#yep. definitely a doofus.

[egophiliac]

HAVE YOU SEEN MALLEUS DORM UNIFORM CARD????

I didn't get him. :( ...so I looked up his dorm story and it is incredible, oh my god. if you haven't noticed by now, Malleus doing the absolute stupidest shit with the best intentions is my favorite, and this is pandering directly to that part of me. I can't pick a favorite part.

(wait, actually, yes I can)

[puppy-steve]

promise you forever

steddie ☆ 971 ☆ cw: none ☆ appalachian eddie ☆ ao3

“phone for ya, eds,” wayne chuckles as he comes out of the house to the front porch where everyone’s sitting. “think your boy’s had one too many.”

eddie frowns and stamps down the worry bubbling inside him. steve rarely ever drinks anymore. doesn’t smoke anymore, either. not since starcourt. eddie slides off the porch swing where he’d been sitting with his aunt pep and goes inside to the wall phone in the kitchen, the receiver laying on the counter.

“steve?” he says, lifting the phone to his ear.

“country boy, i love youuuuuuuu!”

steve’s words are slurred, which doesn’t make eddie any less panicked. what happened? was he okay? eddie leaves to visit his family for one week and he can’t seem to escape the horrors that hawkins, indiana seems to breed every day.

“stevie? baby, you okay?” eddie tries to keep his voice from shaking.

there’s a laugh on the other line and steve flat out yells into the phone, “eddie! hi!” yep. he’s definitely drunk. eddie strains to hear any background noise that would give any hints as to where steve is at, but it’s silent.

eddie’s knuckles grip the phone. “where are you, sweetheart? are you safe?”

steve makes a grumbling noise, like he’s talking to someone else and eddie doesn’t know if that makes him feel better or worse.

“i’m fiiiiiine, eds,” steve says after another second of grumbling. “teds. teddy. teddy bear.” he starts listing ever iteration of eddie’s name, and eddie doesn’t want him to stop. if he keeps going, then eddie knows he’s not in immediate danger.

“dingus! stop hogging the phone!”

wait.

“robbie, i’m trying to talk to me boyfriend,” steve whines and there’s sounds of a scuffle and “no—hey—robin, it’s still my turn—!”

“hi, eddie!” robin’s voice is suddenly in his ear and sounding just as drunk as steve. jesus christ, eddie’s never leaving them unsupervised again.

eddie sighs and runs a hand down his face. “robin, where the hell are you? and why are you drunk?” these two are gonna finish what the bats started and put him in an early grave, he swears it.

on her end, robin groans. “dingus!” she scolds steve. “you didn’t remind him?”

“remind me of what, bobbie?” eddie asks. now that he’s sure the two of them are somewhat coherent and probably not in danger, he feels so fucking tired all of a sudden.

“it’s my birthday, doofus!”

well now eddie feels awful. steve reminded him before he and wayne left, but in all the excitement of seeing the rest of his family again, it slipped eddie’s mind.

robin continues, “and you, theodore munson!”

if eddie thought he was off the hook, he’s dead wrong. he’s never hearing the end of this now. it’s not likely, but maybe luck will be on his side for once and she’ll forget this conversation ever happened.

“you owe me a birthday breakfast, lunch, and dinner when you get back. and you have to buy me a present.”

eddie rests his forehead on the wall as a laugh bubbles up out of his chest at the ridiculousness of the situation. “alright, birdie,” he promises. “as soon as i get back, i’ll start right on it and get you the most expensive present i can afford.”

“it better break your bank account, munson!” she threatens, but eddie knows she’s bluffing.

“alright, birthday girl, can you put steve back on?”

robin yells out for steve. “you better not be doing any hanky panky on my birthday, dingus,” she warns before steve comes on the line.

“hi, baby.” he’s definitely still drunk, but he’s quieter, not yelling into the phone like he was a few minutes ago.

warmth fills eddie’s chest and he leans his shoulder on the wall, angling himself away from the door to give himself a sense of privacy in case anyone comes inside. “hey sweetheart,” he says just as softly. “you two having fun?”

he can practically see steve’s nod. “mhm,” he confirms. “miss you, though. wish you were here.”

eddie’s gonna marry this boy someday, just you wait.

“i miss you, too, sugar,” eddie tells him. “wayne said he thinks you’ve had a little too much to drink.”

“no i haven’t!” steve’s voice raises for a second before dropping back down again. “just had one… three… four beers, i promise.”

eddie hums, not bothering to hide the amused grin on his face. “uh-huh. s'at why you sound drunker than a skunk, right now, sweet thing?”

steve huffs and eddie wants so badly to kiss the pout off his boyfriends lips. “m'not drunk,” he says without any real argument.

“alright, i believe you,” eddie concedes. he can’t help but to let a little worry back in. he bites his lip. “can you promise me something, stevie?”

steve’s answer is immediate and almost shatters eddie’s heart. “i’ll promise you forever, teddy.”

eddie takes a breather to calm himself down so he doesn’t jump in wayne’s truck and make the five hour drive back to hawkins. “promise me you’ll call nancy if either of you start to feel weird?”

steve hums in his ear, like a purring cat. “i promise, baby. cross my heart ‘n everything.”

eddie grins and wishes he was there in front of him so he could touch him. “thank you. i won’t keep you any longer, then. i’m sure birdie’s getting impatient.”

“she’s always impatient,” steve huffs. “it’s her best quality.”

there’s no argument there.

“i love you, stevie. call me tomorrow when you wake up?”

steve sighs softly. “i love you, eddie.” he makes exaggerated kissing noises over the phone until he hangs up.

eddie hangs the receiver up. he’s here in his grandmother’s kitchen, surrounded by his family, but his heart has never felt as full as it does in this moment.

🥐☕💕 buy me a coffee? taglist: @yournowheregirl @steves-strapcollection @thefreakandthehair @stobinesque @vecnuthy @tboygareth @starrystevie @inairbinad @flowercrowngods @starryeyedjanai @matchingbatbites @corrodedbisexual @theheadlessphilosopher @sidekick-hero @patchworkgargoyle @sentient-trash @wormdebut @legitcookie @corrodedcoughin @steddieas-shegoes @wynnyfryd

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2

Shorter Part 3, sorry y’all 😭

“Does this have to do with the rose?” Dustin asks them as soon as they are alone in the car. ‘Damn,’ Steve thinks, ‘I should’ve dropped you off first.’

“What do you know about the rose?” Steve asks, trying to sound nonchalant.

“I know it’s from his secret admirer.”

“You know about that?”

“Of course I do, Steve, he tells that story to everyone who will listen.” Dustin says as if it’s common knowledge.

“So who are your theories? I know you’ve got them.” Steve says

“I have no clue.” Steve looks at him confused “I really don’t. I even told Eddie that we could figure it out if we saw the note but he just shook his head and went back to grinning that goofy grin he had.”

“…And that’s bad?”

“Well no, I just figured he’d want help figuring it out, but that’s not the weird part about it all. He didn’t even have everything set up when we got there.”

Steve gives Dustin a confused glance, trying to keep his eyes on the road in front of him.

“Eddie normally gets there super early to set everything up, but even by time Lucas got there just before we were about to start, all of Eddie’s DM stuff was still in his bag. Literally only the tables and his throne were pulled out where they were supposed to be. He just kept staring at that damn rose with that lovestruck look on his face.”

“Hey, language! But yeah, that is weird? What? Don’t look at me like that, I’ve been around you all long enough to know that’s out of character for him..he loves that game.” Steve chuckles to himself, thinking about the party’s collective confused faces at Eddie’s soft one. “Alright, doofus, this is you. Tell your mom I say ‘Hi’.”

Dustin rolls his eyes and shuffles out the car door and up the drive.

Steve waits until he’s safely inside before backing out, and heading home.

‘holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshi—‘ Steve’s brain played on a loop, his face splitting into a grin.

——————

The (now) third time Eddie "hears" from his secret admirer is definitely not when he was expecting. It kind of makes sense, if his secret admirer really is into him still he'd know that Eddie plays at the Hideout on Tuesday nights. But if he's being honest with himself, the rose flung up on stage while they were still drowned in spotlight was the second most surprising thing of the night. Actually, make that third.

First was the size of the crowd. Being accused of a ritualistic murder does have one benefit then, it has a tendency to make you seem more metal than you might actually be (especially within the metal community). The dingy little bar was actually packed tonight. So many people were there to see Eddie and his bandmates that it was the start of his nervousness. And Eddie never gets nervous about playing, it’s like breathing to him.

Secondly (and the second reason for Eddie to be nervous that night) was that Steeeeve Harrington himself was there to see him play. Him along with Buckley AND Nancy Wheeler had even dressed up for the occasion, pulling out as much black and grungy looking pieces from the backs of their wardrobes as they could find. Eddie swears Wheeler is wearing one of the old band tees Robin stole from him and Steve is wear-holy fuck. HOLY FUCK. Steve Harrington is wearing his (His! Eddie Munson’s!) battle vest. How the fuck he managed to keep it is beyond him but…yep. Eddie’s vest looks just as good on Steve now than it did in that upside-down hellscape.

Only a second had gone by in the time it took Eddie to process all of this before the lights go down and the spotlight is blinding him to everything beyond the stage.

“Get your head in gear, Munson, you’ve got a whole bar full of people to blow away… shit” Eddie mumbles to himself before stepping up to the mic.

And of course, no matter his surprise or nervousness about anything (or anyone) in the crowd that night, the show goes off without a hitch. He’s saying his goodbyes to the crowd as they cheer, holler, and whistle for them, some people are even throwing things. A couple of coasters with phone numbers scrawled on them are frisbee’d onto the stage around him, one (1) singular pair of panties (wtf this is insane), and from his right, just before the lights come back up in the bar, a single red rose tied with a black ribbon.

