#this is not my quiz but if you follow me i can safely assume you have Thoughts about six the musical and this might interest you

[averlym]

took a uquiz that assigned me a six queen, got CoA, next thing i knew i'd dropped everything to draw her. anyways the quiz is here if you'd like to try it

[mari-lair]

Let's talk about Natsukane, my favorite rarepair. They barely have anything in canon, so this will be less of an analysis and more of me going disproportionately insane about a ship between two characters with no screen time together. Buckle up.

To start: They are opposite sides of the same coin.

During an official quiz to see what character best matches your personality (full quiz here) Akane and Natsuhiko's results are side by side, following the same path, so they have a lot in common.

Both are the extroverted and passionate kind of people who confess first, both like to exercise, and both have secrets, only differing on the question "Are you stubborn?" which makes sense, since Natsuhiko is usually pretty laidback while Akane is stubbornness incarnated.

Despite all these similarities, the results and 'advice' for each result are very different.

Akane is "Do your best to help your loved ones. Life can be unfair, but keep working hard." vs Natsuhiko's "People trust you. Make connections, they will help you in the future."

Give and take.

Akane is selfless to the point of concern for his loved ones, putting other needs above his own. Take Aoi for exemple: He wants a lot from Aoi, her attention, her love, her hand in marriage, but above it all, he wants her to be happy, always doing what he believes she will appreciate even when he personally doesn't enjoy it, cause if she is happy, so is he.

Aoi drives this impulsive and passionate boy crazy, but when Akane learns that she likes him back, and their kiss gets interupted, the only thing he demands of her is for Aoi to be in his life. His priority is for her to feel loved and safe, not to be her boyfriend.

Natsuhiko is also extremely down bad, but he is more selfish: Most of what he does has the goal to steal Sakura's heart, and he approaches her doing things that he likes (love songs, dramatic film-like dates, etc) not things that Sakura has personally ever shown any interest in. I don't think he even realizes he does that because Natsuhiko genuinely values Sakura and is in awe of her, we see him doing whatever she asks, we see him make tea for her, ask Mei to fix her elephant cup, be willing to 'become a woman' when Sakura gets a male body, and shows his devotion to her many times.

He genuinely pays attention to her. He is trying his best.

We don't have much to work with Natsu and Sakura, so this is more speculation, but it feels like he expects to be loved back, becoming more selfish when he is particularly desperate: Like trying to touch her whenever he can even after being consistently reprimanded for it, and going as far as to try to give Sakura a love potion that would force her to love him back for a day, prioritizing being loved.

Akane is old-fashioned when it comes to love, he'll date expecting it to end in marriage and push away all else, being open about his affection and lack of interest alike. A relationship is a lifelong commitment to Akane, no fooling around!

Natsuhiko also takes romance seriously, but he is no loverboy, he is a playboy.

We don't know if he ever dated or kissed a girl before Sakura, but we do know his love for Sakura doesn't stop him from flirting around. He was even down to kiss Nene for no real reason besides 'cute girl', claiming that being hit is a normal reaction, so he tried to kiss more people before (I'm assuming Sakura is the one rejecting his kisses, but there could be other cute girls he tried to kiss before, who knows?)

Akane doesn't like that.

One of the few times they are in the same panel shows Natsuhiko basking in the attention of many girls while Akane looks done with him.

I am pretty sure Akane has not seen Natsuhiko before this point, so Akane took one look at him and went 'the vibes are off, fuck this guy'. Meanwhile, I doubt Natsuhiko spared Akane any thought, he doesn't care about Akane as a person.

Natsuhiko is a friendly guy but he is detached from his peers, he can find charm in people easily and discards them just as easily: Wanting to kiss Nene, going 'oh well' about her lifespan. Doting on Mitsuba, hurting him when Mitsuba still had no Yorishiro. Not hanging out with anyone from his class, or mentioning a family. He is so detached from people, and supernaturals alike, that he is fine with destroying the world for Sakura.

Meanwhile, Akane judges people easily and grows attached to them just as easily. Reprimanding Nene for being too soft on Hanako, but consistently helping her out, and showing care for her. Forgiving Teru's consistent bullying after he is helped and even growing a reluctant fondness for the clock keepers that ruined his life.

Akane is described as a good person by his peers, and Natsuhiko is a self-proclaimed bad guy. Akane has a belief human lives are fragile and precious ever since he was 12 and nearly lost Aoi during his orientation day. Natsuhiko can't die, and he doesn't care when people die.

They are on opposite sides in every sense of the word but they have a lot in common.

Both are seem as easy to take advantage of: predictable fools who love their crush, but they are smart people who can read others well, and know how to weaponize what they have available.

They haven't interacted with each other all that much so they seem to have this 'predictable fool' view of each other too. Or at least, Natsuhiko does.

Both have brown/red hair.

Both have no self-preservation, and easily forgive or brush off when others physically hurt them. They don't fear death.

They are shields, the guards.

Both are pawns of someone else, Akane's boss is the clock keepers and Natsuhiko's is Sakura, their goals come second to their boss's orders most of the time. They have no interest in each other personally but they work for supernaturals whose main obstacle are each other.

I doubt they'll have more interactions, but what we have is enough to have fun.

The broadcasting club clearly considers Akane the weak link of the clock keepers, so imagine Natsuhiko was tasked to get Akane's trust, coach him into destroying the yorishiro, playing the long game, similar to how he and Sakura were chill waiting for Mitsuba to find a Yorishiro.

Akane is the most stubborn of the two, and he sees Natsuhiko as untrustworthy, so I can't see him falling for his 'reliable and kind senpai✨' charade, but I can see him being arrogant enough to fall for the 'this guy is a dumbass' vibe Natsuhiko emanates in waves. Akane has the disadvantage of caring too much too fast, people show him kindness and he is unconsciously inclined to reply in kind, people are insensitive to others and he gets angry, so he isn't that hard to approach or drag around if you learn to ignore his complaints. They can have a lot of 'bonding time' regardless if Akane actually vibes with him.

I think Natsuhiko would have a detached respect for Akane. Cause while Natsuhiko isn't a kind person, I do believe he appreciates kindness.

Take Mitsuba's surprise party for example: The party was clearly Sakura's idea. Natsuhiko is more interested in pleasing Sakura throught it than in cheering up Mitsuba, using the party planning as a way to bond and celebrate with Sakura.

But despite having no blush, no comment, no spark in his eyes when he looks at Mitsuba being happy, he does seem to feel a hint of something that makes him ask Tsukasa to chill.

So kindness is possible it simply doesn't come easy for him, is not something that has a big sway on his decision. He likes being a bastard way more, look at how happy he is to do Sakura's evil schemes!

So Akane would be a pain in the ass for him. Maybe even pluzzling but mostly an annoyance that's prone to getting violent when Natsuhiko says 'the wrong thing', be it verbal violence or a punch in the face.

And Natsuhiko would absolutely say the wrong thing.

He is a decent liar, very disarming, and hard to read. But he is also careless, he may be able to make someone like Kou lower his guard even when the young exorcist's instincts go "You are sooo suspicious" but Akane isn't dismissive of these things. (compare how Kou was able to dismiss Hanako's murder after seeing the ghost do a good deed in chapter 9 while Akane still eyes Hanako harshly to this day)

Will Natsuhiko put effort into looking like he is Akane's buddy? Will he take him on friendly hang-outs at the broadcasting club? Yes. Will he stop being dismissive about other people? Will he stop flirting with many girls? No. Even if Natsuhiko gets swept by Akane's passion and genuinely tries to help, like offering Akane a love potion so he can 'get' Aoi or taking him to have a 'glow up' in the mall, it wouldn't work, cause their approach is too different. Who he is and the 'kind and reliable senpai' image he wants to sell clash.

So we have a lack of trust that doesn't go away, for every nice thing Natsu shows, he has an equally bad trait. Either Akane doesn't drop the 'yo you suck' attitude or he finds himself relaxing, only to be slapped in the face the next day at the reminder Natsuhiko may be able to disarm him with idol songs, bad love advice, asking Akane for his assistance, but he is still not a good person.

Speaking of disarming, here is a tiny tangent: Natsuhiko is the only character who gets a comment on how he smells, not even Ao-chan and Teru, who are complemented in every way possible get comments on their smell. This means Natsuhiko must either wear supernatural perfume or have a natural smell that attracts supernaturals.

And I do think it's only supernaturals that he attracts since cats, who are heavily associated with yokai in Japan, love Natsuhiko, and Tsukasa says he smells 'yummy'.

Plus when he is walking with Nene, a delicious Kannagi, every monster has its eyes on Natsuhiko. They want to bite him, not Nene.

Assuming any supernatural finds his smell appealing, it would confuse Akane to think Natsuhiko smells real nice when no one else does, cause he hates the guy? What do you mean he is not wearing a strong fancy perfume and only Akane thinks he smells nice? What is going on? If he directly asks wtf is Natsuhiko's problem, he would not be helpful "Another victim, fallen for my irresistible wise senpai charm-"

They are a walking headache to each other.

The plan to get Akane's trust won't work in the end, no matter how much information on supernaturals Natsuhiko shares, or how many tea parties they attend to, so the inevitable betrayal would end in violence. Threaten Aoi, create a trap, make Akane be in serious danger so the other keepers are forced to show up and save him.

Perhaps, when Akane is dying and Natsuhiko looks down as he bleeds and resists and fights he realizes he does feel something more than apathy and frustration for Akane. But alas, it is not worth figuring out if is respect, admiration, care, or whatever, it's a bother regardless but still worthless since it would always end like this.

Now, let's slap a crush into this mess.

Natsuhiko's type is calm and quiet, harsh on the outside and kind on the inside. A beauty that feels unapproachable.

Which is both the complete opposite of Akane (Akane is loud and stressed 24/7) and spot on (Akane is harsh in his bluntness but kind at heart + he is a popular boy that others naturally orbit towards)

Natsuhiko getting a little crush on Akane would be a nightmare because he would not notice he has a crush. He has a strong belief boys can't like other boys, needing to 'become a girl' to excuse still having feelings for Sakura after she gets a male body.

So he wouldn't notice whatever positive feeling he got is a crush, but he would still be unbearable. Probably call him Akane-chan cause that's a feminine name. Cute.

Akane wants him dead and it has nothing to do with his bad guy vibes, it's mostly cause Natsuhiko flirts a lot. He insists it's nothing but he got that flirty vibe that is very punchable, like calling him 'kitten' and adding 'no homo' if Akane bluntly rejects him. Respecting his space when Akane is on edge but trying to test his luck and be touchy the second Akane shows any signs of lowering his guard, casual bro stuff like noggies. He will need a character arc cause Akane is sure he is either unbearable by nature or his ulterior motive is to go on a few dates with him and discard him after ike the playboy Natsuhiko is. He doesn't take his 'fondness' seriously at all but being harsh is pretty attractive to Natsuhiko, makes the rare signs that Akane cares appear all the more soft.

Imagine Akane saving Natsuhiko in a panic when he 'sacrifices' himself to a big beast (akane doesn't accept others pulling the 'I will die for you' card on him, not even other supernaturals), only to kick Natsuhiko back into danger the second this immortal and sturdy guy starts to swoon about how "Akane-chan is so kind, worried about me <3 " . That's the vibe.

Natsuhiko pays more attention and is more influenced by the people he like, so he would actually make an effort to figure out why Akane is so hardworking, and tries to be kind, to do little things to help him, which serves to confuse Akane but make him a bit more willing to accept his company. They are still a headache to each other but there is care, and way more confusion involved, since Natsuhiko may have to experience a lot of trial and error but his attempts to get closer to Akane and make him happy are genuine. Akane is way more indulgent than Sakura, so while he won't drink any suspicious love potion and things of sorts, he can be dragged to Karaoke and easily manipulated with a pathetic 'Akane-chan, I need your help pls :(' cause he has a helping complex. (Unless is after he catches Natsuhiko doing something morally reprehensible, in that case, Akane will not tolerate even breathing the same air as him and go full judgement more.)

Akane doesn't know how his life has been spiraling but he blames Natsuhiko.

Their difference in morals will always be cause for complications, but if it's in a canon universe it's worse, cause Natsuhiko will have to betray Akane, and hurt this strange new love that keeps him at arm's length but has shown signs of believing he can be 'less of an asshole' becomes an actual dilemma. Something he isn't used to.

Akane being the one to fall in love would be a completely different vibe, easier to imagine in a messier part of his life, when the clock keepers contract is still new and everything is more confusing, maybe he hasn't figured out that the accident with Aoi was staged to recruit him, so he isn't as wary and hateful of the supernatural world yet, relieved to see another fellow human familiar with supernaturals, since Teru is someone worthy of respect but still very violent and closed off.

Akane would also have a crisis and push aside the idea of being intrigued by this strange upperclassman, who smells nice and hides many secrets, cause the idea of falling for someone who isn't Aoi will destroy him. He is extremely stubborn and loyal. He will snuff the crush out by force, avoid him at all costs, be more susceptible to manipulation, althought not noticibly at first..

What if Aoi doesn't exist, what if is just Natsu?

Then he can be openly devoted, and the appeal is to ask the question "What would happen if Akane fell in love with a bad person?" How much is he willing to forgive, and change himself. What made him fall in love? What is a line he can't cross (ex murder) and how does he deal with Natsuhiko crossing it?

Akane is selfless and prioritizes making him happy, so Natsuhiko would feel kind of bad. He is so used to being ignored, that he says whatever, and being treated with respect or awe is so out of the norm?? He does have a conscience.

Natsuhiko admires love, and it is convenient that Akane will sacrifice his happiness for him and ask for nothing in return, but it leaves a heavy vibe you know? Like, it's cute that he'll blush if he casually puts his arm around Akane's shoulders and drags him close, as he does with his kouhais, but Natsuhiko is not a fan of the soft longing stares. He will make him do tasks though, if Akane is so happy to help, he can buy him sodas and sing his praises.

Let's light up a bit with simple mutual pining, no other crushes, no supernaturals.

They are both too bold and hopeless for pining, a confession happens one week during this scenario and any issue is solved with the power of love. Natsuhiko is having a crisis about liking a boy? No worries, Akane is more than comfortable with cross-dressing, I will never get over how he got offended they didn't let him crossdress if it would let him stay by Aoi's side in a volume cover, and Natsuhiko is easily swayed, this much devotion would make him accept Akane with or without a skirt. Is hopeless romantic to hopeless romantic communication.

As an established couple they are unbearable. They call each other "my boyfriend <3" and giggle about it like losers, and every daydream Natsuhiko has become true. Does Natsu want to be missed? Akane will mention how he wishes they lived together and how he longs for him in class and if asked he will write a song about how much he loves him. Does he like romantic dates? After taking Akane to three of those, Akane is already the one surprising him by preparing a candlelight dinner. Any gifts they give each other are well taken care of. There are hearts permanently floating by their head. Outsiders are horrified.

Natsuhiko wanted so bad to be the knight in shining armor, the reliable senpai, but Akane was built to be a worrier who doesn't vibe with asking for help, he is the one taking care of Natsu 90% of the time.

Imagine Natsuhiko daydreaming of having Akane run into his arms scared of an approaching storm, only to be startled by thunder and instinctively jump into Akane's already extended arms. That's the vibe.

Akane would find it cute too.

Marriage may scare Natsuhiko, or at the very least make him uncomfortable, a forever is a bit reckless right? Let's just enjoy the moment, haha. So Akane drops the proposals, but he still daydreams about it. His fear of marriage can make Akane possessive when Natsuhiko winks at any cute girl, but he knows Natsuhiko has fun with it, and that he loves Akane the most, so he is very forgiving.

Bonus: Their height difference is pretty nice. Natsu is a full stair step taller than Akane.

[messycunt]

The Morning After: Leona

I wanted to write Leona purring into this so bad but my logical mind wouldn’t let me since lions can’t purr but now I think abt it do kemonomimi boys really need to follow the rules of real world animal anatomy??? 

cw: fem!reader, no use of Y/N or gendered pronouns, readers birth assigned gender isn’t specified, nothing explicit but implied/referenced nsfw, fluffy wuffy gwumpy Leona, hinted Ruggie x Leona x reader but it’s ignorable methinks, ear scratches and soft kisses, not proof-read 

Leona always looked so peaceful when he was asleep, features relaxed instead of taunt in a scowl or pulled into a smug smirk like usual. 

 You sat at the edge of his bed, eyes fixated on the pile on the floor where he had thrown your clothes after tearing them off the night before yet not moving to pick them up. Your mind was elsewhere, thinking of how you would explain your being in savanaclaw first thing in the morning if anyone was to find you while making your way back to ramshackle. You brought your knee up to your chest humming thoughtfully. 

 Bumping into Jack was a possibility to consider, he was most likely getting ready for his morning jog now if he hadn’t already started. Lying to him about what you were there for would not be an option, even not being a beastman yourself you knew that he would be able to smell Leona all over you from a mile away. It was best to mentally prepare yourself should that encounter be made.

 Ruggie already knew about what you and Leona had going on and you knew about what he and Leona had going on so you didn’t need to worry about judgment from him. Your spur of the moment “nap times” and midnight visits occasionally involved him too when he wasn’t busy working at the lounge after class or running errands for Leona that you had safely assumed he gave him just to have you to himself for a while.Though you usually arrived and left the same night so bumping into the hyena with mussed hair and a slight but noticeable limp would definitely earn a lighthearted giggle and teasing nudge from him. 

“What’re you thinking so hard about” his words came out as an annoyed huff. You turned to look at him, his arm was lazily thrown over his face. “Getting back home in time to get ready for class, why?” His ears twitched at that “ oh? “Home” really? I'm sure the one other member of that raggedy dorm’ll be fine without you for one day” He didn’t answer your question. “You know how he gets. If I’m not there when he gets up he’s gonna be suspicious and he’s more irritating than usually when suspicious.” you didn’t mind Grim all that much, but maybe that reasoning would be sound enough to convince Leona to go back to sleep without you. He just grumbled in response. 

 You sighed and hopped off the bed to get to picking up your clothes. Placing them on the bed you took in the state of them. Your panties and stockings were ripped beyond use and your top was missing buttons but at least your jacket and skirt were intact. Thoughtfully choosing your words you spoke up with a patronizingly thick layer of sweetness. “I’ll stop by the garden before lunch and spend time with you then ok? I don’t want you being all grumpy wumpy.” 

“Just stay now. We’ll only miss the first two bells, I’ll let ya go then” he grumbled “Can’t. I have a quiz second period.” you answered quickly, back to your usual tone. “Then we’ll only miss the first bell” you rolled your eyes even though he couldn’t see “I promised Grim I would make him pancakes for breakfast today, and like I said I'm not in the mood to deal with his whining today” another grumble “who cares, the furball can just make ‘em himself now can you come back over here”

Leona moved his forearm from laying over his face to look at you. Eyes looking more disinterested than usual, he stretched with an obnoxious yawn before reaching out to pat the space on the bed in front of you. “You are so spoiled, you know that? Wanting me alllll to yourself even after last night” you teased crawling towards him only to stop just to lean over him. You leaned down to peck him on the corner of his mouth before moving to give him an ever lighter kiss on the lips. He didn’t react in any noticeable way. You closed your eyes and pulled your lips into a line before giving in. “ Fine, I'll stay.” He let out a pleased hum at this and pulled his arms up to wrap around you comfortably. “Good.” he hummed, pulling you in for another kiss. You leaned into him and moved your hands up to gently scratch your nails behind his ears. Pulling away for air and rolling the soft texture of his ears between your fingers you gazed into each other's eyes for a while, content. The second you lay back against his chest ready to fall back into sleep you jump at the sound of a knock at the door 

“Leona-san~ I’m off for class. I’ll bring you both back some breakfast in a sec kay?” 

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 322: IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME

Previously on BnHA: Endeavor was all, “Kirishima please take Hagakure and Aoyama and put them away somewhere out of sight until we’re finally ready for the U.A. Traitor Plot.” Shouto was all “HEY DEKU DID IT EVER OCCUR TO YOU THAT MAYBE YOU WANDERING THE STREETS LOOKING LIKE A GOTH PRAYING MANTIS IS EXACTLY WHAT AFO WANTS.” Deku was all “I’M SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY CRUSHING MARTYR COMPLEX AND ACCUMULATED TRAUMA.” Mineta was all “HEY DEKU YOU SWEET THANG, IF I COULD REARRANGE THE ALPHABET I’D PUT ‘U’ AND ‘I’ TOGETHER, ANYWAYS HMU 💖”, or at least that’s what fandom apparently thought he said. Everyone was all “WELL SINCE WE’RE BACK HERE IN KAMINO WE SHOULD DO THE THING” and did the whole “launching someone into the air to save someone by dramatically grabbing their hand” thing that everybody fucking loves to do in Kamino so damn much. Iida was all “[bombards me and Deku with feels].” Deku was all, “ू(ʚ̴̶̷́ .̠ ʚ̴̶̷̥̀ ू).” I was all, “(;*△*;).” Horikoshi was all, “my work here is done.”

