#this was gonna be a QUICK post that i mostly did on mobile until i had to go pull links and now this happened

[chaosmax]

On the whole “does Kaiba die / stay or get stuck in the afterlife?” thing

I never thought Kaiba doesn't get back from the ending of DSoD. Yeah, I know there was the ~untested~ tech that was mentioned but honestly it seemed more like a line thrown in for possible sequel bait or just for the sake of open-endedness/vauge storytelling style a la many Japanese story telling (re: my essay on that). 

And from a character point, no, I don't think there's any way in hell that Seto would gamble the chances of permanently orphaning Mokuba again. No matter how much tunnel vision he got for his goal (and no matter how grieved he was. And I hate it that people spin it to pit the headcanoned romantic love between him and Atem against his canonical love of Mokuba and it's the possible and unconfirmed romo love that “wins”. 

[I am NOT trying to bash on pride here, I actually quite enjoy that ship when work is put into it and all the nuance and complexity isn't sucked out of it for quick hurt/comfort or just turned into a glorified/romanticized toxic love horny fest]. But even if it was confirmed canon, stop pitting romo love against platonic love and have one come out as the "winner" mmkay? There's already enough damaging amatonormativity ingrained in society ok thanks.

Grief makes you do wild things, sure and everyone reacts to grief differently. But Seto has never been a gambler and I don't think after all the character development he's been though he would risk his relationship with Mokuba like that (this is taking consideration of how technically this is the manga continuity Kaiba who has done Death T and all that and messed up pretty bad with Mokuba before). I just don't think he'd run off to see/challenge/get closure from Atem and ditch his precious little brother behind with great odds that he would never see him again. Not after all the times he’s put his life on the line to protect Mokuba.

I've always thought he comes back. It just may have a cost and may not be a straight shot there and back. I think the ~untested~ tech means he doesn't know how long it will take or how much stress it puts on the user, a la the purple particles eating away at Kaiba in the post credit scene that seem to be threatening to send him back to his own dimension (again DIMENSION it's not a time machine). No, I don't think it's anything crazy like YEARS pass before he gets back. I think a couple of weeks at most. And no, I don't think Mokuba was crying and begging Seto to not have this goal in the first place. Mokuba is quite gung-ho the entire movie about getting and defending the puzzle. Hell, he headbutts Diva off the puzzle container when Mokuba had no way to know if he'd land safely or just die. He interrogates Diva to try and get the puzzle piece. He closes up the shop for Yugi and says a happy hi before the tournament. That seems far from someone who wants Seto to just let it go.

This is a bit more on the speculation side for canon hates digging into Mokuba’s feelings much sadly, but I think Mokuba has his own sense of unfinished business with Atem as well which plays a part in his motivation to help this goal. Atem is also someone he had bonded with on some level. He and Yugi were one of the first people to help him, ever, that wasn't Seto. They aided him in Duelist Kingdom. Then again in the Legendary Heroes arc when he had no one else to turn too. He seemed so...surprised in both cases. Clearly someone who's not used to being able to ask for help, much like Seto. 

But now this person is gone. One of the few people Mokuba felt he could go to if he had a problem or needed to ask for help. I can easily see Mokuba thinking, “how come he cared enough to help me all those times but not say goodbye?” (though again, we don’t know exactly what happened there, if the Kaiba brothers were unable to contact or of the main crew literally just didn’t call them up, so I’m in no way trying to assign blame here, but I could see how this is how Mokuba would see it and feel about it).

 I think Mokuba misses him too, or at the very least misses him as someone he can depend on and place his trust in. The following may be a bit of a stretch on evidence for I don't know who writes the lines for Duel Links, but if you challenge Yami Yugi as DSOD Mokuba and win, his expression is sad, saying, “You thought you could run from Seto without one last Duel?" I think Mokuba certainly sees the departure hurt Seto, but I also think it hurt him. I think he’s also trying to say, ‘You thought you could run from us without saying bye?’

So no, I don't think Kaiba runs off to Atem's afterlife forever for whatever reason ship or no ship and ditches everyone and everything (don’t forget KC and Kaibaland, his life’s dream pride and joy) behind in the living dimension. I don't think he fails to get back. While the prospect of something going wrong or the tech failing is an immensely interesting fic/AU/etc idea to play around with or such because of the added mysteriousness (or because it's edgy and dark or whatnot I feel like that’s how the theory Kaiba dies really gained it’s first traction lol) I don't think that's what happened. I think it may take some more time than expected, perhaps have some magical cost that the soft magic system didn't really specify (such as having a set number of uses or something until whatever remnant power in the cube runs out, be physically straining, etc.) 

But I will never believe Seto gambled the chance of possibly orphaning Mokuba. That's my interpretation.

____

[Note: I’m not here to argue, of course you can have a different headcanon or reading of the events to DSoD, these are just my thoughts, with the textual evidence to back up my thought process.]

[bedbellyandbeyond]

Dynamics

(Story Post)

Reid woke up when the twins started to cry. He got up quickly, hoping to handle it so their parents could save on sleep. Lucky for him, the wee beasties just wanted some attention, and he took them out to hold on the couch. He sat and played with them quite a while, but eventually they got hungry. Reid checked the fridge for milk bottles, but he couldn't find them in and among all the cuts of meat and baskets of berries. When they started to get particularly fussy, he gave up and decided to ask Nathan. When he didn't find Nathan or Dax in the loft, he was quite surprised. He did not expect Nathan to just leave the twins in someone else’s care without letting them know firsthand, so he had to be around somewhere, but it wasn't the biggest cottage and there weren't a lot of places to hide. After doing a round, checking the porch and deck and all, Reid could only hope Kent knew where they were. Hopefully, he hadn't disappeared either.

He knocked on the bear man’s bedroom door. “Hello?” He heard a low grunt and just took it as admittance. At the very least, he was glad Kent was there. Opening the door slowly, Reid peeked in. “Kent? Are you—” The sight he saw made him freeze in place. All three of them were there, Kent, Nathan, and Dax, all curled up in Kent's bed, fully in the nude. Dax actually appeared to be quite the blanket hog with most of it wrapped around him like a burrito. Kent’s body hair likely kept him warm enough on a summer night, and Nathan looked toasty snuggled under Kent's big arms. Reid had to hold in a cry of glee. He just backed out and closed the door. Another look in the fridge and he found some bottles in the vegetable crisper. Containing his joy as he sat feeding the twins felt like the hardest task of his life. Regardless, he was quite happy to keep the beasties occupied for a couple hours before their parents woke up. Slowly, closer to noon, the sleepy three rolled out of bed. Kent trudged out first and he made a beeline to the coffee maker. He didn't even acknowledge Reid's presence until after he had some caffeine in his system, then he came around and scooped up Gabriel so he could help feed him. “Sleep well?” Reid hazarded a question as Kent sat down in his armchair. “Mm…” was all Kent bothered to say. “Random question: what size bed do you have in there?” Reid asked. “…Queen, I think.” “Ah, okay… Not horrible. Could still be a bit cramped, maybe…” Kent looked at the doctor then stood again. He came over close to Reid, before scooping up Grace as well right from his lap and walking away. Reid blinked and turned to see him head to the door. “Where are you taking them, in case Nathan asks?” “Just out back.” Kent then disappeared out the door. Reid chuckled a bit to himself and just checked his phone notifications in case anyone was trying to contact him. It was Nathan's turn to sneak out. He must've gotten cold without his Kent blanket, Reid thought to himself. Nathan had pulled on his shirt and shorts again before leaving the room. When their eyes met, he just put his hand on his hip. “Shut up.” “I didn't say anything,” Reid said innocently. Nathan huffed. “‘I told you so' is written all over your face.” “Well…” Reid shrugged. “Did you enjoy yourself?” Nathan blushed and changed the subject. “Where are my kids?” “Kent took them out back,” Reid said. “So, how big is it?” “Reid, I swear to god…” “I'm thinking girthy, yeah?” “It is too early in the morning for the word ‘girthy'.” “And Dax? Quite the first time you got going on.” Nathan got some coffee from the pot Kent made. “I'm not going to share the details of my intimate life with you.” Dax’s head finally peeked out the bedroom door and he looked to Nathan desperately. Reid could see he'd dragged along the blanket to cover himself. “Nathan, I need some help…” “Can't untangle yourself from the blanket?” Nathan asked. “No, I can't find my underwear…” “Good morning, Dax!” Reid said beaming from the couch. Dax was startled and dropped the blanket a bit, scrambling to keep himself covered. “Reid! You're up! Uh, good morning!” “Absolutely the best morning. Did you sleep well?” “Uh, comme ci, comme ça…” Dax mumbled. Nathan exhaled. “He knows. Reid always knows things…” “Knowing things is part of what I do,” Reid stated. “Oh, uh,” Dax flushed red. “I mean, we didn't, you know… I mean, we did…” Nathan went over and handed Dax his coffee. “Relax, he's cool with it. Like, too much.” “I feel like I should buy you ice cream something,” Reid offered gleefully. “Can we celebrate in some way?” “I did want to see another museum…” Dax said. “There's an idea!” Reid supported. “On the way, you can tell me how we got here.” “Plane,” Nathan said. “Train,” Dax continued. “Aye, and automobiles, aye,” Reid said. “But you know what I mean.” Nathan shrugged. “It just happened.” He popped into the bedroom, pulled Dax's boxers out from under the bed and handed them to him. “I'd like it on the record that it was Nathan's idea,” Dax said, before closing the door to change. “Of course. He is the parriarch of this group,” Reid said. “So, what's the plan?” “There is no plan,” Nathan stated. “It was just a one off…” “Sure, sure,” Reid brushed off. “Did Kent enjoy himself?” “He wasn't comfortable doing everything so we kept it mostly topical…” Nathan shared. “But I think he's loosened up, for lack of a better word...” He gave Dax’s cheek a kiss when the other finally came out again, boxers on. “So, no penetration, I’m assuming?” Reid asked. “Another word it is way too early for…” Nathan groaned. “Shame…” Reid lounged across the couch towards them and propped his head up on his hand. “Can I ask, what were the dynamics?” “Dynamics?” Dax asked as he pulled on the rest of his clothes. “I'm a bottom for example,” Reid said, waving a hand. “Actually, let me guess…. Dax is true verse, Nathan's a bottom, and Kent's strict top. For now.” “Pretty much,” Nathan said. “That is eerily accurate,” Dax said. “I'm…gonna take a shower, then we can go out or whatever.” Before he could go to the bathroom though, they could all hear someone's phone started to vibrate. “Not mine,” Reid said holding up his phone. Nathan and Dax both started patting their person for their mobiles. Nathan then climbed up to the loft and grabbed the phone he found threatening to buzz itself off the top floor. “Dax,” Nathan said, handing over the device. Dax was surprised because he didn't recognise the number, but he answered. “Allô? …Yes, this is he…” He paused for a few moments. “…Yes, I did.” He waited a bit more, paling a bit. “Okay. I will try to come in today if I can, I'm way out of town…Alright, thank you. Salut.” Nathan put a hand on his shoulder. “Who was it?” “Syd. They want me to come in to have more blood drawn,” Dax said. Nathan frowned. “Today?” Reid crossed his arms over the arm of the couch. “Sounds like it's urgent.” “Yes, um… They believe they know what caused my behaviour last weekend,” Dax said. “I need more testing to determine the result. I don't really know what that means, but I think I should try to go today.” Nathan took his hand. “Okay, I'll go with you then.” “No, I can't ask you to do that,” Dax said. “Kent still has time with the kids and you should stay with them. I wasn't supposed to be here anyway.” Nathan frowned. “But you’re scared, I can tell. I want to support you.” Dax shook his head. “It's alright. I’ll go and I'll call you as soon as I know what’s going on. Part of me is a little excited actually, just getting some answers.” Nathan pursed his lips. “If you're sure, then…” “I’ll go with you,” Reid said getting up from the couch. “I'll get us a flight down courtesy of APID so you don't have to sit on a train all day.” Dax rubbed his neck. “You don't have to do that, but I would appreciate it.” Reid went around and patted Dax's arm. “Don't even worry about it. I'll make some calls.” “Thank you, Reid. Honestly.” Dax then turned back to Nathan. “Are you alright with that? It'll just be yourself and Kent left.” “I'm fine, but are you okay with that?” Nathan asked, wrapping his arms around Dax's waist. “Yes, of course,” Dax said. “I think we're in a good place. We can be comfortable.” Nathan nodded and kissed Dax's cheek. “Okay. Well, you should probably take your shower before you go with Reid. I'll get Kent to bring the kids in to say goodbye.” “Alright,” Dax smiled and gave Nathan a quick kiss back. “I love you.” Nathan smirked. “I love you too. You'll be alright.” “Thank you.”

[supernaturallyobsessedchic]

7 Days to Die - Part 1

Part 1: Surviving

Pairing: none to start with

Warnings: zombie hordes, language, injuries, scary situation, mentions of death and destruction.

Word count: 1,205

Summary: Town after town, horde after horde, the reader is trying to find a safe haven. Finding two scavengers who kindly take her in their company, maybe humanity isn’t doomed.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

7 Days to Die Masterlist

Mobile Masterlist

a/n: This is all un’beta’d, all mistakes are my own. But I hope you enjoy none-the-less.

~

Almost every car she got into to hijack was out of gas, she’s not the only survivor trying to get across the country.

All of this happened so suddenly, she even remembered how it started where she’s from. She was at work and someone really wanted in the café after closing. After bashing their head into the glass door, with no effects visibly noticed he came in and killed the first two employees that tried to subdue him and get him out. She ran for her life after that. Even narrowly escaping her hometown, the city of Lincoln Nebraska, not as big as Omaha but big enough to be a living hell to escape from.

Now she got so far north, she thinks she could be in Canada by the looks of the landscape. Beautiful mountainous landscape. Her phone, still working revealed it to be a rural area west of Vancouver.

As she walked the streets of a small rural town, she heard the sounds of a possible horde. Rounding a corner she saw the small horde of them. She remained quiet, noticing they didn’t see her. How could they? They’re dead. Though undead, the sense of sight has died but their sense of smell and hearing has heightened.

But a gust of wind hit them, giving them a big whiff of her scent.

“Shit.” She mutters under her breath.

The first walker in the group starts running after the scent, as did the entire herd.

“Time to put that cardio to work girl.” She coached herself as she took off.

The horde seemed to just grow and grow as she ran down the empty, lifeless road. A walker got close by nearly side swiping her, trying to flank her.

She focus’s on her escape, pushes herself harder the closer they got.

“Jared! Time to go!” she heard.

Seeing two men running out of an alleyway just as frantic as she was getting away from the horde.

“Jensen, there’s someone!” Jared shouted.

Jensen takes his hunters rifle and begins shooting some walkers to give her a cushion.

“Come on!” Jared waved her to join.

She didn’t question it.

She managed to reach the two men.

“Jensen, let’s go!” Jared shouts.

Jensen reloads his rifle as he turns to run away. Only reloading what he could before sprinting with Jared and Y/N.

They come to a fence, no gate in sight to allow them to go around the fence. But they see a whole big enough for two giants and Y/N.

Jensen crawls under first, lifting the fence a bit, Y/N goes through next.

The horde closes in, Jared hurries as fast as he could to get his pack on the other side before crawling.

Jensen didn’t need to be asked, he started shooting walkers.

“Come on Jared!” Y/N shouts, grabbing for his hand to help him out.

He started to yell as he kicked the few walkers that got a hold of his legs. But he got through the fence, nonetheless.

“You okay brother, they didn’t bite you did they?” Jensen drilled.

“No, I don’t think so. I didn’t feel it. I just freaked out mostly.” He said.

“Yeah, I would too.” Jensen says.

“And who do we owe the pleasure of joining our company?” Jensen asks kindly looking over at Y/N.

“Y/N.” She says. Clearly freaked out she just came close to being zombie chow.

“Y/N, this is—”

“I know who you are, I seen your show. Can we just get going?” she asked.

“Sure thing, lets get going.” Jensen says, picking up Jared’s pack for him. Jared seemed to be out of it, in his head.

“Maybe you could help us carry our loot.” Jensen asks, as he picked up a medic kit.

“Yeah.” She says, picking up what she could carry.

And they headed out on the paved road before turning on a dirt road into the woods.

Where are these guys taking me? She wondered.

 “According to the map, there’s a hold out not far from here.” Jensen says looking at the map.

“Are you guys from, like, a local settlement or something?” she asked.

“Oddly enough yeah, well it’s not close. It’s a few days walk, on a good day.” Jensen answers.

“Okay, how far is not far from the hold out?” Jared asked. “I’m exhausted man.” He adds.

“Right there, you can see it from here.” Jensen points.

From the dirt road, between some trees even with the sun going down she could see the cabin Jensen was talking about. Seeing the dark solid building behind the dark green trees that somehow are as alive as anything in the forest. Not even the undead can kill the forest.

They continued until they finally reached the cabin.

“Wait here.” Jensen says, drawing a pistol from his waistband.

Jared and Y/N waited on the porch of the small hunter cabin. Jensen headed inside; gun drawn as he searched the cabin for any signs of unwanted life.

“Clear!” he shouted as he entered the main room.

Jared and Y/N eagerly entered to get out of the brisk October night.

“I’m gonna clean up, I feel gross.” Jared says.

“You don’t look so hot, how about hit the hay, I’ll take watch.” Jensen says, giving Jared’s back a pat as he walk past Jensen.

“So, how’d you guys end up here in Canada?” Y/N asked.

“Wrapped up our show when the outbreak happened. It happened in Texas long ago, my wife and kids got here before it broke out here, same for Jared’s family, they’re up here to at our camp.” Jensen explained.

“What about you, how’d you end up here?” he asked.

“Just trying to find a safe haven from this mess. My home in Nebraska totally destroyed, it was a war zone of soldiers, citizens and walkers. My family didn’t make it.” she says. “Raiders.” She adds.

“Shit, I’m sorry.” He sympathizes. “Raiders are just as bad up here than anywhere else.” He says.

“I just want to be around living humans, not undead ones.” She says.

“I feel ya there, well, you are more than welcome to join our camp.” Jensen offers. “Don’t laugh, but everyone goes by nicknames there. Misha, we call him Cas.” He says.

She giggles. “That’s awesome.” She goes.

Jensen smiles, agreeing.

“Get some sleep Y/N, we got a long walk tomorrow, and I need you well rested.” Jensen says.

She nods. “I definitely need more than a couple of hours a night.” She says.

“I’ll keep you safe,” he says, as she settles for the couch.