Time slows down. That’s the only way he could’ve snatched it out of the air the way he did.

He catches it and the crowd lets loose a few wolf whistles. Eddie grins so wide his face hurts. “Thank you guys so much, we’ll be here next week!” he jeers and lifts the rose in his hand in the air like he’s showing it off. The lights finally come up, and Eddie looks directly toward where the rose came from, trying to see if he recognized any of the faces. The only face he recognizes is Steve’s, off a good bit to the left from where the rose came at him, and who is also looking around for who it would’ve come from. Steve looks up at Eddie, and shrugs, he didn’t see anything either.

‘Of course he’s going to act like he didn’t see anything if he’s the one who threw it.’ Eddie’s brain helpfully supplies.

Nope. NOPE. Not going there, that’s so impossible. Steve was a good friend, even if he was blissfully unaware of the affect he had on Eddie.

Eddie shrugs back at Steve before turning back to the guys and helping them pack up their stuff.

“What does this one say?” Gareth asks him when they’re lugging the last of the equipment off the stage.

“Ermph durnup.” Eddie mumbles around the rose stem in his mouth. He sets the amps he was carrying at the back door to be loaded into his van (Which Steve was so graciously helping with). Eddie spits the rose out into his hand as Steve comes back into the doorway. Now ALL of them waiting on Eddie to read out the note. Even Robin and Wheeler have come backstage to watch them work. “Haven’t read it yet.”

“What’s happening now?” Nancy asks, confused. ‘Was she really never around during any of the re-tellings of this story?’ Eddie thinks to himself

“My secret admirer threw this to me as we were wrapping up our set.” Eddie waggles his eyebrows at the older Wheeler “I tried to see who it was, but by the time the lights came back on and I could actually see past the stage, the crowd was already thinning out.”

“They probably didn’t want to be recognized just yet? Even I looked around as soon as I could see again, but yeah, everyone had started dispersing.” Steve chimed in from the doorway he was leaning against, arms crossed across his chest. Damn were his arms always that huge?

“Uh_uh yeah, I do love a guy with a flair for dramatics.” everyone chuckled at that

“Of course you do Munson” Steve smiled at him “Now hurry up and read it!”

“OK, OK, this one says ‘You alone can make my song take flight’.” Eddie sings the line softly, redness creeping up his cheeks as his friends react around him.

“Ew, that’s so gross I’m gonna barf.” - Robin

“That’s so sweet!” - Nancy

“You’re going to be talking about this for weeks aren’t you?” - Gareth

Various well-meaning eye rolls come from the rest of his bandmates as they take care of the amps Steve had been neglecting.

And Steve, Steve was looking at Eddie with the warmest, fondest smile he’d ever seen.

Hmm…

____________________________________________

Pt. 4 will be here! Thank you for reading!!

Now on AO3! Several Notes of the Most Amiable Nature

Tagging everyone I can!: @manda-panda-monium , @destielinimpala , @ilovecupcakesandtea , @maya-custodios-dionach , @thefreakandthehair , @youmakemyhearthowl , @phantypurple , @kerlypride , @hagbaby420 , @yes-im-your-mom , @tinydragonhuman , @beeing-stuupid , @ineffablecolors , @m00gl3ness , @background-noise-headache , @jojobeaner , @bitedownonmydestiel , @orangeandthefairroadkill , @llamaoftheinternet , @captain-daryn , @undreamingscatworld , @britishmysteries , @sharpbutsoft , @funnymagicman-named-dandy , @allbymyselfexceptformycactus , @wearelosersyoudumbfuck , @itsthebeckyzone , @thegingervulcan , @urmomification , @wonderingglances , @calciferousoai , @csinnamon-fox , @straight4joekeery , @alex-axolotl , @nitro502 , @whorenerdking , @skeletoneddie , @eddiehashands , @prosedumpofmaya , @werewolfpeterparker , @bigboyandmetalhead , @stevethescareington , @xxbottlecapx , @starkdusk , @legitcookie , @withacapitalp

[writers-reach]

kyeheheh hihi!!! can i requeeeesssttt (kinda spoilers) shinji (p3) with an upbeat male S/O who's always finding some excuse to spend more time with him because he knows Shinji probably doesn't have a lot of time left? Whether it'd be walking Koromaru or asking him to go run errands together? happy writing!!

persona 3: having an upbeat male s/o (shinjiro aragaki)

notes: m!reader, reader is implied to be with sees, references to spoilers for persona 3, slight angst mostly fluff

you can definitely tell shinji knows his time on earth is limited by the way he carries himself. the nonchalance, the indifference, it's all very... worrying to you.

but shinji himself is just kinda a chill guy under that gruff exterior. he's quick to exasperation, though, and only really gets upset with akihiko. with you, however, his eye rolls and sighs are out of love.

like. you do something corny or sweet and he will just roll his eyes like "(sigh) yep, that's my boyfriend."

he knows partners are supposed to spend lots of time together, but he's a bit puzzled as to why you want to spend so much time with him doing, honestly, really boring things?

like... who the hell wants to go grocery shopping or take koromaru on walks as dates? that's not really romantic.

but you insist, and shinji's not gonna complain on bringing you along. after all, you always make him smile and feel at ease with your stories, your smile, and your presence.

one day, while out on a walk to the shrine, he asks you about it.

"why are you doing this? don't you get sick of me?" he asks.

you pause, trying to find a way to say "you're gonna die soon and i wanna spend time with you before you go" in, like, a decent manner.

it takes a moment, but you eventually find your words. you place your hand on shinji's and squeeze his fingers lightly.

"because, i love you, doofus." good, light-hearted start! "and... i value our time together. no matter what we're doing, i just... love spending time with you. i wanna be with you for as long as possible."

something flashes in shinjiro's eyes, some kind of recognition at your implied meaning. he melts and looks down with a small smile.

"...you're gonna make me all sappy, huh?" he laughs quietly, dryly. "i appreciate it. truly. you mean a lot to me."

a/n: tysm for your request! hope you like it!

[seducemefanficsandheadcanons]

I'm sober this time

Mika has a bit too much to drink and Sam saves the day.

Kinda inspired by my fic "Drunk words are sober thoughts" I just switched the roles a bit.

Sam walked into the club, eyes searching for Mika. Suzu had called him, letting him know that neither she nor Naomi could give her a ride and that they didn’t want Mika going alone with an uber, as she was too drunk. 

As soon as Suzu saw Sam, she ran over frantically. “I don’t know where she’s at. I tried to keep her still but damn, even drunk that girl is sneaky.”

He started to become worried, knowing how clueless Mika could be when she was drunk, and the possibilities of different outcomes flashed through his mind. 

Unfortunately, he wasn’t too far off. His eyes finally landed on his roommate and crush, who wore a tight light blue dress, her long raven colored hair flowing around her body. She was staring at a man who’d grabbed her by the wrist, moving to feel her up.

Mindful to not use his superspeed, Sam rushed over to the two and broke her free from the stranger’s grasp. Her eyes lit up at seeing him, smiling widely as she spoke, completely slurring her words. “Sam! Ooooh, you should get a drink, we-”

“I’m not drinking, we're going home” he said, cutting her off. She pouted, which he couldn’t help but admit was kinda cute, but apparently the strange man wasn’t done with them. 

“Come on, I’ll buy you a drink,” he offered, moving to touch her. Sam didn’t give him the choice, however, grabbing his arm tightly enough to bruise. The man whimpered a bit, trying to pull away but failing. 

Sam was faintly aware of the eyes on him, and the fact that Mika needed to get home, so he let the man go. “Don’t even think of trying anything else.” Sam warned, and once the man had quickly walked away, he turned around to find Mika and…

Shit! Where did she go? Sam began to search, calling her name as he moved through the club. He needed to find her before she got into more trouble.

Finally, he found her again, ordering a drink for herself. Sam rushed over; no way was she drinking more. “Hey, we’re leaving. No more drinks.” He said, and the bartender seemed to agree judging the grateful look she was giving him.

“But Saaaam.” She pleaded. “One more?”

As tempted as he was, he shook his head. “No.”

She stuck her bottom lip out slightly but didn’t protest when Sam lightly placed a hand on her back and led her out. He didn’t miss her lack of coordination though and was already prepared to catch her when she started to fall. She only laughed while Sam picked her up bridal style, waving slightly at Suzu and Naomi who were walking out as well, and going outside.

He could feel her gaze burning into his skin as he carried her to the car and ignored it until one of her hands went to cradle his cheek as she giggled softly. “You’re kinda cute.”

Sam blushed and shook his head. “Sure I am, Doofus.”

Mika began to laugh more, confusing the hell out of Sam until she explained. “I like it when you call me Doofus.”

He raised a brow, glancing at her as he laughed softly. When he got her settled into the car, she seemed to have calmed down a bit. Getting back to the Mansion, he used his super speed to scoop her up before she could try and walk. “Thank you, fine gentleman.” She joked.

Sam rolled his eyes playfully. “Yeah whatever.”

When they got inside, the others were coming to the lobby when they arrived. “Is she okay?” Matthew asked.

Sam shrugged. “Just some alcohol, she’ll be fine.”

Mika began to snicker behind her hand. “Yall are drama queens. Even Sam.”

Damien chuckled slightly at her drunk thoughts as him and the others returned to their respective activities. Sam shook his head and started up the stairs when Mika started to comb through his hair. “I think I like you.” She said plainly, and Sam felt his heart squeeze painfully.

She was drunk, badly. She didn’t like him; she’d say the same thing to any of his brothers. “You have a nice jaw.” Yep. Definitely drunk.

He walked in her room, setting her down so she could get ready for bed. Mika, however, had other plans. She kept her arms around his shoulders even as he set her on her feet, smiling at him. “Do you like me?”

Sam frowned a bit. “You’re drunk.”

