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agntofhydra · 4 years

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Sawbones // TWO

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summary: Red String of Fate Soulmate AU

Soul mates have a red thread tied to each others pinkies that only one of them can see.

You’re the Resistance’s head medic. You can see the red thread of fate that leads you to your soulmate. Poe doesn’t believe in the soulmate / thread theory. You don’t agree with his tactics, nor does he approve of yours. Leia and Holdo just really want a win.

pairing: poe dameron x reader

rating: mature for later chapters

read me on ao3!

part one here!

read on till the end for notes!

SAWBONES

TWO // PULLED TAUGHT

No.

You hadn’t been avoiding him.

You were busy. Taking inventory, filling out incident reports, stocking, taking care of your patients - which, you noticed, had decreased in number over the last couple days. And you knew why.

Someone must’ve been taking better care of their pilots.

Jasti was released the morning after the whole - for lack of a better term - ordeal. She’d heard your violent retching and had banged on the door, asking if you were okay.

Your vision was white, and after about two rounds you were dry heaving. No fucking way, your mind rattled. The revelation shook you to your core. You were happy being unsuspecting, ignorant of the fact that your soulmate had been pittering around D’Qar for literal months while you sat in your office, pissing off FX-7 and berating their antics in your head. The furrow of his eyebrows, the flicker of concern in his eyes at your sudden change in demeanor when you saw his pinky also had ingrained itself in your mind. Lingered every time you shut your eyes. You must’ve stayed in the refresher for an hour or two, senses numbed to Jasti’s incessant banging on the door.

You also weren’t good with conflict, and a conflict this was indeed.

What were you supposed to do? Tell him? Would he even believe you? Ziff said he didn’t trust the concept anymore, too many girls taking advantage of where he once was soft. Exploited that weakness until it was solid beskar.

So no, you didn’t tell him.

You’d stayed busy. He was busy, too. Per your objections, Leia had him and his squadrons flying more recon and actually formulating a real operation to investigate the cargo ship orbiting around Kessel. You’d heard that from whispers in the hallway, and you didn’t really want to venture out for any updates.

Turns out, you wouldn’t have to.

As if your thoughts had summoned him, Poe was dragging a pilot from blue squadron into your medbay, one of their arms around his shoulder, one of his around their waist. His eyes were searching, panicked until they met yours as you flew from your office and threw the pilot onto the first open bed.

“What happened?” You asked, immediately checking for vitals. His skin was burning, clammy. FX-7 recorded his temperature and your heart dropped at the number.

“We were flying back, literally leaving hyperdrive when I was notified Blue Three was having trouble, and could barely steer his x-wing through D’Qar’s orbit.” Poe paused. “His skin is on fire.”

“I’m aware,” you tried not to bite back as you threw FX-7 an IV bag. You also did not dwell on the fact that Poe didn’t even know this pilot’s name. “Do we have hadeira serum?”

“You did inventory,” FX-7 duly responded as he inserted a needle into the pilot’s basilic vein. Poe cringed and looked away, eyes focused on you instead.

You hadn’t really done inventory, and you were cursing yourself for it now.

“Wait,” Poe frowned. “Hadeira? You think he’s got bloodburn?”

“He’s been in with a fever before,” you muttered as you rifled through the cabinet on the opposite wall. Poe followed, barking over your shoulder.

“And you didn’t ground him?”

You paused, closing your eyes for a second and taking a deep breath before returning to your search. You really didn’t need Dameron on his high horse right now, questioning your calls.

It was only fair. You had done it to him, you reminded yourself. That didn’t mean you couldn’t whip around and land one in the middle of his chiseled, ridiculously handsome and symmetrical face. You groaned audibly at not only your thoughts, but your inability to locate the literal life-saving serum.

“Back off, Dameron,” you said between your teeth as you all but sprinted back into your office where you kept the more valuable medicines. You unlocked the closet behind your desk with your hand and entered, eyes scanning the shelves. Once again, Poe followed.

“What’s wrong, doc? Don’t like it when people question your authority?”

You finally turned to him, slightly put off by the fact he was less than a meter away. You didn’t let it show.

“You wanna do this right now?” You raised your eyebrows. He crossed his arms over his chest and the thread around his pinky was directly in your field of vision. You held back the bile that rose in the back of your throat.

“His fever is so high that his blood is boiling right now. Which will kill him. So please, Dameron. If you think this argument is worth more than me finding the serum and saving his life,” you punctuated each word, “keep talking. But I’m not listening.”

Your eyes caught the vials to the right of his head, and he stepped out of the closet and into the expanse of your office as you grabbed the vials and quickly returned to the medbay where FX-7 had started hydrating the pilot. You handed the droid the hadeira serum and FX-7 made quick work of administering.

You let out a long breath. You weren’t totally in the clear, but it was as under control as it could be. Poe gave you a look and you nodded, silently telling him his pilot was okay. For now.

Poe stared at him for a couple moments longer, and once he was satisfied leaving him in the care of FX-7, he kicked your boot lightly.

“Can we talk now?”

Swallowing thickly, you nodded and led him back into your office. Poe sat down in one of the stark white chairs that matched the rest of your office as you locked the medicine closet. You turned around to him but kept your distance.

“What’s there to talk about?”

He bit the inside of his cheeks to keep him from grinning. “I don’t bite, y’know.”

You rolled your eyes, but nonetheless moved closer to him and sat atop your desk.

The red thread floated between the both of you, moving as if it was being jostled by the air currents in the room. Before you could even think, your left hand went to pluck at the string tied near the base of your finger. To your utmost surprise, the now tangible string pulled back due to your force. You let go in shock. The string vibrated and you watched the movement travel to shake the thread connecting to Poe. He coughed, left hand clenching and unclenching his fingers. You watched the action and met his eyes. Once again, he furrowed his brows.

“Why do you keep doing that?”

It was your turn to furrow your brows, and Poe continued, “Y’know. Looking into space and then turning pale like there’s a rancor in here that I don’t see. And then you look at me like it’s my fault?"

It’s now or never, you told yourself. Come clean.

“It’s nothing.” Coward.

Poe dropped the subject. “Anyways, you must’ve been swamped these last few days because you haven’t checked in to hear any updates on the cargo ship.”

Not trusting your voice, you just shrugged as your eyes rested back on the crimson that connected the two of you. Seeing it was definitely a curse. You tried not to dwell on how different things would be if it was Poe that could see it. What a weight off your shoulders that would be.

Maybe if he could see it, it wouldn’t be you on the other end, the voice in head told you. Poe was still rambling about Kessel and you definitely weren’t listening. You don’t want that, do you? For him to be soulmates with someone else?

It happened all the time though, people ending up with those who they weren’t tethered to. The galaxy was far too huge and vast, many people never having the opportunity to leave their home planet, let alone venture and seek out their soulmate. Some people, Poe included now, saw it as a myth, it was becoming so rare. You’d only ever known one pair of soulmates to meet in the years you’d been alive. Your parents.

Either way, your mind needed to slow down. You didn’t know Poe. From what you’ve seen of him, despite his impeccable physical features, you weren’t really a fan. But...just regarding his physical features? Big fan.

He snapped you out of your reverie. “Stars, you are infuriating.”

You apologized, placing your hands in the front pockets of your medic coat in hopes to ignore the thread, but it stuck out of the material of your pocket instead.

“There’s no harm in collecting more intel,” you told him. “Especially if it saves lives.”

He rubbed his forehead. “There is if it’s time sensitive! The ship could leave Kessel at any moment and then we’ll never know what was on it.”

You snorted. “You said it’s been in your knowledge for a while, been written off until now. I don’t buy it. I don’t know what you’re wanting from me, Dameron, but I won’t apologize. This is how I feel, and General Organa and Vice Admiral Holdo agree with me.”

“I want a common ground,” he said. Your gut twisted. “We met not ten minutes before you blasted me to pieces in that briefing room.”

“I don’t think you’re used to opposition.”

“I’m not.”

“You should always consider every point of view, especially for things like this. Have you heard about the terror running the First Order? You really want to face him in your little x-wing?”

Poe jerked his head. “Do not insult my ship.”

“Stars, Dameron, can you listen to a voice that isn’t your own for five seconds?”

“I was listening, obviously, ‘cause I heard your jab about my ship.” You could force-choke him right now. “But I get where you’re coming from. Where you’re more conservative and safe, I’m intuitive and risky and you hate it,” he said with a smile that met his eyes.

“I would call it impulsive and ill-informed,” you countered. You definitely didn’t hate bantering with him. You noticed subtly that over the course of the conversation, Poe had begun to move closer to you, inching closer and closer to the edge of the chair.

“Astute and adept,” he stood, tongue darting out to wet his lips as his eyes never left yours.

“Reckless and arrogant.” You didn’t want him to come any closer, unsure if you would either retch all over his shoes or bunch up the material of his brown leather jacket in your grip to pull him closer.

As if the stars were listening and answered, FX-7 appeared in the doorway. Your eyes broke from Poe’s, turning your attention to the droid and Poe followed suit.

“Pilot Nunb’s fever has broken,” it said. “He will make it through the night.”

Night? You realized you’d been so consumed the last couple days you’d lost all concept of time.

“Great news,” Poe said, turning from FX-7 back to you. “I need to go tell the rest of blue squadron.” Poe shamelessly looked you up and down.

“‘Till next time, Doc.”

Poe sidestepped the droid in the doorway without another glance at you. You remained on your desk, hands still in your pockets as you watched the thread disappear into the wall as Poe left.

“It is hardly relevant to speak in matters that pertain to humans,” FX-7 began, “let alone ones that concern my superior, but if I may?”

You couldn’t hide your confusion. FX-7 never spoke to you unless it was a medical matter. You nodded for him to go ahead.

“You are consumed with plenty. I caution against adding Commander Dameron to the list.”

You frowned. “FX, do you know about the soulmate thread?” What harm would it be to tell a droid? FX barely talked to you, and chances were zero that the droid would air this to anyone else.

The droid lifted its metal head up and down. “Yes.”

It was the most humanistic the droid had ever been, and you felt mildly miffed. Has FX-7 always been able to not be so robotic? You’d save that thought to be pissed about another time.

“I can see it,” you said quietly. “It’s tied to him.”

FX-7 was silent, motionless for a few moments and it almost seemed like he had powered down. “That is…” he paused. “Inconvenient.”

“Yeah, I know,” you said, hopping down from your desk. Your hands left your pockets to run through your hair as you tried to clear your thoughts and just breathe.

“Is that why you have busied yourself more than usual?”

“Didn’t wanna deal with it,” you nodded. “Still don’t.”

“That will only prove to make things more arduous. You have two options when it comes to Commander Dameron, and you know which I favor. For the good of the Resistance and your work.” FX-7 then left the doorway to your office as promptly as he had arrived.

✗ ✗ ✗

You fell asleep in your office that night, or maybe it was morning by the time you collapsed against your desk. Despite FX-7’s confirmation, you couldn’t let yourself go back to your quarters when the pilot in your medbay was teetering on the cusp of cardiac arrest.

Leia Organa woke you by softly brushing the hair out of your face. Your head lifted instantaneously, a paper stuck to your cheek. You quickly removed it and smoothed down the rest of your hair to at least try and look presentable.

“General,” you regarded her, standing up from your seat. She smiled softly at you.

“Doctor, I apologize for waking you.”

You shook your head and tried not to wince when you peeked at the digital numbers glaring at you upon the wall.

“I needed to be awake, anyways. I’m late for rounds,” you muttered the last part to yourself.

“I came to update you on the operation,” she moved back around your desk and sat down in the seat Poe had occupied only a few hours prior.

“We’ve received intel that the TIE fighters stationed in front of the ship are no longer there, presumably to return to the First Order to refuel or receive maintenance. It’s a narrow window, but Commander Dameron and both Red and Blue squadrons have departed a few hours ago to hopefully investigate that cargo ship.”

You nodded at her words and contained the frown from surfacing on your face. Your stomach knotted, fearing that the absence of First Order protection was all too convenient, and they were falling into a trap.

The First Order was smart, something you had learned first hand. You’d been on their radar for as long as you could remember. The bad guys needed medics, too.

Some of your peers that you had completed medical school with had left to join, and ultimately you couldn’t blame them. The offer was tempting, yet mostly threatening. Most of them joined more out of fear than anything. You had been moments away yourself, but instead you were here. On D’Qar. A vital part of the Resistance. If you were someone who believed in such phenomena, you would swear the galaxy itself had made sure of it.

“Have you heard anything since they left?” You asked.

Leia shook her head, trying to hide her worried expression. “They’re in good hands. Poe is the best pilot I’ve seen since…” She stopped herself. “He’s the man for this.”

“So I’ve heard,” you said. “I hope he proves me wrong. And also brings every pilot back in one piece.”

“Together, I think you two would make quite the formidable pair.”

“With respect, General,” you tried not to snort at her words. “I think it’s better if we keep our distance. Our stubbornness might tear a rift in the galaxy.”

“Or,” she winked. “It could bring it together.”

You had no response.

“I’ll be back should there be any word from Poe, and - “

Leia’s words were cut off by the familiar screech of a x-wings cutting into the atmosphere and landing on the runway.

Wordlessly, the two of you all but sprinted from the medical wing out into the open, expansive area that was the runway. Countless others were surfacing outside, watching the ships land and be courted off into the hangars for repairs. From what you could tell, they all looked fine. No exposed wires or blaster burns. For the most part, the squadrons looked untouched. The last ship to land was Poe’s black and orange T-70.

The second the x-wing was stopped, Poe all but threw himself from the cockpit, shucking his helmet off and chucking it at the ground. BB-8’s body blurred as the droid tried to keep up with his long, quick strides. His eyes met Leia’s first, immediately spurning his feet to turn in her direction. When he eventually realized you were also next to her, his eyes all but physically set you on fire.

You held your breath as he crossed the runway. Poe looked downright dangerous, he was so angry. Leia noticed this too, but did not change her demeanor as she waited patiently for him to come to her, hands clasped behind her back.

“Mission report, Commander Dameron,” she said.

“Can we discuss this somewhere else?” Poe asked as he stopped walking, finally reaching his destination. BB-8 rolled up a second later. His eyes flicked to yours.

“We can, but the Doctor will be there regardless.”

Poe wanted to scream.

“The mission went as smoothly as expected. We were met with no First Order resistance or ambush as we docked and investigated the cargo ship.”

“And what did you find?”

Poe took a deep breath, calming his heartbeat that was deafening in his ears. His fists clenched and unclenched, and unfortunately the thread was still there. Except this time, it was pulled taught between your bodies when it usually sagged with slack.

“We found spice, General.”

Oh.

Maybe you did believe in some higher power. There had to be someone pulling the strings behind this scenario. You wanted to laugh, point your finger and tell him ‘told you so’. But you didn’t, because the tension and anger in Poe’s body was so apparent that it looked like he was a chain pulled so tight it wasn’t a matter of if, but when he would snap.

So you settled for pursing your lips very tightly.

“Nothing else to report?” Leia questioned.

Poe shook his head.

“I’m glad you all made it back safe,” she said, putting her hand on Poe’s shoulder. “It was one mission, Poe. There will be other opportunities.”

He nodded, not meeting her eyes as Leia took her leave. The two of you stood in intolerable silence and you weren’t sure why Poe didn’t immediately sprint off as soon as Leia left.

“I’m glad everyone made it back safely,” you spoke slowly, offering a metaphorical olive branch.

Poe cocked his head, eyes narrowing as he met yours. You braced yourself, waiting for him to maybe pull out his blaster and take you out on the spot.

“Save it,” he said, though his voice didn’t hold the venom you expected. “Do you want me to tell you that you were right?”

You shrugged. “Not required, but I’m not against it.”

He did not accept your poor attempt at lightening the mood. Instead, he sighed deeply and dragged a hand down his face.

“I look like a complete joke . Making such a big deal out of this whole operation, only to be completely and utterly wrong.” He laughed dryly, and you tried not to wince.

“But you know who was right? A fucking medic. The holier-than-thou doctor who doesn’t ever leave her medbay, but the one time she does she completely undermines everything.”

