting down the uncontrolled frizz all around before picking her out of her carseat and gently setting her on the ground.

For the billionth time today, Faith found herself in awe of the firehouse. She had only ever seen them in her cartoons and despite her excitement, she could feel the nervousness bubbling in her stomach at how big everything was in real life.

As if sensing her miniscule amount of anxiety, Jay scooped the toddler into his arms dramatically and walked up the apron and into the firehouse where he could see squad sitting at their table.

Jay's sudden action shocked her, sending butterflies in her stomach as she shrieked, laughter easily following suit when he wouldn't set her down despite her poor pleas.

The sound of childish laughter interrupted any conversation happening at the squad table, all their heads turning to find the source and to say they were confused was the least they could say.

"Hey man, you good? Whose baby did you kidnap?" Kelly asked, getting up from his chair, giving the detective a typical bro hug while minding the toddler perched on his hip.

"You remember my brother right, he's a doctor at med." Jay said, continuing when the lieutenant nodded. "This is his daughter Faith. Faith, this is one of my friends Kelly, he's a firefighter. Can you say hi?"

"Why do you have a girls name if your a boy?"

Her innocent question shocked them all. Jay's eyes went wide as he stared at his niece, Kelly was a mix between laughter and shellshock while the three squad members immediately began laughing.

"Faith, I what-"

"Oh my gosh! Who is this beauty?" Sylvie said, preening at the sight of the girl as she exited the ambulance. "She looks exactly like the new doctor at Med you know. Oh yeah, did you know that he has the same surname as you Jay, crazy."

"That's my brother Sylvie and this is his daughter Faith." Jay replied with ease, a smile on his face at the rambling paramedic.

Before she could address the fact that he had a brother, she frowned as she cast eyes on Faith's unruly hair.

"Does she have a hair tie?"

"Yeah, it's here, why?"

"Give her here."

And with that, the blonde paramedic disappeared into the firehouse with his niece and her cheap hair tie gone from his wrist.

"Boden's waiting for you inside his office Jay."

"Oh yes! I actually have work to do. Thanks severide."

[andreafmn]

12 Days of Ficmas ❅ Day 1

Word Count: 4.8K Paring:  Stiles Stilinski x Fem!Reader Prompt @alloftheprompts: Character A and Character B broke up but now they meet at a Christmas party.

Summary: In unpredictable Beacon Hills, Stiles and (Y/N) being together was one of the only things that made sense. But sometimes the smallest of changes can create the biggest of chaos. And a simple college admission letter can do just that. Maybe all it takes is the right Christmas gift to make things better.

A/N: yup, that's right, I'm doing 12 Days of Ficmas again (even if I haven't finished Kinktober 🫣🫣 but I am nothing if not a masochist (and a slight procrastinator) But enjoy!! This story actually made me tear up, honestly. But it wouldn't be one of my stories if there wasn't an insane amount of angst 😅 Also, disclaimer, I have not seen the last two seasons of Teen Wolf or the movie so, sorry for any inconsistencies.

Next ->

“Let’s just get this over with,” (Y/N) sighed as she fixed the Santa hat on top of her head. “They don’t have to know yet.”

“Yeah,” Stiles grimaced. “It’s better to wait until after the holidays, I guess.”

It was the first time Stiles and (Y/N) had ever been terrified to enter Scott’s house and face all of their friends. Even worse, they had to pretend everything was fine between them. 

Since they were little, the pair had been inseparable. Being next-door neighbors allowed them to grow close at a rapid pace. It was in her that he found solace on the nights his mother’s illness would take the best of her mind. He would run over to her house and climb the lattice that ran all the way up to her room. 

And she wouldn’t ask questions. (Y/N) would simply let him in through her window and distract him until he eventually drifted off to sleep. She did not need any explanations or reasons to comfort Stiles. She simply knew he needed her, and so she was there for him. Because if there was anything she knew of, it was the pain of slowly losing a parent.

They shared a bond that no one could break. Even as Scott entered their duo and they became the perfect trio, Stiles and (Y/N) shared a connection like no other. So, it came as no surprise to anyone when they got together. Even after Stiles had continuously professed his love for Lydia. Even after (Y/N) and Boyd had a quick fling. Everyone knew that it would be the two of them at the end of the day. 

What no one expected was that one day, they wouldn’t be Stiles and (Y/N) anymore. Hell, not even they had seen it coming. 

Their downfall had begun the second week of December. For some reason, the couple had not spoken about what happened after high school. In their senior year, they were focusing on the present, leaving the future where it was. Because what they didn’t know couldn’t hurt them. 

(Y/N) had applied under early action to various colleges, thinking nothing of it. But there was one college that had been her dream since her father had passed, and that was her only early decision application. She had worked every day since to make sure she was at least close to being accepted. But it was never a sure thing. 

She had promised herself to put it in the back of her mind. Stressing over that envelope would only drive her into madness. As much as she wanted it to be true, she knew the reality of the situation. The chances she could ever get in, much less with a full ride, were slim to none. And hoping only made things worse.

Still, that hadn’t stopped her from applying; it hadn’t stopped her from wishing. 

“Honey,” her mother had said one afternoon after she got home from school. “Look what came in the mail.” 

In her hands, there was a white manila envelope with blue lettering that clearly read: University of Oxford. 

(Y/N) could have sworn she could feel her heart in her throat, beating at an unnatural pace and threatening to leap out of her body. She crossed the distance between her front door to the kitchen faster than she had ever done before, needing to feel the paper in her hands. Only seeing it was not proof enough that it was real. 

“I don’t think I can open it,” the girl worried. “What if it’s bad, mom?”

“You won’t know unless you see, my darling,” she smiled softly. “But no matter what, you will still be the most impressive young lady I have known. And any college would be lucky to have you.”

With trembling hands, she broke open the envelope and pulled out a beautiful and crisp piece of white paper. “Dear (Y/N) (Y/L/N),” she read before taking a steadying breath. “It is with greatest pleasure that we inform you that the Admissions Comittee has decided to offer you admission to Oxford University through our binding Early Decision (ED) option on a full scholarship.”

As (Y/N) read those words, tears spilled from her eyes, and the papers fell from her hands. Her mother wrapped her arms tightly around her, showering her with words of love and encouragement. It had been everything she had worked for. Something not even the supernaturals of the world could take from her. 

“You’re going to Oxford, baby girl,” her mother cooed. “I knew you could. Your dad would have been just as proud as I am.” 

That moment should have been the happiest in her life so far. But there was a dark cloud that lingered over her as she celebrated. She had not told anyone she was applying to a college so far away, much less the reason she would be doing so. Mostly because she was terrified she wouldn’t get in. But part of her knew it was because she was leaving all her friends behind, leaving Stiles behind. And that was the hardest part. 

For the rest of the week, as she celebrated internally, she hid the biggest news of her life from all of her friends and the boy she had deemed the love of her life. Anyone would have thought she was the one harboring a secret supernatural life with the way she was guarding her secret. And, maybe it shouldn’t have been something she kept to herself. Maybe they would have all been excited for her and understood the reason for the distance. But something deep in her stopped her every single time. 

If her friends had noticed there was anything different from her demeanor, they didn’t say a thing. In the midst of final exams and the Christmas holidays soon approaching, everyone seemed to be stuck in their own heads. So, if they were in their heads, they couldn’t know there was something happening in hers.  

But that Friday night, at the same hour Stiles would always sneak in, (Y/N) knew there was no way she could continue to hide her secret any longer. 

“Come on,” he chuckled as he jumped onto her bed, holding his arms open. “Tell me what’s going on with you.” 

“What do you mean?” she said, forcing a smile. “Why do you say that?”

“You know you can’t lie to me. I may not have super hearing, but I can tell, (Y/N).” 

“Yeah,” she chuckled softly. “You know me too well.” 

“Of course I do,” he smiled as he crossed the distance between them and caressed the softness of her cheek. “Now, please, tell me what’s wrong?” 

That was it. That was the moment that had changed them, the moment that had broken them. 

(Y/N) took a steadying breath and took his hands in hers, focusing on the veins on his hands rather than his worried eyes. “I got a letter last week,” she started with a sigh. “I told you about all the colleges I had applied to as early action.” 

“Of course, you bright mind, you,” he said. “Did you already start getting the acceptance letters?” 

“Uh, there’s another college I actually applied to. Early decision.”

“Like binding early decision?”

“Yeah, exactly,” she said, her voice trembling as she spoke. “I, uh, I applied to the University of Oxford. And I got in.”

Instead of embracing her, Stiles dropped her hands, taking a step away from her. “In England?” he asked as though he was offended. “Why would you wanna go that far?”

“It’s not about the distance,” she grimaced, finally meeting his hurt eyes. “It’s about what that school means. That’s where my dad went to school. That’s the place my parents met. That was the school that started my entire life, Stiles.” 

“So, why didn’t you tell me about it? If it was so damn important, why did you never mention it?” Stiles seethed, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “You wanna start a new life, is that it? Follow in your parents’ footsteps and meet the love of your life there? Great, (Y/N). And you made sure you did it in a way you couldn’t back out.”

“Stiles, that’s not…”

“So, what? Were you gonna wait until graduation to tell me that you were moving halfway across the world to get away from us? From me?” the boy cried. “Or were you simply going to disappear and start a new life without telling anyone? But I guess that’s your thing now, huh? Keeping big shit like this until you can’t anymore.”

“That’s not fair, Stiles,” she frowned, hugging her arms tightly across her torso. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up, so I didn’t say anything. That doesn’t mean that I would have never told you about it. I’m not looking to escape. I’m looking to start my future.” 

“And it looks like you were starting it without me then,” he croaked. “What does that mean for us, (Y/N)? We ride it out until graduation, and then you leave for the rest of your life?” 

“I don’t… you wanna b-break up?” 

“It’s inevitable now, isn’t it?” Stiles said in a tone that broke her more than the words he was speaking. “You’re gonna be in England, and I’m gonna be god knows where. It’s better just to do it now.” 

That night was nothing like she had imagined it would be. She had hoped Stiles would have been excited for her and promised her everything would be alright. That somehow he would have the answers to how they could withstand so much distance because they had to make it. Out of everyone in their friend group, those two had to make it. 

Instead, it had taken a turn for the worse. One second, Stiles was standing before her with a smile on his face, and the next, he was leaving through her window with tears streaming down his face. What she had most been dreading was that scenario to play out, and a week before their friend’s holiday party, it had. They had gone through life-threatening and mind-boggling situations, but it was a college acceptance letter that broke them apart. 

The coming days (Y/N) spent buried in bed. Although she should have been celebrating one of her biggest achievements –other than saving lives and defeating many, many creatures– she had wasted more tears during that time than she had done the past years of her life. She was distraught and defeated, and she had no idea how she would make it through the last semester of high school, much less how she would have made it through a Christmas party. 

Somehow, they had arrived at Scott’s house at the same time, even after she had made sure she left twenty minutes after Stiles. The universe liked to play its mean tricks, but that one was almost unforgivable. 

“Let’s just try to stay out of each other’s way,” he grimaced. “The less we are near each other, the harder it’ll be for them to find out.” 

“Harder to find out what?” Scott asked as he swung the front door open, his signature goofy grin stretched across his mouth. Instinctively, Stiles draped his arm around (Y/N)’s shoulders and smiled brightly. “Ooh, did you bring your brownies, (Y/N)?” 

“Yeah,” she smiled. “Still warm from the oven.” 

“Wouldn’t be a party without them,” Stiles commented. “Now, let us in. It’s kinda cold out tonight.” 

The second they were inside, Stiles broke for the living room while (Y/N) moved to the kitchen with Scott. She set the tray on the overfilled kitchen island, noticing to the side that the dinner table was perfectly set up. “Oh, the table looks nice,” she commented. “But I thought we’d be doing something more low-key.” 

“Yeah,” he chuckled awkwardly. “Lydia thought it’d be fun to do a more grown-up dinner party.” 

“Yeah. Place settings and everything.” 

“We were waiting for you guys to start eating,” he said. “We’re doing gifts after.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” 

Slowly, the rest of the group trickled into the kitchen, greeting and hugging (Y/N) as they looked over all the food and served themselves their plates. And, of course, her seat was right next to Stiles’. Even if she had wanted to sit anywhere else, the rest had already taken their assigned seats, and the only open spot was the one that had her name. 

She gave her ex-boyfriend a small smile, looking anywhere but into the brown of his eyes. Her heart beat against her chest, threatening to jump out of her body. It made her fidgety as everyone ate, thinking any of the wereanimals around her would be able to tell how she was feeling. 

But Scott was laughing with Stiles, Malia was talking to Lydia, and Hayden, Liam, and Mason had their own conversation running. (Y/N) was all by herself. She was surrounded by all the people she loved, but it was the loneliest she had felt in a long time. Without the usual comforting words from Stiles, she couldn’t help but feel so out of place. It was the happiest time of the year, but the girl was miserable, and it hurt that it didn’t seem like the boy she loved was sad as well. 

“Alright,” Lydia spoke up as everyone ignored their mostly empty plates. “Now that our bellies are full, I think it’s time for Secret Santa! And I truly hope you all kept it a secret this time.” 

“Not that it’d matter anyway,” Liam chuckled. “We all know we ask for help every time.” 

“Anyways,” she said, ignoring the soft laughter that erupted from the group. “Let’s go to the living room, and (Y/N) you’ll go first.”

“Oh, uh, sure,” she smiled as she followed the group into the living room. She crouched under the decorated Christmas tree, pulling out the gift that had been there for almost two weeks. “I got Lydia.” 

“How wonderful!” the redhead mused, quick to hug her friend and rip away the wrapping paper. Inside the gift box was a mosaic picture of Lydia, Allison, and (Y/N), the first time they had finally considered each other friends. “Oh, it’s beautiful! I wish I could take it with me everywhere.” 

“It was hard to get it just right, but I loved how it turned out.” 

“It’s perfect, (Y/N),” she beamed. “Thank you.” 

“Of course. I love you, Lids.” 

“Love you too,” the girl said as she wrapped her friend in a tighter hug. “My turn!”

Lydia had gifted Liam nine books out of his TBR list —nine because of his lacrosse number. Then, Liam gifted Scott a new leather jacket so he could “actually look cool when riding his motorcycle,” Liam snickered. Scott then gifted Malia a light blue hoodie to add to her ever-growing collection, while Malia gifted Hayden a journal and pen set, saying it was for when her mind felt too busy. After a warm smile and a hug, she announced her gift was for Mason, laughing as he pulled out an ugly cat sweater. Once the loud laughter subsided, Mason gifted Stiles a massage mat for his Jeep. 

“For when you’re taking really long drives,” the boy smiled, clearly proud of himself. “There’s quite some distance between here and D.C. It’ll come in handy.” 

“Yeah,” he chuckled as he hugged Mason. “Thanks, man. It’s great.” 

“Don’t mention it.”

As Mason sat back down, Stiles cleared his throat as he pulled the last gift. Everyone knew by then who it was for. There was no one else left. “Well, I guess you all know who this is for,” he said. “I hope you like it, (Y/N).” 