Sam hated how sad she suddenly looked, his knees threatening to give out on the spot. But no matter how much he wanted to tell her how he felt, he needed to do it when she was sober. Hoping to make it seem like less of a rejection, he moved to ruffle her hair with his hand. “If you wanna talk in the morning, we will.” He offered.

She smiled softly as she walked away from him, fumbling as she went to find clothes. Sam took this as a sign to leave for bed, so he awkwardly left the room, leaving her by herself.

*

The next morning, Sam sat in his room as he watched YouTube on his phone. The night before was fresh on his mind, and her drunken confession almost felt like torture. Her face when he didn’t claim to reciprocate hurt even worse. But she’d been drunk, she’d wake up today and be super embarrassed, and-

A knock on the door broke Sam from his thoughts, and when he opened the door, he was surprised to see Mika. She looked disheveled, pale too, but she had a soft smile. He prepared himself for her to say she hadn’t meant it. 

“I like you, and I’m sober this time.”

[septemberrie]

A Definitive Rating of Every Saul Silva Scene in Season 1

Day 1 of Saul Week is “Favorite Season 1 Scene.” Well, when I tried to narrow it down I found I had too many favorites. So I’m making it everyone else’s problem and rating all Saul Silva scenes from S1 out of ten.

Please grab a glass of wine and join me on a journey through this AMAZING bit of cinema.

1. Aggro-father figure

Exposition: the scene

Best bit: “Hi I’m Saul Silva when I was ten years old I MURDERED MY FATHER what’s your tragic backstory?”

However it’s super cringe sorry and WHAT was that fight scene

Rating: 3/10 

At least we got this frame

2. Silrah: “Whoa whoa whoa what do we have here?”

Ummm if these are coworkers than I have questions about the lack of sexual tension I have with my work team

Maybe it’s because my life doesn’t have a blue filter :(

Take a drink each time Silrah have a lingering glance full of suppressed longing

Rating: 7/10

3.  Exposition: Part 2

I kIlLeD tHiRtEeN!

Again what is with this witty repartee with your COWORKER, I have qs

Rating: 7/10

Bonus: I WILL SAVE U

4. Hold On, I’m Shifting Into Dad Mode

You’re Understand When You’re Older

This is one of the few times Saul almost smiles so I’mma take a drink.

Rating: 5/10

5. tHiS iS a ScHoOl!!!!1

Special callout for the heaving tiddies

At least he sorta knows what’s up

Rating: 4/10

6. I should have a brought a fairy to sense this shit but I didn’t so I’m going to stand outside in the rain

Rating: 1/10 Saul you doofus

7. I Fucked Up But I Still Have A Sword

Okay the introduction of Burned One Infection?? Sign me tf up

The character development of being fucked up beyond walking but still wanting to hold a sword

Rating: 8/10

8. The Greenhouse Scene

10/10 WHUMP END OF STORY

THE PAIN THE FALLING DOWN THE GASPING BREATH

LOOK AT IT

Now I really fucking need a drink.

9. oUCHIE

The hallmark of good whump is showing the aftermath and boy did Fate deliver.

Rating: 8/10

10. poor little meow meows

HEARTBREAKING scene, I can’t even joke bc I love this “I’m going to die and here’s all the ways I love you without saying I love you” trope

The tiddy shirt

Sobbing into my wine glass

Rating: 10/10

Listen RJC is a tall guy but Danny? Giraffe man. Height difference (yes Saul is sort of slumping here but still)

11. SHOTS SHOTS SHOTS

Top Tier Golden Trio shit

“Imagine they think you didn’t start it” yep that was game over for me

Rating: 10/10

12. Poor Little Meow Meow 2

I still don’t know why Saul texted Sky unless it was to ask him to do the deed and then he chickened out at the last second when Sky fought back instead of giving up.

Rating: 4/10 for Saul, 10/10 for Sky (picking his morals over his orders, good bean)

13. THE HUG

“YOU ARE AN IDIOT (affectionate)”

”I’m not a hugger but if it’s my son who saved my life a bitch might just fall into the most tender embrace known to fairykind.”

Pour me another I’m not done

Rating: 11/10

14. There Are Only Three of Us But Goddammit We Run A School

No Golden Trio interaction falls beneath 7/10 sorry I don’t make the rules

“BEN stop using words longer than 3 syllables, I’m only a few steps up from a himbo”

Rating: 7/10

15. I Go Looking For Problems And If I Do Not See Them I Create Them

I was planning to limit this to scenes where Saul has a speaking line but come on, the man used a bow and arrow to pop the tire of the Queen of Solaria’s jeep.

Rating: 11/10 and take a drink.

16. Dad Mode Part 2

I hate this scene and it makes no sense because orders is what got Saul almost killed, but it gets one point because look how hot he is.

Rating: 1/10

17. The Cage Match

Don’t lie, this cage inspired half the angst fics in the Silrah tag 😏

Imagine the look on Saul’s face when he realizes he was trying to protect the adoptive child of the man who tried to kill him…

Rating: 6/10

18. Dad Mode Part 3

Five points for the look, negative six for the lighting

Rating: 4/10

19. Flashback Prime:

FINALLY getting back into the good stuff. 

RJC could have sexual tension with a rock. The slight jealousy in his tone? The edge of bitterness? Fuck me up.

Rating: 9/10

20. Sitting Next To Your Maybe Lover 101

Again it’s only a few lines but this show has so little worldbuilding I DIG IT please elaborate more on what the fuck this school system is

You also have to take a drink when Saul is close enough to Farah to make it weird

Rating: 7/10

21. With Pecs Like These Who Needs Enemies

Underrated whump scene in this show. Love when Saul grits his teeth and also shows off his tiddies in that sweater

A crumb of Andreas here 😍 feed me the angst

Rating: 7/10

22. Only Scene With Riven

I have a lot of feelings about Riven essentially saying “Your orders or your morals common sense” here

Saul back into bitch mode

Rating 3/10 you would’ve regretted this more, but luckily the Burned Ones beat you to it

23. Son, I Have a Confession To Make, And It’s That Everything I Told You Was A Lie

The moment this show began going off the rails in the BEST WAY

Are you KIDDING ME

Rating: 9.5/10

24. Flashback 2: Electric Boogaloo

He killed his best friend?? because his best friend tried to kill him???

The 300k lovers to enemies fic that flashed in front of my eyes in this 20 second scene

DEAD

Upon further review this fight is kind of pathetic. Better than the one with Sky in e1 but...?? that’s the best Warrior Andreas could do? hard to cover a shitty fight scene with quick cuts (at least if you rewatch it the number of times I do)

Rating: 10/10 (would have been 11/10 but fight scene)

25. Ladies? I Have GOT to ask. What is going on

The scene in which Sky COULD have saved Saul from a Burned One if they had kept that deleted scene but no the world hates me

Rating: -47/10 fuck you Brian Young this almost empty bottle of Merlot has your name on it

26. Oh Shit So The Genocide Was Okay

Aight so genocide is okay if it’s blood witches... who are these again? What do they do that’s so bad?

Regardless, the way that RJC shows guilt and anguish here?? please keep torturing this character. It’s so beautiful.

Rating: 6/10 --subtracted for the vague excuses but all earned back from RJC’s face

27. Something Something Chickens Are Coming Home to Roost

WHERE is the missing scene here where Sky takes Saul to task for lying to him for 16 years. I need the filial angst

Damn they look good in this light tho

WHEN ANDREAS SHOWED UP I SCREAMED

Rating: 9/10

Bonus Shot because Saul in Handcuffs 😌😌😌

And FIN. 

I hope you’ve had as much wine as me at this point and also as much Saul Silva. Here’s where I would draw a fascinating conclusion about my actual favorite Saul scene but I simply won’t; hope that helps.

Please hit up my askbox for all disagreements and corroborations. 

Cheers, Skye

[halt-kun]

Hunter x Hunter Chapter 146 - Abengane (1)

I’d like to finish this interaction between Biscuit and Gon but it keeps getting interrupted

Gon’s idea is pretty good to be honest and makes sense

What feels right is good in nen

Definitely some trouble with transmuting aura into electricity without a fresh feeling

Because the issue seems to be quantity

I bet he’ll make it a restriction

Biscuit’s thoughts always make me tear up in that moment

Yep Abuse turned into power

She loves these two doofus a s much as any of us

I do wonder

Because Killua’s family is a bit of a mix between chinese and jewish cultures

Are they celebrating Hanukkah with fried chicken ? Do they celebrate anything at all ?

Gon’s family must be eating a lot of fishes I guess. After all they’re on an island

We don’t even know what the mainland is like and the kind of culture there

I bet the island is far into the open sea because it’s said to be mainly a place for fishermen to hang around for long periods of time

Killua needs to try again !

One year since the beginning of the manga

And soon they’re going to be 13

I agree with Killua, nen categories are fun to train

2-3 days

Back to Masadora !!!!!

Should have been in the title somewhat

Killua looks excited. Maybe it’s because he can finally play the game a bit

I’ love to drink tea with Biscuit !!!!!

Masadora, the troll city

ARE THOSE.... FURRIES !!!!!

I’m so proud of them, they learnt so much

those furries have all their own specialty

So they accurately dodged  several wolves and took down their alpha after noticing one of them was stronger

Did Biscuit just destroy three of them with one slap ?

GET OUT NOW

Also the infinite quest npc, never giving you a ticket is kind of a bitch move

Seems like a nice rotation

I’d love to be a conjurer so I wonder if I’d not do Conjuration, Transmutation, Conjuration, Enhancement, Conjuration 

Because I’d need Enhancement more than Manipulation and Specialization can’t be trained

Time for transmutation training !

I love those exercises, I need a book from Biscuit describing them in high details

She looks a bit more dead than her sister

Let’s GOOOOO

Yep nothing

I mean wouldn’t it be weirder if time was passing slower or faster ?