Of course, it was your fault. Poe didn’t want to face the fact that his lack of patience and impulsiveness had forced him and his whole squadron to investigate a cargo ship full of spice. Against your better judgement, you let him continue his diatribe. He continued, berating your position, your lack of expertise and inability to, how did he put it? Stay out of matters that don’t pertain to you. He seemed to have forgotten the minute detail that Holdo had asked for you to be there, even though you reminded him of that fact last night.

After a ridiculous amount of time, Poe eventually stopped to catch his breath. As soon has he did, he tried to continue.

“Not to mention - “

You cut him off. “Are you done?”

He narrowed his eyes. “I could go on all day.”

You crossed your arms. “I’m sure you could. Because you absolutely have the right to completely tear me down when we met for the first time a couple days ago.”

“I’ve heard enough about you,” Poe countered.

“As have I,” you clenched your jaw. “Your reputation precedes your rank, Dameron. You really think you’re going to earn respect and trust around the base when you’re running through every female here? You think that speaks well of your character? You think that’s Commander behavior?”

Poe interlaced his hands on the top of his head as he laughed at you incredulously.

“I can’t even stand to breathe the same air as you right now,” Poe said.

How fucking immature. You narrowed your eyes. “Then stop breathing.”

At your words, the red thread tightened around your finger painfully. So tight, it felt as though it was about to cut through and remove the finger entirely. Your other hand rubbed at your finger - desperately, futilely trying to loosen the string.

Poe watched your action, and then sucked in a breath through his teeth as he grasped as his own pinky in pain. He noticed his movements mirrored yours.

“Wha-” he paused. “Wait - “ Two pieces clicked in Poe’s brain.

But it didn’t matter, because you were already retreating, your steps quick and purposeful. You were fleeing back to the medbay and away from whatever was about to come out of Poe’s mouth. You couldn’t deal with it, not now and probably not ever.

You didn’t miss the way his eyes watched your hands before watching his own, his forehead creasing with confusion, then what you hoped wasn’t realization. You didn’t think your actions obvious, but if he felt the same pain you did, it was impossible not to notice.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, your mind spiraled. Poe called your name, your actual name, but you were too far gone and nothing short of the force would make you go back to him.

This time, your interaction with Poe Dameron didn’t end with emptying your guts in the refresher, but by entering your office and locking it.

Small victories.

thank you all so so so much for all the positive feedback and support!! i love it!!! i’ve gotten a couple requests for a tag list so if you’d like to me to create one / be added to it just send me a message! also, if i made a playlist for this, would y’all be interested? lmk! xoxo.

#poe dameron #poe dameron x reader #soulmates #soulmates au #red thread soulmates #red thread of fate #medic!reader #star wars #star wars sequel trilogy #mine #slow burn #romance #pre-TFA

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just-the-mage · 4 years

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Review-Love Death + Robots (Pt 1. Episodes 1-4)

So here we are again. You, dear readers, and I, a mostly defunct tumblr page. I was thinking...I’ve written a few reviews on here before, and I’ve rather enjoyed myself to be honest. So until RP starts up again for me, I’m going to grab some popcorn and start reviewing some of the media I’ve been indulging in during this exceptionally fun pandemic we’ve all been saddled with (and are becoming increasingly more and more used to as time goes on). Here we go!

Spoilers incoming! I don’t like to discuss a show without going through it entirely-no stone unturned. You have been warned!

Love Death + Robots is a compilation series-each episode is self-contained content, based on what I have experienced thus far. The content varies wildly from cute and sweet to surreal, to horrific. For right now I’m going to stick with the first four episodes since they are fresh in my mind.

Episode 1: Three Robots

Three robots shows a short adventure shared by, you guessed it-Three robots exploring the crumbling remains of human society. It comes across as three tourists making their way through an area that they are completely unfamiliar with, attempting to define and understand elements of the environment as humans once did. Their analysis and attempts to understand not only human culture, but also basic human biology, were entertaining to say the least. Each robot has flair, character, and a their own take on humans and humanity. Over the course of the episode, the fall of mankind is referenced a few times, being initially explained as a mass extinction due to environmental disasters (global warming is probably a factor-one of the buildings has an entire ship sticking out of it). However, the twist ending throws that whole theory into question once the cat that has been accompanying the robots for the last leg of their journey reveals itself as capable of speech. And, interestingly enough...being in possession of opposable thumbs. It was certainly unexpected, and a bit odd-the cat (and its many, many brethren) manage to finish out the episode by convincing the robots that if the robots do not pet them, the cats may explode. I will say that the ending, though it was rather silly and fitting with the tone, felt like an out of place twist intended mostly to give a bit of closure to a story that had no real need to have an ending. It felt a little out-of-left field, at least to me.

This first episode, I think, is one that I could recommend to a much more general audience than almost all of the other content of the show. It’s whimsical and cute, despite inhabiting such a grim setting (and grim it is-post apocalyptic is not taken lightly here. There are plenty of corpses, some skeletal and some not quite so much. At least one of them appears to have died by suicide). I found it to be a nice addition and a good introduction to ease people into the tone of the show. Definitely give this one a watch, even if the ending sort of comes from nowhere.

Episode 2: Beyond the Aquila Rift

This episode was definitely a change of pace from the first. It begins as a high science fiction story starring a hunky, middle aged man and his two crewmates, making some sort of cargo run (?) through a wormhole of some kind, but promptly finding themselves in a completely different place from what they expected. Hunky space captain wakes up first, finding that he is greeted by an old friend (read: lover) of his, who explains that there was a navigation error that led them off course-way off course. They’re in a completely different area than they expected. The ship’s navigator wakes as well, swearing that there couldn’t have been an error in her calculations, but seems ill and is placed back in her future tech cryopod to rest. Space captain man then bangs it out with his ex-lover (Greta) in a scene that was almost definitely written by a man, and she reveals to him that she lied, and that him and his crew are actually hundreds of light-years further off course than they had thought they were, basically dashing any hopes that he could have of returning to his old life. The two then wake the navigator again, who immediately starts ranting that ‘Greta’ isn’t who she says she is. At this point, enough clues have been given that the captain catches up with the audience (it was all a simulation the whole time), and he confronts Greta, demanding that she reveal herself as she truly is. She does, after some prodding-and the captain finds himself in an infested husk of a ship, aged and haggard, obviously dying of starvation. Greta reveals herself as a lovely spider-beast, and the captain wakes up from his pod again-back in his comfortable illusion once more.

I love the premise of this one. Crazy aliens and shit like this is a huge draw for me-sci-fi horror is probably my favorite subgenre of horror when it’s done well. I would count this episode as doing it pretty well. They don’t go into much techno-babble, which I think is a pitfall for some sci-fi stories. The writers are well aware that we aren’t spending too long in this world, so we don’t need to know much about the rules under which it operates outside of ‘computer mistake your ship fly here.’ The twist ending didn’t end up being too much of a twist-in my opinion there were too many clues given throughout the episode to make it that much of a surprise that things weren’t as they seemed. The odds of this man meeting his ex-lover in the infinitesimal reaches of space just by chance were a bit too impossible to make it believable-and the navigator was far too convinced that her work couldn’t be incorrect. In the end, it was an expected twist, but still pretty jarring. Execution is pretty good overall though-and the sex scene is pretty decent as well, even if its strictly a dude-fantasy thing. Also, call me a sucker for cool looking beasties, but I adore the design on spider-Greta. That’s a lady right there for you.

Episode 3: Ice Age

The only live action episode I’ve seen so far-this one gives an *entirely* different tone than the majority of the other episodes in the series. Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead happen upon a lost civilization that exists entirely within their refrigerator. They watch in awe as it develops incredibly quickly-hundreds of years passing within the civilization in roughly an hour or so of real time. What starts in the morning as a town in the viking ages eventually develops into a modern society, almost destroys itself with nukes, and then rebuilds from the ashes into a fully futuristic society that quickly ascends beyond physical form, appearing to disperse itself into the cosmos, no longer bound by such petty rules as the laws of physics. A disappointed Topher asks if they’ll return-to which he receives a sad ‘no’ from his partner. It seems all is lost, and the couple go to bed for the night-only to find that the cycle has restarted overnight, and they probably won’t be able to keep any frozen chicken in the freezer for quite some time.

This one is probably one of my favorites of the series so far. It’s fairly well acted, but the real beauty of the episode is getting to watch the mini-civilization develop itself in a glorious time lapse-the work that must’ve gone into it must have been monumental, to be honest. The final product certainly felt that way, in any case. What I also found fascinating was a specific scene in which the protagonists were abandoned in place of some of the tiny denizens of the lost civilization-which made me realize exactly how slow the ‘normal sized people’s’ actions must have looked to the diminutive people of this rapidly developing society. Reminiscent of the earth’s motion in relation to our own perception-and reinforcing the concept that to an individual, perception is everything.

Episode 4: Sonnie’s Edge

This episode opens with three people transporting mysterious cargo into a heavily guarded complex, quickly encountering and interacting with a ‘bigwig’ of sorts with a beautiful woman on his arm. Through context clues the audience is easily able to discover that the three (pictured above) are here for a fight-and that their cargo is their fighter, a living creature of obviously immense proportion. The bigwig asks the team to throw the fight, and they refuse, even after he offers a large amount of money. (It’s worth mentioning that during this scene, ‘Sonnie’, the leader and controller of the beast fighter, shares an EXTREMELY homosexual gaze with the bigwig’s beautiful lady friend. Don’t think I didn’t notice the setup, because I definitely noticed the payoff, even though it was rudely interrupted). Sonnie and her teammates enter the ring, setting up as it appears that she will be piloting her fighter in some way. Her opponent is also introduced, though he is hardly important in the story-imagine a cake of beef with a big sticker on him that says ‘mysogyny’ in bold print. What follows is one of the most brutal fight scenes I’ve seen in animation (this is just my personal opinion though). These creatures fucking tear each other to shreds, with Sonnie’s beast only just barely emerging as the victor, tearing the opposing fighter’s head clean from its body. The bigwig is obviously angry, as is Sonnie’s opponent, and Sonnie and her team retires to a hotel room of sorts, with the exception of Sonnie-who slips away into the room that houses her fighter, promptly encountering the beauty from earlier! (Payoff time)..and it gets gay. Fast. I love me some wlw content, and there’s some nice tension here, right up until the beauty stabs Sonnie through the head. Rude. The bigwig reveals himself, which was a bit of a surprise-the part of me that hadn’t seen much of this show yet was hoping for a fluffy little happy ending. It wasn’t to be though..after the beauty crushes Sonnie’s skull, the two promptly realize that ‘Sonnie’ wasn’t Sonnie at all-just some biotech. The *real* Sonnie...was the fighter, the whole time. Who promptly makes short work of both the beauty and the bigwig, (implied), in what I can only describe as the most satisfying moment in the series that I’ve seen thus far.

This was easily my favorite episode of the show, and has continued to be, and I assume will continue to be my favorite through the rest of the series. It’s not just because of the lesbian rep (my people!), or the misogynists getting fucking destroyed, but the strength of the reveal, the choreography of the fight scene, and the *power* of the protagonist. I love her. I love her sooo much. We are seamlessly introduced into the world, shown a woman who has been beaten, scarred, faced sexual abuse, and she remade herself into a being of pure power. She fought back, and *look how she fights back*. I cannot describe just how much of a cheer-worthy moment it was to watch the smug smile be summarily wiped from the face of the bigwig. I *love* seeing a villain who has full confidence in their victory suddenly realize that they don’t have the upper hand anymore...and that they are, in fact, absolutely screwed. This was one of those wonderful, wonderful moments, and I can think of nobody more deserving than this villain of being torn to shreds. This was an A+ episode for sure-100% recommend this one for anyone who can handle a bit of gore.

Thank you so much for reading! This is only part 1...more to come!

#ooc #not ffxiv #review #show review #tv show review #love death and robots #love #death #robots #animation #sonnie's edge #ice age #beyond the aquila rift #three robots #wlw #lesbian

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sandalaris · 4 years

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WIP Title Game

Tagged by @youbecool @alwaysupatnight and @fortysevenswrites Thank you all so much! I

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and I’ll post a little snippet of it or tell you something about it!

Some are repeats because of how I do my writing, but here we go! (under a cut because there’s a lot of them)

1A - the document I use to edit the latest chapter of multi-fics I am working on, currently A Lesson in Navigation’s next chapter

A Lesson in Navigation - holds all future chapters/scenes/snippets/notes for my WIP

A SethKate Community - fusion fic! the FDtD characters are now a study group at a community college… also has some scenes for the reverse

ALiN Alternate Scene - deleted scenes for A Lesson in Navigation

ALiN Pieces to reignite - I got writers block a while back and so just started randomly writing whatever came to mind for SethKate

ALiN Seth’s POV - what is says on the title

All The Little Pieces notes - because that sucker got complicated and I kept forgetting where people were at

Andy x Lauren - an in-pieces drabble/fic for the show Gifted exploring Andy and Lauren’s mental connection and what all it means. Kinda shippy

Baby, We’re a Cliche part 2 - sequel to a Sterek AU fic

Biscuit Teacher - from the kdrama Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy. I really wanted Bo Ri to find out that Hyun Woo lied about Tae In wanting her there and then have them break up sooner, probably won’t ever be finished but I’m glad I wrote it

Chapter something - I’m shortening this list because I technically have Chapter 26, Chapter 27 and Chapter 29 and this vaugly named Chapter something all as separate document for All the Little Pieces (the main document was getting too long)

Document1 - creatively named. SethKate, inspired by the tumblr post about someone’s grandparents meeting with their grandpa tried to rob their grandma

Document2 - a rough scene from a Community fic

Document3 - has two scenes from two different FDtD fics that I need to put back where they go

DW - a Doctor Who AU where nothing is alien and everything is fae

FDtD Fire Us - post-apocalypse SethKate fic based strongly on the Fire-Us series (or rather the set up for that world and the disease that killed almost everyone). Seth and Richie find a set of siblings squatting in one of their safe houses… except they shouldn’t exist.

FDtD Seth Kate Richie - probably Gen fic where Seth and Richie are Kate’s imaginary friends… until they aren’t

FDtD Touching With Intention - a post-series Kate-centric fic about her taking her healing into her own hands, background SethKate

FDtD - a shit ton of random snippets and fic ideas that are all firmly on the backburner until I either get the overwhelming urge to finish them, delete them, or post them as chapters in my never to be finished fic (mostly SethKate). Including scenes from: Zombie AU, dark Amaru/Brasa (+Kate) fic on those six months between season 2 and 3, cursed!Kate is stuck in an alternate reality dreamstate and the Gecko brothers have to go in to get her out, and superpowered S1 AU (featuring precog!Richie, Scott can “do the math,” Kate can make people tell the truth, Freddie’s not sayin what he can do… yet, and Seth the badass normal one)

Good Bad Kinda Fairytale - FDtD inspired by the Kinda Fairytale series where people are born either Good or Bad. SethKate featuring oblivious!Kate and pissed off!Seth.

Leverage!Life With Derek - Derek/Casey fic where the McDonalds and the Venturis are each a crime family that decide to start helping people with their skills

Lydia and Peter - an exploration of the connection between Peter and Lydia from Teen Wolf

MacGyver weirdness - what it says on the title, :P

Mr. and Mrs. Smith AU - actually just lightly inspired by the movie. SethKate. After a year of marriage, Seth, a semi-retired master theif who never told his wife how he got the money, begins to suspect that Kate is also some kind of wanted criminal… she’s not, but he’s not the only one to make that mistake and now people are shooting at them.

Murdered by Pirates is Good - a Richie/Kisa Princess Bride inspired fic where Kisa is telling Scott and Kate her story

Murdered by Pirates is Good 2- the SethKate sequel or possible alongside fic

(another set of multidocuments that are technically all the same) Nano 2, Nano Edit Numero Uno, Nano - all various edited stages of the Community/FDtD crossover where Jeff is Seth’s lawyer

Random Rumbelle - what it says in the title, lol.