Today on BnHA: 

oh my god.

so I finally went back to look at what I wrote up for 321 last week, and it’s a hot fucking mess lol, and I really don’t want to deal with that right now, so we’re just gonna skip it and go back sometime in the next few days or something because I really want to read the new chapter and I have no self control. I’M SORRY IIDA

oh my god he’s breaking out the narration word bubbles oh my god. shit is about to get epic isn’t it

has there ever been a chapter that opened with these that WASN’T epic? serious question. anyways all aboard the Feels Express I guess

YEP

I saved a bunch of other crying kaomojis when I was looking for ones to use in the “previously on” summary, and right now it’s looking like that was a good fucking decision you guys. if I’m going to be an emotional wreck I might as well do it in style ʕ ಡ ﹏ ಡ ʔ

AND BY THE WAY!!

SHOULD I JUST THANK HORIKOSHI NOW AND SAVE MYSELF SOME TIME LATER. THE MAN ALWAYS FUCKING DELIVERS WHAT ELSE CAN I FUCKING SAY GODDAMN. IS IT TOO EARLY TO DECLARE THIS MY NEW FAVORITE CHAPTER? I SHOULD PROBABLY READ FURTHER THAN ONE PAGE BUT I’VE JUST GOT A FEELING

(ETA: it’s like. maybe my second favorite lol. A HUG WOULD HAVE PUT IT IN FIRST, I’M JUST SAYING.)

anyway so Ochako is releasing Iida, which is actually hilarious, because idk if you all know this but Iida can’t fucking fly you guys

like, I assume Ochako released him because she already knew that Kirishima was in place to catch him, but I really love this split-second of panic on Iida’s part where he’s all “HMM, IS OCHAKO TRYING TO KILL ME, ACTUALLY”

LOL THERE’S A THOOM AND EVERYTHING

that’s some plus fucking ultra on Ochako’s part right there. “IF THEY DIE THEY DIE” goddamn girl did you leave your chill in the same locker as Momo or what

now poor Kiri is all “DAMMIT DEKU ARE YOU PASSED OUT OR WHAT, I DIDN’T GET TO TELL YOU MY THING GODDAMMIT”

oh my gosh he is curled up so small you guys oh my fucking lord

RESIDUAL “LOST CHILD” FEELS FROM LAST WEEK COMING IN FOR A LANDING!! PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR SEATBACKS AND TRAY TABLES ARE IN THEIR UPRIGHT POSITIONS OMG ( ˚͈͈͈͈̥̆ ₍₎ ˚͈͈͈͈̥̆ )

LMAO IIDA IS TRYING TO CONFIRM THAT OCHAKO PLANNED FOR KIRISHIMA TO CATCH HIM, AND KIRISHIMA IS ALL “NOPE I’M JUST HERE BY CHANCE BRO”

Ochako is the U.A. Traitor confirmed. Hagakure I am so sorry I doubted you. Ochako get over here. so are you Toga now or what

anyway so now everyone is running over before Iida can react to this casual announcement of his attempted murder. and now Mina is taking her turn, and Horikoshi is all “HEY BTW IS MINA CRYING ON THE LIST OF THINGS THAT MAKE YOU CRY?” and of fucking course it is, you bastard. I’m not made of stone

( ɵ̥̥ ˑ̫ ɵ̥̥)

SLDKFJLSDKJ:LKWEJ

IS THIS THE PART WHERE I JUST START SCREAMING INCOHERENTLY FOR THE REST OF THE CHAPTER LOL. SURE FEELS LIKE WE ARE GETTING TO THAT TIME

OH MY GOD KACCHAN AHHHHH

I CAN’T OMG LOL I ALREADY GLANCED AT THE NEXT COUPLE OF PANELS, AND HE’S STARTING A WHOLEASS MONOLOGUE ABOUT ALL OF HIS DEKU FEELS AND OH MY GOD

“HERE YOU GO MAKESTE, A WHOLE CHAPTER OF ALL YOUR FAVORITE META TOPICS JUST THE WAY YOU LIKE THEM” THANK YOU HORIKOSHI YOU’RE A BRO (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

SLKASODIFALWKFLKJ

THEY’RE JUST DEKU AND KACCHAN. holy shit you guys. because oh my god, but it’s like when Deku was talking to the Vestiges about saving Tomura, and he turned into his little child self because his heart and intentions were so pure?? and it’s like that again, except that we’re seeing them as their child selves because that’s who they are to each other?? like, not that they actually see each other as children, but just, they can see past all of the stuff on the outside and see each other to their cores, to who they are inside, and when they look at each other they each simply see the other boy that they’ve known their whole entire life. idk?? does that make sense??? DOES ANY OF THIS EVEN MAKE SENSE I DON’T KNOW WHAT WORDS ARE ANYMORE I’M JUST SWIMMING IN FEELS OKAY. I’M TRYING HERE

they’re just boys, is what I’m trying to say, I guess. just Deku and Kacchan. all the walls are down, all the gaps are bridged, and all it is is the one boy reaching out and connecting with the other, and just,,, (꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ)

OH MY GOD [GRABBING YOUR SHOULDERS AND POINTING WORDLESSLY] !!!1LK1

DO YOU ALL KNOW WHAT THIS IS YOU GUYS

HOW PERFECTLY FUCKING RAD. WELL LET ME JUST ENJOY THESE LAST FEW SECONDS BEFORE MY LIFE IS FOREVER CHANGED, I GUESS

OH

MY

GOD

CAN HE EVEN SAY THAT??? IS THAT EVEN LEGAL??? IS HE EVEN FUCKING ALLOWED TO SAY THAT. WHAT IS HAPPENING

OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD!!! OH MY GOD!!!!!!

─=≡Σ((( つ ◕o◕ )つ

GET IN HERE, EVERYONE!!

Y’ALL HE REALLY DID IT. “BAKUGOU IS SUCH AN ASSHOLE HE HASN’T EVEN APOLOGIZED” WELL GUESS FUCKING WHAT. GUESS FUCKING WHAT, YOU GUYS!! LET’S FUCKING GOOOOO ((((／￣∇￣)／＼(￣∇￣＼)))) AHHHHHHHHHH

OHHHHHHHH

HEH. I’M ALREADY DEAD, HORIKOSHI, YOU BASTARD. DO YOUR WORST. GO ON

YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON “US”, HE SAYS. ALONG WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF OMG. KACCHAN, YOU STUDIED!! YOU UNDERSTAND!! PREACH!!

OH NO!!

OH WAIT!!!!

LOL I GOT SCARED THERE FOR A SECOND BUT ANYWAY! EVERYONE GET IN HERE!!! GROUP HUG!!! OR WAIT, NO, WHAT ABOUT -- [GRABS YOUR COLLAR URGENTLY] YOU DON’T THINK -- COULD THEY POSSIBLY -- !!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

ARE YOU GONNA HUG!??!?!?!?! I AM NOT OKAY!!!!!!! !!!hgk

REACTION PANELS LOL EVERYONE ELSE IS ON THE EDGE OF THEIR SEATS TOO WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER

LOL OCHAKO

I KNOW THAT IN REALITY THIS FACE IS JUST BECAUSE SHE’S CONCERNED ABOUT DEKU’S FRAGILE STATE RN, BUT I KEEP THINKING ABOUT THE WAY SHE JUST DROPPED IIDA COLD THOUGH, AND I CAN’T HELP BUT FEAR FOR KACCHAN’S SAFETY LMAO. THAT FEELING WHEN THE CLASS PERV AND THE CLASS BULLY BOTH BEAT YOU TO THE LOVE CONFESSION. KACCHAN WATCH YOUR SIX

OKAY BUT LOOK, IT’S NOT THAT I DON’T LOVE ALL OF THE OTHER KIDS, OKAY, BUT CAN WE PLEASE!??!?! HELLO?!?!? MOMO, JUST -- COULD YOU JUST FOR A MINUTE --

NOOOOOOOOOOO

“DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, I HAVE TO SAVE SOMETHING FOR THE FINALE” HORIKOSHI YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, I’M COMING FOR YOU WITH A TWO BY FOUR!! NOT THAT I’M UNGRATEFUL!! BUT JESUS CHRIST, YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT, AND THEN ALMOST DO THAT, AND THEN NOT!! OMG I HATE YOU

sure let’s cut to Thirteen then, yay. I mean I’m glad they’re alive lol, don’t get me wrong

(ETA: I think that might have sounded a bit sarcastic so I just want to clarify that I really am happy Thirteen is alive and on the job again lol.)

it’s just that if your name doesn’t begin with Baku or Deku I honestly am not interested for just these next five minutes okay lol. like I’m just gonna be completely honest. I am too invested lol, please, they were having a moment, JUST LET ME HAVE THIS PLEASE

OH DAMN U.A. GOT SWOLE AF

THIS SCHOOL HAS BEEN JUICING WTF. I THOUGHT YOU WERE TARTARUS LOL

I’m literally not even reading the speech bubbles though omg I’m so sorry. I really hope there is not a quiz, I promise I will come back to it later scroll scroll scroll

okay so they brought him back to U.A. and he’s all tired and out of it yes

oh goody Hagakure knows all about the security system

(ETA: is it just me or is Horikoshi really laying it on thick with the hints about these two guys lately? I’m on to you sir.)

THAT’S WONDERFUL NEWS. GLAD THIS CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE IS SAFE IN THE HANDS OF THE PEOPLE THAT WE TRUST

ffs Deku

WHAT WILL IT EVEN TAKE TO CONVINCE YOU THEN?? SWEET JESUS

-- holy shit, what??!

they know?? how did they find out??! holy shit???

I’m about to cancel the whole of Japan lmao. fucking try me dudes

-- THE PRINCIPAL!?

NEZU GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!! WHAT THE FUCK

“a ticking time bomb” tell you what, this man is just asking to be punched in the face. literally begging for it omg

(ETA: I have been advised that I misread this part; Rat Principal told everyone how safe U.A. was, but he’s not the one who ratted out Deku; that was “the rumors”, apparently. which, if I had to guess, were probably started by AFO.)

oh I see, so it’s to be Feels, Part II then

he looks so sad and tired and lonely and she goes right for the hand, god bless. though if Kacchan’s not gonna hug him, you’d think someone would at least. or is it because he still smells bad. hmm

AND THE CHAPTER’S ENDING ON HER LOL WELL OKAY THEN

I MEAN IT’S GREAT AND ALL, I LOVE OCHAKO REALLY I DO, BUT WE WERE PROMISED GREAT EXPLOSION MURDER GODS, WHAT GIVES SOB. I WAS ALL READY TO BREAK OUT INTO SONG AND EVERYTHING. SURE, HE DID THE APOLOGY, BUT WHERE IS THE FOLLOW-UP GODDAMMIT

(ETA: just to clarify the reason for my rambling here, I was really waiting for the hero name reveal and the presumed deeper meaning behind it lol. but I guess that is a conversation still to come! and we still need Deku’s response to the apology too for that matter. lots to look forward to still.)

WELL WHATEVER, SO THAT IS THE END OF THE CHAPTER! SHOUT OUT TO MY BOY RAT “LET ME JUST TELL EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD ABOUT DEKU’S SUPER SECRET IDENTITY, I GUESS THAT’S ALL RIGHT NOW, NOTHING BAD COULD POSSIBLY COME OF THIS” PRINCIPAL. listen here you little shit

anyway but if you’ll excuse me... IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME. IF I COULD FIND A WAY. I’D TAKE BACK THOSE WORDS THAT HAVE HURT YOU, AND YOU’D STAY. I DON’T KNOW WHY I DID THE THINGS I DID. I DON’T KNOW WHY I SAID THE THINGS I SAID. PRIDE’S LIKE A KNIFE, IT CAN CUT DEEP INSIDE. WORDS ARE LIKE WEAPONS, THEY WOUND SOMETIMES. BUM~ BUM~ BUM~, I DIDN’T REALLY MEAN TO HURT YOU. BUM~ BUM~ BUM~, I DIDN’T WANNA SEE YOU GO. I KNOW I MADE YOU CRY, BUT BABAY, IF I COULD TUUUUURN BACK TIIIIIIIIIIIME...

[devildomimagines]

Could you do the brothers (Lucifer especially) reacting to an MC who jokes all the time, seems carefree and stupid but eventually they find out that MC is actually a very deeply caring, responsible and intelligent person. They act like an idiot likely as a response to some adversity in their own past. Sorry if its complicated, i just like the idea of the brothers almost discounting MC only to realise they weren't looking deeply enough

Hi Anon! Thanks for the request! Sorry it took me so long to get to, it's been busy in my personal life. The older brothers are under the cut so this post isn’t a mile long lol. I hope this is worth the wait!

Belphegor

King of rolling his eyes at your antics.

Belphie is maybe the most knowledgeable about humans so, of anyone, he might be able to see a little deeper than the surface.

On one of the rare occasions you got Belphie out of the house, you two came across a Little D that was clearly lost.

He didn’t pay it any mind since he figured the Little D would just teleport to their master but you insisted on helping.

As you knelt down to the creature Belphie stood back and watched as you quickly soothed the Little D’s worries and it hopped into your arms. 

You brushed past Belphie to carry the spirit across the street and start talking to the shop owner. The two of you laughed and Little D hopped over to the shop owner’s hands.

“The shop keeper knows that Little D’s master and will give them a call,” you explained as you wrapped your arm around his and began leading him down the road.

“You’re amazing MC,” Belphie murmured, such a small act really changed his view of you.

Where he thought you were foolish in trusting him after what happened in the attic, he realized that he wasn’t a special case of forgiveness, you were just a truly caring person. 

“Hm, what was that Belphie?” You asked but he wasn’t sure if you actually didn’t hear him or if you were teasing.

He wasn’t too proud to admit his feelings but his face did heat up a bit, “I said you’re amazing.”

Beelzebub

He’s pretty caring for a demon so he could see you were too, although maybe he didn’t know the depth until today.

The two of you were enjoying a meal in Hell’s Kitchen. Beel was absorbed in the food that he didn’t at first notice you were distracted.

When you asked for a moment and got up to grab the attention of a waiter. Beel watched on curiously, he was hoping you were asking for more food.

The waiter nodded along and ducked into the kitchen. You waited in that spot and you caught Beel’s stare. You waved at him with a smile.

He waved back with a fried shadow bat in hand.

You laughed and then the waiter was back. They handed you a to-go container, you talked for a second, probably thanking them and then made your way across the restaurant, walking right past your table.

Beel thought to call out to you as if you had somehow accidentally overshot the table but you made your way right out the door.

He started to get up to go after you, he shoveled a few things in his mouth not totally satisfied but more confused why you were leaving.

Then he saw you through the window. He stopped moving as you approached a small demon looking into the restaurant through the window. Beel sat and watched the scene unfold.

It jumped back away from you, probably not having seen a human before, and was clearly defensive as you talked. You then offered the to-go container, popping it open so the demon could see the food contained.

The little demon inched closer, clearly hungry and tempted by the food you offered. You nodded and the demon took the container and ran. You watched for a second and then came back into the restaurant to join Beel.

You sat down like nothing had happened and went back to your meal. When Beel didn’t start eating you asked,  “What is it? Do I have something on my face!?”

He shook his head no, “You’re incredible.” He picked back up eating but he would not forget this moment.

Asmodeus

You watched on as Asmo was applying his make-up. He always enjoys your company when preparing for the day but he noted you were reading the ingredients pretty seriously.

“What’s got you frowning MC?” 

“This is from the human realm, right?” you held up the bottle so he could see the label in the mirror.

He hummed, “That’s right, I get products from all over so that one is definitely from the human realm. Have you used it before?”

“Um, no I tended to stay away from their brand.” You put the bottle back where you found it.

“Why’s that? It is kind of expensive in Grimm, was it the same in your currency?”

“Not really, it’s just that…” you paused trying to think of the most sensitive way to put it, “there are make-up brands in the human realm that test their products on animals before marketing it to humans.”

“How cute!” Asmo giggled at the thought of bunnies in blush.

“No Asmo, it’s more like they are testing if their products are safe for humans by using animals as a proxy. It can be brutal and even unnecessary and could result in the animal’s death.”

Asmo had stopped and turned to look at you as you explained. His face was slightly troubled.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable! I just tried to use products that didn’t use that as a part of their process in manufacturing so as to not cause any unnecessary distress.”

He nodded understanding your thought process. The Devildom didn’t have such markers since suffering was the norm.

The fact that you were thinking about what products you used and their impact on others, even just some animals, had him reassessing you.

It was more thoughtful than he originally credited you. When you and him were joking around and gossiping, he figured your interests were more superficial.

It was refreshing that not only could you keep up with the most recent hot news around town but you truly cared and respected your impact on others.

“Asmo?” You asked, he had been quiet for a while lost in thought.

“It’s nothing!” He recovered but he kept peeking back at you with a mysterious smile.

Satan

The two of you were studying in the RAD library.

There was a particularly tough exam coming up, notorious for dropping the GPA of 75% off the class.

Satan was confident in his abilities but he agreed to come study for your sake. He didn’t have access to know your grade like Lucifer did but he assumed you were struggling by your pleas for his help and deprecating jokes about failing.

He watched as you diligently took out your books and notebook. You flipped through a few of your notes and then shifted your focus to your textbook. Satan shrugged as he opened his own books, you seemed to be off to a fine start.

After about an hour you asked, “Can we quiz each other?”

He agreed and flipped to the end of the chapter he was on for the review questions. Satan took a question and asked it in a slightly different way so you couldn’t rely on memorized answers. 

To his surprise you answered correctly and made up a question for him that he thought was actually pretty difficult. 

Of course he got it right but shrugged it off as a fluke that you didn’t mean to ask such a hard question. The next one he asked you was harder, not from the textbook in any way, it was something that the teacher had mentioned offhand in class.

You got it correct again. With your turn next, you asked another complex question.

Satan answered properly but was now on the edge of his seat, surely twice in a row was not a coincidence.

His next question, he matched your difficulty. You thought for a few minutes and dived into explanation with examples and even a source that you quoted off the top of your head. Your answer was insightful and succinct.

You were waiting for Satan’s assessment of your answer but he sat unmoving.

“Was I mistaken?” You asked, and started frantically looking through your notes.

While you reviewed your materials, Satan was seeing you in a new light. He figured you got along so well with Mammon because the two of you could joke and slack off with the best of them. He thought that you and Asmo got along more as a pair of airheads. But here you were, in this moment your intelligence came off as easy and effortless.

“No, you were right.”

“Really?” you looked up surprised but happy.

He smiled back, but wondered, “What is your current grade in this class, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Last I checked, like 96?”

Satan laughed and shook his head, unbelievable that he thought otherwise.

Leviathan

He already thought of himself as a charity case. The fact that you would be willing to sacrifice your time to be with him was a miracle in his eyes.

No matter how many times you told him you wanted to hang out with him, it wasn’t a sacrifice, he still didn’t believe you.

When he gets more comfortable around you, he let’s you see his uglier sides when the envy consumes him.

You were a safe space he could vent to and you took that responsibility seriously. You listened and he felt the things he shared never left his room when you left.

It was after one of those vent/gaming sessions that you had to excuse yourself.

You had never gotten up in the middle like that and it scared Levi, had he gone too far? Did you actually hate him?

He watched silently as you left the room. Once the door closed, he was on his feet, what was so important? He decided to follow you.

Levi followed about a hallway behind you, as you turned a corner he would sprint to the corner to watch where you go next.

He followed all the way to the kitchen? He didn’t want to peek in fear of being caught but he listened as you greeted Beel.

Beel asked what’s up and you answered you were getting snacks for an intense gaming night with Levi. Beel must have perked up with the snacks you grabbed and you shooed him off, “If Levi’s up for it, you can join us but you can’t have that snack, I made it for a special occasion.”

Special… special? Levi couldn’t wrap his head around it when he thought of himself but the silence in the kitchen meant you must be leaving… meaning you were heading right for the door he was cupping!

He turned around and found a hiding spot on the other side of the hall behind a vase.

The door swung open as he held his breath. You started the way you came. You were heading for his room and he wasn’t there!

Cue montage of Levi comically running through the halls of HOL to get to his room before. He jumps into his gaming chair seconds before you open his door quietly.

He was panting and sweaty when he turned towards you with a smile, totally failing to act natural.

“Sorry I got up so abruptly but I just remembered I made you this!” You presented a cupcake exactly replicated from the anime the two of you watched last week.