You did spend three months in the game after all

Yeah, go take a shower and a change of clothes

Abengane appears !!!!

Gon is distraught by Biscuit change of tone

She’s good at playing the 13 yo part

I guess I’ll do another one !

[axoxtxhxh]

This drabble is for @goldenshoyo​​‘s Holiday Event Collab

Day 20: Traditions Armin x GN!Reader Content warning: Cutie Armin Word count: ~ 1,200

A/N: So I guess I am on an ‘accidental confession’ kick because I realized I have another on like this lined up

Armin had a lot of things going for him. He had a fun job, an amazing apartment with a spectacular roommate, and a wonderful friend. All of these things had one thing in common.

You were involved in all of them.

You and Armin both worked with each other at a local bookstore. That perfect apartment was shared with you, his roommate. And the best friend? Yep, still you.

While all these things were great, he always had one complaint. There was always just one tiny little thing that made all the ideal parts of his life a little less than ideal. Armin was entirely in love with you.

You and Armin became quick friends in college, the only two confident enough to sit in the front row of your literature lecture where most students wanted to sit in the dark back row so they could sleep. It didn’t take long after that for you and Armin to start spending all your time together and pretty soon you were inseparable.

Fast forward to after college, you both got jobs, moved to the city and would consider yourself, based on the most common term, starving artists. Armin was an amazing writer and you were a decent photographer. Though Armin would argue that you were the best and you were sure that had to do with him being the subject of most of your photographs.

See, Armin had a certain air about him that always made you feel good. You were sure it wasn’t only you that felt it. It didn’t matter what you were doing or where you were, Armin gave you confidence, made things fun, supported you, and made you feel like you could do anything. And somewhere along the way, you fell hopelessly in love with him.

“Armin! You ready?” You called from the couch, holding your envelope.

“Just about.” Armin couldn’t remember where he’d put your letter. It was a tradition for the both of you to write a letter to each other on Christmas morning. You filled it with things you hoped to do the following year as well as things you learned the previous year. On Christmas Eve, you would open the letter you wrote the previous year and read the different things that stuck out to you. It was supposed to be a time capsule-type thing, but depending on the kind of year it was, it was sometimes a roast.

The familiar red envelope stuck out from a book on his desk and he grabbed it, breathing a sigh of relief before going to the living room where you were waiting with your letter tapping against your chin.

“I thought I lost it.” He laughed lightly.

“See, this is why I need to keep them.”

“You’ll just read it early.” He accused, sitting next to you on the couch. “You think I don’t know you?”

“You’re not wrong.” You laughed and handed him your envelope and took his. You were never one to wait very long and you excitedly tore it open, scanning the page for anything interesting first. It already didn’t seem like a normal letter he would right. There were a lot of sweet words where you would usually write things like “dork” and “doofus”. Confused, you looked to the top of the page.

“Dear Eren?” You read out loud and Armin looked up from opening your letter to him.

It was definitely in the right envelope. You both made sure to always put it in a red envelope, another weird tradition you had. It helped separate your letters to each other from letters to others so you both never complained. Armin barely remembered writing a letter to Eren and as he peeked over to look, his heart sank to the floor. Your eyes continued scanning over the page and you very much realized that wasn’t your letter.

“Don’t read that.” He looked to you with a pale face and wide eyes, finally remembering what was in that letter and it most definitely wasn’t for your eyes.

“Armin…” You looked at him, having already read enough. “Is this…?”

“I said not to read it.” He reached to grab the letter from you, but you held it away.

“You wrote that you’re in love with m—”

“No—no—no.” He jumped forward and grabbed it, bunching the letter up in his hands and moving to the trash can in the corner and aggressively dropping it inside. “Damn it.”

This was not how you were supposed to find out. Armin was so angry with himself for making such a stupid mistake and he balled up his fists, resting one against his forehead as he tapped lightly, hoping it would all go away.

“Did you mean it?” You asked quietly, waiting for him to look at you, but he kept his eyes closed, cringing as hard as he could against his fist.

“I’m sorry.” He spoke, eyes still closed. “You weren’t supposed to… I’m sorry.”

“But did you mean it?”

He finally looked up at you. His cheeks were bright red which only made the blue in his eyes that much brighter. You knew how he must be feeling, but you weren’t able to comfort him because you were also nervous. If whatever was said in that letter wasn’t actually how you understood it, then it was quite possible your heart was about to be broken.

Armin looked away and you reminded him of your question by saying his name. He knew he had to answer you, but he wasn’t prepared for how different things were going to be when he told you the truth and he nodded.

That was all you needed to get up from the couch and walk to him.

“I can explain—” He put his hands up as if you were charging at him with anger. And while maybe you were charging at him, it most certainly wasn’t because you were angry. As you reached him in the archway to the kitchen, he opened his mouth to explain and you grabbed his cheeks, pulling him into a kiss.

You had obviously never kissed Armin before and you had no idea what it would feel like, but the growing anticipation didn’t do anything to disappoint. It was amazing. You knew he was shocked and so the slow movements of his lips was certainly not how it would always be, but you were hoping the way his arms wrapped around you, pulling you closer into him, would never change.

You leaned back slowly, wanting to give both of you time to process what just happened and what that meant.

“You just kissed me.” His eyes were wider than they were when he realized he’d given you the wrong letter and you laughed.

“I just had to make sure.” You licked your lips, briefly closing your eyes as you realized Armin’s hands were warm against your hips.

“Make sure of what?”

“That we both felt the same way.” You explained and Armin opened his mouth to speak, but you stopped him, leaning in once more to press your lips to his.

Photo by Kieran White on Unsplash

[jeojahari]

01 | kiss it better | myg

🠒 summary: you're one of the lucky ones, everyone else tells you. finding your soulmate the day you turn 18 isn't something that happens to a lot of people... but you and your other half are going to have to make a lot of progress to be able to tolerate each other.

or, you and yoongi can feel everything the other feels, and you're hell bent on causing each other pain.

🠒 pairing: yoongi x reader

🠒 genre: angst, fluff, e2l!au, soulmates!au, college au, crack?

🠒 warnings: profanity, implied smut

🠒 word count: 2.2K

🠒 notes: here we go!! i'm so ready for this, i hope you are too <3 also i literally live for bff!jimin omg

part 01: one gaze

(series m. list)

"Happy eighteen, Y/N!"

"You're an adult now!"

"Hey, why don't I kiss you and see if we're meant to be?"

You zero in on Jimin, his playful eyes twinkling under the chandelier's light. "Try it, I dare you. It'll be the last thing you do."

"You're so mean to me," he pouts, taking another bite of your birthday cake, leaving a smidge of white frosting on his lips. Namjoon pats his shoulder comfortingly, chuckling.

"You know that's not how it works," he explains. "Your signs are supposed to match, and I'm pretty sure an apple and a moon are two very different things."

You remember that, too — your best friend and roommate screeching profanities from the shower the morning of his birthday, making you rush to the bathroom in worry.

"Jimin-ah? What's wrong?!"

"Y/N! This is the worst thing that could possibly happen to me! I might as well jump off a bridge and die!"

"Are you alright?!"

"No, Y/N, how do you expect me to be? Do you know what my fucking soulmate mark is?!"

And he'd showed you his wrist after he was done with his shower, the outline of an apple resting on his pale skin. You, of course, had found that extremely funny... unlike him.

"Yeah, yeah," Jimin says, stabbing the cake again. "Laugh all you want, Y/N. I bet I'll find my soulmate before you do."

"No way," you scoff, leaning back against the comfortable chair. "I highly doubt you ever will."

"Take that back!"

"Nope."

Namjoon eyes you two somewhat warily, but he's used to things like this. Having been stuck with the both of you since his junior year of high school, this isn't something out of the ordinary, and it definitely isn't the worst he's ever seen.

"You're not hot enough," Jimin retorts.

"You're not hot enough," you return pettily. "Plus, you're literally the size of Jeon Jungkook's brain, and that's saying a lot."

"Did you really just compare me to the campus fuckboy?" Looking around quickly, Jimin grabs an unused spoon off the table and hurls it at you. Ever the archery ace, his aim is not to be underestimated, and he hits you square in the shoulder.

At the same time, a strong wave of pain hits you directly in the knee, and you instinctively cry out, your sudden yelp alerting both of your friends.

"Y/N?" Jimin's eyes widen in surprise. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean—!"

"No," you shake your head mid-grimace. "I mean, no, it's not you. Actually, that was a pretty weak throw, Minnie."

"Hey—!"

Namjoon offers you a sympathetic smile. "Soulmate?"

"Yep." You sigh, wincing as you shift your leg to the side. "It's been happening a lot recently. Either they're a complete doofus or someone's hurting them on purpose."

"I don't know about yours, but Namjoon is the biggest doofus around," Jimin points out, retrieving the spoon from the floor. "Do you know how often he randomly hurts himself while walking out the door and not looking where the hell he's going? It's a wonder Sejung isn't covered with bruises at this point."

"He still is the clumsiest person I know," you agree, laughing. "Oh, and she is covered with bruises, just not the kind you're talking about. At least, her neck is."

Namjoon is blushing furiously at your words. "Wait until you find yours," he defends, glancing down at the small leaf etched into his skin. "You won't be able to keep your hands off of each other."

"You would know," you giggle, mouth closing around the last chunk of cake on your fork. "Anyways, that's the deal. If they keep this up, I might just rage-murder them and live out the single life."

Jimin doesn't hesitate to point out, "Y/N, you would also die. That, or get really close to it."

"No, she definitely would die," Namjoon confirms with a nod. You take this opportunity to kick them both under the table, stifling a giggle when you see the visible winces on both their faces.

"You guys," you sigh, shaking your head, "are the absolute worst."

