#well disrespectfully actually

[bcolfanfic]

(i don’t want to get into discourse over this truly i don’t but sometimes i see Takes™️ and feel like i somehow managed to watch a completely different mota than some other people did?? was it perfect okay, no. wish the tuskegee guys were developed more, wish that marge wasn’t a reshoots add in so we got more closure with her character. wish it was 10 or even 12 episodes not 9.

but idk i genuinely cannot square the takes about it being bad. granted i am a huge fan of austin and came into it very excited/ready to like it bc of him. but i also saw dune for him and while i enjoyed the film i saw it once and that was enough for me. (i saw elvis 2022 10 times in theaters between june 2022-march 2023 lmfao, once 3 times in 48 hours during the $5 awards szn run!!!)

which i say to say i’ve rewatched mota like 5+ times and keep rewatching it because i feel genuinely invested in the Full Story™️, not just to see austin. i think the character archs we see across the show were done very very well, especially crosby’s which i’ve actually been meaning to make a long post about on its own bc i wanna yap about it. rosie’s intro used to really annoy me but after a couple rewatches i came around to it/him and think he was written very well for the purpose his character was meant to serve. as much as i missed austin when gale went down i think the not showing it/leaving it up in the air till john got to the camp was an excellent way of putting the viewers into the shoes of the guys- who had no idea what happened to their friends when they went up and didn’t come back.

ive seen BoB and thought it was a fantastic well made beautiful show. but i personally, *personally* think i’d say i like mota more. and feel like i am the only person of the face of the earth with that opinion loldgdhch)

[t3chborb]

I'm one year older today, so I figured I gotta wrap a present or two~

.

..

...

... Wait...

... I got it backwards, didn't I...

... I'm supposed to be... uhh... the one opening gifts today...

... Oh, how incredibly silly of me...

Welp, I'm sure Ramattra doesn't mind~

[panharmonium]

Hi! I love your Naruto thoughts and meta posts with all my heart and I want to ask your thoughts on something that has been on my mind literally since I was 13: what do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura? I went from being a hardcore shipper when I was a teenager, to being against any romantic relationship in Naruto after finishing the anime when I was in my early twenties. Nowadays I'm very into platonic love and depictions of friendship and I think the anime's obsession with forcing the "romantic interest" curse upon the main female character robbed us of... so much. There are a few wonderful moments in the anime where Sasuke and Sakura acknowledge each other, but because she's always "the girl with the crush", her actions are so often interpret as irrational or selfish by the fandom.

Hi @riemmetric!  It's great to talk to you again! Sorry it's taken me so long to answer this; RL has been making demands of me lately and it took me way longer to finish writing this up than I wanted it to (then again, I knew from the minute I read your original ask that my reply was going to get long, so I suppose I should have predicted a delay XD)

It's funny, my sister once asked me to choose between Sasuke or Sakura for an “unpopular opinion” meme, and I ended up doing Sasuke solely because I think the negative fandom opinions about Sakura are so unhinged and divorced from the actual text that I wouldn’t even know where to start.  People are entitled to dislike whatever characters they want, obviously, but there are some fandom takes that are, for me, so obviously rooted in bad faith viewings/readings that there’s no urge in me to discuss them.  That said, since you asked, I’m happy to go into my own thoughts on this a bit, with the disclaimer for other potential readers that I only write about fandom things for my own personal enjoyment, not as a contribution to The Discourse. If you don’t like Sakura, great!  I have no interest in changing your mind. Please consider this a sincere invitation to scroll on by and go enjoy whatever parts of the fandom appeal to you.

In general terms: I love Sasuke and Sakura’s relationship as much as I love all of the relationships in Team 7.  If we’re talking about them specifically as a romantic couple, then I probably fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, because I do like them together in a post-canon (to be clear: non-Boruto) setting, after time has passed and they’ve continued to develop individually and reconnect with each other, but I also wouldn’t exactly call myself an intense “shipper,” in the sense that I have no interest in pulling things out from the text and incorrectly citing them as evidence that Sasuke has hidden romantic feelings for her during the canon period. He cares about her in the canon period, just like he cares about Naruto and Kakashi.  That’s not up for interpretation; it’s the text.  But Sasuke during the canon time period does not demonstrate specifically romantic interest in anyone.  

[A note before people who might ship Sasuke with Someone Else emerge to rail against this statement - please just scroll past and continue enjoying fandom in whatever way is most fun for you. It is cool to ship whatever fanon thing you want; I think that’s great!  But earnestly citing any loving or emotional thing Sasuke does re: various characters in this story (yes, Sakura included) as indicative of specifically romantic love isn’t supported by the text. I know there are always going to be enormous subsets of any fandom who insist that it is, and I'm certainly not going to barge into anyone else's space to complain about that (because other people having fun together is harmless and none of my business), but I'm not obligated to indulge it on my own blog, either.]

Anyway, that said - the reason why I love Sakura and Sasuke’s relationship (from here on out I’ll use “relationship” in a general, non-romantic sense) is precisely because Sakura isn’t just “the girl with the crush.” Sakura has an arc when it comes to Sasuke, and its trajectory moves in the exact opposite direction of “irrational” or “selfish.”  She specifically goes from “the girl with the crush” to “the girl who steels herself and tries to put her personal feelings for Sasuke aside for the greater good” to “the girl who knows she can’t put her feelings aside, but who also knows full well that Sasuke doesn’t reciprocate them, and who still wants to save him regardless, because he matters to her as a person and a friend.”

[I'm putting the rest of this under a cut to save everyone's dash, and also to emphasize once again that this is a personal post on my personal blog which I wrote in response to a question from a personal acquaintance, the full content of which no one is obligated to read. I am not sending this post to random strangers and forcing them to look at it. I'm not even putting it in the character tags. I'm typing it up on my own blog and putting it under a cut. If you already know that you don't like Sakura, but you still click the link/read the post and then feel an urge to comment and complain, I am going to copy-paste this disclaimer and remind you that I specifically recommended that you scroll past and go have fun with fandom in your own way. Thanks in advance for responsibly curating your own fandom experience!]

So, from the top:

1. the girl with the crush

Sakura is, obviously, completely obsessed with Sasuke at the beginning of Part 1.  She’s also deeply clueless about him and his history (bizarre though it is, the story seems to indicate that she initially doesn’t know what happened with his family, the same way young!Obito is initially clueless about Kakashi’s father).  But what I like about Sakura and Sasuke’s Part 1 relationship is how this changes over time.

The critical scene that kicks this off happens right at the beginning of the manga, when she and Sasuke are talking by that bench - she complains about Naruto and blames his behavior on him being all alone/having no family to scold him; and even says she’s jealous that he doesn’t have parents to nag him all the time.  This obviously triggers an outburst from Sasuke, who tells her she has no idea what loneliness means and that she “makes him sick”/she’s “annoying” (importantly, the exact same thing Sakura said to Naruto in anger earlier that day), which in turn prompts Sakura to reassess herself and wonder whether she’s been making Naruto feel this terrible all the time, too:

From that point on, it’s a process of her putting little pieces together.  She still has a MAJOR crush, and she still acts like a twelve year-old, but as we approach the end of Part I, Sakura actually has a more accurate grasp on Sasuke’s current state of mind than Naruto does.  Naruto is initially excited to fight Sasuke on top of the hospital, because he feels like Sasuke’s finally acknowledging him, whereas Sakura is the one who immediately recognizes that something is wrong about this situation.  She is also the one who, after this fight, is concerned that Sasuke is really unwell and might do something drastic like run off in pursuit of the power Orochimaru promised him, but when she communicates this to Naruto, he assures her that this would NEVER happen:

(Sakura isn't convinced, though, because she goes to monitor the exit out of the village anyway.)

I’m not criticizing Naruto for his response here.  I ADORE hearing him say that Sasuke is too strong to need Orochimaru, with such perfect confidence - I love seeing how much respect and admiration he has for Sasuke underneath all their fighting, because that’s the whole reason he’s always baiting Sasuke and yelling at him and claiming “you're not so great!” He looks up to Sasuke; he wants to be like Sasuke; he thinks Sasuke is awesome! (It’s that Obito @ Kakashi behavior, you know?) But the fact remains that he is clueless about what’s actually going on with Sasuke in Part 1, and he remains clueless(ly optimistic) for a long time.  

(Eg, when he catches up to Sasuke during the retrieval arc and Sasuke climbs out of that cursed seal coffin, Naruto waves at him and calls "Come on, let's go!" as if Sasuke has been successfully rescued and is now going to come running home.  Even in Part II, when Naruto hears that Sasuke killed Orochimaru, he beams and immediately says, “So he must be on his way back to the Leaf Village!”  And everyone else in the room is like, “....,” because they know better.  Naruto doesn’t yet fully understand [or doesn't want to accept] the extent to which Sasuke has willingly chosen this path, and it’s not until after Jiraiya’s death/the Pain attack/the Five Kage Summit that Naruto really starts to understand Sasuke more clearly, which is something he himself admits.)

Sakura, in Part 1, has access to more information about Sasuke - she’s there for his first dissociative monologue during the bells test, she’s there for the curse mark’s placement, she’s there for his first violent transformation in the Forest of Death - she is, in fact, the unwitting catalyst for it (“Sakura…who did this to you?”), and her compassion is the reason Sasuke is later able to overcome the curse mark’s influence - so she has a more accurate/complete picture of “how he’s doing,” for lack of a better phrase, whereas Naruto, who doesn’t know about the curse mark in the first place, is still in the dark.  This means that Sakura is able to accurately discern that Sasuke is struggling more than Naruto realizes, and specifically to predict that he’s going to run away.  

(This dynamic is then interestingly flipped in the back half of Part II, since at any point after the Five Kage Summit, Sakura doesn’t have access to extremely relevant [if currently questionable and unproven] details that would in any other circumstance inform her behavior).