The girl received the bag with a soft smile, trying her best to swallow the tears that were threatening to spill. She had forgotten for a second how cruel the universe could be. She pulled out the white tissue paper first before finding a beautiful brown bear dressed in a blue knit sweater. Around its neck, there was a necklace with something she could only assume was a soundwave. With curiosity washing over her, she looked to Stiles for an explanation. 

“Uh, so, it’ll make a lot more sense if you press the bear’s hand,” he stammered. Once she died as told, the sound broke her. From deep in the belly of the teddy bear, her father’s voice rang out, singing the words of “You Are My Sunshine.” There was not a single night when she was little that her father didn’t sing that to her, and even as she grew old for the lullaby, he would call her sunshine. “I got a recording from your mom of your dad singing the song when you were a baby,” Stiles spoke over the music. “And the necklace is the image of the soundwave of your dad calling you sunshine.” 

Tears had long since fallen down her cheeks, clutching the bear in her arms as though it was her own father. With her eyes closed, it was almost as though he was right there, singing to her. But it was what came after the song that shattered her. “You’re gonna do great things, (Y/N),” her father said through the bear. “I love you forever, my little sunshine.” 

At that moment, all she wanted to do was hug Stiles and kiss him like she had done a million times before. That was the boy she had fallen in love with. The one that cared and listened. The one that had made her heart race and her stomach turn into butterflies. She wanted to tell him she loved him and never let him go, but she couldn’t. Just like she could never do with her father. 

“I, uh,” she said as she stood from the couch, feeling as though she would faint in the crowded room. “I need some air.” 

(Y/N) stammered her way out of the living room and through the front door, only allowing herself to break down when she was at the end of the driveway. She fell to her knees and hugged the bear to her chest as she cried, letting the hurt that had accumulated over the years spill onto the pavement. In less than six months, she was going to walk into a new life halfway across the globe without the support of her father and now, without the support of Stiles. All alone. 

She should have been celebrating. She knew that. She should have been crying tears of joy and jumping into her love’s arms. Instead, it was the bear’s arms that she could feel. The softness of its fur, the sound of her father’s voice. 

Without even realizing it, she had begun singing along to the lullaby, sniffling between words as the tears didn’t relent. “You’re gonna do great things, (Y/N),” her father said once more through the bear. “I love you forever, my little sunshine.” 

“I love you too, dad,” she cried. 

“Hey,” his voice startled her. Through teary eyes, she looked up to find Stiles draping a jacket over her shoulders. He slid to the ground next to her, facing the house before them as she was now. “I’m sorry. I bought the gift weeks ago, and I wasn’t sure if I was still allowed to give it to you.” 

“No, it was… i-it was perfect,” she stammered, running her hand over the bear’s fur. “It’s just everything rushed over me. Like the breakup, the fact that I won’t be here next year, the fact that my dad won’t even see me gradua…”

Another string of sobs ransacked (Y/N)’s body, but that time it wasn’t the bear she was hugging. Stiles had wrapped his arms around her, pressing her into his chest. She could smell his cologne and feel his warmth, a feeling she had missed for the past seven days. All she wanted was to melt into his touch and profess to him all that she felt. But she couldn’t. Not anymore. Because he didn’t want it. 

“I didn’t want things to be this way,” she cried into his chest. “I didn’t want everything to fall apart.” 

Stiles remained quiet as she cried, a hard feat for someone like him. But he let her cry and cry until only quiet sniffles filled the air. Because he hadn’t wanted things to be that way either. 

He knew he had overreacted. When he had told (Y/N) his plans of enrolling in George Washington University all the way across the county, she had told him they could make it work. Especially if she got into any of the ivy leagues she had applied to on the East Coast. It had been fine. Hell, it had been perfect. 

But when she told him that she wouldn’t just be a couple of states away but that she would be on another continent, he couldn’t help but let his abandonment issues take control. 

He knew she was brilliant. He knew she deserved to do and be all that she had dreamed. But he feared that once she achieved all of her goals, he would just not fit into her life anymore. 

“You’re gonna go on to do great things, (Y/N),” he sighed sadly as her tears stopped. “You’re gonna go to Oxford, just like your parents, and you’re gonna probably graduate at the top of your class on your way. And I’ll be here —well, in Washington, technically—cheering you on.”

“But why couldn’t we be great together, Stiles? We couldn’t we both go on to do great things, together?”

“Come on, (Y/N). Once you’re there, you’re gonna meet so many people, and you’ll have guys falling on their knees for you,” he chuckled dryly. “I won’t fit into your new world. I mean, you said it yourself: that’s where your parents met and your life began. And now, maybe you’ll have a new beginning. And years from today, we’ll run into each other, and you’ll tell me about your job and your husband and your kids, and I’ll be so happy for you. Because you serve all the love and happiness in the world, even if it’s without me.”

“Have you even asked yourself if that’s what I want?” (Y/N) asked as she left his warm embrace, her red eyes boring into his. “I’m not leaving because I’m searching for a new life. I want to go to Oxford because it’s one of the last things I can share with my dad. I can walk down the same halls he did, I can take classes in the same classrooms, and eat at the same places he did. But I was always going to come back, Stiles. Because my friends are here, my mom is here, because you are here. I don’t want to run into you and talk about another man or the kids I would have with him. I don’t want to run into you at all. I want to walk beside you, Stiles. If I ever have kids, it’s only if they’re a part of you too,” she cried, fresh tears falling down her already-stained cheeks. “If you don’t love me anymore, then fine. I can understand that, and I can walk away. But don’t you dare say that you wouldn’t fit into my life because you’ve been there longer than anyone I know, and I need you to be there until the end. Because I already lost someone important to me and I can’t lose you too. Not you.” 

“(Y/N), I don’t want to lose you either,” he sobbed. “But how can we fight with the distance? How could we ever withstand the fact that we’ll be an ocean away?”

“We have gone through worse battles than a plane ride, Stiles. We have been on the brink of death more times this past year than any person would in their lifetime. Do you really think being in a different time zone is the limit to our relationship? I know the future isn’t promised but you were the one person I always knew would be there.”

“I’m scared, okay?! I’m scared that you’ll meet someone better than me, (Y/N). I’m terrified that you’ll realize that maybe I’m not the guy that can give you your happy ever after,” he finally confessed. His voice croaked, and his chest heaved as the words fell out of his mouth faster than he could ever stop them. “This week has been torture without you. But it’s made me realize that Beacon Hills has always been too small for you. After May, you’re gonna go out there and find your place. And this town will be nothing but a memory you’ll come back to.”

“There is no one better for me than you, Stiles, and Beacon Hills will always be my home,” she replied softly. Her cold hand found his cheek, and she wiped away his tears with her thumb. “I don’t want to know a life where you’re not there. You can’t give up on us without even trying, Stiles. You just can’t.” 

Without thinking twice, (Y/N) crashed her lips onto his, sinking into the warmth of his mouth. After a week, kissing him felt like the very first time. It was desperate and filled with need —the need for closeness and passion, the need for love. Instinctively, Stiles’ hands found her waist and pulled her closer to him, wondering how he ever thought he could live without her touch. 

“I love you, Stiles, and I don’t even want to think about ever having to love someone else,” she whispered as she parted from him. “My heart belongs to you. And if this is the end, it’ll still remain in your hands.” 

“I couldn’t love anyone else like I love you, (Y/N),” he replied with a soft smile. “But I just can’t help the thoughts that flood my brain sometimes.” 

“Then don’t listen to them and listen to me when I say that since the moment I met you, I’ve known you were it for me. There is no other man waiting for me in Oxford. It’s you, and it will always be you,” (Y/N) said before kissing him softly once more. “You’re the best thing that has happened to me, Stiles Stilinski, and you’re the only thing that I want to keep happening to me.”

“I can’t believe I ever broke up with you. Especially during Christmas,” Stiles chuckled as he rested his forehead against hers, flicking the tip of her nose with his own. “It was honestly the worst week of my life.” 

“Including being possessed?” Scott’s voice startled them as he came into view. “Although, I get it because this was completely avoidable.”

(Y/N) chuckled as she took Scott’s extended hand and got on her feet, wiping away any tears that still remained. “Did you hear that whole thing?”

“More or less,” he chuckled. “It’s a bit hard not to when I was coming to see if you guys were okay.” 

“We’re good now, Scotty,” Stiles grinned. “Just had some unresolved feelings to work, though.” 

“Can you not mention the whole thing about the breakup? I don’t wanna make it a whole thing.”

“That’s a bit hard, (Y/N),” Malia called from the open front door. “We all kind of already know.”

“Oh, cool, great,” she said as she hid in Stile’s embrace. “That’s not embarrassing at all.”

“Eh, at least our parents are back together,” Liam commented. “Best Christmas present.” 

“It really is, huh?” Stiles whispered as he kissed the top of her head. 

“Yes. Very cute and adorable,” Lydia added in a desperate tone. “Now, can we go back inside before Hayden and Mason finish all the brownies?”

As the group walked back into the house, Stiles and (Y/N) shared one more moment together on the front porch. “Hey, look up,” Stiles said with a smile. “Mistletoe.”

“Funny that they’d hang that at a werewolf's home,” she chuckled. “Although, I’m pretty sure that one’s plastic.”

“And I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to kiss me.”

“Maybe I’m waiting for another guy to kiss under the plant.” Stiles frowned at her words, and all she could do was laugh. “Too soon?”

“Much,” he said. “Now, come here.”

He snaked his hands on either side of her face and kissed her passionately. He kissed her for every day they had spent apart. He kissed her for every hurtful word he had spewed. He kissed her as a promise of his love for her. Stiles kissed her like she was his future. 

Next ->

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[hueningsloverr]

౨ৎ 48,300 hours !

pairing: soobin x reader summary: being soobins best friend usually came with a lot of benefits, until a certain point. it also apparently came with a lot of communication issues word count: 1.2k warnings: drunk soobin 💀 (friendly reminder the drinking age in korea is 19! this is not underage drinking!) extra: happy five years to our fearless leader!! moa's love you soob!! apart of my anniversary series!

you met soobin when you were both 18. he was scouted by big hit - by you coincidentally. you were the one who realised the number he put on his form was wrong; it was you who tracked him down.

you were utterly mesmerised by the boy. it was hard not to be. he was everything you were told to look for in an up-and-coming idol.

everything about him screamed 'idol', from his dancing to his smile. and he had the voice on an angel (or so you giggled to your friends late at night over the phone). he was the perfect fit for the new boy ground big hit was interested in putting together.

the only issue was he refused to work unless you worked with him. and so, you got promoted, and gained a new best friend.

years later, and soobin still bragged to everyone he met about you. about how if it wasn't for you, he wouldn't even be an idol.

'i'm serious! she's the one who tracked me down! she's my guardian angel!' he giggled drunkly one night to his friends over the table. their recent comeback - eternity - had gone better than anticipated, and so the leader called for a celebration. kai was passed out on the couch (from exhaustion. not drinking. we don't support underage drinking here!!!)

'soobin! seriously you need to stop telling everyone this. all i did was reach out to you.' you groaned, hiding your face in your hands so the other boys wouldn't see the embarrassment creeping up on you. 'you tell this story every time you get even slightly tipsy!'

yeonjun snickered, leaning over and whispering something in beomgyu's ear. the two boys laughed in their seats, the younger of the duo clutching his stomach as he leant against taehyun.

you never learnt what yeonjun said to beomgyu that night, but it never truly seemed important. at least until soobin started staying out later, and claiming that he was just too busy to hang out anymore.

you suspected he was meeting someone - he wasn't bad looking, and he was nice. it wouldn't shock you that he was seeing someone. but it still hurt. that was the shocking part. the hurt.

you had no reason to be hurt, not really. soobin had every right to date whoever he pleased. no matter how much you detested him it. you also detested whoever out there got to see him in ways you never would - the in love side.

it's not like you were in love with your best friend. you just cared. a lot. that's all there was to your relationship - at least up until he showed up drunk outside your apartment door, barely able to support himself.

'soobin?' you whisper-shouted, eyes wide as you stared him down. what the hell was he thinking?

'yeonjun wouldn't pick up his phone when i called him.' he pouted, a downcast look spread across his face.

you sighed, opening your door slightly, motioning for him to come in. he half stumbled half fell through your entry way, and in some alternate universe your heart would've swelled at the fact that out of everyone, he chose to come to you. yet all you felt was pity.

'get into a nasty break up?' you mused, hooking your arm under his shoulder to help support him. it was no help that he was a towering six foot one.

he laughed at your words, shaking his head as you lead him towards your couch. 'i'm not dating anyone, silly.' he poked, and you could feel his body shake from laughing too hard. you simply nodded at his words, setting him down gently.

'so why're you here? just felt like stopping by?'

'i'm in love with you.'

you paused, your back towards him.

it was just a cruel joke.

he was drunk.

'you're wasted, soobin.' you huffed, grabbing him some spare blankets and a pillow. the other four boys were probably all passed out, and even if they were awake, asking them to make the forty-five minute drive at nearly two in the morning was just cruel.

he never responded. by the time you gathered your thoughts enough to face him and turned back around, he was passed out. you tucked him in, much like a mother would to a young child, and left him in your living room. come morning, he was gone. all that he left was a stack of neatly folded blankets and an excruciatingly long hand-written letter detailing the embarrassment he felt.

you never brought up that night to him. never spoke of his words. you had half the mind to just blame the alcohol. but a part of you hoped there was some piece of him that truly meant his words. but you would never say anything that could possibly jeopardise your job and your relationship with your best friend. so, your buried your feelings and continued on working side by side the tall boy.

at least, not until you were reaching the five year mark of soobin calling you his guardian angel.

"so, wanna go out?" he grinned, leaning over the kitchen counter. you had invited all the boys over, along with a few other friends, to celebrate their upcoming comeback and their five year debut anniversary. "for dinner maybe? we've known each other so long, we have so much to celebrate!"

you stuttered in your movements, his wording catching you off guard. "go out?" you confirmed, eyebrows furrowing as you continued to grab glasses from the cabinet. "your wording is always odd, choi." you teased, turning around to face him.

his face was flushed pink, though he quickly turned away. "you just like making fun of me." he whined, rolling his eyes slightly. "but it's whatever. it's why i love you."

he said those words so casually you felt like you were seconds away from organ failure. it was whiplash. a weird dream. maybe the end of the world?

"what?" you sputtered, eyes wide.

your panic clearly set something off inside of him, for soon his expression matched yours. "what do you mean 'what?'" he gasped, and suddenly it felt as if the two of you spoke entirely different languages. "why are you acting like this is news?"

you shook your head, willing yourself to wake up from the fever dream you were experiencing. "because it is?"

he laughed slightly, though it was not as if something was funny. it was a painful, confused laugh. "i told you i loved you years ago!"

your face fell in that instant. he had meant it?