Levi’s heart melted, he felt bad that he had second guessed you. He reached out for the cupcake with one hand and with the other he took your hand to pull you to the bean bags. He was blushing but still said, “Let’s put on that anime while I eat it.”

The level of detail that you had gotten correct showed how dedicated you had been to paying attention to his interests and how much you cared for him in turn. He was also impressed with your baking knowledge, it takes a decent level of skill to be able to replicate something just from seeing it.

The scene was coming up where the protag was going to give the cupcake and Levi was struck with the most embarrassing thought. But if anyone would indulge him, it was you.

As the protag took the cupcake, Levi copied their posture. Then he copied their words in unison they both said, “Thank you, no one has ever made me anything like this before.” The two of them ripped the cupcake in half in the same spot and he extended the half to you as he protag did, “Will you share it with me?”

“Of course!” You and the character answered together then giggled as Levi blushed and hid behind the half cupcake as the two of you returned to sitting on the beanbags.

There was no way he was ever going to forget this moment, his eyes opened to how much you did care for him. Even if he was doubtful of others by nature, he would never doubt you again.

Mammon

People always write Mammon off as dumb and because you have a pact with him, you’re often included in that assumption. The two of you get along like peas in a pod. You’re here for a good time and Mammon can definitely provide that. 

His schemes to make money keep things interesting so you usually go along unless you have other commitments. Today’s work was clean-up in the local park. Not because it was lucrative, but because this was a punishment from a prank that backfired.

You had pleaded with Diavolo for a lighter sentence on Mammon’s behalf as his pact partner and Diavolo indulged you.

Mammon was brooding on your way to the park but you were looking forward to being outside in nature for the day so you chattered aloud to fill the silence.

Barbatos was waiting for you two with the materials you would need. He gave you a look of pity when you turned but Mammon caught it and knew Barbatos was probably feeling sorry you had to be punished when you didn’t do anything. Mammon ripped the rake out of Barbatos’ hand and sulked off after you.

You each set to different tasks, Mammon raking leaves and you weeding the flowerbeds. 

Demons and spirits passed with a few snickers, definitely not the first time Mammon had been sent to do community service but he hated that you were now a laughing stock with him. You didn’t seem phased by it though, even flashing him a bright smile when you two made eye contact. 

Halfway through the day, the two of you were taking a break for a snack and fluids, you shared a bench and admired the work so far. “We might even finish early!” You shared your optimism.

Mammon nodded but still kept quiet. It was so unlike him and you were hitting your limits of how to try to get him out of his own head, you figured he would be back to normal tomorrow but missed hearing his voice.

You two split the last of the duties, you were now cleaning equipment and decorations while he was trimming bushes and trees.

While Mammon was trimming a nearby bush, he heard your voice, then heard his name. He peeked through the bush to watch you talking with a crow.

“I thought it would make the day more fun if I was here with him because he always makes me have fun but it’s like I’ve made his mood worse…” You looked down at the bird bath you had been polishing and knelt down. The crow watched your movements from it’s perch on the top. “Maybe he hates that I intervened with Diavolo, I probably overstepped. I don’t know what I can do to get Mammon out of this funk. What do you think?”

The crow outstretched it’s wings and took off. You pouted, but continued polishing. Mammon was about to push through the bushes to comfort you, his mood wasn’t your fault and he felt even worse that you thought that but then the crow returned.

It swooped onto your shoulder and dropped something into your hand. You jumped with surprise and it scared the crow off your shoulder, it resettled on the bird bath. “This is perfect! Thank you!” The crow let you give it a few scritches and took off once more. You looked around for Mammon.

He nonchalantly rounded the bush so you would notice him, “Mammon! Look!” You rushed over and handed him the object.

It was a golden grimm coin. You explained, “A crow gave it to me, that has to be good luck! Take it and your luck will change, you won’t be punished forever!”

He wrapped you in a tight hug. What did he do to deserve you? Why did you care about him so deeply that you’d give him your treasure and good luck?

You laughed into his hug and he pulled back, “Alright, let’s finish this up and go home, I’ll treat ya to some ice cream on the way back.” He ruffled your hair but your shining eyes and too big smile made him blush and turn away.

Lucifer

He questioned if putting you under Mammon’s care at first was a mistake.

It’s not that you didn’t get along, in fact you two got along too well. Was Mammon’s stupid tendencies to slack off rubbing off on you?

You had been coming back late without being accompanied by one of his brothers and he was determined to find out what you were up to.

For the morning, he watched as you and Mammon walked to school. Lucifer stayed far enough away so he couldn’t be sensed so he couldn’t hear what you two were saying but it was clear you were having a good time. Mammon was snickering as you animatedly gestured and walked backwards. Lucifer’s heart warmed that his brother was genuinely happy then realized he was getting distracted.

You sat through your first class diligently taking notes and participating. The same for most of the classes that day. Lucifer started to acknowledge your responsibility to learning but it made him all the more curious as to why you skipped your last class. 

He watched you look around for any onlookers and dipped into the library. He was both surprised and amused that you were meeting with Simeon. The angel was leading you astray? 

Simeon didn’t look happy about it either, probably scolding you for missing class, but he was a pushover and your pathetic look won him over. The two of you sat as Simeon talked. You were taking notes on whatever Simeon was lecturing on. 

You left the interaction and Lucifer took the chance to talk with Simeon himself. He learned that you were asking about stories from the Celestial Realm. Simeon offered that it was just human nature to be curious what lays beyond life. Lucifer, the ever-skeptic, didn’t believe that was it.

He had lost your trail by talking to Simeon so he went home to wait for your return.

Lucifer intercepted you as you tried to sneak in. “MC, this way please,” he led you to his office, “How was today?”

“Good?” you answered but was unsure why he looked so serious.

“How was class?” 

You got nervous but answered, “Fine, same old same old.”

“Ah,” Lucifer smirked, “And how was Simeon?”

Your attempt to play dumb failed spectacularly when you stammered, “W-who’s Simeon?”

“Lying to me won’t do you well,” Lucifer reminded.

“Sorry, it’s just it wasn’t an approved activity so I didn’t want anyone in your family to be implicated…” you scratched the back of your head and looked away.

“And what activity is that?”

“Oh I thought you knew since you caught me,” you laughed, “Solomon and I were going to play with young demons at an orphanage in town. We were telling them stories from the Human Realm but I thought it would be nice to incorporate stories from the Celestial Realm too.”

Lucifer sighed.

You took that as a sign he was disappointed so you continued, “Let me explain, I know I should have asked permission first and for that I’m sorry. Solomon and I just stumbled on the place one day and the kids bombarded us with questions, never having seen humans before and before I knew it we were going almost everyday. I guess I thought it wouldn’t be bad because exposing the next generation of demons to humans would help Diavolo’s mission to strengthen relations between the realms. And I asked Simeon for stories so we could share Celestial Realm things too without getting Simeon in trouble or putting him in an uncomfortable position.”

Well that was definitely an eye opener for Lucifer. What you said made sense that changing minds starts with the youth. His original assumptions that you were just shirking responsibilities was way off base. He didn’t want to but admitted to himself he was wrong. Not only had you been doing something charitable but you were furthering Lord Diavolo’s message in a different way.

“You’re correct, you should have asked permission,” he started and you sank in your seat, “but I don’t see any harm in what you’re doing except for missing classes.” You sank further in your seat. “For skipping class, you’ll need to do extra studies,” he paused to make sure you knew this was a punishment, “I think a fitting topic would be interracial communication with a focus on the youth of Devildom.”

You perked up with a smile, “So I can keep going to the orphanage?”

Lucifer fought back a smile himself, trying to continue to be stern, “Yes, but that’s only if you don’t skip class and you have one of my brothers accompany you. As competent as Solomon is, he is also human and I would feel better if you had a demon escort.”

You were absolutely beaming now. “I’d like that but I don’t think you brothers would be interested.”

“They’ll do what they’re told but I think the twins would enjoy it the most,” Lucifer offered.

“Thanks! I would like if you could join us sometime too,” you suggested shyly.

He did smile at that, “If my schedule allows,” He didn’t finish before you were hugging him. He stiffened, not used to being hugged after doling out a punishment but softened and returned your hug, “I’ll make time to join you.”

[shima-draws]

The other day I just found in a thrift shop a copy of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky and bought it on impulse just because of how highly you always put the game, even if it was at twice its original price.

I still haven't started it yet but I'll do it soon and if I get a Chimchar or a Piplup I'll name them after your characters.

Also, any suggestions for a beginner?

Hope it's as good as you say.

OOOOHHH hope you have fun fam!! Also yes of course it's good because I said so, every one of my opinions should be more highly regarded than anybody else's,

LMAO in all seriousness it's a fandom darling for a reason. Every person I've talked to who has played Sky always has high praise for it, it's not just me. Not only is the gameplay a total blast, the music slaps SO hard and the story is phenomenal. I'm sure that there's something about it you'll end up liking :')

Assuming that you've never played a PMD game before, it's essentially a dungeon crawler (hence the name). If you're aiming to get Piplup specifically you should probably follow an online guide for the intro quiz, because depending on your answers you'll get a different starter Pokemon--so if you want Piplup you'll have to answer the quiz questions in a specific way. I'd say Sky is relatively balanced in terms of levelling and such, but I always over level to be safe and also because I love sweeping boss fights. There's a recruit function that you unlock early in the game so you can have other Pokemon join your team besides just your partner, so if you ever need backup it's always a good idea to bring along one or two extra teammates.

If you want to see my guide to success! That is here.

ENJOY PMD SKY I hope it lives up to your expectations!

[fyeah-bangtan7]

Jung Kook: “I think we’d better not ever stop”

We asked Jung Kook to draw anything he wanted for the photoshoot. The photos featured in this article are snapshots while Jung Kook was at work. Even when the photoshoot was finished, he left the studio only when he completed his drawing.

“Butter” has been at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six weeks straight. (This interview took place on July 12) Jung Kook: I was never attached to rankings, but as good as it is and as happy as I am since we’ve kept setting records since “Dynamite,” it also feels like a burden.

Is it because you’ve been successful beyond anything you could’ve imagined? Jung Kook: Sort of. A huge number of people have given me recognition, so I’ve been going along thinking I have to work harder, but we did even better with “Butter” than with “Dynamite,” so I think I ended up feeling weighed down. That’s what I’m like. BTS is an amazing team, but maybe my problem is that I’m not able to keep up with BTS.

You were the one to set the mood for “Butter” by singing the intro to the song. Didn’t that make you feel good? You were definitely as amazing as the team itself. (laughs) Jung Kook: “Butter” just feels so good. It’s different from our usual style, so it felt different while recording. The song’s great, too. I love that, but it’s separate from that feeling of pressure. I mean, I hope BTS does even better, honestly. Lately I’ve been thinking that that pressure means I need to do better. After “Dynamite” became number one on the Billboard Hot 100, it’s not like we’re being forced to try harder; it’s just my personal ambition. I think I can do better.

Why do you think “Dynamite” wasn’t as satisfying? Jung Kook: Because I couldn’t express everything I wanted the way I wanted to. When I listen to the remixes, I think about how I could’ve sung it differently. Like, “Aw, man! If only I could do it again!” (laughs) I got some things from singing “Dynamite,” like, I’m not quite there yet. So I try to practice singing at least an hour every day, no matter what. Any singer who’s been at number one on Billboard for six weeks had better be really good at singing. That’s what I think.

Something about the way you sang in English probably made you hear your own singing in a new light. Your tone is different from when you sing in Korean. Jung Kook: Sometimes you have to bear down a little on your words to talk in Korean. Plus I’m from Busan, so I speak in a little bit of a low voice. I don’t have that when I use English, though, so it’s like there’s pros and cons. It’s easy to use your head voice when you sing in English as well, but it can be uncomfortable, while in Korean, if you try to sing higher using your head voice, it can sound a bit nasally sometimes. But at the same time, it can be hard to break old habits when I sing in English since I’ve always been singing in Korean.

“Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” are all English songs and you were in charge of the introduction for all three. It seems like you put some thought into how to create different impressions for each song. Jung Kook: “Butter’s” really bouncy, as you know. It’s a little deep, it’s got a driving beat, it’s rhythmical. And before I record, I listen to a recording with guide vocals, and then when I go to record, I have to keep all these characteristics in mind and mix them together with my own style properly in this subtle way. I think it’s seriously an intuition. (laughs) I had a hard time when we were recording, obviously, and when I first did it, my voice didn’t sound right, so I had to keep looking for the right voice. I think the most important thing is to really nail the voice you want to use first, and so is figuring out how to make it your own. In “Permission to Dance,” for instance, I sang it more the way I wanted than the style the guide vocals had.

How do you come to that kind of conclusion? Jung Kook: Everyone’s voice has to sound different, so it can be overpowering if I copy the guide too much when I sing. So sometimes I follow what I’m thinking of exclusively. I was thinking about how I should sing the first part of “Permission to Dance,” and when I went to record it, even Pdogg, the producer, told me, “It’ll work best if you go with your own voice, your own style.”

What effect does listening to so many other artists’ songs and analyzing them have on you? Jung Kook: The more I listen to music, the more my vocals change. It really changes a lot when we get a song and listen to it and practice it. I guess you could say my vocal cords are always readying themselves for improvement when I practice. (laughs) And improving while I record, and just improving any time I sing. But there’s also times when it suddenly doesn’t sound right when I try it the way I want, so I just give it a try, or I quickly look up other vocalists and listen to their songs or ask some of the older artists. Doing that helps me find a certain voice I’m looking for.

You sang uncannily similar to SUGA when you briefly sang his part in “Life Goes On” over V LIVE, even though your voices are different. You’re quick at picking up on the characteristics of others’ vocals. Jung Kook: I used to rely on that a lot. Like, I can hear [the characteristics in their voices] at least. (laughs) Now, though, it’s like, Oh, [I] guess I shouldn’t do it that way. You can safely assume I’ve heard a countless number of other singers’ songs. Then I would think a lot about how I want to sing, thinking how those other singers would sing, before making my own voice. I carry over those people’s voices and vocal patterns and think about how it would sound if they sang in this room, then I think about how it would sound in my own voice, and then sometimes I can make my voice sound similar if I try to.

It seems like it was important for you to find your own style for the performances as well. Not only were the three English songs different from your earlier work, but there were also a lot of parts in “Butter” that you could only perform through gestures and facial expressions. Jung Kook: Before “Butter,” I just worked really hard, and had fun doing it, in whatever way I wanted but starting with “Butter” I think I managed to do things in a more thought-out way. I was more attentive to my facial expressions and movements and thought through what I should do in each situation in each performance to do it in my own style. And it was kind of a fun process. I don’t feel any pressure about that; I just thought I can create that kind of image if I just try to be a little cool and not cringey (laugh) for people from now on.

What image do you want people to have of you, as an artist? One that says, This is who I am as an artist right now. Jung Kook: I don’t think I’m at the level where I need to worry about that yet. I have a general idea about what kind of singer I want to be and what I want to be really good at, but I don’t think I’ve ever imagined defining myself as a certain type of singer yet. Because it’s an ongoing process, when I can prove myself, then, bam!—I give proof and become a truly influential person, only then can I go around saying, This is the kind of singer I am. For now, I don’t have anything, I guess you could say, “substantial” to show off. I think, Even if I’m part of BTS and tour stadiums, does that automatically make me better than other artists? And then, by thinking so, I center myself again.

Couldn’t you be a little softer on yourself? Jung Kook: No. I have to think about the future many times throughout the day. For example, sometimes I spend a whole day doing whatever, but whenever I do, I regret it severely. So I promise myself that I’ll get this and that done. That’s how I live, because if I don’t think that way, I won’t jump into action to get anything done. It’s like the title of our song, “Life Goes On”: the treadmill just keeps on going, and we’re on it, so I always think, I’d better not ever stop. I can express myself better if I think while I talk, and I can organize my thoughts while reflecting back on what I said. I try to think about everything in that way. I think I need to improve, whether it’s at singing or my hobbies—more than now, better than now.

Are you doing particularly well with any of your hobbies these days? It seems like you got a little better at painting, judging by your vlog. Jung Kook: I think I’m getting better overall, little by little. My vocals are where I’ve definitely improved lately. And bowling! (laughs) I learn how to paint by watching videos on YouTube. I think I’m good at picking up skills by emulating others. I’m actually not good at learning things. (laughs) I just like to do what I like to do and I naturally learn from the people around me, I guess. And I think the things I really want to learn are still the same: singing, English, exercise.

Learning from other people and wanting to do better is a form of recognizing who you can compare yourself against. Are you at all influenced by the other members? You’ve talked a lot about how much you’ve been influenced by the six older members. Jung Kook: I think I started paying attention to people other than myself after I moved to Seoul and met the other members. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, but I do notice them now. It’s like I really started to see myself for who I am from that point on.

That makes me think of when you talked about seeing the sights in Seoul for the first time on tvN’s You Quiz on the Block, the way you got to know the feelings the outside world can give. Jung Kook: The first time I saw the streets of Seoul, they were enormous. I was really worried, since I’d just come to Seoul, and I got to know myself because of the change of environment. I think it was the very first time for me to think for myself, and it became the starting point for me to get to know myself.

When you took some candy you liked from the BTS pop-up store, j-hope said you were still the same from when you first met when you were 13 years old. Do you think you haven’t changed at all compared to back then? Jung Kook: In some way I must be better or different on the outside, but I’m sure there’s still things about me that are the same as when I was 13. I learned how to be considerate towards the other members and how to understand them because I fought with them occasionally, but nobody’s going to stop me if I take candy. I take it like I always did. Like when Hobi and I fought over a single banana. (laughs)

But what’s changed about you, then? Being a member of BTS must have had an effect on your view of the world. You sought understanding from your vegetarian viewers when you were eating meat in a salad on V LIVE before. Jung Kook: I thought to ask because I know that many people abroad, and in Korea, too, are vegetarians. It’s one of the things you learn when you tour around many different countries. Obviously I don’t know about every single country’s culture or personal identities or choices, so even though I have a long way to go, I think it’s important to respect them based on what I do know.

I think you must know that you’ve had an influence on a lot of people. Partway into your V LIVE, you talked about how you couldn’t find any of the kombucha you drank before anymore because it was all sold out and you thanked your fans for giving a little help to small business owners. Jung Kook: Restaurants aren’t doing well and there’s a lot of closed-up shops in the markets now, as you know. So if I’ve had an effect on even one person, it’s been worthwhile. And sometimes the people I’ve had an influence on go on to make donations, too. There could always be someone who takes advantage of the things I say or do, but I’m confident a lot of people will use them for good.

This influence is something you’ve crafted with your fandom, ARMY. I imagine you’ve been influenced not only by the other members but also by ARMY since you were young. Jung Kook: There’s a lot going on inside a concert venue: the lighting, the stage, the floor, the stage design, the video projected on the screen. Plus there’s the music, the dancing, and us. Even if they’re all in balance, ARMY has to be there to complete the scene. When it comes to our concerts, ARMY are the ones who bought the tickets and they’re the main characters. I think everything we focus on comes back down to ARMY. We share in each other’s feelings and they’re the source of our strength, and I think they have synergy with us. It’s not enough to just say ARMY and us like each other, or that we love each other. There’s definitely more to it than that. It’s, well—I don’t know. It’s hard to put into words. (laughs)

I think you need ARMY to be there at the concert for you to fully realize the concert you’re aiming for. Jung Kook: Yes, exactly! Even if everything’s set up and we’re in front of the camera, if ARMY’s not there, it’s a completely different concert. Even when ARMY’s there and there’s a live camera broadcasting it, I’m like, There’s a camera? Sure. Obviously I care about it when I have to say hello to ARMY sitting on the other side, in front of their screens. Other than that, I get all my energy from all the ARMY sitting right in front of me. That’s how much they mean to me. It’s completely different.

The concept for BTS 2021 MUSTER SOWOOJOO was similar to being in concert with an audience. It must’ve made you think of ARMY even more. Jung Kook: I’m seriously good as long as I can perform. I can put on more and more concerts in the space of a year if we’re touring. I felt it more profoundly this time since we couldn’t perform with an audience. Wow, I really took things for granted all this time. I should’ve done more.

You must be disappointed. It’s your time to shine as a vocalist and as a performer. Jung Kook: (sighs) I, well, I really need to hurry up and make a mixtape, first of all. (laughs)

How’s your mixtape going? Jung Kook: I was working on it just before I came. But it’s hard! (laughs) I could just make it about myself, and then it would be like, I started as a trainee when I was 13, I worked hard, and found success. But anyone could do that. So I keep thinking I want to make up my own original, complex story and write the songs from there. Billie Eilish’s debut album left a big mark on me when it came out, in that respect. And it’d be nice to have a cohesive flow to the tracklist, but even if it’s all jumbled up, that’s fine, too, as long the good songs keep on coming. That’s sort of what I’m thinking. So these days, rather than focusing on the album’s story as a whole, I’m just going to write whatever it is I want to say in each song. If I get that feeling right after listening to a track, I’ll try and make it. And I’m going to try to make it a little bit light-hearted.

