#which is REALLY funny to me. i think we decided on him having mind control powers right

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

HEY MAC i'm still in the middle of commenting on ur fic & ill certainly be in ur inbox more BUT before i forget. holds the microphone up. eyes emoji. do u have thoughts on like, Why u chose the animals u did for overlord's experiments??? why those ones!!! i had such a delightful interlude looking at photos of north atlantic right whales & honduran white bats and carpenter bees and pit vipers.......... ofcourse i want 2 know ur Entire Fucking Thought process for mark as always but also like!!! everyone else!!!! tell me abt em!!!!!!!!! what the hell was overlord aiming for!!!

OVERLORD DIDNT HAVE A GOAL HE JUST LIKES TO FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT. the real answer tho was that these were my fun little easter eggs for myself <3 all of the ones I listed and described are based on ocs of mine so they were just fun little treats For Me :] SO THERES NOT LIKE. a plot reason or anything other than me taking my barbie dolls and ripping their arms off to replace them with like. tmnt action figure parts. is this anything. I might bring back Marlon for funsies bc hes a cape oc I haven't done anything with yet but Oliver is one of my tfobh guys and Marie is based on an oc I had when I was a weird little girl. hehehehe

ALSO EXTREMELY GLAD U LOOKED UP PICTURES I loved putting in the scientific names bc I was like. this is like a fun little puzzle. people who dont care all that much will be like "huh okay weird" and won't know the deal until I describe the animal traits later and people who DO care will get to look at pictures of animals :] will graham voice this is my design. etc etc

[astermagnolia]

DP x DC x Spiderman

THIS CAME TO ME IN A VISION WHILE I WAS MINDLESSLY WORKING AT MY JOB

Ok, recently I've been into the "Spiderman gets transported into Gotham" fics and suddenly I thought "Danny and Peter stuck in the same body while trying to survive Gotham"

(if you want to write this go ahead)

OK STICK WITH ME

Peter gets transported to Gotham after Dr. Strange does his spell but it (the spell not strange) takes things further and transports him to a new dimension with no Peter Parker. He ends up climbing out of a Lazarus pit, his body in absolute pain.

At the same time, Danny is fleeing his home dimension because *whatever you decide* and ends up flying into a portal and overshadowing a person that's, for some reason, in the portal (Lazarus pits are portals to the infinite realms). Because of the weird fuckery that is ectoplasm, Dannys ghost status, and the Lazarus pits, Danny and Peter end up sharing a body but neither realize it yet.

Peter passed out instantly while Danny is kinda out of it (and driving the body he thinks is his) and ends up wandering Gotham, finds some clothes, and finds an abandoned building to sleep in.

Peter wakes up thinking he did all this while on adrenaline and just shrugs it off. He wanders Gotham and then goes back to the building he woke up in, that's when Danny wakes thinking he overshadowed someone and freaks Peter out as well.

Both pass out in shock.

Danny was the one to wake up the next time they woke up and tries to go ghost but can't (something changes though). He tries his other abilities and those work. He goes to find his reflection and his face is different but has his familiar black hair and blue eyes. Peter wakes up and speaks to Danny on his head and now both freaking out again. They calm down and talk about what happened.

Peter says that's his face and body but with black hair and blue eyes. They try to switch which causes dizziness but Peter is in control now with brown hair and hazel-green eyes.

Basically: when Peter is in control of the body he looks like himself. When Danny is in control, the body has black hair and blue eyes. When Danny 'goes ghost' while in control then he gets his white hair and green eyes, but the body doesn't change.

I'd like to think they have to learn each other's abilities now. danny has to learn how to not stick to things (plus he gets to try how gravity actually affects him now) and how to deal with the spider sense.

Peter has to learn basically pages worth of abilities😭. He has to learn not to go through things, turn invisible, start floating, etc. Peter can't go ghost and when Danny passes out when he is in ghost mode, it just turns off but maybe during extremely stressful situations or life and death moments, Peter can go ghost, it doesn't last very long though.

Time for some silly shenanigans:

Danny runs into Jason for whatever, maybe he was robbing him (even funnier answer, Danny was stealing Jason's bike wheels) and Jason gets him food. Next time, Peter runs into Jason and Dick while Peter was dumpster diving for, idk, tech parts. Dick and Peter are talking while Jason is staring at Peter. Internally, Peter is freaking while Danny isn't helping.

Then Jason asks if he has a twin.

Danny is losing it, just laughing as Peter has to deal with this. But Peter-blurt out the first thing in your mind-Parker says "yes, we got separated and I'm looking for him while I'm staying at my uncle's apartment".

So now Peter has to come with a whole backstory and reason why they're separated and why he won't go to the police. ("Acab bitch" Danny says and Peter repeats without question. Jason this time loses it while dick pouts and peter is horrified by what he said)

Peter and Danny making up fake identities, families, and backstory.

i think it would really be funny if Danny is the ghost prince (waiting to be crowned after his death) so the Infinite realms are up in arms about their beloved prince being missing and his last known signature/location is the dc universe. so now JLD is scrambling to find him and all the while he is just chilling in someone's head.

some fun/interesting arguments: the way they view death. peter is a very "do not kill" guy, basically his ideals align with batman (maybe. I'm not extremely knowledgeable in spiderman lore) and Danny-being a ghost/the ghost king-has different views. i think he's still a "try to save everyone" type of guy but has exceptions.

maybe they share dreams which leads to horrifying nightmares.

another fun thing: they're both inventors so they can look at a microwave and just break it apart to build something new.

another point: Danny's weirdness as a ghost

Peter: did you just stick something in our body??? i cant feel it??

Danny: oh yeah. i do that sometimes. im pretty sure i stuck our phone in out chest.

Peter: Get it out?!??

anyways, this is all i got. yall can take this and run with it. add onto it or remove something. this is brought to you by- peter gets flung into Gotham and that one fic where Danny and young Jason kind of merge so Jason is Danny's ghost half

Edit: i made a post about it

[eremikayearner]

friendship bracelets ‹𝟹 itoshi rin

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ in which you and your best friend, itoshi rin, decide to make friendship bracelets together.

⟡ ݁₊ . rin didn’t believe in such things as friendship bracelets. why should he? why should an inanimate object represent such an invisible thing such as friendship? it was moronic, really. a cheap scam that stemmed from money starved companies to profit off of foolish children and teenagers who so desperately wanted to make something intangible material.

all those thoughts went out the window at your suggestion to make friendship bracelets.

“but why?” rin asked incredulously as you settled down on the bed across from him, a box of string and colourful beads in your hands.

of course, he wouldn’t deny your request. but as your best friend, shouldn’t he be entitled to hear a logical side to your idea? maybe a good reason? he’d even take just for fun as an answer.

you gingerly placed the box down on your soft bed sheets, a small smile lifting your lips as you opened the box. your slender fingers travelled down the dividers in the box before landing on a coil of clear string. you finally looked up at him, and oh he could’ve sworn you were heaven sent - with your eyes settled on him and your glossed lips pulled into a shy smile and your cheeks flushed pink, you really did look heavenly.

“i want a piece of you with me everywhere.” you confessed softly.

the gods must really be praying on his downfall. his supposed-to-be-small crush on you was worsening every day by the hour, and you really weren’t helping out his case. how could you? not when you were sweet, kind, intelligent, caring, funny and beautiful, and everything he didn’t deserve.

the flush that painted his cheeks cherry blossom pink could be mistaken for makeup blush just from how prominent it was. he averted his teal gaze from you, his breath hitching as his heart fluttered in his chest.

the striker who knew every inch of his body and had excellent control over every limb vanished in your presence. instead there was a blushing, nervous, boy who suddenly didn’t know how to calm his heart or where to put his hands or where to even look.

how is my body betraying me right now?

“what kind of friendship bracelets do you have in mind?” he asked, desperate to calm his body and his foggy mind that was filled with thoughts of you.

“i was thinking we could do our eye colours.” you explained, your manicured fingers tipping into a small section of the box filled with gorgeous teal beads. you looked up at him, tilting your head with a small smile. “thoughts?”

he still didn’t look in your eyes, his long fingers going towards the box instead and picking up a bead that matched your eye colour perfectly. he gathered more beads into his hand as you placed a clear string in front of him and a silver heart shaped pendant with your initial on it, affirming, “these match your eyes perfectly. it’s an amazing idea.”

clearly pleased with yourself, you smiled. “my ideas are pretty great.”

rin scoffed, but not without a secret smile of his own.

so the two of you worked on the bracelets diligently, occasionally bickering and giggling, but never looking away from the masterpieces you were creating.

screw all that shit he said before about friendship bracelets being meaningless. now he understood the point of these damn things. it wasn’t to mark a friendship. no, it was to have and to hold a piece of the other person at all times. it was to keep a piece of someone with you, a piece that only you could have. it was to give a piece of yourself to someone, a piece that only they could have. he’d give you hundreds - no, thousands of friendship bracelets so you could have multiple pieces of him with you forever. he’d give you all of him if you wished.

once his masterpiece was finished, he put the clear string between his teeth to hold it in place as he tied both ends of the bracelet together. he lifted the pretty bracelet up, admiring his work and the beauty of your eye colour with the pretty silver shine of your initial, before lowering his hand and meeting your gaze once more.

your beauty would never fail to take his breath away. like an angel from heaven, you looked at him with such hope and warmth, he couldn’t help but fall deeper in love with you. no matter what you did, you destroyed his hopes of keeping this supposed-to-be-small crush small and pulled him into falling irrevocably in love with you.

the small teal bracelet in your hands matched his eyes, the shiny little pendant with the letter R on it dangled prettily.

neither of you knew what possessed you to do this, but you both lifted the bracelets to each other’s faces, admiring the complete match in eye colour.

rin really did feel like he had a piece of you with him. a bracelet with a pretty colour that could only match one girl’s pretty eyes.

rin lowered his hand with yours as his attention went to the shift in your mood, your eyes glittering with something like yearning as you looked into his eyes.

“your eyes are so pretty, rin.” you said softly, as if the words were laced with an intimacy you could never take back.

rin thought he had died and went to heaven. his heart skipped a beat before beating faster than it ever had before, his lips parting in surprise as he tried to take in a breath as calmly as he could. oh my god, now you’d really done it. he really was in love with you.

“your eyes are pretty too, y/n.” he breathed, his voice softer than ever.

“you really think so?”

he was nearly taken aback by your words. was that even a question? of course your eyes were pretty. god, anything and everything about you was pretty. no, you weren’t just pretty. you were every word that could possibly convey a being’s beauty. otherworldly, ethereal, angelic, stunning, gorgeous, beautiful, every word he could possibly think of that meant beautiful. but none of these were enough to describe you in full. there simply was not a word in any language that fully described the angel you were.

but he could never tell you that. no, he was your best friend. best friends don’t think about each other like this. best friends don’t have supposed-to-be-small crushes on each other. best friends don’t fall in love with each other. best friends don’t look at each other like they’re anything but best friends.

then why were you looking at him like that?