Evening rolls around and you're just hanging out in your shared apartment, home alone and still feeling a bit lazy from all the cake you ate at lunch. Right as you're about to get off the couch to grab a glass of water, your phone goes off with a single notification.

[06:38 PM] idiot #1: !! y/n y/n y/n

[06:38 PM] you: jimin jimin jimin

[06:38 PM] idiot #1: please help me pls pls pls

[06:38 PM] you: what did u do now oml

[06:38 PM] idiot #1: i didn't!!! i just need u here pleeeeease can you come to table 17 at the library plssss

[06:38 PM] you: ?? why? are u abt to fail another exam? i thought u were studying with taehyung and he's basically a genius

[06:39 PM] idiot#1: no and yes bUT THE POINT IS he brought his friends, one of whom just so happens to be the insufferable jeon fucking jungkook and i need to show off my own amazingly awesome best friend or this is gonna be SO humiliating

[06:39 PM] you: jungkook is literally not that bad what do you even hate him for ???

[06:39 PM] idiot #1: bro he's literally so fucking arrogant i swear you only like him because he sweet talks u or some shit

[06:39 PM] you: he does not!!! fuckboys have hearts too sheesh, he's really sweet

[06:39 PM] idiot #1: yeah yeah whatever. he's so pathetic that he had to ask you for help on that paper

[06:39 PM] you: EXCUSE ME????? I THINK UR FORGETTING IM THE ONE DOING U A FAVOR, PARK

[06:39 PM] idiot #1: bruh okay fine but please will u come y/n

[06:39 PM] you: yes but only because taehyung's hot

[06:39 PM] idiot #1: oh my GOD y/n he's basically my brother

[06:39 PM] you: but he's hot

[06:39 PM] idiot #1: okay will u just... come here alr pls.... drool all over tae you want just pls be next to me rn

[06:40 PM] you: okok chill man give me 5 mins

[06:40 PM] idiot #1: THANK YOU !!!!!!!

And that is how you find yourself staring down your tiny collection of clothes, trying to figure out what to wear to make yourself look pretty enough. The fact that Kim Taehyung is going to be there sends butterflies fluttering through your being, your cheeks burning at the thought of him talking to you... holding you... kissing you...

Okay, that's too far, Y/N. Too fucking far.

But an idea pops into your head, just as you're slipping the white sweater over your arms — what if he's the one you're meant for? What if the mark on his skin matches perfectly with yours, a dainty little crescent moon on his wrist? It is possible; his birthday was only around two weeks ago, after all.

What if, what if, what if. Your life is filled with uncertainties and doubts — who's staying? Who's leaving? Who's the one breaking your heart this time around? It's safe to say that Jimin and Namjoon are the only two constants in your equation... along with your future soulmate, that is.

(If you ever end up finding them.)

It's quarter to seven when you push open the double doors of the library, clad in warm jeans and a coat over the sweater you'd decided on earlier. January weather is not too kind, and you probably would have frozen to death if you'd spent a second longer outside.

"Y/N!"

Sure enough, someone is waving you over to table 17 — it's Jungkook, curly black hair peeking out from under a dark green beanie and sporting a genuine smile. "You came!"

"Hi, Jungkook!" you greet him, not missing the disgusted look on your best friend's face as you take the seat beside him. "Yeah, I couldn't just ignore Jimin when he texted... that wouldn't have ended well for me at all. His temper is a bit, um—"

"I didn't call you here to slander me," Jimin grumbles, kicking your foot weakly. You elbow him in return.

"Glad you could make it, Y/N," a deep voice adds from Jungkook's right.

Of course, it's none other than Taehyung himself, donning a patterned sweater and a pair of glasses perched on his nose. He looks like such a boyfriend that you wish he was yours.

"We don't see each other that often, now that I think about it!" he continues. "We should all hang out together more, don't you think?"

But there's something missing when he looks at you, his earnest gaze meeting yours. You brace yourself for something, anything — but it never comes. The euphoric sensation Namjoon described before doesn't hit you, and you're left hollow.

Is Taehyung not for you?

The universe says, no. And yet you can't help but be endeared to his grin, all those little mannerisms he has that you've picked up on, the sweet and caring way he talks to you...

No, you're not in love, and you're certainly not going to spend the whole week crying over the fact that you're not his soulmate. But you're just a little miffed, your heart sinking a bit as his sleeve rides up to reveal a perfect little cloud resting on his skin.

"Yeah," you answer, smiling nonetheless. We definitely sho—ah!"

"You okay?" Jimin asks as you scrunch your face up in displeasure again, wincing mid-sentence. "I'm gonna fucking kill your soulmate for this, you know."

"Not if I beat you to it," you grumble, your legs still throbbing from the sharp impact. "I swear they're always hurting themselves."

"Sounds like Yoongi," Taehyung chuckles. "I already feel bad for his soulmate, he walks like he's drunk if he hasn't had at least one cup of coffee each hour."

You scoff. "Min Yoongi and his coffee addiction," you say, rolling your eyes. "He makes it seem like such a big deal. He's literally an adult, like, deal with it."

"How come you hate him so much?" Jungkook asks curiously. "Like, he's not the friendliest person around, but..."

"Precisely," you huff. "He's so... it's a wonder he's even living as a part of today's society! It's like he's an old grumpy dude who's resolved to be as anti-social as possible for the rest of his life and it's so. Annoying. The one time I said hi and tried to start a conversation with him, he literally told me not to waste oxygen and walked away."

Jimin exhales. "Damn."

"Right? And I don't know how Jungkook and Tae find him so likable and shit when all he does is make anyone else who tries to talk to him feel like a stupid fool. I mean, really? Now I feel like a total idiot."

"For the record, you're not."

You whirl around at the new voice, startled at the sight of a brown-haired guy before you, coffee cup in hand, and you have absolutely no words.

Had Yoongi been standing behind you the entire time you were shit-talking him?

But that's not even the worst of it — the real issue here is that all of a sudden you feel like you're flying, your heart soaring higher than any bird, your breath taken away in all of one second. Is he? Is it possible? Is he actually?

You refuse to believe it, shock coursing through your veins. It can't be him. "Which one of you... which one of you is it?"

Jungkook and Jimin give you confused looks, while Taehyung stares blankly, trying to comprehend the situation. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah..." You're breathing quickly now, heart racing a thousand miles an hour but your mind repeating words of denial like a mantra. No, no, no, no, no.

But when you finally gather up the courage to look up into Yoongi's eyes, you're rendered speechless again, because he's mirroring your expression back to you, completely gobsmacked.

He's looking at you the way you've always wanted Taehyung to look at you, like you're his entire world and nothing else, but you know it's just a farce. The fact that you're suddenly enraptured by his presence disgusts you, knowing that this is only temporary and he'll go back to being cantankerous in just a few minutes. You're desperately wishing this is one big prank the universe has decided to play on you both, that the ink on your wrists will go back to being black like they used to.

But no. They continue to shine silver, glittering under the soft lights.

Your brain still refuses to process this information, but you don't need to see the mark on Yoongi's skin to know that unfortunately, he's the one for you, whether you like it or not. You're going to have to spend your life with someone you'd rather you'd never met at all.

Funny how just one gaze can completely change your life, for the absolute worst.

taglist: @meiadore @kimnamjoonluvbot

taglist is still open! send an ask if you'd like me to add you <3

next | series m. list | main m. list

[justoneofthoseghosts]

Brettsey + unbind me

Sylvie groans as she hears her alarm blaring.

Is it already 7 am? She thinks. It feels like her head just hit the pillow.

She groans again sticking out her hand and blindly searching for her phone on the night stand. She manages to grasp the offending item and is about hit snooze when she realizes two things from looking at the lit up screen:

One - it’s only 3 am and two - it’s not her alarm but rather someone calling.

Who the heck would call her at this God forsaken hour? Sylvie considers ignoring it but her better judgement rules. It could be an emergency. She hits the accept button, yawning.

“Hello,” she greets groggily, her voice hoarse from sleep.

The person on the other end of the line speaks for a few moments and Sylvie’s eyes grow wider with every word she hears.

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” she confirms before ending the call.

What the heck, she thinks.

She quickly scrambles out of bed and grabs her purse from the chair, not bothering to change from her pajamas. She moves into the hallway, getting her coat from the rack and putting on a pair of slip on sneakers. Lastly, she picks up her keys from the catch all on the table near the door. She swiftly locks the door and flies off into the night.

“Tell me how this happened?”

Sylvie lifts an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. She’s by the open door staring at Matt and Kelly, who are both slumped in chairs, looking worse for wear.

They were supposed to be at Kelly’s bachelor’s party or at least, that’s what Matt told her earlier in the evening. Sylvie didn’t ask what they were doing but she’s sure it didn’t include a pit stop here.

“Brett! You’re here,” Kelly says a bit too loudly when he notices her standing there.

Sylvie bites her lip trying hard to stifle a laugh. She tries to remain stern but based on Kelly’s reaction, he’s clearly had too much to drink and she finds it hard to keep a straight face.

“Hey man,” Kelly nudges Matt and whispers conspiratorially, “Brett’s here to save us.”

Matt’s head suddenly snaps up, searching around the tiny room for Sylvie. When he spots her, he breaks out into a wide grin.

“I knew you’d come,” he remarks, still smiling like a doofus, his eyes glazed over.

Sylvie lets out a snort. Trudy called to inform her that a patrol car had picked up Matt and Kelly trying to break into the Lincoln Park zoo. Thankfully, they recognized the two as CFD firefighters and brought them to the 21st district more for their safety than anything else. Trudy assured Sylvie that neither man would get booked. She sighed in relief but now, all she wants is to know why they were attempting to get into the zoo.

Sylvie walks into the room and pulls up a chair, folding her hands on the table. She gazes from Matt to Kelly, “start from the beginning.”