Rene x Trevor - probably another fic I won’t finish, but Rene’s reaction to finding out that “Trevor” is actually a traveler in her boyfriend’s dead body

SethKate - my attempt to write smut for the first time, post-season one with kinda-a-werewolf-but-not-really!Seth

Shin x ET - The Lonley God kdrama fic where Shin struggles with not kissing his newly found bride

Spark Stiles - a semi-dark Sterek fic where Stiles climbs his way out of hell to get revenge for Scott’s murder

Sterek - two Stiles/Derek fic ideas that are on the backburner for now

Sterek SS inspired Part Two- the sequel to Intervening Process (We’ve Got This)

Stolen Kisses of an Ill-Begotten Age - Jeff/Annie post-Debate fic where Jeff gets to finally talk to someone about how Annie knocked him on his ass with one kiss

The Salt of Man - Life with Derek, Derek/Casey post-apocalypitic fic

Tumblr - the SethKate sequel to the drabble of Kate finding a drunk and high Seth and running her fingers through his hair…. that’s actually pretty much done, I should post it

Untitled tumblr drabble - a Richie/Dakota kissing prompt from @alwaysupatnight

Untitled tumblr drabble 2 - a SethKate kissing prompt from @yossariandawn

Waiting - a Criminal Minds fic involving none of the main characters, lol

What the Hell - a Big Bang Theory AU where Penny ends up Sheldon’s roommate and Leonard moves across the hall

wtf - a collection of The Umbrella Academy scenes involving Five dealing with second puberty, Diego and Vanya bonding during their teen years, and a slight AU where when they jump back to 2019 with ghost!Ben something to goes wrong, or right, and now Ben’s alive!…. and in his fourteen year old body

#fic lists #asked and answered #that's a long list #sterek #sethkate #richie x kisa #jeff x annie #tua

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ladybugsfanfics · 5 years

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Strangers On A Train [2] | Tom Hiddleston x reader

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x reader

Style: Originally a drabble (here), but this is part two

WC: 2308

Warning: Pining, so much pining, really this is the most pining I’ve written

Summary: Original drabble is based on this prompt :“we make contact before trying to steal the last seat on the subway/bus/train and I end up in your lap and fuck you, I’m going to stay here because I’ve had a really long day and this seat was mine” - prompt source, part two is for @sabine-leo‘s 1,5K follower celeberation writing challenge (congrats btw <3) and my prompt was the setting “sleepless nights” so here u have one long sleepless night

A/N: Uhh, so this became so much longer than the first part and I’m in love with it and really proud of what I wrote and kind of ready for a part three if you guys want that.. ^_^

If you wanna be added or removed from my taglist, please let me know ^_^

Part One | My Masterlist

Your phone vibrates where it lies next to you on the couch, carelessly thrown when you got home. It’s a text, or more a reply to the smiley you sent that morning to let the stranger on the tube know you got his note.

It bubbles lightly in your stomach and a smile grows on your lips. However, not sure how to reply, you put it back down and let your attention follow to where it had been. The TV plays an episode of The Big Bang Theory. You didn’t really follow it when it first came on, but now, your mind travels to another place entirely.

Last night’s tube ride had, after all, been very different from the usual. But it had been nice, way too nice. The disappointment in not seeing him on the tube ride home today is still at the bottom of your gut. There’s just something about him, something about the way he held onto you, made you feel safe. It’s unlike anything you have ever felt before.

Your phone starts ringing, the vibration affecting the couch and making an annoying sound that scares you enough to jump. You take it up and see the name flash. Stranger From The Tube

Something stirs in your gut as you stare at the screen. The smile you had grows wider, and you shake your head before you slide it and answer. You carefully put the phone to your ear, and say a small ‘hi’.

“Hi,” comes from the other line. A voice as soothing as when you first heard it. “It’s Tom,” he adds.

You chuckle. “I saw that.” You bite down on your lip, trying to keep from saying something stupid. “Why did you call?”

He lets out a sigh, a huff more like it, with a small ‘hehe’ laugh. “I’m not sure, to be honest.” The line goes quiet. You can hear his breathing on the other side, and just that has the hairs on your neck stand. “I guess I couldn’t… I couldn’t wait to talk to you.”

“Yeah,” you say, “we didn’t really get to talk before.”

“Not with you half asleep on my shoulder, no,” he says and chuckles. “Do you maybe want to go out for a drink? Tomorrow night?”

Your words get stuck in your throat. How do you say yes without sounding like you couldn’t wait? Without feeling like you sound desperate (to be honest, you are kind of touch starved)?

“Or does that not work?” His voice sounds smaller, insecure.

“No, no, no,” you hurry, “it works great.” A mental reprimand to not use too long to answer, flies through your head. “I… I was just thinking, uh, that the night is…” You purse your lips. “... still young.”

You pinch your eyes shut. Your heartbeat loud in your ears and your breathing gone because, god you just proposed that, and you don’t know if you can breathe before you hear his answer.

“Oh,” he says, “sound great. Meet at your tube stop in an hour?”

You nod furiously, biting your lips to keep from squealing. Only to realize this is a phone conversation and he can’t see you. You take a deep breath. “Yeah, that sound lovely. See you in an hour?”

“See you in an hour.” The line clicks and the conversation is over.

If he could see you now, the big smile on your face and knew how hot you felt, he would cancel. You’re sure of it, but instead of pondering whether or not he actually likes you, you rush out of the couch, turn off the TV and get to the bathroom.

Before going out, there are some things that need to be done.

Shower. You strip out of your clothes and take a quick shower. Every bit of you is cleaned, and despite knowing time is short, you still take the time to shave. You’re not even contemplating not doing so.

Make-up. Most of the time, make-up isn’t that important. Some mascara goes a long way, and you don’t use much more now either. You use some eyeshadow, a natural matte nude palette that blends in with your skin tone. You pair it with some mascara and eyeliner, making your eyes pop. And as a final touch, you find your favorite red lipstick and apply it. Happy with how you look, you move on to the next step.

Clothes. What the hell are you supposed to wear? The make-up alone is much, but also kind of natural and toned down. How do you pair that with something cute, yet showing you want to get to know this guy? In the end, you pick a black button down dress that ties around the waist, and even though it fits rather loosely, shows off your figure. You’d recently bought it as something casual you could wear to a birthday party, and this is the first time you get to use it. Studying yourself in the long mirror in your bedroom, you have no problem thinking you look cute.

Shoes. The dress being casual, and the knowing that’ll you’ll walk and probably stand, calls for something else than high heels. So, going rather tomboy-ish, you pair it with a pair of flat, black sneakers that match the dress. The soles are white and gives some color to the otherwise black outfit.

Hair. And the best for last, you style your hair. You let it fall naturally, spray it to get some style in it, and when you’re happy with the look, you smile at yourself in the mirror.

Seeing the clock, you have about two minutes before the hour is up. You search around your apartment for a little purse to go with the outfit, trying desperately to find something small yet able to have a phone, keys and wallet. It takes two minutes, but you finally find a black one that you’re happy with. One last look in the mirror, you smile happily and get out.

It’s fortunate it takes about five minutes to walk, because if it took more, you’d be a lot more late than you want to. Five minutes is within reasonable time, especially for a spontaneous ...date?

You get to the tube station and look around. The man you’re meeting stands off to the side of the entrance. Seeing him, you get even happier with what you picked out. He wears a pair of black jeans, tucked in is black shirt that clings to his body and the arms are rolled up to his elbows, and a jacket slung over his arm. You hadn’t even thought of taking with you a jacket. Maybe if you get cold, he’ll let you borrow his.

With light, nervous steps you walk towards him. A nervous purse of your lips as you stop and say hi. He smiles, but doesn’t say anything. Instead, he’s eyes study you from top to toe. It lingers a little on your lips, his tongue just out for a second, before he finds your eyes. Every part of your body feels like it’s on fire.

“Hi,” he breathes. “You look… wonderful.”

Your gut churns and you resist the urge to bite your lips. “Thanks,” you say. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

His smile widens, and he offers his arm. “Shall we walk?”

You nod, and take the arm he offers. The touch of his skin against yours is pleasant, a slight burn that traces its way up to your neck and down your spine. The chill air helps, as you would rather not start to sweat. Yet, at least.

The two of you walk in silence, steering into the tube and getting ready to fine one that gets you to the city centre. In little time, you step off and walk into the city night. You’ve let go of Tom’s arm, but you still walk close. Every once in a while, your hands brush and a shot of electricity courses through you.

“Where would you like to go?” asks Tom. He casts a glance your way.

You tilt your head up to glance at him, and catching his stare, you divert it back down and purse your lips. Why is your heart beating so fast? “Uhh, I don’t… I don’t have any…”

“Any preference?” he asks.

You nod, a blush creeping its way into your cheeks. The heat feels like too much, especially mixed with the constant heat of your skin whenever you accidentally touch.

He smiles and lets out a small laugh. “What about…” He looks around and his eyes land on a place. “...there?” A long finger points at it.

“Sound nice,” you reply.

11.38 PM

“No way, really?”

“Yeah, really. I don’t know why, but he did that.”

“Oh, but you did that other thing, right?”

“Shh, we don’t talk about that.”

“Of course we don’t. You wouldn’t do anything stupid, would you?”

“Fuck off.”

12.52 AM

“A hat? She got upset for a hat?”

“Oh, yeah, I can’t say why, but the hat meant something.”

“The hat meant something. What did it mean? That it was supposed to be on her head?”

Laughter. “No, apparently, it meant to be in the sea.”

02.23 AM

“What? You don’t want to dance?”

“No, that’s not really my thing.”

“What is your thing?”

“Talking. Getting to know someone. Laughing.”

“Those are some great things.”

“Yeah, it’s that and being awkward.”

Laughter.

“You’re not awkward.”

“Oh, sure, because I know how to speak. Yeah.”

“You haven’t been awkward the times I’ve met you.”

“You met me exhausted on a tube where I literally sat on you, and today, where I’ve gotten alcohol.”

“There was no alcohol for four hours ago.”

“No, but there was no conversation either.”

“That’s not a criteria for something to not be awkward.”

“Well, I am, deal with it.”

“Now, what you do have is attitude. Not in a bad way.”

04.12 AM

You fiddle with the keys for a moment before the apartment becomes unlocked. Inside, you take off your shoes and lay down your little purse on your coffee table. Tom follows right behind, taking off his shoes and hanging his jacket on the coat stand.

“You want something to drink?” you ask and take a wine bottle out of the fridge. Before he’s even answered, you set down two glasses on the counter.

Tom comes into the kitchen. He leans against the counter, “that would be lovely.” His gaze travels over you as you pour the glasses, and you shiver at the feeling. As with the whole night, your body responds to how he acts, how he speaks, and you love every minute of it.

“Here,” you say and hand him one of the glasses. He takes it and your fingers graze, sending your heart into overdrive and setting your skin on fire.

You move to the living room, and you sit down on the couch, tucking your feet underneath you―making sure your dress covers you and doesn’t show anything you don’t want shown. Tom sits down close by, his knee touches yours. Neither of you pull away from the touch.

“What were we talking about again?” you ask him.

He chuckles lightly. “About my work, I think.”

You nod. “Yeah. An actor and a pretty famous one, too.” Something flickers in his eyes, but you don’t catch what it is. “How is that?”

“Exciting. Tiring. And every bit as fun as when I started out.” Tom smiles, it grows fond as he talks. Fonder and fonder as he retells stories, and talk about the friends he’s made. You listen intently as he speaks. Eyes flicker between his lips and his blue-green eyes that burn with a passion.

The night continues. You talk about everything, about nothing. Stories from your childhood, stories from now. Those little details. Those small things that mean something.

And suddenly, the night is over.

The clock reads eight AM. Tom chuckles at it and stands up. You follow him to the door, lean against the wall as he puts on his shoes and grabs his jacket.

“I had a great time.” He balances back and forth on his feet and puts his hands in his pockets as you stop leaning, a smile on his face that you return without hesitation.

“Yeah, me too.” You bite your lip and look down on the floor, on your feet. You glance back up at him. “We should do it again sometime.”

He nods. “We should.”

Neither of you say anything. He moves to the door and turns the lock. Tom looks back at you and you smile at him. Your gazes lock. His flicker down to your lips, his tongue takes a quick trip out. You smile, wanting him to take that step.

“Bye,” he says and opens the door.

You move to close it as he walks out. “Bye,” you say. Your heart pounds in your chest, nervousness courses through your veins and hope keeps you from uttering more words (or sounds) than you want.

He lingers in the doorway. You’re closer now, closer than the moment before. Your heartbeat pulses inside your head, your throat feels tight. Just lean in, it’s not that hard. But you don’t move.

Neither does he. Instead you stare at each other, both lick your lips.

“You have my number,” you say, and tiptoe up to kiss his cheek.

He nods. “I do.” And with a smile, he walks away.

You look after him. Your pounding heart not slowing down, and your brain telling you to run after and kiss him. On the lips. But you don’t. You watch as he turns smaller, and you feel the butterflies in your gut. And you know, with a hundred percent certainty, that you’ve met the love of your life.

NEXT PART!

Permanent tags: @devilbat @adefectivedetective

Tom tags: @inlovewith3 @bookgirlunicorn @mindlesschicca @justawriterinprogress

#tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston fanfic #tom hiddleston imagine #tom hiddleston fanfiction #twh #thomas william hiddleston #fanfic #fanfiction #marvel #loki #sabine-leowritingchallenge #pining #sleepless night #tom hiddlestton pining #fluff

194 notes · View notes

pain-somnia · 5 years

Text

Konoha TV Cryptid

Rating: T (for some language) Disclaimer Day’s Notes: I wrote a little one-shot based on a twitter thread started by @thatshipcat and I recommend reading it to see what inspired this one-shot, it’s pretty funny. This fic is Uchiha-centric and it has mentions of SasuSaku, SasoObi, KakaRin, and I guess it implies some ShiItaIzu. I hope this fic makes you laugh.

“Sasuke, turn off the television! Guests will be arriving soon.”

Sasuke did as his mother requested and powered off the television in the living room, but he didn’t move from his spot on the floor by the coffee table. A night of gaming had him forgetting to complete his homework assignment for his Civics class. He had only remembered about fifteen minutes ago when he was supposed to be dusting the living room and plumping the throw pillows as his mother had asked.

Every Sunday his mother hosted brunch and invited all of their relatives that lived in the area. Some of them were tolerable, like Izumi who wasn’t that close of a cousin━her mother, Hazuki, was his father’s like fourth cousin or something, he didn’t care for the details━but was somewhere in the family tree that had her sharing their family name. Then there was an older cousin, Obito, who unfortunately was a direct relation. He was clingy and babied him and just downright weird. Sasuke wished he would spend his Sundays with his friends or boyfriend, but Obito was always the first one to arrive, ready for a free meal.

Usually Sasuke would eat his meal and try to excuse himself as soon as possible, but today he had a reason to stay put in his seat at the dining table.

A cry of “Auntie Mikoto!” followed the loud bang of the front door that signaled Obito’s arrival.

“He’s buying us a new door one of these days, Mikoto,” Fugaku muttered as he helped bring in toast from the kitchen to the table.

“I don’t know how you do it, but you look more and more radiant each week, Auntie.” Obito presented Mikoto with a bouquet of pink carnations. She had a vase at the ready as he always brought her flowers whenever he came over to eat.

Sasuke attempted to sneak away, but he barely had his foot on the first step when Obito wrapped an arm around his neck and brought him in for a hug.

“Sasuke!”

“Too tight, you ape!” The more he struggled to be freed, the tighter Obito held onto him. “Get off of me.”

“You break my child and I’ll break your neck,” Fugaku warned. Obito instantly released Sasuke and backed a foot away from him. “Where’s Itachi? He was just here helping with the food.”

Itachi had made his escape earlier and Sasuke cursed his brother’s knack for saving himself and leaving Sasuke behind to deal with the adults cooing over him.

The doorbell rang, interrupting Sasuke’s thoughts about his traitor older brother. His father nodded his head toward the front door, sending him to answer it.

“Good morning, Uncle Madara.” Sasuke looked at his great uncle impassively and waited for the insult the elderly man was likely to dole out.

“Why is your voice doing that?” He asked, tossing Sasuke his trilby hat.

“It’s puberty, Uncle Madara.” Sasuke turned around to hide the rolling of his eyes. He stowed his uncle’s trilby hat and shoes in the front hall closet. “I can’t help it.”

“You sound like one of those rubber chicken toys.”

Sighing, Sasuke escorted his uncle to his seat at the table. The door opened again and was followed by hurried stomps up the staircase in the foyer. Shisui and Izumi had arrived and just like every Sunday they headed straight up to Itachi’s room.