“of course i do.” rin said. “i’ve always thought they were pretty.” he paused, the words tumbling from his lips before he could stop them. “i’ve always thought you were pretty.”

oh now he’d done it. you’d kick him out of your room and call him a pervert and then never talk to him again and then marry some idiot like sae and then his whole life would be ruined.

you didn’t do any of those things. you didn’t do any of those things at all. your pretty glossed lips lifted into a gorgeous small smile, glancing away for a moment, before meeting his eyes once more. “good. ‘cause i’ve always thought you were pretty too.”

his world had turned upside down. he didn’t even remember how to breathe. he couldn’t move at all. he could hardly think.

could it be possible? could you reciprocate his feelings?

you gently took the bracelet from his unmoving hands, slipping it over his long slender fingers and sliding it onto his wrist. your shy smile was absolutely heavenly, making the starstruck boy in front of you completely subject to you.

finally, he managed to gain some movement back into his limbs as he picked up the teal bracelet with fingers he willed to stop trembling, and slipped it onto your wrist.

“do you like the bracelet?” you asked, close enough to him to send his heart, body and mind into chaos.

“yeah.”

i like you.

he returned your question. “do you like your bracelet?”

you smiled, the perfect picture of an angel. “i love it.”

[alexiethymia]

mamao>jinshi

‘There’s nothing I can give him back in return.’

with LN vol 12 and vol 13 out in English, I can’t help but once again gush about these two. Because they are honestly one of the healthiest and most frustrating slow burn established relationship ships ever. I seriously love their development, how jinshi has come so far from his unhealthy tendencies towards maomao in the earlier volumes.

sure you can say that’s the least he could do, but it does matter a lot, for a person who’s restrained himself all his life, to get everything at his fingertips except for what he truly wanted, to still continue to restrain himself even when what he wants is already there for the taking if only he’d reach out. it’s an acknowledgment and full understanding of the unequal power dynamic between him and maomao, and giving power, at least as much as he is able, over himself to maomao in a way to make up for that unequal dynamic. it’s maomao who gets to decide now what will happen and how fast it will happen in their relationship moving forward.

which I think is brilliant from a story-telling pov because we can focus on the intriguing developments and politics while still getting small but perfect doses of the development of their relationship. not too much, but not too little either. it also makes for an absolutely hilarious dynamic because it seems like it’s maomao who’s getting frustrated this time around. because she’s also a person who restrains herself. she may be willful when it comes to medicine, but for something like this? I don’t think she learned to ask for what she wants either. she’s not used to it. so she teases instead. it’s fascinating to see that while jinshi has matured, maomao has retained that side of her, the one which unexpectedly likes teasing and triggering jinshi (oh but she better watch out once he snaps, but part of me thinks this is what she wants ultimately). like seriously, it may not be in-character, but the image of an increasingly frustrated maomao who has her attempts at flirtation constantly thwarted by jinshi’s monk-like almost masochistic self-control will never be not funny to me. I don’t discount the possibility that once she’s finally had it up to here, she’d be the one to just smack one on him and/or ravish him once and for all. I mean she was the one to steal a kiss first once she accepted Jinshi’s (and her own) feelings.

so linking it to the anime, there’s no doubt in my mind that maomao truly loves jinshi. like I don’t just mean logically how she could fall in love with him with how he respects her agency, and her knowledge, and her skill, while she respects what he stands for (and though she may not admit it), his kindness. I mean that it’s pretty clear to me that both jinshi and maomao’s love languages are acts of service. And with that thought of maomao’s, her worrying about being unable to give back to jinshi, shows to me that she’s worried about placing jinshi in the same position she was in as a baby. she may be ok now (or more like she repressed it), but maomao may have grown up feeling like never having enough (literally being left alone as a baby to cry for hours on end which isn’t anyone’s fault really but more of a matter of circumstance) until she made herself be ok with it.

and the fact that she sees nothing wrong about it when it comes to herself, but is worried about the same thing happening to jinshi, shows to me that her love isn’t as lukewarm as she thinks it is. bec inasmuch as jinshi goes above and beyond for her, maomao goes above and beyond for him as well, noticeably almost more than for anyone else. like maomao will perform acts of services for almost anyone, but for her to actually reopen the lid on her emotions, which she’s kept locked for a long time, shows to me considerable effort and care. because she recognizes the weakness in herself when it comes to emotions, but she doesn’t want to hurt jinshi by not giving him enough.

even when she prepared everything for what was supposed to be their first night, jinshi viewed it as her artisan’s spirit, but knowing maomao, it’s not something she would have done otherwise if she didn’t really want to do it. she refrained from food and drink, she prepared everything so jinshi wouldn’t have to worry. nothing about her preparations screamed transactional. bec again as much as jinshi wants her to rely on him, to burden him, maomao shows her love in how much she wants him to unburden himself. she wants him to be able to stop holding back without worries to the point that she’s willing to carry that burden for him. sure again you could see it as her being her perfectionist self, but again from what we know of maomao, she does indeed go all out, but only for the things she’s passionate about, for the things that matter to her. remember her failing the court lady exam? somehow, through everything they’ve went through, jinshi has become someone who matters so much to her that she’s willing to put in the work.

that interaction really showed how far the both of them have come, and through maomao becoming more proactive, and jinshi becoming more patient, showing the best way they show that they love the other. doing something difficult that’s not what they’re used to, sacrificing or bearing embarrassment, because despite everything, it’s worth it for the person they’re doing it for. if that’s not love, what is?

[ladyloveandjustice]

I had to cut myself off from binge-reading the comics from that Jason doc out of intense curiosity, but I forgot how extremely funny it is when comics cannot decide if they want a character to be an antagonist or ally and just settle with constantly swinging them back and forward all the time which is 100% what they keep doing with Jason and it's just so unintentionally comical if you skip around and binge-skim a bunch of comics it's like

"Ok Bruce I won't kill people"

"Good"

Jason: "I changed my mind actually"

Bruce: "JASON YOU PROMISED!!!"

Jason: wait I've changed my mind again!!! I never realized killing people actually meant I could potentially orphan children like how I was orphaned.

Bruce: how...how did you not realize that until now??*

Jason: idk!!! anyway no killing for me for a while I'm gonna go hang out with Catwoman she's cooler than you anyway (Jason you are so correct)

Bruce: no I'm upset. how about If I drug you so anytime you feel like you need to fight you'll be overcome with crippling fear. I think that's a cool and fun and smart thing to do to my son who already has really bad PTSD from that one time he was brutally tortured and murdered and totally not a great way to get him killed again.

Jason: Bruce???? what the fuck?? (does immediately almost die)

Selina: Bruce??? what the fuck???

Me: Bruce??? what the fuck???

Dick: it's okay Bruce is being affected by some mind altering/controlling/whatever thing that happened in some issue you didn't read. Probably. Maybe. let's all stay 50 feet away from him for a while.

Me: wow. well what was even the point of all that then. I guess they decided Batman needed to be a loner again like they do every six months only to take it back later.

Lmao I'm so relieved I don't have to keep up with comics anymore this is such a roller coaster, WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING, how would I even explain to a normal person. Glad to confirm comics are as much of a mess as ever. A mess I have lingering nostalgic affection for but. a mess.

*(I actually did find this arc pretty compelling, Jason running into a kid that had roughly his exact backstory, going to find the dad, and just killing him when he finds out he's an abusive peace of shit who's been drugging his kid, but then being like "holyshitholyshit I didn't ask this kid permission if I could kill his Dad I was still pretty upset when my abusive Dad died and if his mom dies from the overdose I've orphaned him just like me and he'd go to the State and I know all the fucked up things that can happen to you there aaaaa" I mean it's good drama and development, it's just. when you sit down and thinks about it. the concept he'd never thought of it before until he was confronted with a kid in his exact situation is just kind of unintentionally funny. I know realistically he could know that intellectually but not like, have it sink in until he actually met a kid, and that's what they were going for, but it's still very funny.

Like this implies that if Batman had ever just sat down and been like "Jason. you realize bad people have families right. You were upset when Two Face killed your Dad even though he sucked remember?" Jason would have been like "omg you're right" and we would have saved SO MUCH TIME.)

(I respect that Bruce didn't actually call him out on it and instead focused on the problem at hand too bc I would not have been mature enough to do that. Rare Bruce Wayne parenting W.)

(Also the part where Jason was like "you know I've grown used to letting down Bruce because I do that all the time but letting Babs down has me WRACKED with guilt" like Jason I totally get that. I'd feel the same way.)

anyway comics are dangerous I could get addicted all over again while complaining about half of what I read I was literally reading all day again I'M CUTTING MYSELF OFF.)

[cryptids]

..

I just need to ramble for a minute, but I'm always internally grieving how the majority of constructiprowl fics (which is already not many 😭💔) really only seem to use the dynamic from the early stages of their relationship where Prowl was still pushing the constructicons away and resented them. And on the one hand, I understand the appeal bc an antagonistic relationship is fun to explore, and I love fics where they start off that way and then develop a better relationship out of it.... but, I also come across a lot of fics where he hates them way more and for much longer than he ever did in canon, or where that's the only dynamic they'll ever have. There's a sentiment, I think, that it would be impossible for him to ever warm up to them and continuing to hate them is the only realistic option.

And that's alright if it's your preference, like far be it from me to get in the way of people's toxic yaoi hdbsbds, but they DID move past that in canon and it feels like a shame that's not really acknowledged as much. Mostly bc I wish there was more stuff that explored the dynamic they had later on once he decided he wanted to be in control of Devastator and was keeping them around willingly..... idk just that specific period of time in their relationship was so funny and endearing to me djsbhs, I need more of him being their boss and bringing them everywhere with him to everyone else's dismay lmao

They still had a lot of issues at that point, Prowl was power tripping like crazy and injuring himself by pushing an unstable gestalt bond too much/too fast, with the nosebleeds and the Scrapper moments, so they still had a long way to go. But what I'm getting at is mostly just that by then he was long past hating them or trying to make them go away, and was actually trying to keep them around and make things work. In the end he was only forcibly separated from them against his will too.... the worst thing Starscream ever did fr nsnbndnsms

((There is a lot about Prowl's combiner wars storyline that I don't love actually, but I'm putting that all aside for now 😪))

I think he was essentially neutral on the constructicons as individuals... he was mostly just treating them like all the subordinates he'd had before, as pawns in his schemes. THEIR devotion and adoration of him was definitely very different to anything he'd experienced before (and extremely gay lmao), but canon didn't really give him the time to notice or react to that.

Just going off on a little side tangent but actually (as a shipper lmao 🤧) I like to think he could have become fond of them over time. Actually I think Prowl and the constructicons have a lot more in common than was ever really explored? Especially if they had been allowed to have distinct personalities and demonstrate their intelligence a bit more lmao. Like they're always himbos (affectionate) to me, and I don't mind the way they spoke or anything, but I feel like they were just really underutilised in IDW1... like we never saw any fun science stuff from Mixmaster or any of Hook's medical skills for example. And speaking of Hook in particular, I think it's interesting he usually has a bad temper and a very kind of perfectionist, prickly and stubborn personality that makes him very Prowl-like in a way that would have been fun to play around with...

Anyway I guess this whole ramble was just to say I wish there was more happy/endgame constructiprowl content bc it could be so good and I'm yearning for it jsjsjds 😭😭

I have also seen a few people say this ship is inherently one-sided and depicting it any other way is ooc, and I disagree!! I think it CAN be, but it doesn't NEED to be in order to be true to canon.