Of course, just because she has more info in Part 1 doesn’t mean she has some kind of miraculous insight into Sasuke’s every thought and feeling.  There are parts of her attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village that are as clueless as any of Naruto’s assumptions, and they showcase the kind of magical thinking common to childhood - like when she says that if he stayed with her, she could give him happiness, she’d do anything for him, even help him get his revenge - this idea that she herself can do something to make him feel better, that she can love him powerfully enough to defeat his pain - obviously none of that is rooted in realism.

Is this part of her approach irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered?  Of course it is!  But it’s no more irrational and immature and inadvertently self-centered than Naruto’s stated plan to drag Sasuke back to the village even if he has to “break every bone in [his] body!” 

Hating on Sakura for her Part 1 attempt to convince Sasuke to stay in the village while simultaneously lauding Naruto for his feels like a bad faith misread of what is, to me, pretty clear narrative intention.  The story doesn’t at any point intend for us to see her begging him to stay as a selfish or conniving attempt to get something she wants.  She’s begging him to stay for the same underlying reason that Naruto is: she cares about him.  She thinks he’s making a mistake that will only cause him more pain in the end (she’s right) and she wants to make it so he feels less pain right now (she can’t.  But she doesn’t understand that/isn’t able to admit that, and she’s willing to try ANYTHING that might help).  

It’s critical that this farewell scene is set in front of that same bench from their first important confrontation - she references that day and how angry he got at her, and this time she tells him that she understands his reaction.  She’s learned things and she recognizes how insensitive she was being back then (“I know what happened to your clan, Sasuke”), even though she still can’t fully grasp all the complexities of the situation. She tells him that him blowing up at her back then helped her understand what loneliness actually meant (as opposed to her previous shallow understanding of it), and she challenges him about his choice right now: "So that's it, you're choosing the lonely path?" And when she tells him that she'll be very lonely if he leaves, we're immediately shown a panel of Sasuke thinking of both his friends, with the very clear implication that if he goes through with this, he will be lonely without them, too - that he's still struggling with the idea of leaving them, no matter how hard he tries to pretend:

Sakura at this point knows that Sasuke isn’t interested in her the way she is in him, but she still wants to give him happiness, however fantastical and immature her ideas sound to us (and, I’m sure, to him).  “I’ll do anything, even help you get your revenge/we'll have fun every day, and...and you'll be happy! I'll make sure of it!” - of course, it’s completely childish.  It’s irrational.  It’s ridiculous to think that any of this would ever be effective, but no more ridiculous than Naruto’s belief that he can simply break every bone in Sasuke’s body and keep him in the Leaf by force.

Both Naruto and Sakura are children who have a deeply oversimplified understanding of Sasuke’s situation.  They both still think they can fix him themselves.  They both think they can save him themselves.  They both think they can convince (or force) him to do what they want, what they think is in his best interests.  Both of them don’t yet understand that he has to want to come back, if it’s ever going to mean anything.  Their attempts to keep him in the village are immature and unrealistic, yes.  What they aren’t, however, is selfish, because neither Sakura nor Naruto are doing any of this with the intention of advancing their own interests.  They’re only thinking about Sasuke - how to keep Sasuke safe, how to make Sasuke happy - even when neither of them are taking an approach that will actually work.

Naruto and Sakura are children.  They’re afraid of losing somebody they care about.  Their attempts to prevent that from happening are desperate and messy and ultimately ineffective, but they are also genuinely felt and rooted in a true desire to rescue Sasuke from his pain, which - and this is the single most important thing that should impact our viewing of Part 1 - is something that Sasuke RECOGNIZES.  He doesn’t spend that agonizingly long moment bowed over Naruto’s defeated body so we can pretend he doesn’t understand that Naruto was just trying to help him.  He doesn’t take the time to murmur, “Sakura…thank you,” before laying her out carefully on a bench, just so we can discount it and pretend that he doesn’t recognize and appreciate her genuine intention to make things better for him, however clumsy that attempt might have been.

2. the greater good

If Stage 1 Sakura is "the girl with the crush," then Stage 2 Sakura is a progression to “the girl who decides to put her feelings for Sasuke aside in order to protect innocent people, including (but certainly not limited to) Naruto.”  She’s driven to this decision by interactions with Shikamaru, who all too recently had to grow up fast himself (“We're not kids anymore...we can't allow a war to break out between the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud because of Sasuke") and Sai, who risks his new friendship with Sakura and Team 7 in order to speak some hard truths and deliver one of my favorite lines in the whole story: “I don’t know what promise Naruto made to you, but it’s really no different than what was done to me.  It’s like a curse mark.”

(INCREDIBLE.  How can anybody be complaining about a season where Sai gets to say something that goes THIS HARD and Sakura LISTENS and takes DRAMATIC ACTION that actually propels the story forward in a meaningful way - )

[Okay, yeah, brief personal opinion interlude - it is just bonkers wild to me that there are people who complain about Sakura in the Five Kage Summit arc. That entire season is the greatest character arc she ever has.  Literally she has never been more interesting and dynamic than in Season 10; it’s the first time she ever gets to be as deep and fascinating as the boys; what is everybody so worked up about?  Oh, “she lied to Naruto that one time” - Sasuke joined infant-kidnapping baby-murdering human experimentation machine Orochimaru when he was twelve years old in order to (dare I say it????) selfishly pursue his personal goals and yet, somehow, we are still able to root for him.  He abandoned his friends/allies to imprisonment and death (Suigetsu and Jūgo) or outright stabbed them in the chest himself (Karin) in order to (SELFISHLY) get what he wanted, and yet, somehow, we are still able to love him, understand him, and be on his side.  Naruto is canonically not upset with Sakura about her lie after receiving context for the situation and I think we can probably take our cues from him without feeling the need to bring her up on war crimes; please calm down]

[Sorry, I just really love most of Season 10 and think it’s one of the best examples of how good this story can be when every single character gets to do something that matters (as opposed to things being all Naruto, all the time) so I get a little bit worked up over people complaining about some of the best writing Sakura ever gets.  I don’t understand what certain elements of fandom want from her. People complain about her being “useless” and not doing anything that contributes to the story, but then they complain just as much when she does finally get to act decisively and have just as complex/dynamic an inner world as the boys.  She’s “weak” for being unreasonably in love with Sasuke, but when she tries to be “strong” and put her love for him aside and eliminate him in order to protect Naruto and the rest of the world, she’s evil, because she should have been more understanding of his situation (despite the fact that she doesn’t KNOW anything about his situation).  But then when she can’t go through with killing him after all because she cares about him too much despite the things he’s done, she’s not "compassionate" or "kind" or "a good friend," she’s “weak” again. Nothing Sakura does in S10 is more wrongheaded or rash than any of the batshit, buckwild things Naruto and Sasuke have done in the past (and will continue to do in the future), but when Naruto and Sasuke have big feelings or take bold action, it makes them interesting characters, whereas Sakura can’t breathe in anyone’s direction without being minutely scrutinized for moral impurities.]  

Anyway. Back to a more measured response.  

Every single piece of development Sakura has with regard to Sasuke in this season satisfies me so much.  Her initial shock and disbelief at hearing that Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki?  Good, appropriate.  The fact that she starts to acknowledge the reality of what Sasuke’s done sooner than Naruto does?  Also extremely appropriate, very in-character for both of them.  Her taking Sai’s words to heart and deciding that the promise she asked Naruto to make when they were children is causing him to suffer and she has to relieve him of that burden?  Juicy!  AND thematically significant (promises!!!!  the burden that a promise places on a person, especially when it can't be kept - we've seen that before in this story and we'll see it again).  Her anguished pivot from wanting to protect Sasuke to realizing that she has a responsibility to protect the countless innocents who will die because of the war he’s trying to start?  HELLO THIS IS INCREDIBLE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.  Her knocking out the classmates who agreed to help her so they don’t have to share in her burden (and so the only person Naruto will hate when it’s over is her)?  BRUH.  Her being so committed and focused on her goal of saving innocents and protecting Naruto (not just from being harmed by Sasuke/the Akatsuki, but by the possibility that Naruto will someday have to hurt Sasuke himself) that she tries to take everything on by herself and walks into a confrontation that she absolutely cannot win??  INCREDIBLE.  (Literally the first time I watched this, I said, “Finally!!!  It’s Sakura’s turn to go off the rails!”  I laughed with my sister about how Kakashi isn’t even mad, because Naruto and Sasuke have been pulling stunts like this for years and Sakura was way overdue for her own meltdown.)  And then, after Kakashi intervenes in the fight - Sakura barreling back into the battle when she realizes he’s going to take on the burden of killing Sasuke himself in order to spare her and Naruto the horror - “I can’t let Kakashi-sensei bear this burden!”  I love her for that.  

And then, of course, in the end - her not being able to do hurt Sasuke after all.  Despite committing herself to the act, despite forcing herself to put her feelings for him aside, despite resolving to stop him from starting a war and killing innocent people, she can’t harm him.  She cares about him too much.  This, too, is thematically significant - think about Itachi’s “you don’t have enough hatred” - she doesn’t have enough hatred to kill someone she cares about, even if it seems like he deserves it, even if would be the right thing to do to protect others.  She can’t do it, and Sasuke almost kills her for her compassion.  

I love the dynamic this sets up between her and Sasuke, for a few reasons:

1) Personally, I think Sasuke respects Sakura much more for trying to kill him than he would have if she’d just tried to talk him out of his behavior or beg him to come home (a la their original confrontation in Part 1).  This is the first significant interaction he’s had with Sakura in years, and the fact that she does something SO contrary to his memory of her is an important demonstration of the fact that she’s not the same girl she used to be.  Sasuke spends a lot of time after his defection declaring to his old team “I’ve changed; I’m not that person anymore,” but this is one of the moments where he’s forced to acknowledge that his teammates have changed, too.  Time didn’t just stop for them when he left.  While he was turning into someone new, so were they.  They grew up without him, and his old memories of them can’t encompass the whole picture of who they are now.  