“So -“

“The thing is -“

They start to speak at the same time. Sylvie holds up a hand. She’s barely awake herself and trying to decipher the truth from two drunk men talking over each other isn’t going to help.

“Matt, what’s the story?” She asks, her curiosity piqued.

“See, it was a really, really normal night. We went on a uh, a uh - hey, Sev, what was that we did again?” Matt inquires as he taps Kelly on the shoulder.

“It’s called a pub crawl, Casey,” Kelly points out, his eyes drooping.

“Thank you,” Matt slaps his best friend’s arm in gratitude.

“Ow.”

Matt doesn’t bother apologizing and meets Sylvie’s gaze again, “right, so we were on a pub crawl then we went to this one place that had a The Hangover poster framed on the wall and It reminded me that Severide wanted to be stuck on a roof with Mike Tyson’s tiger.”

Sylvie takes in what her boyfriend just told her.

“So you decided to go to the zoo to -“ Sylvie trails off.

“Borrow a tiger,” Matt mentions casually as if it wasn’t a big deal and extremely normal in any circumstance.

And it’s exactly what Sylvie thought Matt would say and she can’t hold back her laughter any longer as it bubbles out of her. Jesus, she thinks, she’s glad those officers were able to stop this rather strange escapade of theirs. She can’t even imagine what would have happened had they been successful.

“Oh my God, Matt,” she wheezes once she’s able to regain some composure, “how much did you guys have to drink?”

Matt scrunches his nose as he thinks about it, “well, there was the beers from the first pub, then some whiskey, then at that little Tiki place near the river walk, we had a couple of fruit flavored shots that a bunch of sorority girls bought us.”

“Sorority girls, huh?” Sylvie quips amusedly.

Kelly responds before Matt does, “don’t worry, Brett. Casey barely looked at any of them. Also, I think they all preferred Gallo. Casey looked like the kid’s dad.”

Sylvie chokes out another laugh as Matt shoots a dirty look at Kelly, “I resent that.”

She straightens up, eyeing them both, “so let me get this straight, the two of you drink your body weight in what - Jell-O shots? - and end up thinking it’s a good idea to just waltz on over to the Lincoln Park zoo to grab a tiger and possibly drag said tiger onto a roof?”

“Yup,” the two men say in unison.

“Right,” Sylvie states. She can’t wait to tell Stella all about this, which reminds her -

“Why didn’t you call Stella?”

“Trudy said we could only call one of you so we did, uh, Rock Paper Scissors and I won.” Matt admits sheepishly.

This whole situation is one giant trip. Sylvie considers that maybe she might be dreaming so she reaches over and pinches Matt’s cheek.

“Ouch.”

Okay, not a dream then but she is definitely tired and in need of some sleep.

Sylvie stands up and beckons to them, “I think that’s enough excitement for one night. Time to head home boys. I’ll drop you off at the loft.”

Matt gets up and stumbles over to her. He holds her hand and looks into her eyes.

“I want to go home with you,” he slurs as he hugs her close, “like every day.”

Sylvie is at a loss for words. Did Matt just ask her to move in with him or rather, tell her he wants to move in with her considering he doesn’t have this own place?

She doesn’t give an affirmative instead she rubs his back and whispers, “one day.”

He smiles briefly, locking eyes with her again. His face is mere inches from hers and Sylvie leans in but before they can kiss, they hear a loud noise. They turn to the left to find Kelly passed out on the chair, snoring loudly.

They manage to wake him up and as the three of them make their way back to the front desk, Trudy smirks.

“You’re not going to tell anyone about this, are you, Trudy?” Matt asks tentatively, starting to sober up.

Trudy quirks an eyebrow.

Matt grumbles, “you already told Mouch, didn’t you?”

“Yep."

[apixrl]

MORNING CUDDLES.

eijirou kirishima x fem!reader

WARNING(S): none

word count: 2.8k

note(s): eiji and his partner call each other love 25/8 and no u cannot tell me otherwise >:(

italian translation - translator !!

Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep.

Your hand snuck its way out from under the duvet, blindly searching for your phone in order to shut off the nuisance that was your alarm. Once you did, you slowly let your eyes drift open and meet the blank canvas of the ceiling above.

The sun was peeking through the blinds off to the left side, causing streaks of light to form on your bedroom walls and bed itself. None of them obstructed your vision luckily, there was nothing worse than lying in bed only to have the sun blind you. A light snore interrupted your tiredness and caused your eyes to open wider, directing them off to the right to meet that of your boyfriend, Eijirou.

As per usual, he looked at peace during his state of slumber. His mouth hung slightly open to reveal his iconic sharpened teeth as snores broke through them. His usual gelled up hair was now ironed down to structure his face and practically conceal it with the amount there. It swept over one of his eyes - though didn't stop the scar on his right one peeking through. The rest of his hair was mushed up between his cheek and the pillow his head lay on.

You smiled at the sight, losing yourself in his handsomeness for a moment before leaning forwards to peck his forehead softly. You then pulled back the covers on your side, making an effort (reluctantly) to sit yourself up and swing your legs over the end of the bed. Just as you were about to find the means to stand, something tugged you back causing you to gasp. It was only when Eijirou's voice hit your ear that you processed what happened.

"Morning," The redhead let out, voice hoarse and deeper than usual to signal the classic case of morning croak, something you always loved to hear first thing. An arm snaked around your front to pull you back against Eijirou's abdomen. With a little smile, you turned your face to the love of your life, who was tiredly gazing at you.

"Good morning," You faintly sang. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mhhm," Eijirou replied, using his spare hand to reach up and rub his waking eyes at the same time as he released a mighty yawn. "You?"

"Like a baby," Was your answer as Eijirou allowed his hand to gently graze your forearm affectionately. You hummed softly, not wanting to move one bit from the comfort. If anything, you would have liked to have remained under his touch the entire day. Something about his subtle physical signs of adoration brought you head over heels for him, even more so than you already were. But you knew it couldn't last forever. So after a minute of sweet quiet, you proceeded to shift forwards to try and get up. Only to find the grip on you tighten and a disgruntled noise of protest to leave Eijirou's throat.

"Love, I gotta get up," You spoke and turned back to him with a sigh. "I've got that meeting at 10, remember?"

"No," Was the only thing you received back from your partner. Eijirou looked up gently into your E/C eyes. "Five more minutes?"

At first, you went to say a flat no, mainly because you'd expected him to act like this despite knowing full well you were going out. But you eventually concluded on a compromise to try and be smart about it. Fingers playing with the sheets of your bed, you spoke up once more.

"How about you let me go grab us a hot drink and then five more minutes?" It seemed to do the trick. Eijirou paused in thought before gently mumbling an 'okay', the grip on you loosening to give you the freedom to stand up. Once you stood upright you looked back to Eijirou, who was following your every move through tired red eyes.

"I'll come back in sec okay?"

"You better,"

This clingy side to Eijirou usually came out on the first day or two of him having time off work. Since he was a Pro-Hero he could sometimes be working days on end without a break, so moments like this the pair of you really treasured to maintain a healthy relationship. You smiled during your trip to the kitchen, his touch still on your mind as you started to prepare yourself a steaming F/H/D and a simple black coffee for Eijirou.

On your way back to the bedroom you made a pit stop to go to the toilet and somewhat freshen yourself up. All you did was brush your hair and wash your face (you planned to do make-up later) and then you were heading back to Eijirou. You opened the door with your foot since both hands were occupied by mugs.

"I told you I wasn't going to be long,"

"It was too long," His voice came from the bundle of covers, a head poking out from under as you saw a flash of a toothy grin. It was more tired than usual but still held the same passion nonetheless.

"Somebody's impatient,"

"Whatever. Now let me use you as a pillow," Eijirou uttered, waiting for you to put the drinks down and to get into bed. Pulling back the cream covers of your shared bed you were soon engulfed by arms as a head found refuge on your chest.

"Happy?" You said with a laugh. Eijirou nodded and let his eyes close, listening to the sound of your heartbeat against his cheek with a soft grin. He then felt himself get even more at home when your fingertips guided themselves to play with the ends of his hair.

"Yes,"

---

"Come on, Eijirou... I need to go get ready," You whined, rolling your eyes at the silence you received back. Only the soft and light pecks of kisses landing on your shoulder blade signalled Eijirou's distraction, almost pretending to be deaf for his own personal benefit. You rolled back in order to make him stop, looking up at Eijirou in protest. At first, he sent you a nearly offended gaze at daring to make such a movement, claiming he wasn't finished and had intentions of carrying on. Though slowly his jaw altered to a pout, reaching to tuck some hair behind your ear.

"Do you have to go?" Eijirou mumbled and leaned down to peck your lips.

"Yes, I do," You answered.

"Can't you just call in sick or something?"

"I already did that three weeks ago... so probably not,"

"Please?"

"I said I can't. Now get up, lazy bones,"

You went to get up once more, this time forcing yourself through the gripping fingers and hands of Eijirou to escape the bed. When you came out successful you released a small laugh of triumph much to Eijirou's dismay. It was there you walked to your closet and took the clothes hanging over the door on a clothing hanger, looking back at Eijirou whose face had now emerged further from under the covers to watch you.

"Is it even an important meeting, love?" Eijirou said, eyes following as you shuffled back to the bed and put the clothes at the bottom. You released a sigh as you turned to put the clothing hanger back in the closet, not aware of the cheap move Eijirou made when you weren't looking and instead answered his question.

"Not really? But because I missed the last one - no thanks to you, I think it'd be better I should get to this one," Wandering back to the bed, slipping off the shirt you'd stolen off Eijirou the night before as you did, Eijirou rolled his eyes and undermined your words.

"So... miss this one and go to the next,"

"As I recall you said that last time and promised you wouldn't say it when it occurred again... but here we are," There was a little smirk on your face when you caught him rolling his eyes, and in response, you playfully tossed the shirt you'd had on at the redhead. Eijirou snickered and managed to catch it before it hit his face, going to crumple it into a ball and place it next to him.