"you told me you loved me back! i thought-" he paused, mortified. "i thought that meant we were… you know? oh my god! i just assumed you were too embarrassed to talk about it - i never thought that you weren't aware."

now it was your turn to laugh. it was cliché. miscommunication at the finest. "i've loved you for five years soobin." you smiled, moving across the counter to place a hand on his cheek. he was smiling like a mad man.

"you don't even understand how badly i've wanted you to tell me that." he spoke as if a weight had been lifted off his chest, as if he could finally breathe properly again. "i've been in love with you for an exhausting 48,300 hours. you know how tiring it is to love someone for every second of the day?"

a/n: decided to take a crack at the classic 'you didn't know i've been in love with you? we've been dating in my head for like, forever' trope!!

©2024 - all rights reserved to hueningsloverr, please do not plagiarise or translate any of my work

[ladyluscinia]

Izzy, Bottles, and Apologies

Izzy's arc in S2 has been a wild ride.

The S1 Izzy enjoyers are feeling vindicated as hell, many people are fully revising their opinion of him, and the people still hating him have a new criticism or off the wall theory daily. David Jenkins LOVES Izzy and is having the time of his life trying to make sure everyone else does too. They had Con O'Neill sing in drag!

And naturally I have thoughts.

This is gonna be a two part post, I think. First, as much as people are celebrating Izzy having realized his arc and come into his own - from the singing to the apparent BlackBonnet shipping - there are some threads they could pull on that might reveal more arc to come. And I am really hoping they pull them, so I'm gonna tell you why you should too!

And second, I have some minor points I dislike and concerns that this might be the end of the arc. Which would be disappointing but I think I get why, so I'm gonna discuss that too.

To start...

---

"How are you handling all this so well?"

Here's the thing about S2 Izzy - while I need to be clear his behavior is not OOC or inconsistent with S1, it is happening rather fast. I'm pretty sure that has a lot to do with out of universe reasons I'll get into later, but in-universe it stands out. Now, he's hardly the only one operating on an accelerated schedule - the timeline for this season is an insanely fast not-even-two-weeks - but Izzy's defining struggle in S1 was fear of change. That was the cause of his friction with Edward, and what made him an antagonist in the first place.

In S2 he's gone through a lot of trauma, yes, but that fear is noticeably less present than I would expect.

Izzy in 2x06 has been cleaned up from his sobbing mess phase for just over 48 hours and he faces Edward with a joke, and then that night sings a moving French serenade to the crew. The next morning he's teasing them about finally hooking up and spends the day offering both Stede and Edward relationship advice.

He's a newly realized man... shedding repression and embracing who he could be. Accepting his breakup with Edward and trying to openly support the relationship that's better for him.

It's fun!

It's also, potentially, a bit of a flag. Maybe not a red one, not yet, but... pink-ish? A bit orange?

Let's look a little closer at those frayed edges.

---

"Well, you see, I have a system..."

There's an exchange from right at the start of the Pilot episode that has echoed through the entire series so far:

"Bottle it up?" -> "No, Frenchie! No, that's the worst thing you could do!"

Not talking to other people, not addressing your traumas... that's the kind of shit that just builds and builds inside you. When the cork eventually pops, the resulting damage can be a lot. Look at the finale of S1, where all of Stede's bottled up guilt and insecurities laid waste to his relationship with Edward, and then inadvertently became the first domino in the Kraken.

S2 is quick to bring this scene back into the forefront. The first time we see the Breakup Boat crew talking in 2x01, Frenchie reveals that "Bottle it up?" wasn't just a random comment he made, but a philosophy of his:

"Ah - well, you see, I have a system for dealing with all the terrible things I've seen. There's a box, in my mind, and I put the things in the box, I lock the box, and then I don't open it again. Works like a charm."

Apparently, Frenchie is the only one it actually seems to be working for.

Now, the show has been drawing some interesting lines between Frenchie and Izzy. From both serving as Blackbeard's First Mate to being frequently shown as a duo - tormenting Navy guys together on Sunday's raid, Frenchie holding Izzy's hand, Frenchie leaning on Izzy's leg in the cell, Frenchie behind him raising the flag in 2x05 - it's fitting that Izzy echoes Frenchie's preferred coping method. First he frames the non-acknowledgement of harm from Edward as just... part of piracy. He's a pirate, so he's fine with it.

And then we get Izzy's little whittled shark reveal and the conversation with Lucius about his leg:

"I don't know what you're talking about. Shark did this... dangling my legs over the side of the ship. Served me right, too."

Lucius calls him out on the unhealthy behavior, and Izzy concedes his point:

"O-kay, that seems healthy. Using a bit of fiction to help cover up your trauma." -> "Yeah, well... not moving on is worse. Twatty."

And to give him credit, he's right in his advice to Lucius. Filling his sketchbook with pages and pages of Blackbeard trauma is Lucius's form of bottling it up - thinking in endless recursive circles about his tumble off the ship and everything that followed. We already know chasing revenge instead of living is bad - Jim and Spanish Jackie established it last season, and Pete just echoed them. When Izzy advises Lucius to move on, that's what Lucius does.

But what Izzy is doing with the shark? That's not the same thing at all. He's lost a leg, grazed a bullet off his own head, and was snarling drunken accusations at himself in the mirror... he's not moving on from that. He's bottling it up with a nice dose of self-blame.

Cutting the legs off the unicorn for not doing it's job right and saying "served me right" about his fictional shark? There's a real dark knot of emotions there.

(Recall, too, that Edward deflected his hurt from Stede's abandonment into a "fictional character" during his chats with Lucius, and that delayed the explosion but couldn't stop it.)

So... Izzy's definitely coping with trauma in a way the show does not advise and often circles back to. Can we see any signs in 2x06 and 2x07?

---

The Weight of Things Unsaid

At the very start of 2x06, Izzy gets the thing he spent all of 2x05 mentally bracing himself to never hear - an apology from Edward for his leg. He walks up to initiate conversation and begins talking like nothing has changed. Edward is back in his leathers. Appropriate, given that his penance onesie was nothing genuine, just "how long do I have to wear this fucking thing for?" And Izzy is ready for them not to address the obvious hurt, to just smooth over a few jabs and go back to normal... but even Edward's mumbled little "Sorry about your leg" is so significant and difficult he flees as soon as he gets it out, leaving Izzy to sit, incredulous, with the acknowledgement.

It's still almost definitely not enough.

There was so much between them in 2x01 - 2x03. The writers literally did BlackHands love confessions on both sides. An apology from Edward Teach - a man who historically does not apologize - is a huge first step but still only the first step. The real things unsaid are so much bigger than a leg.

We get something else, too... Edward commenting on Izzy's drinking.

"Jesus. Really putting that away, aren't ya?"

Izzy has had booze a lot this season. He lost a leg and pain meds aren't really an option, so not surprising, but notable. Edward, advocating for substance abuse to deal with bad feelings, calls him a lightweight in 2x01. When they are found with the dead seabird in 2x03, Izzy takes a pointed drink from his bottle, and then 2x04 he spends the entire episode completely plastered. He seemingly sobered up for 2x05 - probably to focus on sword training and his whittling project - but now the bottle is back again before Izzy disappears for several hours.

And a little liquid courage might explain his going all in for the Calypso's Birthday performance.

I do appreciate that the performance on it's face is something completely unexpected for Izzy, but when thinking about it... it does make sense.

We already know music and performance were available on Blackbeard's ship even before Stede. Edward learned to play shanties on the piano somewhere, and singing is a common and encouraged part of sailing culture. Izzy's choice of song to perform is something a lot more emotional, but this is probably not his first performance for a crew.

Makeup, too, is in fashion for men and women at this time, and OFMD has shown it as such before. Izzy has never worn fashion makeup, or tried to be beautiful, but the concept wouldn't be alien to him. Wee John's description of a dramatic party look might even have intrigued him specifically because Izzy has actually done "looks" before - of the terrifying "theatre of fear" kind. The Kraken did have his whole crew in makeup for their raids. Taking the opportunity to embody something a bit more vulnerable and try to bring joy to this crew that took care of him is meaningful as fuck.

And it's still a drag performance!

It's a good pair of moments - before and after Ned. Proof that all this isn't just coping method - that's not what I'm arguing here - and even if Izzy's still bottling up a lot of feelings he's not doing the same full pressure bomb thing as he did in S1. There's been growth!

(This is why the flags are only pink-ish / orange-ish right now.)

Episode 2x07 though... I'm not so sure he's doing good as much as pretending it's all good.

Showing up to make his joke in the morning is a fun moment. I especially enjoy Edward's little "fuck off" with no bite to it 🤣🤣🤣 Reminder they do live together on a ship, so this is likely not even close to the first morning-after that Izzy has gotten front row seats to. But, at least to me, there's also a very performative feeling about it. Izzy being very Look how normal I can be about you fucking your boyfriend, Ed - and Edward picks up on it too. That's why he turns to Stede and whispers "He's jealous" as Izzy walks away.

Izzy continues to make jokes and give advice through the day to our main couple, but he's... subdued. I think his fake chill also disguises that he and Edward aren't on the same page about what they discuss at the docks, hence his poor advice to "listen to it" when the "it" in question is Edward's immediate desire to run away from Stede and become a fisherman. They are talking again, but haven't resumed communicating.

I also think it's relevant that Izzy goes to try and support Stede after Edward dumps him, because we're still waiting for Stede to stop bottling things up. He doesn't talk about Badminton or feelings of inadequacy or even the babiest little olive branch to Edward about "hey my dad kinda sucked too." Edward's two exes are sitting in the bar corner together, thinking about all the shit they won't talk to him about until it kills all three of them. Exciting!

The pressure is building. It has to circle back to Stede in S3. I'm hoping at the same time, it circles back to Izzy, too.

Hoping we get to explore some of his anxiety, and his internalizing negative self-image and blame. At the moment, I think Izzy might have less gotten over his anxieties and more just let go of the wheel of his life entirely, and fortunately had people around to steer him in okay directions. It would be really interesting to explore that more.

(Even if I have some concerns they may not.)

---

Subtle as a Cannonball to the Face

Izzy's character arc was always going to be a long journey - not because he was somehow morally worse than everyone else, or required particularly painstaking growth, or even because there was going to be some great need to "hold him accountable" for S1. No, it was going to be a long journey from an antagonist start for the same reason I mentioned earlier: Izzy's core struggle is fear of change.

OFMD opens with two protagonists recklessly pursuing change in ways that harm themselves, their relationships, and others, and a primary onscreen antagonist resisting change in a way that harms himself, his relationships, and others. There's no easy morality here - they all fuck up. And they all require the entire show to actually figure out the correct balance of change and growth and facing the past.

"I think the three of them are on an arc together that's pretty inseparable." - David Jenkins (Source, 9 Oct 2023)

So... why is there a chance that everything I've mentioned above is going absolutely nowhere and Izzy's arc has been wrapped up with a bow in S2?

Well.

It's late March 2022, the fandom's age is still only countable in weeks, I personally haven't even watched the pilot yet, had only even heard of the show 3 days before... and one of David Jenkins first post-finale statements is telling people to pay attention to Izzy's POV and his and Edward's love story on rewatches (Source, 25 Mar 2022), and then soon after comparing Stede to a homewrecker in Edward and Izzy's toxic marriage (Source, 15 Apr 2022). Lots of links because this stuff was available to the fandom from the start.

By the first half of May 2022 (while poor Mr. Jenkins is still anxiously trying to get his series renewed for S2, since the confirmation won't come until June 1) the takes on Izzy have soured a lot. It's not a "homophobic gay" joke anymore. Now it's "Izzy is the embodiment of colonialism who enforces a racist and homophobic ideal of Blackbeard on Edward" and "pretending Izzy could be canonically gay is homophobic" and "Izzy bought Edward as a slave from the British". Harassing anons have already started on tumblr. No first hand experience with Twitter but I've heard horror stories. These takes are spreading like wildfire through the fandom, with a heavy backing of white fans accepting and spreading anything that sounds vaguely racially-conscious as something they just missed in their privilege and need to listen to POC about. Or listen to other white fans that say they've been listening to POC.

The anchor hoist in 1x09 (that was a complete directing coincidence, as the crew confirmed in late May) is being taken as incontrovertible proof that Izzy is a violent racist, and the relatively small Izzy fandom pushing back against any of these reads is being likened to toxic fangirls declaring Kylo Ren a poor widdle victim because they think violent white guys are so hot their brains fall out. This is happening loudly and in the public forums of social media.

Can you imagine being David Jenkins right then?

This is one of your favorite little guys, who you wrote a silly little homoerotic pirate jealousy arc for. He's kinda cringefail and tends to be a dick, but you cast a guy who you think embodies him with so much sympathy and genuine emotion. You're so excited to explore his direct relationship to the main couple of your series even more. Unfortunately, you and a lot of the cast and crew are also engaging maybe a bit too much in fandom spaces, which very few of you have much familiarity with navigating as creators. AND there's still renewal stress!

If I were him, I too would consider that perhaps my intended Izzy arc was a bit too nuanced and drawn out, and maybe I needed to clear up some misconceptions as soon as I got the opportunity.

Enter S2.

MAX reduced the budget for the season significantly and it shows - particularly in the whole thing having to squeeze into 8 episodes - and I wouldn't be surprised at all if worries over a S3 renewal / S3 budget impacted S2 writing as well. Character arcs got pinched, goals had to be prioritized... and from the looks of the season, "make sure everyone knows Izzy is not a homophobic villain tormenting Edward as fast as possible" came out as a big goal.

I mean they open with a dream sequence that literally mocks the idea of a heroic Stede rescuing Edward from the dastardly Izzy. It's not subtle.

And the lack of subtlety is kind of what's concerning me.

Izzy's arc is (I think) leaving enough threads that they can extend it into S3 with the reveal he's not actually fine and done developing, but they also seem to want his S2 arc to end in a place where maybe he is. Lots of giant signs pointing to him and saying "Look! Everyone likes him!" or "Look! He's also gay!" at the expense of some of his cringefail or dickish charm. My guy had anxiety he dealt with poorly in S1, and I do think they are trying to frontload or adjust the arc so he's basically (or at least seemingly) over that before the next hiatus.

The best way I've seen it described is that the show no longer trusts the audience to pick up what they are putting down, and so they feel the need to really hammer it in. Not necessarily OOC, but definitely de-emphasizing any of his rough edges that were originally just written to not be any worse than the other characters.

This is why Izzy gets shot by Edward in the very first episode for a bunch of complicated reasons that are really good character work and not super hard to discern, but then later they have Izzy point out to Stede why he got shot twice. It's all very "look into the camera and say the themes", because to some degree they are afraid everyone is going to get easily convinced Edward shot him for calling him a namby-pamby that one time.

It makes me worried they are too afraid of misinterpretation to commit to the arc they originally conceived of, even with the finish line in sight in S3.

And, again, I get it, Mr. Jenkins. In October 2022 he made a funny quip and a boner joke on a tweet about Edward's blanket fort and the hordes descended to scream victoriously about how he was cutting down the Izzy stans for their racist infantilization crimes of thinking Izzy would *checks notes* help hold up a blanket. It's a very reasonable conclusion that this fandom cannot read and needs to be spoonfed Izzy's arc.