It can’t be easy for you to concentrate on it if you’re making it here and there between all your other work. Jung Kook: It’s fine if it takes a really long time—it’s just hard to work on it in pieces. I mean, if I stay up late working away at it, it’s hard to get through the next day. (laughs) I stayed up all night again last night and slept between appointments today, but I’m still going to keep working like this today and then go work on my mixtape again anyway. I’ll do my best to release it as soon as possible. I want to write and record a lot of material.

s there anything about yourself, other than your work or concerts, that you want to show to ARMY as an individual? Jung Kook: I want to show them, that, umm … Just my real self, Jeon Jung Gook. That I’m fairly easy-going, very honest, and nothing special.

What kind of person do you think you are now? Jung Kook: I’m, I’m a, lazy … person. (laughs).

You’re being very hard on yourself. (laughs) How could you be lazy if you’re a part of BTS? Jung Kook: No, I really am lazy. (laughs) If I were alone I’d probably miss a lot of my appointments. (laughs) But I have to avoid making any mistakes when we function as a group. I’m really lazy, and—oh, I overthink things sometimes. I think more than people might expect, and I do things my way. Plus, even though I don’t care what other people think of me, I kind of still do. (laughs) I have no idea. I’m sort of goofy—? But I’m also trying to live a full life—I’m that kind of person. (laughs).

Thank you for the interview. Oh, by the way, I liked your “Butter” fan cam. Your moves were really agile. Jung Kook: Really? Do you think I’ve gotten better? (laughs).

© source.

[miraculous-trinity-leo]

Tᕼᗴ ᑕᕼᗩOTIᑕ ᗩᑎᘜᗴᒪ

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)

Chapter 3: Au Revoir Gotham My True Home

•—–—–·†·–—–—•

Marinette explained what happened and that she didn't mean to cause trouble, she didn't know why the bats were looking for her (author to audience... it's because she looks like one of his bat kids gone rouge.) When she asked how they knew the Bat was looking for her, she found out that Selina was actually dating the Bat... So Marinette was very surprised at that, her family talked about it and a few days after her birthday she'll be going to Paris, France with Selina to be with a family friend of hers. Marinette was now really thinking she was cursed, but she made sure to take it in stride and spend as much time with her friends and family as possible.

"Doan wawhry suguh, we'll make sure tuh visit as much as possible, yuh can even visit us durin' summuh and wintuh break." - Harley held back the tears as she hugged Marinette, Bud, Lou, Ivy, Selina, Ed and even Frank joined in on it.

……… ………

Marinette was out with her friends still not sure how to tell them, she started with the obvious.

"Sooo... tomorrow I turn 10... the double digits." - Marinette

"Soon you'll be one of us!" - Garfield gave Marinette a side hug with a big smile, god he made it harder to tell them

"So what do you want to do? We can celebrate, tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that, heck we can celebrate for the whole week while we're at it!" - Garfield

Rachel noticed the sad smile Marinette had as Garfield continued talking.

"Is there something you need to tell us?" - Rachel's words stoped Garfield in his tracks, he then looked at a slightly teary Marinette, and he felt a slight tinge of pain in his chest.

"I- um, I'm moving this Saturday... I'm sorry I really don't want to, but- *hic* I-" - Marinette was cut off by Garfield giving her a hug, he rubbed small circles on her back as she let out a few sobs. Rachel patting her shoulder to try and comfort her.

After they were like that for a few minutes, they decided to get ice cream

……… ……… ………

"I'm sorry." - Marinette eating her chocolate chip ice cream

"It's not your fault Mari, besides, we can officially say we have a pen pal in Paris." - Garfield with his chocolate mint ice cream trying to lighten the mood, managed to get a chuckle out of Marinette.

"We can still video call, or text you. And your parents said you can visit on summer and winter break." - Rachel just starting her strawberry ice cream

"But what if I need a friend to talk to when I can't sleep? Or if I need a movie buddy? Or gaming buddy?" - Marinette

"There are online multiplayer games we can play you know." - Rachel

"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll make friends over there really quickly, I mean you already know a few other languages, including French, so there isn't any communication problems." - Garfield

"I wish you guys could come with me..." - Marinette almost done with her ice cream

"... Didn't you say you always wanted a hamster, maybe one that's unique, like a the rare Green Gotham Hamster?" - Garfield with a mischievous grin

"Selina's family friends own a bakery, so no pets allowed. Sorry Rare Green Gotham Hamster, I'm afraid you're staying native to Gotham." - Marinette said patting his shoulder.

"Wait they own a bakery?! As in you can be on a sugar high 24/7?! Take me with you!!" - Garfield

……… ……… ………

Soon it was time for them to go home, when Marinette got home, she continued packing what she would need, making sure that her Siren plushies where safely secure, and then went to eat dinner.

The next day she made sure to get up early, Garfield and Rachel knew where she lived, and wanted to make sure everything was ready for them, setting up the games they would play into the night, and the movies they would watch after that.

She then went to the Gardens to greet her Mom and the plants, doing the usual routine of checking all the plants, complimenting and watering them. During which a sleepy Harley walked over giving Ivy and Marinette a morning kiss before going to make her coffee.

At breakfast she didn't see her Aunt yet, she assumed she was robbing someone rich again.

……… Over to Catwoman ………

"Come ta mama." - Catwoman mumbled as she used her claws to cut the glass surrounding an old elegant purple sapphire that belonged to one of Gotham's founding fathers' wives.

……… Back to Marinette ………

About an hour after breakfast Garfield and Rachel came over, holding Marinettes' rapped presents, they started the day off with trivia games, which they called the MIQ (which can mean either Marinette Isley-Quinzel or in this case Memory Intelligence Quiz) which Marinette and Rachel came to a tie followed by Ivy, then Harley, and Garfield. They then moved on to board games, Marinette decided to play The Game of Life rather than Monopoly (because lets be honest, who has ever finished that game in the time of a signle day? An extreme speedrunner... maybe.) while the adults got the cake ready. Surprisingly Garfield won, he got the acting career, a sports car, a nice old fashioned mid modern house, a wife, and 3 kids... Marinette got the fashion designer career, got a motorcycle, and a small, but nice victorian house, a husband, and one kid... and Rachel got the scientist career (because science is just simplified mortal magic), a delorean car (and even said "Since science is magic I can make it fly, so technically, I don't need roads where I'm going."), a modern cabin in the woods, single (she didn't want a significant other to interrupt her magic science) and got a pet bird.

Once Selina and Ed came over, they began the party, playing games like DDR, Ultimate Mecha Strike 2, and Racing games.

When it came time for Marinette to blow out her candles, she wished that everything would be okay, and that she will be able to come back to Gotham permanently, and blew them out.

She then got to open her presents, she started with Harley's, and got a custom baseball bat that was a dark steel blue, with a light grey handle grip, and it had the words "Quinn For Da Win" on it, putting a smile on her face, when she opened Ivy's gift she got seeds of her favorite flowers to plant over in Paris. She then opened her Uncle Ed's gift, which was a small watch that had special A.I., it had a cover over the inside screen that would flip open to reveal another screen. The cover was silver with a blue question mark, and when it opened, it showed the time, and the location you where in, it could also act as a GPS, and a phone (it could even play music AND had an incredible battery life span). She then moved on to her Aunt Selina's gift, finding a small purple sapphire in the shape of a cat paw, surrounded in silver. She then opened Rachel's gift, it was a travel mug that said "Coffee lives in my veins." (Marinette started drinking coffee recently) which made Marinette laugh, and then she got to Garfield's gift. When she opened it, she found a handmade charm bracelet, it had animals that she really liked around it, and there was one that was a small tiger, with it's eyes and nose having a light green peridot stone, to represent the first day they met. She put the bracelet on her right rist and thanked Garfield for it, and gave everyone a big hug.

She spent the rest of the day playing with her friends, having a wonderful time, and getting a massive sugar rush from all the cake they had. When it came time for dinner they were running low on energy, but were back to normal after Harley snuck some coffee into their food... The only thoughts that went through Garfield and Rachel's minds where "That's why Mari drinks this stuff..."

After dinner they played all kinds of video games, and ended it by watching Back To The Future. They fell asleep some time after 2am.

……… ……… …….

The next morning they all had breakfast and then spent the day playing parkour tag over roofs and playing I spy games. And at the end of the day Marinette gave her friends a big hug, before heading back home. She spent her time with her moms, Uncle, and Frank, playing more boardgames and discussing what she should do to make friends...

"Just be yawhself, we love yuh fawh who yuh are, and I'm sure everyone in Paris will love yuh too... if dey doan, den dey most likely have a massive defective reject of a brain." - Was Harley's opinion

"Riddle the f-ck out of their brain, if they can solve all of them, and like you for you, then they are worthy." - Which was Ed's opinion

"Use a chemical based compound from the magnolia flower, combined with three tulip petals, one rose petal, and pollen from a lilac to create a befriending potion." - Ivy's words made everyone silent before Ed spoke up

"... Harley if you're being mind controlled blink." - Ed deadpaned, which had Marinette cackling

"I'm not bein' mind controlled, also yuh nawhmally say ‘blink once or twice’ not just ‘blink’ I could blink at any random interval and yuh woun't know what tuh tink, and here I thoughtcha were a genius." - Harley with her head on Ivy's lap as Marinette starts wheezing.

"I think y'all broke her." - Frank just pointed to Marinette as she was still cackling and wheezing while in the fetal position.

That's when Selina walked in...

"What the hell did you guys do to Kitten?!" - Selina dropping the bags she got from some high end shop, and after they made sure Marinette was still alive they continued their game... and Marinette may have actually written the list of ingredients for that position, but only as a last resort. When it was time for them to sleep Marinette spent the night with her moms, like she use to when she was 4.

She got up early to make sure everything was ready, she had her sketch book in her backpack, as well as some pencils, ear buds, snacks and a picture of her with her family and friends. She decided to wear her new watch and charm bracelet as she finished checking her bag, she then went into the garden to say goodbye to all the plants, and to give Bud, Lou and Frank one last goodbye. She had about 3 hours before her and her Aunt were to head to the airport, and she spent that time with her moms, almost never leaving their side.

……… ……… …….

As the plane took off she looked out the airplane window, saying goodbye to Gotham, until her next visit home....

•—–·★·–—•

Chapter 3 complete, also just in case I didn't describe her B-day gifts good enough, here's what they look like (꒪꒳꒪)

Hope you're all having an amazing day, staying safe and rockin' all positive vibes,!BUG-OUT! 💮🐞💮

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜Tag List〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

1st Place★: @jumpingjoy82

2nd Place★: @myazael

3rd Place★: @solangelo252

@fandom-trapped-03, @zorua-adorable, @blueblossombliss, @thefangirlwholiterallydies, @woe-is-me0, @lady-bee-fechin, @jayjayspixiepop, @kashlyn, @toodaloo-kangaroo, @buginetye, @our-preciousss , @vroomtaka, @alessialeone6997

[thebookreader12345]

Foster Parents

Pairing: Blake Gallo x reader

Summary: Y/N and Blake, who are both firefighters at Firehouse 51, save a little girl from a fire, and later that day, they discover that the girl’s parents didn’t make it, so both of them agree to foster her

Requested: Yes, by anonymous

Warnings: mentions of death by fire

Word Count: 1,849 Words

“Whoa whoa whoa. What is this?” Mouch asked as he entered the common room, only to find Blake and I taking up the whole couch, including his seat.

“Leave us be, Mouch. We’re tired.” My words were muffled because my face was pressed against Blake’s chest, but I’m assuming Mouch heard me well enough because he didn’t let up.

“Okay, there is one rule in this firehouse, and it’s that the one seat on the couch is mine. You guys have never broken that rule, so why are you doing it now?” Mouch questioned. 

I groaned and sat up, pushing a few stray hairs out of my face. “The reason we’re trying to rest, Mouch, is because there’s a new construction project happening on the same block as our apartment, so on some nights, there’s so much noise that we can hardly sleep.” Just then, the alarm went off throughout the building, and the dispatcher announced that there was a house fire. I groaned again and stood up, stretching my arms and legs before running to the apparatus floor with Blake following close behind me. Everyone put on their gear, and we climbed into the truck ready to go. Stella turned on the engine, flicked on the lights and siren, and then we were off. A few blocks away from the fire, I could see smoke accumulating in the air, which meant this was a big one. As we pulled up to the address, I got to take in the full amount of damage. Bright orange flames were protruding from the windows on the second story, and the once white outside of the house was stained black from being burnt. As soon as we exited the truck, Matt was shouting orders.

“Kidd, you and I will take the top floor, L/N, you and Gallo take the bottom. Mouch, stay here and get the aerial ready just in case we need it,” Matt ordered. Once Blake and I put on our masks and had our gear all situated, we entered the house and started looking around the bottom floor. The first floor was barely touched by the fire, and there was only a bit of smoke that trailed down the stairs filling the rooms. After checking the kitchen, living room, dining room and bathroom and finding no bodies, Blake and I exited the house.

“Captain, the bottom floor is clear,” Blake spoke into his radio. For a few seconds, the radio was silent, but Matt finally said something back.

“Kidd and I have two victims up here. We’re bringing them out now,” Matt replied. About a minute or two later, Stella and Matt exited the house. Matt was carrying a woman in his arms, and Stella was dragging a man behind her. Both looked to be in their early 30s, but because of the severe burns on their bodies, it was hard to tell. As the paramedics went to help them out, a woman approached me.

“Did you guys get the kid out?” the woman asked me.

“I’m sorry?” I question.

“The family that lives here, the Jeffersons, they foster a daughter. She’s about 6 years old,” the woman told me. I scanned the scene, hoping to spot a little girl by the ambulances or near a firefighter, but she was nowhere to be found.

“Blake, there’s a kid in there,” I inform my boyfriend.

“All right. I’ll tell Casey,” Blake said.

“No. I’ll go get her. I’ll be right back,” I exclaim and run into the house, slipping on my mask as I ran up the stairs. I could feel the heat from the flames through my gear, but I pushed that away and continued moving. “Fire department! Call out!” I strained my ears to listen if someone responded, but I didn’t hear anyone. I poked my head through a few doors, and at the end of the hallway, I came across a child’s bedroom. If there was still a little girl in here, she had to be hiding in her room. “Fire department! If anyone is here, please call out.” That’s when I heard a whimper coming from under the bed, so I got down on my knees and peaked to see what was there. In front of me was a little girl with blonde hair, which was partially black from the soot, and she was holding a stuffed rabbit tightly to her chest. I pulled off my mask so that she could see my face, and I knew that wasn’t the best idea considering there was smoke everywhere, but if I was going to get her out of here, then this was the best plan. “Hi. I’m Y/N. Can you tell me your name?”

“Sarah,” the girl responded softly.

“Hey, Sarah. I’m a firefighter,” I tell her. “I need you to climb out from under the bed for me.”

Sarah shook her head and clutched her plushie even tighter. “It’s too scary out there.”

“I know how scared you are right now, but you and I have to get out of here. It’s too dangerous. You’ll be with me the whole time, and I promise I won’t let you get hurt. I just need you to come with me,” I explain. Sarah hesitated for a moment, but soon nodded and crawled out from under the bed. I lifted her into my arms and wrapped my coat around her to keep her face safe from the smoke, and once I grabbed my mask from the floor, I began making my way out of the house. It didn’t take long for us to get out of the house, and as soon as I did, I brought Sarah over to Sylvie and Emily. “Sarah, this is Sylvie and Emily. They’re going to take good care of you.” I set Sarah down and went to go back to my job, but Sarah reached out and grabbed ahold of my hand.

“Can you stay with me? Please,” Sarah begged. Sarah was practically shaking, and the way she was looking at me broke me.

“Of course I’ll stay with you,” I answer. As Sylvie and Brett loaded the stretcher into the back of the ambulance, I turned to my radio. “Captain, I’m heading with the little girl to Med.”

“Copy that. We’ll meet you there later,” Matt responded. I then climbed into the back of the ambulance, and we sped off towards the hospital.

......................................

“Hey. We got here as fast as we could. How’s the little girl doing?” Blake asked and pecked my lips, the rest of Truck 81 right behind him.

“Uh, good. Miraculously, she just had some minor smoke inhalation. Dr. Manning said she would be fine. I haven’t heard about the parents though,” I disclose. At that moment, Dr. Halstead walked into the lobby and made his way over to us. Maybe he had news about the parents.

“Hey, everyone. The parents both had severe 3rd degree burns on more than 50% of their bodies, and major smoke inhalation. I’m sorry, but there was nothing we could do,” Will informed us.

“Wait a minute. You’re saying they’re dead?” I question. Will nodded. “What about Sarah? Where’s she going to go?”

“Well, she’s in the foster system, so we’ve got to call social services down to take her,” Will answered.

I sighed. “Okay. Mind if I sit with her while we wait for them to get here?”

Will shook his head. “Not at all.”

“I’ll come with,” Blake spoke and took ahold of my hand, intertwining our fingers. I smiled at the action, and together, Blake and I walked to the conference room Sarah was waiting in. Her stuffed rabbit was sitting on the table in front of her as she colored on a piece of paper.

“Hey, Sarah. Have you heard about your parents?” I quiz.

She nodded. “I was only with them for a few weeks,” Sarah whispered and traded her blue crayon for a purple one.

“I’m sorry. This is Blake, my boyfriend. We’re just going to sit with you while the hospital calls over some people to help find you a new home,” I tell her.

“Okay,” Sarah said. After about a half an hour, social services arrived to take Sarah. It was hard seeing her go. Even if I had just known her for a little bit, I felt a connection with her. Blake had also seemed to take a liking to her, and while we had been sitting in the conference room, he made her laugh and helped her figure out what to draw next. Just as Sarah and the agent, Mrs. Delores, were about to leave the room, Blake and I shared a look. Blake had lost his family to a fire, and I was no stranger to death. My father had just died last year. We knew what it was like losing parents, and we didn’t want Sarah to end up jumping from home to home.

“Wait!” I call out, stopping Mrs. Delores from exiting the room. “What if we take her.”

“I’m sorry?” Mrs. Delores questioned.

“Blake and I, we could take her. We’ve got stable jobs, and when we’re on shift, my mother could watch Sarah. I know we’re not certified or anything, but Sarah knows and trusts us. If there is any way for this to work, Blake and I would like to foster her,” I state.

Mrs. Delores looked over to Blake. “You’re okay with this?”

“I am,” Blake replied.

“Well, it’ll take about 3-4 months before you can get approved,” Mrs. Delores pointed out.

“I have a friend who can take care of that. Please, Mrs. Delores,” I plead.

“This is unethical, but I see that you really want to take care of Sarah. And we’ll have to schedule a house check sometime this week,” Mrs. Delores added.

“Done,” I say. 

“All right then. You guys can take Sarah home,” Mrs. Delores declared.

One Week Later...

It had been one week since we had started fostering Sarah. Because Matt had been an alderman, he knew people that could speed up the foster parent process for us, so, as of now, Blake and I were official foster parents. Currently, Blake, Sarah and I were all relaxing on the couch watching a movie before bed. I was snuggled up against Blake’s left side, and Sarah was laying on his right, her head resting on his lap. She had been asleep for about 10 minutes and was snoring softly.

“I’m glad we did this,” I tell Blake.

“Me too,” Blake agreed and leaned over to press a chaste kiss to my lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I reply. “Now, which one of us is going to be the bad guy and wake her up?”

“I guess I will, but if we’re going to make this work, we’ve got to take turns. I will not be forever known as the bad guy,” Blake confessed.

I smiled. “Deal.” I know that Blake and I were pretty young to be parenting a child, but in my mind, we were already amazing at it. Sure, we had a lot to learn, but as long as we work together to make sure Sarah is happy, everything will be all right.

____________________

Tag List:

@prettypyschoinpink @securityfriendly-jay @scarletsoldierrr @lorenakaspersen @virtualreader @carnationworld @caitsymichelle13 @anotherfan07​

[myblueeyedbuggers]

My Boys

Chapter 11

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14

Pairings: Steve Rogers X Reader (Best Friend) Bucky Barnes X Reader

Word Count: 1531

Warnings: Language, Bullying Themes

Summary: After being abandoned by her parents in Brooklyn in 1929, y/n makes a living for herself by working for the Црни лабуд gang until she meets two boys in a back alley and her life slowing begins to change.