"You throw like a girl,"

"And you scream like one, doofus,"

"I'm not a doofus... doofus,"

Eijirou couldn't help but smirk in amusement at you, his face lighting up all the more into a bright beam when he heard a laugh release on your part. You were just finishing buttoning up your collar shirt as Eijirou watched, arms crossing over his chest. He cocked his head back against the headrest as well as to the side in thought.

"I ever tell you that you look good in shirts like that?" The redhead stated, receiving a glare that had formed on your face.

"Don't you get any ideas,"

"Wasn't suggesting any, just stating the obvious," He raised his arms in defence as you sat down on the bed by his legs, reaching for the blazer.

"That's also something you said last time and look what happened there - wait where's my...?" You were one sleeve through your blazer when you noticed that one of your pieces of clothing was missing. The navy blue pencil skirt that matched your top half to be more specific. You looked behind and around you, and also to the closet thinking you forgot to grab it with everything else, proceeding to frown in thought.

You swore you hung it up there and -

With a heavy exhale, you felt your body twist around and turn to a particularly quiet Eijirou sitting behind you.

His expression read it all like he was trying to be both obvious and mysterious all in one go in order to get you to question him. It most definitely worked, a hand meeting your hip as you stood upright and quirked a quizzical brow.

"Eiji?"

"Hm? What is it, dearest?"

"Can I have my skirt back please?"

"What do you mean? I don't have your skirt," His growing smirk and amusement in his eyes betrayed his words, refusing to make eye contact with you in a playful manner you'd seen countless times before.

"Okay, so where is it then?"

"I don't know," He innocently shrugged. "Maybe the skirt fairy came and took it,"

"The skirt fairy," You repeated, disbelief laced in your voice.

"Yep," He said through a laugh. "I don't know what to tell you, love. There can't be any other explanation,"

"Just give me back my skirt before I get behind on time,"

"I don't have it,"

"Yes, you do,"

"No, I don't,"

"Don't make me jump you, bitch,"

"I honestly wouldn't com- oof!"

Before Eijirou could finish his sentence, he only just managed to catch you when you pounced at him without remorse. Luckily he just managed to protect himself and readjusted your intended position, victoriously smirking up at you and pointing a finger.

"Hah! Not this time!"

"I hate you sometimes,"

"No, you don't. You love me,"

"I swear to god -," You let out, arms crossing over your chest. Eijirou had sat you on top of him, legs on either side of him as he remained under the covers. "Can I please just have my skirt back?"

"You mean the one that's under the sheets by my feet?" He blankly stated, letting his hands rest themselves on your hips quite comfortably. He couldn't help but laugh at your less than amused expression.

"Why can't you just let me get ready?"

"I'm not stopping you... I'm just making it more difficult,"

"Educate me on how?"

"Well the only way to get your skirt is to get back into bed... and if you get back into bed I'm not letting you get back out,"

"You're really being this persistent, hm?"

"Maybe a little more than intended,"

You hopelessly sighed, looking at the ceiling with a mental cry of both impatience and leisure. The inner want to go to your wardrobe and pull out a fresh skirt was the easy way out, yes, but the temptation of the game Eijirou intended to play was getting to you more than expected. That and you knew he wouldn't let you simply get off him, the grip on your waist not only implying endearing affection.

Eijirou raised his voice, reeling you back to his attention. Despite your annoyance, you did make an effort to admire his features. From his loose hair to his fixed jawline where the tint of a smirk riddled with confidence rested. The pretty glow in his carmine gaze drew you in each time without a fault. He was so undeniably attractive, no doubt about it.

"You know what sounds fun?"

"What?" Partly having a sense of what was to leave his lips.

"If you...," He paused as he subtly cocked his head at you. "Stayed in bed and cuddled with me all morning," Another pause. "Because I haven't seen you in four or five days and I miss you,"

"But we watched a movie and spent some time together last night knowing I was going out today,"

"Yeah but... you're cute on a morning,"

"Opposed to other times when I'm not?" It was Eijirou's turn to send you a little glare in protest before he returned to his pleading nature.

"You're cute all the time,"

Yet another few seconds of quiet.

"Just - stay with me today? And do your meeting-thingy tomorrow?"

"You, Eijirou Kirishima, are going to be the death of me," Leaning down to rest your forehead on Eijirou's shoulder whilst releasing a long groan from the back of your throat. Maybe not so great of an idea since that allowed him to wrap you right into his grasp, you held yourself there briefly as he allowed his fingertips to mess with your hair.

"Probably," Eijirou mumbled softly, tilting his head against yours as he once again let his touch wander. The unexpected cuddle definitely didn't go unnoticed as you pondered in your position, practically ready to fall asleep when Eijirou started to rub up and down your back. Like a moth to a flame, he had you wrapped around his finger, knowing that in the end, he was always going to get his own way. Of course, in other circumstances, he'd usually let you win. But not when it came to morning cuddles.

Definitely not when it came to morning cuddles.

As if waiting for you to talk, Eijirou stared into your strands of H/C hair whilst inhaling the scent of coconut from the shampoo you used the evening prior. He expectantly caressed your hip, his final attempt to win you over confidently coming to a climax at the word that exited your mouth.

"Fine,"

You could practically feel the smirk against the back of your head as Eijirou's touch became all the more prominent and rewarding. He let one of his arms extend out to grab your phone, handing it over to you as you hesitantly sat up with a hotness to your cheeks and found the contact of your workplace.

Eijirou simply watched you the whole time, taking you all in like he was casting gaze upon you for the first time. No matter how many times that happened, he still managed to find you all the more beautiful. He ran a hand through his flattened hair and exhaled merrily as he let your voice sink into his ears, watching the smile on your face grow as you caught him looking.

"Yeah - Again, I'm really sorry I can't make it, Eijirou caught something whilst working and he's bound to the bed cause' of it," You held up crossed fingers in hopes you wouldn't sound like you were lying, glancing at your boyfriend who appeared to chuckle.

And yet again your lie went unnoticed. The call was over in seconds, tossing your phone to the empty side of the bed.

"Why'd you say I was sick?"

"Because if I said it was me they'd probably ask about the last time you forced me to stay off, and how often I'm apparently unwell,"

"Right,"

"But, it looks like you got your way," You said, going to change out the white shirt to put your pyjama shirt back on, placing the work clothes to the bottom of the bed as Eijirou waited patiently.

"Come," Was all he said once you looked back at him, opening his arms for you to sink into. Which you did, reaching that comfortable position within his grasp as though you belonged there. Except this time, Eijirou directed your face towards his, pulling your lips to his in one smooth addicting manner that you felt butterflies in your stomach for.

In the meantime your drinks were disregarded as the clock ticked on, the pair of you forgetting their presence on the bedside table. The steam soon dissipated to nothing the cooler the fluids got.

"Y/N?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you,"

He could sense the smile that formed on your lips.

"I love you too,"

[talesofarcadia78]

Bad Day || Douxie x Reader || One Shot

Summary: Title says it all 

Warning: None 

Word count:  2,293

You were really tired of customers today. But you had to get over the fact that you were working at a bookstore. The place you used to worked at, Stuart Electronics, the owner said that he didn’t need any employees, since he could manage the customers by himself. Plus, he didn’t get many customers. If he didn’t earn enough money from the shop, Stuart would just get his taco truck out and earn money from there. But you just took it as he fired you. You were fine with that. But you were definitely not fine with having to deal with customers everyday. Stuart always let you deal with the storage stuff.  

“Y/n? Hello? Anyone home?” a familiar British accent spoke, getting you out of your thoughts. 

“Huh? Yeah, I’m home,” you replied. 

“You’re not home, you doofus. You’re at the bookstore. Home is upstairs,” Douxie chuckled. 

“Uh, yeah,” you said. 

“Y/n, you have to focus. I’ll take care of the front. Can you go to the back and get 5 books from the new shipment box that arrived a few days ago?” Douxie asked. 

You nodded and walked to the back, grabbing the books that Douxie requested.

After about an hour, Douxie finally closed up the shop. 

“Finally! I’m so done!” you sighed and plopped yourself down onto an armchair.

“Yep! Just another day of our casual life,” Douxie agreed, walking over to the counter and counting the money we earned today. 

“Don’t you get tired of working everyday?” you asked. 

“Nah, I don’t. Why?” Douxie replied. 

“I just can’t, I get bored very easily, if you haven’t realised yet,” you replied. 

“I think I now that. I’ve known for almost a millennium now!” Douxie laughed. 

Then Archie came flying down, and onto you lap. 

“How was your day y/n?” Archie asked. 

“Hmm... let’s see. Boring, tiring, oh and have I said boring?” you replied. 

“I believe you have,” Archie replied. 

“Well, yeah. I’m kinda getting bored from the bookstore,” you whined. 

“Please, it’s not that boring,” Douxie said, getting a stool and sitting in front of you. 

“It’s boring to me, as you already know,” you said. 

“How about we go upstairs?” Archie asked. 

“That’s a good idea,” you agreed getting up. 

The three of you walked upstairs, and to the back. Douxie pulled an ancient book out of its place just a bit. Slowly, the whole shelf slid away, revealing a huge room. That ‘huge room’ was your apartment. 

You and Douxie shared an apartment together, since the two of you only had each other and Archie of course. 

You walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. You looked around, not much, just a milk carton, eggs, salmon and some vegetables. You groaned and slammed the door shut. 

“Someone’s a bit grumpy,” Douxie teased. 

“Technically, I’m hangry,” you corrected him. 

“Let me guess, no food?” Douxie asked, but he already knew the answer. 

“Yep! I’m not making pasta again, cause that’s all we’ve been eating for the last week,” you forewarned. 