It just sucks that a toxic section of fandom's misinterpretations appear to have undercut a strong - and, honestly, not that complicated - character arc so much that S2's BlackBonnet arc can be about fuck ups and backsliding, but Izzy needs at least the illusion of having no flaws left come hiatus time.

[lnfours]

Welcome back! Can I get a blurb for college!peter x black cat!reader post nwh? Lots of fluff. Maybe a tiny steamy. I have no idea on plot I’m sorry 😅

OOOOOOH I LOVE BLACK CAT!READER (i’m kinda putting mcu peter into the ps4 spider-man universe idk??)

i like ur thinking, i rlly do 🫶🏻 also thank u for the warm welcome! it’s good to be home 🙂

blurb night!

the crime in the city was unusually quiet for peter. nonetheless, he swung through the city as he did his rounds.

“and that folks is why spider-man is a menace! he’s an abomination to this city! we should all believe mysterio.” jameson practically yelled in his ear. peter laughed to himself quietly, switching to a different podcast on his phone.

“good to know i’m still hated by someone.”

his thoughts were interrupted by an incoming call. he answered it almost immediately, desperate for something to do.

“captain,” he answered.

“spider-man,” yuri said back, “there was a call about a disturbance down in hell’s kitchen. do you think you can check it out for me? let me know what’s up?”

“sure,” he said, “i’ll give you a call once i check it out.”

“sounds good,” he could hear her relieved smile on the other end, “thanks.”

“no problem.”

he started swinging towards hell’s kitchen, making his way towards the building yuri sent him the address to. once he landed on the rooftop, he let out a sigh as he stood in front of the woman in front of him.

“cat…”

“hey, spider,” she smiled, “long time no see.”

“yeah, i know.”

“i missed you,” she made her way closer to him, the claws from her gloves dragging across the nylon of his suit, “new suit? i like it.”

he moved her hands from her chest, “cat, let’s not do this right now.”

“why not, spider?” she asked, her head tilting to the side.

peter sighed, knowing he couldn’t say no to her, “what’re you doing, y/n?”

you backed up, giving him a little shrug, “talking to my favorite crime fighting spider. what’re you doing?”

he sighed louder this time, “i meant here, y/n. what’re you doing here? at the auction house?”

“getting my father’s painting back,” she said, flinging the tube of artwork over her shoulder, “what else?”

“c’mon, i can’t just let you break in and steal something-“

“steal something that belongs to me. something that was taken from me without my consent.”

she kinda did have a point…

“c’mon,” she sighed, walking up to him again, “can’t you just pretend that this never happened? just like old times. spider-man and the black cat. we could be the duo we used to be.”

she leaned up and lifted the bottom of his mask. he almost hesitated, scared of letting her see his face, until she stopped after revealing his lips. she leaned closer, her lips brushing up against his. he froze, uncertain on her intentions. and she knew she had him right where she wanted him.

“so long, spider.”

he gulped as she walked away, jumping off the edge of the. building as she made her way towards center city. he pulled his mask down, his phone ringing again. he answered.

“hello?”

“hey, any updates on that disturbance?” captain watanabe’s voice echoed.

“yeah, it was nothing,” he said, “all clear, captain.”

[pitviperofdoom]

It has been a HOT minute since I posted anything here about Caleb and Jack, my vampire-and-frankenstein-monster duo. They're two of my nearest and dearest OCs, and rest assured that no matter what else I get up to, they're always in my thoughts.

But this was the last time I made a substantial post about them, about six-ish years ago when I tried writing their story for NaNo. The way I was writing it wasn't really working out, and I shelved it for a bit so I could continue developing the storyverse they're part of.

And, well, I did a lot of development! Came up with a much more coherent plot for their intro story, ended up working on it last November for NaNo, so it worked out.

Anyway, some time after my previous attempt, Jack in particular went through quite the redesign, and for a while I've been wanting to draw how he looks now, but it's been ages since I drew regularly and I could never get up the nerve and motivation for it.

But hey! Writing's my thing! So I figured, why not just post his in-universe description?

So, here's Caleb and Jack's first meeting, in its current incarnation. Hope you guys enjoy:

Caleb’s hand was halfway to his phone when, further into the woods to the southeast, a pair of high-pitched howls rent the air.

“Shit.” He was already running. Normal wolves didn’t range this far west. What the hell were werewolves doing out here when there was a creature on the loose that already put two of theirs in the hospital?

A third wolf voice joined the rest, not so much a howl as a yelping scream. Caleb abandoned running and took flight instead, shooting upward until his bat form broke through the foliage and flitted over the trees unhindered. The wolves, bless them, continued to howl for help, leading Caleb straight to them. Once he was nearly on top of them, Caleb dove back down through the treetops. He abandoned his bat form halfway down, and let his weight carry him the rest of the way to the earth.

Three small, rangy wolves paced and snarled in the dark. One was limping. The other two crowded in front of them protectively, teeth bared to the gums at the fourth figure crouching in the loam nearby. 

It was a person, or at least person-shaped, dressed in rags and snarling like a beast. It moved strangely, its feet elongated so that it balanced on its toes like a bird. There was blood on the ground, and blood on its long, sharp, shining fingers.

One of the wolves lunged and snapped, and the creature charged. Caleb met it halfway and struck claws-first.

His talons tore through clammy flesh. The blow sent the creature stumbling back, clumsy on its oddly-built legs. Its foot caught on a root and sent it flailing to the ground, and Caleb was upon it before it could recover.

It struggled wildly beneath him, teeth gnashing and foaming as it tried to bite him. Another blow to the face, and Caleb’s claw caught on something that didn’t feel like flesh—string? Thread? Its breath smelled of blood and chemicals, and its eyes—

There was something wrong with its eyes.

It kicked out at him, and he found its feet just as sharp as its hands. He was forced to let go when it cut him in the stomach, and it broke away and scrambled back until a tree halted its retreat.

One of the young wolves charged again, baying like a hunting hound, only to catch another sharp-taloned kick to the face. The cornered creature lashed out again, and Caleb flung himself sideways into the wolf, knocking her out of the way with a yelp. 

“Get out of here!” he hissed, and the wolf snarled back at him defiantly. In the space left by their argument, the creature scrambled to its feet and fled. Caleb was about to give chase when the wolf slammed him back and took off after the creature themself.

By now the creature was wounded, and its gait made it slow. The wolf caught up in two bounds, and Caleb couldn’t reach them before the creature whipped around and tensed as if to attack.

With a deafening snarl, a fourth wolf—easily twice the size of the others, dark brown with a dusting of red around the ruff—appeared out of the trees, sank her teeth into the creature’s shoulder, and flung it back. The smaller wolf yelped in shock and skidded to a halt. Caleb overtook them and pounced on the creature before it could recover. It was trying to rise when Caleb pinned it to the earth, fangs bared. Dimly he was aware of the wolves’ snarling presence behind him, but his eyes were fixed on the creature. His mind raced. Removing the head or destroying the heart was usually a good bet, but he didn’t know what he was dealing with in the first place.

Head was easiest, at this point. If this was somehow a fucked up zombie, it might not even have a heart.

His hand closed around the creature’s throat. God, he wished he’d brought a knife.

Beneath him, the creature went limp. Its jaws cracked open, exposing smooth, shining teeth.

“St—Stuh—Stop.”

Caleb startled so badly he let go. The creature gasped and scrambled away again, before the red-maned wolf darted round to cut off its escape. A snarl from her sent it cowering into the dirt, crying out. 

“Stop please.” The words scraped their way out of its throat. Immediately it flinched, curling in on itself as if anticipating another blow. 

All Caleb could do was stare at it, then at the wolf helping him corner it. “You heard that, right?”

Maya Robinson cocked her head to the side, looking for all the world like a dog that had just heard a new sound.

“Did you just talk?” Caleb demanded, feeling ridiculous. It could be mimicry. He’d heard rumors of necromancers teaching their puppets to imitate speech.

The creature curled into a tighter ball without a sound.

“Hey,” he bit out. “Answer me if you understand. Did you just talk?”

It flinched again. Breath rattled and hissed in and out of it. “Sorry,” it rasped out.

Caleb stared at the wolf cornering it. She stared back, nonplussed.

Behind him, another growl rose from the smaller wolf from before. They crept forward, eyes fixed on the creature. The cuts on their face still bled. They lunged, only for Maya to let out the loudest snarl Caleb had ever heard. Cowed, they immediately dropped to the ground and pinned back their ears.

The creature on the ground startled visibly, rolling to its feet. Maya turned toward it, teeth bared, and made as if to lunge and put it straight back on the ground.

“Wait,” Caleb cut her off, one hand in front of her glaring face. “Just, wait. Give it a minute.” The wolf gave a disgruntled snort. “Don’t. You aren’t even supposed to be here.”

Maya snorted again, unimpressed, before turning away, tipping her head back, and howling to the sky. Answering calls reached Caleb’s ears within seconds.

“You, sit,” Caleb growled at the creature. It sat, arranging its legs awkwardly on the ground, and Caleb stepped back to take his first good look at it.

It looked human, for the most part. Its component parts seemed mostly human. It had two arms, two legs, and a head, all where they were supposed to be. Cautiously he took hold of one of the creature’s wrists, turning it over for a better look. It submitted to the inspection meekly enough, silent as it waited for him to finish. 

Maya had been half-right about it wielding knives. Its hands were knives; the fingers stopped at the second knuckle, and instead of the last two joints were six-inch steel blades. The thumb had been treated similarly, the last joint replaced with a shorter blade. Caleb tested one edge and cut himself easily. He released the wrist and turned instead to the strange shape of its feet, and had to stare at it for nearly a minute to understand just what he was looking at. Below the heel, its foot was an elongated fusion of metal and flesh that split into three toes with long, curved steel talons. It was built to walk like a bird. Like a dinosaur, more like.

Beneath the rags it wore, prominent seams crisscrossed its flesh, making its skin a grisly patchwork. The face alone had at least three different skin tones, each bordered by thick, even stitching. A shock of grayish-white hair grew from its head in uneven tangles. Caleb cautiously brushed it out of the way of its eyes, and couldn’t suppress a hiss of instinctive revulsion.

It didn’t have eyes. No sclerae, irises, or pupils. The sockets were pits of viscous black ooze that leaked like tears.

Caleb breathed in, drinking in the mingled floral-chemical scent, and sighed.

“I’m going to be completely honest with you,” he informed the wolves. “I have no idea what I’m looking at.”

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for refusing to be my bestfriend's son's godmother?

CW : sexual assault

If there is one thing that is well-known in my school is that me and my bestfriend are two-peas-in-a-pod, sisters in everything but blood, twin flames, platonic soulmates. We had been friends since the start of middle school and we share a lot of similarities and interests. We really get along so well and I had always been happy and content just to have her beside me. I thought nothing would ever come between. That is, until he came into our lives in freshman year of high school.

Honestly, he wasn't that bad at first, he was actually amazing. Our duo became a trio and we had an amazing rest of our high school years. They were some of the best memories I have and to this day, in freshly out of university, it only brings me pain. Everything changed when my best friend noticed that this guy's attention to me was a little... too much to be considered platonic. And I admit that I had enjoyed the attention. She- my bestfriend- one day found out that this guy and I have started hooking up and she didn't like it. She never actually told me the reason why but I just remember her eye-ing us intensely whenever we sit next to each other. For some reason, she started copying me. My way of dressing, my mannerisms, flirting with the guy and all. I wasn't upset with that, not even jealous, I just teased her of being my fan. Then it happened.

Apparently, my bestfriend dressing and acting like me was something this guy took as a sign that she also wanted to hook up with him so he made a move. They slept together. She didn't consent to it. And to my utter shock, she blamed the guy AND ME. She said that since she was mimicking me in terms of fashion and mannerism, it was technically my fault that this guy forced her to sleep with him. I was so shock when this happened because I never told her nor forced her to mimic me. I never told the guy to force her because she resembled me at that moment. Yes, I was sad and angry of the guy because of what he did but I don't think it's fair to call me his accomplice! I never wanted that to happen to her of all people.

She stopped talking to me after that. Didn't let me explain, nothing. We reached sophomore year of university, she exchanged schools, blocked me in every social media account and according to our mutual friend, every time she suggests unblocking me and letting me explain my side, she would straight up say "Hell no!" and say that she didn't wanna talk to the person who aided the loss of her dignity. Through the last 2 years of my university, I held onto the hope that she'll talk to me again because I missed her and I really wanted my soul sister back.

Now here's the kicker.

She contacted me yesterday. Not for closure, no, for an invite to be her newborn son's godmother. I was ecstatic at first because that means she will start talking to me again, right? My joy ended when I found out that the boy's father WAS THE SAME GUY. Somewhere in the 2 years she kept on refusing to talk to me, she talked to this guy again, they got together, she got pregnant, and now they're also planning a wedding. Now I don't blame the kid, of course not, but what made me decline was how could she have talked and bonded to the person who DID steal her dignity yet refuse to talk to me WHO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT? Me, her bestfriend of so many years...

And now the news of me declining her invitation to be her son's godmother got out and people- our friends, her and his family, even my own mom!- are calling me cruel and cold-hearted for refusing the honor to be a child's godparent. They said that since my bestfriend was able to put what happened behind her then I should to as well. That she didn't contact me because she needed space ( she needed space from me and apparently not to the one that caused it, god- ). I don't know. In any other situation, I would've gladly be her son's godmother but the pain of that realization that she stayed away from me yet let that man near is still so fresh that I couldn't bring it to myself to be anywhere near or even have any connection to them...

Am I really the asshole for refusing?

What are these acronyms?

[hermesserpent-stuff]

ive been talking to @golden-buddle and uhhh void remmy and void blade own my heart. sorry!!! not sorry!!

so heres void remmys reaction to a grocery store!! (i put everyone from the void into the same universe because they are a family now. rawr. also i gave remmy his black and red eyes now lol)

Gambit rocks on his feet back and forth looking at himself in the mirror. Well, maybe Gambit is the wrong name. It is his, but it is a name meant for powers and suits, not for daily wear and tear. Remmy was one of the names that came with him in the void. And its the sort of name to go with the loose shirts, jeans, and Converse that are reflected back at him. He plops the sunglasses over his eyes and gets out of the bathroom. 

He had been reluctant to leave the apartment block. It scares him to journey to far. Blade has been scouting out the surrounding city and today Remmy would be making a journey out further than he had before. Wandering in the void had been dangerous. He learned that early on not to stray far afield. People died that way. 

Blade had found him on his third day in the void. Gambit had so many conflicting memories and no memories at all at the same time. Like someone had written an idea out on a bit of paper and erased it harshly before writing a slightly altered version over and over for five or so years, leaving the paper marked, yet unmarked. He knows who he is at his core. A guy for Louisiana, a cajun through and through that could control kinetic energy and blow stuff up. And a hell of a card player who could play tables better than most. Aside from his name, there is the inkling of someone elses name, soft on his lips and heart, but not fully there and not completely tangible. Rogue. A title? A name? He won't ever know. 