Just adding a couple of relevant panels here too,,

[queen-of-the-avengers]

After So Long

Pairing: Mafia!Bucky Barnes x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~1.7k

Warnings: angst

Summary: You're forced to go back to the one place you tried to hard to get away from. You're forced to contront the memories you left behind.

Between Love and Hate Masterlist

Squares Filled: protection (2023) for @buckybarnesbingo

Author’s Note: any and all comments are appreciated <3

x

Then

It seemed like wherever Bucky went, Steve and Sam followed. You thought it’d be nice to go shopping at your local mall with Bucky since he’d been so busy with work. You put on something cute to wear and did your hair only to feel like you’re being followed the whole time. You tried to ignore them but it was hard when you saw their black clothes in every corner.

“Does this look cute?” you asked and held up a shirt.

“On me or you?” Bucky joked.

“Ha-ha, very funny. Wait, it might look good on you.”

Bucky smiled and took the shirt while you moved to a different section of the store, the dresses. He didn’t mind holding the things you wanted to get. He’d do it forever if he knew this made you happy. It does. You liked shopping. Just not with grown men following you.

“Do they have to be here?” you sighed as you looked at the dresses.

“It’s a precaution, pisică.”

You liked the little nicknames he gave you, especially in his native tongue, Romanian.

“Because of your job?” Bucky nodded. “When are you gonna tell me what you do?”

“I’d rather stay in our little bubble a little while longer, if possible.”

“Fine, but you will have to tell me eventually.” Bucky didn’t respond to that. Once you were done with the dresses, you moved to the jewelry section. The prices in this store were outrageous and you turned to Bucky with a frown. “Are you sure we should keep shopping here? I’ve already spent enough of your money.”

“Pisică, I make more money in an hour than the one hundred grand you’re going to spend.”

“You’re spoiling me,” you grinned.

Bucky pulled you into him and placed his hands on your ass, not caring if anyone saw.

“You’re my girl. Of course, I will.”

He leaned down and kissed you and your heart swelled in happiness.

Now

You always knew Bucky would find you but you didn’t know when or where it’d happen. He truly didn’t know where you were for the first six months you were gone. After you enrolled in college, he found you. In order to apply for it, you had to use your real name which Sam caught when he was looking for you online.

Despite what you may think of him, he really does love you. He just has a weird way of showing it.

Bucky has left his men behind where you crashed your car at while his driver takes you to one of his mansions. You’ve been to almost all of them because he used to take you all around the country for the hell of it. You have a room in every single one of them.

“Pisică--”

“Don’t call me that,” you snap and look at him.

“It took a long time to find you. I thought you had dropped off the face of the Earth.”

“Bite me.”

“Don’t tempt me,” he smirks. He loses it when he thinks about what to ask next. “Why did you run?”

You look at him with wide eyes and a parted mouth. “Did you really just ask me that? You’re a murderer.”

“Well, that depends on how to look at it.”

“There’s no looking at it differently. You kill people. That’s murder.”

Bucky decides to change the topic because he’s not gonna get far with you accusing him of things he’s done.

“Remember how we met?” It’s incredible how this man can jump from one topic to the next. “I do. I even remember the kiss we shared. Care to hear it from my perspective?”

“Not really?”

He tells you the story anyway as if you weren't there to begin with.

Bucky met up with several potential business partners that he thought would benefit him and his company. He’s one of the biggest mafia bosses this country has ever seen and having allies is much better than having enemies. He controls the weapons market, the communication sector, and most of the casinos across the country. These men would give him access to most of the drug trading posts if they’d only get their heads out of their asses and agree to his terms.

He doesn’t let the storm outside prevent him from doing business which is why he took this little meeting to one of the most expensive and high-end restaurants in town. The owner knows him and always gives him a good deal.

“Ma’am! You can’t just run in here!”

Bucky looks up and locks eyes with the most gorgeous woman he has ever seen before. Granted, she’s soaking wet from the rain outside. She looks fearful as if she’s running from someone. For some reason, Bucky would kill anyone who ever made her feel unsafe, and he doesn’t even know her.

She looks back outside and runs further into the restaurant, ignoring the calls from the hostess. She runs right over to him and interrupts the meeting he carefully set up without a care in the world. There’s panic in her eyes. She’s afraid. If only she knew who he was.

“I’m so sorry. Please play along.”

A man comes into the restaurant just as soaked as she is but Bucky doesn’t have time to react. She sits on his lap and kisses him desperately. He wraps an arm around her waist to keep her from falling off his lap and kisses her back. She is getting his nice suit wet but he doesn’t care. This kiss not only screams ‘I’m desperate’ but it screams ‘I need help’. The men Bucky is with chuckle but he tunes them out.

“Sir!”

Bucky can only assume the man had left the restaurant. His mysterious lover tries to pull away from him but he pulls her in closer and continues to kiss her. Only when he is satisfied does he finally let her go. She turns to check that the man isn’t there anymore and visually relaxes.

“I am so sorry.”

“Ex-boyfriend?”

“Yeah. He wouldn’t let me leave and I only managed to get away from him.” something comes over her face and she backs away in embarrassment. “God, that was so rude of me. I don’t know you. Thank you for that. Again, I’m really sorry I interrupted your dinner.”

She leaves the table and checks to make sure her ex isn’t outside looking for her. Once she feels she’s safe, she runs back outside into the pouring rain. Bucky clears his throat and takes out his phone so he can call one of his trusted men. He has Sam working on something in another state so Steve is who he calls.

“Boss?”

“Did you see her run out?”

“Yes.”

“Follow her. Find out about the boyfriend.”

“Yes, sir.”

Bucky gets off the phone and returns to his meeting like nothing happened.

“You came in there dripping wet. You came over to me and kissed me. Do you remember that kiss? How desperate you were for it?” During his storytelling, Bucky pulled you closer to him and slid his hand in your hair. His hand is so big that he can cup the side of your head and still run his thumb over your bottom lip. “Do you remember the taste of my lips on yours?”

“I will never kiss you again much less do anything more than that.”

You push him away and he smirks in amusement. He keeps his hands to himself for the rest of the ride. His mansion is like the one in New York just with more acres. He has the ultimate dream house fit with anything you can think of. Pools, spas, theaters, sports courts, and a ton more.

You dread coming back here not because it reminds you of Bucky but because it reminds you of the good times you had with him. The times from before you knew what he did for work.

You’re escorted inside his mansion and taken to a room with Steve. It’s like you’re being placed on time out because Steve stands by the door as if he isn’t allowed to let you leave.

“Ai grijă la ea, e foarte drăguță, dar e o fire plină de luptă. Ea nu iese din casă.”

Watch out for her, she’s real pretty but she’s a feisty one. She doesn’t leave the house.

Bucky keeps eye contact with you the whole time before leaving the room. Your blood boils.

“Ești un laș care se ascunde în spatele unei armate de oameni!”

You’re a coward who hides behind an army of men!

Bucky doesn’t bat an eye at your words. He’s the one who taught you Romanian, now you’re using it against him.

“I’m leaving,” you say to Steve and storm to the door.

Steve lets you out of the room knowing there are guards posted at every door to prevent you from leaving the mansion. Sam stands at the front door so he must be done cleaning the crash of your car. 

“Sorry, you can’t leave. Bosses’ order,” Sam says and stops you from leaving.

Instead of standing here arguing with him, you figured you get this over with. Your room hasn’t been touched since you left, and you can only assume your other rooms in the other mansions haven’t been touched either. This room is filled with so many good memories of you and Bucky. You hate that you’re looking at them now with such disdain.

Bucky was never one for pictures so the ones he did take were inappropriate to post anywhere. He thought it was funny to print them out and frame them for your room to always remind you who you belong to. Maybe you still do. Maybe you don’t. You’re not sure of how you feel anymore.

It hurts to look at them because you still love him. You’re so damn in love with him and it hurts because you thought you’d never love a murderer.

Bucky returns to the house hours later, well into the night. He finds you asleep in your own bed with dried tears on your cheeks. He looks at the pictures on the dresser and yanks his tie off angrily. He makes sure to be quiet as he walks over to you.

“I love you so much,” he whispers.

He kisses your forehead before leaving your room. God, he wishes things were different. He hates seeing you in pain.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[lohotine]

Hello! Is it okay if I request Royal Margarine Cookie or Capsaicin Cookie x (gender neutral) reader who seems to be all strict and stern yet ends up being easy to fluster (sorry if this is long! But i hope you understand 😭😢)

AN: I hope you don't mind that I made this a multiple char fic- 😓

``I am not blushing!``

Multiple x GN! Reader

ROYAL MARGARINE, Affogato, Prune Juice, AVENTURINE, HEIZOU, DAZAI, Rui Kamishiro

Warnings: none

"Come now, there's no need to be so serious!" He grinned, lifting his head with an almost taunting aura.

You crossed your arms, brows knitting in annoyance. "We are not dropping this. Punctuality should be a priority!"

A low chuckle escaped him. "You won't forgive me for being only a few minutes late?"

Your expression only grew more agitated from here. The shamelessness of this man is truely extraordinary. Though as his gaze continued to burn into you, your confidence began to waver.

"I just think-" your eyes wander off of him and instead shift to somewhere else. Anywhere else, really. As long as it wasn't him since you knew his glare and Cheshire grin were all it took for you to break. "I just think you should aim to be on time."

He seemed amused by you.

But why? It's not like you said anything funny.

"Oh my... are you still not going to forgive me?" He inched closer to you; so close that his scent began to haze your mind.

Your mouth opened slightly as if you were going to respond, yet all that came out was a single, broken, shaky breath.

"Maybe you'll forgive me if I were to..." His lips met yours in an instant, and they lingered there for a moment before he pulled away.

"Sweet." He mumbled to himself.

You were a mess. You had just been scolding him a second ago, hadn't you? Why was he the one in controll now? And just why did you have to fold under his charm so quickly?

You covered your face with your hands in embarrassment.

His lips tugged into a snide smile as he observed your pathetic attempt at hiding the blush on your face. "Are you doing alright? You seem a bit redder than before."

"I'm doing fine." You still couldn't bring yourself to look him in the eye.

"Really? I thought my teasing had become too much for you and you had started blushing or something.."

"I am not blushing!"

His teasing grin only widened, though it seemed like he decided to drop it in the end. "Of course. You never get flustered, after all."

You didn't say much; only uttering a "you suck," under your breath to which he immediately began laughing at.

"Well now that we have this settled, why don't we start on the actual reason for our meetup?"