He grabs a blanket from his large pack, unrolling it he lays it over her. “Get some rest sweetheart.” He says.

She hums with a smile. Feeling safe for once.

 Jared gets ready to lay down, he notices his leg with a nasty scratch. Turning a bright red, showing signs of a quick infection. Even signs of dead flesh already developing around the cuts in the flesh.

Looking up from his leg, with an anxious feeling he is infected. But shaking the thought with, the fence probably scratched him as he got up to soon or something.

He puts antiseptic and a bandage wrap around the scratch and tries to sleep for the night.

~

Feedback is much appreciated! Tags are closed

Jensen Tags:

@luci-in-trenchcoats, @supernatural-jackles, @becs-bunker, @backseat-of-deans-67chevy, @salt-n-burn-em-all​, @moonlight-on-her-skin​, @mlovesstories​, @winchesters-favorite-girl​

~

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[dreaming-of-assclass]

AssClass OC

*SOBS* SHE’S FINALLY DONE!! 😭

Trying to replicate the Lerche style was...painful and took forever lmao

I’m just gonna info-dump a lot about her under the cut! Honestly less than half of this is relevant, but I figured I’d include as much as I can so you can get to know her.

I’m not making a fanfic for her or anything: but she will pop up a lot in mini drabbles, art pieces, etc.

Kamiya Mai (神谷舞) - Possessing charisma and a knack for navigating around any type of terrain; Class E’s Investigator

“Bravery doesn’t come from nowhere. You have to be scared first to have courage.”

Description

One of the class moodmakers, Mai is fun, witty, and cares deeply for her peers. She puts her all into everything she does and isn’t afraid to stand up for others.

She has an extremely strong photogenic memory and a natural knack for exploring new places, gathering information and memorizing routes with ease.

She’s a skilled athlete as well, very quick, agile and able to use it to her advantage in assassinations.

Codename: Honeybee (ミツバチ/Mitsubachi), Sugino’s Idea

He’s been struck with disbelief after having breakfast at her house once and finding out she puts honey on her pancakes instead of syrup. Also the name is fitting overall, as her short temper and cute looks remind him of a honeybee.

Birthday: April 2nd

Height: 155 cm

Weight: 51 kg

Bust Size: C

Blood Type: B

Favorite Subjects: Art, Biology, History

Worst Subjects: Classical and Modern Japanese, Math

Interests and Special Skills: Skateboarding and exploring new places

Former Club: Calligraphy Club

Treasured Items: Her hat collection and art journal

Favorite Food: Iced Coffee

Bento or Snacks: Snacks

___________________________

Stats

Physical Ability: 4

Mobility: 4.5

Close-Range Assassination: 4

Long-Range Assassination: 2

Academic Prowess: 3.5

Characteristic Skill (Spy-in-Training): 4

___________

Karasuma’s Assassination Aptitude

Strategy/Planning: 2

Commanding/Leadership: 3

Execution (ability to carry out plans): 4

Technique (traps, weapons, preparations, etc): 1

Scouting/Intelligence Gathering: 6

Politics/Negotiations: 5

____________

Bitch-sensei’s Fashion Check

Mai has a very tomboyish, soft grunge style. She seems to be equally fond of pants and skirts, although prefers the former for the sake of mobility. Overall her style is street-savvy, and she’s most fond of pink, white, black, red, and gray tones.

School Uniform

With summer being the exception, Mai wears thigh-high black stockings with her uniform. She wears the uniform with little change besides that. Mai changes her hair up very often, but some common styles are space buns, pigtails, or half-up. She’s quite fond of hair clips and wear them everyday.

Street Clothes

Mai wears hats very often, and it drives me crazy. Why cover up that cute face of hers all the time?? She’s very fond of Doc Martens, and usually pairs those with leggings. On her girlier side, skater skirts are a good look for her. And paired with whatever, she seems to really like hoodies.

______________

Relationships

(All of these have so much depth, I’m gonna have to make a separate post o_o)

- Sugino Tomohito (addressed as Tomohito)

He was the first friend she made once she joined Kunugigaoka. They’re best friends and stick to each other often. She greatly supported him during the baseball game against the main campus, to the point that she joined it herself to keep an eye on him.

- Okano Hinata (addressed as Hinata or Lesser Hina)

They hit it off instantly, but upon learning they shared the same birthday, Mai joyfully declared them sisters. They’re very close and bond over a lot, especially sports and thrill-seeking. They can clash at times with their similar temperaments.

- Kanzaki Yukiko (addressed as Yukiko)

Their relationship had a very rocky start. Neither of them liked each other and had very differing natures. It wasn’t until the Kyoto Trip that they began to understand each other. After that, their friendship steadily grew and they became very close. They balance each other as opposites.

- Asano Gakushuu (addressed as Asano or President-kun)

After the first semester mid-term exams, Mai’s family decided to request tutoring for her, so her grades could stay fine/rise. Who else was assigned to her but Asano Gakushuu? It’s a challenge keeping 3-E a secret, but Mai enjoys teasing him and having conversations about anything. And Gakushuu won’t admit it but he does enjoy her company. They grow to have a friendship over the course of the year.

- Kurahashi Hinano (addressed as Hinano or Superior Hina)

They started out as casual friends for a while, but still got along super well. Then summer break began and they found each other to be great bug-catching partners. They have a lot in common, being excitable and chatty. Their conversations never end. Mai is glad there’s a biology nerd besides herself.

- Akabane Karma (addressed as Karma or Satan)

They’re very good friends, and surprisingly clicked fast! They have a lot of similar interests and occasionally, Mai will volunteer to help him in pranks. Karma loves to ruffle/mess up her hair, half out of fondness and half genuine enjoyment at her ire. He calls her “May-chan” in an exaggerated American accent to make fun of her. They can disagree at times but when push comes to shove, they’re there for each other.

-Kayano Kaede (addressed as Kaede, later Akari)

They’re definitely close friends and it’s just so obvious to everyone how much Mai adores her. She’s constantly hugging her, getting her pudding, etc. But more than that, Kayano was someone she could confide in and felt comfortable around. The reveal hits Mai hard, and she needs a while away from her. Once her anger fades, she feels more empathy towards Kayano than anything else. Their friendship repairs and grows stronger afterwards.

__________________

Members of the Kamiya family:

Mother: Professional Choreographer

Mai gets along with her mom and they’re quite close, being each other’s only immediate family. But they don’t have much in common and her mother’s demanding job doesn’t allow them to spend much time together. Mai has grown relying on outside friends more for company.

________________

A hidden side of Mai Kamiya

She loves biology...but anatomy and anything human body-related makes her very squeamish. She especially can’t handle the sight of blood or needles before feeling dizzy.

_______________

Extra notes:

^^ Actually that ties into a lot about her. She has really awful test anxiety, which is how she dropped down to 3-E. She either did poorly in the exams for her worst subjects...or in the final exam of 2nd year, she skipped school to avoid the test all together. That’s how scared she was.

She gets very nauseous and feels sick under a lot of academic pressure, especially in exams.

She’ll never admit this though. No, in every other aspect of her life, she tries her hardest to keep a brave face, look independent and strong and everything she doesn’t feel she truly is.

Before I forget to mention this, she transferred to Kunugigaoka in her second year! She met Sugino since they were in the same class, and he was the first friend she made. 

She has a lot of pride in things she is good at (sports, art) and it can push to the point of arrogance sometimes.

Will take any chance to prove herself, even if it’s reckless or stupid or ruin things. For someone who’s a moodmaker and loves people, she’s not the best team player but that improves over time.

Generally is easygoing and goes with the flow of the mood...but she can have a short temper, and go from 0-100 fast. Only if someone is insulting her or her loved ones though.

She’s pretty confrontational, but don’t be fooled: she’s more bark than bite. She’s a sweetheart deep down, and all her classmates know it.

She’s bubbly, cute, and a total chatterbox once she gets comfortable around people, and can drop her “cool rebel” facade

Very creative and resourceful UwU. Super quick-witted too.

But she also can be incredibly ambitious and has big aspirations for the future. She’s fairly realistic though.

Her biggest flaws are that she can be self-centered, very stubborn, rash, short-tempered, overdramatic, and slightly arrogant. She has little confidence in herself.

Her name “Mai” means “dance” and it was given by her mother, a professional dancer. She wanted to name her daughter after her greatest passion. Even though Mai grows to have absolutely no interest in dance lmfao. She complains about this but stops when she learns of poor Kimura’s plight.

She grew up speaking a lot of English within her family since her mother used to live in America so her language skills are great...but she is far from perfect at literature. She mostly just lacks the patience to analyze it and finds it boring.

And...that’s it UwU. Also just gonna drop this transparent version because I worked really hard on drawing her and I’m proud 💜

[omnipah]

Okay so. Since I brought it up before and also @campanulaflora​ has been Encouraging me I’m gonna go ahead and yell about The Communication Of It All cus. it’s good.

So like. obviously this is another one of those things that develops over time cus when ur nd and communicate in ways people consider annoying or nonstandard, it’s gonna take some learning even if u are Also nd. But this is why it’s so cool to me that wwx is actively trying to understand, and of course it goes both ways, though it takes lwj a while to notice that that’s what wwx is actually doing and trust that it’s sincere, but it ends up being the foundation of their relationship. Like, wwx consistently shows affection by infodumping or just bothering people, cus his love language is primarily about giving attention, while lwj is the kind of person who’s like. if he thinks ur cool he’ll just. be near u until he doesn’t want to any more. And by the time the timeskip happens, both of them have kind of learned to adopt each others’ love languages (like, lwj finding things he think wwx would like is his way of showing attention, and I think the way they play music together is another way of just Spending Time together that doesn’t leave wwx unfocused and fidgety), while also accepting that even if they express it differently, that’s the intent behind it.

But there’s something very sweet and earnest about seeing the two of them be a bit abrasive and make communication mistakes in the beginning, cus its pretty clear that there’s no like. nd network for either of them to pull understanding from, and all their later understanding is based on that very active intent to empathise and meet each other in the middle.

And like. a decent amount of the flashback stuff is also pretty good communication-wise, the exception mostly being whenever they talk about their own feelings about each other. When they’re actually doing something together, there’s an implicit understanding of how to function as a unit, because they have the previous experience to tell them that they’re working towards the same goal and they understand each others’ strengths and weaknesses, while also presumably being just. very good at reading each others’ body language. And when they’re talking about political stuff, they’re both pretty clear and well-spoken. The only time when it starts to break down is when wwx is being deliberately obtuse to push lwj away, which is both a misguided attempt to keep him safe and an expression of his fear that lwj doesn’t actually approve of him the way he’d started to let himself think he did.

Like, as far as I can tell, 90% of their communication issues stem from wwx being in a bad mental place and misinterpreting lwj because lwj doesn’t use his words, and normally lwj can trust that he’ll be understood by wwx, which is why he doesn’t really seem to know how to handle it when wwx starts like. projecting. That’s another thing tho, that he seems to have picked up on after the fact, cus all the times he sees that wwx needs unambiguous validation or clarity post-timeskip, he makes sure to use words when he probably wouldn’t have before. And that confirmation is part of what allows wwx to see his other gestures of affection as they’re intended, cus lwj making the effort to speak his language gives context for the larger pattern of behaviour.

Both of them do seem to just. decide to understand each other at some point, though, presumably cus it matters to them that their second chance doesn’t go to waste – the second time round, there’s no hesitation or shying away from vulnerability, and they both pay active attention to each other. Like it’s very cute and funny that they’re always staring at each other and/or gently clinging, but I think there is an extra layer there that they just. really really don’t want to miss something important that the other is expressing.

Which brings us to. the expressions. Cus lwj is such an excellent case-study in how autistics can be incredibly expressive, but completely ignored because their methods of communication are things people aren’t used to paying attention to. And like, we, the audience, are encouraged to understand him, cus the camera’s always on him when we need to notice that he’s reacting to something, and how, and it always shows us his reactions on his terms, which is usually a matter of where he holds tension or whether he’s relaxed. But it’s easy to see how someone who doesn’t care enough to pay attention, like jc, or someone who’s actively interpreting in bad faith, like su she, would miss those things if they didn’t bother to learn that those were significant to him.

Like. I get soft over lwj’s microexpressions as much as the next guy, but those are very much a part of a bigger picture. A lot of how he expresses himself is through his actions, which is most obvious when it’s something like just moving out of the way when he doesn’t want to be touched, but with him it’s also about potentially months-long patterns of behaviour, like how he consistently chooses to be around people he likes and avoid people he doesn’t. And there’s that delightful meta post about his speech patterns as well, which is super interesting for other reasons as well obvs, but also very much works as an in-depth analysis of how he’s clearly autistic, cus what it comes down to is that he’s super formal (i.e scripted), well-spoken and has a good vocabulary, while also being essentially semi-verbal, especially when he’s stressed. And like, combining that with the fact that he doesn’t move his face unless he has something specific and probably relatively extreme to communicate, he doesn’t make eye contact, and has suuuper strong morals, it’s. Very Very easy to see how someone who already doesn’t like him would use that to call him rude, or stubborn, or arrogant, and other people who are more neutral might just. decide he’s too much effort to get to know properly. Which is why wwx is so special to him, cus he not only made an effort (despite his own insecurities and unacknowledged nd needs) but he also helped lsz to understand how to get to know him in the same way.

And wwx kind of has the same problem for the opposite reason, cus his face is so mobile and he uses so many words, that people often miss the subtleties of like. what comes up a lot for him, or what he’s doing while he says stuff, or even just why he does or says the things he does. Like, in the same way as with people assuming lwj is arrogant because he prefers to observe and listen before expressing himself, people often say the exact same thing of wwx because he’s ‘too’ quick to express himself, especially when it’s a moral thing; people are always accusing him of virtue signalling or whatever instead of genuinely believing what he’s doing is right. I think, again, the fact that wwx spends so much time around lwj, combined with the fact that lwj cares enough to learn what he’s about, means he often sees a side of wwx that people don’t tend to, and he learns to read between the lines of what he’s saying. There is also the fact that wwx just kinda seems to be a pretty good actor, and generally knows how to make people overlook the things he doesn’t want them to see, so it takes some trial and error before lwj realises how unhealthily selfless he is, among other things.

[porkchop-ao3]

A Thrill I’ve Never Known (Chapter 54)

Play

Times are tough right now, aren’t they, folks? We all deserve a bit of fun smut to distract us for a while. So yeah, this chapter isn’t entirely smut, but its mostly... Specific tags: semi-public, oral, first-times

Enjoy! x

Tagging @emily-strange ❤

(All chapters tagged with #ATINK and also posted on Ao3, username PorkChop)

-

The next time I saw Arthur was after a couple of days, and he had just got back to camp and was trimming his beard. I hadn't seen him arrive since I was busy chopping vegetables, thankfully my leg was healed enough to stand on comfortably and I was taking advantage of my returning mobility by helping out. I still needed a cane to walk to give me that extra sense of stability, it was more because I was scared of tripping and landing on my wounds than an actual necessity. 

I approached Arthur when I was done with the vegetables and Pearson no longer required my help. 

"Hi stranger," I said, sidling up to him. I made him jump a bit by accident, and he turned to look at me.

"Oh, hey, it's nice to see you moving about, that leg's getting better," he commented, "I'm sorry I ain't been back in a couple days, I had stuff to do over in Annesburg and I didn't wanna keep riding back and forth, not through Murfree country," he explained.

"Oh, of course, can't be mad at you taking care of yourself. You bumped into any since we've been staying here?" I asked. He paused for a moment. 

"Yes," he said, but offered no elaboration. I didn't prod. "I'm heading down to the river for a bath before I leave you again," he said, his tone lightening up as he changed the subject. 

"What you gotta do next?" I questioned. He brushed his fingers over his chin, dusting away stray clippings of hair. 

"I gotta meet Sadie and Dutch in Saint Denis," he told me, putting down his scissors. Saint Denis! His insistence on tempting fate by going back there again boggled my mind until he told me his reasons. "Colm's being hanged."

"Colm O'Driscoll?" I balked. Arthur nodded. "Oh, my. And you're going there to watch?"

"I'm going there to make damn sure it happens. This ain't the first time he's been dangled off a rope, somehow his boys always manage to get him out of there. This time, he ain't getting away." 

"I'd love to come watch," I told him. Oh, to see the man who'd caused Arthur so much pain and caused the gang so much trouble swinging from the gallows, to hear his neck snap as the floor opened up, to see the colour drain from his face and the motion cease in his body… 

"You wouldn't," Arthur snorted, knowing me far too well. 

"The idea of it appeals, but right, I've never been able to watch that kind of thing," I admitted with a chuckle. Every time I happened to be passing a public hanging, I'd look the other way as soon as the lever was pulled. The truth is no matter what that sicko had done, watching death was not something I could take satisfaction in. 

"You coming to uh, keep watch while I bathe?" He asked after a moment, his voice quiet. 

"What am I watching, you?" I teased. 

"I ain't fussed where your eyes go as long as there ain't no nasty fellers passing by trying to start some funny business while I ain't got nowhere comfortable to holster a gun," he chuckled. 

I giggled and nodded, "I got your back."

"Come on then," he jerked his head and picked up a towel and some soap, and we headed down the slope towards the river. We walked down a ways until the area felt excluded enough, and Arthur held onto my arm the whole time to make sure I didn't slip. 

I sat down on a nearby rock as Arthur stripped bare, leaving his clothes with me. I smiled at his tan-deprived buttocks as he waded into the water, hissing at the cool temperature, his body tensing. 

"How's the water?" I asked sarcastically. 

"Let's just say there's a reason I ain't turning 'round yet," he said, his voice a little jerky as he shivered. I frowned. 

"Why's that?" I asked in genuine curiosity. He laughed aloud. 

"Never mind," he was quick to reply, then turned to face me once his lower half was submerged in the water.

"Hmm," I hummed aloud, still frowning.

"You'd be coming in with me if it weren't for the dressing on your leg," he said, changing the subject. 

"Why, do I stink?" I asked with a laugh. 

"No, not that I've noticed," he smirked at me. "But I could've just got used to it, you never know," he teased. 

"Don't even joke about it, that might be true." 

"If it is, we all reek. Don't worry about it," he shrugged in amusement, then dipped down under the water and scrubbed at his hair, rising up and shaking a spray of water in all directions. He lifted his hands, "throw the soap?" 

I tossed it, watching it plop into the water a short distance from his outstretched hands. He sighed and crouched, reaching around underwater for it, trying to grab it before the current took it away.

"Sorry, I never said I could throw," I called. 