(This is a little tangential, but in general, I love the spectrum of reactions that Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi have in this sequence, and the way that all of them are ultimately messages Sasuke needs to hear.  Sasuke - who we know textually regrets what he did here, who apologizes to Sakura for it later - for “everything,” in fact - needs Naruto’s aggressively optimistic open-arms policy, yes, needs that potential, that unconditional possibility of return.  He also needs Sakura’s refusal to let him hurt her friends and start a war that will kill thousands of people, needs her surprisingly ruthless attempt to take him down; needs just as much her failure to do so, because it shows him that she still loves him too much to kill him even as she condemns him.  And he needs Kakashi’s grim line in the sand, needs someone who very possibly won't hesitate like Sakura (despite the horrifying personal cost), someone who will try to reach him but also won't let him escape and become the next generation’s Orochimaru, who won't let him cause untold suffering to untold numbers of people just because a teacher loved him too much to stop him when he had the chance. 

(And then even Kakashi chooses not to deliver a killing blow when he has the opportunity -)

(I know that in fandom people are more likely to be all, “oh, Naruto Good, everybody else Bad,” but I don’t think the narrative frames Sakura or Kakashi as “worse” than Naruto in any way.  The story goes out of its way to make it clear how desperately they don’t want to hurt Sasuke and how much they care about him.  And [this is just my interpretation, so obviously I won’t claim it as fact], I personally think that Sasuke - Sasuke, who, looking back, can see how lost he was then and how tortured he would have been if he’d gone through with many of his plans - would be grateful to Sakura and Kakashi for making an attempt to stop him when he couldn’t stop himself.)

2) On the other side of this, the fact that Sakura wasn’t able to deliver the killing blow means a lot. Sasuke was incapacitated under that bridge; he was completely at her mercy - but she stopped with the kunai an inch from his back.  She couldn’t kill him, even though she knew that he was completely willing to kill her (because he'd attempted to Chidori-assassinate her from behind just a few minutes ago).  That’s huge!  Sasuke is too out of his head right now to process this or understand it, but later, it's going to matter.  She stayed her hand.  She spared his life.  She loved him too much to hurt him, even when he’d given her every reason to take him down.  She hesitated, and he almost killed her for it, but her inability to strike him ultimately gave him yet another chance to come home, another chance to get better, another chance to have a life outside of his pain.  Despite everything, some part of her still hadn’t really given up on him, and that knowledge will matter later, when he’s finally able to acknowledge it.  

The point of all this is to say that I really have no complaints about Sakura and Sasuke’s dynamic in their S10 confrontation.  This season is the point where Sakura fully grows past her “girl with a crush” stage and into her “shinobi must make very harsh decisions” adulthood, but it never means that she doesn’t care about the person she’s trying to take down.  Her ultimate inability to deliver the killing blow remains a dangling lifeline for her relationship with Sasuke, an open door that Sasuke is able to walk through at the end of the story (literally, in fact, when Sakura opens that portal for him and saves him from Kaguya’s desert prison, and figuratively, too, when Sasuke apologizes to her).

3. she only wants to save you

The last stage in their relationship is what Sakura settles into during the war arc.  She started off Part 1 being just a girl with a crush, then tried to harden her heart and put her feelings for Sasuke aside in service of the greater good, but she was unable to actually follow through and kill him, and because of that, what she’s come to accept by the war arc is actually two things: that 1) Sasuke truly is willing to let her die if it furthers his goals, and 2) she wants to save him anyway.  

She has no intention of pursuing Sasuke romantically.  She knows full well that Sasuke isn’t interested in her.  She even knows that Sasuke isn’t really on their side (there’s a great scene where Sai questions Sakura about Sasuke’s return, and she reassures him that everything is fine, and Sai sadly thinks to himself “even I can tell your smile is fake”).  She’s well-aware that Sasuke didn’t try to help her when Madara stabbed her.  She’s well-aware that he left her to die in the lava pit.  She’s also well-aware that none of this is enough to make her stop loving him.  He doesn’t have to care about her - she still cares about him.  She still wants to help him.  She still wants to save him.

This is not hidden, hard-to-parse character development.  It’s explicitly articulated on the page:

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers!  She only wants to save you.

I’m not sure if people look at this last confrontation and unquestioningly take Sasuke at his word (as if we haven’t just read 71 volumes/watched 700 episodes showing us how how painfully distorted his thinking is), or if they stop reading/watching before the end of the scene, or if they don’t understand that Sasuke saying something doesn’t make that statement an accurate representation of reality.  The entire point of this scene is to show us how deeply mistaken Sasuke is about Sakura (and, by extension, the rest of Team 7).  He’s locked into a false pattern of thinking.  His single-minded focus on revenge and destruction has blinded him to the unconditional love his friends feel for him; he’s become so accustomed to using others and being used that he can’t understand or accept that someone would care about him without needing a reason, without needing him to love them back, without needing to receive something from him in exchange.

Sakura’s not trying or wanting to make you hers!  She only wants to save you.

Sasuke matters to Sakura as more than a love interest.  He always has.  She does love him romantically, yes, but she doesn’t only love him romantically, and her desire to help him is not and has never been contingent on him returning her feelings, romantically or otherwise.  Sasuke isn’t able to acknowledge that in this scene, but that doesn’t mean we’re supposed to just sit back and agree with his warped perspective.  Kakashi is the one who’s explicitly positioned as the voice of the narrative here.  We, as the audience, are supposed to recognize that Kakashi is the one telling us the truth.

[tangential thing 1: You don’t have to love Sakura's last plea to Sasuke here. It’s not my favorite, either - the best part, other than Kakashi’s speech at the end, is the moment after Kakashi collapses when Sakura’s expression changes from pained uncertainty to pure rage, when she grits her teeth together - when I first saw that, I almost leapt out of my seat like “Oh my god.  She’s finally going to let him have it.  It’s finally happening - ”  I wanted that so badly, and I still think it would have been a more effective writing choice for Sakura’s last words to lean more into her anger at the suffering Sasuke is causing all of them (himself included!) and less into yet another of Kishimoto’s “let me have Sakura articulate what a shame it is that she can’t do as much as Naruto despite the fact that I literally just went through a major reveal sequence in the war to show that she’s caught up to the boys; I can’t make up my mind about whether I want her to progress or not” - it’s extremely frustrating (and it's something he does at the very end of the S10 Team 7 reunion, too, which is the ONLY moment of S10 that falls flat for me).  But at the same time, even if there are ways this sequence could be more satisfying, it doesn’t change the fact that her plea to him is not remotely motivated by a desire to be with him romantically and not anything to condemn her for.]

[tangential thing 2: I do like how she remembers that moment when Sasuke says “Thank you.”  That panel precedes her saying “If there’s even a tiny corner of your heart that thinks about me…” (which I’m sure is one of the things that people like to criticize about this scene, aka “oh she’s sooooo self-centered” etc), but that particular line of dialogue is preceded by that particular flashback panel for a reason: Sakura knows that Sasuke DOES think about her.  He thinks about all of them.  Sakura remembers that “thank you,” and it reminds her that despite everything Sasuke has done and said since, despite all evidence to the contrary, she knows in her bones that his expression of gratitude back then was genuine.  He cared about her once.  He cared about all of them.  She’s trying to reach the part of him that still does, if it exists.]

[tangential thing 3: The fact that Kakashi says “she suffers from loving you,” and it triggers Sasuke to remember his own family - thinking about how much he suffered (and still suffers) from loving them - “Perhaps…those are the ties to a failed past” - the idea that it’s not worth it to have bonds if it means you suffer this much…that it’s too difficult, it’s too painful, and if Sakura and the rest of Team 7 were smarter they would just give it up (all Sasuke knows how to do now is sever potential bonds before they can hurt him; so why aren’t Sakura and the rest of his teammates doing that, why can’t they let it go, why are they making this so hard - ) << yeah, he clearly doesn't care about her/them at all.]

4. the shadow of my family

This has all been a really long way to answer the original question, but the short response to “What do you think about the relationship between Sasuke and Sakura?” is “I really care about it,” just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Naruto, just like I really care about the relationship between Sasuke and Kakashi. And I don’t think the story ever asks me to choose between them.

I’m not sure whether it’s the impact of Boruto-era “canon” that gets in the way of other people approaching things this way (I don’t consider sequel material when I evaluate the original story), or if it’s Kishimoto’s frequent disinterest in/disrespect towards female characters, which yes, does sometimes make it harder, or if it's a shipping thing (bane of my existence), or some combination of factors, but for me, taking one member of Team 7 out of the equation hobbles the rest of the story.  I can’t read/watch Naruto while hating one of the protagonists and loving the other three.  It doesn’t work like that for me.  The story wasn’t written that way, and there’s nothing in the text that would cause me to receive it that way.

That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with disliking one of the main foursome (or any character, for that matter) - obviously we're all going to have different preferences, and everyone is free to enjoy or reject whatever parts of a story they want, or to like or dislike whatever characters they want. I know that some people have more fun disregarding canon and doing their own thing, which is fine.  My own personal zone of enjoyment comes from receiving the story as closely to how I think it was intended to be read as I can, and personally, when I look at this particular story, what I see is that all the members of Team 7 clearly demonstrate their love for Sasuke in ways that he himself later recognizes and acknowledges. All of them are driven by their desire to save him and their unwillingness to hurt him. All of them make repeated choices to chase after him when he runs away, to trust him when he hasn't exactly earned it, to give him another chance when he doesn't appear to deserve it. ALL of them, not just Naruto, do these things multiple times throughout the story, and Sasuke owes his life (and thus his eventual recovery) to ALL of them, many times over. Kakashi disobeys Hokage-elect Danzō and breaks the law to negotiate for Sasuke's life with a foreign head of state. Sakura and Kakashi both have opportunities to kill Sasuke in the Land of Iron, and they choose to spare him instead. Kakashi stops Sasuke from killing his only friends at two different points in the story, which would have been a mistake Sasuke couldn't have recovered from. Sasuke would have died in Kaguya's desert dimension if Sakura hadn't saved him (Sakura, who knew that Sasuke wasn't even truly on her side yet, who knew he'd abandoned her for dead multiple times already that day). Kaguya's bone bullet would have killed Sasuke too, if Kakashi, with his intention to die in Sasuke's place, hadn't leapt in front of it (Kakashi, who also knew that Sasuke wasn't fully on their side yet, who also knew that Sasuke had abandoned him for dead earlier that day). Sasuke and Naruto would have BOTH died in the Final Valley if Sakura and a severely injured Kakashi hadn't chased after them to heal their injuries.