“Hello, Uncle.” Mikoto wiped her hands on her apron and greeted her uncle with a hug and kisses on both sides of his cheeks. Madara gave his niece the closest thing he could muster to a smile. The corners of his mouth twitched up and then settled into a tight line at the sight of Obito carrying plates into the dining room.

“Are the mimosas ready?” Madara grunted, setting his cane against the table. He snapped his fingers and held a hand out. Obito rushed over to him with a champagne flute and the pitcher.

Mikoto ushered Sasuke up the stairs to get his brother and cousins. He took his time, shuffling his feet, wanting to drag out as much time as possible before he had to rejoin the adults in the dining room.

“Itachi?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the picture his brother and cousins made. The three of them were going over their character sheets and getting ready to start a campaign.

“You guys can play Dungeons and Dragons after we eat.”

The older teens organized everything, careful not to knock anything over as they collected themselves. Sasuke scanned the teens, something was off about the group.

Itachi was as he always looked. Silky hair, pin straight and tied in a neat low ponytail. Stress lines still prominent under his eyes behind his black rimmed glasses. Izumi was bright, dressed neatly like she always did for family events.

And then there was Shisui. His curly mop of hair was even more disheveled than usual and he had bags under his eyes. Sasuke looked down at Shisui’s clothes and took in their rumpled state, as if Shisui had slept in his jeans and t-shirt.

“Dork.” Shisi ruffled Sasuke’s hair as he shuffled past him. Sasuke slapped his hand away and narrowed his eyes at the taller of the three teens walking down the stairs.

“Rough night, Shisui?”

Shisui stiffened and slipped on a step. He caught himself on the banister. Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest and watched as Itachi and Izumi checked on their older friend.

Huh.

The brat knew.

Shisui took his seat right across from Madara, Sasuke, and Obito. The smallest Uchiha sat nestled between his great uncle and his older cousin and he kept staring at him. There was something about that blank look on his face that was unnerving.

“So how is school, Sasuke?” Obito asked cheerfully, reaching across the table for the pitcher of orange juice.

Shisui had wanted the juice as well, but the minors were stuck drinking water in order to successfully convince Madara that he was drinking a “mimosa.” He wasn’t allowed any alcohol at brunch anymore, but it was easier to pretend than convince him to lay off the sauce during family meals.

“He’s been studying a lot,” Itachi answered before Sasuke could tell their cousin to mind his own business. Under his breath he muttered, “At least he says they’re studying.”

Sasuke shot his brother a glare, his lower lip jutting out in a pout. He looked older than most kids his age, but he was still passably cute. But Shisui wasn’t going to let that fool him.

“Yeah,” Sasuke responded to his brother’s statement. “I was actually doing some homework before everyone came over. Watching the news.”

“It’s ‘I was watching the news’,” Madara hissed, as he cut his omelette. “Speak properly, boy.”

Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued to spread the diced tomatoes on top of his omelette. He couldn’t use ketchup like a normal kid, Auntie Mikoto had to prepare chopped tomatoes for him.

Spoiled brat.

Shisui narrowed his eyes at Sasuke, but tucked into his Eggs Benedict.

“Well, I was watching the news and they were reporting something weird. Something about televisions.”

Shisui coughed, choking on a piece of the English muffin. Itachi thumped lightly on his back, asking him softly he was okay.

“I’m fine,” Shisui coughed out, “it just went down the wrong pipe.”

“What was that about televisions, sweetie?” Auntie Mikoto asked, casting Shisui one last look of concern before shifting her attention to the youngest member of the family.

“Someone wearing a TV on his head dropped off a bunch of old TVs at different houses in the suburb near the college Obito and Shisui attend. It happened last—“

“Isn’t that just an Internet hoax?” Shisui interrupted him, chuckling nervously.

“Don’t interrupt,” Uncle Fugaku reprimanded him. “What were you saying, Sasuke?”

“You know they spoil him,” Itachi muttered under his breath. “Just let him finish his story.”

“Yeah, it happened last night. The person was caught waving at one of the doorbell cameras.”

“I wonder what kind of idiot would do that?” Shisui asked loudly, making a big show of serving himself some bacon and turkey sausage.

“Well I think it’s genius.” Obito munched happily on a poached egg. “You think it’s cool, right Sasuke?”

Obito beamed at Sasuke, desperate for approval. His fondness for his younger cousin was going to give them away and Shisui couldn’t have that.

“Hey can you pass the orange juice, Obito?” Shisui asked before Sasuke could open his mouth to say anything.

“Orange juice? I knew I couldn’t taste any champagne!” Uncle Madara was furious. He started accusing the adults of taking advantage of an old man’s trust while Mikoto tried to assure him that the pitcher held the ingredients for mimosas.

In the midst of the chaos, Uncle Fugaku walked out of the dining room muttering something about needing a stronger drink.

“It’s amazing that it got on the local news,” Obito carried on with the conversation. “I’ve already seen some of it online and there are a lot of people wondering about it, asking where the guy came from and if he━”

“Or she or they, you can’t assume,” Shisui cut him, no longer able to control his nervous laughter. “It’s just a person with a TV head and━”

“And overalls,” Sasuke interrupted him. He was looking straight at him, a blank look on his face. “The kind of overalls mechanics wear. Where do you work part-time again, Obito?”

“My friend Kakashi’s dad has an auto body shop remember?” Obito brightened up at the attention. Shisui cursed him mentally. Obito had no sense of self preservation.

“Interesting.” Sasuke nodded his head and turned his attention back to Shisui. “I have my own theories about the TV incident. There’s no way only one person could have dropped off sixty TVs in one night all by themselves. It had to be a group effort.”

“Sasuke has a girlfriend!” Shisui shouted. Uncle Fugaku who was joining them in the dining room again, choked on the brandy he had been drinking.

“Who is dating?” Uncle Fugaku, cheeks red from his coughing fit. He looked back and forth between Shisui and Sasuke, expecting one of them to answer. Auntie Mikoto was cooing in the background, squealing about her baby growing up.

“Really, asshole?” Sasuke glared at Shisui, ears turning pink in embarrassment.

“Language!” Auntie Mikoto snapped at him, no longer smiling.

Fugaku and Mikoto were scolding Sasuke, words being thrown back and forth on two different subjects. Obito slumped in his seat, pouting, now that they were no longer discussing the theatrics of the TV dumping person. Madara took advantage of the argument and snuck away from the dining room to search for real alcohol.

“You ever wonder why we even bother to show up for brunch?” Izumi asked Itachi. “They don’t even notice we’re here.”

Itachi only shrugged and served himself some orange juice now that they were no longer contributing to the mimosa charade.

After a long lecture and cleaning up the remains of brunch, Sasuke was sent to his room to finish up his homework assignment. He divided his time in looking up articles on what was now being called the Konoha TV Cryptid and messaging his friends.

Naruto kept sending jokes about the TV Cryptid in the groupchat and even though it wasn’t his intention, Naruto was surprisingly helpful.

Sakura: That’s your cousin isn’t it, Sasuke?

Naruto: Wait WHAT??

Sakura had cropped one of the pictures Naruto had sent and zoomed in to a blurry image of a logo on the overalls the person was wearing. It was really fuzzy but it was clear enough to see the important O and U of Obito’s first and last names under a blurry dog logo. It was all the evidence Sasuke needed to know that it was his cousin.

But Obito couldn’t have worked alone. It was a lot of houses and a lot of TVs and he would have had to have carried them all in some way. It had to be a car or a truck. But Obito, while he worked at a shop with his friend, didn’t have a license or a car of his own.

Sasuke narrowed down the possible candidates for Obito’s partner. It couldn’t be his boyfriend, Sasori, because there was no way he would do any of that and he was out of state. Kakashi, Obito’s best friend, would have kicked his ass for even suggesting the prank and Rin, Obito’s other best friend, couldn’t have helped because she would have been home with Kakashi and noticeably absent.

Not even Gai, another one of their friend group, was a likely candidate. There was no way he could keep it a secret, at least not from Kakashi.

Shisui was the one Sasuke suspected the most. He was attending the university near where the TVs were found and he had recently obtained his license after finally taking the driving test. The only issue with Sasuke’s suspicion was that Shisui didn’t own a car. But the outbursts during brunch gave Shisui away.

Knocking on his brother’s bedroom door, Sasuke opened the door and found the three older teens watching a slasher movie.

“Did you want to watch a movie with us, Sasuke?” Itachi asked, adjusting his glasses on the bridge of his nose. He was sitting at the foot of his bed between Izumi’s legs while she braided his hair.

“No. I just needed to speak to Shisui. Alone.”

“That’s, uh, unprecedented.” Itachi blinked at his brother in confusion.

Shisui groaned from his spot on the bed next to Izumi but dragged his feet as he followed Sasuke back to his bedroom.

“Alright, what do you want?”

“I know the TV Cryptid is Obito.”

“The TV what?” Shisui gaped at him. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s what they’re calling Obito online.” Sasuke watched the color drain from Shisui’s face. “And I know you helped him.”

“You can’t prove that.”

“You know all I need to do is ask Obito and he’ll tell me everything.”

Sasuke knew he had him trapped there. Obito was annoyingly doting when it came to him. All he needed to do was spend enough time in his older cousin’s presence and Obito would tell him whatever he needed. Hell, if Sasuke brought over Sakura and Naruto, Obito would spill his secret even faster just so he could show off.

Shisui sighed in defeat. The sooner he gave in to Sasuke’s demands the better. “Alright, what do you want?”

“Sakura wants to see that movie that just came out on Friday.”

“Okay, what does━?”

“You’re going to take us and buy our tickets. And our popcorn and drinks. Sakura likes those candy rope things too.”

“Aha, so she is your girlfriend.”

Heat crawled up Sasuke’s neck. Shisui was wrong, Sakura wasn’t his girlfriend. Yes, she was a girl and she was a friend and yeah, she was kind of cute…

“Alright, whatever.” Shisui shrugged. “I wanted to see that movie anyway.”

“You can’t sit with us.”

“Right.” Shisui rolled his eyes. “Is that all of your demands?” He asked sarcastically.

Taking him seriously, Sasuke furrowed his brows and scrunched up his face as he contemplated. He let out a big sigh and said, “You gotta take Naruto out on a ramen date.”

“Ramen date?”

“Yeah, he has a weird crush on you. I don’t get it.”

“Watch it, brat.” Shisui had to hold back the urge to pull Sasuke into a headlock. “He knows I’m not single, right? And he’s a child.”

Sasuke shrugged and replied, “The kid can dream.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“Uncle Madara’s truck is the only vehicle that could have carried all of those TVs and you’re not old enough to rent a truck and Obito who is old enough, doesn’t have a license.” Sasuke crossed his arms in front of his chest and shot Shisui a smug grin. “And Uncle Madara would kill you before letting you near his truck, so I’m sure he doesn’t know that you ‘borrowed’ it.”

“Shit.”

“I’ll text you later with the date and time for the movie and your date with Naruto.” Sasuke opened his bedroom door and jerked his head in the direction of the hallway. “Now leave. I have calls to make.”

Shisui left as asked, completely bemused about what had just happened. He made his way back to Itachi’s room and sat back on his usual spot.

“What did Sasuke want?” Itachi asked, not bothering to look away from the TV.

Shisui groaned and threw himself backward onto Itachi’s bed.

“Your brother is the devil.”

#uchiha family #sasusaku #day!fics

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septicbadger · 5 years

Text

The beginnings of a story I started to write a long time ago (probably sometime 2015) that I never got that far into but decided to share today as it’s Sean’s 30th birthday...

"Uh... This is fun," muttered Sean, it was a history lesson. His class had been learning all about Greece's philosophers and to be honest he was bored, he didn't care. He would rather be at home just playing Pokémon on his gameboy, his first console. Looking down at his right arm, he saw his fourteen year old hands, they were rough and his finger nails were dirty from playing outside in the woods by his house. Then he gazed at his sleeve, it was ruffled at the end and was green, the colour of Ireland, his home land.

Then the bell rang and Sean was smacked back to reality, finally the lesson had ended, it was breaktime! He rushed outside into the playground to play football with a few of his secondary school 'friends'.

Billy, Steve, Suzy and Betty were waiting and wanted to play while some of his other classmates mingled, among them, Larry, Bobby, Mike, Mary and Harry.

There were two teams but they were unfair. It was Billy Betty and Suzy vs. Sean and Steve and Sean was in goal. The game started well, Betty in her baggy school uniform had the ball first and was quite slow because of her weight but then Billy, the smaller of the group took the ball from her then turned to attack Sean and Steve. Steve whizzed past Sean, he was always been the best at this game, it was like he had a segway in defence. Suzy was minding her own business, her mind floating off into the air when she was running to attack with Billy. She, not concentrating and looking at Billy through her glasses, slammed into Sean whilst he was in the air and they banged heads and Sean got a gash above his left eye. Then Billy scored.

"Billy! I was on the floor you can't score a goal when I'm down!" complained Sean he was tearing up and his left eye stung like hell.

"Oh, ha sorry. Not! I bet you were glad to bump into Suzy anyway," Billy teased.

"Shut your mouth Billy or I'll close it for you!" shouted Sean through the pain.

"Is that a threat?" asked Billy, " how sweet, and while you're still on the floor."

"Billy just be quiet!" commanded Sean.

"No!" then Billy ran on ashamed but not regretting what he did, a smirk on his face.

"Screw...You....Billy!!"screamed Sean whilst his eye bled.

This grabbed the attention of Steve and Betty who were watching the spectacle while Suzy had gone to tell the teacher.

"Are you okay Buddy?" asked Steve, Sean's video gaming friend.

"Of course I'm... ," said Sean but he couldn't hide the pain.

"Oh My God! Sean. Oh no, oh no!" Betty panicked.

Sean had to say something to shut her up. "Calm your tits Betty. I'll be alright but Billy won't."

Sean was between emotions.

* * *

It had been two and a half weeks and Sean's eye had become infected. He had been acting normally, trying not to hit Billy, playing video games with Steve, playing at break and climbing and swinging from his favourite tree outside his house but today things would change.

He arrived at school, his normal cheerful self but with his mum. "Goodbye Jack," she called. Sean knew why he was called Jack because of Sean being like Irish John, "and remember honey the doctor said, don't touch your eye even if you think it looks cool and 'badass'."

"Goodbye," Sean cried when he saw Billy sniggering in the corner.

"Hey, look it's jacksepticeye!" Billy loudly mocked, "How are you Jacky?"

Sean bit his lip. Hopefully ma didn't hear, he thought, and hopefully she won't hear this. Sean deeply exhaled.

"Billy. You will get a beating you little ginger tw-"

Sean's mum ran to the scene, she had heard and Billy ran to class. "Sean William McLaughlin come here now!"

"But... Ma I was being a Boss," She looked directly at him. "Yes Ma," he unwillingly obeyed.

"Straight home with you!"

When they arrived back Sean ran away to hang in the forest. He hastily made his way to his favourite place but he tripped.

"Ouch!" He had tripped on a piece of jutting metal. He looked down at the design. It looked alien. He, being an adventurous young boy, dug out the top part of this. He saw what looked to be a pod. Sean with his +1 biceps pulled it out from the ground. It was so easy, it was like it had been buried and lightly covered over.

He gazed at the 90 centimetre tall pod. It was a dark metal oval with light gray fins and highlights, there was a deep ocean green button at its base. Sean felt the urge to push it, like he knew what to do and he had to do it. A pod door opened up to reveal the capsule inside. Sean was amazed at all the flashing lights, levers and buttons of all varying sizes and colours. He saw the leather backing of the pod, it was about the size to fit a baby.

Sean ran back to tell his mum about it.

"Ma...Ma, 's awesome!"

"Honey what's awesome?"

"I found an alien pod with all these amazing lights and controls, it could have been an escape pod or something! Come I'll show you!" Sean was so excited he could barely speak.

"No," his mother said," I have something to tell you, you might want to sit down. We're moving soon in two weeks exactly in fact to live closer to grandma in a huge forest, you'll have all the trees in the world to play in but you won't see your friends again."

"What? Ma you didn't tell me!" This had put a downer on things and Sean felt betrayed. "But..."

"I'm sorry honey but things have already been arranged. You can forget about that pod as well, you're not allowed in the forest again with that eye of yours."