The void made such ponderings a little pointless. Blade had looked after him, fed him, showed him how to kill and hiss and slip through shadows. Blade had led him to join up with others to resist Cassandra Nova. Blade was the adult he could trust when nothing made sense. Plus he got some neat tricks for dealing with the void vampires from Blade. 

He shakes off the pondering and runs a hand through his hair. Blade is at the door, eyebrow arched over his sunglasses.

“You sure you're up for this kid? You're acting squirrelly.”

“Ah, for sure, for sure. Gambit spend another second stuck here, he gonna go mad.”

He says clicking his teeth and nodding his head.

“Right. Let's go grocery shopping.”

They walk to the grocery store. It is several blocks away. They could have taken the subway, but that's a thing for another day, or so Blade suggested. Remmy trusts Blade’s instincts. He would have been dead six times over if he had not learned to trust those instincts. His eyes dart about, looking for danger that could be after them. The void was full of nothingness and danger and broken dreams. He clicks his teeth, hissing a bit as someone bumps him and Blade tugs him a bit closer as the walk. Hissing comes naturally now as a reaction, as naturally of being able to flick out cards that explode. 

He starts chattering about this and that, familiar with his role as the talker of their duo. When other people fill up the room with talk he will get a little bit quieter. Wade made it easy for anyone to fade into the background. Remmy finds himself chattering on about a book that he had just had finished reading. It was hard to find good books in the void. Hard to find any books in the void really. He had spent a lot of time reading trash and looking through labels on things.

When they arrive at the super market, Remmy finds his mouth clicking closed and his eyes blowing wide behind his glasses. He pushes them up and stares at the piles of fresh fruit. The smell of them hits him as his eyes roam over the full shelves. In the back he can make out the edges of dairy products. Nothing looks roughed up. Rotten. Stale. 

Nothing has to be harvested, nothing has to be prepped to avoid the poisons of the void. You could just… eat it. He steps forward, suddenly terrified that this is all an illusion of the mind, inspired by Cassandra’s vile touch. His vocal cords are stuck in silence as his fingers across the surface of the apple, fingers twitching. He glances back at Blade who looks vaguely worried. He tries to speak and make a noise. His eyes lock back onto the apple in his hand, so real and tangible. There is just so much food here! Just!!!

His voice comes back to him after a few minute of awestruck staring. A down pour of words rattles out as he comments on anything and everything that his eyes spot. He grabs Blade’s arm, not wanting to lose the man amongst the multitudes of food and shelves. He starts tugging, looking at everything and chattering a mile aminute, accent thicker than fog on a swamp. Blade lets himself be dragged around, the barest hint of smile on that face where only Remmy can notice.

He points out all the brands he had seen in the void and only had stale and just barely holding on to their taste. He wants to try it all. To fill his mouth with things that taste like something more. He had a few things so far in this world Logan and Wade had opened for them, but nothing on this sheer scale. Blade tugs them back to the front of the store and they grab a cart. Getting both necessary and unnecessary items. Remmy finds something called pop-corn and after learning how it cooks from a vaguely bemused blade decides that he must have it for messing around with.  

They leave with what is probably too much, but Remmy is thrilled. The walk back feels like almost nothing at all. They enter their home and Remmy helps Blade tuck everything away in the kitchen before pulling out two bowls and setting up shop in the living room. One bowl has kernels in it and the other is empty. He starts popping a bowl of pop-corn kernel by kernel.

He finds it very rhythmic and comfortable, as he concentrates and falls into an easy pattern of letting his powers flow. Blade joins him in the living room, sharpening one of his swords. They sit in each other's company for a little bit while Remmy keeps popping kernels. 

It is nice to relax after the stressors of the void and of walking around strange parts of the city.

[aurora-313]

In all your readings, have you found another couple that functions perfectly as both platonic friends and as lovers as ichiruki do, but that is so underutilized by its creator in any capacity?

(Imagine Lisa easing out from Black and Blue, then she and Kaien are friends for a little while, then they see each other once a century.Fans of their relationship will be upset, and it will be their right. What will not be their right will be to act nasty about it. You know that you assume a risk with a WIP. )

Any author can do what they want with their story, but when you create expectations that you don't meet, people will be upset, especially if they pay you, and you use their friendship/romance as a selling pitch. I still don't get why people are upset on the people that are upset. Again being a WIP, doesn't mean that I have to like whatever direction the author chooses. I personally rarely take risks on WIPs, so I STARTED BLEACH AFTER IT WAS FINISHED AND I KNEW THE ENDING, and the false advertising still hit me. I fell for ichiruki, and the end and then the soul burriel chapter where they barely speak on the phone and Renji now replaced Rukia as Ichigo's friend was an 180degree if I ever saw one. I wonder if in the Hell Arc, they'll even recognize each other anymore..

P.S. Thank you for remembering Rukia in your fiction more than her creator does in canon.

(Please forgive me. This answer went on a ramble and I don't think I actually answered your question.)

I'm sure I've seen a few in my time.

The ones that readily leap to mind from my childhood are Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill from Stargate SG1, and Doctor Weir and Major Shepperd from Stargate Atlantis. Although I'm not sure the first duo count since there's multiple alternate universes where they do get hitched.

But onto Bleach. IchiHime fits under this category in my opinion: the 'under developed and under utilized' part.

Sure we have the 'love you in five lives' speech and the not-kiss, but"

One: Kissing an unconscious person that you're not in a committed relationship with is not cool. Under any circumstance.

Two: She's consistently scared shitless of Ichigo's powers and rejects his hollow, even though the Hollow is literally his soul manifest.

Three: Orihime repeatedly demonstrates she doesn't really understand how Ichigo works.

In the post-Deicide novels, Orihime was actively happy Ichigo didn't have powers anymore, only to reluctantly change her tune when she saw how thoroughly miserable he was without them.

It would've been great character progression to see Orihime delve into that personal stance: why was she happy about Ichigo being powerless? Because she legitimately didn't want him to get hurt anymore? Or relief that he wouldn't turn into a monster again?

And overcoming those personal scruples would've been a fantastic personal journey to see in the manga. Her coming to terms and reconciling her image of Ichigo being this heroic ideal and the flawed, deeply traumatized individual who had the capacity to be literally monstrous.

Orihime could've reexamined her feelings about ichigo at their core, and realise perhaps she doesn't actually love him after all. That she lusts after an ideal she's modelled in Ichigo's image. In realizing and coming to terms with that error, in abandoning her preconceived notions and actually seeing Ichigo for the first time, warts and all, Orihime could've paved the foundation to build a genuine friendship. Later possibly a romance.

If this was the journey Orihime went on through Bleach, taken entirely of her own accord, with a conclusion on her own terms? Then I wouldn't have been nearly as jarred by the epilogue. Ichigo's Oedipus complex aside.

But I digress.

Rukia was one half of the main duo that made Bleach compelling. And Kubo absolutely pushed her away after FKT, attempting (key word "attempting") to put Orihime in her place. Which is a frankly bizarre decision. Rukia is the "Death" to Ichigo's "Strawberry". She is the deuteragonist, the inciting incident to the whole story and the primary motivation for the first two arcs (Aizen's and Kisuke's century's long trans-dimensional chess match aside).

Ichigo pushed himself beyond breaking and learned skills well beyond his paygrade to save Rukia from unjust execution. In his desperation to achieve that goal, Ichigo had to learn to fly before he could crawl, ultimately mutilating his own powerset in the process.

In any other media, in any other story, that tends to be a giant glowing give away about the nature of his feelings, even if Ichigo wasn't entirely clear on them himself. Its the classic handsome knight rescuing the princess in the tower and riding off in the sunset to live happily ever after.

Yes, Ichigo went through the same motions to rescue Orihime from Aizen, but he had doubts about her. Even in his venture, Ichigo entertained the idea that Orihime had legitimately betrayed them. Then the narrative goes out of its way to demonstrate her presence was merely an excuse for Ichigo to settle his scores with Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, and for Aizen to remove Soul Society's best weapon from play. Ichigo did personally want to save Orihime but he felt like he was conducting himself out of obligation, driven by his white knight/martyr complex. As soon as Ichigo felt Rukia's reiatsu flagging, he immediately shifted gears because 'Oh shit, gotta go save my totally platonic bestie first, bye!' and would've proceeded to do exactly that until Ulquiorra goaded him.

To me, Ichigo and Rukia is what made Bleach BLEACH. Their banter is what I loved about the first arcs, the teasing sprinkled with moments of heartfelt connection (in case you can't tell, its my favourite love language. Hence why Lisa and Kaien poke and tease each other all the time).

There's no 'Now I realise I why I wanted to save you' moment with Orihime in HM. She's narratively bait for Aizen's schemes and little more, as soon as she's safe-ish, Ichigo ditches and moves onto other grudge matches.

Then the final arc and the epilogue chapters roll around and I had to ask myself, is this even the same manga? Where's the Death and the Strawberry? Where is the bond that started ALL of this? Rukia is the woman who gave Ichigo the means to combat his despair, and they don't even talk anymore? You don't think Ichigo would've wanted to extend his congratulations for Rukia getting married? Having a kid? Getting prompted to Captaincy? Or anything to indicate they were friends at all?

(yes, Ichigo does in the novel but its telling one interaction between them is completely overshadows the story's 'main' pairing.)

My issue with TYBW and epilogue isn't the pairings - though that is a part. My issue is the narrative took great pains from the start to demonstrate Ichigo never felt like he belonged in the living world. His life was a dull tedious affair. The Fullbring arc reveals how much he actively hates Karakura and wants to leave ASAP.

Ichigo only began to truly LIVE once he gained shinigami powers (we'll ignore the fact he was only born and raised to be a weapon/universal battery). He loved every second of it, even when the power scared him and acted beyond his control. He fit into the realm of the dead far better than he ever did in the living.

Then Kubo turns around and claims; actually, NO. Ichigo's super content with exactly the same quiet kind of life he despised with every fibre of his being, living in a town he fucking hates and wanted to leave as soon as he graduated.

How does that shift in gears not raise serious red flags?

I'm not saying Ichigo had to go and live in Soul Society (though that was being set up thanks to the god-tier powers he'd been juiced with) but I did expect him to leave Karakura behind when all was said and done.

As a random-ish segue on the matter of friendship.

The Karakura gang feel like fair-weather friends more than anything else, excepting two circumstances: Ichigo and Chad (first arc) and Tatsuki and Orihime. Even then, those friendships become a stretch in later arcs before basically disappearing entirely. Sure, Chad, Ishida, Ichigo and Orihime have had life and death adventures together, but those scenarios were either a matter of self-preservation or wounded pride. Sometimes both.

But remove the supernatural circumstances, the Karakura gang felt like the average transient high school friendship. Circumstance brought them together, they would remain friends until graduation, then they'd all go their separate ways never to see each other again. Which is a sad state of affairs given Bleach's theme about the heart and nature of human connection.

But one must ask how strong those friendship really are when Ichigo will jump to the worst conclusion at the drop of a hat?

Orihime in Hueco Mundo, as stated above, Ichigo seriously entertained the idea she was a traitor until Ulquiorra claimed otherwise.

Chad with Xcution, Ichigo immediately assumed the worst intentions about it until Chad revealed he joined as a means to help Ichigo get his powers back.

Ishida joining the Quincy, Ichigo instantly assumed Ishida was 110% on board with the whole destroy reality plan until Ishida outright states 'I'm a double agent, you fucking dumbass.' (I give the Fullbringer arc incident a pass because Ichigo was not thinking clearly at the time)

It doesn't strike me as particularly strong or healthy when the first instinct is to immediately assume the worst.

But anyway, I shall get off my soapbox for now.

I do enjoy writing a great deal of Kaien, which means Rukia is inevitably involved given how intrinsically linked their stories are. Kind of hard to have a story about him and not have her in it. :D

I hope you continue to enjoy Kaien and Rukia in my writings. :)

[hoffstrap-yuri]

Passing Through

ao3 // masterlist

*Summary: “Sir… I’m afraid we’re going to have to ask you to turn around, and drop your pants.” Hoffman didn't think this situation could get any worse. (Saw AU for the Mule 2014)

*Rating: M for Mature Audiences

*Content/Tags: Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, AU, Alternate Universe, Drugs, Drug Trafficking, Crime

*Status: Chapter 1 of 3/COMPLETE. Chapter 2 can be found here. Chapter 3 can be found here.

Author's Note: So uhhh this won't be as graphic as The Mule 2014 but it's still an AU based on the movie. This is still a fucking nasty idea that my friend @cubestrahm wanted to see come to fruition so badly and I'd do anything for her <3

“Sir… I’m afraid we’re going to have to ask you to turn around, and drop your pants.” A security agent cleared his throat. The man sighed as he was stripped of any sense of shame and stripped for the two agents. The agents behind him silently pantomimed ‘rock, paper, scissors’ over who was going to examine the man’s ass and see if in fact he was being used as a mule. The man clearly lost and moved closer to their detainee. He grabbed a glove and started to probe the other man. “Nothing.”

“Right. So can I go?” The man finally said, pulling his pants back up.

“Well… no.” The agent replied, “Wait here with Officer Martinez.”

“Fine.” He sighed in response. The female officer stood across from him in the holding room as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. John was going to kill him if this took any longer. The brand new clock hanging just over the door frame told him it was 3:23. He and Amanda were supposed to meet John’s driver at the airport at 3:09. He ran his hand through his hair as he waited in silence with this worker. The door opened and rather than letting him go free, there were two more serious looking agents. Another woman and man duo. The woman approached him and said sternly,

“Mark Hoffman, you’re under arrest for the transportation of illegal substances into the United States.” She slapped his wrist with handcuffs and pulled him out to a separate interrogation room. This was definitely going to take longer than a few minutes.

---

Mark Hoffman hadn’t wanted to do this. He didn’t just wake up one day and had an urge to fill his stomach up with a crap ton of cocaine filled condoms just for shits and giggles. The real reason he was doing it was simple. He’d gotten involved with one of John Kramer’s little sidekicks, Amanda. The girl had a mouth on her and an attitude to match. When Mark was about to pick her up she spat in his face and tried leaving a size seven boot mark on the beat cop’s face. He was able to restrain her, but the girl screamed, kicked and bit at Mark’s direction like a feral animal afraid to be put down. He kept a foot firm on the back of her neck as he managed to wrestle away a wallet from her pocket that had her real id on her. She wasn’t even thirty. Just a couple of months younger than his own sister, Angelina. He knew that he should book her. Hell some people in his department might add on a resisting arrest and assault of a police officer just to really stick it to the woman. He pulled her back up onto her feet, only for her to charge him blindly. The wind got knocked out of him as his back made contact with a brick wall. He took his hands and placed them firmly on her shoulders.

“Stop. I’m not going to arrest you. If you just fucking calm down…” He told her as she tried to fight free from his hands. She stopped long enough to hear the morally dubious cop out.