Remove any one member of Team 7, and Sasuke never makes it home. Without the combined efforts of all three of his teammates, he doesn't survive.  That’s the way it should be, thematically, for a story whose first and most foundational premise was the importance of teamwork, and since Sakura was just as essential to that framework as everyone else, I’m just as invested in her relationship with Sasuke as I am in his relationship with everyone else.  You can’t remove one leg from a four-legged stool without damaging the integrity of the entire structure, and for me, discounting any single member of Team 7 irreparably damages the integrity of the entire story. 

TL;DR: I love all of the Team 7 relationships, including Sakura and Sasuke's, because despite what some segments of fandom seem to believe, the text of the story never gives me any reason not to.

[californiaquail]

was hanging out with someone today and she was talking about how she would shoot the hawks and eagles if they went after her indoor/outdoor cat and i had to struggle to keep a straight face. there is an EASY fucking solution to this problem that doesn't involve killing federally protected wildlife OR your poor damn cat. who got in a fight last night and left fur all over the place.

[sysig]

Huh?? Whuh??? Okay (Patreon)

[softgrungeprophet]

okay listen not to be like this, and it's not like this is the first time i've seen saul, with 120 fuckin hours logged in this game but,

saul hot

[izvmimi]

cw: smut, minors dni. brat!reader. angry sex that turns soft. not really infidelity but a little targeted flirting on the part of reader. female anatomy for reader. f! receiving oral. penetrative sex.

“You’re getting way too good at getting on my damn nerves.”

The door to your hotel room is barely closed by the time he starts his tirade, but neither of the Itoshi brothers are particularly known for having any type of manners, and the current state of affairs is that you’ve successfully pissed Rin off the entire night. It doesn’t help that Rin’s kind of a crybaby, and his beautiful eyelashes line red-rimmed eyes right now; in fact his whole face is red from embarrassment, and as you kick your high heels off, he’s glaring at you with aggravation, hands balled into fists.

“So?” you ask flippantly, turning to him with a flourish in your satin, form-fitting dress that seems to practically mock him. You don’t intend to spin that joyfully but it works for you tremendously. After all, Rin takes himself far too seriously and it’s your God-given task to cut him down to size. Flirting with his brother - well, barely so - has worked wonders for you. Rin is now so hot he’s practically ripping his shirt off at the collar as he tries to loosen it, and you plop onto the king sized bed in practical glee. 

This isn’t the first time you’ve provoked him like this and it works every time.

You don’t have to do much. Just a few heavy lidded glances in Sae’s direction, a little too much interest in whatever the asshole has to say, letting your eyes linger on his drink then on the curve of his lips for a little too long, shrugging when Sae disrespectfully asks you, right in front of his brother, if you’re willing to spend time with an actual athlete before declining.

There will be a point in time where Sae’s advances towards you result in his face drenched in sweetened alcohol, but for now, when Rin’s waffling about how much you mean to him despite being desperate for your attention, keeping you on his arm for event after event, you don’t have to be his ride-or-die.

But you can ride him. 

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re trying to prove but if you keep fucking playing with me, you’re going to end up biting off more than you can chew.”

He’s a lot of talk and a lot of energy as he tears off your panties, but he’s the one with his face shoved into your folds just moments later, sliding his tongue up and over and along every part of you, lapping up your cream like milk, drinking up your squeals and moans like sweet ambrosia. His arms are practically wrapped around your lower half, dragging your hips up to his face as he sucks and swallows, spitting on your clit the lesser half out of disgust, the greater half out of sheer desire. Face still covered in your slick, and practically drooling, he takes your lips in his mouth again and kisses fervently, pulling your leg around his waist as he descends on you.

“Stop acknowledging him,” Rin hisses. Your back arches as his cockhead presses first against your entrance, missing first before he re-steadies and slips inside you, biting your lower lip as they pull back in a wince. Your fingers claw into his bare back as he claims you, a shudder leaving his throat as he nestles inside you, warm, inviting, his, oh so necessarily his.

“Stop worrying about him,” you hiss back. “Focus on me.”

Your eyes narrow as they meet, but he’s softening as you look at him. The first few strokes into your center are fast, harsh, quick in the snap of his hips, but the next ones, with his eyes slowly filling with adoration as he watches your reactions, the scrunch of your face and the lust in your eyes as they roll back, are slow and tender. 

“Focus on me,” he whispers now as he rolls his hips against yours. “Be mine.”

Be mine, be mine, be mine. He kisses your neck, marking you with each press of the lips, each squeeze of his fingertips on your flesh, and he wishes you would scratch and claw your name into his skin if only it means he’s definitely yours and only yours and you’re only his, forever.

[powerpuffobsession]

"Adam is a mysogynist. He doesn't deserve to be on the show anymore"

Lucifer, Alastor and Blitzo are mysogynists too. And yet they are treated well by the narrative and not deemed as worthy of being dead. That seems hypocritical

Blitzo (uses the slur "whore", used his girlfriend to steal her money and shuts her up every time she brings that up, insulted a woman with disabilities, insults and stalks Millie and uses the fact about her using a strap on on Moxxie to degrade her husband)

Alastor (slapped Vaggie's rear and pushed her to the floor to manipulate her girlfriend, sees Charlie's project as a joke and openly says so, disrespectfully shittalked her dad right in front of her)

Lucifer (degraded Eve and Lilith to a role of sex toys by bragging about how they wanted to fuck him during a fight with Adam, outloud, right in the middle of the streets, when he could have chosen any other way to piss Adam off)

But Adam makes one joke about how a groupie wanted the drummer instead of him (she had sex with him, so... it could have been an inside humour and she might have liked it, I guess, we never got the details), and his mysogyny is treated as worse than all of the actions listed above?

Dunno about his relationship with Lilith and Eve. I'm not gonna base my opinion on a shady book written by Lucifer and Lilith, I want actual objective flashbacks. And it seems kinda iffy that Lilith ran back specifically to Adam, to her supposed abuser, to make a deal that successfully allowed her to enter Heaven. And she abandoned Lucifer in the process. Something doesn't add up here. Do those two, Adam and Lilith, actually have that bad of a relationship?

[radiance1]

When Vlad showed him a picture of his man when Danny somehow lead him down this rabbit hole, he was, well.

Vlad: Thoughts?

Danny, currently questioning what Vlad's tastes in partners are for his new target of love to disrespectfully look like a drowned rat unsuccessfully smoking a blunt: [Squints and realizes that it is actually raining in that picuture]

Danny, looking up at Vlad with squinted eyes and taking a long, slow sip of his energy drink:.... Do you need help picking out partners?

Of course, Vlad gives and overdramatic gasp and clutches his phone to his chest while looking like Danny just ended like, 1/4 of his bloodline.

Meanwhile, somewhere, probably about to have great misfortune befall him, Constantine sneezes.

[ineffectualdemon]

Do they fuck? - SVSSS

Bingqiu - fuck carefully because size issues and emotions

Moshang - fuck nasty and disrespectfully

Liushen - does not fuck because it would not occur to them to

Cumplane - fuck but only hate fuck or to prove a point or attempt to manipulate each other. Or at least that's what they tell each other

Bingliu - really fuck nasty

Bingliushen - two fuck nasty one watches and occasionally joins in when he can be bothered because he's their emotional support third

Yue Qingyuan/Shen Qingqiu - does not fuck because Yue Qingyuan would never ask and Shen Qingqiu would never consider it an option

Qijiu- either fuck emotionally and sweetly or never actually fuck but a lot of service dom action going on from Yue Qingyuan

Zhuzhi-lang/Shen Qingqiu: ....does not fuck. But a lot of service sub action going from Zhuzhi-lang

Tianlang-Jun/Liu Qingge - fuck surprisingly well and surprisingly vanilla

LiuJiu - does not fuck. Just has divorced couple energy. Shen Jiu already has his widow gown ready

Sha Hualing x Liu Mingling- objectively the best fuck

Scumplane - either fuck surprisingly vanilla or does not fuck

[mxtxfanatic]

Just saw someone make a post about how Hanguang-jun was “beefing” with a child (Jin Ling), and while the response I saw to it was fantastic—pointing out how Jin Ling was a spoiled brat who was constantly, knowingly putting others in danger and Lan Wangji served as one of the first adults in his life (the other being Wei Wuxian) who actually disciplined him for his unruly actions in order to teach him to be a better person—it made me think of something I never really took notice of: Jin Ling is afraid of other adults.

Now, obviously Jin Ling isn’t afraid of all adults. He’s unhesitant about bossing around the adult Jiang disciples when his uncle isn’t around. He treats “Mo Xuanyu” very disrespectfully until Wei Wuxian puts him in his place. He’s fine with yelling back at the adult rogue cultivators whose lives he’s endangered. But he reacts to Hanguang-jun as if Lan Wangji is going to kill him (or Fairy) for stepping out of line. Why? There are two reasons for this: 1) Jin Ling is afraid of adults that his uncles will not protect him from and 2) because he has not had any positive examples of care or discipline in his life, discipline, in his mind, carries an inherent threat of violence.

Let’s discuss point one. Outside of Lan Wangji, every adult listed above has been successfully suppressed by either Jiang Cheng or Jin Guangyao, Jin Ling’s uncles. The Jiang disciples are under Jiang Cheng’s control. The rogue cultivators are cowed by the threat of Jiang Cheng’s Zidian. Mo Xuanyu has been expelled by Jin Guangyao with the full weight of the Jin Clan behind him. So Jin Ling, the nephew who they allow to run wild, has nothing to fear by disrespecting them. However, Lan Wangji does not fall into this category. Lan Wangji is the younger brother of Jin Guangyao’s sworn brother, and as the uncle who does not step in to protect Jin Ling from violence, Jin Ling is well aware that Jin Guangyao would likely not side with him if he crossed Lan Wangji. At most, he would play peacemaker, as he does to discourage Jiang Cheng from reprimanding Jin Ling in his presence. This only works for individuals who care about reputation, though, and Lan Wangji is no such individual. That leaves Jiang Cheng as the only one who could potentially suppress Lan Wangji, but immediately upon confrontation, Jiang Cheng backs down from conflict and instead chooses to throw Jin Ling under the bus, probably for the first time in the child’s life. Neither of his powerful uncles will defend him against this adult, and this adult, himself, is unafraid to run afoul of Jin Ling. This, then, leads to the second point.