"You can shoot an arrow straighter than I can and yet you can't throw a bar of soap?" He questioned. I smiled at him and shrugged. He managed to find it, and scrubbed the thing over his chest and under his armpits. 

"So what have you been doing while you've been out?" I asked. He blew out a stream of air through pursed lips and met my eyes. 

"A couple of jobs. I helped get those stolen horses back for Eagle Flies, then yesterday I went along with Bill to Van Horn," he told me, then dropped his gaze down and started washing his legs, "stagecoach thing. Explosives. Nothing good or exciting, I assure you."

"Charles said you met someone in Annesburg," I said. He hummed and nodded. 

"I saw someone I recognised when I took that girl home. Went to check it out," he said, his expression a little tense, "Mrs. Downes. Her husband owed us money, died before I could collect it. This was months ago. She paid off the last of the debt and now she's– well, she's doing things she shouldn't have to be doing just to get by." 

Arthur was ashamed, I could see it on his face. 

"I've tried to offer her some help but she ain't ever gonna forgive me, I know that," he added, and I nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry, you can't change other people's feelings," I said softly, and he nodded. 

"I don't… necessarily want her forgiveness. I just wanted to do something good for her, maybe help her get out of where she is– ain't a nice place for a lady and her son," he said, then looked a little nervous to say the next thing, "I, uh, I gave her some money. Not too much, just…" he trailed off. 

"That was kind," I told him, and he stared at me for some time. I frowned a bit. 

He recognised my confusion and cleared his throat. "Was worried you might be a little upset that I gave her money when I should be saving for you an' me." 

"I said I'd let you do what you gotta do. This included. I ain't mad, Arthur, money ain't anything I care about," I shrugged my shoulders and he watched me for a while before relaxing. 

"You're a good lady, a real good one. I don't deserve–"

"Don't start," I rolled my eyes and smirked in amusement, cutting him off before he could go there. I fought the grin trying to spread across my face and looked down to tweak the buttons on Arthur's shirt, smoothing my fingers over the fabric.

"Hey," he said, "look at me."

I did as he asked, meeting his eyes. 

"Once this is over you and me are gonna have the rest of our lives together," he told me. "We just gotta stop ourselves getting impatient."

"The rest of our lives," I repeated, letting the grin take over. "I hope I get to see you become an old, old man."

"What'chu on about? I am an old man," he gestured to his broad chest and soft yet toned stomach with his muscular arms and I cocked a brow at him. 

"You ain't old. I mean Uncle-old," I said, "at the very least."

"I ain't too sprightly," he shook his head. "I'm not like Uncle just yet but I'm sure starting to feel my age."

"Christ, Arthur, how old are you, exactly?"

He had to think for a moment. "Thirty-six. I think," he shrugged one shoulder.

"Thirty-six. And you're talking like you're in your fifties," I shook my head at him. He snorted and looked away, stretching as he tried to scrub his back with the soap.

I admired the way his arms and chest worked with his movements, pressing my lips together to resist the indulgent smile that wanted to appear. I wondered if it was bad of me to enjoy watching him so much, the poor man was only trying to bathe.

"You sure don't look like an old man," I told him, my voice coming out lower and a damn sight more sultry than I intended. 

"Mm?" He hummed lightly, the corner of his mouth lifting. 

"You look… handsome."

"Why'd you hesitate before you said that?" He let out a breathy laugh, his hand moving under water, between his legs, looking indecent only because I'd chosen to see it that way once my mind had begun to turn down an inappropriate path.

"Because handsome don't feel like the right word. Handsome is when you're wearing a nice shirt and vest, and you've put a little pomade in your hair," I explained, tilting my head, pausing as he ducked under water briefly again to scrub at his face and hair. "But when you're all wet and your hair's messy… I sure like looking at it but it's a different kind of nice," I grinned. 

"That's pretty complicated," he teased me, beginning to emerge from the water, apparently satisfied that he was clean. "But I appreciate the sentiment." 

"You ain't gotta be shy," I told him playfully when he cupped his privates with his hands, not allowing me a single glimpse of his entire body.

"I'm not shy," he chuckled, but still didn't move his hands. I looked around, the area was completely void of passers by, there wasn't an easy path close by so I doubted anyone would ever see him. 

"It's just me," I reassured him, holding the towel towards him when he got close enough, swapping it for the soap. 

"That's my point. It ain't a modesty thing, it's a pride thing. I don't wanna put any pictures in your head," he laughed, scrubbing the towel over his body, always careful not to flash a glimpse. 

"I am so confused," I said slowly, shaking my head like an idiot. 

Arthur was flushed since I'd basically cornered him into explaining. "The water's real cold, princess. Some things... get a little smaller. You don't need to see nothing."

"I'm perfectly satisfied with the size of everything on your body, I couldn't possibly be disappointed by anything you could show me," I smirked. "Come a little closer." 

"Why?" He asked suspiciously. 

"I won't look. But maybe I could…" I trailed off, my eyes dropping to the towel. "I could warm you up a little."

"You being dirty, sweetheart?" His face was a mix of surprise and amusement. 

"I'm in the mood for it," I admitted. 

"Out here?" His voice raised in pitch.

"You opposed to that?" 

Arthur glanced around. "Not really," he said, scrubbing the towel under his arms, still keeping the bottom of it hanging down over his groin.

"Come here then," I purred, and he slowly closed the gap. He stood just in front of me, his knees close to mine. He watched me intensely as my hand slid under the edge of the towel, my fingertips walking like little legs up his inner thigh. 

I could tell he wasn't breathing, but he let out an audible hiss of breath when my hand wrapped around him. I looked up at him to see his eyes flutter closed momentarily as I began to gently play with him, brushing my hand back and forth, rubbing my thumb in a feather light dance over the tip. 

"What– what're we doing? You want to lie down with me, want me to take you out here?" He questioned, his voice shaking a touch. 

"I want to play around, try something," I told him. "You ever had a lady use her mouth to make you feel nice?"

"Fuck, only once," he breathed. 

"Did you like it?" 

"Yes," he nodded easily and I smiled. 

"I liked it when you did it to me," I whispered. 

"You want that now? I can– I'm real happy to, I like doin' it," he stammered out, his cock filling out in my hand, twitching upright, lengthening. 

"I'm not asking you to do anything, I just want to play, for now," I told him.

I brushed the towel aside, exposing him. He didn't stop me and I leaned forwards to his belly, pressing kisses to his warm, soft flesh, moving sideways under his chest, lingering at the shallow hollow beneath his rib cage. I breathed over him, tilting my head until my forehead pressed against his chest. I looked down at my hand as it moved over him, and I paused briefly to slick my palm with spit. Arthur moved the towel completely, draping it over his shoulders as he hummed out his first audible moan. 

"This nice?" I asked, returning my lips to his body, kissing down over his abdomen, the toned line down the centre towards his navel. He exhaled his confirmation without hesitation.

His abs flexed when I brushed over a sensitive, ticklish part of his belly and a low, sudden grunt sounded above me. I brought my free hand to his body, stroking it up over his chest, my palms feeling the firm peaks of his nipples before I slid my hand all the way down. It slipped between his thighs, cupping and fondling him as my other hand picked up the pace over his shaft. My heart began to pound, and I turned my eyes upwards to see him watching me closely. His hand brushed over my cheek, up to my temple and through my hair. I exhaled softly at his pleasant touch, closing my eyes and kissing down lower, beneath his navel, down to where his hair became thicker and more coarse until my hand knocked into my chin and I realised how close I was… 

"Jesus Christ," Arthur exhaled almost inaudibly, his fingers burying themselves in my hair, scratching lightly at the base of my skull. "I feel like I'm gonna cum before you even start, watching you's getting me so worked up," he whispered. The corner of my lips lifted in satisfaction.

I loosened my hold on his cock, thumbed at the head and smeared the slick that gathered there as I slid my hand right down to the base. I watched as it twitched when the cool air met it, and heard Arthur's small, growl of a moan. I opened my mouth a little and tilted my head, leaning in to press a lingering open-mouthed kiss to the side of his cock, low down beside my hand. Arthur made a sound mighty close to a whimper and he rocked forwards on the balls of his feet momentarily before dropping back and letting out a stuttered breath. Warmth flooded and pounded between my legs and in my cheeks as I saw how aroused he was, how starved for the pleasure I could give him he was becoming. 

I kissed him again, and again, moving up his length towards the tip, where my lips lingered with the kiss. I turned my head to and fro, dragging my lips over the slick head and feeling his arousal coating my lips like rouge. Arthur released a series of high pitched ah's and I pulled back to look into his eyes as I made a show of licking my lips. I didn't know what to expect but the flavour that hit me was a mild one, just a little salty, and I resisted the instinct to make a content hum as if I'd just tried a new kind of food.

"Fuck, fuck," he whispered, licking his own lips and fidgeting on his feet. His cock twitched in my hand again, and a clear stringy bead oozed from the tip, dripping down before I could attempt to catch it with my tongue. 

"Oh my God," I breathed, my whole body tingling with intense, unignorable arousal.

I pushed forward, drawing my tongue over his cock, right down to my hand before tilting my head and retreating right back up to the tip. I encircled my lips around the end of it, immediately gaining a gasp and a jolt of Arthur's hips. I let out a sultry laugh at his reaction and he wailed out like he was going to cry. I'd never seen him like it before, not so intensely. 

"Please," he begged, his voice low and husky. Please? Please what? I thought to myself, sliding my lips down a little more. "Ah, fuck, that's it, princess. Good girl. How much can you– you're going real far, shit," he commented as I slowly took more of him into my mouth, being careful to keep my teeth away. 

I soon felt like I'd start to retch if I went any further and I froze, how on earth was I meant to tend to his entire cock? Was I even doing it right? It was supposed to go this far into my mouth, wasn't it? I was only assuming. I began to feel nervous, heart rate galloping again. I slid my lips back over the head, and he groaned when the tight ring of my mouth slid back and forth over the most sensitive part of him, and my hand began to stroke the rest of him. I sucked a little as I pulled back and Arthur's moan was loud and unbridled, so I did it a few more times, producing more and more intense reactions until I lifted my eyes to meet his, and suddenly the hand on my head pulled me off. 

He gasped, tensed, cock pulsating. 

"S-sorry, I nearly came and I didn't– fuck, it feels so good I don't want it to be over yet," he told me, and I let the relief slow my heart, for a moment I feared I'd done something wrong. "Okay… okay I'm good," he told me after a moment and I returned to him, taking him back into my mouth and sliding down. 

I went a little further than before, trying hard to relax so that I wouldn't gag. It was hard, my mouth watered profusely and I tried to swallow what I could before I started drooling all over the place like a mess. The act squeezed the muscles at the back of my mouth around him and Arthur's hips rocked forwards a bit as he growled out. I coughed as my gag reflex was triggered and I withdrew.

"Shit, princess, I never meant to do that. You alright?" He questioned, cupping my face and tilting my head up to look at him. I nodded licking my lips and looking into his eyes, watching them soften in concern before shifting into something more sultry and aroused at the sight of me. "Do you want to stop?" He asked, despite his clear enjoyment. 

"No, I like it. Just don't– try not to do that again. It'd be real embarrassing if I threw up," I laughed, out of breath. 

"I won't, I promise I'll have more control over myself," he whispered, stroking the sides of my head as I trailed my tongue around the head of his cock, then up and down the sides slowly, hearing his little hums and groans returning. "I'll warn you when I'm about to… I won't do it in your mouth," he told me. 

I hummed against the underside of his cock as I lifted it up, peeking up at him past his length. "I thought that was the idea of this," I murmured. 

"Not… not always. You don't have to," he said, shaking his head and looking down at me with glazed eyes.

"What if I want it?" I asked, tilting my head at him as I jerked him quickly, letting the head of his cock brush over my lips.

"Then you ain't gonna be waiting long, you keep talking like that," he shuddered, his eyes closing for a moment before opening again.

"I want to try," I whispered, flashing a sultry smile, "I always wondered what you tasted like."

"Oh fuck," he whined, breathing heavily. I wrapped my lips around him, chased my hand up and down his length with them, sucking on the draw back, using my other hand to play with his balls. "Ohh, I'm gonna cum," he sighed.

I moaned around him, spurred on. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying myself, how much gratification pleasuring him provided me with, my body throbbed and pulsed with pleasure and I felt so slick between my legs I must've soaked my drawers by then. 

"Oh baby, I love you, I love you so goddamn much," Arthur panted, his hand stroking back over my hair over and over, "I'm gonna– fuck, almost there. Almost– I'm cumming!" His voice was strangled as his cock started to throb and twitch inside my mouth. 

I felt a sudden flood of liquid, it hit the roof of my mouth and flowed down over my tongue, filling my mouth with a flavour far stronger than I'd tasted before, definitely salty, a little bitter. I swallowed it down as a knee-jerk reaction, mainly to get the foreign texture out of my mouth. My eyes closed in concentration as I drank him down with each throb and pump of his cock, until he was spent, just twitching rhythmically as his loud moans died down. I pumped my lips over him a few more times, wringing the last sparks and shudders from him before tonguing away any residual spend from his tip, opening my eyes to meet his.

"Jesus, fuck, princess," he sighed, sagging a little on his feet, swaying a bit.

I was breathless, staring up at him as my whole body buzzed with an indecent yet wonderful thrill. I was suddenly very shocked at myself, performing such an intimate and dirty act, and getting such a release from it that wasn't like an orgasm, but it was certainly something. I received a special kind of satisfaction and gratification when Arthur spilled into my mouth, riding waves of his own pleasure that I had brought him. 

Arthur recovered, panting as he bent down, tilting my head up and kissing me hard, his tongue probing enough for him to surely taste himself. He quickly dropped to his knees, dirtying himself up on the ground. As he kissed me his hands went to my skirt, lifting. I jolted and grabbed his hands to stop him. He must've forgotten about my current condition, I was bleeding, in no fit state to have such attention.

"No?" He questioned lightly, not needing to string together a whole question for us to communicate. I shook my head.

"I only wanted to do you," I whispered. 

He carefully placed his hands on my thighs and nuzzled his face into my neck, inhaling and kissing between words. "I'd like to do you," he returned, tone a low hum, "you don't want me to?"

"I'm satisfied," I whispered. "Besides, you know I can't," I added sheepishly. He seemed to remember, exhaling quietly.

"It's okay," he nodded, drawing back. "How was that?"

"What we just did?" I breathed, smiled. Arthur nodded. "I liked it."

"You did?"

"You seemed to enjoy it a lot, and that really does something for me," I admitted, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I did enjoy it a whole lot, you're real good to me," he pecked my forehead.

"You're gonna need another bath, kneeling in the mud like that," I warned, and with a groan he pushed himself to his feet. He sighed as he dusted his hands over his knees, not at all shy about standing naked so close to me, especially in comparison to earlier on. 

I didn't think when I reached out and pressed my hand to his chest, stroking down and feeling his muscles, humming pleasantly to myself. 

"You sure you don't need taking care of?" He smirked, seeing my handsyness for exactly what it was. There was no denying I was aroused. Still, the impulsive cloud had passed and I wasn't going to lift my skirts for him, despite his apparent willingness.

"I'm sure," I grinned at him, letting him go and handing him his clothes an article at a time so he could get dressed. "We should be heading back anyway, that's a long bath you just had." 

Arthur hummed in agreement, flashing me a dirty smile. 

-

Arthur left to meet Sadie and Dutch after having a quick bite to eat; a lump of pork he cooked over the fire himself on the end of his knife. He kissed me goodbye by the horses and I wished him luck, telling him to give Colm a wave goodbye from me. I spent the remainder of my day doing chores and trying not to scratch at my leg where it had entered the itching phase of the healing process; at least it no longer hurt.

I was taking a break with a cup of water and a little bit of chocolate Pearson had snuck me from the back of his wagon, I was discreet in eating it. There was not enough to share and it'd been so long since I'd eaten chocolate, I decided to be a bit selfish. So when I saw Tilly approaching, I shoved the last tiny piece into my mouth, screwing up the wrapper and pocketing it. 

"Why's it look like I've caught you doing something you shouldn't?" She smiled playfully at me as she got closer.

"Cause I'm sitting down doing nothing, don't you feel bad whenever you take a break?"

"Not at all," she huffed a laugh. She stretched out her arm, handing a letter to me. "This came for Arthur. Would you give it to him?"

"Course," I said, looking at the handwriting on the front of the letter. I knew who it was from.

"I think it's from Mary," she said with a bit of an unimpressed tone. I nodded in agreement. "God knows what it is this time."

"I'm a little shocked. When we saw her last things seemed to get wrapped up, Arthur told her how it was," I hummed, and Tilly sighed.

"Feels like there's something inside it," she noted. There was a hard lump between the layers of paper, and a squeeze had me recognising the shape. My eyes widened a bit.

"I think she got the message," I murmured, "it's a ring."

"Oh," Tilly's brows raised, "ouch. She didn't have to send it back, that seems a little… why make a thing of it?"

"I don't know," I shook my head, "maybe she thinks Arthur could do with the money," I snorted.

"Mm, maybe," she said, her tone low. "With a stroke of luck, that'll be the last he hears from her," she patted my shoulder, and with a sigh I slipped the letter into the pocket of my jacket. Tilly went to leave but I called after her. 

"Hey, Tilly. You mind sitting for a second?" 

She hesitated, only out of surprise, then turned back and took the seat next to me. "Sure, what's up?"

"Nothing, really, I just– how're you feeling?"

"Me? Well, you know, I'm just trying to get through each day just like everyone else. This place is like purgatory, though. I'm not liking it one bit," she told me with a heavy sigh, shaking her head and looking out across the camp.

"What do you think's gonna happen?"

"I think Dutch will figure it out. He always does."

"You think he still can? My understanding is this is far worse than it's ever been for the gang," I tentatively suggested, trying to figure out how much confidence she had in him after all that happened.

"I think he'll do his best, and he's never let us down before. He came back to us after Guarma, didn't he? He and the boys could've not looked back, sailed on off to some other country where the law wouldn't know nothing about 'em," she pointed out and I bobbed my head in consideration. Dutch, Micah, Bill… possibly Javier, I could see doing that if things were dire enough. But Arthur? Even if I didn't exist, I doubted he would leave the gang so stranded.

"I suppose so," I said anyway. "You really believe in Dutch, don't you?"

"Right now, I have to," she said, almost sadly. I rubbed my hand up and down her arm briefly. "What about you; how're you feeling?"

"I'm alright," I nodded, "I reckon I'll be fine as long as Arthur keeps on coming back. This is all way over my head, way more than I expected when I joined. But I'm sticking with it, just thinking of what's important."