“What the hell do you want from me then, huh? You want me to jerk you off?” She snarled at him

“No. Just promise me you’ll go to rehab.”

“It can’t be that easy.” She rolled her eyes and laughed at him

“It’s that easy. I’ll take you right now to a clinic.”

“Fine.” She huffed as Hoffman pulled her into his squad car. He pulled up to a clinic he was familiar with and opened the door for her. She crawled out from the back and waited outside for a second while he got back into his car. With a heavy sigh, she trudged towards the door and that was the last that Hoffman thought he’d ever see of her. Clearly the lesson didn’t stick.

---

“Mark Hoffman. Police…”

“Detective.” Mark piped up

“… Detective.” The man corrected himself. He couldn’t hide the rolling of his eyes as the ‘detective’ insisted upon the distinction between his role and that of a beat cop. “Anyway, I’m Agent Peter Strahm, and this is my partner Lindsey Perez. We’ve got your file here. Graduated from police academy at 20… been at your precinct your whole career. Why the hell would you risk all that just to smuggle some fucking drugs into the country?”

“You’re operating on the assumption that I’m carrying drugs on me.”

“Well we’ve already searched your luggage, and there wasn’t anything there…” The female agent started. While her partner stayed seated across from Hoffman, she paced the room behind him like a shark circling its kill. Hoffman was all too familiar with the tactic as an officer of the law.

“Again. You’re operating under the assumption that I am acting as a drug mule. The only problem with your assumption is… that you’re entirely wrong.” Hoffman shrugged. He saw the blood veins starting to pop out of the male agent’s forehead before he took a deep breath.

“Listen.” He said, with one last appeal at Hoffman’s sense of justice. “Just tell us now, you might get slapped on the wrist. Five to ten years if you rat out the person you’re carrying for.”

“I would, if I had an inkling what you were talking about.” Hoffman replied. Strahm threw his hands up in the air and stepped out into the hallway, probably to call his and Perez’s supervisor. Perez leaned in against the table as her partner stood on the other side of the wall. Not a word was exchanged between the two of them until Strahm stepped back into the room.

“Legal precedence says we’re allowed to detain you for up to 4 days or until you’ve emptied your bowels twice. Or you could just submit to an x-ray scan.”

“And my answer will be the same as it was in security, I don’t want a scan.”

“Fine. Then you’ll be joining us in a nice little hotel room.” Strahm slapped the cuffs back onto Hoffman’s wrists and walked around the table to pull the suspect up onto his feet.

“Kinky.” Mark muttered under his breath. The two detectives looked at him, but neither managed to pick up what he had said. They paraded him out of the airport proper and shoved him into a shitty Chevy caprice, Agent Strahm’s if Mark had to take a wild stab in the dark. He watched out the window as five different lanes of traffic merged down into three then two to get them out of the airport. They drove approximately five miles from the airport and pulled into a second-rate hotel’s parking lot. Lindsey tucked Hoffman’s head under the door frame as she pulled him out and the agents dragged him up to a room somewhere in the middle of the hotel. From a glance, Hoffman saw no one but federal agents in the hallways, they probably bought out this floor to keep him from escaping in the dead of night. Strahm opened the door for Hoffman before shoving the bulkier man into the room. It was bare-bones. A bed, a bathroom, and a TV. Everything a businessman could need between flights out of town. Lindsey manhandled him in a similar fashion when a third agent showed up behind the two of them and sat down in the chair across from Mark’s bed.

“Here’s the rules. Either you stay here for four days straight under constant surveillance by either Perez, Agent Erickson, or myself or you submit to an x-ray exam. Whichever one comes first.” Strahm explained. “Get comfortable. You’re going to lose your mind if you don’t find someway to occupy your time here.”

“Thanks for the tip, counselor.” Hoffman rolled his eyes at the special agent’s fake pleasantries.

“If you need to use the bathroom, you tell Agent Erickson. If you need food, Erickson.” Peter continued. Hoffman opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but kept it shut when he realized it probably wouldn’t look good in a court case if he had mouthed off to the agent more than he had already had. He honestly thought, ‘and if I need a hand job, Erickson’ was pretty funny in his head. If only Strahm had any sense of humor. He slid back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling of his room. So this would be his cell for the next half a week. He only hope he could hold in the drugs long enough to get through these next four days.

---

“I’m home.” Hoffman kicked his shoes off by the door, yelling into the house. His calls go unanswered for a moment, but then his sister shouted something. “I can’t hear you, Ang.”

“I said I’m in here!” She yelled back. He followed her voice and found her in the process of cleaning her room. “Hi Mark.”

“Hi Ang.” He leaned against the door frame before asking her, “What are you up to?”

“Just reorganizing my closet.” A sweater flew past his face for emphasis on his sister’s point.

“I see. What do you want for dinner?”

“Anything’s fine.” She hummed to a tune rotating through her mental library. “Oh by the way…”

“Yeah?”

“Some guy stopped by earlier. Said you knew someone named Amanda and that she had work for you?”

“I don’t know an ‘Amanda’.” He played coy, even though he vividly remembered the addict he’d put into rehab. Or so he thought. What kind of ‘work’ did she have for him? “Thanks for taking that.”

“You’re welcome. He left a tape player, it should be on the kitchen table.”

“I’ll check it out.” He turned on his heels back to the kitchen and grabbed the player off the table to listen.

“Hello Detective.” A low voice started. Even in her deepest imitation of a man’s voice, Amanda couldn’t have recorded this. “You don’t know me, but I am the man who Amanda works for. I’m sure you and your co-workers have been eager to put a stop to my empire. You took pity on Amanda and for that I thank you, however ‘thanks’ doesn’t run a business. Meet with her tomorrow at 2 at the bar around the corner from your precinct to discuss the work you’ll be doing for me. You might ask yourself ‘Why would I work for a criminal when I’m a man of the law?’ and I will tell you right now. It’s your love for you sister. The only tether you have to this world. I will break said tether if you decide that you think you’re better than me and try to avoid my job I’ve given to you.” Like that the tape stopped. Mark flipped it over just to make sure there wasn’t anything else recorded on the opposite side of the tape. Something that could pinpoint where this asshole was and take him in before the meeting was supposed to take place but he listened in vain. He slide the player away from him and paced the kitchen. He tried to think of something he could do that would prevent Angie from being a causality in his lapse in judgment, now coming back to bite him in the ass. He ran his fingers through his hair before Angie interrupted his thoughts in person this time,

“It can’t be that hard to figure out what pizza shop you want to order from tonight.” She smiled at him

“Pick whichever one you want.” He sighed

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Rough day at work.” He lied to her. The less she knew about this whole deal the better.

“Okay. I’ll call in the order, but you’re driving to get it.” She laughed

“That’s fine.” He shrugged, trying to bask in the warmth of her presence and calm himself down. The rest of the night was uneventful, but Mark didn’t get a bit of sleep. As he was told, he showed up to the bar. There was no one in the bar except Amanda. She looked oddly calm.

“Detective.” Her expression was blank… he didn’t know if that was an improvement over the feral animal he ‘saved’ that day or if this was just some lobotomized version of the woman.

“Just get to the point. What does your guy need from me?”

“John. His name is John.” She spit at him. The pieces started falling into place in Hoffman’s mind. Her boss was John Fucking Kramer. His body went frigid. His whole department had been searching for the man for at least five years, and now this man had Hoffman in his sights. Worst than that, Angie was in the crossfire because of him and his compassion for someone that reminded him a bit too much of his sister.

“Fucking hell” were the only words that he was able to sputter out.

“Yeah.” Her expression turned into a crooked smile as she saw the wheels spinning in the detective’s head.

“What does John want from me?”

“Simple. You’re coming with me to Thailand and we’re bringing back drugs for John.” She told him like it was a trip to the corner store.

“Are you two fucking insane? I don’t even have a passport…”

“Already taken care of.” She slipped a royal blue document from her pants pocket and shoved it into Mark’s hand

“How did you get my info to forge this?”

“It’s amazing what you can find out with just a badge number, Detective.” She started to walk away from him

“Wait.” He turned towards her. She stopped and faced him once more, crossing her arms in front of her. “When are we going?”

“Next week. Meet me here.”

“Fine.” He grumbled and went back to work like that whole exchange hadn’t happened

---

The trip was uneventful. Many people in his life had told Mark that he should visit Thailand one day. He’d love the beaches, the food, the culture… and he got none of that. Amanda dragged his ass at butt o’clock in the morning to the supplier, making him wait for what felt like hours in five minutes as she grabbed a duffel bag’s worth of cocaine. She took him back to the hotel and explained how he was going to smuggle the cocaine back into the States. She spent nearly 3 hours tying up condoms full of the drugs and placed it before Mark. He only half-listened to the woman before her hand was on his thick throat and the other was forcing down the first balloon through his mouth. He nearly choked on the foreign intrusion before mouthing off to her.

“You could have warned me first.”

“Call it a right of passage. Open back up.” Her grip stayed firm on his neck. He begrudgingly opened his lips up for her and she took a handful this time and pushed it into his mouth. His throat had never hurt so badly. Tears escaped from the corners of his eyes until it was finally over. He ran a hand over his stomach, it didn’t feel like there was anything inside of him. Would they all just burst out of him at once like a chest buster with one wrong breath? “And this….” Amanda shook a nondescript bottle at him before taking out four pills. Rather than fight it again he swallowed them. “That should block you up for long enough… but just in case your fat ass goes through it faster…” Another four pills went down the hatch. He barely had time to recover before the woman shoved his passport into his hand and threw his bags at him. They got onto the plane without a word spoken between them, and Amanda all but abandoned him during security. They had a set timeline that they needed to get to John’s car by. When his bag didn’t show up and he looked at his watch. He didn’t have time to wait, so he booked it through security. Just as he thought he was in the clear was when the illusion all came crashing down. And that was why he was here now.

[spectrum-core]

hi if you don’t mind me asking I’d love to hear more about serrated duo parallels?

Alright, just to make sure we are on the same page because I'm not sure if many people know who am I even talking about when I say serrated duo, I mean this pair of goofballs who I love very much.

Fuckass essay about them and how this thing even came to be (which is not what you asked for but it's still important I think) under the cut, as a warning though this is EXTREMELY long, i'm also writing it assuming the readers have played ruina to completion, have at least glanced at the ruina artbook once and are decently familiarized with the pjm universe and its terminology.

"But Spec", you may (and reasonably so) say, "these guys show up in different story tiers, one is a glorified ranged attack tutorial with a minor lore exposition attached to him and the other doesn't even have anything going on due to being a general reception, what the hell".

So let's get into this, more meticulously organized than some essays I've submitted for my uni classes because I care that much about these guys (don't be like me and do your uni projects, please).

Table of contents:

How the fuck did this even come to be 1.1. Me yapping about character dessign

Liwei as a character 2.1. The surface 2.2. Emotional internal nature 2.3. Resentment

Dong Hwan as a character (sorry can't separate him into many categories bc there's NOTHING THERE man i'm absolutely grasping for straws here i KNOW it, but please bear with me)

Summarizing parallels

If you don't feel like sitting through my attempts to contextualize how this ship came to be and me desperately grasping for straws, feel free to skip all the way down to part 4

1.- How the fuck did this even come to be

Honestly the whole thing started as a sleep deprivation shitpost I rolled with because yeah i like these two guys a lot (if you read that one post talking among other things about why I like liwei so much in the first place, the short reply also applies to dong hwan and... Yeag, the only thing that's better than one hot guy is two hot guys and so on).

There was also an interesting aspect about this because maybe it's just me but based of liwei's dialogue lines and keypage text he suggests not trusting, or even liking/admiring/looking up to, high graded fixers (despite feeling that he's supposed to). With an emphasis put into colors because, I mean, he fucking died because he met one at the wrong moment, but I feel it's a general thing he feels for grade 2s and above.

With this in mind, putting him to interact with a grade 1 is... at the very least it has the potential to put them into a funny mutual vitriol kind of dynamic with lw constantly thinking "what's the deal with this guy? does he expect me to praise him just for having a high grade? well, tough luck, i'm no bootlicker" and dh constantly thinking "what's wrong with this man? is he unable to recognize greatness even if it punched him in the face...? should i punch him in the face?", but it becomes far more interesting when you try to imagine (and, with dong hwan being an absolute background character we can only assume things of from extremely vague hints, pretty much all we can do about him is imagining) what made them both special enough for each of them to think "wait, hold on, i actually like this guy" of the other.

After the initial shitpost stage was over, we (the guy who came up with serrated duo while sleep deprived and me) started talking about why we liked both characters and we essentially concluded that, at least dessign wise, they are the same type of guy (ofc I also added a couple of characters I like and who fit the criteria to my post but this post isn't about them).

1.1.- Me yapping about character dessign

On top of that, if you pay attention specifically to liwei and dong hwan in there, you can notice that there's a pretty neat balance of common and contrasting themes in their dessigns, almost in a two sides of the same coin way, so here's a non exhaustive list:

both characters have a primarily monochrome/dark aesthetic going on, with their eyes being the primary colored element that stands out in their dessigns (yeah, you could say that dh has brown hair too but it's a dark shade of brown that doesn't catch the eye nearly as much as the bright-yet-deep shade of red of his eyes)

on top of that, liwei's eyes are blue while dong hwan's are red (i thought they were reddish brown at first but that's just an effect of the transparency, if you separate the sprite in it's different parts, you'll notice his eyes are actually red), which happens to link with a certain trope about two-sides-of-the-same-coin pairs... (will elaborate on this later trust me).

despite the previously mentioned similar monochrome aesthetic, there's a clear contrast between their styles and how they wear their clothes, with liwei having a much more "only informal if it's more practical that way" type of look, with a focus on practicality over trying to stand out too much (for the most part at least, he was dessigned with the idea of a cool guy in mind after all), while dong hwan is essentially wearing a business suit in the most fucked up way possible (really, what the fuck dong hwan), which of course makes his dessign incredibly memorable. To further elaborate on this (and to add details that don't really follow this formal until unpractical/informal AND unpractical pattern): -Liwei's clothes stay in similar shades of grey and black giving him a more uniform look, while dong hwan uses more contrasting shades in his clothing (despite wearing primarily black clothes, that light grey shirt absolutely stands out, and by extension he does) -Liwei wears long boots, while dong hwan wears regular shoes -Liwei wears a long coat, while dong hwan wears a short jacket -Liwei has a fully buttoned dress shirt with a tie, dong hwan wears his shirt unbuttoned, in an universe where clothes are basically like armor this is essentially him saying that he's confident that his opponents won't be able to hit him in the chest, or that even if they did he wouldn't get too hurt from it, and it's a dessign detail that absolutely stands out in an universe where most characters only show skin in their head, neck and hands at most, as we know since its stated in multiple keypages and cutscenes, if a character shows more skin than the absolutely bare minimum, then that means that A. they are inmensely strong, and B. they are even more confident in their capacities, with this being a tactic to intimidate potential enemies for many factions -Liwei wears fingerless gloves while dong hwan wears regular gloves, while at first glance this detail seems to subvert the pattern, let's be real here... have you tried to hold any object and using it properly with gloves? unless you're wearing latex gloves or something made of very thin fabric that shit's absurdly hard, of course i assume there's weird city tech involved in dh's gloves but at least that's my own personal impression of that particular contrast)

and going back to common but not really details: both characters have something noteworthy in their ears (this is most likely just a result of the characters being visible as chibis in game so the best way to give them memorable dessigns is by slapping somewhat unique stuff in their faces and heads BUT IM GRASPING FOR STRAWS HERE OK) with liwei's earpiece (which serves a practical function) and dong hwan's earrings (which look cool as hell, going in line with both characters' general priorities)

similarly, both have something in their opposite eyes, with liwei partially covering his right eye with his hair and dong hwan having the scar going through his left eye.

the right-left motif is actually very relevant in their dessigns. You see, most character sprites in ruina switch the hand in which they're holding their weapons for certain frames (or at least, this is not uncommon to see), either for rule of cool, clearer silhouettes or whatever reasons. However, in every frame in which liwei is visibly holding his knife, he holds it with his left hand (and when he uses his pistol he holds it with both hands), suggesting that he may be left handed. On the other hand (see what I did there?), dong hwan consistently holds his knife with his right hand, in every. single. frame. of his sprite, suggesting that he's right handed instead.