Jin Ling has only known violence as a form of discipline. It is notable that neither of Jin Ling’s uncles discipline him when he is in the wrong for his actions: Jin Guangyao coaxes Jin Ling while deflecting criticism while Jiang Cheng encourages Jin Ling’s bad behavior…except when directed at himself. Thus, let’s remove Jin Guangyao from this “discipline” conversation. What does Jin Ling know of Jiang Cheng’s discipline methods? Well, he whips first and asks questions later. He belittles Jin Ling with verbal abuse and resorts to physical violence against his nephew when under stress. He runs his sect with such an iron fist that his disciples are afraid to tell him things he does not like. Jin Ling has never known him to be anything but cruel and cold. And if we take into account how both the Jin and Jiang clans treat outsiders, we see that most situations of disagreement or discontent end in violence, with the Jiang and Jin as the ultimate victors. Therefore, with these stunning examples of “discipline” from his childhood guardians and their clans, it is no wonder that Jin Ling fears what being “disciplined” entails from the hands of an adult that neither of his uncles will fight for him against.

It is perfectly reasonable—in the most tragic of ways—that Hanguang-jun terrifies him at the beginning if the story. This is why the introduction of Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian into his life was imperative: Jin Ling got to learn that discipline—be it criticisms or reprimands—is not inherently violent and thus was made safe enough by his two unlikely mentors to listen to them in order to transform into the better person he is by the end of the novel.

[violetasteracademic]

Does Elain Archeron want to be human again?

Theory debunk ahead.

I have personally *tried* (though I am absolutely not perfect) to take a hippocratic oath with my presence on the internet and wish to do no harm. The Libra moon to my Virgo sun is always trying to approach things peacefully. The wing 2 on my type 1 ennengram is always trying to take an open hearted approach to compassion and empathy for others while still defending my views on Elain (and Azriel).

However, the take that Elain's book is going to be centered around her acting in risky, irrational, or damaging ways because she has one goal and that is to be human again, is a theory I have ZERO respect for. So, with all due respect, which is none, please feel free to self insert disrespectfully at the end of each point as I systematically debunk this theory. This is probably the longest post I'll ever make. Strap in.

So, where TF did this come from?

On my tiktok, I addressed the fact that the rumor that there is going to be a betrayer in the Night Court ranks has zero grounds. We should collectively start to work to realize this is as accurate as Sarah having an announcement on May 1st, but alas it is a losing battle. However, I received a comment that said they also agreed that it was fake UNTIL they saw someone use text to support it. Apparently, one of the human queens insinuated there is a traitor in the Inner Circle. This is why, even though Sarah NEVER said this, people are now continuing to push this "Elain will be a traitor" agenda. Even accidentally or unintentionally out of her desire to be human. I made a whole video on this, but for context, here is the quote being used to fuel this:

Briallyn and Nesta are in a game of chicken with Briallyn trying to force Nesta to get the Trove by threatening she'll have Cassian kill her, and he'll never recover. When Nesta calls her on her bluff and says Briallyn won't kill her, Briallyn responds that there are other court members as delusional as Nesta (she is referring to her love for Cassian making her weak, delusional, and vulnerable) and she can just keep threatening members of the Night Court's loved ones until someone gets her what she wants. However, she put in *quite* a bit of time and effort on trapping Nesta first, didn't she?

My friends. Where does Briallyn say "there is a traitor among the Inner Circle's ranks?" Where does it say there is a mole? It doesn't. Yes, Briallyn has spies. As do all courts and kingdoms. But to suggest Briallyn said there is already a traitor in the Inner Circle specifically because of these quotes is unhinged and beyond willful distortion of the text to serve an invented narrative based on an unfounded rumor. I don't have time or energy to recap the whole vid, but moving on from this for now. Disrespectfully.

The next layer of the conversation is this: They think Briallyn is probably still foreshadowing Elain because Elain wants to be human so badly she'll unintentionally harm the Night Court and betray them, somehow, because of this quote and the conversation with Amren on Solstice. To which I said, there is way too much evidence in ACOSF that Elain is healthy, adjusted, and has friends and purpose in Velaris. The response to that was, well that's Nesta's perception and we can't trust her.

While the convo on tiktok was, I felt, respectful discourse and we agreed to disagree, the parasite in my brain went into full annihilation mode over this theory after thinking on it.

Because by this logic- if we aren't allowed to trust Nesta's or Cassian's perceptions that Elain is healthy and well and adjusted, or glowing with good health and finding purpose and friends, then we ALSO aren't allowed to trust Amren's assumption that Elain was curious about her choosing her Fae form because Elain wants to be human again. Elain never actually said that. Amren assumed it:

(yes I'm bringing so many receipts I exceeded the photo limit and had to start combining pages.)

At no point does Elain say anything about wanting to be human. In fact, this entire conversation is about Elain's curiosity over why Amren chose the form that she did, why she selected the gender, ect. It's honestly an interesting conversation, and when Amren makes assumptions about Elain having ulterior motives for asking the interesting question, *Elain's brow furrows in confusion.*

Elain straightens and becomes cold at Amren's assumption Elain still wants to be human. One could read this as Elain feeling embarrassed for being called out, but the pure fact is that it isn't the only explanation. In fact, Elain has spent all day cooking for everyone, spent the week shopping for Solstice presents and waxing poetic about the importance of honoring Solstice traditions (more on that later) and participating in the Fae customs, fussing over her appearance for the dinner she prepped for, ECT. It's equally as likely that she is hurt over being misunderstood by the new friends and family she has spent the day trying to making a perfect Solstice meal for and shop for everyone. Which is, if I'm not mistaken, Elain's whole damn theme. Her loved ones don't really see or understand her, while she observed and understands everything. Far more than they give her credit for.

Or maybe Elain has a fucking BEAST FORM. And is curious about what her powers can do with changing form.

The point is, it is all theory and assumption from another character. So, the dinner conversation at Solstice is now off the table using the very logic enforcing the Elain betrayal plotline by suggesting Nesta's perceptions of her are untrustworthy. So are Amren's. What's next? Disrespectfully.

There's only one other item people can use, from ACOFAS, which is Feyre's perception that Elain still wants Grayson. Which again, by this logic, is off the table now.

Feyre is the one who says Elain wants a human man. Elain didn't. So this can no longer be used as evidence.

All Elain says is Lucien is not entitled to her time and affections, and it's impossible for Lucien to care for her because he does not know her. Hmm. Someone thinking they know and care for Elain without actually knowing her. Theme, anyone? I thought I heard a theme bell chime.

Alright. So Nesta is wrong about Elain. Amren is wrong about Elain. Feyre is wrong about Elain.

So where are the grounds that Elain still wants to be human based on the text?

They don't exist.

But oh, that's not even the fun part! NOW is the fun part.

By eliminating others perceptions of Elain from the conversation as they are unreliable, what does that leave us?

Perhaps with Elain's own words and actions and nothing else?

You guys, I felt like a kid in a candy story with this one. Let's see what Elain told us about her thoughts regarding the human lands, starting with the most recent publication ACOSF:

Elain describes in great detail how she was bullied by other girls when she was younger. It's interesting, because Nesta previously said that Elain used to love balls and parties. And yet here, we find out that Elain wasn't treated well by the other girls in her own words speaking on her own experience. She goes on to *shudder in distaste* that in the human lands, it would have been perfectly suitable for Nesta to have been married off and "reserved" until she was old enough to reproduce. A thought that made Rhysand, a Fae, choke on his wine. And then of course, those same girls that tormented her delighted in her downfall.

When Elain speaks for herself instead of others speaking for her, it doesn't seem like she thinks very highly of the human lands, their customs, or their behavior, or the balls she attended does it? She certainly doesn't have any friends or anyone she misses. Everyone turned their backs on the sisters when they lost their money. And Elain witnessed this with Grayson as well, who turned his back on her the second her circumstances changed against her will again.

So uh, no. I don't think Elain is desperate to go back there.

And if course we have this ACOMAF banger:

So.... yeah. In Elain's own words, sharing her thoughts and beliefs, this is what she thinks about the rulers of the mortal lands. By the way, these same queens had her kidnapped and risked her life and took everything from her so they could test out whether mortals could survive being thrown in the Cauldron. But please, tell me more how Elain misses her human life so much that she'll screw over her friends and family to get it back. Disrespectfully.

Alternatively, in A Court and Frost and Starlight, here are the lovely thoughts Elain had about Fae culture:

Here's Elain working with her friends to bake Feyre's birthday cake, a representation of the three sisters:

Here's Elain surprising Nesta and Azriel with presents her very first Solstice, after chatting with local vendors and working with the Night Court's trusted healer:

Here is what Elain, Elain and no one else, has to say about being a member of the night court and ready to use her powers to serve it:

This is what happens when you cherry pick context. You create a new set of rules, which people like me are more than willing to follow. And if the rule is: Elain's thoughts and feelings are the only pieces of evidence allowed and not anyone else's thoughts or perceptions of her, it actually only proves the theory that Elain is going to betray the night court because she wants to be mortal again and return to the mortal lands even more wrong. Considering the theme once again, of how misunderstood and unseen Elain has been, the unbelievably ironic meta-ness of it all is overwhelming. Please, unplug yourself from the Matrix. Pay attention to Elain. It's in your best interest to at least attempt to see and understand her if you plan to read her book, or you are going to be very lost and confused.

Disrespectfully.