Eyup my Loves! so it’s been a while since I last added to the story, I tried my best to keep my writing similar to my previous chapters, let me know what you all think! any advice or constructive criticism is welcome :) I’ll shush now, enjoy!

(This is what I Imagine Annetta to look like :) )

So, in case you were all wondering, the day didn’t get any better. I mean I kinda knew that kids my age could be massive A holes to each other, but I didn’t really expect to see it literally the flipping second I ‘walked’ through the doors. And by walked I mean dragged by the duo known as my own personal demons, or Steve and Bucky to the rest of the population.  A crowd of kids were all gathered around a row of lockers, loads of the shitheads were cheering and encouraging whatever the hell was goin’ on, and as I was about to find out it wasn’t a surprise performance by Frank Sinatra. Safe to say that was a bigger disappointment that diet coke. Anyway, what was I saying ? oh yeah, stood at the front of the crowd were a bunch of lasses that couldn’t of been older than 16, in their hands was a bunch of eggs and flour. At the bottom of their feet, on the floor, was a kid around the same age as me, her glasses were snapped in half and the bottom of to shirt was ripped, but what disgusted me the most was the fact she was begging for help as these girls smashed egg after egg into her face. You know how bulls lose their shit when they see somethin’ red? Yeah imagine that but 10x worse, the lads didn’t have time to stop me as I tore through the crowd ready to beat the ever-loving shit outta these pricks.

“‘OI! WHAT THE ACTUAL SHIT ARE YOU DOIN’”  the crowd fell silent as the girls turned to me with what one can only assume was supposed to be a ‘threatening’ glare, if I’m being completely honest it looked like they’d all simultaneously crapped em self’s. One of the girls stepped forwards, she was only a tad taller than me, her hair was a bright red, her green eyes were narrowed at me like she couldn’t believe someone was actually talking back to her. I think this is the part where I yell surprise right ? no? okay then. “Not that I care, but who the hell do you think you are? You got any idea who I am?” she sneered at me, oh my god! I’ve found someone with a bigger ego than Bucky. How in the hell is that possible. “well from first glance I’da said Santa Clause’s ex-wife but I reckon he’d have a better taste in girls now I’ve seen you up close”. And que the outraged gasps from her minions in 3,2,1…. I could hear a few people laughin’ and if I weren’t mistaken a very loud “Oh Jesus wept” from barney boy. Oooh yeah that’s when I know I’m doing my job right.

“YOU BITCH!” she screamed at me, her grubby little hands started swinging towards me in such an exaggerated way it was almost funny, I mean come on anyone coulda seen that comin’ from a mile off. And like the genius I am, I literally just side stepped her as she lunged forward,  an’ from the look on her face she weren’t expecting that, it was like the world slowed down as she surged forward unable to stop herself. Well that was till she landed head -first in the bin. I’d be a big fat liar if I said I wasn’t on the floor dying from laughter. Her legs were flailing above her head as she struggled to pull herself outta there, her cronies tried to help by grabbing her legs but that ended with one of em sporting one heck of a shiner on her right eye. A small sniffle pulled my attention away from the rather hilarious sight, glancing behind me I saw the young lass still on the ground, holdin’ her glasses which were in half with tears rolling down her cheeks. “hey, it’s okay now, they’ve gone. Here take my hand, lets get ya cleaned up eh? Reckon they’re be a bathroom round here somewhere”. The lass didn’t say anything to me, only looking at me with apprehension before taking my outstretched hand and leading us to the bathroom, the sound of the crowd growing quieter as we moved further away from it. “Thanks for saving me from Monica, she’s been bullying me since we were 11, nobody’s ever stood up for me before.” Her voice was so quiet, it shook from the effort it took her to hold back her tears, and I admired her strength, not a lotta girls woulda gone this long and not tell a teacher. “Don’t worry about it mate, I’m sorry it took so long for someone to defend ya, my names y/n by the way, don’t think we’ve met” her brown eyes met mine, as a small smile spread across her face, I couldn’t really tell what colour her hair was but I’m guessing it’s a shade a brown,  other than that she looked like a completely normal person. “My names Annetta, you’re right we ain’t met yet but I’m glad we did”.

-Later that day

It took us ‘bout 30 minutes to get all the egg off Annetta, best we could do was wash it off and cover up the stains with the cardigan I leant her, but what really put the icing on the cake was the teacher in period 1 yellin’ at us for being so late. The temptation to yeet my shoe at someone had never been as strong as it was in that moment, fortunately for the overgrown turnip of a teacher I had to settle for a mean ass side eye. And man was it a mean one.

Apart from that the day had gone by with no more incidents, well unless you count me chasing Bucky round the canteen with a carton of milk for stealin’ half my lunch, much to Annetta’s entertainment and Steve’s embarrassment. I mean the butthole deserved it, nobody and I mean NOBODY messes with my lunch. Even blue-eyed boys with a smile that could charm the devil….what am I sayin’?!

ANYWAYS it’s now what? 4th period I think, which meant English with Annetta, and maybe my favourite boys in the world. Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. Bet ya thought I were gonna say Steve and Bucky right? Well they’re currently sat behind me debating who’d win in a fight, Popeye, or Bugs Bunny. I’m surrounded by idiots. Thankfully, the teacher walked into the classroom and saved me, Mrs Davis seemed like a nice woman, she had a friendly smile and roundish face, her hair tied back into a neat bun as she took a seat. Now I’ll save you the boring bits, she started the lesson with a pop quiz which was just plain rude, about halfway through it the door burst open and there stood my best friend in the entire world. Monica. I have to say I loved her new style, the schools P.E kit really brought out the judgement in her eyes, did you detect my sarcasm yet?.

You wanna know what made her entrance even more dramatic ? the lovely aroma of gone off milk and rotted banana skins that followed her around the room,  I could help the smirk on my face as everyone around me started gagging at the smell. If you ask me I reckon it’s an improvement, I mean she certainly captures the attention of everyone in the room. Monica’s face started to match her hair, quickly racing over to Mrs Davis to give her the tardy slip before taking her seat which just had to be across from me, whoopee for me. Eventually Mrs Davis got the attention back to her, carrying on with her lesson, which moved onto matching up the famous English literature quotes with the character and book. To be fair this was actually a load of fun for me, even if Steve butchered a line from Romeo and Juliet, I don’t remember Shakespeare saying, ‘ A rose by any other name would smell as bad’. The way I banged my head on the table made Annetta think I broke my neck. Fun times people.

Of course, my reaction didn’t escape Mrs Davis’s attention, just my luck eh?. “Miss y/n, seeing as you seem to know everything, answer me this. Elizabeth Bennet is a main character in a well-known book, she’s known for the quote ‘I am a no bird and no net ensnares me. I am a free human being with an independent will’. The question is who is the author of this book is it A) Charles Dickens B) Jane Austen or C) Arthur Conan Doyle ?”. Is she being for real right now?. “Miss? With no disrespect the question itself is wrong, that wasn’t said by Elizabeth Bennet from pride and Prejudice, but said by Jane Eyre, and it was written by Charlotte Brontë”. A small smile spread across her face, which was confusing as all heck and a tad creepy to be honest, “very well-done Miss y/n, that’s the first time a student has gotten that question correct.”……

What in the name of ever-loving fluff just happened?….

So our girl is back and kicking butt! hopefully it’s not as bad as I think it is, and again I want to thank you all again for being so patient with me, good news is I’ve got the rest of the book written already! I’ll be posting them at least once a week.

Lots of love,

Rose xxx

[spookysanta]

The TA. - one. (c.e, h.c.)

Summary: she just wants to make a good impression. clearly, she’s made more of an impression on the two of them.

Pairings: Professor!Chris Evans x Black!Reader, student!Henry Cavill x Black!Reader

WARNINGS: swearing

updates will be sporadic because it’s a wip, but here’s part one! enjoy! :)

UNEDITED

****

 To Whom it May Concern:

Good morning. My name is Dr. Christopher R. Evans and I’ll be your supervising professor for section D346-0 of Chemistry class for the Fall semester. I’m sending you this e-mail to introduce myself as well as get to know you a bit before classes start next week. Would you be willing to meet me in my office (Franklin Hall, 3210) this Wednesday at around 3 p.m.? I’d like to go over the syllabus as well as your requirements as my TA.

Please let me know if that time works well for you.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards,

Dr. Christopher R. Evans, D. Sc.

(310) 555-3984

  *** 

Professor Evans:

Good morning! It’s nice to hear from you. I was in the process of getting your contact information to introduce myself. Thank you for taking me on as your TA, also—I appreciate that you’re giving me a chance. I’ll avail myself on Wednesday to meet with you at 3 p.m., I don’t want to change your schedule on my behalf. I can also provide you with my class schedule if you’d like so that you have my availability when you need to meet with me.

I’m excited to be working with you this semester!.

 Best,

(Y/N) (Y/L/N)

  ***

“Hi, my name’s (Y/N) (Y/L/N). Is Dr. Evans around?” She entered the lecture hall, approaching the podium where another professor was packing up her things. “I’m his new TA.”

“Yes, his office is through that door. Go in, make a left, and it should be the first door on your right.” The professor instructed, “He should be in there.”

“Okay. Thank you, ma’am!” she hurried across the room and pushed through the door, following the professor’s instructions and finding his classroom much easier than she had initially. She knocked on the door to his office. “Dr. Evans?”

“Come in.”

She opened the door slowly. She found him at his desk, typing on a computer. He paused for a moment, looking up toward the doorway with a small smile.

“Hi. You must be (Y/N).” he stood and crossed the small room stalking over to her and offering his hand for her to shake. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Great to meet you as well, Dr. Evans.” She shook his hand eagerly. This was her first professional job, and well…it’s helpful to have him as her boss.

Mainly to look at, but that’s beside the point.

“Oh, please. You can call me Chris.” He waved her off politely. “It’s just you and I here.”

She cleared her throat. “Okay.”

He made his way back to his seat behind the desk. “Please, have a seat.” He gestured to the chair that sat on the opposite side of the desk.

She sat down tightly with her hands flattened under her thighs—she’s a picker.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head tightly. “Nothing.”

He noticed that her face read differently than her words were saying. She looked almost uncomfortable, unsettled. “Are you sure?”

“This is just my first TA job so I’m a bit nervous,” She was almost hesitant to tell him the truth. She rushed out, “hopefully that doesn’t compromise my position.”

“Not at all! In fact, I think this is one of the easier classes to TA for, but maybe I’m biased.” He chuckled. “So, with that said, let’s go over your requirements. Hopefully I can put your mind at ease, okay?”

“Okay.” She smiled politely, trying to make herself relax but failing because Dr. Evans—Chris—was quite different that was she thought he would be. He was tall, built, and had the prettiest eyes she’d ever seen.

She’d assumed that he would look like Ebenezer Scrooge from the way her friends said he ran his class. By their record, he was a strict guy—very unwavering with deadlines and course policies, sticks to his syllabus schedule, assigns a ton of work, and has an even stricter attendance policy.

But they also said he was nice, which was hard to come by with professors in this field. They could tell he was a good person deep down and liked what he taught but he was a hard ass.

And by her analyzation, that was true.

His desk was quite neat and polished; it smelled of air freshener in the room; there weren’t any papers scattered about—which she was thankful for, because she cannot work with people who were unorganized—and, most notably, there weren’t any kind of photos hanging up. It was hard for her to determine whether he was a bachelor, or a married father that just kept things private.

Not that it mattered…but she wanted to know.

“So,” he turned one of his monitors to face her so that she could see his screen. “here’s the syllabus. It seems like a lot, but I swear, it isn’t.” he chuckled.

She hummed in response, beginning to read the lengthy document in her head as he spoke.

“Basically, your job will be to help me grade quizzes, labs, exams, and other assignments. You’ll also be required to proctor exams; I have another TA, Henry—he’s a graduate student—that will come in on exam days and proctor with you.”

She thought for a moment. “So, if I may ask, what will you do?”

“Teach the class.”

“Well, I know that. I just meant…it seems like a lot for me to do, and I’ve heard about some professors on campus having their TAs run the class.”

“Oh! Definitely not. Look, you seem great, and I have a feeling we’d get on well, but there’s a specific way I want my material taught so that’s not something you’d have to worry about.” He reassured her, noticing her body begin to relax. “What I will say, is there is a lot of content in my class, but the major graded assignments are few and far between, if that makes you feel better.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“The class is mostly lab-based. You’ll be grading lab prep work, mostly—then comes the occasional homework or quiz, and exams.”

“Oh, okay. That makes more sense.”

He nodded. “Good.”

He scrolled down further into the document, showing his class policies.

“Now, these, I can’t break on.” He sighed. “I’m sure you’ve heard that I’m a strict guy.”

“What?” she replied incredulously. “No!”

He wanted to laugh. He could tell she was analyzing him, and she had to have heard something about him before the two of them met. “Well, it’s because a lot of the precautions are for the safety of us and the students.”

She scanned a random sentence on the page that read:

Students are required to be fully clothed on lab days—no t-shirts, ripped clothing, or closed-toed shoes.

10 points will be deducted for wearing clothing that does not meet the above dress requirement. More than one violation on the lab dress requirement will result in a deduction from the LAB grade.

Yikes, she thought, he’s not joking around.

She found it understandable nonetheless—she imagines it would be difficult to have a completely safe lab in a stuffy room while it’s still hot outside.

And she’s heard that a lot of the laboratories on his side of campus don’t have air conditioning, which was quite unfortunate this time of year.

“The dress policy is the most heavily enforced one.” He shrugged. “I can’t be held liable for students’ recklessness during labs.”

“Has the dress code been an issue previously?” she asked.

“Not for me, but I know it’s been one for the department, so I’m just tryin’ to keep my name off the “injury list”.”

She nodded in understanding.

“I think that’s pretty much it as far as the basics are concerned. I’ll send you a copy of my syllabus and calendar for the semester, as well as your contract.” He turned the monitor to face him again, typing quickly on his keyboard. “Oh! And I should send you Henry’s information, too.”

“Who’s Henry again?”

“Henry is a graduate TA. I’ve had him in my classes for a couple of years, and he’s a great student. I think he worked in the library over the summer, so you may know him.”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

“Well, he’s a great person to know, not just for my class, but for your upper-level math and science classes.” He gushed. Clearly, he really liked having this “Henry” as an assistant.

“Okay, I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“Great. And if you have any questions, shoot me an e-mail or a text and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Alright.” She replied simply.

He stood, holding out his hand again. “I’m looking forward to working with you this semester, (Y/N).”

She took his hand, this time relishing in the softness of his skin and the firmness in his grip. “I am, too.”

**

Later that day, after she’d completed the last assignments for her summer math class, she checked her e-mail’s inbox and found two messages from Chris and another from Henry, the godsend of a grad student.

***

 From: Dr. Christopher R. Evans, D. Sc.

Miss (Y/L/N)—

I hope this message finds you well.

Attached is my syllabus and class calendar, as well as your contract.

Please read through all of these. Sign the contract when you’re ready and e-mail it back to me at your earliest convenience.

Regards,

Chris

***

 From: Dr. Christopher R. Evans, D. Sc

Miss (Y/L/N)—

I meant to send you Henry’s information as well:

                Henry W. D. Cavill

                Phone: 316-555-2015

                E-mail: hwdc@northeastern.edu

Please message him at your earliest convenience. Like I said, he’s a great person to know!

Regards,

Chris

**

 She replied a quick “thank you” before continuing through her inbox.

***

From: Henry W. D. Cavill

Hi, (Y/N)! It’s nice to “meet” you, I’m Henry.

Chris has told me that you’re the new undergrad TA! That’s pretty impressive, honestly—you’re one of four undergraduate TAs in the entire Sciences department. Anyway, I just wanted to send you this e-mail to introduce myself and let you know that if you need anything, I’m always available. I worked in the school’s library over the summer so if you need me immediately, that’s usually where I spend my free time nowadays.

I’m excited to work with you this semester! Maybe we could grab coffee and get to know each other better before classes start next week? Let me know.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Best wishes,

Cav

**

“Cav?” she read aloud in disgust, “What the hell kind of a nickname is “Cav”?” She hoped that he didn’t expect her to call him that because that was stupid.

At any rate, she could tell that he was much more laid back than Chris, which she was bound to enjoy. As nice as Chris was, she could tell that he was a bit…uptight. Henry, on the other hand, seemed more laid back if she used “Cav” as a form of evidence.

She could tell that he was a bookworm, too, because no-one—no-one she knew, at least—stays in the library unless they had to, or just liked reading.

Clearly he was a different breed.  

She opened a new message to send a quick reply to his.

**

 To: Henry W.D. Cavill

Hi, Henry.

It’s nice to hear from you as well. I’ve heard nothing but good things about you!

I’m free tomorrow afternoon if you want to meet at The Bistro for coffee.

Let me know if that works for you.

Best,

(Y/N)

**

 There. Sweet and simple.

Don’t be confused, either—she wanted this position. It would open some doors for her down the line, especially if she can get on Chris’ good side like Henry clearly has. She just hated formalities. The emails, the “talk to you soon! ”s, the “hope you’re well! ”s… it was too high-strung for her.

She is, though, determined to start everything on a good foot. So she’ll be polite, she’ll wish them well, whatever—she just wanted to ensure that her success as an undergrad student wouldn’t be hindered or jeopardized by her desire to be casual with who’s really her boss and co-worker.

**

The next day, she mustered up the courage to throw on clothes and meet Henry at The Bistro, a café in the main square of the campus. She decided to dress nice, not entirely sure who she was meeting and wanting to make a good impression. Because “Cav” seemed like a decent guy, but you never know.

Honestly, she wanted to cancel but she knew that wouldn’t look good.

She stepped through The Bistro’s doors, the cold air practically smacking her in the face. Normally she would despise the cold, especially on a day like this where it wasn’t too hot and not at all humid; but today, she was grateful for the cold air that enwrapped her frame that was dressed in a black blazer and matching slacks.

She sent a message to Henry letting her know that she was there and sat at a table by the window.

Then she waited.

Ten minutes, then twenty, then thirty.

After forty minutes passed, she gathered her tote, phone, and keys, and made her way to the front door.

Before she could get to the door, a figure bumped into her, her body colliding with his hard chest. “Oh, shit, sorry!” the mass of flesh exclaimed, “I’m running late for a meeting and I didn’t watch where I was going.”

Her eyes met his as she took a step back. He was tall. His long brown hair was brushed behind one ear, cheeks flushed and pale, brown eyes wide.

He was cute.

“Wait,” she replied, “are you Henry?”

“Yeah…so?”

“So?” she glared at him. “I’m (Y/N).”

His eyes widened even more, as if that were possible. “Oh! I’m so sorry I’m late. My car broke down and I ended up having to walk here.” He ran a hand through his hair. “But listen, if you’re still free, I’d love to still talk with you.”

She didn’t have anywhere to be, so why not? “Sure.”

He let out a breath. “Thank you.”

The two of them sat down at the table she picked, him slugging his shoulder bag off his body and onto the floor next to him. He folded his hands on the table and looked at her, watching as she fumbled through her bag for her planner and a pen.

“So,” he started, “it’s nice to finally meet you in person.”

“You, too.” She replied, her eyes not looking up.

“I’m usually the only TA in Chris’ class, so it’s really cool to have someone else around. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to be the only one proctoring an exam in a class of three-hundred people.”

“Three-hundred people?”

“Yeah. Sometimes it’s less, but that’s the average. It’s full of freshmen, too.”

She finally found her planner and a pen in the depths of her bag. “Are freshmen bad?”

He shook his head, “Not really, they’re just…odd.” He shrugged. “Some of them want to learn, some don’t, and you can tell right away. The ones that want to learn don’t want help—it’s always the procrastinators, the slackers, the ones that don’t care that need you.”

“How is that odd?”

“It’s strange to me, honestly. I didn’t really care either way my freshman year. I wanted to learn but I didn’t care enough to actually try.”

“So what changed? Chris made you seem like you were some mythical being.”

He laughed. She’ll admit, she was lost in his smile for a second. The glint in his eyes and the crinkle in his nose made her smile. “A mythical being?” he repeated. “I’m far from mythical. I think he gushes about me because I take over his office hours for him most days.”

That made her laugh. “Well, he seems to be appreciative of having you around. Hopefully I can be helpful.”

“I’m sure you can be,” he waved her off, “he probably told you that his class wasn’t that bad, but he’s totally lying. My first year helping him was rough—too much shit to do, and not enough time for it to get done.”

That sounded more accurate compared to what Chris told her yesterday. “I figured.”

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s a great professor, and an awesome mentor to have—but sometimes he downplays stuff. He’ll say it’s “no big deal”, and it’ll be like Armageddon for us.”

She nodded slowly. “Any advice for getting on his good side?”