《☆》 End

[mins-fins]

self control — [ mark lee — 엔시티. ]

where no matter how stubborn he may be, it's only you that mark lee really wants.. | now playing ❅

people tend to do the worst of things to cope when they're unhappy.

for mark, it's many things. scribbling down equally depressive song lyrics, smoking, retreating himself from everyone, drinking, the occasional late night hookup..

and also standing in front of his ex boyfriends door at eleven pm.

listen, mark isn't an easy guy. you two have already been broken up for months, it isn't as if this is some planned decision, it's a spare of the moment arbitration that mark would've never made if he was in his right mind.

but the thing is, he is in his right mind. it's not like he's drunk or high, he could use the excuse that his feet dragged him all the way over here, yet you would never take that with any sort of reason. it was either this or sinking back into his work, which he doesn't exactly want to do.

he contemplates as he stares at your door, just fucking brown hard wood. nothing special. he clears his throat as he raises his fist to land a knock, his anxiety rising as silence again fills the hallway.

he hears shuffling behind other doors, jazz music faintly playing, a few neighbors arguing, but it's all tuned out in favor of the the footsteps rapidly approaching behind your door. he thinks he might have enough time to ru—

"..oh, hi".

your tone is inquiring, and mark understands why. seeing your ex in front of your door after three months of simply silence is strange, and there's nothing behind your eyes but pure confusion.

mark stares with his big eyes bugged out freakishly, he blinks as he collects the words he so desperately rehearsed before deciding to knock your door. "uh— hi, i'm sorry i don't know why.."

he can't speak, because you're looking at him with those eyes. it's really hard to focus when everything is happening.

"can we talk?"

seamless segway, your eyes drag over mark's entire figure, he tenses up in a way he knows you can clearly sense. "sure" you whisper, face scrunching at your tone.

mark enters and immediately wants to shrink. he likes your place, he always has loved your place, it's why he preferred going to you in comparison to you going to him. the expanse of a space holds solace, memories, and many moments of drunk sobbing that mark's lips take an upturn at.

"so why do you want to talk?"

oh, right, his excuse, mark's lips take a downturn. his hands shove into his pockets as he rocks back and forth on his heels, his tongue coming to lick at his lips. it's so strange to see you act so normal,

okay so maybe averting eyes and cheeks that are tinted red can't be described as 'normal' around your ex.

"i don't, i lied and i didn't know what to say when i saw you actually opened your door for me".

you pause, then, you chuckle, head topping downward as your gaze laser focuses on the floor. "that's funny.."

"yeah".

good god it's awkward.

you shrug your shoulders, spinning on your heel as you motion towards the kitchen. "do you want hot chocolate?"

mark shakes his head silently, settling onto your couch, quickly sinking into the comfortable cushions.

you blink, sighing as you settle beside him, the air again growing awkward as you place your hands into your lap, exhaustion clear in your eyes.

"is this weird?"

"after three months yeah" you snicker at your own words. "i probably would've understood if you came around like a few weeks after? but this was really random.."

"yeah".

"so what gives?"

"i.."

i missed you, no i miss you, i want you so bad, i'm sorry for overworking myself then dismissing your worries, random people at bars can't compare to you y/n, i want you back.

"i don't know".

you hum, kissing your teeth.

mark intently watches the movement of your lips and absolutely hates himself for doing so.

"it's not normal to randomly show up at your exes place, mark".

you didn't have to tell mark that, he opts to glance away on his shame. you relax your back against the cushion, biting the inside of your cheek. "so either you want me back.. or you're going to assassinante me".

oh well, you've always been good at reading mark's mind.

mark straightens his posture, scooting closer. "i miss you" he whispers, sucking his teeth at his own words. he sounds like some desperate loser who never got over his ex, oh wait.. that is what he is.

who cares? it's past ten o'clock, being ashamed of his actions is simply not needed. "a lot.. it's embarrassing".

"not really that embarrassing if you just told me right now".

mark is very desperate, his hands find purchase on your legs. you stare, and he stares back, eye contact much too difficult to avoid. "i don't know, it still kinda is.." he draws shapes into your pants, eyes flitting towards your lips.

how obvious can he be?

his eyes again widen exponentially as you catch him staring bright as day. well, he threw shame out of the window a long long time ago.

"did you miss me too?"

you contemplate on your words, a trial that only gets the anxiety back up on mark's tail. his bottom lip is caught between his teeth, a certain look in his eye that you seem to find amusing.

mark begins chewing on his lip as he impatiently awaits an answer, maybe he should shout, or scream, or.. something, it's embarrassing how spontaneous his responses are.

and he's about to scream, but you decide to answer his question by leaning forward, soft lips pressing against his.

they've always been soft, well chapped, a smooth force that seem to contrast with his own. he unfortunately can't keep his composure, letting his arms come up to wrap around your neck as you fall backward, mark messily staggering into your lap as he keeps you two pressed together.

it would be an understatement to say that he's addicted, your hands slide down towards his hips, and he sighs against your lips. he tugs you closer, as if the heat radiating from you isn't enough, as if he wants to be one with you.

his left hand comes down to cradle the side of your face, nothing else mattering. maybe your neighbors have begun fighting again, the women across the hall is baking chocolate chip cookies, your package might've arrived just now, but fuck it, who cares? mark knows he doesn't.

the only reason for separation is air, but mark could fathom kissing you until he ran out of breath, his fingers beginning to play with the hem of your shirt as he watches the rise and fall of your chest.

"yeah" your voice has a rasp to it that makes mark dizzy for a second. "missed you too".

mark parts his lips, staring down at yours. his eyes are blown wide, sparkling under the light of the lamp which barely illuminates the living room. "then maybe you should kiss me again".

you snort, but you oblige once more, allowing for mark to capture his soft lips once again. they taste like cherries, oh you never change, mark is positively going crazy. after a month of shady motel rooms including people he can barely remember, mark could never get you out of his mind.

mark tugs at your bottom lip, another small breath falling from his lips. he doesn't like cherries much, he just likes how they taste on your lips.

"you know exes don't do this right?"

mark pinches your collarbone, drawing a wince. "you know how to ruin the mood you.."

he can't exactly collect his words, your smile is taunting. "just don't talk about it".

"then we'll have to awkwardly talk in the morning".

mark shakes his head, cheeks a soft rose red. "who cares? were doing this now".

he isn't exactly sure why he's so.. determined, per say, but maybe kissing just draws something different from him. "so you want to sleep with me then not talk about tomorrow morning?"

"who cares about tomorrow? i'm focusing on right now".

you again decide to snicker, resting your forehead on mark's chest. you clearly find his words extremely amusing, but your fingers begin caressing under his shirt, the ministrations as comforting as they are calming.

"hey," mark softly calls out, eyes lidded heavily. "you know if we don't do this right now, i could die, and do you want me to die without getting in my pants one last time?"

how stupid, mark sees it in the way you laugh. "you're ridiculous".

"but i'm right".

you roll your eyes, still completely smitten. "okay, sure" you then pull him closer. "since you want me so bad".

mark attempts his best scowl. "you're so full of yourself".

your smile is beautiful, but mark still has to feign vexation at the sight. "and you talk too much".

"oh and what are you going to do? shut me u—"

mark yelps as you decide to turn the tables, now having him be the one under you. "yea, gladly".

and maybe mark isn't so against that idea.

[galaxymagitech]

5 Times Dick Covers for Bruce (+ 1 Time He Can't)

(Whumpuary 2025 - Day 3)

Summary:

“What happened?” Kori asks, eyes wide as she traces the edges of the bruise.

Dick looks into her eyes and knows that if he told her the truth, she would fly straight to Gotham with starbeams burning in her eyes. “I fell,” he says. He gives Kori a self-effacing grin. “It turns out that crutch handstands aren’t exactly the best idea.”

Characters: Dick Grayson, Bruce Wayne, Duke Thomas, Roy Harper, Koriand'r, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Jason Todd

Warnings: Emotional and Physical Abuse, references to Jason's death

You can read it here or on AO3.

i.

“It’s just not right,” Roy says as he paces around one of the common rooms at Titans Tower. Dick doesn’t really know or care which one, he just chose the first one he could pull Roy into, before Speedy said something the other Titans didn’t need to hear.

On the couch, Dick buries his face in his hands. “Just shut up, Roy.”

“I’m telling you!” Through his fingers, Dick sees Roy whirl around, gesticulating wildly. “It’s fucking insane, is what it is.”

Roy, Dick decides, is a drama queen. Kinda funny, seeing as how he’d accused Dick of being the drama queen last week. “Dude, calm down. It’s just every other weekend.”

“Yeah, half the time you spend with the Titans!” Roy shakes his head.

“Bruce is right, though, Roy,” Dick says. “I am neglecting the Mission. And I do spend a lot of time messing around with you guys that I should spend patrolling.”

Roy flops onto the couch, sending Donna’s latest attempt at buying tasteful throw pillows flying. “He’s just jealous. Because he doesn’t have any friends except you, but you spend all your time with us.” Roy might be right. Bruce had been all for the Teen Titans until Dick started running off to them every weekend—or after one of their blowout arguments, which have only been getting worse since Dick turned 16 and got his driver’s license. “Plus, we tell you when he’s being an asshole, and I’ll bet he doesn’t like that.”

Okay, yeah. Bruce might be jealous, but the way Roy’s saying it makes it sound like Bruce is way more controlling than he is. “I mean, he wants to spend time with me,” Dick says. “Is that such a bad thing?”

“He’s telling you that you can’t see your friends,” Roy says flatly.

Bruce said that Dick can only go to Titans Tower every other weekend or in emergencies, but he also said he missed Dick. He’s keeping Dick from hanging out with Roy and Wally and Donna and Garth, but that’s because he wants Dick around. And sure, Bruce can be a controlling bastard—Dick has ranted about that to the other Titans plenty of times—but that just means he cares, right?

So, Dick leans in, like he’s telling Roy a secret.

“Listen,” Dick says. “I—I love you guys, and it’s really fun being here, but I’ve been wanting to spend more time with B for a while. And I do feel like I should focus more on Gotham to keep up with things. You know how it is—the landscape of crime is always changing. And Bruce kind of gave me a good excuse. So, don’t start shouting at B in front of the others, alright?” The truth is, Dick doesn’t want to decrease the time he spends with the Teen Titans at all. But he doesn’t want to get into a fight with Bruce about this. Bruce can’t think that Dick doesn’t want to spend time with him. And if going to Titans Tower less will make Bruce feel better, it’s worth it. For Batman and Robin.

“I don’t like this,” Roy says, but Dick watches as the older boy’s shoulders slump. “…okay, Dick. I’ll drop it.”

“Thanks, Roy,” Dick says, putting a hand on Roy’s shoulder and leaving the room before he can change his mind.

***

ii.

Kori’s warm hand rests gently on Dick’s cheek, careful not to press the growing bruise. Dick’s breath catches in his throat as her hand drifts up to brush his hair away from his black eye.

Bruce hadn’t even hit him in the eye. He just hit him hard. Hard enough that Dick fell to the floor of the cave. Hard enough that the blood pooled in the socket and turned it black and blue. 

“What happened?” Kori asks, eyes wide as she traces the edges of the bruise.

Dick looks into her eyes and knows that if he told her the truth, she would fly straight to Gotham with starbeams burning in her eyes. “I fell,” he says. He gives Kori a self-effacing grin. “It turns out that crutch handstands aren’t exactly the best idea.”

Because Dick doesn’t want Kori to fight it out with Bruce. Dick just wants to curl up next to his girlfriend and forget that today ever happened. Forget that Jason is dead, and it’s all Dick’s fault, and Bruce knows it, and Bruce told him to leave, and Dick can’t ever go back home now. 

“I’m alright, Kori,” Dick lies.

Kori frowns, uncertain. It’s a strange look on her. “Did Bruce have anything to do with this?”

Dick’s a performer. And it’s easy to perform what you know so well. A few days ago, he would have reacted with brief confusion, and then a confident denial. So, that’s what he does now. He lets the bewilderment play across his face for a second, then shakes his head with a smile. “Don’t worry, Kori. Bruce would never.”