[grimm-writings]

hello! <3 i read your dungeon meshi stuff and it was great!! is it alright if i request some relationship headcanons with chilchuk? preferably with a male s/o, but gn is alright too! thank you sm! i hope you have a good day.

chilchuck relationship headcanons!!

…ft! chilchuck x m! reader

…tags! fluff, mentions of chilchuck's wife, chilchuck bisexuality crisis, teeny weeny hurt/comfort, talk of marriage, just word vomit tbh

…wc! 1561 (UHM...)

…notes! m! reader food come get it!!!!!!!! thank you for giving me the opportunity to go crazy stupid with this request anon i love chil so much is it obvious yet

Ok let’s get one thing straight.

(He isn’t.  Haha.)

But!  In all seriousness, Chilchuck has one thing he needs to do before considering a committed relationship.

Yep, even with all the longing glances, late night conversations, and helping each other learn and grow, he has to delay the fruition of your relationship until after everything after the dungeon dies down.

Well… he just needs to talk to his past lover first.  He needs to have a long, long conversation with her, and he’ll be sure to mention you too.

He relays this to you during the great feast privately.  Despite his nervousness, the sigh of relief that escapes him is noticeable.  His shoulders slack and he closes his eyes.  Finally, it’s off his chest.

Before we talk about the actual relationship, though, let’s talk about stuff that happened during the pining phase!  Yay!

Chilchuck only had one flame his entire life, and that was his childhood friend.  He never really ‘dated’, never really had any sort of time to explore his feelings for anyone else.

To put it plainly, he had no idea he was into guys.

“I dunno, Senshi was always kind of handsome,” Chilchuck notes with Laios, and his doppelganger nods in agreement. You and Marcille pause for a second, processing the words the two men said.  Like a house pet that has certain opinions regarding these sorts of people, you side-eye one another. “How would you know that?”  You challenge. In response, one of the Chilchucks glances over at you – the more tired looking one – and he shrugs.  “Not anyone would have the kinda bold look in his eyes he has.  The pinnacle of masculinity,” he huffs with a small grin, as if daydreaming of the very such thing. You have no words.  You quite simply don’t.

It’d be a major “oh FUCK” moment when he does realise.  Honestly the entire realisation of feelings for Chilchuck is Good Medicine but times a billion.

He’s pacing he’s pulling at his hair he’s questioning how the HELL did this happen.

If he has a pillow he is screaming into it more often than he normally does.

If you’re more on the masculine side, or are a dwarf, this man is a right mess around you.

Like he’s stammering constantly and hates himself for it.  Constantly red in the face around you and has to excuse himself.

But like . Not in a gay way or anything.

(Seriously if you think how he avoids his friends is ridiculous, this is eleven times worse.)

It takes some time, but I can imagine there’s a moment in the dungeon where you kissed at least once.

Chilchuck is the one to break away first, his eyes wide and face beet red.  It doesn’t take long for him to take his hands away from where they were, interlaced with yours, to hold his face and drag his skin down in dread. “...Did you like it?”  You nervously ask.  He’s the king of mixed signals… The half-foot nods slowly, still looking like he experienced some form of unwanted enlightenment.  “Yuh–huh,” he squeaks. You smile.  That’s good enough for you.

Marcille definitely picks up on SOME tension though.  She’s oddly observant of that sort of thing.

Once you actually reveal to the party that you’re seeing each other post-canon, Marcille disrespectfully shouts “I KNEW IT!”

As Chilchuck and her have an arguing match about that, you’ll look at Laios who looks shocked.  He had no idea.  Some things never change.

Senshi and Falin are normal and actually just congratulate you.  Give them hugs for me.

BUT FINALLY ONTO ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP HEADCANONS!!!!!! (This is like 600 words so far.)

He’s still uneasy about a lot of things.  He has a deep-rooted fear of messing this up again.

When the relationship is established he might distance himself for a bit.  Not on purpose, mind you, he’s just… not sure of what to do, and he’d rather not do anything at all than mess up.

Chilchuck no that in turn is messing up noo!!!!

You’d have to tell him this and he’ll try and turn his behaviour around instantaneously.  He’ll be nervous and frustrated with himself, but take it slow and he’ll come around eventually.

His nicknames are … unique.

He’ll use stuff like “idiot” with the greatest affection in his eyes and a soft grin, but he’ll say “hey handsome” with the most dripping sarcasm and sneer.  Why is he like this—

Play with his strands of grey hair and he’s so flustered, swatting your hand away.  If he’s tired and cuddling into you, though, he… well, he wouldn’t mind it.

Speaking of cuddling!  He didn’t really do much like cuddling in his previous relationship, to your surprise.  He just shrugs and says he and his old flame weren’t that kind of people.

This is how you inadvertently find out Chilchuck is a wombo combo of touch starved and too embarrassed by it to do anything about it.  How does he live…?

He knows himself if you’re not a half-foot that him being a big spoon is too ridiculous of a notion.  Yeah, he immediately assumes he has to be the one spooning you.  He realises with time though that he… drastically prefers being in your arms.  Feeling secure, loved…  He really really likes it.

Not like you can ever get him to admit it verbally.

(You can still see it from how he relaxes into you and smiles as he drifts off into dreamland.)

It’s been a long day, and Chilchuck wants nothing more than to see you.  You look up from where you were sitting when your boyfriend enters the house and smile.  “Good evening, love.” God, your smile.  If he didn’t know he’d be coming home to this, then the work day wouldn’t have been worth it.  He sighs and smiles, walking to you and immediately falling onto your lap.  His face tucks itself into your stomach and his arms wrap around your middle. “Hm, someone’s tired,” you remark with a grin.  Chilchuck merely groans into your form. Sparing him from any teasing, you card your fingers through your hair.  You can already feel how he melts into you as he loses consciousness. You lean down and kiss the shell of his ear.  “Sweet dreams, Chil.”

For a long time, he struggles with actually calling you his boyfriend.  It’s not like he’s ashamed of you, it’s just…  It’s always been “my wife” for such a long time.  He still can’t quite fathom this change in his life.  That you’re his and he’s yours.

Eventually, he’ll be the one to proudly proclaim “my boyfriend!” when he gets the chance to mention you.  He’s quite proud of the fact he’s got you, after all.

His kisses are usually quick and brief pecks on your temple or if he’s not in reach, your hand or shoulder.  

Ugh can you imagine him taking your hand and giving a kiss to the back of it?  And you can feel his thumb ghost over your knuckles reassuringly before wishing you farewell to work?  Dying dead.

Kiss him and he’s always taken aback every time.  He still won’t be able to comprehend it no matter how many times you’ve done it.

(To be slightly on the more suggestive side… really likes making out when in the mood.  He can do that for hours with him on top of you.  Though he wouldn’t mind being underneath if he considers it…)

He daydreams more often than he likes, especially early in the relationship.  He’ll feel ridiculous for it, like some lovestruck schoolboy but… well, yeah, he IS utterly enamoured with you!  Don’t be surprised if you catch him staring at you or checking you out in some way.  Call him out, and he’ll flush with a furrowed brow and glance away.

His love language mostly comes in the form of acts of service.  Although there’s a slight bit of gift giving too.  He likes giving you wordworks or embroidery he made if he knows you like it.  Maybe he’ll make you a teddy or ragdoll if you’re into that!

You also get Chilchuck thinking about the impossible after a while.  He doesn’t try to make a big deal out of it, but it’s kinda hard when…

“I think I can give marriage a second chance,” Chilchuck says out of the blue to you one relaxing night in bed.  His hair is messed up by you burying your head into it, and your lover is tucked into your chest, holding onto your waist. His words certainly catch you off guard, and for once Chilchuck doesn’t make a thing out of being the one to fluster you for once.  Instead, he tucks his nose into your neck and sighs.  “I just…” he pauses for a few seconds.  “I think I can do it right this time.  If you’re here with me.  I think I can do it.” The silence is thick with a kind of tenderness you’d only associate with the colour pink.  It’s deep and you can feel your face glow in the heat. You pull Chilchuck closer and kiss his head. “I’d really like that Chilchuck.  I really would.” He chuckles slightly at the soft sensation, closing his eyes again. “Thank you,” he says, “I mean it.  I couldn’t have made it this far without you.”

[mamayan]

Hi! and wow! I actually never made a request on tumblr before today. To get to the point: Tumblr is lacking in Sanemi Shinazugawa content so bad (your Yobai writing was so perfect btw!!!) I would LOVE it of you made a arranged marriage fic of reader x Sanemi or maybe a college bully sanemi x teacher reader or something ^^ im not picky but i love to see what you would do with it!! 💕XOXO

Nonnie I’m so glad you slid in my box with these treasures, like goodness I sort of want to write both, but I wouldn’t do them justice in just one ask. How’s this? If you like how I write this, throw another ask in for the arranged marriage. I’m feeling this modern AU right now♥️

College AU: Bully! Student! Sanemi Shinazugawa x Professor! Fem! Reader

tw: NSFW • Modern AU • Taboo Relationship (Student x Teacher) • Reader has hair long enough to pull and is shorter than Sanemi here • Blackmail • Spanking • Oral (M) • Fingering (F) • Rough Sex • Degradation/Mild Humiliation

“Mr. Shinazugawa, thank you for coming in today.” You sat perched like a little bird behind your desk, ass scooted as far to the edge of the seat as possible with your legs crossed. Your pencil skirt, with a slit up the leg, revealed your soft skin for his dark gaze as he lazily slides into the leather plush seat in front of your desk.

It’s just after your office hours had closed, the campus winding down for the evening as classes finished up.

Your pretty face was serious, lips set in a grim line as you faced him with your hands folded in your lap. He felt his irritation spike as your pathetic display of posturing in front of him. His face didn’t hide his disdain either, sneering at you as he leaned back and spread his arms over the back of the chair, legs spread wide as he slouches disrespectfully. “What’s up Doc,” he calls your title with hardly any care, rolling the words like one might speak to an old friend and not their college Professor. You’d earned your doctorate, unlike this trouble child turned demon.