He chuckled. “If he likes you, you’ll know. And if he likes you, he’ll help you out. He’s not at all unreasonable, either; so just tell him what’s up when you have a problem, or if you’re overwhelmed, and he’ll do what he can to help.”

“That’s not what I heard.” She mumbled.

“Well, his students from last year will say he’s a dick, but—and you can’t tell anyone I told you this—” he leaned in closer, whispering, “he went through a nasty divorce last fall.”

So he isn’t married.

“Oh, wow.”

“Yeah. He wasn’t in the best place, but I’ll admit he’s eased up quite a bit so you should be fine.”

“Okay, cool.”

“Anything else you want to know?”

She thought for a moment. “Not really, no.”

He smiled again, “Alright. Well it was great talking with you, and I’m sorry again for being late.”

She shrugged, “Shit happens.”

“You’re exactly right. The meter maids are probably having a field day giving me tickets.” He stood from the table, putting his bag over his shoulder that was covered in a dark green jacket, brushing his hair behind his ears and away from his face.

She stood shortly after he did. “Good luck with that.”

“Oh, trust me, it wouldn’t be anything new for me to have a ticket by now. I’ve gotten five since May.”

Her eyes widened this time. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. The parking on campus is shit, you get in where you can. Open parking spaces are scarce, especially by Franklin Hall…so sometimes I park on the street.”

Street parking is decal only. By the number of tickets he’d obtained, she deduced that he most likely had no decal. “Hence all the tickets.” She finalized.

“Yeah.”

“Criminal.” She shook her head jokingly.

“Guilty as charged.” He held out his wrists to her as if she was putting him in handcuffs. “See you around, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Then he turned and left, moving quickly down the pavement.

—

Tags (dm to be removed): @lady-x-red @justtwhst @lokisbitch27 @boundtomyfate @cyberdoshee @liquorlaughslove @heroine-of-color

[piratefalls]

A McDanno rec list for a new friend. (These are also authors I enjoy, so consider this a blanket rec list.)

The Bareknuckle Poet by pleasebekidding

After a serious accident left Steve temporarily wheelchair-bound, working towards his recovery, he enrolled at Rutgers for a year. He met Danny Williams in his criminology course, wearing pride pins and chipped black nail polish, so sure of himself that Steve found it breathtaking. What happened next redefined Steve's sense of self, his ambitions, and many of his priorities.

Tax Benefits by renecdote

“Everyone already assumes we’re married so maybe we should just...” Danny gestures broadly with his beer. He’s maybe a little bit… Not drunk, but definitely tipsy.

“For the tax benefits.”

Danny gives him an aggravated look. “Yes, Steven, for the tax benefits.”

Danny (jokingly) suggests they should get married. Steve takes him seriously.

ua kaha aku la ka nalu o kuu aina (the surf has pressed upon my land) by icoulddothisallday, TetrodotoxinB

Steve knows, he learned, how a man behaves. He can play his part. Danny, who is a good man and great father, looks nothing like what Steve was taught. Reconciling the two means giving up everything he's clung too for the last two decades, and there's nothing about it that's easy.

*potentially triggery AF (deals with effects of conversion therapy) but beautifully rendered

the art of leaving and saying goodbye by Verasteine

2007 is the year Danny learns that choice can be the worst kind of heartbreak. AU.

*warning for infidelity (not mcdanno)

in jest by apathyinreverie

“No, babe,” Danny shakes his head with a grin. “If the apocalypse were to go down while I’m elsewhere for some godforsaken reason, then you stay put and I’m coming to wherever you are.” His grin widens. “And I expect you to have cleared any aliens or zombies or whatever else might be messing with us off the island and to have set up a nice, comfortable military dictatorship for us to rule over by the time I get back.”

It’s a joke.

Of course it’s a joke.

Until it isn’t.

(A the-day-after-tomorrow-style apocalypse AU, where the world decides to end right when Danny is visiting one of the other islands with Grace. Because, of course, it does.)

not just friendship (romance too) by earthquakedream

Steve's gone and gotten himself a boyfriend. Danny's not sure what worse: the fact that he's stupidly jealous or that he actually likes the guy.

All I Ever Wanted (It Comes with a Price) by leviarty

Steve gets shot. Again. Danny is not okay.

* warning: a young grace shoots someone to protect both herself and a gravely injured steve

After All Our Troubles, We Have This by Banshi13

"I'm ending this," McGarrett muttered after a few moments of silence. "I'm not coming back until Wo Fat is in the ground. I'll dig his own grave and bury him myself if I have to, but my father is dead, my mother is running all over the world in hiding, my sister and I were uprooted from our lives, and now he's got Danny locked somewhere in a basement in the middle of Japan." He looked both Chin and Kono in the eye, deadly resolve in his eyes. "This ends. Now. This is the absolute last time that man interferes with my life and my family."

The Other Guy by haldoor

Danny tells Steve what he thinks is a funny story from when he attended Grace's school play. Steve doesn't think it's so funny; in fact, it makes him jealous.

Strapped by stellarmeadow

Steve's determined Danny's going to be prepared next time.

Warm to the Touch by veronicaluv

Danny didn't think twice about going to North Korea to find Steve. He just didn't know everything would go to hell when they got back.

Me and my heart (We got issues) by SquaresAreNotCircles

“I’m in love with you, Steve,” Danny says. He does it softly, quietly, laying the words into the darkness of Steve’s backyard like they’re something breakable, something to be tiptoed around. “I thought you should know.”

Steve’s heart jumps. It rams against his ribcage so hard it’s going to leave bruises. So hard he startles awake, and he almost yells before he realizes he’s outside because he fell asleep in one of the garden chairs in his backyard again.

how to be gay for your best friend in ten easy steps by commatme

See, the thing is that Danny doesn’t really do gay sex, what with being straight and all, but when Steve says I love you he sounds so earnest he makes Danny want to consider it. Which is crazy, right? He’s pretty sure that’s crazy, or at least a little unhinged.

It’s Not So Easy Caving In by paradis

The one where Danny used to be a heroin addict.

blame it on the ocean view by carryokee

Danny gives in, freaks out, and comes to his senses.

So Have I Loved You by Brumeier

In which Grace has a surprise for Steve's birthday and there's not a dry eye in the house.

take it back to a couple years yesterday by itsrosencrantz

Danny really, really doesn't want to go to his twenty year high school reunion.

Steve decides they're going anyway, and Danny takes it about as well as you'd expect.

View From The Shipwreck by flowerfan

Danny Williams isn’t in a great place – he’s a reluctant transplant to Oahu and an outsider at HPD. Former Navy SEAL Steve McGarrett isn’t doing much better, having suffered a career ending injury. When Danny’s young daughter Grace wanders into Steve’s bar after getting lost on a school field trip, Danny is drawn to Steve, somewhat against his better judgement – he’s got enough on his plate. He’s not exactly sure what Steve sees in him. As they spend more time together, Danny learns how Steve’s injury has changed his life in many ways, but not the most important ones. As one thing leads to another, Danny realizes that things might be looking up after all.

True North by lavvyan

“Tell you what, my dad’s throwing his annual Christmas Ball on Saturday. It’s not a trip to Aspen or anything, but it is nice. Fancy food and everything. You guys should come!”

On the trail of a suspected war criminal, Steve and Danny have to go undercover at a fancy ball. The sacrifices they make for the job.

Oh, and Steve's pining like the taiga. Nothing new there.

outside the lines by withoutwords

“I’m Detective Williams.” Danny says, not trying too hard to keep it smug free. “This is my partner, Detective Mackenzie.”

Ken Doll keeps his arms up, his eyes flickering between them all as if he's only seeing police for the first time. “Good cover,” he tells Danny, and it sets Danny’s teeth on edge.

“This is the part where you say sorry for assaulting a police detective, for compromising an investigation, and for acting like a complete asshole while doing it,” Danny growls, about to change his mind and cuff the guy himself.

“Sorry, Officer.”

The bastard is still grinning.

Boys Like Me, We Try Too Hard by romanticallyinept

Steve's always wound so fucking tight.

And Danny's worried about him. Legitimately worried about him. Because maybe Steve always lays into the perps a little hard, and maybe he follows his own rules and his own morals and doesn't stop to sleep unless his body's actually shutting down around him, but usually, Steve's okay at the end of the day. Usually, Steve's not leaning against the wall of the alley they're in, eyes closed and shaking, with the perp he'd cuffed a minute earlier lying on the ground and crying about his broken nose.

Steve keeps a secret, and Danny does his best to patch him back up when it comes to light.

Transformative by boxparade

“You know, I’d heard you’d changed a lot after high school, but I’ve gotta admit, this is a little weird.”

* trans (FTM) Danny

All the Way by VictoriaAGrey

Danny has lost count of how many times he and Steve have used the sexual tension between them for undercover work, only for it to be bottled away after the op is over. With Saint Michael as his witness, that ends tonight.

Nocturne in C# Minor (featuring Stevie Ray Vaughn) by minor_demimonde

So, to recap, Danny has beautiful eyes, great shoulders, a pleasantly-shaped butt, a delectable mouth, expressive hands, and he smells good.

You know, Steve has gone to bed with women who didn’t have that much going for them.

seen it in the flight of birds by Siria

AU from the beginning of Season 2. The Five-0 task force has been reinstated, but the new governor's determined to shake things up. Facing changes and unexpected betrayals, the team has to work together to face new challenges.

It Ain’t Me Babe (Nah), It Ain’t Me You’re Looking For (Babe) by tourdefierce

A story in which Danny makes lists and can't find his heterosexuality underneath all his homogay, Steve has a lot of faces, Kono is perfect in every way and Chin continues to keep Hawaii safe from the Five-O's general disfunction—Or, a story about Kono being awesome and how she likes her men with hearts in their eyes for each other.

Ratios, Decimals, and Percentages by fuchs

In which Steve takes an internet quiz and slowly loses his mind. Danny's okay with it.

Let’s Dance Like We Used To by AndreaLyn

There isn't a world in which Danny wouldn't go after Grace. So when Rachel moves the family to California, Danny goes with. Steve gets left to process life without Danny.

Gunfire, Rainfall, and Beach Erosion by thegrrrl2002

Steve and Danny are kidnapped. After which there is too much swimming and too much rain and it's all very romantic. If you are Steve, that is.

Moving In (To Every Single Aspect of Danny’s Life, Including the Boring Bits like Dry-Cleaning by westgirl

It felt wrong for Steve to sound unsure of his place in Danny’s life. His place in Danny’s life was at Danny’s side, driving him slowly insane. Steve should feel secure about that.

Always Known What I Wanted To Be by mickeysixx

Grace Williams has always wanted to be a cop.

The Taper Phase by popfly

It’s like being run over by an armored car, like the impact of gunshot to tac vest. The pride Danny feels for his daughter and something else, something about Steve’s tank top sticking to his stomach, the way his shorts stretch across his thighs. The goofy grin that lights up Steve’s face when he sees Danny and Charlie, waving one hand while he nudges Grace with the other.

Pitching Woo by SBG

In which Danny pitches (and then accidentally catches) woo.

clue: four letters, ‘is a many splendored thing’ by armillarysphere

“Crosswords? What are you, sixty?”

“They stimulate brain activity, Danno. You ought to try it sometime.”

Steve doesn’t even look up from his newspaper, half-chewed pen resting at the corner of his mouth in an entirely too distracting way.

That’s Not Just Friendship, That’s Romance by thismuchmore

Danny and Steve start out accidentally dating each other, and it turns into something more.

it’s not what you’re sure of (it’s what you don’t know) by somehowunbroken

Art thief Steve McGarrett and his team come up against FBI Special Agent Danny Williams, and things spin wildly out of control from there.

Same Deep Water by JiM, kalena

This isn't the first lifetime Danny's been in Hawaii. When the stress ratchets up, the dreams get more and more real. Turns out Danny has some unfinished business . . . with Steve.

Warning: Ambien use may lower inhibitions in a wakeful state.

Curiosity Didn’t Kill This Cat by unadrift

"I'm confused," Rachel says. "Are you two dating or not?"

Danny sighs. "You remember that thing with the cat in the box? The one that's both dead and alive?"

"Schroedinger's cat?"  

"It's kind of like that."

"Okay," Rachel says. She clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

2727 Piikoi Street by imaginary_iby

The ways in which Danny makes himself at home by Steve's side, and the family he gains as the years go by. (Featuring Steve in Timberland boots and little else, and happy goofs who like to make out against the front door).

All The Earth Awaits Thee by Portrait_of_a_Fool

Steve knows all about war and willpower, but this is still the hardest battle he’s ever had to fight.

* warning: life threatening illness, no MCD

The Vertical Challenge by AlamoGirl80

Five times Danny thinks about his height, and then realizes that being "not-tall" doesn't really suck at all.

Some Things to Think About When You Decide to Be an Asshole by sutlers

Steve gets high and tries to fuck Danny; things devolve from there.

Inked by thehoyden

Of course Steve is enjoying himself. They're bait for a serial killer who has some sort of serious hangup about tattooing loved ones' names on their skin -- of course Steve thinks this is practically like a vacation, but better, because the chances of collateral damage are higher.

This Thing Of Ours (It Needs a Better Name) by leupagus

Cosa Nostra: (kō'sə nō'strə) etym: Italian n. The branch of the Mafia operating in the United States. Literally, "our thing" or "this thing of ours."

Ho’oponopono by ember_firedrake

Groundhog Day AU. Danny finds himself trapped in the same day over and over again.

Swim for Brighter Days by zarah5

Danny kisses Steve late on a Tuesday, early on a Wednesday. Steve punches him. (Set vaguely post-finale, so spoilers for that.)

All My Guards Away by sheafrotherdon

Tag to episode 1x18, with all the heartache that implies. Now with bonus fixes. With thanks to dogeared for all her suggestions and edits.

Let’s Take it from the Top by pterawaters

Steve goes along with the bachelor-party-in-Vegas, because he chose Danny to be his best man, and that's what Danny wants to do. Unfortunately, the things that happen in Vegas don't necessarily stay there.

How to Keep Your Mouth Shut by primetime

Danny’s sometimes gay. Gay, sometimes. Does dudes. He doesn’t know how to say it right. He doesn’t know how to say it at all.

Don’t Turn Me Home Again by gyzym

After a rough day of island living, Danny wakes up in New Jersey and learns the hard way to be careful what he wishes for.

End-Around by t_fic

Steve hesitates with his hand on the doorknob, looking back over his shoulder at Danny and nodding once before disappearing inside, and yeah, Danny is going to be so fucking lucky to get through this night without a coronary event.

Lonely People Do Stupid Things by waketosleep

Danny decides to show Steve the true meaning of Christmas, and does it by dragging him to New Jersey.

Down Beneath the Waves by samjohnsson

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but sometimes it takes another thousand to explain it.

Love’s a Battlefield (and the Navy Did Not Train Steve for This Shit) by cyerus

The Kalakaua-Kelly clan are determined to matchmake Steve. Out of desperation, Steve makes up a boyfriend named Danny.

It doesn't quite go according to plan.

put your mind at ease by eleanor_lavish

Somewhere in the last year, while Steve was busy killing bad guys, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell has been erased from the books and guys like Jeff can marry whoever they damn well please.

You’ve Got Hawaii (and all I’ve got is you) by queenklu

In which Danny has issues, presents, and Steve fleas, not necessarily in that order.

Jaws by JoeLawson

Danny has a secret.

[lovelyirony]

Hey, would you be open to IronAgent (Phil x Tony)? If yes, from the angst list (because /of course/ I look there first lol) 19: "Why did you wait until I moved on?" If you feel like it. Thanks! <3

never done this one before, but i like it! 

Tony isn’t used to heartbreak. He’s kind of an asshole like that. Or maybe he is used to heartbreak, but he’s not quite used to people admitting that they don’t like him like that. 

Phil Coulson was someone he met while at an orchestra with Pepper and showing up late and getting the wrong seat and falling asleep. 

He was the one who jabbed him awake and explained why the orchestra was so important, and Tony saw how much he could appreciate it, and he wanted more of it. 

So he asked. Phil said yes. And their first date was to a diner where Tony had to give Phil, like, eight quarters for the jukebox. 

He was different from anyone Tony usually saw. Different as in decent, different as in he wore a white button-up shirt nearly every single day, and Tony liked it, but he liked it more when it was a bit wrinkled and Phil broke down and unbuttoned the top two. 

They dated for eleven months and thirty days. They broke up in July. 

In retrospect, Tony can see why. Phil was always interested in specialized security and was one of the best people to stay calm under stress. (Tony joked that it was because of him.) 

Phil calls him in July. Tony is in Malibu, and Phil lives in Chicago, and he won’t allow Tony to pay for a plane or train ticket. 

Now he knows why. 

The phone call is short, mainly because Tony knows that he’s bursting with questions and Phil won’t answer them, because it’s considered rude to ask someone why they don’t want to choose you anymore. 

Tony says okay. He says okay on the phone, which sucks, and it’s...

He calls Rhodey next. 

“You okay?” 

“Probably. Maybe.” 

“You’ll be fine,” Rhodey says, in that tone of voice that Tony usually always trusts, but this time it’s different because Rhodey isn’t with him right now, he’s with his cousin in Florida trying to learn how to handle different beach-themed cocktails. Call it scientific research. 

“Listen,” Rhodey says, “I gotta go. Ben’s taking me to dinner, but call me when you need me, okay?” 

“Got it.” 

He’s not going to do that. 

- 

Phil joined SHIELD. You can’t have personal connections, not really. 

And Tony was as personal as they got, but he was also beneficial. Phil knows that if SHIELD ever caught wind of Tony being his, there would be talk. Talk about “why don’t you convince your boyfriend to get us weapons?” 

“Why don’t you bring Tony Stark over? Let us in on some secrets?” 

He can’t do that to him. 

And relationships...

Best not to think about it. 

- 

It takes longer than thought possible for Tony to get over Phil. In many respects, he might not be. 

But he goes out the next week and makes headlines dancing with all sorts of people and socializing and proving that he can move on. He will move on. He’s already moved on. 

He bitterly hopes that Phil can see it. 

(Phillip Coulson is busy fighting bad guys in a grocery store, but as he dodges a can of peaches being thrown at his head, he sees an overturned magazine rack. And there Tony is, smiling at a girl and-) 

- 

Tony keeps tabs on him, sometimes. He doesn’t often pop up. Tony doesn’t really look into security, because he knows that if he finds out where Phil is, what Phil is doing, it’s all he’s going to think about. And he can’t keep him safe, he can’t keep him protected. 

So he focuses on weapons and business and making sure that Pepper isn’t too pissed off, because it’s like Pompeii 2.0 if that happens. 

-

Coulson is in the office when the break-room TV is turned on and the news is up, and agents are crowding around. 

“Back to work, everyone,” he says, but he stops when he sees the headline. 

Tony Stark Declared Missing after Weapons Demonstration Gone Awry 

He can’t breathe. He feels everything slam down, and he can’t let anyone know it’s all coming down over his head, so he turns off the news. 

“Get focused,” he says. “I know at least one of you is supposed to be talking to our agents stationed in Liberia about a potential 084. Get it done.” 

He goes into his office and stares at a framed picture of a Ferris wheel. 

Just below that, folded up, is Tony kissing his cheek while he laughs. 

And it might be done. 

He wishes it wasn’t done, he wishes that he had never broken up with him. He’s always wished that, every single time he comes into his apartment and Tony’s plans for decorating their apartment when they both came back to Boston (Phil never did) were the talk of the night for many a night. 

He can’t request any special information. He can’t risk it, doesn’t want to risk it. 

Maria still catches him, because she’s Maria. She knows everything. 

“You got personal history with him,” she says over a mutual dinner. She invited him to her house. She didn’t seem like a house person, but then again she also has coasters with embroidered flower bouquets on them, so there’s that. 

“I’m not going to tell you anything about it.” 

“Wasn’t expecting you to. Just wanted to let you know that I know.” 

“And how would you know?” 

Maria smiles, biting into the pizza that she has ordered and Phil hasn’t touched, but still paid half for. 

“Because I’m smart and observant, Coulson.” 

“You can call me Phil, you know.” 

“Nope, rather not. But if you’re not discussing it, then it must have been romantic. I’m surprised you guys dated. For long, if I’m right.” 

“Under a year,” he says. 

“And you’re still this affected?” 

“I broke up with him,” Phil says. “You know why.” 

“You’re the dumbest ever,” Maria says. “You were dating the son of one of the best-known men of all time, and you think that you were putting his life in danger?” 

“When you put it like that, it makes me sound stupid.” 

“You’re not,” Maria says. “You’re smart. But Tony Stark isn’t exactly a saint. He knows how to fight dirty.” 

- 

Tony Stark just flew out of a cave and his first thought is the fact that he really wants a nice burger, and the second thought is that he’s wondered if he’s just invented something revolutionary. 