"And what about Dutch? Do you trust him?" She asked. I was quiet for a moment, my eyes locked with hers for a few long seconds. 

"Well, it's like you said. He'll do his best. The rest of us? We'll just… follow," I said quietly. Tilly's lips parted, but she closed them again and nodded slowly. 

"Anyway, I better get back to my chores," she told me, putting on a small smile. I nodded and watched as she got up and headed away, glancing over her shoulder at me once. 

I sighed and dropped my head into my palms. 

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ @sasuhinabigflash2020​​ || Day Twenty-Two: Out to Dinner ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

[ Previous ] [ Next ] [ This piece is a sequel to Day Seventeen ]

To say that their meeting was awkward was...a bit of an understatement.

For months, both Sasuke and Hinata have lived under a rather unusual assumption: that they were each the last person left on earth. One morning they’d woken, made to address their family...only to find their homes empty. Their neighborhoods...empty.

The entire city - and presumably the rest of the world - completely and utterly empty.

And yet strange phenomena seemed to keep life running as normal. Electricity never wavered. Food in stores didn’t rot. To both, it felt like being trapped in a strange gap in time. A limbo they had been dropped into with no context, no warning.

But then, while each looking to plunder a local grocery store...they’d finally managed to cross paths, each completely taken aback at the knowledge that they were no longer alone.

That didn’t make it any easier to accept, however, the meeting standoffish and each seemingly wary and suspicious. But they’d exchanged numbers, agreeing to - should the need arise - communicate with one another.

And after a week...neither has dared bridge that gap.

Sasuke, for his part, has actually adapted to the loneliness rather well. At first he mourned his missing family deeply. While theirs had been far from perfect, having them suddenly vanish left him more hollow than he could ever describe. But after an intense two weeks that nearly saw him deciding to try and join them...he’d instead become resolute. So...he was left alone to survive on his own, was he? Then he’d do it...and do it well.

And for months he’d done just that. Managed his food supply, ensured the care and defense of his home (even if there was, assumably, no one to seek to harm it...one could never be too careful), and kept himself guarded and ready for anything.

...well, almost anything.

He’d mostly been simply scouting out parts of his city he didn’t know well, taking several large bags with him to grab whatever looked useful. He had closer places to find food. But he was there, and it was ripe for the taking.

Or so he thought.

Seeing the girl, Hinata, had startled him in a way he had in no way expected. So...he wasn’t the last. Maybe they weren’t, either. Perhaps there are more somewhere, just waiting to be found.

But Sasuke had already decided he was fine not knowing. Hinata was a surprise, and a pleasant one. But that didn’t inspire some inclination to go looking for others. He had his domain and his necessities. He was fine as he was, thank you very much.

...and yet…

Every time he checks his phone, seeing her contact information...he debates sending some kind of message. What would he even say…? They’re complete strangers. He knows nothing about her, let alone something to talk about.

And yet...he wants to. Not because he’s lonely, he assures himself. But just because he’s curious. And it’s something new. Something to break up the monotony.

So after a week of deliberation, he sends his first text.

You there?

Casual enough, right? And he manages to put the mobile aside rather than wait for an answer...which comes seven minutes later.

Sorry, was in my garden! Do you need something?

Well, no. He doesn’t need anything. Nope. Just checking in. Kinda weird, tbh.

A minute passes. Yes, I know what you mean. Odd to talk to someone after so long.

...he reaches an impasse. Now what…? How is your garden?

Good! It’s just flowers. I wanted to grow something edible, but...ran out of time. Maybe next year, if...you know.

Ah yes. Winter. The thing both of them have been dreading, wondering if any problems yet to surface may in fact rear their ugly heads. I bet you’ll get around to it. I dunno anything about plants, so...don’t ask me.

They’re not that hard to learn about. I could teach you, if you wanted?

That earns a blink. Sure.

...another awkward silence.

Can I ask you a really random question?

Sure?

Okay. Just act cool. Do you want to like...meet up or something? I dunno, just seems like maybe we should at least get to know the basics about each other, all things considered. Right?

To his worry, she doesn’t respond for several agonizing minutes. Did he ask too quickly? Is something wrong?

Yeah! Sorry, there’s some loose animals in my neighborhood and one of the dogs keeps coming into my yard and digging in the flowerbeds...

Sasuke blinks. Maybe you need a fence.

Ha, maybe.

I could help you build one. I helped my dad build ours a few years ago. I kinda know how it works.

...you would?

Sure. Not much else to do, right?

There’s a brief silence as she seems to mull that over. ...okay! I’ll make you some dinner to pay you back, okay?

You don’t have to do that.

No, but I want to. It’s only fair.

Well, seems there’s no changing her mind. All right. When would you wanna start?

Doesn’t matter to me! Like you say...what else is there to do?

Nodding to himself, Sasuke replies, How about tomorrow? I know where a hardware store is, and I have my dad’s pickup. I’ll get the stuff today and head over then.

Okay! I’m...kind of excited!

All right, see you then.

...okay. He’ll admit it. He’s a little excited. Mostly because this is his first real social interaction in months. So off to the store he heads, asking Hinata for details of what she wants.

It’s not like price is an issue. Mostly just effort. And Sasuke’s got plenty of that to spare.

She decides on a privacy board fence, just to make sure the animals keep out. And he even picks up white paint and brushes for them to make it match her house. By the time tomorrow rolls around, he’s more than prepared. Boards, posts, nails, hammers, paint...he’s got it all.

They get started early in the morning, Sasuke showing her the basics and letting her help...until she smashes her thumb with a hammer. She’s then directed to painting duty, covering up the boards as he gets them tacked up.

A few breaks are taken to drink lemonade she took to making before he got there, as well as lunch. But it’s dinner she promises will be what helps make up for all his hard work.

By early evening, they’ve actually gotten it all up. Hinata insists she can finish the painting herself the next day. “For now, it’s time for dinner!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” In truth? He’s starving. Been a while since he’s worked that hard, but it was nice.

Inside, Hinata’s gone all out. An entire ham is taken out of the oven alongside potatoes, salad, and a cherry pie.

“...I think you went a little overboard,” Sasuke observes, perking a brow as she blushes pink.

“I just...w-wanted it to be worth all you did today. I still don’t think it’s enough, really…”

“It’s fine. Like I said, it was something to do. If anything, I should be thanking you.”

The pair stand at an impasse before Hinata relents with a giggle. “Okay, okay...we’ll just call it even.”

Hinata, as it turns out, is a really good cook. Before Sasuke realizes it, he’s overeaten, having had two full plates of everything and feeling miserable.

“No room for pie?” she teases.

“Ugh, no…”

“Well, you can just t-take some home, then. Have it for breakfast tomorrow!”

He just nods, knowing he can’t tell her no. But he does help tidy up and put things away. “Think I might have to help you build fence more often if I get to eat like that.”

She flashes pink again, clearly pleased. “Y-you can come over any time! I guess just, um...give me a little warning.”

“Sure. Let me know if you need help with anything else.”

“I will! Thank you again.”

“Back at you.”

...an awkward silence blooms between them.

“Well, I...guess I’ll say goodnight…?” Hinata offers, sounding more like a question.

“Yeah. Have a nice night, Hinata.”

“You too, Sasuke. Drive home safe.”

“Not like there’s much traffic to worry about,” he counters with a grin.

“Still -!”

“I will, don’t worry.” Giving a wave, he returns to his father’s truck and revs the engine, headlights flicked on. The drive is quiet, and by the time he gets back to his house, the silence - after such a full day - is almost suffocating.

He stares up at the house he’s grown up in, seeing how dark all the windows are. How quiet it is. So, just to ward off the feeling, he shoots Hinata a quick text to let her know he made it back without incident.

Glad to hear it! Goodnight.

Night.

Considering his phone for a moment, he can’t help but wonder when would be long enough to wait to see if he can head back. Was kinda nice to go ‘out’ to dinner. He’s not much of a cook, himself. Enough to get by, but nothing like what they had.

He’ll just have to wait and see.

     I swear I tried to get this done last night but oof, my brain was not cooperating OTL I had a rather stressful day, BUT things are looking better today! So I’m gonna try to get at least one more drabble done today, if not more, cuz I am...very behind. I’ve just had a lot going on irl that makes sitting and writing difficult.      ANYWAY! This is more of the very random “last people on earth” verse I started with day 17. Our two stranded strangers are starting to become friends, seems like! No idea if I’ll do more of this for the rest of the challenge, but it’s a neat idea to explore. I just...don’t have much in way of a plot for it xD But hopefully it’s enjoyable nonetheless!      On that note, I’m gonna try to get another piece done. But thanks for reading this one, and I’ll see you guys later!

[fanfic-scribbles]

Heroic Gestures

Fandom: MCU Captain America/Avengers

Summary: Bucky saves you, you save Bucky. In different ways, but still– it’s all in a day’s work for a couple of heroes.

(Shut up Steve.)

Quick facts: Romance – [established] Reader/Bucky Barnes/Steve Rogers – Nondescript Reader

Warnings: Some Reader peril, liberal usage of humor in a scary situation, little hurt and much comfort

Words: 2259

A/N: If you’re currently going ‘what gives, didn’t I see this this morning?’ yeah, that was a ‘whoopsie’ on my part; I posted it, had some technical glitches, tried to fix it on mobile while I was at work and borked it to the point where I had to delete it and wait until I got home. I promise I’m not spamming, I’m just technologically inept. Also anybody who can edit posts on mobile is smarter and braver than me <3

      ~

  Today had been going so well– you ran some errands, you cleaned the kitchen, you changed the password on Bucky’s computer so he can’t skip out on quality time with you when he gets home from his stupid SHIELD thing–

“Where is it?”

You're not sure how an otherwise mostly-pleasant morning has topped off with you tied to a chair in the middle of your ransacked living room, but you are going to kick somebody for it.

“I don’t know what ‘it’ is!” you snap and then gasp when the man’s face contorts in anger. Okay, easy; don’t piss off the guy with the gun sitting in arm’s reach. “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about; I don’t, I swear.”

He sighs like you’re the dumbest person he’s ever met. Rude. You could say a lot of things about a guy who breaks into someone else’s home, throws everything all over the place, and then starts asking where something is without telling the person he’s asking what he’s looking for. But you won’t. Mostly because he has a gun. And a knife. And a lot of muscles. Really, you’re more of a lover than a fighter, and you intend to keep it that way.

Unfortunately the man in front of you has a face only a mother could love, and a personality that you hope no one would care for. He grinds his teeth and takes a deep breath, which is good, you think. “Earlier today, Tony Stark came by and dropped off a package,” he says slowly. He raises both of his thin eyebrows. “Ring any bells?”

Ah, Tony. You are so kicking him later. “Honestly, no,” you say, because it is unfortunately not uncommon for Tony to just ‘drop in’ from time to time to do things like leave weird ‘presents,’ or upgrade your security system without asking, or stick rude notes that are too funny to get mad at on the refrigerator. Steve and Bucky don’t know how he gets in. Well they should be happy to not-know that you are so revoking his key after today.

The man grips your chin to painful degrees. “I don’t!” you insist, panicking that this is about to get way worse. But then he suddenly lets go.

And then he hits you. Hard enough to turn your head. Hard enough that half your face starts to throb. Despite your attempts to keep cool, you tear up a little. “I wasn’t even that rough,” he says and yanks your face back into line. When he does you catch a glimpse of someone lurking in the shadows– and the familiar glint of metal makes you able to breathe again.

“It can and will get worse,” Big Ugly tells you very seriously. You almost smirk, because yeah, it’s going to. And you hope Bucky lets you get a kick of your own in for good measure. But Bad Guy lets go of your face and sits back, smug and self-satisfied. For now. “Now– what did Stark give you?”

You sigh. “If Tony left anything then it would probably have been for one of the other two Avengers I live with. You’ll have to ask them.”

The man’s eyes flit suspiciously, but he doesn’t look around, even as he acquires a large and menacing shadow. “Oh really?” he asks sarcastically, like he doesn’t believe you have even so much as a roommate. In a brownstone. In Brooklyn.

Tourist.

“So where are they?” he asks and leans just a little too far back, away from you, and towards–

Bucky strikes, metal arm like a shining silver cobra, and grabs the other man by the throat, hauling him up over the chair he’s sitting him and pulling him back gagging and gasping and flailing so your beautiful specter can growl into his ear, “Right. Here.”

~

“I can’t believe you didn’t let me kick him.”

“I didn’t want you anywhere near him,” Bucky mutters and keeps dabbing at your face. You didn’t even feel the blood so you must be cleaned up by now, but repetitive motions can help soothe him when he’s like this, and right now Bucky looks like he’s a million miles away. “Steve’s gonna kill me.”

Steve will do no such thing and you both know it, but it doesn’t seem like a particularly comforting fact right now. “He’s gonna have to go through me,” you say and put your hand over his to hold the cloth there. “How are you feeling?”

He gives you a Look. “I punched him.”

“So pretty good then?”

You catch a hint of a smile before he dips his head down low. “Hey,” you say and hold his face, bringing him back up. You rub familiar stubble with your fingertips and cradle his jaw in the palms of your hands. “It’s not your fault. He came because he saw Tony. It’s not Tony’s fault either. It’s his fault. You saved me. Nothing really terrible happened. Breathe, baby.”

He does. He doesn’t look all that happy or relieved about it, but it’s not your place to harangue him out of having emotions.

“That said, maybe I can get Tony to do a drop off in an Amazon locker next time.”

Harangue, maybe not. Encourage some others, definitely yes, and Bucky rewards you by breathing a brief laugh. He then shakes his head and goes back to dabbing your face. “Steve is going to kill me.”

~

You should have bet on it because when Steve comes home a couple of days later, Bucky walks in right behind him completely hale and hearty– much like Steve, who predicts your running jump with such aplomb that he drops his bag to the floor just in time to catch you. “You’re okay!” you say, legs wrapped around his waist, and you kiss him several times over while he takes you over to the couch and sits with you on his lap.

“Likewise,” Steve says and runs a gentle hand up the side of your face. You didn’t think you looked that bad, but he adds, “Bucky told me what happened. How are you feeling?”

Bucky is currently lurking in the big armchair off on the side, watching the two of you like he’s afraid to interact. You hope he got his kisses in when he greeted Steve at the airfield. Actually, scratch that– you hope Steve got his kisses in, because Bucky is full-on into self-flagellation mode for not having been psychic about a wanna-be terrorist stalking Tony for a delivery the boys weren't even expecting.

Still, you try. “I’m fine. Bucky swooped in, all knight-in-shining-armor-y, and saved me.” You smile at Bucky while still addressing Steve. “I’m no shrinking violet, but I felt braver when I saw him.”

Bucky perks up from his busy ‘Sit Morosely in a Chair’ activity. “Really?”

“Mm hm,” you say, still enthused with running your hands over Steve’s. Luckily he never seems to mind how touchy you get after a mission.

“I’m sure you were brave,” Steve says and brings up your hands to kiss them.

“Nope!” you say, too cheerful on purpose. You sit back on the couch and drape your legs across Steve’s lap. “So, here’s what happened: one day while I was out, completely unbeknownst to me, Tony came over and dropped something off.” You put Steve’s hands on your thighs and pat them. “And don’t worry; I have since talked to Tony about dropping by when one of us isn’t home.”

“So have I,” Bucky mutters.

“Shush! This is my story,” you say and shoot Bucky a glare. He crosses his arms and looks away, so you clear your throat. “Anyway. Unbeknownst to Tony, he was being watched by someone else. Dundunduuuu–”

“AIM,” Bucky murmurs and you glare at him again. He puts his hand to his mouth.

“So, I got home after running some errands and one of the mysterious evil people watching the house decided to make their move,” you say, but Bucky looks so sad again you think…why not have a little fun with it. “He forced his way into my apartment, but I held him off…” for five seconds, but you punch the air and say, “–with my untapped assassin powers!”

Steve lets out a startled laugh and Bucky looks at you like you’re crazy, but he’s stopped looking sad, so you run with it. You nod emphatically. “Yes, to my surprise, I held him off with magically discovered physical ability that would make even Natasha say “whoaaaa.’”

Bucky snorts and his hand is less for showing you he’s going to behave and more for covering up a smile. That’s way better, and totally worth the pain you’ll endure if Natasha ever finds out your impression of her sounds more like Bill and/or Ted than her. You grin and continue with your story. “We fought for hours. I was amazing.”

“Well, I have seen you catch a chip when it started to drop on the other side of the room,” Steve says thoughtfully.

You snap your fingers and point at him. “See? Same motivation.” You then mock a swoon. “Alas, my hubris got the best of me and I was defeated. I awoke, tied to a chair.” You put your hand to your chest. “My own fault; I underestimated my lesser-but-still-formidable opponent. So, he interrogated me. It was kind of scary, but I gave him nothing.” You lift your hands when you shrug. “Mostly because I didn’t know shit. But! Also because I’m brave and stout of heart and yadda yadda.”

Steve is doing real bad at trying not to laugh, and Bucky, though more composed now and trying to be stern, is cracking fast. Good. “And then.” You clasp your hands over your heart as though to keep it in your chest. “Bucky came out of the smoke and shadows and loomed over my lesser-but-formidable opponent.”

“We have a smoke machine?” Steve asks.

“Nope. He was just that awesome,” I said. “I was pretending to cry, to catch my lesser-but-formidable opponent off-guard. It totally worked; he was such a dummy. And then– and then!” You sit up because you’re at the best part, and Steve wraps an arm around your waist to help you stay steady on the cushions. “So I told my lesser-but-formidable opponent that Tony didn’t give me anything, but if he did it would be for the two Avengers I actually do hang out with–”

“‘Hang out with,’” Steve scoffs and pinches your thigh. You yelp and fall against him to make him stop.

“I’m at the best part!” you say and cover his mouth. He takes your hand and starts kissing it, but he’s paying attention (and it feels nice) so you allow it. “So- so he says, ‘where are they?’ and Bucky– cape flowing, lightning striking, shadows casting over his face–”

“Did I have a rose whip too?” Bucky asks dryly.

“I think you would look fetching in a domino mask, but that’s neither here nor there. Anyway, so- so Bucky says–” you drop your voice almost as low as you can, “‘–Right. Here.’ And POW! WHAM!” You swing, making punching motions at the air, so hard and numerous that you almost fall off the couch. Steve is still holding you and at one point he keeps you from diving face first into the floor. “Thanks,” you pant and take two more big, deep breaths to get back to baseline. “And then I totally forgot I had magical badass powers and let Bucky handle the situation, and he beat up the bad guy, and untied me, and I fell right into his arms because he’s my hero. And then some other boring stuff happened. The end!”