Unfortunately you couldn’t have him expelled, the Ubuyashiki family whom owned and founded this prestigious University being on very good terms with Sanemi’s family. The only time you saw him behave with even a semblance of human decency was in front of the the chairman, but Kagaya is a young man of a calm and patient disposition, far to lenient with Sanemi by your personal standards. The man in question nothing short of a delinquent, face covered in menacing scars with his white hair gelled back, amethyst eyes being eerily similar to that of a wild animal.

Unhinged, violent, a bully.

One too many students had complained to you, some even sent to the hospital, and it was Kagaya Ubuyashiki himself who’d asked for your help personally. Explaining that Sanemi needed your assistance and guidance to find the right path. He’d buttered you up so well you’d caved and agreed to have a one on one with the vibrating feral dog before you.

“I think you have some idea of why you’re here Mr. Shinazugawa. Despite your incredible aptitude in my class, and from what I hear from my colleagues, their classes as well… you’ve not given the same courtesy towards your fellow students and professors.” It was putting it as politely as possible, because this man nearly killed the department head of Astronomy. Granted, that Professor was a dirtbag and had been bumping up grades for sexual favors from his students, but you certainly didn’t condone that sort of savagery. No matter how good it felt to see him in a wheel chair looking defeated and broken. That was only one instance though, his multiple fist fights on campus, destruction of property, and overall cruel disposition made him a hazard.

Sanemi merely rolled his eyes, smirking when he caught your eye twitch in irritation. “So what? This a fuckin’ intervention baby?” You startled at the intimate nickname, becoming enraged at his teeth baring grin. “You wanna fix me or somethin’? I might think about it if you get on your knees and suck my cock.” His snicker of amusement and wide provocative eyes were roaring to match your rage.

“If you don’t take this seriously Mr. Shinazugawa—,” the moment you stood to point a finger, he was standing too.

Towering over you, his smile gone and person radiating bloodlust. He didn’t step forward, didn’t need to if he wanted to make a point, because even just him standing doing absolutely nothing was enough to send a shiver of fear down your spine and choke on your next words.

“If I don’t take this seriously… then what Ms. PhD? Hmm? You’ll do fuckin’ what?” His voice had dropped an octave and the baritone of his timber was nothing if not damn terrifying. You briefly wondered if you’d get fired for throwing yourself out the window behind you, because this was ridiculously scary. You should’ve made Mr. Ubuyashiki stay, your confidence draining with the blood from your face. His dark expression doesn’t change, but he’s drinking in your fearful expression and cautious widening eyes with inner glee. You couldn’t see it, but the little lip quiver and your eyes getting watery had him rock hard, fully enjoying the submissive display and making his teeth ache to sink into the pretty skin you so boldly flashed when you uncrossed your legs to stand. “What’s wrong? You were so damn ready to lay into me, now you wanna be cute and quiet?” His teasing edge was more mocking and dripping with ridicule than he intended, but the affect he wanted was the same.

Stroking those flames of yours higher.

“This is highly is inappropriate—,”

“Like masturbating in your office on the weekend?” You physically freeze, face falling as horror dawns on you.

“If we want to talk about inappropriate, then why don’t you face the mirror on yourself.” His smile only grows with your anxiety.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about—,” he laughs, digging his phone quickly from his pocket and unlocking it swiftly. When he faces the screen towards you, there’s a video playing.

Of you. Doing exactly that, two fingers shoved down your skirt when you quietly pant and work yourself over, leaning against your desk. It’s way to HD and close up to be anything else but a hidden camera on your desk no less, panic flooding yourself as you swipe off the papers looking for whatever the hell held the device. All the while in your frantic search, Sanemi let the video continue at full volume, your little gasps and moans getting louder as you gasp now for air for different reasons.

It’s in your name plate. Nearly invisible but you find it and nearly tear it apart with shaking hands as you look at up at his evil face grinning down at you.

He likes that the cocky pretentious look on your face is gone. “Who’d have thought the golden Professor around here would be such a fucking slut when no one is looking. All these books and numbers must not satisfy huh?” You wanted to scream at him.

“Y-you set this up…? Why?” You couldn’t fathom it at all, why the devil incarnate would do such a nasty thing. Did he want you gone? If so, he could easily convince Ubuyashiki, so it must just be to torment you. You’d never had a confrontation with him until today though, and that video was taken weeks ago. Your pretty eyes pricked with tears could only look at him in complete disbelief.

“Why? Are you fucking kidding me right now? It seems your brain is only book smart baby, of course it’s because I wanted to.” His sneering grin is absolute in it’s intention to hurt. Even as tears spill and you’re forced to reconcile not only are you likely getting fired from your dream job, but he’s probably going to spread it all over the Internet. You’d never get hired anywhere else if that gets out. It’s not like it’s revenge porn or something like that, it’s clearly your office on campus during work hours.

“Looks like I’m not the only freak around here, isn’t that right Doctor?” He moves now, shutting the video off and sliding his phone back in his pocket, stepping around your desk towards you. You don’t have much room to step back before you’re up against the wall. His body boxing you in as his arms shoot out and palms slap flat on either side of your head, your flinch goes ignored as he leans down nearly close enough to kiss you.

He smells like something sweet, juxtaposed to his cruel and serious expression.

“You wanna keep your job and dignity?” You don’t want to let the tears fall, but they do.

You nod anyway, even as you pathetically sniffle and glare up at him hatefully. It’s got all the venom of a bunny to him.

“Then get on your knees. I wasn’t fuckin’ kidding earlier.”

You hate him and yourself. You told yourself this job was stressful, justified your dirty secret, but it ended up being the nail in your coffin. This would be another though.

“B-but you’re my student…”

“It didn’t stop you from fucking your fingers in here, so I don’t really see a problem.” It’s like you swallowed a lead weight as you move to kneel like he asked, not looking at him even as he refuses to give you more space, still leaning against the wall behind you.

It gives him a great view to look down on you, your form quaking and so unwilling he wanted to laugh. You were acting tough still.

His pants are baggy and loose, the denim waist band barely on his hips and you can see up his shirt now, the hard lines of muscle on his torso and soft smatter of hair down his navel into his waist band.

He’s not wearing boxers.

“I suggest you fuckin’ hurry before I start looking for somethin’ to post to end my boredom.” His words light a fire under you, hands moving swiftly and desperately now. It has him grinning savagely, watching you easily pull his pants down and expose his hard leaking cock to the cool air.

He lets you pause for a second, feasting on the hesitation and awe you express as you lightly grip him. Your fingers don’t touch all the way around. It drives him wild as he bucks his hips, hissing in pleasure as you finally lick his tip tentatively.

“A bitch who fucks herself in her office doesn’t kitten lick cock,” his threat is there, and you force yourself to open up and take him in your hot mouth.

He’s loud as he moans, and when you cringe back from his little thrust deeper into your mouth, he steps forward to press you back against the wall. Seeing you pinned, looking up at him with your mouth full of his cock, almost makes him cum on the spot.

Almost.

Instead he pulls out slowly, your hands on his thighs as if that’ll stop him from going too deep. When it’s only his tip in, he slams back forward, laughing at your tears spilling and mouth sputtering around him. Your throat gagging and constricting as he stretches the thin tight airway until it burns, pulling back slowly again and repeating until all you can think about is the cock in your throat and the scent of something sweet, like a confectionery.

He didn’t think it’d feel so good. The sight of you deep throating him and the feeling of your mouth on his cock far too amazing to stop himself from an early ejaculation.

Unfortunately for you, he comes a lot. Thick ropes of cum shoot down your throat, the surprise of it causing you to cough, making some of it go up and out your nose as the jolt of pain brings a fresh wave of tears.

“Fuck—, you better swallow all of it,” he all but snarls down at you, looking feral and rabid as he works his hips and cock around in your mouth while you struggle to obey.

When he pulls out finally, load emptied in your stomach, his hand reaches down and grips your jaw. The force of it making your sore jaw and mouth open back up, and it’s too late to close before his spit lands on your tongue. You try to jerk away, to spit it out as the humiliation washes over you, but he’s stronger. Forcing your head back against the wall, he clamps your jaw shut, laughing as you nearly bite through your own tongue in frustration.

“Don’t piss me off, fuckin’ swallow it.” You like him more when he’s being teasing and mean, not this serious Sanemi which invokes fear and commands your obedience.

You swallow, hatefully you swallow and even more hatefully curse him in your mind because you were aroused. Painfully aching and panties soaked to your embarrassment. He smiles, not the twisted kind but approvingly, as you listen. The indignant and humiliated look on your face absolutely adorable covered in your own tears and his cum. He’s nice not to make you wipe it off and lick it up this time.

“Stand up,” he doesn’t wait for you to follow, sure that you’ll try and take your sweet ass time and he sadly only has half and hour left with you by appointment standards. You were after all the most beloved Professor on campus, and many people wanted your time. He wasn’t different in that sense, but he also isn’t content to play the part of a good student and wait for you to fall in love with him like some stupid romance movie.

He’d much rather you like this.

Sanemi manhandles you until he’s seated in your desk chair, pulling you into his lap, back against his chest. You aren’t given time to protest when he yanks up your skirt and uses his thick thighs to spread your own.

Feeling him against you like this, you realize he’s all muscle. Not a soft spot to be found, as he tears off your underwear next, exposing your cunt to the cool air as you feel his cock hardening again beneath your ass.

“S-Sanemi—!?” He opens your cute little blouse up next, batting your hands away easily to yank your bra down and reveal your breasts and hardened nipples.

“Fuck you’re soaked, you like suckin’ my cock that much?” He ignores your whine of protest, your efforts to stop him minimal and half hearted, especially when he lets his rough thick fingers trail through the copious arousal dripping from your pussy right now. “Should I have kept going? See if you’d cum just from fucking your mouth?” He cups your face and turns your head to look at him, unable to stop the hoarse moan that leaves you when he sinks a finger inside your tight heat. “Y-you’re wrong…” you still stubbornly glare and argue back, eyes still sparked with defiance he found delicious.

“Oh? So this isn’t from sucking my cock? Then what’s it from, watching yourself get off again in this office? You a fuckin’ exhibitionist or something?” He’s teasing as he slowly pumps his finger in and out of you, the wet noises echoing in your office and stifling your next words as you pant and weakly grip behind you onto his shirt.