It’s about two weeks after everything and he’s still finding trouble with his standard mattress that he gets a visit. 

Strategic-Homeland-Whatever. 

They call themselves a private security firm. Tony knows better, has seen better liars. 

But Agent Barton is insistent that security is all they do, and they want to make sure that Tony Stark isn’t a danger to himself. 

(What he really means, most likely, is that SHIELD has caught on to the little fact that his flight suit exists.) 

-

Phil met Obadiah Stane exactly once, and exactly once is the only meeting you really need with a man who is the physical embodiment of an oil spill. 

Barton calls him, says that he needs to get there now, the mission is going wrong. Coulson’s his handler, and as much as he’d like to send Maria or Natasha or literally anybody else, he is worried. 

He finds Dum-E waving frantically, with Tony hunched over a counter and breathing hard, a blue light emanating from his chest. 

“Tony?” 

He turns around wildly, freezing as he looks at Phil. 

“I don’t have time to deal with you,” he pants out, breath ragged. “Move out of my way, and stay out of my way.” 

- 

Phil witnesses Tony in his element. He’s always flown above the rest, but never quite so literally. 

Pepper clutches Tony’s hand and he holds her close, and oh. 

Oh. 

Phil knows he shouldn’t have expected anything. He knows that it’s been years and years since they were dating, since they were each other’s everything and a half. 

But it still kind of hurts when you’re not a choice. 

They turn to look at Coulson. 

“I assume that Clint is yours?” Tony asks. 

“One of them, yes.” 

“He needs to get better about lying, he clearly ate my leftover sandwich.” 

“I’ll...talk to him about that. Everyone okay here?” 

“For now. Need to tie up some loose ends.” 

“I can help with that.” 

“I don’t need it,” Tony says, and Pepper follows his gaze carefully before speaking. 

“We would love the help,” she says, and Phil can tell that she doesn’t know. 

Somehow-and Phil’s not quite sure how-that burns. Tony didn’t tell her about them. It’s egotistical of him, sure, but he kind of wants to be known as a part in Tony’s life. 

SHIELD gets involved. They clean up Stane like he was never there, and there’s a press release about him having a heart attack in his sleep that is clearly not the case, but there are enough pictures of him eating unhealthily that it can kind of make sense when people look at some shitty news source. 

Phil makes flashcards. 

Reminds him of studying days, when he used to quiz Tony on Captain America trivia. 

He stumped him, once. 

- 

Tony doesn’t like that Phil’s back in his life. He doesn’t have to like it. 

But really, it just...

They used to be together. And they didn’t end because it got bad, they ended because Phil had a job and he didn’t want to be a couple because that would somehow ruin things. And Tony got it, really. The board wasn’t exactly pleased that Tony wasn’t hush-hush about his activities. 

“What’s gonna happen, they’re gonna sue me? Ask me to stop?” Tony had asked, laughing. “I don’t give a shit what people think. They rely on me too much to afford to have an opinion cloud their judgment.” 

Phil isn’t like that. 

They danced together. He still remembers Phil’s order for food. 

(Lo Mein with veggies, but he would never eat all of the veggies that were in there. Plus egg rolls.) 

-

“If you just read the flash cards, you should be fine,” Phil says. “Trust me.” 

“You waited to tell me that until I moved on or something?” Tony asks sardonically. 

- 

Tony listened to Phil twice in his life and trusted him. 

The first was six months in, when he said “I love you” while they were lounging on the worst couch that Tony had ever sat in, in an apartment with a leak during rainy days. 

The second was when Phil told him to live his life to his full potential on a short phone call. 

Fool me once, fool me twice, and never again. 

“The truth is...I am Iron Man.” 

[cptsdstudyblr]

Cults & Religious Abuse PART 2: So you’re in a cult?

If you don’t want to see this series, you can block #cptsdstudyblrreligion

tw// cults, religion, religious abuse, religious trauma, mentions of other types of abuse

PART 1: Q & A

In this post I will be speaking somewhat specifically about my experiences that led to religious trauma, so please be cautious when reading this post. The tips and resources are at the bottom and are bullet points, so feel free to skip to there if you aren’t comfy with the post itself.

Maybe you were raised in a religion, maybe you or your family joined a religion later in your life, or maybe you’ve gotten involved in a cult in some other way. But one day you wake up and you realize that you need to get out. But how? In this I’ll be sharing the basics of my experiences in a cult-like fundamentalist religion, how I got out, and some resources I think are helpful for people in similar situations.

Before I get into the details, I want to make one thing clear: I am not a woman. I am non-binary. However, I was raised a woman and that was a huge part of the way these experiences affected me, so I will be including that perspective in this post.

I also want to make it clear that I am not against religion in general or against people practicing religion. This post is not intended to attack religion as a concept, but to shed light on specific extremely harmful religious practices.

My family’s relationship with religion is on the complicated side, but I’ll briefly explain it for context. Both of my parents were raised fairly generically Catholic. My grandparents on my dad’s side are now loosely Catholic, but don’t explicitly practice religion. My grandmother on my mom’s side has since converted to protestant Christianity at my mom’s suggestion. My dad has been either apathetic or even hostile towards religion for as long as I can remember and rarely attended church with me and my mom, but my mom has always been religious. These are the primary influences in my life, as I’m not close enough to any other family members for their religious beliefs to have had significant impact on me. 

My mom is where it gets complicated. Although she was raised Catholic, she explored protestant Christianity starting a few years before my birth and quickly converted. For most of my actual childhood my mom was a pretty average protestant Christian. We moved a lot, so we attended churches in a variety of denominations, including several more charismatic and prosperity-gospel based megachurches, but when I was around 9 years old, my mom fell down a rabbit hole of Messianic Christianity through one of these churches, which I believe is where it all started to fall apart. Just to clarify, although this group of beliefs is technically referred to as Messianic Judaism, I refer to my experience with it as Messianic Christianity as I am in no way Jewish (and thus feel uncomfortable calling my religious experiences Judaism) and the messianic movement is harmful to actual Jewish people.

This move into Messianic Christianity pushed my mom to start rereading and reinterpreting the Bible and she consequently decided that she was not enamored with the teachings of the church we attended at the time. I strongly believe that her understanding of that study was also heavily influenced by the domestic violence and instability going on in our home at the time, as she was unable to connect to the overwhelmingly positive messages that our church preached. So, she moved us to another church. This was a church we had attended some in the past while trying to find a home church after a move, but hadn’t really stuck with, so it wasn’t an entirely new church. Because of this, I generally say that I attended this church from the age of 9 although we did not attend this church consistently until I was around 11. This church was a nondenominational Bible church closely associated with Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, CA, which is pastored by John MacArthur. I’d encourage you to take a look at the basic teachings of John MacArthur and of this church in some depth as they are already quite problematic. The linked article is really just one example of the kind of teachings that are prevalent here, and I’d encourage you to follow this rabbit hole as far as it takes you because it’s fascinating. 

The church that we moved to was extremely fundamentalist. Unfortunately, I’m not comfortable linking the actual church for fear of doxxing myself, but the teachings of this church are pretty much exactly in line with those Grace Community Church and the other organizations I will mention soon. This church also unofficially followed the teachings of the Institute for Basic Life Principles (IBLP). When I say unofficially, I mean that my church was not publically associated with IBLP, but they were definitely associated with IBLP in reality. And again, I’d really encourage you to browse through their website to get a feel for their teachings. However, as a basic summary, if you’re familiar with the Duggar family from the TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, they are members of IBLP and everything they teach was taught fairly similarly at my church. I won’t go into the details of what the teachings were, but they were about as fundamentalist Christian as you could come up with. Sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, abuse, etc. but turned up to 11/10. And it was a very closed circle. So how did I get out and end up where I am now - a bi-romantic asexual non-binary university student studying STEM at an incredibly liberal university?

It wasn’t easy. But I did get somewhat lucky. Unlike 90% of the kids at my church, I was not homeschooled after 8th grade. Instead, I went to a private Christian school - this was definitely still harmful and contributed to my trauma but it did give me opportunities to be exposed to people and ideas outside my fundamentalist Christian bubble. It also encouraged me to attend university, as it was expected of all graduates from that school. My dad wasn’t religious, and he and my mom divorced right before I graduated from high school. Additionally, my mom did encourage me to continue my education despite the teachings at our church. I’m not sure why she encouraged this, but she did. So I got lucky that things in my life pointed me in a direction of further education. And I got further lucky that the main school in my state is the school it is. It’s a school that is incredibly left-leaning and secular, and ultimately it pushed me extremely far outside my comfort zone.

I am extremely grateful for the opportunities that made it easier for me to get out of this situation, but I did still have to work for it. Here are my suggestions for surviving a cult-like environment and for eventually getting out:

Do everything you can to expose yourself to other ideas and beliefs. I assume that if you recognize you’re in this type of situation and want to escape, you already know that you disagree with the beliefs that are being forced on you at some level. But it’s important to further educate yourself where possible and figure out your beliefs. Figuring out what you believe and being committed to it is key in being able to stick to leaving your environment. If you know you disagree, but you can’t articulate why you disagree or what you believe and you aren’t committed to your beliefs, you will be very easy to convince that you are wrong and you will be very easy to manipulate. 

If you’re on tumblr reading this, you probably have access to the internet, so use that to your advantage. Research things, read articles, and involve yourself in discussions. If you struggle with internet access, you can read books, magazines, and newspapers at your local library and potentially even join clubs through your library or school. Not everything you learn has to be political or about religion. Reading and learning will broaden your horizons, give you concrete interests outside religion, encourage you to learn about things that make you uncomfortable, etc. 

If you are involved in a religion that has a text, read it critically and read nonreligious analyses of it. You don’t necessarily have to agree with these analyses, but thinking critically about the text you’ve been raised to take as complete fact will help you realize what you actually believe.

Find others who agree with you. In high school, I had a couple of friends at church who were “rebels” too, and we’re still friends to this day. We moved on together, and it really helped me be able to get out because I wasn’t doing it alone.

If you have to physically leave to get away, make sure you have enough money and have a backup plan. If you leave and are forced to come back for any reason, leaving again will be infinitely harder. If you leave, make sure it can be for good. It doesn’t necessarily have to be permanent, but if you come back it has to be on your own terms and not out of necessity.

Don’t get yourself kicked out and be safe no matter what.

Some resources I think are helpful:

Find an LGBT Center (US only) - LGBT centers are incredibly helpful for issues that go beyond being LGBT+, and if you’re eligible to use them they can be a great resource

The Trevor Project - LGBT+ resources and crisis lines

Tumblr post describing what to do if you’re homeless - It’s from Tumblr, so take it with a grain of salt, but it seems like pretty solid advice.

How to leave a cult - Very basic guide, but has some good advice.

Quiz to help you figure out your political beliefs (US based, but has some other countries as well) - I’d suggest taking this a few times as you develop your beliefs, and I’d also suggest clicking “more questions” as many times as possible in every category to ensure that you cover a broad range of topics.

How Ideology Colors Morality - about how morality frames US politics

Ethics - a good place to start when looking at different ways of analyzing ethics. My high school ethics class is a huge component in why I questioned my own beliefs. Ethics is an eye-opening topic.

List of all the religions - exploring different religions and belief systems helped open my mind to new ideas and ways of thinking about the world

If you want me to help you research something or find resources for a specific situation, feel free to message me or send me an ask and I’m happy to help (you can also ask me other questions, my asks and DMs are always open!)

And as always, if I made a mistake or linked a bad resource, please feel free to let me know so that I can correct the issue ASAP. I always try to do my research thoroughly, but things can slip by since I am but a human. Thank you!

[jeon-googi]

Wildest Dreams

— pairing: Changkyun (I.M) x Reader

 — genre: Slice of Life, Romance, College au, implied Badboy!Changkyun

— words: 2.6k

— rating: SFW

— warnings: none~

— notes: I had started this right after I saw Monsta X in Dallas last year and I finally got around to finishing it! To be honest this is one of my favorite fics I’ve done so I hope you all like it! 

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No one ever told you college would be this hard. The end of the semester was close and yet teachers were piling on the work as if you weren’t leaving. Stretching your arms in front of you with a satisfied groan, you started to pack up the abundance of journals and pens scattered across the desk. Your schedule carefully written out day by day, reminding you of that on this particular day was your tutoring session. A groan escaped your lips at the idea of even having to stay in this hell an hour longer, but the money from the tutoring helped out a lot and you were in no position to decline such easy money. 

Slinging the backpack over your shoulder you walked swiftly to the study rooms located near the university's library. Loud muffling could be heard from within the room and your eyes couldn't roll farther back into your head as you realized who exactly was here to study. Placing a hand on the door you slid it open with ease, yelps of fright echoing around the room. 

Now, you were never one to judge someone by looks, but these boys in particular you knew for a fact weren’t in the right mental state to discuss trigonometry. Seven boys surrounded the table, all donning dark leather jackets and ripped jeans. Silver earrings gleamed in the fluorescent lights while black painted nails tapped loudly on the wooden table. 

“Ah well if it isn’t our favorite tutor!” The one on the farthest end of the table grinned, leaning on his folded arms. 

“Minhyuk I’m your only tutor.” You responded back lightly, closing the door and placing your backpack on the table. While removing the notes for the lesson that day, Minhyuk gave you a grin as he started to examine the study plan you layed out. 

“Y/N what's on the schedule today?” The one with black fluffy hair asked. 

“Stats, as per your guys’ request Hyungwon.” You replied back. 

It had become a pattern before you even realized it. Randomly, this group of young men started to join your study groups, always requesting tough material that would take at least a few hours a week to go over. From their looks, you assumed most of this was a hail mary to pass the semester, but upon closer examination, none of them actually needed the help. Shownu, Wonho, and Hyungwon excelled in science as well as mathematics. Kihyun, Minhyuk, and Jooheon excelled in arts and history. Then there was Changkyun. He was shyer than the others, often lost in his own thoughts. He had the habit of tapping his pen against the table when he didn’t understand a problem or running a hand aggressively through his hair. 

‘Maybe he was too shy to ask for help on his own.’ You used to think, realizing Changkyun was the only one to bring you back his aced tests or go over his notes for a test. This particular group of men were not ones people would typically enjoy the company of. They were loud and wild, often speeding down the halls to their motorcycles outside. When you first saw them in the room you felt nervous to say the least, afraid perhaps they would just want quiz answers rather than help. To your surprise, they absorbed everyone one of your lessons well, and even became good friends of yours. 

“Congrats on getting the top score in your class Changkyun! I'm so proud of you.” You announced earnestly, starting the room off with the sound of applause. The other boys whooped and hollered and Changkyun smiled in his accomplishments, leaning back in his chair. 

“Couldn’t have done it without your help Y/N.” He smiled honestly. You shook your head with a smile, “You put in the effort.” 

If you hadn’t stuck your head back into your notes for the day, you wouldn't have missed the red hue painted across Changkyuns cheeks, or how the boys closest to him gave him teasing looks. The lesson went on for another couple hours. Your handwriting scrawled across the white board as you checked in with the boys while reviewing their notes. Kihyun gave a wide yawn as he stretched back into his chair.

“Y/N, I think we can call it a day today.” He suggested, earning a few nods of agreement from the others. You smiled and gave him a nod.

“Yeah, you guys did really well today honestly. You probably won’t even need tutoring for the rest of the semester at this rate.” You laughed as you handed them each a few extra packets of examples. One by one all the boys thanked you for the session and made their way out of the room, already you could hear their screams echoing through the halls. Slinging your heavy bag over your shoulder, you trudged your way out of the study rooms, surprised to find it was already dark outside. 

‘Okay cool were good. It’s fine. The last bus should be here any minute.” You tapped your foot waiting outside the university's bus station. Waiting. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Until finally you figured it was safe to assume there was in fact no bus coming for you. 

“Damn...” You huffed dropping your bag to the ground rummaging through the multitudes of notes to find your phone which is also now in fact, your dead cell phone. While cursing your luck, you hadn’t even heard the sound of footsteps approaching behind you. Nor did you hear the person clear their throat behind you, but you did in fact scream when you felt a sudden tap on your shoulder.

“Shit!” Whirling around quickly, ready to fend off whatever creep was standing there, you caught a glimpse of a familiar pair of ripped jeans and leather jacket. 

“Changkyun jesus christ how long have you been standing there!?” You wheezed out, clutching your bag to your chest for dear life.Changkyun scratched his head.

“Five minutes probably. You didn't answer even when I spoke to you.” Cheeks flushed in embarrassment you looked away, “Well I was having a bit of a mental breakdown so excuse me for not noticing sooner.” 

Changkyun chuckled, his fingers thrumming on something behind his back. 

“So did you need something or...?” You asked slowly, still unsure why he was just standing here in the dark parking lot after school. 

“Oh um..here.” He quickly pushed a large hard object into your arms. A black helmet stared back at you. Changkyuns iconic helmet to be exact. 

“Oh um cool...and this is for?”

“I’m gonna give you a ride. Home. I’m gonna give you a ride home. On my bike. To your home.”

You raised a brow at him as you turned the helmet in your hands.

“What's in it for you then Changkyun? I don’t do cheat sheets besides you've been doing so good-” 

“ I want to.”

Your hands stopped roaming on the helmet as you shyly glanced up at him. 

He wanted to give you a ride home? 

Your school's quiet bad boy? Was any of this even real? I mean, was that even safe and besides how are you gonna explain to your parents that you rode home on the back of a guys motorcycle.

“Ah it's really fine Changkyun please you don’t have to.” You smiled politely back and you tried to push the helmet back into his hands. He shook his head, stepping back with his arms crossed.

“I can’t just leave a girl out here in the dark. Especially since its you.” He added, turning towards his sleek black and red bike parked a few spaces away. 

What else was there for you to do? Wait here forever? Sighing, you followed behind him as you approached the bike. Like second nature, Changkyun slung a leg over the bike and started it up, the loud engine causing you to flinch a bit. 

“It’s not as scary as it looks, just sit here.” He patted the back of the bike. Nodding you swallowed the fear and put the helmet on quickly. Your body felt rigid and uncomfortable as you sat on the seat, your hands fiddling as you weren't sure where to put them. Like, should you just hold on to him? Was that weird to assume?

Changkyun looked back at you having the inner debate and with a smirk, he used one hand to grab onto your wrist placing it firmly around his torso. 

“I don’t want you to fall off.” He offered as a simple explanation, before picking up his feet and starting to drive off. The sudden lurch of the back caused you to crash into his back with a gasp, and before you knew it, you were flying down the main road away from campus. Your arms instinctively tightened around his stomach, and at the same time you had to try your hardest not to think about the close proximity of the both of you. 

It wasn’t as if you were completely oblivious to Changkyun’s looks and charms. You just always saw him as one of your students after school. Besides, you were certain that he didn’t view you as someone who would fit his lifestyle like this. 

The night sky was illuminated with stars and the flashing lamp posts streaked past the both of you as you finally had the courage to look around. The wind blowing through your hair and the cool crisp air filling your senses was calming in a way, your heart pounding with adrenaline. The scene was perfect, just the two of you so close but you knew eventually it wouldn't be you on the back of the bike anymore. Summer was soon and you were certain the friendship you had with all the guys would disappear. Your heart ached as the scene laid before you seemed to unravel. Giving Changkyun a tap on the shoulder, you pointed at the nearest street, and mere moments later you found yourself outside of your house. 

Slipping off the bike and removing his helmet, you let out a shaky breath. 

“Was it that scary?” He smiled, turning towards you. You shook your head with a smile, “Actually it was a lot of fun. Thanks again Changkyun, you really didn't have to do this” 

Changkyun waved his hand, “I already told you Y/N I wanted to.” The air stilled between the both of you, the tension in the air a little more noticeable that before. Mustering up whatever courage you had you decided to speak before the moment was lost.

“Changkyun I-”

“Y/N we-”

You both stopped and stared at each other before laughing, your hand covering your face in embarrassment. 

“You go first, please.” He politely motioned, looking at you expectantly. Collecting yourself you looked up at him. For the first time, you found yourself really noticing those details in someone that makes them unique. Maybe you had stared a little too intensely because Changkyun let out a small cough and looked down.

“Or you could stare at me for the rest of the night that's fine.” He let out with a shaky breath. Breaking yourself from the trance you flushed with embarrassment. 

“Sorry Changkyun, it's just… I guess we haven't really ever had time alone like this before. You're a really nice person. Really smart too, honestly I don’t know why you come to my tutoring sessions.” You admitted all in one breath. 

Changkyun jerked a little at your confession, his hand raised quickly covering his face.

“You really haven’t noticed?” He mumbled softly, his eyes flitting over your face.

You frowned looking at him in confusion. 

“Noticed what?”