But Sean would never forget, never tell anyone about it again. He would always remember, the pod and its existence. He even came up with some theories why his mother wouldn't acknowledge it existed and occasionally in the future he would joke about them like in his childhood:

That he was a Boss of the Bossatronios, an alien race that once ruled the Planet Bossatron.

He thought that he had come in that pod. That his parents and siblings took him in as Sean, a normal Irish lad.

He wasn't far off.

Chapter 1: The Message

"Well I'm going to leave this episode here! If you liked it, punch that like button in the face, LIKE A BOSS! Aaand, high fives all around!" Sean said with energy as he high fived his YouTube audience. "But thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see all of you... IN THE NEXT VIDEOOO!" He shouted as loud and almost as high as his voice could go, it had been a good episode of Reading Your Comments and was a long time in the making, episode one hundred.

Sean ended the recording at precisely 9:42, took off his headphones and stood up in his home. His green brown and slightly grey (never to be talked about) hair was ruffled as he stood. His manly short beard was the way it always was, just an extended stubble leading around his mouth. It was time for a snack.

When he got back he decided to open up a game a fan of his had said she had made when he had attended the recent PAX. It was a convention where he had his own panel and met so many of his fans. It all meant so much to Sean but he wondered whether the USB contained a virus.

He download the game called. S.E.A.N and a loading screen appeared once he ran it. There was no menu, just a pixelated green field, Sean wondered what the game could really be about. He used his mouse to look around at the game's surroundings. Then a message popped up.

Hello S.E.A.N, or maybe Sean or Jack. You probably remember meeting me don't you, a human meeting a human. Well neither of us were human. Press enter to continue...

Then the game crashed and his computer buzzed."What the hell?" asked Sean, "This shouldn't happen!"

A new window appeared. Sean sat back down trying to get his computer to respond. But it didn't. He couldn't close the window or minimize it. All that there was was a blank screen and he stared at it through beautiful blue eyes.

Then the screen of his computer went to a blue screen. Sean didn't know what to think. Should he press enter or not? Was his name just an acronym? He remembered that pod in the forest.

He hadn't seen it ever again. He had never spoken seriously of it since when he was a child.

He remembered the people from his secondary school. He had even named some of the characters after them in games that he had played.

He had become a big success since his teenage years. He had played many great games on his channel named jacksepticeye. He had become a popular YouTuber, 15 million strong and always growing.

You know what? thought Sean.

YOLO BITCHES!!!

He clicked enter and his world was turned upside down.

* * *

The first thing he saw was a blinding flash of sea foam green. His eyes squinted into his new surroundings. He felt different, inside and out. He wasn't quite himself anymore, he was just a character in a video game. But this video game felt and looked as real as life.

Sean touched his nose, it felt like plasticene. He checked for his hat, but all he touched was his green hair. He was still Sean but also not him. His mind, his looks belonged to his human body but his body felt looser. And through his pixel eyeballs was a new world.

Chapter 2: The Party

He was in a stone hall. He recognised the walls, the stairs, the floors, the arches and the pedestal where a body lay: he was in his favourite game, Shadow of the Colossus. He stepped towards the body, like Wander in the game. But from under the cloths came a skeleton.

"Hello, human! I m the great Papyrus! And you shall place me in the royal guard!"

This skeleton Jack knew from Undertale in his red, white and gold outfit and spoke in jack's voice for him. He was basically the best and deserved more recognition. Sean remembered having to kill him in the genocide run and he remembered their date. It all filled him with determination.

"I'm taking you to Undyne!" said Papyrus and suddenly an orange portal appeared which Jack knew was from the game Portal and he was whisked away. Papyrus didn't mind so much, he was thinking about spaghetti.

They arrived through the portal. Jack was stuck between two green blocks and in front of him were six people, an elf, a little girl, a baby boy, two men and a chubby woman, standing still on floating green platforms. Jack recognised these characters from Happy Wheels. He didn't recognise the level when in fact it was the first level he played that someone had made for him in the game.

"Wowie! I'm on a horse! There is a pile of swords in front of me!"

Jack turned his head and behind him surely enough was a pile of swords. This was a sword throw level. Papyrus was sure enough sitting on a horse, Agro, the black horse from Shadow of the Colossus. The question was- through his own eyes could Jack kill the people?

That question didn't need to be answered as from out of Sean's vision came a kid in an orange top, just like Billy's from school. He had remembered the kid when naming the character for Happy Wheels as they wore the same clothes and were both ginger and "Screw you Billy" became a known saying.

Billy leaped onto Papyrus, Agro spooked and fell forward. Jack pulled the swords away and they all fell on him, as they fell through another portal: this one was blue.

They were all falling through the clouds. Sean, Papyrus, Agro and Billy together. Suddenly, a god like figure appeared in the clouds. She was just a head and shoulders appearing to them as they fell. This figure had brown hair and greenish hazel eyes."Evie!" said Sean.

Immediately, CleverBot Evie that Jack had done many videos on, turned into a hologram and came up on Sean's face like Cortana from Halo. He remembered when she guessed his name.

"Oh God!" he said to both that video and the fact that she was on his HUD, ready to be talked to.

One last portal appeared, orange and they all ended up in a blank void. There was a lamppost in the centre. Sean remembered The Beginner's Guide. Suddenly, before he could react, Jack's character from Skate 3, Betty, came through the portal on Pink Lighting, a trike from Turbo Dismount.

Sean stood up. He couldn't help thinking, "OOOOOWWWWW PINK LIGHTING!" Papyrus and Billy sat on Agro.

"Now I have three humans in my custody!" exclaimed the skeleton.

"Help me! Where am I? There's a skeleton!" moaned Billy in his high pitched bitch voice. Jack didn't care, he was enjoying this.

Agro neighed, majestic and not bothered by the stupid people on him.

Betty stood up in her black t-shirt and jeans. "This isn't my skateboard!" she said as she jumped off Pink Lighting and towards Jack.

"Hi, Betty," began Sean.

"How do you know my name? Who are you? Where am I? Did you bring me here?" She was full of questions!

"Um... well." Sean didn't know what to say. He didn't want to say that she was from a game he had played and this was another game made for him.

"Hi, I'm Sean. I know your name from er... well, I've heard of your great skating. We have been sent here, I don't know where, to together take down a common enemy, the Yllib, threatening our lives. And... no I didn't bring you here."

Betty stepped closer, looking beyond Sean at a skeleton and a little kid, on top of a horse. "So, obviously I'm the leader of whatever you guys are."

"Um... ok. This is Billy, Papyrus and Agro," explained jacksepticeye, pointing at the three characters bickering. Papyrus grabbed Billy and took them both off the horse, walking towards them.

"Have you told them what we're here for?" Betty asked.

"No."

"Well maybe you could be my second in command, tell them the boring stuff and get them together."

Papyrus and Billy arrived next to videogame Sean. "You two humans come here. You are now my prisoners. This child knows nothing. Tell me how we get out of here, one with green hair, this is not the underground." And with his skeletal fingers Papyrus pointed at Sean.

"Help me you two. Uhhhng I want my daddy!"

"Shut up Billy!"shouted Sean and Billy went quiet. "Well, we are here to take down a common enemy, the Yllib who are threatening Snowdin, Skate Parks and Hap- BMX tracks. We have been sent here to find a way to stop them."

"But tell them how we get out, second in command," said Betty.

"How do we get out?" Sean muttered to Evie. He had been feeling quite cool debriefing people.

"By understanding everything is connected," Evie droned out in Jack's mind. Papyrus was getting impatient and was tapping his foot whilst Betty looked concerned. Billy was just a little bitch.

"No, we need a portal."

"Yes, you need a point," said Evie. Oh my god, how dumb can a CleverBot get? thought Sean, I need a portal!

Sure enough a portal opened far away in the distance behind Agro who was now smelling Pink Lighting. "Through that portal over there."

"Through that human tamed beast over there? Is that a portal?" Papyrus questioned.

"No not Agro! That blue portal in the distance. But we will need transportation. Papyrus, your greatness, and you, Commander Betty, will ride with me on Agro the horse. Billy you can have Pink Lighting and do try to keep up you little bitch," finished Jack.

The team galloped off towards the portal in the black void. And behind them Billy pedalled with his small legs. He hated Sean. To him, he was a big bitch. And this trike was Billy's least favourite shade of pink.

* * *

Sean, Betty, Papyrus and Agro arrived at the portal, looking amazing atop their steed. Jack wanted to leave Billy behind but Pink Lightning was too precious and Billy was put in the game for a reason. As they waited time ticked on...

TWO GAME HOURS LATER

"Go Billy, go, go, go!" screamed Sean at Billy, trying to motivate him. He was five metres away from arriving next to them.

"Next time, that skeleton can have this," panted Billy.

"Fine," agreed Betty.

"I agree, it is fair that I, the great Papyrus, get the best vehicle!"

"Right, everyone let's go!" said Betty. "Can you take the horse?" She beckoned at Sean and he followed, just having fun, playing the game.

They stepped towards the portal, Billy following Betty, Papyrus being a 'cool dude' on Pink Lightning and Sean guiding Agro's nose at the back. "Now the real game begins," said Evie in Jack's mind. She winked.

* * *

They all arrived on a realistic looking game graphic platform. It looked like it was from the Borderlands games and was all grey metal. Jack wished for Loader Bot to come out and say "Hi." in his robotic voice and do his thumb up pose. But nobody came...

"Where are we now, human?" asked Papyrus to Betty, getting off Pink Lightning.

"Sean!" she cried as him and Agro entered the conversation, "explain where we are!"

"Um..." Jack didn't know what to say. It didn't help that Billy was calling for his dad behind Betty and Papyrus. "I don't kno-"

Sean was cut short as suddenly something appeared, a big portal. From the huge purple rift in space came...

...that’s as far as younger me got, thanks for reading if you made it down here!

#jacksepticeye #jse #jsebirthday #jse fanfic #therealjacksepticeye

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super-cerulean · 6 years

Text

Let’s Go For a Ride

I chose this prompt from the Jason Todd Prompt Challenge created by @jason-todd-rh. Thank you for tagging me!!! This prompt reminded me of a scene on this Taiwanese show I watched on Netflix called Bromance so I based some parts of this off of that.

Prompt 5: Jason teachers the reader how to drive a motorcycle.

Warnings: Language and mild flirting

When you told Jason you wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle, you were mostly kidding. Sure, they were beautiful and you absolutely loved when Jason drove you around on his. In theory it seemed like it might be fun to learn how to ride one and that was mostly why you said you would be down for it. You hadn’t thought much on it after you’d said it and you honestly forgot about it. Jason however, wasn't so quick to let it slip his mind.

The night before, Jason had told you to be ready for an early date. His plans involved waking up before sunset, so you were a little upset he waited until two in the morning to tell you it might be a good idea to go to sleep early. He was also very cryptic about what was the two of you would be doing, and he refused to give you any details about it. He barely even gave you a guideline for what you were supposed to wear, which was also a bit aggravating. When you spoke on the phone he sounded like he usually did when he was planning something, so you were left feeling more anxious than excited. Jason could be very chaotic when he wanted to be and that usually ended up with someone else on the receiving end of his mischief.

Per his request, you met him outside of your apartment about an hour before the sun rose. He waited for you near the sidewalk, standing beside his shining red motorcycle. When he saw you, he immediately greeted you with a grin. He had one helmet rested on the seat of the bike and one tucked in his arms. He offered the one in his hand to you with that look on his face that suggested you were about to be dragged into something so you paused before you accepted the helmet.

“Jason, I don’t know what you’re planning but I’d better not end up worrying for my life this early in the morning,” you said as you took the helmet from him.

“Now when have I ever made you worry for your life?”

“The first through fifth time I got on this bike,” you replied. Jason rolled his eyes, but you could tell he was amused with his little plan. You tried not to overthink it though, and busied yourself with preparing the helmet to put on.

“Your life was not in danger. I barely did any really cool tricks.”

“Yeah, well I felt like it was and that’s all that matters,” you said. You finished fastening the helmet onto your head and climbed onto the seat behind Jason. He had his helmet on already and was waiting with his feet planted on either side of the bike. You were trying to adjust your position on the seat when you heard him suddenly starting to rev up the engine. Instantly, you shot your arms out and around his waist in a panic and it took you a moment to realize that he was messing with you. The sound was muffled by his helmet, but you could feel him laughing at your reaction so you retaliated by pinching his sides. This time, the helmet didn’t muffle the sound of his reaction.

The sun had still yet to rise so the city was still bathed in darkness and neon lights. The streets were pretty quiet considering the time so you were left with a very peaceful ride. Thankfully, Jason didn’t do anything to try and show off so you were able to enjoy the feeling of air rushing around you and the view of the city blurring around you. So far Jason hadn't done anything too bad, but you knew him too well to ignore the signs that he was plotting against you.

He drove the two of you outside of the city and drove along the outer coast of Gotham River until the city faded into open road. He didn’t stop until you were well out of the range of the city and were left on a long quiet road with a gorgeous view of the river and with the lights of the city burning in the distance. Now that the sun was up further, you could see a lot better and the sky was filled with warm hints of color and morning sunlight.

“Pretty cool, right?” he asked when you had both gotten off of the motorcycle. Your eyes danced over the stunning view around you while Jason settled his bike and helmets along the side of the road.

"Yeah, how did you find this spot?"

"I found it last night while I was coming back from a mission,” he explained. “I was kinda annoyed that I found it by accident when I spent so long actually looking for a place for you to practice.”

"Practice what?" You asked, looking over your shoulder at him.

"I thought today I could show you how to ride my motorcycle. You said you were interested the other day," he explained. You blinked. Once, twice and then a third time before you fully processed what he said.

"When did I say that?"

"When Dick was talking about his old Robin cycle. I think it was last weekend or something,” Jason said, trying to jog your memory.

"Oh." It was when Dick was bragging about having it at such a young age. You had said it probably wasn't that hard, mostly to deflate his ego a little. When you said you bet it wouldn't take you very long to learn and Jason offered to teach you, you'd meant to slip in somewhere that you were joking. Ironically, that slipped your mind somewhere along the way and you never really said you weren't being serious. Oops.

"If you don't want to, it's fine. We can do something else," Jason suggested.

Well, fuck. You couldn't just chicken out now, could you? You went on talking all that shit the other day and Jason went out of his way to find time and a place to teach you. You knew he would never pressure you into doing it if you weren't comfortable with it so it wasn't like you couldn't back out. It was more so that your pride wouldn't let you.

"No, we can do it today. I just wasn't expecting to is all," you replied quickly.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, of course. It can’t be that hard, right?” You reassured, despite your thoughts completely contradicting your words.

"Alright then. Let's start with the important bits." He abandoned his spot beside his things and he came over to where you were standing. He moved to stand in front of you, so you tilted your head back a bit to match his gaze. "You already know how to drive so you don't need to go through too much of the technical stuff."

"Thank god," you mumbled and he smiled. His hands ghosted over yours and he wrapped his lightly around them.

"Close your eyes."

"Am I not getting on the bike?" You asked, giving him a look. The subtle gusts of wind blew at his bangs and pushed them more over his eyes. Despite the dark curtain his hair formed, you could still see the annoyed look in them.

"You will, but first you have to know how to stay on top of it."

"Jason I swear, if you do that Karate Kid shit on me-"

"Hey, I'm the teacher here. If you don't wanna fall on your ass at fifty miles per hour, I suggest you let me teach." You huff, but follow his instructions. "Good. Now, youre used to being a passenger, but it's different when you're in control. You don't just have to pay attention to the road, you also have to worry about keeping your balance and turning without tipping over."

His hands lifted yours up so that they were raised in front of you at about chest level. Then he released them and left tour hands suspended in the air. "Now, I don't want you to fall off as soon as you get on, so i'm gonna to show you how to center yourself."

"Is it not the same as turning on a normal bike?" You asked. Jason moved out of your range of perception and you were tempted to open your eyes. Out of nowhere, you felt him pinch at your sides, prompting a surprised yelp to escape your throat.

"Did you sass your teachers like this in high school?" He asked, suddenly behind you. "Riding a bike is different than riding a 300 pound motorcycle."

"That thing weighs 300 pounds?!"

"That's not the point, babe. At least try and focus on the lesson." He came up even closer behind you, silencing whatever smart remark you were going to make next. He was standing flush against you now, his chin resting on your neck and his hands placed on your hips. "Now, what you have to do is try and keep your center of gravity around here. Every movement is dictated mostly by the way you move your hips."