Kori looks away. “I’ll get you an icepack.”

“Thanks,” Dick says.

Kori goes to rummage around in the freezer. Instead of handing the ice pack to him, she wraps it in a thin towel and holds it to his face herself. “I am sorry about your brother, Dick.”

Dick just hums in response. He has no right to mourn Jason. Not when he died in Dick’s family colors.

***

iii.

“What happened to your face?” Babs asks. Tim leans against the nearby door, making space for Dick to talk to Barbara, while Cass stands even further away, her cape flying out behind her.

“Uh—” Dick cuts himself off.

The answer is actually very simple: “I got in the way.” Dick’s not ashamed of it—he’s proud, actually. Proud that he intervened. Proud of saving that man from being strangled to death. Proud that Nightwing stopped Batman from becoming a killer. Because Jim could be dead, and no one else is going to lose their father tonight. One tragedy is already far too much.

What happened to your face? It’s an odd question to ask a vigilante. Dick was fighting people. The reason his lower face is covered in blood is because someone punched him. Such is the life.

So, if Babs is asking, that means she knows that this time is different.

Or—suspects. Suspicion, Dick can deal with. Especially now, when Barbara is understandably distracted.

Barbara can’t know. She’s already terrified for her father—this would only make things worse. And it would hurt Tim, who practically worships the Batman and Robin of old. If Dick allows even a tiny crack, that shatters. Dick can’t bear to be the reason Tim’s pedestal breaks.

It’s all excuses really. Dick doesn’t want to talk about it. He doesn’t want it to be a big deal. He just wants to move on, like he did after Bruce punched him the first time.

“Nothing,” Dick says. “Just let one get past my defenses, I guess.” Tim watches, his eyes narrowed. And Cassandra—Dick can’t see her reaction through her mask, but surely she’s clocked the lie. Doesn’t matter, though. They won’t press. “How is he?” Dick asks, changing the subject and leaning his head against Barbara’s as she cries.

***

iv.

Dick’s little brother is curled up in the corner of his apartment. Meanwhile, Dick is barely resisting the urge to strangle his former mentor.

How could Bruce do this? Tim had—Tim had friends. Family. A support system. People he could relate to. And Bruce looked at that and decided, ‘this child needs to trust people less.’ He saw that Tim had a good thing and ripped it to shreds, because the kid wasn’t paranoid enough for him. Because Tim could do what Bruce could not, and that must be a flaw, mustn’t it? If the great Batman doesn’t have friends, then his Robin can’t have them either.

It's so fucked up. Dick had really expected better of Bruce.

(But didn’t he do this to you too? Says the little voice inside his head. Dick barely even registers the thought. He stopped listening to that voice long ago.)

So, Dick is beyond angry right now. But that doesn’t do Tim any good. Not when the boy just needs someone to comfort him in his distress.

“Bruce has a strange way of showing he cares,” Dick says, wrapping an arm around Tim’s shoulders.

“I don’t—he didn’t even apologize, Dick.” Tim ducks his head, hiding the tears that are dripping down his face.

“He’s trying to help you,” Dick tells Tim. “He wants you to be safe, and sometimes he can be a bastard, but he loves you, Tim. You’re his Robin.”

Tim shakes his head. “It hurt, Dick.”

Yeah. Bruce betrayed Tim’s trust horrifically. But— “He’s a bastard,” Dick agrees. “I have half the urge to strangle him.” More than half, but Tim doesn’t need to know that right now. “But that’s how he is. That’s how he loves us. When I was your age I was mad at him all the time. But he means well, Tim. He really does. And when I stopped being angry at him for pulling these things, it got a lot better.”

“I don’t want to be like him.”

“Hey,” Dick says gently. “Am I like Bruce?”

“No,” Tim whispers. “You’re not.”

“See? I turned out fine.” Dick ruffles Tim’s hair. “You will too.”

“I—” There are still tears leaking from Tim’s eyes. Dick doesn’t know what to do. “Can I have some water, please?”

Dick springs to his feet, grateful to look away from the results of Bruce’s love. “Sure, Timmy.”

“Sorry for bothering you.”

Dick smiles. “It’s no bother.” He’s glad he could be here, to reassure Tim. Because Dick? Dick had no one to tell him that Bruce meant well. He just had to trust.

***

v.

“I don’t know what you expected,” Jason says, arms crossed and helmet lying off to the side as he sits on the rooftop with Dick. He’s refusing to even look Dick’s way, but at least he’s talking, which is far better than the past three hours of stakeout. Or the operation before that. Or— “I mean, we buried you, Dick. Or whatever fake you put there instead. We’re not going to just get over it, no matter how many bonding ops you try to drag us on.”

Dick sighs heavily. He regrets it immediately, though. Jason deserves better than dismissiveness. Dick knows what it’s like to mourn a brother, and he forced Jason and Tim to go through that. Sure, the accusations hurt like hell, but Dick needs to think past his own pain.

“Come on,” Jason says, finally, finally turning to look at Dick. He’s angry, is the first thing Dick registers from Jason’s burning eyes and clenched jaw. That’s not helpful though. Jason is always angry with Dick these days. There’s nothing Dick can do to change that. Nothing, except maybe tell the truth. And Dick is never going to tell the truth. Not about this. “Tell me why you thought it was okay.”

This time, Dick is the one who looks away. “Just drop it, Hood.”

Jason’s hand falls heavily on Dick’s shoulder. Dick flinches away, but Jason doesn’t let go, tugging Dick around to face him. “Why, Dick? Why did you go to Spyral? Why did you fake your death?”

Some things would break this family. And Dick can’t do that. He’d told Bruce things wouldn’t be the same, but they have to be the same. Because the this is the only thing he has left. His brothers, no matter how much they hate him. His pride, which will be lost if he admits he caved to Bruce’s demands just because they came with some harsh words and fists. And his lies—the same ones he has been telling for years.

“I did what I needed to do,” Dick says. “And no names in the field, Hood.”

Jason’s lip curls in disgust and he stands up, shaking his head.

Even though he’s the one driving Jason away, Dick doesn’t want his brother to leave. “We’re not finished with the stakeout.”

“They’re not showing up,” Jason says coldly as he puts on his helmet. “If you want to wait around, you can, but I’m out. I don’t wanna deal with you anymore.”

And then he grapples off, leaving Dick alone on the rooftop.

*** ***

In the end, Dick doesn’t slip up. He spent a decade and a half covering for Bruce, sweeping his bullshit under the rug. He’s good at it. If he was going to make a mistake, he’d have made it long ago.

Instead, it’s Bruce who brings it all crashing down. Not out of guilt, but simply because he is even more lacking in self-awareness than Dick thought.

It starts when Dick finds Duke sitting at his kitchen table on a Saturday morning. “…hi Duke,” he says. He wasn’t aware Duke had gotten to the ‘breaking into siblings’ apartments’ stage of Bathood yet, but he guesses the kid is just precocious. 

“Bruce had me looking at some old case files,” Duke says. He skips over the small talk completely, which is…unusual for him. “I had some questions?”

“Uh, yeah,” Dick says, walking towards the coffee maker. “Shoot.”

“I made you coffee,” Duke tells him, pointing to a mug on the counter.

“Thanks.” Dick smiles at his foster brother, scoops some sugar in, and then sits down at the table across from Duke.

Duke swallows. “What’s a percussive strike to the mandible?”

“Hmm…” Dick takes a moment to think over that one. “A really fancy way to say a punch to the jaw?” The only person he knows who is pretentious enough to phrase things like that is Bruce. Specifically, a brooding Bruce. Well-adjusted Bruce tends to write a little more like a normal person.

“Could it be anything else?” Duke asks.

Dick shrugs. “Don’t think so. A percussive strike is some sort of hit, and the mandible is the jaw, so…”

“And if something says ‘Sustained facial damage from strike during intervention; potential mandible fracture’ what would that mean?”

“Someone tried to get in the way of something, got hit in the face, and maybe fractured their lower jaw.”

Duke places a post-operation report printed from the Batcomputer on the kitchen table and then wipes his hands on his shirt. Dick can see wet spots on the paper from Duke’s sweaty hands. Is Duke nervous to ask questions? Dick must’ve made a mistake if he is. His little siblings can always ask him questions. “And…what’s this?”

Dick looks at Duke in confusion, sipping his coffee. “I feel like this is a trick question.”

Duke’s foot bounces furiously under the table. “Please just—just answer.”

Dick shrugs. “It’s a report from the batcomputer.”

“Yeah,” Duke says. He slides the file towards Dick. “Read it.”

First, Dick checks the date and searches his memories. That…that must’ve been pretty early on in his time with the red suit—probably the Court of Owls debacle. And then, he begins to read.

By the time he reaches the end, it’s taking all his willpower to keep his hands from shaking.

During this discussion, Nightwing’s tooth was removed via percussive strike to the mandible. The tooth was then confirmed to have the electrum implant.

“Duke, this is…”

“Here.” Duke passes Dick another file, and he reads that one too.

Nightwing prevented Batman from continuing attack. Nightwing sustained facial damage from strike during intervention; potential mandible fracture.

And all he can think is…why? Why would Bruce put complete descriptions of these incidents into his records—and not just his private records, but the records that are accessible even from Duke’s clearance? And then he told Duke to go looking through them, not even realizing that there could be an issue. He didn’t even—

“He didn’t even try to hide them,” Duke says hollowly.

Dick has to try, then. If Bruce has gone mad, Dick has to at least attempt to cover for him. One last time. So, he laces his hands in front of him on the table and gives it his best shot. “I don’t remember these, Duke,” Dick lies. “I think something’s up with the file system.”

Duke shakes his head. “Don’t try to gaslight me, Dick. This is—this is real. He hit you at least twice. Probably more, if he’s writing it this casually. If he doesn’t even realize how messed up this is.”

“Okay,” Dick says. “Okay, but it’s not—”

“Tim gave me access to the Titans contact sheet. Apparently, Roy keeps a file called ‘Fuck Batman’. Most of it is hearsay, but if I line it up with incident reports—”

“Don’t,” Dick whispers. “It’s…I made a choice, okay? I chose to cover for Bruce, because I was fine.”

Duke gives a sad smile and reaches across the small table to squeeze Dick’s hands. “It’s over,” he says. He probably means to be comforting.

It didn’t have to be, Dick thinks. He would’ve kept every incident secret for the rest of his life. All Bruce had to do was possess an ounce of self-awareness and realize that he had something to hide. But he didn’t. And now, Duke knows and the Titans and other Bats will soon follow. “Yeah,” Dick says, squeezing back. “I guess it is.”

[mannatea]

Endlessly (2/2), a Rose of Versailles fanfic

Words: 4,412 words (8,179 words total) Summary: André helps Oscar undress. Or, the intimacy of a habitual and socially acceptable touch—a small and quiet indulgence for both of them. Pairing/Character: André/Oscar Warnings: This is a little horny, not gonna lie. Extra Info: This is for the lovely and perfect @nicetoart / @niceto169 whose beautiful art "Endlessly" came into my house and beat me up. True story. The first chapter of this story was a tribute to their art told from André's perspective. The second (and final!) chapter is a different undressing scene from Oscar's perspective. Rating: T Genre: Friendship, light romance, yearning.