Steve claps and Bucky joins him, and you stand up to take a bow, as is your due. You then hop over and sit across Bucky’s lap. It’s hard for Bucky to mope with someone draped over him, as you have well learned from watching Steve. “You’re amazing–” you kiss him, “–and strong–” you kiss him again, “–and I love you so–” kiss, “–deal–” kiss, “–with–” kiss, “–it,” kiss kiss kiss.

“Fine! Fine,” he grumbles but he can’t hide that smile from you. “Shouldn’t you be harassing Steve? He’s the one who hasn’t been home.”

“I have a solution for that,” Steve says, suddenly next to you, and he lifts you into his arms.

“Hey!” You smack at his hand. It’s one thing when you’re making him catch you, it’s another thing when he initiates. You're supposed to be in charge, dammit. You’ve said so.

“I need to thank my heroes for taking care of the homestead while I was out,” Steve says and nuzzles your neck, dipping down to kiss and nip at your collarbone. You shiver and even Bucky looks entranced when Steve lifts his head and says in a deeper voice, “Are you in, Sergeant?”

Bucky manages a barely intelligible “yes” as he stumbles to his feet and follows you both to the bedroom. Steve doesn’t ask you but, admittedly, he doesn’t have to. You’re easy and you’re pretty okay with it. Also, you feel like after this week you deserve to be doted on a little bit. And you know you will be.

It’s good to be a hero.

However if they try to start dragging you to the gym with them, you’re going to show them some actual secret ass-kicking abilities.

[imaheckinlee]

A/N: Me? Having the confidence to finally make a blog and post something? I don't believe it either. This is the first tk fic I've ever written, so take that as you will. Also im on mobile so sorry for the lack of read more

Ship: Antiaverage

-----------

Anyone with /ears/ knew that tickling was something common between the septic egos.

Anyone that spent more than a few hours around them would see that Anti was the reason why.

He was a true monster when it came to this. Anti knew every single death spot, every technique that could get an ego to beg for mercy, and being the glitch bitch he was, he was good at sneaking up on them as well. Normally, it was playful and only lasted a few minutes, when Anti noticed someone being in a bad mood or just wanted to hear a laugh. Normally. But if you ever got on Anti's bad side, you had better hide and prepare to scream until your voice was hoarse and you couldn't even remember your own name.

Anti knew that it wasnt exactly conventional for him to do this all the time, but no one complained (most of the time). Whether they enjoyed it or just were too scared to tell Anti to back off, he was happy to continue.

99% of the time, Anti was perfectly fine with this arrangement. Watching other people scream and laugh under his touch was probably the least cruel sadistic action he could take against the others to make sure none of them considered him too soft. Though it didn't always work, especially around Chase for some reason. Chase always joked around with Anti like they were best friends or something, and it drove the green man absolutely insane. /Not/ because Anti was 'feeling' something for the other ego or any shit like that, mind you; he was just annoying. It didn't take long for Chase to start getting more attacks than the others, even up to them being daily. Slowly things turned from a minute or two, up to fifteen minutes no matter how much Chase begged. Anti couldn't say he hated spending more time around the other, though if anything it just caused Chase to spend more time around him.

Only when Anti was around Chase did he start to imagine what it would be like if their roles were reversed.

Anti had always been the scary monster. No one had ever even attempted to tickle him before, so he had no idea if it would even work. But the thoughts were there, and they because more persistent every day. Even to the point where Anti couldn't look at Chase in the eyes without thinking of them together, Chase wrecking him and then their lips connecting and-

Stop. Never gonna happen.

Or so he thought.

On this particular day, Anti had somehow managed to discover a new spot that was even worse than Chase's underarms: his hips. While the previous was met with melodious cackling, the latter was sporadic screeches and silent laughter that clearly drove Chase insane. God, that face he makes when hes so happy... /If/ Anti had feelings, hed be destroyed right now. Though that thought didn't stop the bright green blush rising to his face, even rivaling Chase's redness at all the teasing.

"What's wrong, Chasey? Too ticklish for your own good? Do you like this spot?"

This was the one time Chase was unable to even speak, just shaking his head as he continued his feeble attempts to squirm away. But with Anti literally sitting on top of your legs, that was virtually impossible. Chase had even given up trying to use his hands to push away the attacker, resigning himself to covering his face and beating the floor. Lucky him that Anti's room was soundproof.

Not more than a few minutes later, Anti was once again losing his focus and his mind began to wander, causing him to reluctantly let go of Chase and crawl off as the other immediately curled into a ball, still giggling his heart out. "Alright, I think you deserve some mercy." For now, Anti was just going to have to plop onto his bed and wait for Chase to leave. Give it time, and this feeling will go away.

Except Chase was, for some reason, being an utter pain once again and decided to sit on Anti's bed instead of leaving. A low growl could be heard.

"What do you want, bitch?" Anti could only glare at Chase. Had it been anyone else, they'd have run away by now. But not Chase. He just laughed.

"You're usually... More energetic. After that." Chase couldnt help but to blush even more just mentioning what had happened, and Anti smirked at him.

"Aw, you're concerned for me, how cute." It shouldn't have been possible for Chase to blush more. "I'm fine. So back off and leave before I start on you again."

Chase grimaced at the thought, but it didn't last long as he just kept questioning Anti over and over. Why couldn't Chase just leave to let him suffer in peace?

"Seriously, you're in such a bad mood now..." Something flickered in Chase's eyes, and Anti's heart rose as his stomach dropped at the same time. "You know what happens to people in a bad mood?"

Of course Anti knew exactly what happened to people in a bad mood. He's the one that started this insanity to begin with. If Chase didn't know better, he'd have thought a nervous smile flashed on Anti's face. "Don't you even dare. Or you'll be punished for real next time."

"Kinky." If that word wasn't enough to make Anti flush green, the quick poke to his side sure did the trick. Anti truly didn't even know if he was ticklish or not; however, considering he jumped off the bed and nearly fell on the floor, the answer seemed to be obvious. "Oh my god-"

"Shut up, bitch, /don't/ even try."

Once the floodgates were open, there was no way Chase was going to stop now. Contrary to what the glitchy man believed, all the stunts Chase had done resulted him being far stronger than the others, even Anti himself. It wasn't difficult at all to tackle Anti and sit on his waist with an evil smile, starting to wiggle his fingers in Anti's face. God, he's never blushed so much in his life.

"So. Soundproof room, huh?"

Anti didn't even have time to respond before Chase immediately shot to Anti's side, pinching the right and scratching the left as laughter immediately started pouring out. /No one/ had even heard Anti's real laugh... Only the false evil one he put on. Chase had known about his feelings for a while, but now... He was absolutely gone.

"MOTHERFUCKER-" The yell snapped Chase out of his daydream as he joined in on the laughter, moving one hand to Anti's stomach while the other crawled up to his ribs. "IHIHIHM GOING TO KIHIHILL YOHUHU"

"Aw, you wouldn't though. You're such a softie, we all know it. Especially now! Who knew the big bad Antisepticeye was so ticklish?" That was the first time Anti had moved his arms, trying to hit Chase on the mouth to get him to shut up since he couldn't speak. Interesting how he hadn't tried to actually stop Chase from doing this...

Maybe he'd found the source of the bad mood after all.

Finding the stomach to be a weak spot, Chase focused on scratching and squeezing there as Anti attempted to curl into a ball to protect himself.

"Uh uh uh! You don't wanna make me stop, do you?" With one hand forcing, Anti's head was back on the pillow and his arms out of the way as Chase focused right around the bellybutton. By the point, Anti was hysterical; he was screeching, crying, blushing green from head to toe, and having the best time of his life.

"Alright, last bit, I promise." Chase gave Anti ust a few seconds to breathe, taking in the sight of his hysterical face. And the /giggles/. Chase could kiss him right now. Anti was just about to talk when Chase quickly pulled up his shirt, and blew the biggest raspberry he could.

"FUHUHUUUHUCK" Not even Anti had ever done that before! That was just extra cruelty on Chase's half. The laughter turned completely silent as Anti hit his head against the pillow. Once Anti's shirt was back down, Chase collapsed on top of Anti with a deep breath.

Instead of the revenge he expected for putting Anti through that, Chase heard only a mumbled word. "...thanks..."

"...what?" Anti only shot a hand over Chase's mouth, which was promptly licked to remove it.

"Don't ever tell anyone about...this."

About Anti being ticklish? About the fact that Anti had actually enjoyed it? Or at least enjoyed it from him?

Chase didn't have the chance to ask, because in seconds he was shoved out of Anti's room and the door locked.

...shit. Maybe he does like Chase after all.

Though the two wouldn't admit to their feelings until months later, this scenario became a pasttime for them, one that repeated dozens of times. And no one knew.

Well, except Jackieboy Man, since he lived next to Anti. Who then told Marvin. Who then told Schneep. Who then told every ego he saw.

But that's another story.

-------

I'm gonna tag some people I look up to in this community

@thetickleeraven @cefsticklestoo @fluffymary (sorry if you're not in this fandom, I'm mostly sanders sides just not for this. I'll be reblogging your stuff a lot soon probably)

[luxusnoname]

A Long Forgotten Ache, Pt.1 (Xigbar/Vexen)

Summary: Being a Nobody is easy without all of those messy emotions weighing you down. Still, Xigbar gets to thinking and maybe he misses it a little. Or, rather, he misses someone. But he never goes about things in a straightforward way. The first half of a two part fic.

Characters/Pairings: Xigbar/Vexen

Rating: T (swears, fighting & some blood, nbd)