You nodded when he paused, checking to see if you were listening. "Imagine we're on the bike and you want to make a right turn. What you would do is," he used his hands to shift your hips a bit and he tilted your body to the side at the same time. You felt completely ridiculous doing this on the side of the road, but it was hard to focus on being embarrassed when he was holding you so close.

"It doesn’t take much to turn, so you don’t want to move too far. If you tilt too much, you'll end up falling over," he continued. He paused. "Are you still listening?"

"Yeah Jason, I'm not that easily distracted."

"Sure you’re not," he chuckled, shaking his head\. He continued with showing you how you needed to sit on the bike and how to control. It felt more so like he was using this lesson as an excuse to grope you in public, but to be honest you we're more than okay with that.

"How about now we go on the actual bike," Jason suggested suddenly. Shit, you still had to do that didn't you?

"Jason, I'm gonna crash your motorcycle and I doubt I have the money to replace it," you protested as he guided you by your hand back to the motorcycle.

"If you crash, I doubt replacing my bike is gonna to be your biggest issue," he laughed.

"That’s not funny!"

"It's fine. Trust me, you'll do great." You reached for the helmet, but he moved it out of your reach. "Nu-uh. How will I be able to instruct you if you can't hear me through this?"

"I'm not driving this thing without a helmet!"

"We're not even gonna go that fast. You're just going around this big loop in the road and then coming back here." He said, gesturing around the wide plain around you. "There isn't even anything around here to crash into."

You narrowed your eyes at him and he gave you another winning grin. He set the helmets on the grass to the side of the road and climbed onto the seat. He sat far to the back so there was space for you to sit and patted the seat in front of him. Reluctantly, you sat down. He moved your hands up until they were rested on the two handles in front of you.

"You remember which one is the brake and which is the accelerator?" He asked. You nodded and took a deep breath as Jason reached around you and started the engine. "Start whenever you're ready."

It took you a moment to build the courage to actually move so when you did it was a sudden jerk and you quickly removed the pressure, yelping a little bit.

“Not bad, but let’s try doing it a little less drastically,” Jason laughed. His hand covered yours over the accelerator and he helped you ease the bike into moving forward. Then he looped one of his arms around your waist and left the other rested on his thigh. The bike was moving now at a fairly slow pace and even that was scary to you. You could see now why Jason had taught you how to keep your balance. The road had lazy curves along the patch of grass it wrapped around so you had to be able to turn to stay on the road. Since Jason had showed you how to do it, you were able to follow the road without much of a problem.

“I told you it’d be fine,” Jason said over the rumble of the bike’s engine.

“So are we just going to keep driving around this loop?” You asked, eyes glued to the road in front of you. Now that you were actually doing it, driving the motorcycle was actually pretty fun. Jason leaned further over you so that his chin rested in the crook of your neck again and his arm pulled you even closer.

“Yes,” he whispered into your ear. “but I still need to teach you how to keep your focus when you’re being distracted.”

Tag List:

@jason-todd-rh @chidroichan-blog @queen-fighter @hyp-oh-critical @roseangel013bf

Also, if you were interested in the scene that inspired this, here’s a clip of it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zIrAFFbk8o

#Jason Todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd imagine #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood imagine

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jaeminlore · 7 years

Text

Kiwi | Seungcheol

summary: in which you're having seungcheol's baby, and it's really none of his business words: 2k+ category: platonic pals w sexual tension, kind of my sauciest scene yet and i apologize now, never again, fluff(?), song fic

On some days, Seungcheol could wake up naturally. It was the warmth of the sun rays through his window that played as his alarm, rather than his actual phone. They would heat his bare back until he had to roll over into the shade, under the coolness of his dark blue covers. The snores that usually passed through his ruddy lips would be silenced; replaced by a groan as he cuddled into his cotton pillow, perhaps to call the slumber back to him. He had to get up and work the earliest shift at his workplace, and just the thought of putting on his uniform had him cursing at the world. But he would be out of the door in thirty minutes, with a strawberry pop tart shoved between his teeth.

On most days, you were Seungcheol's alarm. You woke him up a lot earlier than dawn; usually around three or four in the morning. It was usually with a knock, sometimes with your soft voice whispering his name through the cracks of the door. He kept it unlocked for you, just for you, because he knew your habits. You had been his neighbor for nearly two years now, and half of those nights were spent in Seungcheol's bed. Not under the clause of sex, but just because you never seemed to want to leave. And Seungcheol never seemed to find it inside of himself to make you leave.

"I met the hottest guy tonight, Cheol," you spoke in a hushed whisper. You never slurred when you were drunk, you simply got quieter. Thankfully, you never got blackout drunk, you just drank enough to get a bit tipsy, which made Seungcheol's job of taking care of you much easier.

Seungcheol made a noise of acknowledgement as he struggled to take off your heels. Why you always picked the ones with the impossible straps, Seungcheol didn't know. He assumed that you loved to make his life difficult even when you were fully sober and knew what you were getting him into. Seungcheol had this theory that you got fun out of messing with him.

You braced your hands on his broad shoulders and nodded, "His name was July. July? Ju... June! His name was June! Like the month."

Seungcheol chuckled. "You know Jun works at the club, right? That's why you see him every night."

"No," you protested, shaking your head. Your nose brushed against his as you did. "No, Jun loves me. That's why he keeps coming back."

"You're stupid," Seungcheol grunted, finally unlatching your heels and tossing them across the floor. "Jun isn't even looking for a girl."

"I'm not a girl," you said, holding your head high as Seungcheol struggled to brush your wild bangs back. "I'm a woman."

Seungcheol rolled his eyes and leaned forward to kiss your forehead. "Whatever. Just go get to bed. You know where the spare clothes are? And the toothbrush?"

"Yes," you said, glaring up at him. "I'm not a child, Seungcheol."

"Could've fooled me," Seungcheol teased. Then seeing your eyebrows furrow, he followed up, "I'm just joking, Angel. You know I like making you angry."

You huffed. "I'm going to make you angry tomorrow, just watch me. I'm going to head right to that club, completely sober, and ask Jun out."

"He's gonna say no," Seungcheol taunted. He liked moments like this, when the two of you could tease the other only centimeters away from each other. He stole a glance at your lips, rosy red and smudged from your night of dancing. Any time he asked, you would tell him that the club was your stress relief. You'd tell him how thrilling it was to listen to loud music and dance without having to worry about the world outside. You didn't drink every time, and told him often that the club had a nice selection of flavored lemonade and seltzer water to choose from.

"You just want him to say no because you want me all to yourself," you said.

"I always want you all to myself," Seungcheol pecked your lips lightly and hummed. "It's not my fault you're never sober when you come over."

You narrowed your eyes. "Fine. One day I will be sober, and you can have me any way you'd like."

Seungcheol chuckled and stood up. He ran his fingers through your hair tenderly, "Just get some sleep, okay?"

The next night, Seungcheol heard you outside, on his fire escape. He had just showered for the night, and was in the process of putting on a sweater when he realized you were out there. Your silhouette could be seen behind his sheer curtains.

Seungcheol pulled them aside and opened his window, crawling through and settling on the window sill. "That's so bad for you, you know," he murmured, watching the way you blew smoke out from between your lips.

You ignored him and sighed, "You were right. Jun turned me down."

Seungcheol smirked and grabbed your hands, pulling you towards him. He looked up at you. "I told you so."

You tossed your cigarette butt into a nearby ashtray and leaned into Seungcheol's touch. It was always Seungcheol, waiting patiently for you at home with soft smiles and teasing touches. Right now was almost unbearable, with his skin warm from his shower and his scent nearly overbearing for the same reason. His lips were a tantalizing red, and when his top teeth bit into the flesh, it took everything in you not to lean forward and capture them with your own. "You know what else you told me?"

Seungcheol caught the suggestive tone in your voice, and his adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. He slipped his hands out of yours and placed them on the curve of your hips. "I was just joking with you, angel. I'd understand if you—" His breath was hot against your neck. "—if you don't want to."

Before you could answer, his lips we're already on the base of your neck. You took a shuddering breath, wondering how he could make you feel so good with just one kiss. You could feel everything. His fingertips dancing across the span of your back, his soft lips pressing kisses to the crook of your neck, his teeth nipping at the sensitive skin. "Seungcheol..." you sighed, gripping his shoulders slightly.

His voice was teasing now, "Hmm? Am I reading the signs wrong?"

You shook your head and lifted your chin to give him more access. "No, it's just... we're friends."

Seungcheol kissed up your neck, one hand running into your hair. His kisses passed your jaw and stopped at the corner of your lips. "I don't mind if you don't," he mumbled against your lips.

His lips were less than a centimeter away. When he spoke they brushed along yours, pillowy and inviting. You reached up to grab his hair and pull him towards you, just for some kind of contact. A whine escaped your lips when he refused to comply to your wishes, replying with a short chuckle.

"Seungcheol," you said, "Don't tease me."

"But it's so fun," he said against your lips. Finally, he pulled you closer, and you stumbled closer to him, practically straddling his thigh. He moaned softly into your mouth, the contact from both ends driving him slightly crazy.

You leaned forward and pressed your lips against his. He wasted no time opening his mouth and grabbing your bottom lip with his teeth. "I've been fantasizing about biting those pretty little lips of yours for the longest time," he whispered breathily.

His grip on your waist tightened as you continued to move and wriggle in an effort to get closer to him. "Stop moving," he groaned, pressing you down onto his thigh, "just sit down."

You felt warmth between your legs and moaned quietly, "Oh, you're going to pay for that."

"Am I?" He taunted against your lips.

"Yes," you said, laughter bubbling in your throat. "Now take me inside. It's not like we can take our clothes off on the fire escape."

Seungcheol laughed, already hooking his hands beneath your thighs, "Yes, Ma'am."

You were gone before Seungcheol woke up. He expected as much, just because that's how you were. Still, a small part of him wished you had stayed and cuddled into his side. He thought of waking up next to you, and warmth spread across his bare stomach at the mere imagery in his head.

Scenes of last night flashed in his head and — he pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes — you looked so beautiful. Not that you didn't always look beautiful, but there was something about last night that made him want to see you as soon as he could. He wanted to thank you, at least.

He didn't see you that entire day, however. In fact, you didn't show up at his door at all. Seungcheol began to worry and fret at the thought of one night breaking your friendship forever. It wasn't that big of a deal, was it? And even if it was, it wasn't like Seungcheol didn't like you. Whatever reason you were staying away for could be figured out.

That's what he felt. That's what he felt an entire month and a half later, when he answered his phone. Your voice was on the other line, hard and stoic. "Listen, Cheol, I'm only calling because I don't know what else to do. I promise I'll stay out of your business but I really need you to go do something for me."

"Y/n," Seungcheol breathed through the line, already pulling on his shoes, "What's wrong?"

"I've been throwing up all morning," you said, "Otherwise I would've gotten them myself. But... I feel like I'm going to puke if I move a muscle."

"What do you need, angel?" Seungcheol grabbed his keys and locked his apartment door.

He was halfway down the stairs when you answered. "I need you to pick up pregnancy tests. Three of them, each from different brands. I'll pay you for them when you drop them off."

Seungcheol dropped his keys. "What? Pregnancy test?" He licked his lips nervously, "Is it mine? Is it rude to ask that?"

"It's none of your business," you snapped. Then, your voice softened around the edges, "I mean, yeah. There's no way it wouldn't be yours."

"You haven't been with anyone else?"

"Don't sound so surprised," you said, voice snappy again.

"I'm not," Seungcheol placed the phone between his ear and his shoulder, "I'm flattered, actually."

"Don't be. It's not because of you," you said. "And it's not your problem either, any of this. You drop off the tests and you leave, got it?"

"Fat chance," Seungcheol shot back. "Is anyone else going to be with you while you go through this?"

"I might not even be pregnant!"

"You're throwing up and you've missed your period once—"

"—twice, actually," you said. "Look, I just want to be sure, okay? I have to make sure."

"I get it," Seungcheol pressed his tongue against the inside of his cheek, "I just... I don't want you to do this alone."

There was silence on the other line. Then, "Just get me the tests. Please."

He did, and when he arrived at your apartment door, things were awkward. You were still as beautiful as ever, even if there were bags under your eyes. You reached for the bag in Seungcheol's hand. "Thanks."

"Wait," he said stubbornly, moving past you before you could protest.

He had never been in your apartment before. Maybe it was because that was the way you worked, you tended to keep to yourself. You always came over to Seungcheol's, and never invited him back to your place.

It had been that way since Seungcheol moved into the same apartment complex as you. You were aloft just as much you were friendly; although you often came around his to hang out, he had never stepped a foot in your apartment. Which was fine, Seungcheol never found himself minding. You were known to party, whereas he often stayed home after work, preferring to use his leisure time to actually leisure about, rather than risk headaches and hangovers the next day.

"Nice cactus," he pointed to the succulent that sat atop your coffee table.

"Thank you, now can you leave?" you hissed, already tearing one of the boxes open.

"You're driving me crazy," Seungcheol muttered, turning around to face you. "Why can't I be a part of this?"

You let out a bark of laughter. "Really? This is New York, Cheol. How many times have you told me that you came here for an opportunity in the music industry? What do you think a family is going to do for you?"

"Nothing at all," Seungcheol shot back. "Good grief, I want to be a producer, not a boy band member. No one cares if I have a family. Now what's this really about?"

You glared at him for a moment. "Make yourself comfortable while I take these tests. We'll talk about it once it's confirmed."

Seungcheol sighed, but agreed, since your request was logical. He opened up your fridge and extracted some jelly, hoping to make sandwiches for you both.

Just as he was done, you exited the bathroom and walked past him to wash your hands in the kitchen sink. "Well, I guess I'm going to be a mom." You grabbed a sandwich and moved over to your couch.

"What about classes, and doctor's appointments? What about clothes? And you can't drink, of course."

"I •know•," you muttered. "Goodness, Cheol, I'm not a child. You can take the whiskey out of my cabinet if you think I'm not gonna be able to control myself."

"No, sorry." Seungcheol sat beside you and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm just nervous. It's not like I have experience in this field."

"Which is why I told you not to worry about it," you mumbled around your sandwich. "This is grape jelly, right?"

"What? Yeah." Seungcheol stares at you for a moment, "Aren't you worried? At all?"

"Not really," you said. "I have a good-paying job with lenient hours, a good home for the kid, and their dad's not a total deadbeat, if that counts."

Seungcheol rolled his eyes. "Well, at least let me know when you're going to see the doctor, okay? You'll need support."

"Sure," you promised, "and thanks for the sandwich."

No one ever told Seungcheol that being next to an ultrasound technician would be so daunting. Despite it being your first time, you didn't seem out of place at all. In fact, you seemed almost at home, joking with the nurses about morning sickness.

"And is this the father?" One of them smiled at Seungcheol.

"Yeah," you said, reaching forward to grab his hand. "This is Seungcheol, my best friend."

You squeezed his hand then, and Seungcheol took the initiative to bring your hand up to his lips. He gave you a soft kiss, eyelashes fluttering. "I'm proud of you," he whispered.

"I'm proud of me too," you giggled when he kissed your wrist this time, tickling you.

After the nurses spread the gel onto your stomach, it only took a few minutes before the technician was able to find something by moving the transducer around your stomach. "And there it is. Now it's too early to see the gender, but you can still make out the fetus this early on."

Seungcheol's grip tightened on your hand as the two of you looked closer at the screen. "Is that their feet? Y/n, look how tiny!"

"I know!" you replied, laughter bubbling up your throat. "I wish it stayed that size. It'd be a lot easier to push out."

Seungcheol grinned widely and bent down, kissing you on the lips. "I'm with you every step of the way, you know, if you want me to be."

You looked from him to the screen, feeling a surge of thankfulness that he hadn't let you do this alone; that he was able to experience this with you. "I definitely want you to be."

#kill me now #happy birthday loser #seungcheol fluff #seungcheol scenarios #seuncheol imagines #scoups fluff #scoups scenarios #scoups imagines #seventeen fluff #seventeen scenarios #seventeen imagines #destwrites

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fluffandlove · 7 years

Text

Sensitivity

Author’s note: First TodoDeku fic ever yaaaas Based on this one experiment on TV I saw as a kid and also personal experience, I guess? Sooo I thought it’d be fun to use this for a fanfic ‘cause I’m trash, yes.