Special thank you to @trash-god for the beta work, and for looking at my rough drafts and letting me bounce ideas off of you! 🙏🏻

This was written based on the manga characterizations.

I hope you enjoy. 🌹

Notes, which are just “behind the scenes” footage:

Reminder: since André is Oscar’s attendant/valet, helping her dress and undress would be one of his duties. However, the scope of what he is able to help her with would be limited. I tried to write this story with both of these in mind.

--

To start with, wow! What a piece of art. I love art that feels like it could be telling some kind of story—showing us a moment in the lives of others—and “Endlessly” really delivered with that! When I offered to write a story based on one of niceto’s pieces of art, I was honestly torn between writing about “It’s not my blood” or “Endlessly” and ended up going with “Endlessly” because I felt very much like I could make a reasonably-sized tale out of it.

I figured out early on that I wanted to write two parts, because I couldn’t decide whose perspective to write the story in; André’s point of view seemed the most obvious (to match the art, as he is the one with his eyes open, he is the one whose endless love shines through while Oscar seems somewhat oblivious to it), but sometimes I like to buck tradition a little and do the unexpected.

However, both ideas were so fun I just decided to do both, starting with André’s (as this was intended to be a tribute work) and then following up with Oscar’s, where both together would paint a more cohesive narrative about their close relationship.

In the first story, we see things through André’s eyes. I wanted his perspective to feel reserved, like he himself is. I’ve always felt that André understood his feelings for Oscar from fairly early on, and because of this, had some small control over his thoughts. You could imagine this is almost a way of coping with his situation: loving someone he’s not supposed to love, longing for things he cannot share with her or express, being tied to her for the duration of his life regardless (while never really wanting to be anywhere else).

André is a reserved person in general. Oscar comments on this multiple times and we see him act that way in the manga, especially when she loses her temper and takes it out on him. More than that, I can’t help but feel that most of his thoughts lean that way, too: that he represses them or puts them through a filter in his head before he lets himself think of them. Again, as a way to protect himself.

Now that I am writing these characters in the year of our lord and savior 2025, I have words for these characters’ sexualities that I never had when I originally wrote them (even though it’s funny, because I have always written them this way). I don’t think this information is necessary to the story (it’s just a fun bit of “behind the scenes” information for the curious), but André strikes me as an exceptionally demisexual man.

All of his physical attraction for Oscar is centered on the bond he has with her, rooted in the closeness of their spirits—and most of his happiness comes from being close to her and sharing a life with her. That’s not to say he doesn’t want to have sex with her (he does, it’s mentioned) but that it only comes up when it does (after they’re together, when he’s afraid he won’t be able to see her anymore) tells me that it’s not exactly a “top priority” for him. He is very easily pleased and made happy with other intimacies. And that is what I wanted to show, here, in this story: that general contentment he feels when he is able to be useful to her and have an excuse to touch her, even if it is with this little dressing/undressing ritual they share infrequently—something he does to feel close to her, to feel connected. Like the child in him that missed her the moment she stopped trying to convince him to wrestle with her is still reaching out, desperate to maintain that thread of connection.

I’m sure André physically reacted to Oscar before he was fifteen and wrestling around with her in the grass, but I wanted to show the moment he knew he could not keep ignoring it happening—the moment he was forced to put an end to it. The tragedy of them losing that physical connection feels important to me (and is the one thing the live-action ALMOST gets right).

And Oscar also struggles with this lost connection, which you can see a little bit in the first chapter, but far more clearly in the second (since it is her perspective). I really love Oscar in the manga; she’s such a feeling person, despite how much she struggles with heavy and loud emotion. I wanted to really capture that part of her, here.

Oscar needling André into fighting with her has always felt very Oscar-like to me; I think she likes stimulating conversation and I think she enjoys arguing, but when she was younger I’m sure she enjoyed playfighting and roughhousing. Due to her upbringing, most of the real affection she received was probably from Nanny/Grand-mère (and even then, limited, because it was not an acceptable practice to shower the children you were minding with affection, as that was not your right).

We also get the vibe in the manga that, even though Oscar does love her parents, they are not physically affectionate with one another (which is part of what makes Oscar breaking down in tears on her mother’s lap such a big deal; they typically do not have that kind of relationship).

Due to this lack of connection with the adults in her life, the closest connection Oscar forms as a child is with André.

Honestly, thank God for André; even though it takes her years to realize it (“You were there! You were there!”), his presence had an undeniably positive effect on her life from the start. My favorite part of their relationship is how close they feel, even early on in the series. He’s comfortable enough to give her his opinions (even if he knows she won’t like them) and she’s comfortable enough to be herself around him. (He’s one of the only people she cries in front of over and over and over again, but he is also a “safe” person she can lose her temper around.)

That closeness is something I wanted to mimic and tie in large part to Oscar’s personal rooms—to a place where she typically has the most control and feels the most comfortable. So much of her life is public (including her career); she needs a place where she can be herself, and she needs a person she can be herself safely in front of.

That person is André, obviously.

We talked already about how André’s perspective is reserved (not just his nature) and part of the reason for this is, I feel, because he understands his feelings very well. He knows how deep they are; he knows what they mean. This gives him the ability to put them through a filter before he speaks, before he acts.

Oscar, on the other hand, does not understand her own feelings. She simply has them and struggles to make sense of them (and never tries very hard to). I don’t think her upbringing helped with this (she was not encouraged to think of them), but for the most part I believe this is simply her nature. Even if she were raised as a woman, I believe she would struggle with emotions in a very similar vein.

Due to this, I tried to write Oscar as being troublesome on purpose because she does like to make things hard on André. It’s fun, she wants to see his reaction; she basically has a crush on him that she sometimes acts on but doesn’t know it for what it is. Amusingly, neither does André really understand it, because he can’t conjure up a circumstance in which she would return his feelings—as it goes against the way of things.

Anyway, some other small things:

André not wanting to look at Oscar in that wet shirt was something that I conceived of before I wrote the story (in fact, it was in my paragraph-long outline). I had this idea that her trust means so much to him that he can’t bear to do anything that might hurt it.

Their matching calluses from swordplay shows up in both stories and I had a lot of fun with that, especially in Oscar’s perspective where she feels his on her leg and touches her own to her mouth.

Oscar’s insane growing need to touch him when she’s drunk was SO much fun to write. I wanted to show that she feels she can only indulge in it by being difficult, because if she is causing him some small problem, it gives him an excuse to touch her.

Oscar’s selfishness comes out a little in this story, too, but in quiet ways. I hope it worked well.

The idea of walls comes up a few times across both stories, too, which was intentional, and I wanted to end the second one on that note, because the (hopefully) obvious truth is that they both know the other is lying, and they just build that lie up together, to avoid facing the truth and its consequences.

There are a couple of lines in here that I really loved writing and that I’m very pleased with. Feel free to guess which ones, hahaha.

Same as always echoing at the start and end of the second story to show André’s steadfastness was a last second change and I’m happy with it.

Thank you very much for reading the story and these silly (but fun to write up) notes! If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Comments, criticism, and discussion are all welcome. 🤍

[tokiwarcube]

can we get general relationship hcs for toki please 🫶

Would you believe me if I told you all that Toki is actually one of my favorite boys? Thank you for your patience!

Nathan HERE ; Pickles HERE ; Skwisgaar HERE ; Murderface HERE ; Charles HERE

Toki wants little more to love and be loved in turn. Despite his notably cold upbringing, he still yearns for that “perfect” relationship. Although surprisingly, Toki doesn’t actually fall all that fast! He really values your friendship, and while he does recognize how pretty and funny you are, he’s not quick to fall. But when he does? Oh, he falls hard. He has to be held back from proposing a week after he realizes how much he really likes you.

When he does decide he wants to pursue a relationship with you, he is refreshingly plain in his intentions. He’s probably the only member of Dethklok who won’t act like a complete dumbass to try and get your attention… assuming he doesn’t take the advice from his bandmates, that is.

The media loves to focus on the cutesy parts of his personality, but nobody ever really hones in on just how much he likes to be in control. It’s a very subtle thing, but it absolutely bleeds through in the romantic sense. It starts with smaller things, like planning dates… and then guiding you through crowds… and then subtly encouraging you to wear his clothes out of the house, and wow, how long have you been staring at him?

He’s overshadowed by Skwisgaar in a lot of sects, but it certainly doesn’t feel like that with you. He has a very special way of commanding your attention, and he uses that to fluster. Often. He lives for it, really.

That’s not to say that there isn’t an equal relationship — you’re just as much of a cornerstone in his life. You've had many a call from Charles, asking you to please get Toki into the studio. And you’re the first person Toki goes to for… most everything! Whether it’s to share a story about a cat he saw on the street, or to nestle himself in your arms after a hard day, you’re always on his mind. He’s nothing if not putty in your hands.

He has so many nicknames for you, many of which are tooth-rottingly sweet. He thinks they’re adorable, and even though the guys rib the hell out of him for it, he refuses to stop using them.

His camera roll all but belongs to you, with how many stolen photos he’s taken. His lockscreen seems to change every other day — he can never seem to choose a favorite!

He’s very clingy in his sleep — part of it has to do with the nightmares that plague him, and he can’t help but subconsciously grip you tighter. It’s usually the only way you’ll know he’s having a nightmare… until he wakes up, stark still, breath caught in his chest. Call to him softly, let him know you’re there, that he’s safe. He won’t say anything, he never does… but eventually he’ll press his face into your chest, and he breathes.

It’s a 50/50 on whether or not he remembers the details in the morning, but he never wants to talk about it, regardless. His past is a scary thing that, in his mind, is left untouched and forgotten. Working through it is hard.

But again, in the morning, all is well. He’s a strong man, and despite the fact that he’s the one curled up in your arms, he imparts this very deep feeling of safety. Just, you know, don’t try to get up before him. He will whine, and he will use his strength to his advantage.

On that note, you’re such a critical part of his morning routine. Mornings (or I suppose afternoons is a better descriptor) are a sacred time for the two of you — hazy and sweet. Although without you, he tends to miss little parts of his upkeep — having you there keeps him on track. Brushing his hair in the morning is just one small part of that routine, and sure, it’s a little thing… but it’s the tenderness that really gets to him. And of course, you start the day without a good morning kiss.

He’s just as clingy while cuddling, too. He loves resting his head on your chest, listening to your heartbeat while you card your fingers through his hair. He’s chatty, too — he’ll talk about anything and everything, occasionally peering up at you to watch you respond. Sometimes he’ll press quick little kisses to your collarbone while you speak too, just because he can.

Needless to say, he’d be a wreck without you on tour, if for whatever reason you couldn’t come along. He’d beg to call whenever you’re free — even if that means the makeup crew has to work around his phone 5 minutes before the show starts.

Please take him to an animal shelter — if you only ever surprise him with one date, let it be a shelter date. With the life he lives (and the curse that seems to have woven its way into his bones), he can’t necessarily have a cat of his own… but that doesn’t mean he can’t make friends with them!

This man gets so, so excited if you engage in his interests with him. He’s so used to being talked down to, being told that his interests are childish or “cute,” so having someone just as excited? Just as passionate? He’s over the moon.