Word Count: 2.6k

Author’s Note: Part two is technically done, but I definitely want to do some quality edits before posting. Both parts were actually written last year with inktober prompts, but ended up fitting together nicely as one story. I made a lot of improvements to this portion and want the continuation to be on that same level. So in the meantime… Happy 2/4 ^^

~~~

A Long Forgotten Ache

When Xemnas asked Xigbar who he wanted with him on a recon mission in a world with no magic, the freeshooter was perhaps too quick to volunteer Vexen. He could tell that answer wasn’t exactly what the Superior expected.

“Are you… Quite sure? You wouldn’t rather have Xaldin or Lexaeus accompany you?”

“Look, I know he’s the resident egghead and not exactly our best fighter, but he’s the only one around here with an eye as sharp as mine. Well, almost.” Xigbar grinned and pointed to his good eye to reinforce the point. “Yeah the other two have brute strength, but I could really use his intuition on this one.”

That, of course, was only part of the reason. Vexen was also incredibly fun to agitate. The rise he could get out of him wasn’t the same as it used to be, but it was better than anyone else in the Organization. Plus, they hadn’t spent much time together since becoming Nobodies. He would lie if he wasn’t a little curious as to how much of Even was still left. But personal curiosity and entertainment didn’t make for a good argument, so he said nothing more.

Xemnas hummed to himself, considering. “I suppose that would work. But see to it that he’s capable of defending himself without his magic, should there be any difficulties on the mission. You’ll depart at the end of the week.”

Xigbar gave a flippant salute as he summoned a corridor to the academic’s lab. “You got it, boss.”

As expected, Vexen was less than pleased with Xigbar’s request. Something about his talents being best utilized for research, having no interest in a fruitless recon mission, and honestly Xigbar kinda stopped listening at that point because it turned into a full on laundry list of reasons why he had better things to do and he would not be wasting his time with this.

“See, but here’s the thing,” Xigbar cut in a few minutes into the scientist’s rant, knowing full well he’d be there all day otherwise.  “I’m not just asking you politely. These are orders straight from the top.”

Vexen sputtered, nearly dropping his beaker full of who knows what chemical. “Lord Xemnas himself picked me for this assignment?”

“Well, I made a case for you but yeah, boss man’s orders.”

Vexen finally turned from his experiment and narrowed his eyes at the freeshooter. “If you made a case for me, then I suppose my only way of getting out of this is to make a case against myself. Provided, of course, that’s an option.”

“Heh, you’re welcome to give it a shot,” Xigbar shrugged, “be my guest. But I really doubt he’s gonna budge on this one. I was pretty convincing.”

“We’ll see about that…”

In the next morning’s meeting, Vexen made his case. Or, rather, he tried to make his case. It had only been five minutes and most of the Organization was tuning out. Luxord shuffled and cut his deck, starting up another game of solitaire. Xaldin leaned back in his seat, appearing to nap with his eyes closed. Zexion rolled his eyes as the others quietly chatted amongst themselves. Eventually Xemnas cleared his throat, interrupting the academic and regaining the attention of the meeting.

“While your research is of remarkable importance to the Organization, so is this mission and every other mission we undertake. Do you mean to suggest that the orders I give are frivolous?”

“Of course not, but Lord Xemnas-”

The Superior shot him a withering glare that silenced him once and for all. “My word is final, Number IV. You are going on this mission and I’d rather be certain that you’re prepared for it. Whatever form that preparation takes is up to Xigbar.”

As Xemnas disappeared from the room, uncomfortable glances were exchanged among the remaining members before leaving to begin their own missions. Xigbar shot Vexen a smug grin, receiving an irritated huff in return.

After the meeting, the scientist pulled him aside in the Grey Area. He was slightly subdued after Xemnas’ scolding, but Xigbar could tell if he had emotions that he’d be fuming inside.

“While I believe our Superior has far too much confidence in you, I have no other choice but to comply. So how would you like to do this?”

His lips curled into a cheshire grin. “Meet me back here later tonight and I’ll brief you on the mission. Tomorrow morning, we’ll spar so I can test your readiness.”

Vexen gave no indication that he would comply as he stomped off into a corridor, but Xigbar knew he would show. He may grump and argue until he’s blue in the face, but he followed orders. That was one thing that hadn’t changed about him. About Even.

Xigbar caught himself smirking - no, smiling - at the thought of the academic’s Somebody name. Huh. Despite it all, maybe he hadn’t changed much himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning found Xigbar waiting for Vexen in the Hall of Empty Melodies. It was his favored room for training because of all the different ways he could manipulate it with his spatial powers, but he also found himself going there to organize his thoughts when his own room became too stifling. He perched himself on the balcony, one knee drawn nearly up to his chest and the other dangling over the edge.

It wasn’t often that Xigbar found himself pondering his past life. He was essentially still Braig, after all, just without all of those messy emotions. And boy had Braig been a mess. Drifting through life and never getting too attached to any person or place for long, bonds weren’t really his thing. It was strange when he found himself becoming one of the Apprentices. 

Ansem was never much more than his employer, to be honest. The man had taken him in, sure, but the guy was the king of Radiant Garden. To consider him a colleague would have been laughable. Really, he spent the most time with Dilan and Aeleus. They were two of the only people he’d ever considered friends. He got on their nerves and he knew it, but he never pushed it too far (though they might argue with that.) But they never got seriously upset with him. Not like Even.

Even. The academic was skeptical when Braig showed up. Understandably so, but did the cold shoulder really have to be so cold? It was no surprise that the man was a master of ice magic; everything about him was frigid, from his stuffy posture to the very air around him. But it only made Braig want to get closer, to get past the ice and warm him up… 

Heh, now those were some thoughts he hadn’t had in a while. All in all, it hadn’t been too bad there at the end. He had coworkers and a routine and a life. A place to call home, despite never having asked for any of it.

And then he gave it all up.

Did he regret it? Sometimes.

There were moments, when they began falling to darkness, when he considered the consequences of his actions. He hadn’t meant for them to be caught up in everything, but then again, how could it have been avoided? He never once went back on his word to the old man, but he’d be lying if he said there were never nights where the guilt gnawed at him, moments he looked at Ienzo and saw a boy that would never truly grow up because of him.

But that was the old life. He stirred out of his thoughts and assessed the room below him. Vexen wasn’t there yet, but would be showing up soon. Xigbar dropped down onto the main platform. He wasn’t sure what to expect from this fight, but he was hoping to be surprised. 

Even had never been the physical type, relying on his magic for self defense. But there was a noticeable difference between Even and Vexen. Despite lacking emotion, there was something about him that suggested fire beneath the Nobody’s icy surface. Or so Xigbar hoped.

“Apologies for being late, I didn’t want to be here.”

Xigbar smirked at the approaching scientist. “About time. I was starting to think you got cold feet and stood me up. You ready?”

“If I have to be,” he grumbled.

With a nod, Xigbar unzipped and shrugged off his coat. The freeshooter still had the standard uniform of black shirt and pants on underneath, but made a show of dramatically rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck. He snuck a look at Vexen, who was watching with no expression save for a raised eyebrow.

“You failed to mention we’d be disrobing for this,” he muttered, his eyes drifting up and down Xigbar’s form. The freeshooter wondered if he was conscious of it or not.

“C’mon, you call this disrobing?” Xigbar barked out a laugh, peeling off his gloves and throwing them down. “Don’t tell me you’re going commando under there.”

“Well of course not, but-”

“It does wonders for mobility, trust me.”

With an exaggerated sigh, Vexen grumbled to himself as he shed his own jacket. Xigbar couldn’t recall ever having seen the man’s arms bared before - well, mostly bared. His broad shoulders had always been obvious, so it shouldn’t have been too surprising when the scientist wasn’t as scrawny as he’d imagined. Of course, Xigbar couldn’t really talk because apart from Zexion, he was definitely the smallest of the Apprentices in both stature and mass. He gave an appreciative nod before getting into a fighting stance.

Vexen copied the motion as best he could. His form was a little loose, suggesting the lack of experience that Xigbar had expected. But that’s why they were there, right?

He knew the answer before he even asked, but gave Vexen the benefit of the doubt anyway. “You ever done this before, Snowflake?”

“No,” he admitted, “but I don’t seem to have much of a choice in the matter, now do I?”

“Damn straight. After I’m through with you though? You’ll be more than ready for the mission.”

At Vexen’s nod, Xigbar gave a silent countdown. Three. Two. One. Without giving Vexen a moment to think, he lunged and closed the distance between them, hoping to catch him off guard with a swift uppercut. To his surprise, the blow was deflected with relative ease. He took a step back to reassess his opponent.

“Well well well,” he huffed, “I should’ve known the nerd could block a punch. I was gonna take it easy on ya, but now…”

Trailing off, he moved back in and followed up with a series of hooks and jabs, all of which Vexen managed to block. And with each passing second, each failed attempt, the scientist was looking more and more smug. He knew the freeshooter had underestimated him.

As they circled each other, the room silent save for their labored breaths and footfalls, Xigbar grew impatient. He hadn’t managed to land a single hit yet. It wasn’t as if he’d gone into the sparring match with the express purpose of beating on the academic, but he just didn’t understand how he was doing so well. Sure, Vexen wasn’t exactly firing back, instead focusing all of his efforts on defense, but Xigbar was no stranger to a fist fight. So what gives?

And it was then that he remembered Vexen’s signature wasn’t a weapon at all, but a shield. Well, he’d just have to give him something he couldn’t block that easily. He locked eyes with the academic before lunging again.

As expected, Vexen was ready for the attack, dodging the first hit and continuing to deflect the rest. After a few more unsuccessful blows, Xigbar saw his opening and took it. The freeshooter threw all of his weight into a tackle, grabbing the man’s wrists as they both went down.

He sat up, slightly dazed and his own body sore from the fall, but kept the scientist’s arms pinned to the ground. And the momentary look of shock on Vexen’s face - if he could feel shock, anyway - was well worth it. The scientist looked down to see Xigbar straddling his waist and shot him a sneer.

“I didn’t realize this was a grappling match as well,” he hissed between shallow breaths.

Xigbar gave a toothy grin. “Can’t have you being the only one full of surprises, now can I?”

He kept Vexen pinned a few seconds longer, looking down at him. The academic was a mess of blonde hair and faux anger, his chest rising and falling in an uneven rhythm as he caught his breath. He glared at Xigbar, waiting for him to say or do something. Daring him to make a move. And so without a second thought, Xigbar dipped his head and pressed his lips to Vexen’s in a fleeting kiss.

Or, what was meant to be fleeting. The kiss was unexpectedly returned, Vexen’s mouth parting with a quiet ‘mmph’ before falling into sync with Xigbar’s. Something sparked in the sharpshooter’s chest - a long forgotten ache, right where his non existent heart should be. He pulled back, unable to keep his jaw from going slack as he stared down at Vexen. The man’s face was a mirror of his own, almost as if he was equally surprised at the reciprocation. Unless… he felt it too? Xigbar almost thought he saw color beginning to tinge the man’s cheeks when-

CRACK.

In his moment of distraction, Vexen had freed his right hand and swung with all of his remaining strength, landing a solid blow against the freeshooter’s face and effectively knocking him off.

Xigbar clutched at his bleeding and likely broken nose, eye wide with shock. His breath came in gasps as he stared at Vexen. “… the fuck?”

Vexen stood up and grabbed his jacket, furiously brushing his hair back into place. His face was definitely turning red and for a moment Xigbar could swear he was looking at a flustered Even, not the heartless Nobody that had just decked him.

“I’ll see you on the day of the mission, and not a moment before.” He gave the sharpshooter one last glare before disappearing into a dark corridor.

Xigbar couldn’t even think straight as he tried to process everything that just happened. The fight was over quicker than expected. Shit, had he technically lost? Did he just get his ass handed to him by Vexen? All because of some… stupid tingling in his chest that shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. Or at least, it hadn’t been in a long time. Why had he done that?

He laid down, head thunking against the floor as he clutched at his still bleeding nose. Well, maybe it wasn’t all bad. Vexen wouldn’t be telling anyone about their little match after that stunt, so at least his dignity was spared. But that was the least of his concerns at the moment.

In private, Xermnas had confided in him that regrowth of one’s heart was theoretically possible. It was gone now, but he still felt the ghost sensations of a pulse, the flickering of a flame that had long gone out. Maybe there was something to that theory after all. Not that he’d be reporting this back to their Superior any time soon. Or ever.

Instead, it might be worth it to look into the phenomenon on his own. And if he played his cards right, Vexen might willingly help him. He allowed himself a chuckle before closing his eye. After all, research was easier with a partner.

[izzy-b-hands]

Winter Haze

Was in a weird funk this evening, so this happened! I have a playlist of what I was listening to during the writing of this; if anyone wants that info as they read lemme know.

Also we get NSFW in this one, just an fyi. Smut can be healing because of...reasons. That’s as much energy as I have to elaborate on that right now tbh. 

I took liberties with how train cars were and are because I could barely write today, let alone research at my usual pace. Forgive the inaccuracy, and enjoy the fantasy of a train car and compartment of said car that I sort of designed as I wrote to make it fit what I needed it to do. 

If anyone likes this enough to want a part two of them actually in the city I send them to in this one, lemme know on this post or via ask or message or carrier pigeon or whatever mode of communication you prefer, and I’ll try and get it out and done before the holiday break is over. I work most of it, but I’ll have a day or two where I should be able to write some, and I have Ideas for the Boys in The City. 

The decision to spend Christmas Eve and Day away from everyone wasn’t lightly made, but it was made quickly, and in the simplest of motions. A quiet conversation about how much money a train ticket for each of them would cost, a phone call to Mary (Sid was out) to ensure she or Sid could check on the animals each day they were gone, and packing in a rush as they reassured the cats and the dog with soft kisses and words that they would return. 

Exactly what the journey was supposed to shake, Snafu couldn’t say. There had been the usual ennui of the winter months, the repetition of work and just enough time after at home to try and relax before doing it all over again. The preparation of gifts bought months ago in advance for the holiday (Eugene was ever a planner, buying the first gift last March, a knife set for Sid to use when he went out hunting.) 

Those gifts were sat in the front hall closet now, where they would likely remain until they returned. They’d given Sid and Mary permission to divvy them up and take them to the appropriate people if they wished, since most of their friends and family in Mobile met at Eugene’s parent’s house for Christmas, but they’d refused, not wanting them to miss out on seeing them opened. 

As rude as he figured it was, Snafu couldn’t bring himself to care about that. He still wanted the people getting the gifts to enjoy them of course, but needing to make an event out of the gift-giving wasn’t necessary this year. 

Eugene had bought the tickets at the station, to where Snafu didn’t ask and again found he didn’t care. There was a lot he didn’t care about right then, except for getting on the train, holing up in the sleeper car for two Eugene had insisted they get even with its extra cost, and simply existing there, with Eugene, who seemed to be in a similar sort of mood. 

They both had been for weeks though, struggling to do much more than wake, go to work, keep the cats and dog fed and loved and entertained, exchange a quick kiss or hug before settling to sit in the living room after work to try and fail to read a book or whittle or do any of their other usual hobbies, then going to sleep to do it all over again the next day. Any conversations about it previously had floundered, not for a lack of trying and not in any anger or frustration, but in exhaustion. 

Hence, the trip. They already had the time off of work, and while there were sure to be complaints from everyone else (excepting the understanding Sid and Mary) for them not being at the usual celebrations, it was otherwise a perfect time to go. 

They didn’t speak all the way through the station. They didn’t need to. It was muscle memory, the pace at which Eugene liked to walk through the station (quickly enough to get to the train more than on time, but not so quick as to be pushing anyone else aside, especially any women and children or elderly trying to parse their way through the busy station), the way he’d reach for Snafu’s hand in a big enough crowd to ensure they wouldn’t get separated, how he always wanted Snafu to let him on the train first (so he could reach back out and take Snafu’s suitcase with one hand, the other reaching out to help him up onto the train.) 

Finally, inside the sleeper car with the door shut tight and the curtains on the windows of the compartment pulled to block out any light or curious eyes, Eugene sighed. 

“Feels safe now, doesn’t it?” Snafu asked. 

“That’s exactly it. I haven’t been able to put a word to it till now,” Eugene replied, dropping onto one of the beds, his suitcase haphazardly shoved underneath it. 

“I know the feeling. It didn’t hit me until we got in here, but man...I still can’t explain it anymore than that. We got no reason to feel unsafe back at home,” Snafu said as he put his suitcase in the holding rack above the other bed, then moved Eugene’s from the floor onto the rack of his bed. 

He nearly dropped it as Eugene’s fingers traced at his stomach through his shirt, cooled by the winter air but welcome all the same. 

“The routine of it all, maybe,” he continued as he finished placing the suitcase, then knelt by Eugene’s bed, taking those same fingers to his lips to kiss them gently. “Different sorta danger.” 

“Staleness,” Eugene remarked. “Maybe not as bad as never knowing what’s gonna come next, having too much going on, but-” 

He shrugged as best he could laying on the bed, his eyes meeting Snafu’s, looking warmer than they had in weeks, months even. “Still bad. You know exactly what’s coming, and that unless you do something, nothing different is likely to show up unless it’s some horrible emergency to fix. Forgetting every day, every week, because they all blend into one slurry.” 

“Like the muck on Peleliu,” Snafu murmured. “Just tragic in a different way. Less human loss, more...” 

“Destruction. Internally mostly, instead of both internally and externally. And not for any great effort or cause or need, just a result of living the way people say you should. Day in, day out, barely noticing any of it passing by because it never changes,” Eugene finished. “I wish they had beds that could fit two people on these.” 

Snafu nodded, then peered at the clasp that the beds tucked into, to hold them up and allow the regular seats to be pulled from where they tucked into the walls of the car. “Can you get up for a second?” 

Eugene nodded, and stood, watching him work. 

He stole the pillows from the beds before pushing them into the clasps, making sure they were held tight before freeing a blanket from one of the two extra suitcases they’d brought with them (four total suitcases was maybe an excessive number for two people, but if he told the truth, neither of them really gave a shit about that) and spread it on the floor. They had, however, only brought the one blanket with, so he popped free the beds for a second to steal the blankets from those, settling them on top of the one on the floor as best he could. 

“It ain’t gonna be the comfiest, or perfect, but-” 

Eugene dropped to the floor on his knees beside him, and pulled him close for a kiss, a hand on his back to hold them both upright as the train jerked to life and started it’s journey, the sound of the engine muting their moans as they lay on their makeshift bed, their shoes hitting the door of the compartment. 

“I didn’t move the blanket up far enough,” Snafu giggled in between kisses. 

“Shit,” Eugene laughed. “You stay put.” 

“What? No, let me-” 

Before Snafu could move, Eugene was there at the top edge of the blanket, pulling it further away from the door (not that there was much further to pull it, the compartment being only so big), with Snafu still on it. 

“There,” Eugene smiled as he lay back on top of Snafu, pressing a kiss to his neck. “Better?” 

Snafu nodded, and pulled at Eugene’s jacket sleeve. “Awful lot of layers left on you. Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we ain’t outside in the cold anymore. You can take that off.” 

Eugene stood, and stripped off the jacket, tossing it to the far corner of the compartment. “Good?” 

“Mhm,” Snafu mused. “Tie really isn’t needed either.” 

Eugene grinned, and pulled it free, tossing it to Snafu. 

He caught it and tossed it behind him without looking. “What about that shirt? Awful warm, that shirt.” 

Eugene laughed and shook his head, but started to unbutton it. 

“Let me help you. Those fingers must still be froze up,” Snafu said, and moved to crawl forward to Eugene, getting onto his knees so he could reach for the bottom buttons of Eugene’s shirt. 

Eugene’s hand was in his hair, playing with it gently as Snafu undid the rest of the buttons, pulling his head to rest against Eugene’s waist once the shirt was undone. 

He pressed his face to Eugene’s stomach before carefully biting at the buckle of Eugene’s belt. 

“Just real warm in here, isn’t it?” Eugene asked with a giggle. “Don’t really need any of these clothes.” 

“No sir,” Snafu replied, moving away from Eugene to start stripping off his own clothes. His eyes stayed on Eugene though, watching him take off everything else, tossing it into the rest of the clothing pile they’d created. He was only half undressed, his belt just undone by the time Eugene was in front of him, completely and perfectly naked. 

He motioned Eugene over anyway, too eager to wait any longer to touch and be touched. 

It wasn’t that they couldn’t have this back at home, and a good most nights they did, sometimes to their own frustration the next morning if they were up too late. But there was something different about it here, just as good but something else at the same time, being able to be safely behind a locked door, being taken somewhere else, with nothing to worry about except each other. 

He could taste that feeling, in every kiss, in the way Eugene’s fingers scrabbled to help pull off the rest of his clothes, in the way Eugene’s hips rocked against his. It was otherworldly and strange and familiar all at the same time, and he didn’t want it to end. 

They were somewhat limited by the size of the compartment, but he wasn’t prepared to let that put a damper on anything. He had a small container of Vaseline secreted away in his suitcase that he moved quickly to grab, earning a fussy and yearning whimper from Eugene the second he was gone, returning to slick it onto both of their hard cocks so he could focus on everything else. Letting their hips move together, hands roaming, lips everywhere they could reach in a quick moment, leaving marks on each other’s necks and shoulders, making them gasp just loud enough that he had to ponder if anyone in the next compartment could hear them. 

Not that he really cared, as he figured politeness would prevent anyone from asking after them, and he was much more concerned with gently running his thumb over and around the head of Eugene’s cock, feeling Eugene’s teeth just a bit too sharp in the meat of his shoulder as his hips jerked and he could feel Eugene’s cock throb as cum hit his stomach. 

He didn’t have a chance to reach for his own before Eugene’s hand was there instead, working him as softly and sweetly as only Eugene knew how to, pulling him close with his other arm around the back of Snafu’s neck, a leg wrapped over Snafu’s hips as they pushed against Eugene’s. 