And of course, both of them have elements in their opposite legs too, with liwei having these two stupid fucking belts (affectionate) in his right leg while dong hwan has... whatever the fuck that thing is, in his left leg.

Of course I'm not here saying that they were given contrasting dessigns on purpose, but all these details end up making both of them looking really cool when put together, specially with how their dessigns emphatize their personal preferences and priorities, something I will elaborate upon in each character's section later.

2.- Liwei as a character

Liwei is one of my favorite pjm characters as a whole, yes i like him more than ayin, yes i like him more than angela, yes i like him more than carmen, yes i like him more than dante, yes i like him more than your favorite sephirah/patron librarian/sinner, no im not saying i think any of these characters is bad or poorly written and in fact i think pjm has made an amazing job with protagonists so far catching my interest even with characters i thought i wouldn't vibe with at all, but i have a thing for unremarkable background guys.

As you may have guessed, this means that i have a lot, and i mean A LOT to say about him.

This also means that I have a very specific interpretation of him, this interpretation, while clearly taking bases from what we can see of him in game, is entirely fanmade and i'm not trying to claim this is what anyone intended to convey with him, but it's what makes sense for me.

This interpretation also strays away from some other fan characterizations I've seen of him. So if you think he's actually, at his core, a serious, formal, emotionally detached and unbearably professional, even outside work hours, guy who's deeply dedicated to the honorable task of murder and who is in good terms with the shi association or holds them in high regard? sorry, but for me he's nothing like that.

2.1- The surface

"But Spec", you may say again, "he does act emotionally detached during his cutscene, he even says that people die all the time! are you sure you are actually reading this character right?"

Of course I'm not, I'm just saying that I'm reading him in a way that makes enough sense to me, but I do have reasons to believe that the serious and emotionally detached attitude is an akward mixture of a facade he puts up to be taken seriously by others and an incredibly unhealthy coping mechanism, so let's start by analyzing his artbook profile...

Wait a minute, is that..?

Ok, I'll see myself out and continue writing the actual character analysis this is what people are here for.

Anyway, going back to the character profile, you may be inclined to see it and assume "well, that actually just proves that he's a serious and formal dude" at first, until you realize that artbook profiles, due to their in-universe explaination being that they were compilled by roland and angela from the information they could take out of the guests' books, are most likely to be about what the guests perceive themselves as/would say to describe themselves rather than what they actually are when looked at from an outsider's perspective. Further proof of the artbook profiles being subjective comes from how the profiles change almost erratically for distortions and ego users, with people in the middle of both states simply not knowing how to describe themselves, the fact that we lack any information about the agents of the head as they were never booked, or how characters such as tomerry have...

This, which I mean, it's very clear that's just tomerry talking about themselves.

Now, liwei's personality traits, or at least what he'd use to describe himself, are "Meticulous, Efficient, and Sharp". We know that he has to be efficient at the very least, considering the nature of his job and guns in universe, the same thing goes for meticulous, we can assume he wants to do things the right away so that he gets paid, sharp as a personality descriptor can take multiple meanings and frankly i don't know which was the original korean word used to describe him so i can't tell which is the right one but most of them seem pretty accurate, at least when looking at him from a surface perspective.

To be honest, I don't think any of the traits mentioned there is precisely wrong, I simply don't think that they are the main or core ones, but they are the traits liwei tries to show, at least.

Another interesting detail is that all full stop fixer artbook profiles have food related items for the likes and and dislikes sections, except for stephan disliking dangerous jobs.

Not particularly noteworthy for this category in particular but still tangentially linked to a point that I believe is also a core characteristic of all three full stop fixers and that is key to understand all three of them, their dynamics and the choices they make during their reception: they are Poor As Shit, because guns and bullets are expensive of course, we also get to see this in stephan's obssesive fixation in money (come on nobody actually checks their bank account as a hobby... right, guys?), and of course this ties in with wanting to be seen as someone serious and professional people will trust with their money AND with the idea of them having the need to maximize efficiency to... well... you... you know... not end up even worse than they actually are.

2.2- Emotional internal nature

Alright, and here we dwell into the actually spicy part of the essay, at least for liwei's character: the moments in which the mask of a professional and emotionally detached guy cracks and he shows his more emotional, and mostly caring, side. This is focused in the way in which he treats stephan and tamaki (compared with how several other faction leaders treat their underlings).

While I should probably need to read all the dialogue in the game to make sure this is a particularly notorious detail, something that inmediately caught my attention is... the fact that liwei never uses a single honorific when refering to other people, neither he's bothered by stephan's more informal speech and the fact that he doesn't refer to him by any honorific or title either (sure, you could say this is because they were in a life or death situation but also y'know, it says something about you that the people below you don't feel the need to use formalities when talking to you), the only person he calls by title instead of first name is... well, the blue reverb, whose real name we can assume he didn't know, with also him being someone perfectly capable of killing not only him but the guys standing beside him as well, you'd want to be as respectful as possible when talking to a guy like that and trying to negotiate.

(even then he doesnt use any sort of honorific towards him, at least in the english translation of the text, he simply refers to him by title)

He neither uses any title or honorific when talking to angela, despite keeping a formal/respectful attitude, i honestly believe that he is genuinely formal and respectful but... you know, that's not the beginning and end of who he is.

Of course, this isn't a major point, but I think it's worth mentioning considering how important honorifics can be to establish the speaker's relationship with the people a message is directed to, they can be used to distance oneself from others. So in a way it could be seen as him putting himself at an "equal" position relative to stephan and tamaki, as opposed to trying to assert that he's their superior (at least in the context of the mission they were working in, since his title is merely fixer, not operator, president, director or anything implying some form of leadership on his end).

Another extremely important detail is his inmediate first reaction once argalia shows up and ruins their plan is... not coming up with a plan b, not trying to fight him in any way, not doing anything about trying to save what little money they can, he quite literally tells stephan "forget about money, we need to survive now".

His initial reaction is directly just yelling at his team to run away, and this stays consistent once he:

Notices that stephan and tamaki are beginning to argue over the future of their mission and how much money they lost.

Realizes that they can't outrun argalia as long as they're wielding their heavy (and again, extremely expensive) equipment. This says a lot as it shows that he cares enough for the people under his care to let the office go bankrupt if it means they can live.

Needless to say, stephan and tamaki refuse to do so and while he clearly isn't precisely happy about the inevitable confrontation with argalia, he doesn't argue about this, he does understand their concern about money, he's not like the other authority figures who will ignore their underlings' concerns at best and ditch them once they outlive their usefulness at worst (at least, that's what i imagine he thinks as he makes these choices).

Not to mention, once they are in a, if only slightly, safer situation in the library, his inmediate response is trying to comfort stephan and tamaki, things dont look good but theyre at least alive, for now.

And there's this line which... doesn't seem to fit at first glance with the idea of him wanting his office to survive at all costs... right?

That is until you realize that he says that line during yet another argument between stephan and tamaki, as an attempt to get them both to calm down, this could also fit in with him trying to keep or restore the cynical, stoic and serious act, but then again we get to see his more emotional and sincere side once he:

Gets killed, quite literally saying that he didn't want to die yet, at least to me this line alone is enough to pretty much confirm that he didn't really mean it when saying that trying to delay their deaths was pointless, but if you need more, he also acts against that same line when he...

Sees his allies die, and inmediately starts freaking out.

Wins the reception, in which case his inmediate first concern is, again, not money, lost ammunition or anything, but rather if stephan and tamaki are okay and if they will be safe once they return.

I don't think that line was him fully lying though, it does say something about him that makes enough sense to me and fits with the rest of the characterization: that his cynism runs much, much deeper than stephan's.

Tl;dr he is extremely caring and emotional deep inside, and even though he tries to suppress that side of himself it always finds a way to show itself, I feel like in other contexts this makes him prone to emotional outbursts and generally make him an unpleasant person to be around... save for people who are already familiar with his personality quirks and the fact that he is Like That.

2.3- Resentment

Of course, this dissonance between the person he tries to pretend to be to fit in/keep his job and the person he actually is made him grow a pretty strong disliking of... well, everything he considers related to the fact that he has to act like that to get enough money to feed the people in his office.

I also feel like he feels genuine guilt over the fact that his job is essentially just glorified murder, I have no base for this other than the more detached way in which he refers to the church of gears, it almost feels like hes forcing himself to not care because its them or him and his office, and that he has genuine self-hating tendencies because of it (which he also uses his stoic act to hide, he doesn't want to worry his office and become a burden to them, after all), in a way he may be trying to overcompensate by being nice to his office to feel like there's people he can help/protect.

But this hatred towards himself also manifests in the form of hatred towards anything he can blame over him being the way he is and working the job he has.

As I said before, I don't think liwei likes colors, or most high grade fixers for that matter, you may also extend this to figures of authority, influential organizations or even the city's society as a whole (and honestly? i do personally, i don't think he's actually capable of forming any particularly healthy bond with people outside his office because of this, and even then saying that the relationships he has with his office are healthy is... generous to put it softly, this is not to say that he secretly hates the other people in the office, but rather that he fears that they may secretly hate him, because he's the highest graded member of the office, he hates people sitting above him so it only makes sense that people below him hate him for being above them, right?), and of course I'm not saying this because I'm projecting or because I think it's cool and edgy and sad but I actually have bases for this from what I can see in the game.

The first example of him not trusting high grade fixers AND influential organizations being one of the very first things he says when being introduced: that having an important person, from an important organization, belonging to an important section of said organization, approach him and give him a request was shady as fuck.

And he turned out to be right, as Yujin was planning for him and his office to get sent to the library and die there so she could read their books and find some passage saying shit like "well we were found by the blue fucking reverb and our only choice was to come here and die even though we were royally fucked either way life sucks see you all in hell my final message 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕" so she could use that on her favor.

In this topic too, I'm personally firmly opposed to the idea of full-stop office being affiliated to the shi association and this is the hill i'm willing to die on, but I digress.

We see this same resentment on an even deeper level in his keypage where he talks about colors (and we can assume this view extends to other high graded fixers, and to a lesser extent to the hana association), he doesn't sound like he wants to become a color, he doesn't sound like he even likes the concept of colors being a thing that exists in the first place.

The most important lines from these fragments to me being the following:

"A color is the dream [...] of all fixers who wish for freedom.", freedom is a VERY relevant concept in project moon and ruina makes a very clear point about how nobody is free in the city, roland says it, most plot relevant guests say it, some patron librarians say it too... a huge part of the story is how angela comes to terms to the fact that turning human wont grant her freedom and how she ultimately becomes free by embracing her nature as a machine (so free indeed that the head decides to kick her and the entire library out of the city, not only shes a machine that acts like a human, which is already a major city wide taboo, she made a choice that no human in the city should ever make). Essentially, liwei seems to see colors (and im assuming that by extension high graded fixers) as the ultimate example of an impossible aspirational class (think of these "self made" enterpreurs who received extremely generous financial support from their rich parents to start massive companies as the closest irl equivalent, except that obviously not the same, i will elaborate more on this later).

"They put forward the colors as great and successful people that other fixers will look up to. They dream of earning wealth and fame, and to be free like them one day." Why would he be talking in third person here if he too admired colors, or wanted to be like them, or thought that were free in any way? Also that separation between money and fame (something that colors objectively do have since they can afford exclusive high tech weapons and armor) with freedom (something that is debatable, but liwei seems to assume colors don't have) feels too much like a deliberate choice to further push towards that point of him seeing colors as not only an impossible goal to achieve for the average fixer but also that the ideal of a color as someone who is free is something impossible to achieve even if one were to become a color.

"Colors are assigned by the 'Hana Association'. [...] The title of a color is forcibly given to fixers who qualify essentially. Can a fixer be truly happy with freedom that was forcefully handed to them?" This particular fragment, specially the last sentence, is absolutely key for Liwei's characterization, and the final and most important part of him saying "wait, no, colors aren't free, because nobody is" to me. It is also worth noting that this fragment can be read in multiple ways, all of them are important and accurate for his characterization.

He thinks that the responsability and risks that come with being handed the title of a color are far greater than the prestige that comes with the title, can you really say that someone who cant afford to decline requests due to being contacted by the most important organizations in the city, whose closest friends or family WILL be regularly targetted by rivals either to extort them for money or just try to attack them to the point in which most high graded fixers abandon any personal attachment to others, who will have to see the horrible things that happen in the city in an almost day-to-day basis and will likely have to do even worse things in the name of corporate interests is free? Can you really call it freedom if you can't refuse it? Essentially he is saying "actually every single aspect of being a color is terrible and to make matters worse that life is forced on them after they go through extreme miseries in the hopes for a better life but all they get is more of the same if not even worse, they aren't free and shouldn't be refered to as such."

He thinks that in order to become a color (or any highly graded fixer, really), you must essentially lose yourself, which is to say abandoning all friendships or familiar bonds, only keeping shallow interactions with people, desensitizing themselves to whatever horrifying shit they may have to see, abandon all sense of morality as they never know what their next request will be and "im sorry but i dont do xyz, it does against my personal morals" isnt an argument that will work in a place like the city, this also fits into the whole "actually having a much more chaotic emotional side he's trying his absolute hardest to supress but failing" theme mentioned in point 2.2., someone who is so deeply emotional and whose actions are ultimately defined by what is the most likely to keep the people around him alive is obviously not going to like the idea of keeping his distance to them, or to dispose of people with lower grades than him because they were supposed to be expendables anyway.

I don't remember the exact quote and i dont feel like looking for it but in one of gebura's cutscene she claims that all power in the city only serves to strike those below but never up. You have to climb to get stronger and then you'll only be able to assert dominance (through violence) over people weaker than you are, and she grew to dislike this, as she wanted to protect others but was never able to do so because of how the city was dessigned.