He’s the type to scrapbook all the little moments in your relationship. Saved receipts from your first dinner together; pulled pop-tabs from the drink you shared on a night in; spare tokens from the arcade… it all stays in a little wooden box he keeps on his nightstand. He also regularly gets all of his photos developed, so he can properly glue and press them into his memory book.

[stargirllt]

Dude I’m fiending so hard for more Charlie smut 😭 Like fuck buddy Charlie headcannons? Like he’s never had a casual sex relationship with someone before so obviously it leads to more but the sex is like mindblowing every time 🤭

hi anon, um i changed this a bit so its a fic and i took out a lot of smut so its very brief

gn reader (i think! if im wrong please dont burn me at the stake) x charlie, fwb, light smut, not proofread, umm. uh, i think that's it

Charlie enters into your house, practically running, once again. For the past two months, he'd been nursing this "friends with benefits" thing with you. However, this was not something he'd ever done before. He wasn't the kind of guy to be in a casual relationship, but he tried. for you.

that was actually the problem, he cared enough to change that for you. he cared enough not to care. that means that he cared, which defeats the entire purpose of a casual relationship. 

as he walked into the house, he noticed you werent anywhere to be seen. not the living room, not your bedroom, not the bathroom. he began to grow worried that something had happened to you. he started to frantically look through closets and drawers and cabinets, desperate to make sure you were okay. 

that's when he felt a hand on his back, and then someone's full body weight. he screamed like a little girl. then came the sound of laughter. your laughter.

he looks up from the ground, where he had fallen earlier, to see you giggling and offering a hand down to him. stubbornly, he takes it and stands up.

"hi char!" you speak, the seductive tone usually found in your voice missing.

"hey y/n/n?"

"sorry about scaring you, it was pretty funny though."

"alright, thats enough" but he's smiling as he says it.

"anyway, i was thinking that we could try something new tonight."

"oh yeah? whats that?"

"um, i was thinking that instead of fucking tonight, we could just like, watch a movie?" the words leave your mouth quickly, practically spewing out.

"oh, uh sure!" This was going to be detrimental to the secret of his longstanding crush on you.

"really? i didnt think you'd want to." you speak, surprised and expected to be shut down.

"i would love to, what movie should we watch?"

"oh um, you can pick." you say, far too preoccupied by the fact that this was essentially a date to pick a movie.

and that leads to you guys being seated awkwardly next to each other on the couch. so, you decide that you should change positions. just getting comfy, nothing more

you lay down, stretched across the couch with your head on his lap. you feel his whole body stiffen beneath you, and upon looking up, you see that his face is the same color as his lips. his gorgeous, plump, perfect lips.

"you alright up there char?"

"yeAh" there it was. if he hadn't already given himself away, the voice crack had.

"charlie what's wrong?"

you try to sit up, now trying to have a genuine conversation with him. but when you go to sit up and use his thigh for support, you feel it. you put the pressure of your whole body weight, on his cock. and fuck, does he like it. he whines, loud at the contact. you quickly pull your hand away. 

"shit, baby, im so sorry. that was weird i should get myself under control, im so sorry."

"stop, char. its fine. i have a question though: what's gettin ya so worked up?"

"um, just this. being chilled out, like getting to be domestic with you. just anything you do, really." a pause. "actually, i think that i should tell you something." 

you nod in encouragement and he speaks again.

"i think i love you. i can't do this anymore. i can't keep pretending that i dont want to be yours." 

the look he has in his eyes in genuine and nervous. you nod.

"i love you too charlie. why else would i do all of this? i wouldn't invite a fuck buddy to hang out and practically go on a date with me."

"this was a date??"

"obviously, char." you laugh and take his face in both hands.

"i think i changed my mind about earlier by the way." that seductive tone has returned to your voice.

instead of a reply, he kisses you and pulls you onto his lap. he only grows more impatient at the grinding, the whining, and the moaning from the both of you.

a/n: so sorry but i changed this a lot. i made it a fic, and i made it very brief smut😣 im very sorry anon

[meringuehearts]

my extremely disorganized welcome home theory!!!

this may sound crazy but please hear me out

there are three main points to this, all of which ill elaborate on under the cut!

one of the companies, either marlo or playfellow workshop, clearly tried to make a lot of changes to the show. this includes heavy merchandising, forcing julie/frank to be read as a couple, and cutting eddie from the show.

i think that once a character no longer appears on the air, they are forced into a sort of subliminal bond with their own home, isolating them and making them essentially unable to leave. we see this with eddie's situation.

if all of this is true, i may have a very good idea for the direction in which the story of welcome home will lead.

quick disclaimer beforehand : obviously, our knowledge on this is constantly growing and expanding! this is not my "entire opinion" on the story nor do i think this is the cold hard truth. these are simply my ideas!

in general, i think the idea of the offness coming from anything internal of the show , like the characters or home, is a far stretch .. more likely, it's coming from the people making the show itself.

my theory is that either playfellow workshop or marlo was taking control of the show , probably towards the end of its run, and making massive changes in the interest of maximizing profit. first of all the commercials clips feel off in and of themselves to me, because we can see that they literally partnered with anything in order to sell it. this is most clearly Weird in the sleeping pills wally clip, but also all over - of course this could just be that it was a popular show and wanted to make bank, but personally i think it was one of the companies pushing for more brand deals and more merchandise and more money.

this, of course, leads directly into the eddie/frank situation. as many different people have stated, this was the 1970s, and if there was any ability in the show for them to be read as a couple this could get a ton of backlash. i'm willing to bet that the company tried first of all to push julie/frank to be more easily read as a couple, then later deciding on either diminishing eddie's role a TON or deleting him completely.

and like, think about it. unfortunately, most of the characters don't really harbor any huge friendship towards him, at least not in the clips we've seen. while having positive relations with poppy, julie, frank and wally, he doesn't have as much as an outright "gimmick" or thing to sell as the others.

julie's excitable, sally's theatrical, frank's stubborn, howdy's charismatic, barnaby's funny, poppy's sweet, wally's reserved but polite, and eddie. "talks a lot". if you're an executive and you're going to cut one character from a show, especially in the interest of Not looking like theres Anything gay in your show, which would you choose?

NOW for the second part:

my believe about home, and furthermore all the homes in the series - but more directly Home - is that i think they act as sort of devices that the company can use to manipulate the characters. my theory about the eddie situation in the recent update is that it takes place in the midst of when the company was attempting to cut him from the show.

and when we see eddie in the midst of his breakdown, he's VERY tied to the post office (his home basically). he's isolated and literally states at a point during it that he assumes everyone's outside and playing in the snow, but never makes any attempt to go out and check - as if it doesn't even cross his mind. he expresses some kind of paranoid need to stay at the post office and not leave, even for a moment, which he also talks about in the videos.

when he finally DOES leave for the party, (which, btw, he only does because sally literally grabbed him and brought him there) , he starts seeing all the awful shit he sees (as we know) . INCLUDING HOME. and towards the end of it, all he says to frank is that he wants to go [ to his ] home.

what does all this mean??? im so glad u asked. basically i think that creators' actions upon the show affect the world of welcome home in subliminal ways that the characters aren't directly aware of happening (until, of course, they are.) in this case, if a character is cut from the show or their screen time is limited, they experience being subliminally forced to stay in their own home. if they try to leave, they start witnessing visceral, terrifying things that they can't explain, persuading them to return back home. back where it's "safe".

wally's home in particular, i think, enforces this the most. home is sentient so the company can probably carry out their desires more directly with him than any of the other houses (which are just structures, pretty much). i DON'T think home harbors any ill will themselves, but moreso is just carrying out what "needs to be done."

more evidence for this:

this theory is also entwined with how wally interacts with us, the people on the site, because he mentions in places like the guestbook, etc that he hasn't seen other members of the neighborhood in so long. but that doesn't mean they're not there.

so if a singular being cut from the show means that they are forced to stay in their own home and not go outside, then the show being taken off the air would, in theory, mean that everyone would be forced to stay in their own homes. for decades. wally reaching out to us could very likely be a cry for help and/or last try after years of isolation. (it would also explain why he's so much more off putting/tired/different than his in-show appearances.)

one last thing!!!! i think if that's what's going, on it could explain this sentence from the summary, unchanged since the beginning. i've never really understood this line or what it could mean, but -

this is a HUGE far cry. but i think it's possible that, if i'm right, at some point down the line the characters (still in the neighborhood) will actually try to leave their homes, or they have already, which would cause the "distortion/nightmarish memory". i mean we definitely could describe eddie's hallucination(?) as that so .

yeah i hope you enjoyed 20 minutes of me rambling ... please ask questions if some (or all) of this didn't make sense cuz im not rly sure if this is coherent lol. this also isnt all the thoughts i have about this theory but this post is too long as is lol. thanks so much for reading this far if you have!!!

[yamujiburo]

hiya again yam! i can't think of any hanamusa stuff to ask/talk about currently, so i've decided to ask about one of the shows you work on! i have a few (extended) family members who like the show, and by extension, i've caught much more than a few episodes (i always think of hanamusa when i hear the theme LOL)! (it's big city greens)

my question is... 1) who's your favorite character if you have one? (the dad is very goofy imho he is fun)

and 2) (idk if this is NDA-able or not so if it is please feel free to disregard LOL) did the scriptwriters consult you for gloria's parents speaking jp in the episode where she was like, showing off her 偽物の life to her parents? i'm always interested in hearing about the processes writers go through in including different languages in shows, especially kids' ones... *especially* in confirming that it's accurate enough which is why i ask. bc tbh i feel like it's pretty rare to have that in the end? we bare bears had lots of korean speaking characters in it iirc but that's one of the only shows that comes to mind.

thanks!!! o/ (ps: i think it'd be really funny if lisia pokemon met tr james and talked about fashion or something!with him just as a fun lil friendship rarepair, this may be a Bad Idea but in a fun crackfic-y way??? maybe i need to write this .)

I have a few! I love Tilly, Nancy and Tracy hehe (i won't say bella bc that's cheating

Early on, we didn't have scripts because we were a board driven show haha. There's been a few times in my own episodes where I'd throw in Japanese. Then for Rent Control (the episode you're talking about) my friend Raj, who boarded on that episode just came to me for some line suggestions! There's a whole language department though so everything goes through them when the final script for records is generated!

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2025, Issue#25: Kiss Week

Roboco: The death of Gorilla Gachi is revealed to be a Canon Event for all iterations of Roboco, and two factions of Roboco have formed to both defend and target his life in the Gag Roboco universe. / How funny would it be if Miyazaki ends up accurately predicting the next Spiderverse movie with this plotline?

Sakamoto: Though broadcasting his mind control over a wide area proves extremely taxing, Shin resolves to use it on the whole country at once and makes his way to Tokyo Tower; however, Uzuki knocks down the tower to prevent the broadcast and attempt to kill Shin; fortunately, knocking down the tower allowed Seba's own signal to get through and jam all of the guns. / While this means that Shin doesn't get to learn any kind of lesson about his own self-destructive behavior, I do really enjoy that his efforts forced Uzuki to unknowingly sew the seeds of his own downfall by opening himself up to an attack from a different angle; what this says to me is that it doesn't matter if the forces of good can come up with the perfect plan, as there will always be someone else to take up the charge if the first fails

EluSam: As Natsu tries to direct the army on how to deal with the Tengu, one catches her off-guard and nearly kills her, only for Genba to swoop in and save her, declaring that while he has never killed before and hates doing it, he will do so gladly to protect her; Kojiro faces off against Moroyo, who has grand ambitions and the skills to make them reality, only for Nagao to swoop in and anticlimactically steal the kill. / Man I sure would love to have been moved by Genba's speech, if only his little flashback moment wasn't him carrying a tray full of poop...