Summary: They say the closer you feel to a person, the more sensitive you become to their touch. Maybe that’s why Midoriya gets so jumpy every time Todoroki touches him.

Word count: 2,5k oops

After they became friends, Todoroki joined Midoriya and the rest during lunch and sometimes even sat next to him without thinking. Their arms and legs would sometimes touch, but neither would make a big deal out of it, since they were pretty much always busy talking or laughing at something Iida said or did. Plus, it was nothing major, or anything.

Touch was very common in their small friend group and not really something Todoroki had put a lot of thought into. It didn’t come naturally to him per se, as he hadn’t experienced a lot of touch throughout his childhood because he was very much an introvert and not a very social person to begin with. Having friends was already a whole new world on its own, so Todoroki kind of just went with the flow, trying not to worry too much about the brief brushes of skin against skin.

Something he did notice, though, was that Uraraka would often put her hands on Midoriya’s shoulder if she had something exciting to say or clumsily bump into him, turn bright red and zoom off. The latter made him reevaluate some of his thought process since everyone and their cousin (except Midoriya of course) knew that Uraraka had a schoolgirl crush on him, which is why she’d get overly fiddly whenever they touched accidentally. Not to mention that if Midoriya touched her first, she’d absolutely lose her shit.

Maybe one’s sense of touch became different when there was an underlying want of intimacy. Obviously the type of touch also came into play, but Todoroki noticed that no matter how he touched Midoriya, the guy would always jump ten feet into the air and turn to him wide-eyed. It almost reminded him of poor Uraraka, except Midoriya’s nerves weren’t something new and he always had rosy cheeks to begin with.

Observing all of this was interesting. Todoroki was just silently watching everything from the sidelines, noticing the subtle differences in Midoriya’s reactions to different people touching him. Most of them weren’t obvious, and yes, he was always a bit jumpy, but never reached the level of extremity whenever Todoroki placed a hand on his arm.

Obviously this could also be blamed on the fact that he and Midoriya weren’t that close yet. Todoroki couldn’t really come up with any other good conclusion and was probably never going to be able to.

Until that intriguing moment where Uraraka randomly turned to Midoriya, fingers hovering near his side and asking, “Are you ticklish?”

Todoroki resisted the urge to roll his eyes since that was the stupidest question anyone could ever ask, but still had to hide a smile behind his hand when Midoriya turned several shades of red and sputtered out a weak, “N-no!”

“Liar,” Uraraka sneered and poked his stomach, which resulted in Midoriya jumping away with a squawk. “You are! That’s so cute!”

Luckily for Midoriya it was lunchtime, so barely anyone noticed his snorts and giggles, but he was still forced to take Uraraka’s playful torment until Iida stepped in because, “This is so very unprofessional, we’re trying to become heroes.”

Ever since then multiple people had tried tickling Midoriya during or after class and once again, Todoroki noticed some subtle differences: Not only was Midoriya more sensitive to people tickling him around his shoulders and ribs, but it also depended on who was doing it. Every time a girl wiggled her fingers against his side he’d have a more drastic reaction than when it was one of the guys doing the exact same thing in the exact same spot.

Midoriya also became more sensitive when he was tired, super excited or completely absorbed in his work. Kind of like how he was now.

It was definitely not the first time Todoroki had come over to his place to do homework, but he couldn’t help but be curious. With all of those observations and theories in mind, Todoroki wanted to know how Midoriya would react to his touch.

Yes, Todoroki was very aware of the fact that this was lame. It was incredibly dumb to slowly get up from his spot on the floor and sneak over to Midoriya, who was sitting behind his desk, tapping his pencil repeatedly against his lips while he was poring over his notes. Not to mention that it was so stupid to reach for the back of his neck with one finger and trace his spine.

However, the reaction was anything but.

Midoriya literally fucking shrieked. And Todoroki stared at him in disbelief and shock, finger still hovering over his back.

Both were pretty surprised.

“Todoroki-kun!” Midoriya wheezed and turned his chair to sort-of-but-not-really glare up at him because aforementioned flush on his cheeks was now exceptionally darker. “What’re you— Wait!”

Science. That was Todoroki’s only reason to cup Midoriya’s waist and let his fingers dance all over his clothed sides. Again, unlike his usual response, Midoriya instantly doubled over in boisterous laughter, hugging himself in a useless attempt to protect his skin. Todoroki didn’t even have to try that hard because every single touch sent Midoriya into another fit of laughter. Whether it was a squeeze, scribble or a poke.

No matter how he looked at it, Todoroki found it utterly fascinating to watch Midoriya squirm off the chair so he would no longer be fully trapped, but he only managed to stand on his feet for a mere second before he fell to the floor due to his endless laughter. The flush on his cheeks kept darkening, spreading to the rest of his face, his ears and even his neck, which Todoroki noticed when he experimentally ran a couple of fingers over his collarbone.

Todoroki was in constant awe, letting his fingers do their own thing while they explored, even daring to go under Midoriya’s shirt (it had ridden up anyway) to see what kind of reaction that would cause.

Instant. That was the right word.

The second Todoroki’s fingers touched his bare stomach Midoriya lost it completely. Head thrown back, baring his slightly sweaty and flushed neck, back arched off the floor, eyes shut and laughter increasing in pitch.

“God, T-Todoroki-kun!” his voice broke and Todoroki didn’t pay too much attention to the flutter in his own stomach. “Quit iiiit!”

But he didn’t want to. He wanted to touch every inch of skin he could find to record the reactions and store them in the back of his mind for all eternity. The soft and warm skin continuously trembled and twitched beneath his touch and Todoroki just observed, listening to the kind of laughter Midoriya produced whenever he switched spots or used a different method. Plus, Midoriya’s careless and cute laughter was acting like some kind of drug, making him feel high and wanting, needing more.

Once his fingers wriggled under his clamped arms, brushing ever so lightly over Midoriya’s underarms he knew he’d struck a very dangerous chord. Another shriek, similar to the first one, filled the air and Midoriya did everything he could to push Todoroki off of him, which was not very effective, since all he could do was weakly push at his arms while screeching and squealing.

Damn. This was definitely valuable information that he’d have to remember for the future. Eh, so if he didn’t want Midoriya to die, he’d have to go a bit lower, back to his ribs, which still gave him a shout of panicked laughter, but less panicked than before. He kept giving Midoriya unintentional bursts of energy by switching spots and methods, finding that soft caresses got the loudest reactions such as hysterical screams while the harder, firmer touches got endless rivers of pure laughter.

Said laughter was growing silent now, so Todoroki pulled his hands back, not bothering to pull his shirt back down for reasons and… sat back on his legs, watching as Midoriya let out a low whine and threw his arms up, totally exhausted. He didn’t really have to test his theory anymore, anyway.

Midoriya’s raw breathing was enough proof that he became hypersensitive when it was Todoroki who was touching him.

“Sorry,” was all he could say because that was probably what Midoriya wanted to hear. Maybe he went a little overboard.

Midoriya blinked a few times before he pushed himself up with his elbows and blew his bangs out of his face. “Why-why did you even do that?”

“You react differently to my touch,” Todoroki stated matter-of-factly and couldn’t help but look away for a few seconds. “I wanted to see if that also counted for tickling.”

“You...” Midoriya started but then closed his mouth again, his face becoming redder once again. “Huh?”

“You’re more sensitive to my touch.”

Even redder. “Am not!”

Todoroki moved closer and was about to show him, but Midoriya was not about to let him and they ended up wrestling. It was only a matter of seconds before they were rolling around like a couple of angry puppies, but Todoroki was still at a slight advance because of Midoriya’s weakened state so he managed to pin him down in the end.

“You are, though,” he said seriously and watched as Midoriya pressed his lips together in response, nervous. “You’re more sensitive to my touch than other people’s, Midoriya. It’s kinda fascinating.”

“What, have you been observing me or something?” Midoriya sputtered out and tried to knee him in the stomach, but Todoroki simply tweaked his side as a small warning and Midoriya curled up as much as possible.

“Well, yeah,” Todoroki replied casually as if Midoriya wasn’t trying to squirm away from the hand that was still on his waist. “’Twas just something I noticed. You’re a lot more ticklish when I tickle you than when Uraraka or Kirishima tickles you. We just witnessed that.”

Midoriya stared at him.

Todoroki stared back.

He’d left Midoriya speechless, but his face said it all. He didn’t disagree. He couldn’t, even if he tried, and if he did, Todoroki was more than willing to convince him. He unconsciously curled his fingers that were still wrapped around his waist and Midoriya jerked away from them, groaning out, “Todoroki-kun! Let go already!”

“See?”

The permanent red hue on his cheeks spread down to his neck. “I’m just ticklish, that’s all!”

Raising an eyebrow, Todoroki’s lips curled up into a small smirk. “You know I’m right. You’re hiding something.”

It was common knowledge that Midoriya was a bad liar and yet he still tried to cover his ass. “I’m not.”

“I’ll tickle it out of you.” And to show that he wasn’t bluffing, Todoroki grabbed his hips and Midoriya gasped sharply. It was a spot he hadn’t tried out yet and this was a nice opportunity. “I fucking will.”

“Nooooo!” Midoriya was already thrashing and getting breathless even though the hands on his hips hadn’t even moved yet.

Anticipation was apparently a thing, Todoroki noted, but something he also noticed when he gently slid his hands under his shirt was his fastened heartbeat. He could feel Midoriya’s chest heaving and his heart hammering like crazy. His hand stilled on his chest for a moment to make sure he was not imagining things before it moved over to his ribs again and as soon as he made eye-contact, he knew.

“Why’re you nervous?”

“Cause you’re about to tickle me,” Midoriya argued stubbornly but again, he was lying. “Will you—Ah! No!”

Todoroki had lightly scratched at his lower ribs and was about travel lower to his hips when Midoriya grabbed his wrists firmly. “Okay, okay! I like you!”

Well.

That was something Todoroki should’ve seen coming but he was still taken by surprise. Sort of. It explained a lot, but… now it was his turn to be at a loss for words. Even his usual train of thoughts stopped because Midoriya’s words were still being processed.

His hands dangled above Midoriya’s trembling torso, still in the other’s grip and he finally managed to look him in the eye again. “… You do?”

Instead of replying, Midoriya just nodded and awkwardly shifted until he was sitting up. “I just didn’t wanna make things weird between us, ‘cause we’ve been friends for a while now and things’re fine the way they are, but I guess somewhere along the way I started to like you more than a friend.”

This was something so new and weird that Todoroki could only nod because he was unable to say anything decent. The familiar flutter in his stomach returned and he noticed that there were more flutters than before, as if something was tickling him, except it was from the inside, which was fucking weird.

Then again, it was also kind of weird that he didn’t mind Midoriya being so close and practically holding his hands as those still hadn’t moved yet. His brain was torn between processing everything that was happening but also continuously yelling at him to shove his hands back under Midoriya’s shirt, what the actual—

“Todoroki-kun?”

“What.”

“You’re freaking me out.”

The hands tightened their grip on his wrists. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you.”

Todoroki couldn’t remember being able to feel his breath ghosting over his cheeks, but there it was. One of them was moving closer to the other and he had no clue who it was, but he didn’t particularly mind. In fact, because of their proximity, his fingers kept brushing against Midoriya’s stomach and he did the only thing he could think of, which was to touch it in earnest.

Flinch. Midoriya’s eyes widened and they looked at each other for a couple of seconds before Todoroki sighed and wrapped his hands around his hips, pulling him even closer. Their bodies were pressed together and Midoriya just sat there, probably feeling kind of awkward.

“Um. You okay?”

“Let’s just stay like this for a bit. I like touching you,” Todoroki mumbled, squeezing him and almost stiffened when he felt Midoriya’s arms circling around his neck, hugging him, but it was not unwanted.

“Me, too.”

“Good.”

#boku no hero academia #bnha #tododeku #tickling #tickle fic #todoizu #midoriya x todoroki #my fic #I've no idea which tag I have to use for this pairing LOL #also I apologize #this is trash #like #a whole new level of trash #100

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lordofthebigtimesupernatural · 7 years

Text

Kuro

In honor of season 3 I’ve decided to write a little something that I’ve been wanting to write since starting the Single Dad Shiro AU. I hope you all enjoy! There are some spoilers to “fan theories” towards Season 3 but no real spoilers. I had so much fun writing this one. Be on the look out because I also plan to write a “Voltron Cannon Version” of this AU soon due to requests! So enjoy!

x.V.x

“Are you sure he’s ready for this? Maybe it’s too soon?”

“Who are we talking about mom, Keith or Kuro?” Shiro joked lightly, however it did nothing to ease his other’s constant worrying. His father looked far more relaxed than his mother, but Shiro could still see that Thace was pretty nervous about the whole ordeal.

In fact, it felt like everyone but Shiro was nervous about today. When Shiro probably had the second most reason to be nervous. After all it wasn’t every day that your twin brother was about to meet his nephew, after being held prisoner for nearly four years. Even longer than Shiro had been held prisoner.

In fact, there were still days that Shiro would lie awake with guilt even after his brother had been returned home. Shiro’s twin brother, Kuro, had joined the military at the same age as Kuro though the two of them had been separated into different units with Shiro in a special operations unit and Kuro on the ground. They didn’t see much of each other during their service but letters and skype calls were constant between the two brothers, as they were closer than anyone else. When Shiro and his team had been attacked and captured, it was Kuro who had led a rescue team after them, only for his entire team to be slaughtered before they could rescue Shiro. By the time another team had rescued Shiro and a few straggling survivors, Kuro had been declared KIA.

So while the Shirogane house had rejoiced in one son returning home, they had mourned for the other that was dead. It took Shiro almost two years to jump out of his depression due to PTSD, stress, trauma and survivors guilt over his brother’s death.

The reason for Shiro’s sudden turn in his attitude had been Keith.

It was all thanks to Keith that Shiro hadn’t…killed himself.

And now, here he was two years later, only six months after having his brother returned home. The call from Shiro’s old base had been haunting and nearly thrown Shiro into a fit, especially at the mention of his deceased brother. It was only the fact that Keith was sitting quietly in his arms, so full of innocence and life, that Shiro didn’t have an episode.

Imagine his shock upon hearing that Kuro had been found. Alive.

After four years of imprisonment, Kuro had been returned and deemed to head home. Shiro had cried. Shiro’s parents had cried. Hell, even Keith had cried, not understand why his family was crying so much.

Once the family had learned of Kuro’s health, they had instantly begun to worm back into Kuro’s life. Beginning, with letters and phone calls over Kuro’s treatments that had eventually dived into skype calls. Those had been extremely emotional. Shiro had cried even harder upon seeing his brother’s haggard but smiling face after four torturous long years. His brother’s hair had grown out significantly, and there were patches of facial hair all over his face from years of neglect. Kuro had several scars over his face, one was similar to the scar on Shiro’s nose but was more angular than Shiro’s. His eyes were full of haunted memories and Shiro had cried even more.

Until his brother had told him to stop crying like a baby. Eventually the calls went to Thace and his wife, and soon enough the entire Shirogane family was calling daily for six months until Kuro asked to come home. Shiro had never scolded his brother for asking, until in that moment. Of course, you can come home, please come home. Please, please, please.

Then Kuro was on a flight home and today was the day that he was scheduled to arrive home. And the day that he would meet the entire Shirogane family, including little two-year-old Keith. Shiro had told Kuro all about Keith over several skype calls, and his brother had silently listened with a small smile over his face as Shiro had gushed over Keith.

Shiro’s parents couldn’t help but be worried that Kuro would become overwhelmed or how Keith would react to a stranger. They only had their son’s and grandson’s best interest but no matter what, Shiro was doing this. He needed this. Keith needed this.

Kuro needed this.

“Are you ready to meet uncle Kuro, baby?” Shiro asked softly, brushing back Keith’s hair (which was growing ridiculously fast for his age) as Keith sucked on his fist. Chuckling, Shiro removed Keith’s hand from his mouth, only for Keith to pout epically and shove his wet hand at Shiro. “Ah, ah, no. We don’t eat our hands. You’re gonna need that.”

Keith frowned again, but eventually lost interest upon inspecting Shiro’s prosthetic for the umpteenth time. All that time Shiro had spent worrying that Keith would be terrified of the arm, had been thrown out the window when Keith had only displayed curiosity and glee upon seeing the arm.