He let himself moan softly in between kisses to Eugene’s shoulder and chest, both hands wrapped at the back of Eugene’s neck, as he came with a shudder onto Eugene’s stomach. 

For the next few minutes they stayed there, locked against each other, kissing. It was warm and soft and safe and if Snafu could have bottled and saved any moments of theirs, this was one he’d wanted bottled first. 

But finally they had to move, using one of their shirts to clean up (not ideal, but they’d not sprung for the even more expensive sleeper car compartment that had its own bathroom, and even he didn’t want to go walking in between cars in that much of a state) before dressing again to go to the dinner car. 

It wasn’t amazing fare, but it was edible, and he hardly paid attention to the food anyway. He only had eyes for Eugene, who could barely eat but for the giggles he got whenever their eyes met. Finally, they gave up on dinner and returned to the sleeper compartment, kicking off their shoes and clothes to put on their pajamas and snuggle underneath the thin blankets from the compartment beds.

“Where are we headed anyway?” Snafu asked as Eugene tucked himself up under his arm, both of them wanting to be as close as possible. The darkness settled over the compartment now, as they’d left the lights off so neither of them would have to get up to turn them off later.  

“New York City. Was one of the only spots they still had these sorts of tickets available. No idea what we’re going to do there though,” Eugene replied with a chuckle. 

“I don’t care,” Snafu said with a smile. “Whatever it is, it’s gonna be good.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. ‘Cause it’s gonna be you and me, and that’s always good,” Snafu kissed the top of his head, and settled in for the night. He didn’t know how long it took to get to New York, but he didn’t care. He had his man and time to spend with him, and that was all that mattered. 

[lala-the-rebel]

Take Me Back

(a fic completely based on this post)

Summary: Now that Virgil's been away from the dark sides for a while, he does miss them more than he cares to admit. But he's not gonna let them know that. Not until he absolutely has to.

And, unfortunately for him, he does.

Word Count: 2,634 (if I wasn't on mobile there would be a cut)

Ship: pretty much platonic anxceit

Warnings: angst with a happy ending, (mostly) sympathetic Deceit, mentions of Remus/the Duke, mild cursing (any I missed please lemme know!)

Tags: @fandersunite @korsaromantic66 @sanders-sides-uncorrect-quotes @fellinfire @alifeuncolored

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It had been some time since Virgil left the dark sides. And he had grown to miss them more than he cared to admit.

He kept convincing himself that staying with them was doing more harm than good. That was the whole reason why he left in the first place, right? To make things better? For him? For everyone else?

He kept telling himself that. It worked for a while until the one time it didn't.

Sure, the light sides had treated him as if he was always a part of their family, but it didn't always feel right. Especially when they did family things without you, and you knew about it, and they knew you knew, but they didn't do anything to include you. That was when it hurt.

It reminded him that he really did miss what he used to have. They wouldn't have done that to him. He really was family to them. They would include him in everything they could, even if he did protest it a bit. It annoyed him at the time, but looking back now, he appreciated it. Not being listened to almost felt better than being listened to. Even though he complained, he still wanted to do things. He was glad that the light sides respected his boundaries, but there were times when he almost wished they didn't do it as much as they did. 

He didn't want to think about how much he missed the others, but he did. And the more he did, the more depressed he got. He couldn't go back now. They probably looked down on him for leaving without explanation. Even if he had explained it to them, would they have understood? 

The thoughts wracked his brain so much that it was hard to get to sleep. He woke up feeling really unrested, so he decided to make himself some coffee to try getting through the day. He was surprisingly the first one up, or at least the first up and out of their room. As he waited for his coffee to brew, he let his mind wander. It wouldn't have hurt to visit the dark side common room, would it? What's the worst thing he could do there? What's the worst thing they could do to him for being there?

He would just be in and out. One short look. Just to see if things had changed. Nothing wrong with that, right?

He kept mentally telling himself that as he sunk out into the other room. When he arrived, he expected the worst. He expected at least one of them to pop out and scare him. He got nothing. They were probably off in their rooms like everyone else was, he figured.

He looked around, taking in the landscape. Nothing really changed. Still trashed as hell, maybe even more than usual. He didn't doubt that it was because Deceit had given up on cleaning it again. He remembered how the same thing happened before he left. He and Remus would band together to wreak as much havoc in the room as they could, and Deceit cleaned it up every time. It became such a hassle at one point that he had given up until the clutter bugged him. That, and neither of the other two were bothered to pick it up themselves.

A bittersweet feeling rushed over him as he remembered that. He wondered if Remus actually continued doing it after he left, or if he stopped because it wasn't the same as before. Virgil wouldn't have known because he never talked to any of them besides the few times in the videos. He could very well have changed that now, but he didn't.

He was supposed to just be in and out. No visiting. Visiting would give him emotions. He didn't want those. He wanted to stop doubting if he made the right choice or not, and if that meant not visiting the other two, then that would be the end of it.

To get his mind off of things, he decided to walk around, as quietly as he could, of course. Get a full glance of everything while he could. He made a lap around the room, ending by the stairs. He saw a familiar sweater piled on the ground next to them. Upon further inspection, he realized it belonged to Deceit.

It wouldn't have hurt to take it, would it?

He snatched the sweater as quick as he could and sunk out. He then rushed to his room, totally unnoticed unlike what he feared. He inspected the sweater in detail. It was black and gray, striped, torn in a few spots, and a bit too big, but Virgil liked it nonetheless. It was definitely something he would own. He threw it in the dirty laundry, figuring it needed at least one wash cycle, and went back to go get his coffee that he unintentionally abandoned. As he drank it, the others finally made their arrivals, getting to their usual business. He watched it all from the sidelines, only interacting when one of the others addressed him. He didn't gather much besides the fact that a video was going to be filmed in the next few days. It didn't really bother him, so he went on with his day as if nothing out of the ordinary happened.

That night, he somehow managed to sleep soundly; the visit from earlier cleared things up just a bit. It gave him the reassurance than at least nothing changed there physically. It was a small step of progress, but he took what he could get.

When he woke up the next day, he found the sweater he stole in his clean laundry. He almost forgotten he had taken it until then. Something told him he should have worn it that day, so he did under his usual hoodie. He was complimented on it more than anything, which to him was a sign that they definitely didn't know it wasn't his. If they did, they didn't say anything to him at least. Along with that, it kinda helped relieve some of that homesickness he felt. At least, that's what it felt like to him. He didn't know what to call it. He just knew that wearing it made him feel better than he did the day before, and that's what mattered to him more than anything.

The temptation to go back to the room after that didn't take long to return. He fought it off for as long as he could, but one sleepless night ended that streak. He figured another venture to the room wouldn't hurt. When he got there, Deceit was around, asleep on the couch. Virgil decided to sneak past him up to the rooms so that he wouldn't wake him. He was successful, but he still kept cautious in case Remus would pop out at him. Thankfully, he didn't, so Virgil did some more snooping around. He even stole a few more pieces of clothing just for the hell of it before returning to his room and knocking out.

The cycle kind of continued for a while after that. He didn't get caught, mostly because he was sneaking out at night when no one else should have been awake. And any of the clothes he gathered hardly raised suspicion; the others simply thought the outfits were his own entirely.

Then came the dreaded day of video filming. They had worked for most of the morning, so they were taking a break for at least a couple hours. And during that break was when it all went down.

They all decided to relax while they could. Roman and Patton put on a movie while Logan made himself coffee and caught up on other work. Virgil changed into a different outfit and chilled out by the stairs on his phone, barely listening to anything going on around him. It wasn't until Deceit arrived that he finally did.

"Well, don't you all look very productive," the dark side sneered.

Logan heard him and sighed. "What do you want, Deceit?" At the mention of his name, Patton and Roman jumped up from their spots on the couch while Virgil merely looked up at him with disinterest.

"What are you doing here, Jack the Fibber?" Roman retorted.

"What? Am I not allowed to just simply hang out?"

"That's not part of your usual behavior around us, so that is mostly the reason for their concerns, I'm sure," Logan explained without missing a beat. "Plus, you have your own designated space to hang out, so there is no real need to intrude into ours."

"Yeah, what he said!" Roman agreed.

Deceit glared at Logan before continuing. "Well, maybe I want to change that behavior. You know I can't not be nice to you of all people, Roman."

"Really?"

"That's the biggest batch of bullshit I've ever heard," Virgil piped up. "We all know you get your kicks on teasing Roman because half the time he can't tell if you're lying or not."

"I do not-"

"Yeah, okay. That's not what you've told me, but sure."

Deceit sighed. "Information can easily be outdated, Virgil, so don't be too sure you know everything you think you do."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure on that, considering literally everyone here knows you as a liar. There's no way you can prove what you said was true and you know it."

"I mean, his statement does have some truth to it," Logan interrupted.

"Shut up, Logan! I'm trying to prove my point here!" Virgil barked.

"How pathetic. Blocking out the truth so that you have what you think is a solid argument? Sounds like we have a hypocrite here," Deceit said with a laugh. "Getting on me for the exact same thing you do fits that definition, don't you think? Or, is it a double standard because you're a light side now?"

Virgil had enough. "Just shut your damn mouth up! No one wants to argue with you over stupid shit. If that's all you came here for, then leave. We don't want that here."

Deceit turned to him, rolling his eyes and smirking. "I rest my case- wait." He did a double take. "Is that my sweater you're wearing?" Virgil's eyes went wide as he took in what Deceit said. He felt everyone's eyes staring him down as they awaited his answer. He didn't speak, which prompted Deceit to ask another question. "Is that where they've been going? Have you been stealing them? Have you been stealing my stuff?"

"N-no." He avoided the looks he was getting. "It's...it's mine."

"Seems like someone's taken over the resident liar position," Deceit remarked. He stared Virgil down until he looked him in the eye, and when he did, he gave him a simple eyebrow raise. "But if you insist, then I'll let it go." He continued to stare at Virgil, noticing his teary eyes.

Virgil met his gaze until he couldn't bear to do it anymore. He couldn't bear to be there anymore. "I'm...gonna go to my room," he said solemnly before sinking out. He heard the others telling him to come back, but he ignored them. There was no way he was going to explain this to them if they weren't going to understand. 

He didn't sink out to his room. He ended up sinking out to the dark side common room unintentionally. He didn't care as long as he could get away. He curled himself into a ball and slowly let the tears go.

It didn't take long for Deceit to pop up after him. He looked at Virgil, unsure of what to say. Virgil had known he was there, but didn't acknowledge him. Instead, he just curled even more into himself, hoping he would go away.

He didn't. "You know, last time I checked, this isn't your room." Virgil didn't answer. He sighed, then knelt down to Virgil's eye level. He stared him down, despite being ignored. Talking was worth a shot. "I...apologize if what I said has upset you." He got Virgil's attention, but the other side remained silent. Deceit continued. "I didn't mean to call you out in front of...them."

"Yeah, right," Virgil mumbled.

"I'm serious. I'm not that much of an asshole, believe it or not. If I didn't notice it then, I wouldn't have said anything until later. But I did, and I impulsively said something. And, now I know I shouldn't have. I hope you don't hate me too much more for it."

Virgil finally looked him in the eye, unsure of his sincerity. Sure, it was written pretty clearly on his face, but he was a master of deception. Virgil wanted to doubt that what he said was true, but he didn't for now. Something told him not to. "You mean it?"

A nod. "Absolutely. And I assure you, I'm not lying."

Hearing that made him tear up even more. For once, Deceit sounded serious when he said it. No sarcastic edge, no over-the-top line delivery, nothing. Just pure emotion. Something in the way he said it made Virgil believe that he had really still cared for him a bit, even though his actions said otherwise. It was more than likely just an act at that point. Just to save face for the light sides. Both of them being dark sides made them as close to family as they could get, and the bond they had couldn't be easily broken, no matter how long ago Virgil left. They both knew that on some level.

And doing that compelled Virgil to do something he hadn't done in a while. He leaned forward and latched onto Deceit, hugging him. He was surprised at first, but he knew Virgil needed it and returned it. He could feel the other's chest heaving as he sobbed into him, but he didn't care one bit. He could tell Virgil needed it. He helped calm him down before he started talking again.

"I'm not mad at you for taking my stuff, by the way. You could have just asked me for it if you wanted it so bad."

"I know, but...I…I had a reason for it," Virgil mumbled.

"Which was?"

Virgil finally pulled away and looked at him. His eyeshadow was definitely smudged now, but that was easily fixable. He wiped his nose with his hoodie sleeve and got to explaining. "I...I miss you guys."

"You...do?"

Virgil nodded with a sniff. "I miss doing stuff with you and being with you because the others don't do as much stuff with me anymore because I said one time that I didn't want to do anything and they took it literally." He swiped his nose again. "And it made me really...sad, so to feel better, I've been coming down here and sneaking around and stealing your stuff and wearing it so that I have something to remind me of you guys. Of...home, I guess." A sniff. "I left because I thought I was hurting you guys, but it looks like I'm just hurting myself, y'know, figuratively. And I don't wanna come back completely, but...I guess I just wanna visit sometimes if that's okay with you. I just want you...to take me back as family."

Deceit nodded, taking in everything he said. "You hurt us more by leaving and not saying anything. But, now that you have, I do forgive you. And I understand." He was teary-eyed now. "And you're welcome back home any time. You haven't stopped being family, trust me."

Virgil went and hugged him again, and he immediately hugged him back. "Thank you. So much."

"You're definitely welcome. Now, I do want those stolen sweaters back, if you don't mind."

[laws-yellow-submarine]

Did you know. That I would like to hear. Everything I can about your OCs/Quasi-Self Inserts? Because Cringe Culture is dead and I love them.

First of all: THANK YOU for asking about them lol I saw the ask and I got so so excited cause I literally never stop thinking about them lol that being said, I apologize for the novel I just wrote about them lmfao I put it all under the cut (hopefully it works on mobile!), so hopefully I don’t bog down everyone’s feed.

So I don’t wanna reveal too much about Skylar (full name Valentine Skylar), cause I really do plan on actually writing the fic I planned for her (I’m just really good at procrastinating lmao), but like I said in an earlier post: she’s my bisexual disaster brain child running away from her homophobic parents and the threat of conversion therapy by impulsively deciding to sneak onto Law’s submarine when he visits her home island. I’m basing the conversion therapy stuff off of something similar in the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead (one of my all time FAVORITES! If you like vampires, action, and romance I can’t recommend it enough! Though you should start with the first series, Vampire Academy as it introduces the world and the cast of characters and the events of that series lead directly into the Bloodlines series. I took some inspiration from Vampire Academy too for some other events in the fic as well).

Skylar is...a lot like me in personality lol she’s 5’5”, goofy, loves to laugh and sing and just generally have fun, and she’s very clumsy. She’s also got major anxiety, but it’s not something she actually has a diagnosis for (so she doesn’t know there’s a problem and can’t handle it when it flares up, she’s unprepared to deal with it). She does like to read, mostly fiction, and she likes to look at the stars, and gaze out the windows of the sub when they’re submerged. She’s very musically gifted. Part of her deal with Law for essentially free room and board is that she cooks (they don’t have a designated cook otherwise, and this way they never have to let Law back in the kitchen again), and while she’s cooking she’ll be singing so loud it carries through the pipes on the sub (almost like they have radio lmfao). She’s also impulsive; her decision to sneak onto Law’s sub was totally spur of the moment, she knew the risks, she knew exactly who’s ship she was sneaking onto (thanks to wanted posters), and that it was dangerous, but she still packed up as much of her stuff as she could, stole a TON of her parents’ money, and snuck on anyway. Law wonders a lot whether she’s just an idiot or possibly someone trying to spy on him (either for the Marines, or more sinisterly for Doflamingo. He knows the likelihood for either of these things is extremely slim, but he keeps her close so he can keep an eye on her. He can’t afford to make a mistake with that). It takes a LONG time for them to move past the “I don’t trust you” stage, and even then she’s much more invested than he is for a really long time, mostly because he’s an emotionally constipated BUTT who doesn’t like to acknowledge that he FEELS THINGS lmao

Most of her life she’s been fighting against someone else’s control; mostly her parents (she’s 21 at the start of the story but hasn’t been able to feel like a true adult until she leaves, they’ve had such a hold over her AND they’re powerful people where she lives so she HAS to leave the island completely to be free). She also experienced some of this with her girlfriend, Mimi, though not to nearly the same extreme. Mimi had big dreams of getting off their island and becoming a world famous musician, along with Skylar. Skylar just wants to travel the world, but Mimi’s loud personality manipulated her into adopting the dream of being a musician. It wasn’t malicious in any way, but usually when Mimi would say “We’re doing this” or “We don’t like that”, Skylar usually agreed. She wouldn’t speak out against it, in part due to finally feeling loved (ahh parent issues lol). About a year before the start of the story, Mimi joins the Marines as a way to start earning some money, as well as getting her foot out the door in a way (it gets her off the island, so all that’s needed is to earn enough to get settled somewhere, go back for Skylar, and then they can begin their life together). Unfortunately, her patrol ship was destroyed by a pirate crew a few months later, and she’s now MIA and presumed dead. 

Being with Law and his crew is really the first time she’s been able to try deciding things for herself, and then follow through. He’s not gonna try to push her in any direction, that’s not his business, and so there comes an extra sense of freedom with them that she’s never had before. 

Law also keeps her around because he finds out she has a roundabout connection to Doflamingo, and he thinks he can find a way to exploit that connection for information. Her parents have a very on-the-level business selling pharmaceuticals, which is what keeps them in good standing with the Marines when they come to the island (there’s no actual base set up, but there’s another close by). They ALSO have a black market business smuggling hallucinogens throughout the Grand Line, beginning to venture into the other seas as well, starting with North Blue. There’s a fruit that grows on the island called the Follia Fruit (literally Insanity in Italian) which causes strong hallucinations when eaten. They were able to get a good foot in the black market using Doflamingo’s connections, and they know HIM because they were actually formerly part of his crew (they left the crew before Law joined, so he doesn’t know them, and they left because Skylar’s grandmother was dying and leaving the entire fortune and family-run business to them, otherwise they would’ve stayed with Doffy. Skylar’s more of an object for them to use.) Skylar vaguely knows her parents have an underworld contact, she’s seen his Jolly Roger in her father’s office, near his wall safe, but she doesn’t know who he actually is. At most she’s heard mention of a “Joker” and that’s it, so Law can easily fish for information without giving up that he’s honestly using her too (he doesn’t have any reason to just be nice to her, especially since she snuck onboard before he ever met her, and that’s part of the journey; balancing his goal with the fact he’s developing feelings for the person he’s using to help achieve that goal). It’s a slooooooooow burn btw lol takes a long time for things to truly get going between them, but when it does it kinda picks up quick. It’s gonna be fun lol

Speaking of the Follia Fruit, that’s how Skylar got her devil fruit. I do NOT have a name for it yet, because I can’t find one I like that still overall fits? But essentially she can manipulate light particles (photons? Idk science stuff, whatever light is actually made of). She can use it to create a camouflage cover (it’s main use, she’s a sneaky person despite also being clumsy as hell lmfao), and that works like she’s placing a cloak over herself (like an invisibility cloak!), and she also eventually learns to create force fields of hardened light, like the light bridges in Portal 2 (it takes a lot of energy though, so it’s not nearly as easy, but it does come in handy). Whether these are all actually scientifically sound remains irrelevant, in my universe it works muahahaha (there is precedent for these powers at least, I just don’t know how it all actually works. Science is NOT my forte). She was actually trying to eat the Follia Fruit when she ate the devil fruit instead, as when consumed in a large enough dose it can be fatal (so yeah, WARNING there: her girlfriend is dead, she’s being tortured, she manages to escape at one point and decides she absolutely is NOT going back). Fortunately, she didn’t check what fruit she was eating before chowing down, and she not only lived but she gained super powers lol. She also at one point asks Law to help teach her how to fight and defend herself, which is super fun cause she’s NOT in shape lol but she does eventually learn at least basic hand to hand and how to use a blade (typically a knife or a dagger, she’s small).

Skylar also works very hard to develop her Observation Haki. I’ve always wondered if it was possible to manipulate your haki so you could be indetectable by other users, which would be extremely useful when your abilities include sneaking and camouflage. So Skylar learns how to do it, focusing more on the detection aspects of haki than any of the other uses (predicting movement). It hasn’t been shown in canon, obviously, but I think it’s feasible.

Clearly I’ve thought a lot about all this, now it’s just a matter of writing actual sentences lmao

My other main OC is Monkey D. Hazel. She’s Luffy’s big sister, older by about 4 years (so she’s older than Ace and Sabo by 1 year). She’s a good big sister lol she’s super protective, almost mothering despite not being that much older, and it drives the boys nuts (but they still love her anyway and appreciate her for it and all that. They can take care of themselves, but they know if they ever needed her to step in she would in a heartbeat). She’s not nearly as chaotic as Luffy, but she does follow him into a lot of shenanigans (usually with a shrug and a grin like “yup that’s Luffy”). She’s always wanted to help Luffy achieve his dream, and write down his adventures for future generations to read, so she stayed behind until he was ready to start on his own pirate journey.