Witch Watch: Nico learns that the rest of the house knows about her feelings for Morihito, and Kanshi suggests using Feelingram to find out if Morihito's once romantic feelings have become paternal ones; the reading comes out much more nuanced than expected, but before Nico herself can see it for herself, Morihito tells her that she's important to him and he cherishes the time they're spending together. / This was such a cute chapter, and one that really does a lot to address the elephant in the room in a believable and satisfying way, at least for me

Blue Box: While scrapbooking, Chinatsu challenges Taiki not to use keigo with her under threat of a penalty; when he fails, Taiki gets tickled, which transitions into a passionate first kiss. / YEAAAH BABY!!! THAT'S WHAT WE'VE BEEN WAITIN' FOR!!! THAT'S WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT!!! WE FINALLY GOT A REASON FOR THE TITLE!!! ...Oh, yeah, and the kiss too, I guess...

Akane: As Akane agonizes over how to Shiwai-ya entertaining while on a strict timing structure AND without making the audience laugh, Miku-chan has her try out a new recipe based on a traditional one; when asked why he isn't using a more visually appealing dish, Miku-chan responds that he's making what he wants to and believes people will be won over by his skill and passion, which in turn inspires Akane to realize that "the sight" she was missing was self-awareness. / I do think Akane was already on the right track to learning that lesson, since she insisted that her story for this competition had to be Shiwai-ya to prove herself to Shomei, but her reasoning was that she was trying to match Shomei's and Issho's expectations rather than the obvious truth that she chose this path because it's what she really wants to do

Kill Blue: Juzo tries to go easy on the Home-Ec Club in their airsoft training, but they realize he's holding back and insist that they have the resolve to take whatever he throws at them; after a week of training, the Club have the air of battle-hardened vets. / Pretty standard stuff, honestly, but it's a classic formula for a reason

Nue: At the festival, all six of the girls cling to Gakuro at once and quickly realize that this is not an efficient method of courtship, and instead decide to take turns one at a time...until the last round with both Shiroha and Kazusa simultaneously. / A real confusing chapter for me, honestly, cus this set up makes it very clear that the vast majority of these girls are not intended to actually get with Gakuro, buuut...neither Kazusa or Shiroha are being given preferential treatment by Kawae, so there's still a good chance that Gakuro is going to get a poly ending, just not a full-on harem ending; poor Ishu though, at least let her have a turn...!

Kagurabachi: A freshly recovered Hakuri is warned that both of his spells, Isou and Storehouse, are significantly weakened and at risk of being lost permanently if strained as he did before; the Hishaku and some hired mercenaries enter the first level of Kamunabi headquarters unaccosted due to a clear difference in strength, only for the mercenaries to get immediately bodied by Azami. / I understand the purpose of this chapter - hyping up Azami and this new Hishaku member - but doing that by telling us about the threat level of two goons and briefly having an incidental character recount his backstory makes for a bit of a dull experience for me

Chojo: Ippongi and Chojo are sent to place another psychic policeman, Maya Yosumi, under house arrest, and Ippongi gets a glimpse into a possible bleak future for Chojo - a man so influenced by the thoughts and feelings of others that he loses sight of himself and is reduced to a hollow shell. / I may need to reread the series to understand fully, but I'm pretty sure Chojo has alluded to being swayed by other people's emotions before (like with Hanazono's fantasies), so could his self-centered demeanor be a deliberate attempt to retain his own individuality? The plot point of his hair turning whiter with the use of his powers has also barely been touched upon, but perhaps the loss of color is meant to reflect a loss of self as well? In addition to posing some interesting questions about Chojo, this was also a really good chapter for developing Chojo and Ippongi's relationship, as not only do we have some more insight into Ippongi's feelings ("trust and care" as Maya says), Chojo was conscious for the moment Ippongi cried for Maya, and likely internalized that she would cry exactly the same way for him if he went down the same path

Kiyoshi: Asuta allows Kiyoshi to move their fight to a more secluded location so he can go all out, and their clash begins; Tsurugi forces Tonjinchi to get serious. / While I'm not particularly invested in Tsurugi's fight, the choreography in this chapter was pretty sick and gets me properly excited for what's to come next

Hima-Ten: Honoka is asked to be an idol for the school festival, and agrees because Tenichi says she'd look cute, but there's one problem - she's completely tone deaf! / Cute chapter, but I kind of thought it was going to turn out that "Nonoka" was actually Honoka's stage name and she was somehow leading a double life; I wouldn't have liked that twist, mind you, but now I'm left wondering why this girl just HAPPENS to look so much like her and has the same name - probably meant to be a coincidence, but is it...?

Ichi: Ichi employs hit-and-run tactics to stab Gokuraku in various places across his body, taking and narrowly dodging heavy hits himself, until finally his plan is revealed - each stab was actually an anchor for the Origumo Magik, Ariadne's threads to restrain Gokuraku while he mentally works through all of Bakugami's sorrow. / I think this might be Ichi's first full-on, actual face-to-face fight, as every other encounter has either been a hunt or a competition, and the choreography came out spectacularly! Ichi using Ariadne, whom he saved from Gokuraku, to save Gokuraku from himself is a great way to show how their relationship has developed from their first impressions

Shinobi: While the rest of Squad 9 is training in secret, Yodaka and Aoi bump into Hayabusa, who tries to reestablish himself as Aoi's protector until Yodaka forces himself back into the mix; Hayabusa notes how much happier and more approachable Aoi is now compared to middle school, and Yodaka replies that from his perspective, Aoi is the one who makes him feel more comfortable in his life; Hayabusa asks Yodaka point blank if he likes Aoi. / I would like to see a flashback to Aoi and Yodaka's younger days so that we can get a better understanding of the impact they've had on each other, I'm really invested in their relationship and would like to see their dynamic deepen

Syd Craft: Syd arrives to save Elio from Zero's minion, and asks Elio to stay by his side, as she makes his life so much happier; the two have a heart-to-heart, and Elio kisses Syd, though he isn't quite ready to jump to that step in their relationship; Lulu arrives and realizes that, since Zero seems to be related to Syd's past, Souffle is likely Zero's next target. / And just like that, Elio takes the lead, being the only one who knows the true Syd AND who Syd knows the truth about, while Lulu merely knows the truth while keeping her own secret

Embers: Kosei vs. Kurobayashi begins, but Nerima is benched, as he doesn't think he's necessary to beat Kosei, enraging Haitani and Yukizuki; Kosei's man-to-man strategy seems like a hard counter to Kurobayashi's possession strategy, but Oshimi has a counter of his own already lined up; fortunately, his plan didn't account for one thing - Haitani, who manages to steal the ball, netting the first goal for Kosei and forcing Nerima off the bench. / It feels kind of quick to determine "we can't win without me" after only one goal, but I guess in a game where 1-0 is a common final score, it's not exactly an odd conclusion to reach; the image of the ball being passed in a spiral turning into a storm is exactly the kind of thing that makes this series so fun to read, and I wonder if the lack of it between the first few chapters and now is contributing to its underperformance

Beethoven: Amano brings Yaso to a recording session for her new song; while the producer initially wants to replace Yaso with a bigger name, Yaso manages to let go of all of his concerns and preoccupations to focus solely on the music, and wins the producer's approval; on his way home to make up with Beethoven, Yaso is apprehended by Lexi and Marsha. / I definitely like Amano as a love interest for Yaso a lot more than Kahoin, and honestly I think that introducing her Secret Idol subplot earlier would have gone a long way to fleshing out Yaso's character and building intrigue in the setting, though I can't really think of when would have been a good time to do that given that we're still so early in

Nice Prison: Upon arriving in Block 10, the block for illegal mascots, Mitsuboshi's ball and chain grows a face and limbs; he explains that his name is Kasetaro, and that he was a former phantom thief who underwent surgery from Professor Prisoner to become a ball and chain to assist Mitsuboshi; the warden of Block 10, Nobanan, is revealed to be being held hostage by Lunula, a fingernail themed mascot, in the Half Moon Land amusement park. / My friend @wolkemesser and I both saw Kasetaro on the operating table and thought "ah, so this is where Babbo from MAR came from"

Otr: Fylgja gives us a brief rundown of how her powers work, the danger that overusing her full power poses to Otr, and claims that the endless winter is the work of the Winter Spirit; when the army discovers that the fortress is still under threat of being frozen by an Ice Kingdom totem, Alajoki suggests abandoning the fortress so as not to overtax Otr too early, but Otr realizes he can control the output of Fylgja's flames to fight safely; Alajoki decides to send Otr off for combat training with the Man on Mead Mountain. / Otr mentions that Fylgja reminds him of Sanna in the old days, which further reinforces for me that what we need is to see more of his dynamic with Sanna so we can understand how the winter has affected their relationship and see how that relationship informs Otr's dynamic with Fylgja - however, this chapter does do a lot to establish the latter's dynamic, so it's good groundwork for the series going forward; I also feel Otr learned to temper the intensity of the flames a little quickly before we got a feel for their threat, but I do like that he used his experience as a cook to do so

Ruri: Ruri tries to get a handle on her Frost ability the best way she knows how - by letting loose with it! / Huh, I only just noticed that Ruri's pupils change shape with every ability - neat!

With two big kisses this week, it really is a shame that Yaso didn't kiss Amano and all of Gakuro's dates only lasted a page or two - not that any of those had a real chance of getting a kiss so quickly, but it highlights how badly I want to see some more smooches, dammit! Undead Unluck really spoiled me...

This Week's Top 3:

Ichi the Witch for damn good choreography and further deepening Ichi and Gokuraku's friendship

Otr of the Flame for establishing Fylgja's character and dropping lore hints

Witch Watch for analyzing the nuance of Moi and Nico's dynamic

Blue Box, Nue's Exorcist and Syd Craft were all gunning for that number three spot for all developing their respective romances, but Witch Watch won out for me because of the catharsis of untangling a lot of messy threads. Taiki and Chinatsu's kiss was great and got a big reaction out of me, but I felt compelled to reread Witch Watch independently of this project

Nue, unfortunately, is giving me the runaround and constantly making me question if I'm going to get what I want out of it, and while Syd Craft's development for Elio is endearing, she's still not my best girl, so sadly she loses some points there

Chojo was a huge darkhorse here, though, giving me a lot to think about for Chojo's character and his dynamic with Ippongi. However, I think because a lot of it was subtext and foreshadowing, it inherently didn't offer the kind of payoff that the rest of the rankers and runner-ups did

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi had similarly strong choreography to Ichi, but lost out because it was coming from characters I have basically no investment in, whereas I'm extremely endeared to Ichi and Gokuraku. Maybe I'll learn to care more about Tsurugi in this fight, but I'm definitely going to have a lot more fun in the Asuta Roth fight than this one