Shiro let out a shaky breath, trying not to jostle Keith too much as he waited outside the hanger where Kuro’s plane was coming in.

“You’re going to like uncle Kuro.” Shiro smiled softly, unaware of his parents watching his interaction. Instead he focused on those big blue eyes that he loved so much, which were looking right up at him as if listening intently. “He’s so much fun and he’s going to always watch over you, just like daddy. But don’t you like uncle Kuro play any tricks and gang up on daddy. Okay? I don’t need him and you against me.”

“Aw, Takashi, you’re no fun.”

Shiro did jump this time, and Keith squeaked in annoyance. Quickly, Shiro shushed Keith with a soft smile and Keith huffed but calmed down. Turning, Shiro felt his voice catch in his throat and his eyes had already begun to water. His entire body was full of a rush of adrenaline and Shiro could barely stop himself from running. He bounced Keith, feeling his throat tightened and legs beginning to tremble.

How times had he dreamed of this moment? How often had he wished for his brother to come home?

And there he was standing just two feet away from Shiro and his family.

After four years apart, and four years of believing his brother to be dead Shiro had so much to tell his brother; so much to say but instead all that he could say was, “What the fuck did you do to your hair?”

Shiro slapped a hand over his mouth and his entire face went bright red, which Keith found immensely amusing. He squeaked again and slowly patted at his father’s red face.

One of Kuro’s eyebrows rose and he couldn’t even stop the amused grin from coming onto his lips. Kuro’s hair was no longer shoulder length but had been cut close to his head on all sides but with a teeny tuff of bangs at the front of his head. It wasn’t an undercut like Shiro but it was still much shorter than Shiro had seen in years. However, it was the white tips of Kuro’s bangs that had caused Shiro’s outburst.

“Seriously?” Kuro’s eyes drifted over to Shiro’s much longer bangs and Shiro cursed under his breath. “Thought it would be fun to match twinsie.”

“Kuro!” That was it before their mother and father were sobbing and running at their oldest boy. Kuro barely had a second to drop his bag before he was engulfed in a hug by his mother and father. The three stood together in a tight embrace, with his mother and father sobbing and Kuro in the middle. It was a testament to how much Kuro had been hurt and how much he had missed them, because he didn’t once complain about the hug, even after twenty minutes of it. And if Shiro looked closely, he could see tears dripping off Kuro’s scared chin as he tucked himself into his dad’s neck.

Shiro’s heart was thundering in his chest and his own tears raced down his cheek. A sob almost escaped him, until –

Keith gently wiped at his dad’s face, eyes wide and fearful and lower lip trembling. Shiro swallowed thickly upon seeing his son’s obvious distress and his cute attempt to comfort his dad, and Shiro couldn’t help but gather Keith up even closer to him in a hug. Quickly, Keith threw his arms around Shiro’s neck and hugged back and instantly Shiro felt better than he was all day. Thank you sweetheart.

It wasn’t until Shiro felt a tap on his shoulder did he pull away, to see his mother, teary eyed but smiling, and holding out her arms. It took a few minutes too long before Shiro realized what she was doing. Giving Keith a quick kiss to his head, Shiro gently deposited Keith into his mom’s arms before taking a deep breath.

Slowly, turning around, Shiro was face to face with the brother he had grown up with. The brother he had loved and followed after with many adventures trailing him. The brother who had watched out for him for any bullies and kept him out of trouble. The same brother who had called him at four in the morning during junior year asking for Shiro to bail him out of jail for trespassing. The same brother who had risked his life to try and rescue.

Shiro couldn’t hold back his tears and soon enough he found himself holding on desperately to the brother he believed to be gone for so long. He’s real. He’s real. This is real and Kuro is alive. Kuro is here. Kuro was holding onto Shiro just as tightly and they both had silent tears dripping onto the floor below them. Both were covered in scars, physical and mental; both had prosthetics and replacements on them, and both were haunted by the war they served in but nothing, nothing could ever ruin this moment ever. This is real. You’re real. You’re here, right in front of me.

That is until a frustrated huff interrupted their hug.

Recognizing the hug, Shiro was the first to pull back, but not before staring into those grey eyes so alike his and yet so different, and running a hand through Kuro’s short hair.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” Shiro chuckled softly and Kuro sniffled, but managed a grin.

“As if baby brother. You’re the dramatic one, going out and having a kid while I was gone.” Kuro replied, causing Shiro to roll his eyes.

“Shut up, you ass.” There was no venom or bite in Shiro’s voice, but only tenderness and love. He was reluctant to pull away, but another impatient huff forced him to. Taking another deep breath, Shiro turned away to look back at his son.

Obviously, angry at not being the center of Shiro’s attention, Keith was trying his hardest to reach out to Shiro and escape his grandmother’s hold. Shiro’s mom sheepishly looked at him before holding Keith out to Shiro. Upon, seeing his daddy, Keith had beamed and reached out with grabby hands, causing Shiro to laugh out loud.

“Awww, does someone want daddy’s attention?” Shiro cooed, almost forgetting that his brother had never heard him talk like this before. Even with their dogs. “Are you being a grumpy pants? Huh, why do you always gotta be a grump?”

Keith continued to beam brightly, as he slapped at Shiro’s chest and wiggled excitedly in his arms. Shiro laughed again, this time earning chuckles from his mom and dad. However, there was one person who had yet to speak and it was making Shiro’s heart beat faster. Taking, yet another deep breath, Shiro turned around to face his brother again.

Kuro’s jaw had dropped open in a tiny ‘o’ shape and his eyes widened upon seeing Keith for the first time.

“Kuro, I’d like you to meet your nephew,” Shiro smiled softly at the awed look on his brother’s face. “Keith Shirogane. He’s two years as of three months ago and I adopted him when he was six months old.”

Kuro’s look of awe never wavered at he took a closer look at Keith.

“Shiro…Shiro he’s beautiful.” Kuro whispered, causing Shiro’s heart to swell. It was then that Keith finally focused his attention on Kuro and everyone held their breath. By now, they all knew what Keith was like around strangers and were prepared.

“Ah, Kuro, now don’t be alarmed.” Shiro said quickly, expecting the worst. “Keith isn’t much of a fan of strangers. It’s not you, he just needs to get used to people, so don’t be alarmed if he starts crying or – ”

Shiro froze, unable to say another word when Keith cocked his head and looked at Shiro. Then he looked at Keith, and then at Shiro. Everyone continued to hold their breath, even Kuro as Keith remained silent and continued to look between the twin brothers.

That is until Keith immediately reached for Kuro and demanded to be held.

Shiro would have laughed at the deer-in-headlights look that Kuro was giving Keith, who was becoming impatient, if Kuro hadn’t looked so scared. Of Keith.

“Oh Kuro. He likes you.” Shiro said gently. “He wants you to hold him.”

“S-Shiro, I shouldn’t. I-I’m not. M-My arm and leg…” Kuro rambled on nervously and Shiro rolled his eyes.

“What did you think this was? Cosplay?” Shiro asked, waving his own prosthetic while Keith began to whine. “Now, my baby boy wants his uncle to hold him and he’s going to get that. Open up your arms.”

Kuro had never obeyed so quickly before and his entire body was stiff as a board when the tiny human was put into his arms. He nervously looked down at Keith who was staring hard at Kuro. Kuro swore he felt the sweat drip down his back.

“Stop, you look like you have a stick up your ass. Loosen up, hold his butt and his back.” Shiro said, correcting Kuro’s hold on Keith, before he could feel Kuro beginning to relax. “There you go. See, but be careful, he bites.” Shiro joked, earning a scowl from Keith.

Keith squeaked, staring at Kuro for a moment longer before seeing Shiro. He spent another minute looking between the two before suddenly he was reaching for Shiro. Shiro saw the dejected look on Kuro’s face, and wanted to keep Keith in his arms but he knew Keith would throw a fit if he didn’t have his dad and Shiro never wanted Keith that upset.

“It’s okay. Don’t be so upset.” Shiro said quietly as he took Keith back into his arms. Keith looked back up at Shiro and then at Kuro. “He does this to a lot of people.”

“Yeah, the boy is a total daddy’s boy. It’s not you.” Thace chimed in while Shiro snickered. Thankfully, this caused Kuro to also grin.

That is, until Keith reached for Kuro again.

Flabbergasted, Shiro placed Keith back into Kuro’s arms. After a few seconds, Keith looked to Shiro and immediately reached for him.

“Oh my. I think Keith might be a bit confused by twins.” Shiro and Kuro’s mom finally giggled, causing Thace to burst into laughter. Shiro and Kuro shared a look of surprise before identical grins spread over both faces.

“Keith, where’s daddy? Keith where is your daddy?” Kuro asked, opening his arms. Keith blinked and quickly reached over for Kuro, as Shiro passed him over.

“Oh Keith, baby where is daddy?” Shiro continued with a grin and held out his hands to Keith. Bouncing, Keith reached over for Shiro, causing Kuro to burst into laughter after he handed over his nephew. The sound was like music in Shiro’s ears and his smile couldn’t possibly get any wider.

This game went on for many more moments, with the entire family content to stay like this forever.

“Alright, alright you two.” Thace finally plucked Keith out of his sniggering uncle’s arms. “Alright son, now can you tell me which one is your daddy?” Thace turned so that he and Keith were both facing Kuro and Shiro. They were standing side by side, looking remarkably identical with a few differences that only those who knew them could see. It was a test of knowledge for the toddler, nothing serious, but everyone was curious.

It only took a second, but soon enough Keith was reaching for Shiro.

“Yes! Oh, my precious star, look at how smart you are!” Shiro praised, scooping Keith into his arms and snuggling his cheek against Keith. Keith then nodded, as if confirming his decision before running a tiny hand over his daddy’s scar on his nose.

All the while, Kuro watched the scene with a fond smile. He wasn’t out of the woods yet, but Kuro knew that he would be okay with his family by his side. With his mom and his dad. With Shiro.

And now with Keith.

I’m going to love you with every last fiber in my body, and I’m going to always protect you.

#single dad shiro #single dad shiro AU #kiddie!AU #kiddie!paladins #voltron legendary defender #Kuro #he is so precious #Keith and Shiro vow to protect him

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theconservativebrief · 6 years

Link

When I need to know what’s going on in the TV industry, I almost always turn to the articles and/or Twitter feed of New York magazine’s Josef Adalian. His reporting and writing about the industry — in an era when it’s harder than ever to determine what’s a hit, what’s a flop, and why something was canceled — is some of the best in the business.

So as a preface to the rapidly approaching fall TV season, I asked Joe to join me for the latest episode of my podcast, I Think You’re Interesting. I wanted him to explain how the Nielsen ratings work, why they matter so much less than they used to, and why they still matter more than you might like if you’re somebody who’s a big fan of a show with perilously low viewership numbers.

But I also wanted to dig into the history of the Nielsens and to focus on one question in particular. If you’ve ever paid attention to TV ratings, then you know they’re often reported as a total viewership number and then a more demographic-specific number that measures the percentage of 18- to 49-year-old viewers who are watching a given show.

That hasn’t always been the case. In the ’80s and ’90s, when I first started paying attention to TV ratings, it was much more common to report the overall rating, which is the percentage of everybody who’s watching (or, at least, of everybody who also owns a TV). And yet networks increasingly began making their decisions based almost entirely on those younger, 18- to 49-year-old viewers.

So how did this thinking come to dominate? And is it changing now that older viewers are much more likely to be watching TV live (and, thus, watching advertisements live)? I asked Joe, and that portion of our conversation — lightly edited for length and clarity — follows.

Todd VanDerWerff

The networks are not as interested in [older viewers], and yet the audience of people who watch live television is graying fairly rapidly. There are some elements that keep it from graying as rapidly as it might, but tell me how that thinking came to be. How did the networks come to say, “Old people: We don’t care about you”? And is that changing at all, now that we know that’s true?

Joe Adalian

Well, it’s all Don Draper’s fault.

Advertisers are the reason we have television seasons that start in September, because they wanted to advertise new cars. Demographics are something that happened when advertisers finally decided to tell networks [they preferred younger viewers]. And networks leaned into this. Certain networks, especially ABC, at the time in the ’70s, decided, “Hey, why are you selling to everyone? Nielsen can tell you exactly who’s watching!”

Fifty-five-year-olds, who at that time were more likely to die at 55 — now, life expectancy’s up a little bit more — they’re not as likely to buy your product. And their product preferences are baked in. You’re already a Ford consumer. You’re not switching to Oldsmobile. So why advertise [to that audience]? You’re not going to drink Coca-Cola when you already like Pepsi or don’t drink soda.

The thinking was advertisers wanted younger people. That’s what was hip. So networks started playing up their demographic ratings. They thought there was more money [in those ratings], and they were right. Rather than selling volume, they sold specificity, and they sold the ability to move product. The thinking was that made sense. Advertisers agreed. And starting in the late ’70s, when ABC transformed itself into a young adult network with Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and all those other types of shows, there was a power in demographics, and that became really important.

For the most part, it’s been the rule in television, with exceptions. CBS has made a business out of targeting slightly older viewers, but for a while, they were getting a penalty [from advertisers].

The Big Bang Theory is popular with older viewers — but it’s also popular with everyone else. CBS

Todd VanDerWerff

A show like Cheers was not a big hit for its first two years, but younger people were watching it. So there was a sense that maybe it would catch on, and obviously it did. It ran 11 seasons. But I feel like that thinking [that younger viewers are the most important viewers] has come to dominate — and I say this as somebody squarely in the 18- to 49-year-old demo —

Joe Adalian

For now!

Todd VanDerWerff

For now! I feel like that kind of thinking has come to dominate too much. Especially now that the baby boomers, who are the original consumers in some ways, are in that demographic. So is that shifting at all?

Joe Adalian

It is out of necessity. Overall ratings are going down. People who are younger watch less television in real time. Advertisers still care about people who watch live, or very close to live. Technically, we could go even deeper into this; the Nielsen ratings that matter are the ones [where] Nielsen measures who watches advertisements. They actually do have ratings that somehow … tell if you’re watching commercials. It’s scary, but apparently they can.

Todd VanDerWerff

Those are called the C3 numbers.

Joe Adalian

Exactly. And they want urgency, because especially if you’re selling a movie or a restaurant has a big promotion for all-you-can-eat riblets, you want to make sure people can see your ad when that’s still on.

So the C3s matter, but the fact is people who are younger are watching TV in a non-linear fashion. In terms of overall audience going down, networks like the CW network were hardest hit first. Or young adult networks like Fox or Freeform. MTV, in particular, they saw their live ratings and their C3 ratings just plummet about seven years ago when something called Netflix came onboard in a big way with original programming.

But older viewers, while they’ve also shifted over to non-linear viewing and while they’re also watching plenty of Netflix, they’re still more likely to watch live. They’re still likely to have habits. Therefore, their audience is bigger, and that can make a difference. [Advertisers] are going to go where the money is. They’re going to go where the viewers are, and that’s an older demographic.

There are advertisers who are starting to recognize that a little bit. There are networks that are recognizing that, and they’re sort of opening it up a little bit [to viewers other than younger ones]. You are going to see more networks [do that].

NBC, in particular, was a network that for the longest time was known as the demographic network. It was all about 18-to-49s. It still is, to some degree. But under Bob Greenblatt, who runs NBC, they have cast a wider net. They put on the Dick Wolf shows for Chicago everything, and it’s paid off, because its brought overall stability.

And CBS’s philosophy always was: We cast a wide net, and we get lots of everyone, including a decent number of adults 18 to 49, if the show is broad enough. You’re going to see even more of that.

And in the non-linear space, Netflix does not care how old you are. They don’t monitor it — they say. They want viewers of all ages, as long as [those viewers are] paying the bills. And a lot of times, it’s the people over 50 who are paying the bills, including for the people under 20.

For so much more with Joe, including a brief history of the Nielsen ratings, an argument for why Netflix and other streaming sites will never be accurately measured, and thoughts on the potentially apocalyptic future of television, listen to the full episode.

To hear interviews with more fascinating people from the world of arts and culture — from powerful showrunners to web series creators to documentary filmmakers — check out the I Think You’re Interesting archives.

Original Source -> Hey, older TV fans: networks just might start caring about you again!

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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