“If that’s the case, I don’t mind turning us around and drawing back the curtains…” he speaks the words softly, right into your ear as he licks the shell of it, your pussy clamping down hard on his finger. Your office faced the main part of campus, even in the evening students and teachers walked that area.

He chuckles, “You really like the sound of that, don’t you whore?” You gasp as he adds a second, gritting your teeth to stop the sounds of pleasure from spilling freely.

“Fu-fuck you—!” Your words drip venom, but he only sighs, as if disappointed in your answer. Shaking his head as if there’s nothing he can do about it.

“That’s the point baby, I’m going to fuck you,” he effortlessly lifts you up with one arm around your middle, the iron bar that is his arm suffocating as you struggle. He slips his fingers out, the gooey trail of slick connecting his fingers to your pussy making his cock twitch as he rubs the leftovers on the tip, slicking himself up as he lines himself with your entrance.

“Just like this,” he lets gravity do the work, and you’re so wet it slides in despite the a sting and ache of the stretch, his girth splitting you.

“Hah!” You try to jerk off, but he keeps your from doing so with his arm still wrapped around you, groaning as your pussy begins to spasm and tighten up painfully.

“Holy fuck are you coming? Shitttt,” He’s delirious with pleasure, your orgasm wrecking you both as you twitch and moan, struggling to even breathe as your body betrays your mind. It feels too good. All of it. Your legs spread wide and his cock in full view splitting you open as you cum around him. He can’t stop himself from rutting up into you, cursing your gummy walls as they massage and strangle his dick, pumping his cock as your pussy gushes slick.

“Shit you really are a slut, to cum all over your student’s cock like a bitch in heat, and I’ve hardly touched you, ah,” his head tilts back, both hands now anchoring your hips as he bounces you, tip hitting your deepest parts as you cry and moan. Quick to be overwhelmed and overstimulated.

When his balls draw tight, he shoves you off him roughly, forcing you to hit the desk as he pushes your face down into the homework you had been grading earlier. He hunches over you, sliding back inside from behind as he yanks your hips up when your legs try to buckle.

“Not fuckin’ done with you—!” He looks enraged, face flushed bright red as he pants, watching his thick cock get swallowed over and over again inside you. “Not done ever actually,” he laughs, moving his hand off your face to sink into your hair, gripping a fist full and yanking your head back. Your cries are no longer muffled, your tear and drool covered face now sporting a few ink stains as he really begins bucking his hips, using your hair as leverage to keep you in place.

Your body seizes up again, another hard orgasm rushing up as Sanemi lands a sharp slap against your right ass cheek. Then the left side. “Fuck yes, clench your pussy just like that!” He’s speaking through his teeth, hissing in pleasure as he paints your ass with his hand, loving how tight you get on impact and how wet you are.

“Sanemi—m’gonna cum—!” Your tongue feels swollen as you speak, mumbling out your words as your peak approaches. You aren’t even thinking anymore, his cock turning you stupid as he grunts and continues his savage pace.

“Bet it’s been forever,” he laughs, “—no, I bet you’ve never had this pretty pussy fucked like this before, have you?” You’re out of it, too drunk on the high to comprehend his words. “Don’t worry baby, I’m gonna fuck you like this everyday, you’re not ever gonna forget how it feels for me to fill this pussy—!” He flinches as you cum, moaning long and loud as his cock succumbs to the pleasure and he follows you close after. His balls taunt with tension as his dick works to fill you up just like he said.

He lets you drop back to the desk as he pants, skin sweaty as he wipes his forehead and looks down at you.

You’re heaving too, limp and drooling as you recover slower than him. Your clothes completely in disarray as you lay mostly exposed. He lets his dick slide out slowly, softening just a little and helping him ease out as he watches a well of white begin to ooze out of you and onto the fancy pristine wood flooring below, your legs trembling in the cute black heels you sported.

Sanemi reaches over you wordlessly, to the potted plant which has decorated your desk even longer than your new name plate.

He pockets the little camera hidden in it, before he starts yanking up his pants and fixing his clothes.

As he walks around your desk, he looks down just as you look up. His smile disgusting as he quietly says, “Thanks for the fun. I’ll see you the same time tomorrow Ms. Slut,” he laughs at the rage bleeding into your eyes again.

He’ll enjoy re-watching your first time together tonight when he can get the footage uploaded to his computer. Tomorrow he’ll be sure to take you from a new angle.

[makedonsgriva]

Some fics and fanarts love depicting Xie Lian as a weak little delicate doll who can't even raise a finger to defend himself and Hua Cheng is his knight in shining armour so as to say and personally that's actually kinda very weird.

XL spent EIGHT HUNDRED (800) years alone. That's like all the way from the 13th century to now. He spent a majority of that time in his own company and with no friends and emotional support system and encountered all sorts of problems from homelessness to starvation to sustaining serious injuries to being buried alive.... you name it. He did it all. ALONE. A L O N E.

Also, XL is canonically stronger than HC. Just because he does not need to use that strength does not mean he cannot. If XL and HC would ever come to blows (which they won't I know, the Earth will start rotating in the opposite direction sooner than that but let us suppose hypothetically) XL would SMOKE HC's ass. That's part of the reason why he never hesitated in following a mysterious ghost bridegroom on Mount Yu Jun: he has full faith in his own abilities and that he can defend himself very easily.

Oh also, XL is the one who defeated Jun Wu at the end. We see HC being very confident in his abilities and HC is no doubt scary strong but even he can't defeat JW. If we are ranking characters by strength, HC comes third. The strongest is XL, followed by JW.

Yall take the strongest character in TGCF and make him the weakest in your stories. As if XL can't snap your neck without even breaking into a sweat if he wants to. XL is a wonderful, amazing and such a kind and gentle soul because despite being capable of being a tyrant and having the reasons to be one, he still believes in goodness and kindness.

Oh and this is definitely not to again mischaracterise XL as a perfect mary su character. XL has his dark side. His benevolence only goes so far. Do not forget he almost did unleash the Human Face Disease on the people of Yong an, that he almost killed a guy once while busking because he talked disrespectfully to him. He is both at once. Anyway, I digress.

I think people need to realise that two strong people who can each hold their ground very well can be in a loving relationship. TikTok's "who did this to you" type shit is wildly weird for HuaLian because XL does not need anyone's protection. HC protects XL not because he thinks XL is weak but because this desire for protecting him comes from a place of love. Because everyone gets tired and HC just wants to be XL's shelter.

[tokiwarcube]

toki relationship headcanons NSFW/romantic please and thank youuu

Yes boss! SFW post HERE

You wouldn't guess it from how little I post about him, but I uh. I definitely used to have a huge Toki bias, and I think that bleeds through here.

Some harder kinks mentioned: Dom Toki, breeding kink, creampies, light exhibitionism, marking, edging, overstim, light degredation, brief mention of his hand on your throat (: No actual choking described though. Reader is completely gender neutral (:

Enjoy!

You know, it’s always the sweet ones.

I spoke a bit on this in his SFW section, but Toki has a thing for control. And you bet your ass this absolutely applies to the bedroom scene.

He’s your sweetest man outside of your bedroom, but once under the covers he’s all firm hands and strict words.

Breeding kink, through the fucking roof. Your actual ability to get pregnant is irrelevant to him — tell him it’s impossible, and he’ll only try harder. The obsession comes from a slew of different sources, but really, the exact root of it all doesn’t matter too much. It’s not something you’re thinking about when he’s buried to the hilt in you with his hand around your throat, coaxing you into begging for it, begging him to fill you up.

He’s separates photos in his phone, and he has a whole locked album of you, splayed out and panting with cum leaking from your twitching hole. It’s one of his favorite sights, truly.

As we all know, Toki is cut as fuck, and he will be using this to his advantage in the bedroom. He loves leaving little bruises on your hips, your wrists, the plush of your thighs. Not to mention how easily he moves you into the position he wants at any given second — legs pressed to your chest one moment, and flipped onto your stomach the next. Don’t you worry about a thing — he’ll take care of it.

He always makes you use your words in bed. Half of it is for the reassurance that you actually want this, that he isn’t being too rough or taking advantage… but the other half loves the fluster that overtakes you when you choke out the depraved little requests for more.

He’s a complete tease both in the lead-up and the event itself. He’ll drive you mad outside of the bedroom, playing coy all night, pretending like he doesn’t know the effect he has on you. And it doesn’t stop in the bedroom, either — he’ll drag the event out for as long as he can, giddy at the prospect of seeing you so unraveled and needy.

Into both edging and overstimulation — for both you and himself — and will often trail from one into the other if time allows. So don’t beg too hard to cum — he might give you a bit more than you’re bargaining for.

Again, if you’ve given it the okay, Toki can be mean. You’re his perfect little slut, aren’t you? You can take it.

Possessive as all get out. His biggest fantasy is to fuck you in front of the boys, to show them how fucking whipped you are for him. He’d never do it of course — the actual thought of anyone else seeing you in this state kills any drive he has — but that doesn’t stop him from murmuring such depravities into your ear when you get a bit too loud.

He loves both giving and receiving head. (I disrespectfully disregard goingdownklok on this issue. I choose to believe that up until then, he had never actually gone down on anyone before, so get that man between your thighs once, and he’s not coming up for air. He also loves receiving head though — he’s adamant about keeping eye-contact throughout the whole event.)

He loves any position where he can be close to you — mating press is the obvious choice, but he also loves flat-doggy. Chest pressed to your back, flattening you against the mattress, with his hand in your hair so he can watch your expressions? Heaven.

But for all his roughness in the sheets, he’s also very tender. Always mindful of any attempts at safewording, always acquiesces to the small comforts, and aftercare is nothing short of divine. He has a thing for kissing during sex as well — no matter how roughly you’re being edged towards the precipice, his kisses are always very tender and sweet.

He’s oh, so pretty when he comes. It’s cute in a way, watching the hard guise of dominance give way to strangled whines, eyes wide as the air is punched from his lungs.