She also totally had a thing with Ace (I know it can be kinda iffy, given their shared past and psuedo-sibling status, but I think they work well together, and given that they were 2 teens going through puberty at the same time in the same area, I think it’s extremely likely they could’ve developed feelings for each other that they didn’t necessarily fully understand at the time. I also don’t think she’d be one to participate in the sake drinking scene that the boys use to say “ok we’re brothers now”, and until she was an adult only saw Ace as a close friend that Luffy also saw as a big brother. Being that they were in the same age group, I think it’s less likely she’d see him and Sabo as brothers until they were much older. Sorry if that seems like I’m making excuses, I know not everyone is going to agree with that kind of “ship”, but I literally started shipping them on accident and now I can’t stop cause it makes sense to me that something would have happened between them, even something small). Any relationship they did have ended when Ace left to be a pirate, and with time spent apart and both growing older, Hazel’s views turn more sisterly, like “We grew up together, he’s practically my brother” (though Ace’s may or may not have stayed kind of the same. It makes for interesting conversation when they do meet again in Alabasta). When he dies, she’s absolutely devastated, and does start to wonder “what if?”, like what if she’d pursued a real relationship with him from the beginning, gone with him, could she have kept him safe, etc. It takes a very long time for her to come to terms with it, and to accept that she couldn’t have done anything to stop it, nor was it her place to try. She loses her best friend, and it does take some of the spark out of her, so she’s more reserved after the time skip.

She loses her right leg in a fight with CP9, essentially the bones gets crushed, and her new pal Franky helps whip up a cool robot leg for her in between work on the new ship. It’s got a few bells and whistles: a pistol in the kneecap, a roller blade in the bottom of the foot, and she can detach the metal plates in a way that makes her taller (if she stands on one leg lol). She thinks Franky is SUPER cool (I always hated that the girls in the series never think robots or ninjas or anything are cool, she’s not like that lmfao), and Luffy is jealous of her robot leg.

She sustained some pretty major burns to her right side at Marineford (either by Akainu when he murdered Ace; she stepped in front of Luffy, Ace stepped in front of her, the magma-arm didn’t touch her skin because it was stopped by her coat, but the heat was enough to still cause 3rd-degree burns to her arm, shoulder, and face because it’s fucking LAVA, and destroy half of her clothing; OR some other thing set on fire and burned her lol I dunno enough to say whether that’s feasible with magma but I like that version better, that it was caused in some way by Akainu). It was a question of if she’d ever be able to use her arm again, but Law’s a very good doctor (though she did threaten him when he wouldn’t let her see Luffy right away, saying with him being in critical condition they couldn’t risk an infection. She was not happy). She actually bonds slightly with Law after they escape and she’s in stable condition, cause she breaks down about what happened before he can escape (lol). In her mind she’s just lost another person she cared about (a brother-type figure, and someone she loves very much in her own way), and Luffy could very well be on his deathbed, and she can’t even see him, and the rest of their crew is who knows where, and she may lose use of her arm, and she HURTS, and it’s a lot to take in. Law keeps trying to tell her to calm down or she’ll undo everything he just did to save her, and she accuses him of being insensitive (I mean...yeah), and throws out a comment like “what you never lost anybody? Fuck off”. He glares at her, then sits and sighs, hiding his face beneath his hat. He’s silent for a while, then tells her he’s also lost a sibling. He doesn’t say anything more, doesn’t give details, but it still hits like a slap to the face, and she realizes he’s offering an olive branch by telling her that, and that hey here’s someone who knows exactly how you feel right now, don’t push away the only person who understands. They don’t bring it up again, but she does start to calm down.

The Crew: When she met Zoro she kept scolding Luffy about bossing him around, that it’s not his place to tell someone they’re joining the crew (of course he doesn’t listen), but after Zoro joins they get along really really well (she also mildly flirts with him for fun, he blushes like crazy, but it’s pretty harmless overall. Those three together is pretty chaotic on its own lol). 

She didn’t trust Nami at first, as she came out of nowhere after messing with a different pirate, so she’s wary that the girl has something up her sleeve regarding her brother, but after they defeat Arlong Hazel is extremely protective of her, and the two take care of each other (also again: mild flirting. That time spent with Ace as a teen really helped Hazel’s confidence as a flirt, but after the time skip a lot of that goes away).

Hazel and Usopp tell stories together, usually for the whole crew, and she sees him as another little brother sort of figure. Chopper is baby, she loves Chopper instantly and will beat down anyone that looks at him funny. She doesn’t flirt with Sanji, because she doesn’t like the way he falls over himself around her and doesn’t want to encourage more of it, but once he (finally) takes the hint the two have a very strong friendship. She was very wary of Robin, until Water 7/Enies Lobby, and now sees her as an older sister. Robin, for her part, and even Franky to some degree, wish that Hazel would stop trying to be the crew’s grown up, and would go have fun as a girl in her early 20’s. She does ease up once the two join the crew, but bonds with the adults a lot. She’s someone the younger crew members go to with problems, but Robin and Franky, and eventually Brook and Jinbei, are who Hazel goes to for advice.

After the 5th time of Brook asking to see her panties, she says fuck it and throws a clean pair at him, saying that’s all he gets and if he asks her one more time she WILL throw him overboard. He doesn’t bring it up again.

Jinbei actually shows her the basics of Fishman Karate on their way back to Marineford before the timeskip. She still can’t move too well, so she just watches, but she incorporates what she learns into her fighting style.

She wanted to stay with Luffy when he went to train with Rayliegh, but the old man put a stop to it right away saying she’d not only be too distracted to focus on her own training, but she’d likely coddle Luffy. It was better for them to spend some time apart anyway, for really the first time in their lives, and though she’s nervous about not being with him she agrees. Hancock ends up taking her under her wing for the time being, but only because she’s Luffy’s sister (and therefore not a threat lmfao).

As far as after the time skip, she’s mostly the same but doesn’t immediately jump into Luffy’s shenanigans, and can be more of a voice of reason when needed. At Punk Hazard, she’s the first one of the Straw Hats (besides Luffy) to trust Law and agree that they should form an alliance. She furiously hates Caesar, like she isn’t even able to be near him or his heart cause she might stab him and ruin the whole plan (you don’t mess with kids man Hazel WILL fuck you up). At Dressrosa she joins in the fight to help the Tontattas, and follows Usopp and Robin to the port under the coliseum. When she sees Sabo, she IMMEDIATELY bursts into tears and latches onto his shoulders so tight it would take a crowbar to separate them (not that he tries, he’s happy to see her too). She also scolds Robin later for not telling her, but the older woman just laughs and says “but isn’t this so much better?” It is, but Hazel won’t admit it yet lol

She doesn’t go with Luffy to Whole Cake Island, but she does end up meeting up with him and Zoro in Wano, and helps rescue O-Tama.

Potential love interests for Hazel (besides Ace) would be Zoro, Nami, or Law, but honestly she could be shipped with anyone which makes it super fun lol (if anyone read this whole thing and has ideas send them in I’d love to hear them!!)

Anyway thank you for reading this entire long ass essay about my brain children! I think about them a lot, as I’m sure you can tell lol

[thechekhov]

how would you recommend an artist make themselves better known on tumblr and in general? ive been drawing and painting almost my whole life but its hard to get people to notice me, any advice? thank you, you're my fave artist

Thank you so much! That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside…

As for your questions… hmm… it’s for sure a good one. 

I’m going to get a bit… strategical on that one. Hope you don’t mind this approach. 

Tumblr and real life are definitely alike in a lot of aspects, while in others they’re polar opposites. For the sake of keeping things neatly shelved, I’m going to focus on tumblr in this post.

＊*☆HOW TO GET ART NOTICED ON TUMBLR☆*＊

by chekhov

1. We have to understand how the tumblr sharing system works. 

I know this sounds a bit too obvious. I mean, we all know HOW. It’s by reblogging! 

I know that there’s a BIG opinion on tumblr that we should share and reblog art as much as possible to help artists get noticed. And that’s TRUE. It’s absolutely correct.

One thing I don’t agree with on that front is the guilt-tripping factor of it all. Like somehow people are responsible for the downfall of less popular artists because they didn’t reblog stuff enough. People are really quick to point at their followers and say “I GOT 100 OF Y’ALL HERE AND ONLY 3 ARE REBLOGGING ANYTHING”. 

I get it. It’s frustrating!

But the fact of the matter is, you can’t force people to reblog stuff. 

Instead, I recommend we harvest the power of the sharing we already have. We have to be smart about this. What I’m going to go into is a bit less concrete. We have to think about the PEOPLE who are doing the reblogging. 

Artists aren’t the ONLY ones with motivations for getting their stuff seen. And because they create media they are, for lack of a better word… a vendor! The buck STARTS with them, but it doesn’t stop with them. 

They have to also think about what the people are going to do with their product once it’s reblogged. Once someone buys from the vendor, they don’t just keep it forever. They distribute it to the others. And sometimes, those others distribute it again. We have to think about the bigger picture, and think about how FAR your art has the potential to go!

So, to get started we need to know… WHO are the ones buying from the vendor… and why?

What kind of rebloggers ARE there? 

I’m going to give my own opinion here, and feel free to disagree. But the 3 biggest rebloggers most important to the artist are these:

1. The Pleaser

Sounds sexy, right? In fact, the pleaser comes in many different forms. But essentially their goal is the same - they reblog stuff like aesthetic posts, and other pleasing things. They themselves tend to like a lot of stuff and reblog mostly beautiful photos, nice designs, and lots of fanart of whatever they’re into at the time. Comics and story-like posts are good here (although if they’re too long, people tend to lose interest.)

How to get reblogged by a Pleaser?

Appeal to their fandom, their interest, and make something that moves them. Pleasers are most active around the time when the new episode of their favorite show comes out, or when their favorite holiday comes around. Drawing fanart during its peak popularity will usually catch a Pleasers’ attention, as will drawing aesthetic Halloween posts around, well, Halloween. 

2. The Teaser

The Teaser is the class clown and the shitposter, and they reblog memes and jokes voraciously. In the Teaser’s audience are other teasers - and they also tend to be very generous rebloggers. The fact of the matter is - memes sell reblogs faster than any aesthetic art will. We’re social creatures and getting a laugh out of our followers is worth a LOT of fake internet points.

How do I get reblogged by the Teaser?

Memes. I mean, you knew this was coming, right? During the height of some new tumblr joke, people usually welcome any unusual spin, or any funny variation of an old joke. 

My meme redraws have consistently been popular and have ‘boomed’ very quickly. For example, this redraw of sapphire from Steven Universe doing ‘the scroll of truth’ jumped to 5k almost within a day. 

Many people peek at my page ‘for the lols’ but end up staying for the art, or because there’s another thing I post they’re interested in. Either way, memes are a gateway drug… to your blog. 

3. The Librarian

The Librarian is a bit more rare, but they’re still important, because they tend to reblog a lot. They’re a bit unusual in the sense that they do this for themselves, instead of for an audience. The blog of the librarian is mostly just a replacement for bookmarking interesting stuff. These people tend to reblog tutorials, reference posts, and things they want to read later on. 

How to get reblogged by a Librarian?

Make things that people want to keep around. Charts, references, tutorials. Chances are, the librarian will snag it up eventually. 

Of course, these 3 aren’t the ONLY type of tumblr blogger. In fact, many of them are a mix of these 3. But the main point is…

2. What do most of these (and other) people on tumblr have in common?

Just like you, many people (although not all) want to get their stuff SEEN. You might be creating the original product, but they choose whether or not to distribute it to their audience. 

Everyone is playing the same game, no matter which part of the chain they’re on.

You, as an artist, have the biggest responsibility to think about this long-term. Not only 1 reblog down the line. 

For example, let’s return to one of my meme-posts that I did about wrist pain (carpal tunnel). When I made this, I had a vague idea of who would consume it. Obviously… other artists. But the reason that this got so popular? Is not only because fellow artists follow me. It’s because the artists that follow me also have followers who are also, conveniently, artists. That’s why despite the fact that many people reblogged the post directly from me - even MORE of them reblogged it from @sergle​ (shoutout to sergle! u rock) who is also a popular artist and also has an audience who were prone to want to reblog the post.

See that orange dot? That’s me. See that bigger blue dot? That’s sergle. 

In a way, this is a game of chance. Will something you reblog be seen by someone with a large enough audience to keep it going? The thing is, we don’t know until it happens. And oftentime, the only way to achieve this is to keep trying. Stubbornly. 

But you can’t just headbutt the wall in the same place and hope it eventually crumbles. You have to look for a door. 

3. So what’s the door? 

Take a look at your art. Is it consumable BEYOND the surface level of your followers? 

Sometimes people get discouraged because their fanart is way more popular than their original art. Although I share their frustration, there’s a good reason for this, and your followers aren’t to blame.  

The thing is, fanart is consumable at deep reblog levels. If you post fanart, there’s a good chance that even 3-4 reblogs down the line, there’s going to be a person who sees it and thinks ‘hey, I know Steven Universe. My followers know Steven Universe. I’ll reblog this!’ Fandoms are efficient because they already have a lot of context for the consumption of the art. They have a story (humans love stories), they’re invested in it, they’re interested in it, and there’s a good chance that sharing more stuff about it will get them more interaction with their mutuals, even if they’re not consciously thinking about all this as they reblog. 

Unfortunately, that’s just not true for your original art. Many of us have beautiful, wonderful stories - but they’re not available to a wide audience. They’re not easily consumed, they’re not easily accessed (in comparison to being on netflix, for example). If you post a picture of your OC - maybe your immediate pool of followers who know that OC will reblog it. But their own followers who aren’t directly following you will not have any connection, emotional or otherwise, to that character. They simply don’t have a reason to care, and they don’t have any means to. Even if they visit your blog - will it be easy to find similar content? Have you got your links available on desktop AND mobile? Is it easy to find the beginning of your story? Is it free of mistakes and easy to read? 

Large companies that make shows or comics funnel tons of money into making their media consumable. There’s a LOT of effort that goes into advertising, too. You, as an independent artist, simply don’t have that kind of manpower. That’s not your fault - but it’s also not your followers’ fault. Why are they supposed to reblog things that their own followers will never understand and connect with? 

4. Back to square one: how do I get noticed? 

I’m gonna keep this short and sweet because I feel like I already took up a lot of your time. After everything I’ve said, hopefully this will make sense:

Make content that has a connection to your audience somehow. Make it relatable to their life. Make it relatable to what’s currently going on. Make it worth their while to look at it. 

Make content that’s easy to understand. Super detailed drawings, with nothing to focus on are difficult to digest. Simpler, sharper drawings that someone can understand within 3 seconds of looking at it are the most digestible of all. This isn’t a museum.

If you’re creating content that goes with a story, MAKE THE STORY. I know it’s tempting to create just a whole bunch of character sketch sheets and leave it at that, but you can’t complain about not getting an audience when your audience doesn’t have anything to consume in the first place. 

Make the story AVAILABLE. Organize your tags. Make sure those tags are easily accessible. People will never like 100% of your art, so many it easy for them to find what they WILL like. 

Don’t be afraid of fanart. Fanart gets you connected with people who like stories and content similar to yours. 

Don’t be afraid to follow and reblog people that you want to connect with. Don’t be afraid to make them stuff and @ them. 

Post your stuff to a LOT of places! Your audience is somewhere out there - probably not only on tumblr. You have to spread yourself thin sometimes, but make sure the account can all lead back to your main hub. 

And last but not least…

Critically re-evaluate your art at least once a year. (I’m personally working on this.) Just because you’ve been drawing for years, and just because your art might be incredible doesn’t mean it’s appealing to people. Sounds weird, right? But think about it - there’s TONS of people who are not that amazing at anatomy, or coloring… but they still have a huge audience, and people connect with their art. A lot of times, it’s because their art is straightforward and easy to read/understand. 

Ask a friend to critique your art. Ask them if they understand your work, or if it’s difficult to make out. Ask them what your work inspires in them. Ask them what they DO like about your work - and exaggerate that!

There’s a LOT that goes into art… no matter it’s a whole industry! Doing it all on your own is HARD and it’s a bit unthinkable how much artists have to do to compete with industries. But it’s not impossible, and it’s definitely worth it. :)

Hope I didn’t bore any of y’all who made it down this far. 

Thanks!

[vgperson]

What Did I Translate in 2018?

[dyketectivecomics]

I’m the anon whose setting the bomb off by asking why season six won’t happen

TL;DR- bc Teen Titans (2003) ended! It wasn’t canceled! It was brought to a conclusion, that fans weren’t super happy with obviously, but it was an ending nonetheless.

I’d really like to encourage everyone in the fandom to read the interviews gathered by TitansTower (2nd half of the page) during the time TT03 actually aired. David Slack, Glen Murakami, & the crew have said over and over again, the original order for the series was for 4 seasons. WB hadn’t expected the popularity of the show to last past that, but it exceeded expectations and by the time season 4 was wrapping up development, they were asked to pen a movie and move forward with development for s5.

They had LOTS of ideas for season 5 too! More side characters they wanted to explore! More depth to get into the Brotherhood’s plot! But unfortunately, when they pitched the idea of a Longer season/more episodes, they were asked to keep it at 13 eps, the usual order. There were Talks about a possible 6th season & the crew started prepping for it and pitching it because, hey! they were passionate abt the show they were working on too! But WB ultimately decided to move onto other projects and guess what? So did the crew! Because that’s just what happens! Things end and you have to accept it and move on. Huh it’s almost like Things Chan-

(The rest under the cut here, is very much getting more into a Rant that veers way off topic (the Bomb is above mostly, the shrapnel is below lmao) & it hasn’t been proofread for errors bc I am, as the kids say, Big Mad. so Beware. You’ve been Warned) (also tagged: long post, in case the cut doesnt work for whatever reason, sorry mobile users RIP)

[[MORE]]

Even IF, for whatever reason, against all logic & reasoning they decided to Greenlight a sixth season, 12 years after this series ENDED. I GUARANTEE fans would find SOMETHING to bitch about every single step of the way. Just look at Young Justice. Much shorter timeframe between s2 and s3 getting picked up and yknow what fans are still doing? Being the Same Old Fans that Fans who Fan will Be.

Misinformation gets spread around every so often too, and I just wanna be really fucking clear: No amount of Toy Sales success/failure had anything to do with the show. No amount of the Demographics they Targeted vs Ones they Hit, had anything to do with the cartoons perceived ‘failure’. Especially considering that, again, they got a movie+5th season that hadn’t originally been planned for. So from that, no amount of fan petitions or campaigns were going to ‘bring it back’ because WB & the crew, again, had moved on to other projects. Because the show, as a production, had reached a natural conclusion.

Now sure, let’s fast forward to 2011/2012? The DC Nation block gets dropped into a SatAM slot. Nostalgia hits Big as, alongside new eps of Green Lantern:TAS & Young Justice, they showcase a plethora of shorts! One of which, is the New Teen Titans, done in that ~*adorable*~ Super-D form but with more or less the same style as the first cartoon.

Fans lose their minds and there’s a resurgence of petitions and letter writing campaigns (ones that I will readily admit to participating in because I was 15 and we all do DUMB things when we’re 15) And through all of this. WB/DC answers our Monkey Paw wish.

But here’s the thing abt the monkeys paw: you’ll get what you wish for, but it’s gonna come with a Big Ass Catch

And that catch, while they gave us the same lineup and same voicecast, they also gave us a comedy-focused & fully super-d/simplified style. And “fans” were Outraged with that.

But here we are again, 7 years later. And there’s a whole generation of fans who have forgotten the mistakes of the past, thinking and hoping against any kind of logic & blinded by nostalgia, that maybe JUST MAYBE. WB will revive a cartoon that ended in Two Thousand and Fucking Seven.

I tutor kids now who weren’t even born by then! The only Titans they know are TTG! And when they tell me they LOVE them, I say “that’s AWESOME dude! Did you know that they’ve got comic books abt them too?”

I tell them about the new generation of TTG! comics, the ones based on the cartoon they grew up with, not the ones I did. I let them know that there’s even more kid & teen heroes beyond the titans. And if they have a certain fav I let them tell me everything they love abt them and I tell them a cool Fact that might encourage them to find out more later!

Some days I HATE TTG, but I will NEVER tell a child that I hate something they love. I saw too much of that when I was growing up and I’ll be damned before I turn around and do the same damn thing to these kids.

Cartoons are a WONDERFUL medium to introduce a new generation of fans to these characters. And we should be encouraging WB to take more chances on bringing more of them to life. Not asking for the same few characters or groups to be redone over and over again.

Give me a Birds of Prey limited series! Give me a Secret Six Adult Oriented action-comedy! Explore that Amethyst short, with all its 80s game tech+magical girl anime aesthetic! Explore more Obscure characters with a quick 5-10 min story! Put a fresh new spin on a golden/silver age storyline (bc lbrhh some of them got WILD)

Just for the love of fuck stop pretending that One cartoon was the absolute Peak of Achievement and is the only thing that deserves to be revived or redone to death. Teen Titans WILL get another cartoon eventually. It’s like Scooby Doo and Batman. Its like Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek. It’s just a little early in its journey but it WILL have another reboot, another reimagining, another chance to shine for an entirely new generation. Everyone will have their preferences.

Just sit down, have a juice box and popcorn and enjoy ur fan servicey nonsense movie that you asked for But Didn’t Ask For, until we get that brand new series again.

TTG is gonna have to end eventually. And when it does, WB will be rubbing their hands together just biding its time until they can reboot the Titans again.