Changkyun let out a chuckle as he ran a hand through his black hair, before standing up straight. 

“We’ve been in the same class for four years. You never really noticed me, despite the fact I’m friends with the loudest most obnoxious guys on campus.” He let out a shaky breath before continuing.“You were always so focused in your work, I couldn't find the heart to distract you from that. So we decided to go to your tutoring hours. If it wasn’t for that you probably would've never thought to talk to me, huh?”

Your eyes widened at hearing his confession, your arms tightening around his helmet. 

“The guys came with me so it wasn’t as awkward and to be honest, you really grew on them. I was so happy to finally have been able to have the chance to… you know actually get to know you. In between your lectures and such.” 

He nervously rocked on his feet, looking around for anything that wasn't your cute face staring up at him. 

“I mean I never really needed the tutoring. To be honest I feel bad for wasting your time, but even if it was just for a little bit-” he paused, straightening his shoulders back and looking directly in your eyes determinedly

“Even if it was just for a little bit, I got to believe someone like you could possibly fall for someone like me.” 

If you imagined how this night in particular would have gone, never in your wildest dreams would you have imagined you’d be confessed to, and certainly not by Changkyun. The cold air made your cheeks flush even more as you stood staring up at him, your heart pounding loudly within your chest. The confession hung in the air between you two. You weren't sure  how to respond honestly. He liked you. Changkyun liked you. 

“Changkyun I-”

“And I understand if you don’t feel the same way. I just wanted to let you know. I understand though, this was all really weird, I’ll just leave-”

Somehow, in the midst of his rambling and in the midst of your internal debate, you had gently lifted yourself onto the top of your toes and placed one quick kiss to Changkyuns lips. His face slowly turned red as he stared down at you.

“Y/n…” he whispered.

“I like you too Changkyun.” 

Changkyuns hands trembled as he brought them up to your face ever so gently, softly cupping your cheeks as his thumbs stroked gently patterns on them. His eye searched yours as he leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on your lips. You didn’t even flinch as you dropped his helmet onto the ground, bringing your arms up and around his neck, pulling your body into his. The cool night air didn’t seem to have an effect on either of you, as you both slowly pulled back, resting your foreheads against one another. 

“So I take it we're going to hang out outside of my tutoring times right?” You teased, causing him to scoff and hang his head.

“Please you love that quality time together.”

For a few more minutes into the evening, you and Changkyun stood holding each other, swaying back and forth, prolonging the eventual parting between you two. Slowly you let go of one another as you started walking to your home.

“Goodnight Changkyun.” You smiled, waving back to him as you drew closer to your door.

“Goodnight Y/n.” He said back, waiting until you were safe inside.

Making sure you weren’t coming back out, Changkyun grinned as he fist pumped into the air, letting out a whoop of happiness. Grabbing his helmet from off the ground, he hopped back on his bike. Little did he know, from the blinds of your room, you smiled goofily, watching the boy you liked speed away, your heart full of nothing but love. 

[nachohypno]

Nate and Dave Ch. 1

Everything started like a normal day. But you probably already heard those lines.

When I woke up, it was raining outside. But that wasn’t going to stop me from going to class. I just had to reach the bus quickly enough.

I went to the bathroom and looked at myself at the mirror after washing my face. “Looking handsome” I said to myself. I tried to tidy my short black hair. I did the rest of the usual morning routine before heading out of the bathroom.

As I said, it was a normal day, like any other. I went to school in the bus, barely got wet by the rain so I was happy.

I quickly entered school and walked to my locker. I didn’t get wet! Maybe this day wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought!

I greeted a few of my friends as I passed by, but I won’t go into details with them. They were cool, but they aren’t as involved in this story as I would have liked.

I’ll get to them later.

My mind went from happiness to fear in just a few seconds, when I reached my locker.

I noticed a few of the football players passing beside me, but I hid using my locker. Close one, they probably didn’t notice me.

Spoke too soon.

I got approached by one of the guys that just passed by. One of the jocks.

“Do I know ya?” He asked, like it was the most normal thing to ask. Although, he seemed pretty confused. I had to be careful with my answer, it could either get me a punch on the gut or a safe escape.

“I don’t think so?” I didn’t know what to say. I’ve never been approached by one of them in a “friendly” way. He stared at me. It was a bit weird.

‘Why is he talking to me?’ Was one of the questions that came through my mind at the moment.

Suddenly, he snapped out of his staring contest and extended his hand for a shake. “Dave, nice to meet ya”

We shook hands. And he squeezed my hand a lot, I was surprised he didn’t actually break it because it hurted a lot. He mumbled a sorry after noticing my expression of pain.

Okay, that’s something weird. I was expecting one of the jocks going out of their way to harm me in some way, but not to apologize about it.

“It’s… alright. I’m Nate” I mumbled, obviously nervous.

He gave me a big smile, like trying to comfort me. I was pretty scared at this point. Everyone knew these guys were kinda shady.

“Oh, I think I’ve seen you at my biology class, right?” He said, still smiling. I nodded, and apparently that caused his smile to get bigger “Awesome, let’s sit together, bro!”

Oh, he wants me to do his homework. That explains it. Alright, I can do that.

I mean, if it’s that or being beat up, I prefer doing some extra homework. 

Survival of the smartest.

I went inside the biology lab. Sat on my usual spot, not too far but not too close to the blackboard either. The perfect distance to avoid being called to the front by the professor.

My partner usually rotated. Not that I’m not a good classmate, but they usually have a better deal or something like that. And today, my partner was Dave the jock.

The guy took off his letterman jacket and hanged it from the back of the chair, then sat down beside me. He gave me another big smile as he stared at me while I prepared my stuff on the table.

“What?” I asked when he started to make me nervous with the whole staring act. I can’t remember when we started being classmates. I barely pay attention to the jocks. It’s like, seeing a letterman jacket means trouble for me. So I try to hide ASAP.

That’s being gay in here for ya.

“What what?” He chuckled. What was so funny?

“Why are you staring at me?”

“I don’t know. I just want to, is there a problem with that?” He said, quite roughly. The smile he had until now vanished, replaced by an expression of superiority.

I took a step back, a bit scared by his change of attitude. He noticed this, and quickly returned to his friendly attitude. “Uhm, sorry. Didn’t mean to sound rude”

He shrugged, again with a big smile. He seemed happy, probably planning something? I decided to stop pushing the subject, to not make him angry.

As soon as the professor entered, everyone shifted their looks to him. He greeted us, and started explaining today’s subject. As I said, like a normal day. I just had to wait until the man gave us a few quiz questions, answer mine and give the answers to Dave, then I would be free of punches.

As expected, professor Lewis gave us some questions and asked us to draw a dick- Sorry, the male reproductive system. I’m a senior, way past the point of finding this things funny. I noticed Dave was chuckling, and a few of his fellow jocks on the back also did.

I grabbed my book from the bag, opened it on the designated page and placed it on the middle of the table.

Dave just took out a sheet of paper, a pencil and a rubber. Greaaaat, he wanted to help.

Speaking about him, he went back to staring at me without rest. It started to get on my nerves again.

So, if he wanted me to make his homework, he could help a bit. “Alright, I’ll do the quiz. Meanwhile, you draw the male reproductive system-”

“Sure!” He beamed up, grabbed his pencil and started to copy it from the book. Weird, why was he so happy to draw a reproductive system? Probably the same reason he was chuckling earlier. Jocks don’t think a lot, I guess.

I started doing my work too. I wanted good and complete answers, but not more than necessary. This professor is a dick and would probably not give me a fair grade if I tried to outsmart him.

By the end of the class, Dave gave me his drawing and I wrote down our names. I wrote down his name next to mine on the answers sheet. He was laughing a bit, for some reason. “What’s so funny?” I asked.

“You seem kinda serious, bro. It’s cool, suits you”

“What do you mean?”

He smiled, but frowned a bit “I… Sorry, can’t tell” Weirdo, but alright. I got freed of the jock and class was over. I started to put my stuff back in my bag and got up.

“Heading to the cafeteria?” Asked my apparently new friend, since he didn’t seem able to leave my ass today. “We could have lunch together if you want”

“Uh… What?” I looked at him and noticed he was staring with lovely eyes. Oh, I get it now. He’s horny and wants a blowjob from the local fag.

Not my department though. I would never do that. I prefer being beaten up than allegedly raped at school. He’s older than me, I’ve heard that last week was his 18th birthday. I could try and get him expelled if he tried to touch me at all.

It’s not every day that you can have lunch with the jocks. I didn’t want to, but Dave already grabbed me by the shoulder and started talking very excitedly. And I mean it.

He asked about weird stuff about me. Favorite color, song, food, stuff like that. I assumed now that he just wanted to be friendly. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.

I thought about that to try and comfort myself, because I was freaking out about having this random guy follow me around like some kind of puppy.

I heard about him. Everyone knew about the local football stars. This guy is the quarterback of our team, the Rottweilers. 

He has a hot girlfriend, one of the cheerleaders if I recall correctly. He has the good looks, with blue eyes, short light brown hair, a handsome face. He seemed to be mischievously smiling at all times.

I knew he arrived at this year, transferred from another school and luckily, we barely interacted. He never tried to do anything to me which is a relief. 

I’ve had some… encounters with the other jocks, and I was thankful that I’ve never returned to my house with a black eye.

We arrived to the cafeteria and he still wasn’t going to shut up, or let me go. I usually had my food at the school’s yard. Way more relaxing and nicer than the awfully crowded cafeteria.

Don’t think of me as that weird loner guy, a lot of people also preferred to have lunch on the school’s yard.

But, awful rain outside. I would probably catch a cold or something, so I didn’t have an option.

“Alrighttt” I said. Taking his hand out of my shoulder and moving to face him. “Look, I appreciate you wanting to hang out with me but…” I looked over at the football team’s table. “I really, really don’t want to go there”

He seemed a bit disappointed, but it quickly vanished as his usual smile returned “Sure, we can sit anywhere else, bro. Wherever you’re comfortable is fine”

I think he didn’t get the message, but still, it was better than nothing. We went to grab a food plate. I loved school’s pasta day.

I went to get a plate of pasta and sat in a random table. Dave sat right next to me.

This thing was getting unnerving. I had a theory though. Dave lost a bet and had to be around the weirdo all day, waiting for me to put my guard down. Well, my friend, not going to happen.

But sadly, he stuck around to me all day as I predicted. The rain already stopped, and I decided to head to the school yard to have some air before my next class.

-----

After a while, I stopped right on my tracks and turned to him “Alright, what do you want? Why are you following me around since this morning? Did you lose a bet or something?” I was trying to keep myself quiet though. I didn’t want to start a scene mid-schoolyard.

Dave got nervous. “Uh… Uhm… ‘Cuz… I’m…” He looked around frantically, beads of sweat started forming on his forehead. Maybe he couldn’t talk about it in public? Something felt wrong about this.

“Follow me” I said. He did as I told, with a sigh of relief. Like he just got saved from the worst thing happening.

We entered the library. I knew Mrs. Wells would be on her break, so I went to a silent spot, looked around to see if anyone was near and told him “Nobody here, spill the beans”

I shouldn’t play the bad cop. What if this was a trick to take me to an empty place and beat me up there? There’s always the possibility, so I was careful and prepared to run away.

He gulped and started, looking at me like he didn't have any other choice. “This may sound crazy but… I’m a werewolf”

Yeah, he was tricking me.

I turned around and started walking away, but he grabbed me by the shoulders and looked at me with pleading eyes. “Believe me bro, I’m not joking”

I sighed and got back in place. Not because I wanted to, but because he was stronger than me and I couldn’t walk away. I decided to keep going with this charade “If you were telling me the truth, can you prove it?”

He snorted “Pfft. Easy bro. Order me to do anything” His trademarked smile returned to his face.

“Pull down your pants” It was the first thing that came to mind, and he didn’t even hesitate.

He did so remaining with his big smile, as if he was happy to do such a stupid thing. “Oh god, pull them back up!” What if someone saw us?

Bah, who am I kidding? Nobody visits the school library willingly nowadays.

“How is that supposed to prove anything? I was joking!”

But he didn’t seem embarrassed, nor mad. He just laughed at what I said “That proves it, bro! I’m a werewolf and you’re my soulmate!”

I looked at him, startled. He has a girlfriend and came up to tell me that I, a guy who never talked to him, was his soulmate. And I’m the queen of England.

But, he kept explaining. “Let me tell ya. Werewolves, and many other supernatural creatures, are real. I’m one of them, and… This may be even weirder bro.” 

He gulped “I still barely understand it. I thought it was a joke at first, but I’m realizing it wasn’t bro” He looked around again.

I did the same, nervously. I placed my face in my hands and just… tried to deal with it. Dave noticed my silence and continued with his explanation.

“Werewolves can recognize their soulmate by their smell. Apparently, it can happen after you reach adulthood” Made sense, if his birthday was a few days ago. I should ask around later to corroborate. “And when you find your soulmate, you’re… bound to them. In mind and body. I just want to be with ya bro, and do what you want. The thought of it makes me feel good, and happy”

Of course, I was speechless. It was a lot of information to process. One of the star players of my high school was saying I’m his soulmate, and that he wants to do whatever I want.

“A-are you r-really sure you’re not joking? This is a r-really big deal” I stutter when I’m nervous. And this was much more than I could handle at a normal morning.

“Look, it’s weird. But since this morning, every second I’ve been around you were the most beautiful moments of my life” He stared straight into my eyes “I love you, bro. And I’m not lying.”

I tried to calm myself down, I turned around and looked at the wall. If I kept looking at the jock I would probably panic.

“So… soulmates?” I asked, hopefully he would explain things further.

“Yeah bro. We’re bonded apparently. I won’t complain, I’m happy to have found you!” Now that I think of it, Dave being a werewolf would explain a few things. Like his smiling and laughing all day, following me around all day like some kind of domestic dog. And his outstanding school’s spirit.

“And… is there any limit to what you would do?” I wanted to make sure. Just curiosity.

He shook his head in denial. “Anything you want. No limits, bro”

I thought about something. I was excited. If everything turned out to be true, I just got myself an obedient werewolf jock. And the idea was like an instant turn on. “Kiss me”

He didn’t waste any second, he grabbed the back of my head and pulled me in for a make out session. My first kiss, with one of the football players. Who would have thought about it?

His tongue was surprisingly gentle when he entered, and his taste was unique so to say. But, for some reason, I couldn’t get enough of it. I could feel myself getting turned on as we kept going. He pulled me in closer to him and I felt something in his pants starting to grow.

I broke the kiss after some minutes, it would have been weird if someone saw us.

“Uhm… How was that? Never kissed a guy before” He asked, pretty excitedly.

“I-I don’t k-know… you were my first”

His smile grew bigger and he gave me a big bear hug. “I love you, bro” Oh, he was pretty romantic, huh.

-----

I decided to leave the library before Mrs. Wells returned from his break. Dave followed me like a happy puppy. 

We went back to school and kept chatting about the soulmates subject, but not as loud as we did on the library. More like whispers between us.

“So when you said ‘no limits’, you really meant it? Like, really no limits?” I asked him.

“I would rip my heart off for you, if you want that” He put his hand over his chest, and tried to imitate a poet’s voice while closing his eyes.

“No! I would never ask you to do that, or to harm yourself! What kind of psychopath do you think I am?” I got a bit scared at what he said, thinking that I should be careful with my words, but his smile didn’t vanish. He laughed a bit and stared at me again.

“You look cute when you’re nervous” And now he’s flirty.

I sighed “Are you alright with flirting with me at school? I mean, don’t you have a girlfriend-”

“Gonna break up with her” He said, pretty fast.

“What? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious, bro? I’ve found my soulmate!” He was really excited about this whole ordeal.

 I wondered what his parents may think about their werewolf son being so happy for being completely controlled by a random guy from his class.

“Aren’t you nervous that you have to do everything I say?” Not like I asked for it but… I’m not complaining either. The guy is a stud.

“Nervous? Why would I be? I can’t wait to do as you say, bro”

“Alright, that’s it. I need a break” I walked to the nearest bathroom and he went in behind me. Nice. “Can you give me a few minutes? Uh… Wait for me outside”

He nodded blissfully and walked out.

I just washed my face and looked at myself in the mirror.

“Okay Nate, it’s cool. He’s a good guy, he just wants to make you happy. No need to be afraid of him, or anything like that. You’re the boss around here”

My little pep talk was working, but then…

The terror pair entered through the bathroom’s door.

Butch and Lucas, two players from the football team. I’ve crossed paths with them a few times, and they’re not the nice ones.

“Faggot!” Butch said, as he noticed me. They were bigger and stronger than me, so fighting would most likely be futile.

Unless…

As Lucas grabbed my hair and tried to drag me to the toilet stall, I yelled “DAVE!”.

My knight in shining armor heard my call. He busted through the door and pushed the pair away. I fell to the ground and he helped me up. “Are you hurt, bro? Let’s get outta here”

“What the fuck? You’re friends with faggot now?!” Asked Lucas, but Dave didn’t answer. We just walked out of the bathroom and I cleaned my face with a napkin.

I had a wicked thought at that moment. I could retaliate from all those years of putting my head in the toilet or being humiliated by these guys.

But that would be wrong. I’m better than them, and I would not use dave as a... weapon of revenge.

I remained silent during the rest of the day. It was all too much to handle. I just wanted for this shitty year to end.

Dave actively asked if I was alright or if I wanted anything. He also tried to cheer me up a bit, but to no avail. 

I just felt bad.

-----

Classes were over and Dave insisted on taking me home in his car. I wanted to refuse, but he sounded very convincing.

Like, I would normally shrug him off, but he was one of the high school’s bullies and he still had some kind of power of intimidation over me, I guess.

“Are you alright, bro? Barely spoke after the bathroom thing” It’s weird. He’s trying to be a very cute and wholesome guy, but he mixes it with his… “normal” self and it brings me back to being wary of my answers.

“Yeah… Sorry, I’m alright” I said, trying to sound okay. I totally wasn’t, I was pissed. But it wasn’t his fault, so I didn’t want to involve him.

We arrived at my place and he had a sad puppy look on his face as I left the car. I didn’t have any intention of inviting him in.

I barely invited friends around (I’m not really a loner. I’m just an introvert, but as I mentioned before, I do have friends!)

“Well, call me if you need something. I love you… can’t wait to see you on Monday… Gonna count each second…” He said, dragging the words and trying to convince me with his blue puppy eyes.

Oh, for the love of god. Was he really going to be this persistent?

“Park the car and let’s go in” I said, sighing afterwards. I hope I wasn’t going to regret this choice.

“Really?! Thanks so much, bro!” He did as I told and went to my side.

We entered the house, I said out loud “I’m back mom! Brought a friend!” Dave smiled at that. I just waited for her answer to avoid being rude.

She answered with a “That’s so great, Nathan! Let me know if he stays for dinner!” that came from her bedroom. She was probably doing her daily yoga.

She would be busy for the evening, I think. Hopefully. I didn’t want her to notice the big guy and start asking questions.

I motioned Dave to follow me and we went to my room. Closed the door behind him and sat on my bed.

My house was your… normal suburban house, not too big, and not too small either. It was a nice place, a bit old, but I liked it.

“So… what do you want to do, bro?” The big guy sat on the floor, cross-legged. He was staring at me, smiling like an idiot.

I won’t lie, he’s hot as hell. And I’m all up for having a relationship with this… big wolf on campus?

I mean, I’m not so eager but… would it really be that bad? Jocks weren’t really my favorite type of person.

“Bark” I said. I wanted to test this thing out. He was apparently under my control and had to obey me. What could go wrong? He proved his loyalty after saving me from his teammates.

His eyes unfocused a bit as he gave a cute bark.

I extended my hand and said “Paw” then he put his hand on top of mine. His tongue was lolling out of his mouth at this point.

He was like possessed by a dog. And I’m sure that there’s a movie about that. And just when I thought about that, he started making that weird ‘purr’ dogs make when they feel good. Like a motor.

I moved closer to him and playfully scratched the back of his ears. “How does that feel?” I asked him.

“Hmm… Pretty good, bro…”

I smiled. Just like having a pet. A supernatural pet, yeah.

“Thanks for helping me today” I said, as I moved my hand to the back of his head. “I really appreciate it, kind of tired of those guys already”

He opened his eyes and looked at me “No problem. Nobody will ever hurt you again, bro. You have a soulmate now” He said with a wink, before going back to enjoying the scratching.

I stopped scratching and pulled him in for a kiss. I must admit, it feels good. I still wasn’t sure if this was a prank, but hell I was enjoying it.

He kissed me back, blissfully enjoying each second of it.

He seemed just as gentle as he was the first time, and I could feel his hot breath as we kept kissing. He was excited, I could tell.

-----

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