Of course, liwei reached the same conclusion but he took the much simpler but much more unhealthy approach of assuming "well, if things are like that, then that must mean that everyone in a position of power (over me) must be responsible for this".

Of course this also comes with the side effect of him being as caring for the rest of the office as he can because he doesn't want to be like other figures of authority as i mentioned in point 2.2, but thats not to mean that things are all fine in the office, i feel like there are several moments in which he internally curses his position of authority but not quite (bc i don't think he's actually The Big Guy In Charge of the office, really), most obviously the aforementioned moment in which he yells at tamaki and stephan to drop their guns so they can run away and live when they clearly dont want to, i feel like at moments like that he feels like they only do things because he tells them to and they "can't argue" (except that they do, fortunately for him the enviroment in the office is healthy enough for the rest of full stops to not abuse this fact, but the "what if"s are absolutely eating him from the inside). As ironic as it sounds his earnest desire to not be Like The Others is the same thing stopping him from being the perfect and efficient leader he wishes to be, and he probably isn't sure of which thing he values more than the other (it's staying true to his own morals and keeping the people under him safe).

However, there's a key detail here that's worth noting: liwei has a tendency to treat everyone else as equals, sure he is formal and respectful when doing so (pressumably even when talking to people he'd rather never interact with if we assume his conversation with argalia was actually how he is and not him just walking on eggshells to not get killed) but he doesn't bother trying to make a clear distinction of who is above and below him, no matter what their title and rank may be, and for people who are used to being looked up to by everyone else this will be seen this as him insulting them in some way, it may come from a sincere desire of him to come off as insulting while not breaking any (major) social convention in an act of malicious compliance or just the type of person he is, that's up to you to determine.

"But how the hell does any of this relate to dong hwan?" we'll get there right now.

3.- Dong Hwan as a character

This is kinda... the hardest point to talk about, because sure I can yap all I want about him but... it's hard to without going "Source: I made it up" too much.

So, looking at his combat sprites you may notice one thing: he is unbelievably hot for real what the hell he has an incredibly smug aura, most people who care about him to some extent i've seen tend to depict him as a very prideful person, and honestly i dont think differently either.

HOWEVER, i feel like despite this he's still a levelheaded guy who can aknowledge his own flaws. On top of that, i think he's a pretty charismatic guy and he's capable of noticing other people's strenghts, and he'll let people know about their own strenghts too.

Also, to contrast with his smug and cheerful exterior, his combat lines depict him as someone very serious when at work, he doesn't even react emotionally to getting killed.

His first "on kill" line is also particularly interesting, as it shows that he prefers to work on his own (unlike everyone's favorite monochrome moody boy), which makes sense considering that he comes alone to the library when you fight him, he may belong to a one-man office (which is the closest a fixer can do to be fully independent, as far as we are aware).

His keypage story also fits this more serious and analytical personality but not much of it is particularly noteworthy from a character analysis perspective, it doesn't say much that you couldn't notice from his combat lines anyway.

Another important factor to me and to contrast him to liwei is... okay, this may be the fact that he's a solo fight and he is, pressumably, an independent fixer, so he's not titled as a member of a particular organization, instead his title (for him, his reception, his keypage and his book) is "dong hwan, the grade 1 fixer", which i mean, again, is most likely just so we dont fight this guy with zero context on who he is and what hes even doing in the library in his own is he stupid? but i like to imagine that the in universe explaination is that he has tied his perception of himself and his own self worth to his grade, to the point in which using both his name and grade is what comes naturally to him when introducing himself, since books are essentially physical manifestations of the soul, then it just makes sense then that his book will give both his name and grade the same importance. This may come from a need to compensate for something else and i actually like to imagine that's the case because it adds yet another layer of parallels with liwei (source: trust me).

Another point is... remember that I mentioned how food was a very consistent thing in the full stops' likes and dislikes sections in the artbook? this point is also not relevant but dong hwan is frequently assumed to be the owner of that pub that shows up at that short side story about roland and angelica which i never watched because i Literally Can Not Care about angelica sorry, but, hey, it's a cute detail, i think he should cook for the full stops.

I feel like there's something to be said about dh's red eyes because in pjm when a character has red eyes you know that means one thing: they will be a big deal, but dong hwan, other than looking incredibly fucking cool and carrying me through the snow queen suppression (FUCK THE SNOW QUEEN ALL MY HOMIES HATE SNOW QUEEN) and star of the city tier 1 (thank you dong hwan i love you dong hwan)… he is rather unremarkable on the grand scheme of things, he's a general reception so you don't even need to defeat him to beat the game, and he only serves to give us some insight on who the fuck was the vermillion cross, and even then he does a terrible job at explaining who he was other than "well, he was a guy i guess" and honestly, the relevance of both liwei and dong hwan is ALSO an important factor in these parallels, as with one being the guy who introduces the concept of colors and the other being the guy who introduces one particular color fixer by casually mentioning being friends with him, both feel like characters who would be much more narratively important in any other story, but here they... aren't.

4.- Summarizing Parallels

Aka the part you may want to skip to if you don't care about me analyzing characters with little background info about them.

So, basically a list of personality (and background, i guess) traits they have in common and how they're different:

Both characters are putting some sort of facade, with liwei trying to act serious and stoic so he's taken seriously while dong hwan... i dont think he even knows what the facade he's putting even is, he's been putting an act for so long that his mask became his true self

In both characters' cases, the first impression they give isn't really the kind of person they truly are (in lw's case this is a deliberate choice and in dh's case i assume that's just the type of person he is), HOWEVER, while liwei acts serious and analytical (and to some extent he is), his true self is far more emotional and prone to form deep bonds with people, while dong hwan has a more passionate, smug and cheerful external attitude but he's much more serious and levelheaded deep down

Both characters have different, conflicting views about their grades, however these differences ultimately lead to both of them being able to treat each other as equals, or as close to that as possible in the city, i feel like liwei can see dong hwan as someone of worth so to speak for reasons unrelated to his grade, while dong hwan does see liwei as a good person (well, good is a subjective term specially in a place like the city) and far better at teamwork than most people in the city, in a way both value something in the other that the other never stopped to consider "hey this is actually a good thing i have"

Both characters are (pressumably?) trying to compensate over something, with liwei putting his professional and formal act to compensate for his sentimental self while dong hwan puts a strong emphasis on his high grade for... who knows, really, i just like this parallel being there because i think it adds a lot

Both have problems forming relationships, with liwei being a generally unpleasant person but being capable of forming deep, meaningful relationships with the people capable of seeing through it, while dong hwan is a charismatic guy liked by almost everyone he's met, but whose relationships tend to be shallow

Not really a personality thing but both characters have a thing for being remarkably unremarkable guys, dong hwan is obviously forgotten by most ruina playes because he's a general reception and the biggest impression liwei leaves in most players is "OH SHIT HE HAS A GUN", even though both are pretty intentionally dessigned with the intention of making them look cool however ive very rarely come across full stop or liwei fans (by which i mean people who like them particularly instead of "actually the entire pjm cast is cool and that includes them) and dong hwan fans are.... yeah, i think ive met like, 4 of them at most (thanks guys i owe you my life)

Something about their combat styles including their passives, liwei's only visible passive is called Concentration and gives him extra strenght for the first turn of a fight, after which he relies in the fact that his attacks weaken the enemy, so he comes off as the sort of guy who prefers to keep his distance and figure out the opponent's weak spot(s) (something he canonically is good at doing) to keep an upper hand at combat, however despite this he's still lacking in both strenght and technique, being only a grade 4 (which i mean let's be real the grades go from 9 to 1 and i feel like a majority of fixers are in the lower grades so he's still pretty much above average but he isnt doing all the cool shit you see the stronger characters do, because that's not the kind of character he is). On the other hand dong hwan's passives have much more cooler sounding names (Fervor, Carver of Scars, Toughness...), all of them focused on either inflicting bleed (status ailment that gradually makes the opponent lose hp)/buffing him against enemies with bleed or buffing him as he gains emotion levels, and his focus is just inflicting bleed like crazy, as well as delivering harder blows against people with bleed, prioritizing raw damage over strategy (but likely being able to figure out an opponent's weaknesses as well, brute strenght alone are most likely not enough to get you far in a world where the powerful people are INSANELY strong bc physical enhancements are commonplace)

I feel like in a way both admire each other, liwei admires dong hwan's capacity to keep a cool head at all times when at work and not letting his feelings have too much weight over his desicions, but dong hwan admires how honest liwei is about himself as well as his capacity to work in a team taking in consideration what will be best for the team as a whole even if it's perjudicial for him in particular.

In Conclusion

Your honor, two of them

[epickiya722]

As a fan of both bnha & jjk, can I ask you somethings?

-which majority of characters will survive if their universe is swithed (jjk charas in bnha verse or bnha charas in jjk verse)

-people in jjk verse have stronger mental than in bnha verse because the death rate is higher in jjk than bnha (do you agree?)

- from plot and art, which do you think is better (jjk or bnha)?

-dynamics between bakudeku or satosugu, which is written better as a duo? why?

I asked this because in twitter I found a jjk fan and bnha fan have a heated discussion to prove which is better, and that's why I want to know your opinion, thanks.....

Okay, I will warn you. This may not be the answer you're looking for but I'll tell you something as someone who does like both BNHA & JJK.

In summary, to all these questions, I like them both because of variety. Even if both stories tackle the same themes, it's like two different flavors that I happen to like. So why not have both? Hell, both of the MCs of the series are at my #1 spots for favorite characters from their respective series.

Now! To answer the questions!

**

Hm... ooh, it kinds of depends. I say both sets of characters can survive in the opposing universes if let's say the characters are going through life, just living it. Now let's say putting them in different situations, that's where things get crazy.

Training Camp Arc from JJK, put the Tokyo Students there instead and that arc would last at least an episode and a half. Hell, the villains involved for that situation would already be in the ground, not escaping or leaving in handcuffs.

Now, for this next one, I'm not saying this because Miruko is my #1 (I have another), I'm saying this next part because she's Miruko. Miruko is a character that reminds me of how Todo is when it comes to fighting. She is not going easy for anybody. She would be came out alive after Shibuya. Okay, she is like the Yuki Tsukumo of BNHA for me.

For the war arcs going on with both stories... I honestly feel like it would still be the same as they are with their canon characters. Suffering, lots of suffering still.

**

Ooh, that is a good statement right there, that is something to think about. I agree, but I also don't agree. Again, both stories touch on that topic but in different styles. JJK characters would have a strong mentality because they deal with death a lot. But same goes for the BNHA characters. But for certain characters. Rewinding a bit to part A and adding to that, characters like Rock Lock that would definitely survive a world like JJK because he thinks like Nanami. Both characters are aware of how hectic their jobs can get. They're aware of the risks people like them (sorcerers and heroes) take. And they actually think about the children put in those situations. People want to say Rock Lock was "mean", but I say he's reasonable because why would children be there fighting a dangerous group of people?

Let's that think to that first question again, but remix it! "Would the majority of JJK characters survive in BNHA or BNHA characters in JJK?"

JJK characters would definitely have that mentality to deal with the situations in BNHA. They're built for that. I can't think of one character in JJK that wouldn't. Now how about the reverse? It's going to be a selection of characters I feel like would be able to handle fighting curses and death.

Miruko and Rock Lock are definitely in that selection. Other characters would definitely be Aizawa and Present Mic. Yes, Present Mic. He's already dealt with death himself. He lost the same friend Aizawa and Midnight did.

Endeavor? Yeah, a character like him, Best Jeanist, Hawks, Mt. Lady... no. I'm sorry, but no. Before things took a left turn in the story, characters like them were more into fame, keeping face and their egos. Hawks... look... he's cool and all. He's smart, he gets the job done or whatever, but I feel like his wish to be more free and belief of "popular approval" could clash with a duty of being a jujutsu sorcerer.

Jujutsu sorcerers DO NOT DO POPULARITY CONTESTS.

**

Comparing plot and art, again, I won't say that "this one is better" because I like having variety. I like that the art styles and plots are different.

Never is better, or worse for me.

I'm just not someone to say "this art style is better". If I was, I wouldn't be following a lot of the artists on Tumblr that I do. I love seeing so many art styles. Each artist has their own distinct aesthetic that is different from the next but they all share one thing in common. They all get the "this art style is so cool" from me.

Again, why choose one flavor if I like them all?

I find both JJK and BNHA entertaining. I have been into BNHA longer, yeah. And right now, JJK has my attention.

The way each mangaka designs their manga vibes well with the story they're telling. Horikoshi's style gives "action comic book". It's perfect because that's what BNHA is. It's a story about good and evil, heroes and villains. I feel like a kid again sometimes on a Saturday morning when I would wake up to watch my hero cartoons. For Akutami, the art style is more... angular, more sharp and sketchy. The way the manga is drawn, for me, captures the tone of the story. JJK is a clean cut story of anguish. Sometimes, it's like "is there even a hope spot in this story". The style... ooh. JJK's style is like "if the movie MirrorMask could be drawn in a manga style, it would be this one", if that makes sense. Vibes are kinda similar...

I freaking love that movie!

**

Hm... I can't choose. I know, I know. But hear me out!

For SatoSugu, it's written perfect for JJK. That pair is for that story. Satoru and Suguru were a vital part for each other's lives. (My autocorrect wanted to make that "loves".) They play a part of the other's development.

Same for BakuDeku. They're a big part of the other's life and development. Their dynamic is perfect for BNHA.

SatoSugu is a pair that begins a common ground. Yeah, Satoru and Suguru would get on each other's nerves, but they would meet in the middle. They're the "strongest duo" until their relationship went sour. And even when it went sour, they still had some attachment to each other. I wouldn't be surprised if during those ten years of them being on opposing sides, they met up here and there just to check up on each other.

BakuDeku is a pair that grew up with each other. From the start, they're a constant to each other. Their relationship started good, then turned sour and now it's good but also kinda in limbo (?). The thing with BakuDeku is neither character is "evil". Bakugou is mean, yeah, but he's on the side of heroes. Their relationship, in shipping, is "rivals and/or to lovers" to me. Not "enemies and/to lovers" as I seen some people label them as.

That would be Gojo and Geto.

With Bakugou and Midoriya, they had a falling out, but with what we seen so far in the story, do each of them actually have opposing ideas? Both want to be a hero, want to win and save.

Enemies - opposing ideas, sometimes even entirely different goals

Rivals - usually on the same side, but would compete with each other, especially when sharing the same goal

That's what "enemies" and "rivals" are to me.

However, in terms of which dynamic is written better? I don't have a clear answer for two reasons.

I like both dynamics, so yeah, that again. And both stories are unfinished. So I don't have a definite answer.

Now, one would argue that SatoSugu's story is "finished", but with Gege Akutami and surprises that keep getting thrown here and there, you never know.

With BakuDeku, there's still some things that need to be wrapped up as well as covered.

**

That was long! But I enjoyed answering those questions! Sorry though, Anon, if it's too wordy!