“Okay, okay. What about we go to Mr. Benoit’s?” Douxie suggested. 

You looked at him briefly, and rushed into your room, slamming the door shut behind. You quickly got changed into a hoodie and a pair of jeans. You combed your h/l (hair length) h/c hair and tied it into a pony tail (if you have short hair, then it’s just left out). You rushed out of the room to see Douxie ready to go. 

“Come on, let’s go,” Douxie said. 

The two of you walked to the cafe and sat at a table outside. A waiter came and took your order. 

“So, have you found another place to work?” Douxie asked out of the blue. 

“W-What do you mean?” you asked. 

“I thought you would be searching for another place to work at, since you clearly don’t like working at the shop,” Douxie explained. 

“Am I that convincing?” you asked. 

Douxie looked at you confused. You sighed. 

“Douxie, look, I actually really love working at the bookstore. I might sound like I hate it, but I actually really love it there. I might get bored sometimes, since I’m at the counter, working with the customers. I don’t want to work anywhere else,” you explained. 

“But you were complaining like 20 minutes ago!” Douxie exclaimed. 

“Can’t anyone have a bad day?” you laughed. 

But when you saw Douxie’s face, you instantly stopped laughing. 

“Uh, Doux. You good?” you asked. 

“You had a bad day?” Douxie whispered to himself, making sure you couldn’t hear him. 

“Douxie?” you asked. 

“I’m fine,” Douxie replied and fell silent. 

“Okay,” you said, and turned to see the waiter with food. 

The dinner went good, but none of you said anything to the other. The walk home was also very quiet. When you had gotten to your apartment, the two of you just wished each other good night and went to your rooms. You wondered why Douxie was so quiet through the whole dinner. You shook the thought off and concluded that he just must’ve been tired. You changed into your night wear and fell asleep. 

Douxie on the other hand, was at his desk, planning for the next day. 

“Douxie, what are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Archie asked. 

“Arch, y/n never told me she had a bad day today,” Douxie said. 

“Well, everyone has a bad day every once in a while,” Archie shrugged. 

“Arch, you’re not getting the point. Whenever I have a bad day, y/n is always there for me. She would make me my favourite food, play a few songs on her piano or would just talk to me. Either way, she always eventually makes my bad day better,” Douxie explained. 

Archie was catching on what Douxie was trying to say. 

“And there’s me. Today she had a bad day, and what did I do? Nothing,” Douxie said. 

“So your planning something for her?” Archie asked. 

“Exactly! Tomorrow, I’m going to make her day the best. I’ll take her to a nice place for breakfast, go out of town and have a picnic. Then, I’m going to take her to the cinema’s at night, where we’ll watch Danger House. After the movie, we’ll grab something from the taco truck and then head home!” Douxie explained his plan. 

“Why not also confess your feelings for her as well?” Archie added. 

“Wait what?!” Douxie gasped. 

“You heard me right, Douxie. I’ve seen the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. But the both of you are so oblivious,” Archie said. 

“What if she rejects me?” Douxie asked. 

“That’s what has been stopping you from confessing your feelings to her. Just trust yourself, Doux,” Archie said, and walked out of the room. 

 After Archie left, Douxie got into bed but before he feel asleep he promised himself that he’ll confess his feelings to you tomorrow. 

The next day, you got up and walked into the kitchen. But before you got to the fridge, Douxie stopped you. 

“Stop right there, love,” Douxie said. 

“Why? Are you the police?” you joked. 

“No, but we’re going to go to a cafe for breakfast,” Douxie announced. 

“But-” you started but were cut off by Douxie. 

“No buts or ifs. Now get ready, I’ll meet you downstairs,” Douxie said, pushing you into the bathroom, handing you your towel. 

You quickly took a shower and got dressed into an off-the-shoulder shirt and ripped jeans. 

Once you were downstairs, you saw Douxie holding the door open for you. You smiled and walked outside. Douxie closed the shop and the two of you walked to Mr. Benoit’s. 

The two of you had breakfast. It was a pretty good one. Douxie did a trick to make the coffee cold, which made the waiter go and get a another cup. Douxie kept on doing that, until you were crying from laughing. After breakfast, the two of you went out of town in Douxie’s car. Douxie didn’t tell you the place but it was beautiful. The two of you explored around the mountains and alleyways. After that, the two of you had a picnic. He had brought sandwiches, a pie and juice. The two of you chatted away while eating your food. The two of you then looked at the clouds pass by, pointing out shapes, animals or anything you could make out. 

“Hey, do you see that cat. It looks like Archie,” Douxie pointed to a cloud. 

You tried to find it but you couldn’t. 

“Where?” you asked. 

“There,” Douxie replied, grabbing your hand and pointing to the cloud. 

While you were looking for the cat, Douxie was looking at you. You looked cute when you tried to look for something. He just couldn’t get his eyes of you. 

After a while, you gave up looking and turned around to see Douxie staring at you. You blushed at the way he was looking at you. 

“Doux? You home?” you asked, waving your hand in front of him. 

“Huh? Yeah, I’m at home,” Douxie replied. 

“Your not home, you magical doofus. Your at... well I don’t know where we are actually,” you tried to joke. 

Unfortunately, you couldn’t since you had no idea where the two of you were. Only Douxie knew. Douxie started to crack up, noticing your joke didn’t turn out too well. You playfully glared at him, trying to be angry. 

Douxie then slowly stopped laughing. 

“You know you look very cute when your angry,” Douxie commented. 

You blushed at his comment. 

“And even more cute when you were trying to look for the cat cloud. Even more when your focused on your work. Whenever your trying to get a recipe right, whenever your trying to get Archie to give your belongings back,” Douxie continued. 

“Well... I... um... thank you,” you said, blushing even more. “Why are you all of a sudden saying these things?” you ask. 

“Because I want to tell you the truth. You’re very kind, caring, selfless and much more. I’m so lucky to have you in my life, y/n. You’re always looking out for Archie and me. I-I love you y/n l/n,” Douxie confessed. 

You looked at him wide eyed. You always had feelings for him, but you never knew he had feelings for you as well. You looked into his hazel eyes, while he looked into your e/c eyes. Slowly the two of you leaned forward. As you got closer, you slowly closed your eyes. Then, your lips touched. The kiss was soft and passionate. The two of you pulled away, looking into each other’s eyes. 

“I love you too, Hisirdoux Casperan,” you said. 

The two of you then continued cloud watching, while you leaned your head on his shoulder and his on top. The two of you watched the sunset and returned to Arcadia. 

“So, did you have a good day, my love?” Douxie asked. 

“Yes, thank you Douxie,” you replied. 

“Well, what about we go watch Danger House?” Douxie said, holding up two tickets. 

“Really?! I’ve been wanting to watch that for ages!” you squeal. 

Douxie chuckled at your excitement. He drove to Lucia. 

The two of you walked into the cinema, hand in hand. You two watched Danger House together. There were some scenes you didn’t want to see, so you hid your face in Douxie’s shoulder. 

After the movie, the two of you were walking out of the cinema, when you saw Stuart’s taco truck. 

“Doux, you hungry?” you ask, tugging on his arm. 

“Well, now that you mention it, love, I am,” Douxie chuckled, looking down to his stomach. 

“Let’s go to Stuart’s taco truck,” you suggested, pulling him behind you. 

The two of you walked over to the taco truck. You saw Jim, Claire, Toby, Steve, Aja, Krel and Eli, all grabbing burritos. 

“Hey, it’s Douxie and y/n!” Toby shouted, pointing to you and Douxie. 

“Hi Toby,” you greeted. 

“Hey,” the others greeted. 

“Don’t you all have school to go to tomorrow?” Douxie asked, walking over to the truck and ordering. 

“Well, yeah. But we all just came back from trollhunting and we’re starving,” Toby replied. 

“That’s a reasonable excuse,” you nodded. 

“What have you two been up to?” Steve asked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Nothing. Just went out of town and just watched Danger House,” Douxie replied, handing you a burrito. 

“Nothing else?” Claire teased. 

“Uh... nope,” you and Douxie answer, nervously. 

“Sure, sure,” Jim teased. 

“You too, Jim?” you gasped. 

“What can I do? You two are fun to tease, since you two haven’t even said ‘I love you’ yet,” Jim shrugged. 

“Technically, we already did,” Douxie grinned. 

“Wait, what!” all the kids exclaim. 

“Spill!” Claire and Aja begged. 

“Maybe another time guys. I’m sorry, but we got to go,” Douxie said, pulling you towards the bookstore. 

They all started to whine, but they all eventually stopped and waved bye. 

You and Douxie walked into the bookstore and were greeted by Archie. 

“So... how was your day?” Archie asked.

“The best!” you replied. 

“So did Douxie...” Archie started. 

“Yeah,” you and Douxie finished. 

“Finally! I was getting so tired of looking at the two of you!” Archie cheered. 

The three of you laughed and made your way to your apartment. 

You were going to close your bedroom door when Douxie stopped you. 

“Uh, Douxie, what are you doing?” you asked.

“I came to give you a goodnight kiss, duh,” Douxie replied. 

You rolled your eyes. He quickly gave you a peck on your lips and wished you goodnight. You closed your door and jumped into bed. Today was the best day of your life. 

[randoimago]

Henlo! Might I request Fjord, Yasha, Beau and Essek having a spa day w/ their s/o?

Spa Day with S/O

FANDOM: Critical Role

Character(s): Beauregard Lionette, Essek Thelyss, Fjord, Yasha Nydoorin

Type of Request: Headcanons

Word Count: 490

Note(s): Yeah absolutely!!

Beau

She is living the life right now. Just laying in hot water while she's getting a massage. She doesn't want to move.

Like she's try and talk to you but her words are so slurred. She really needs this.

Will definitely shoot you pick up lines though. She'll 100% state how you look great and would look better completely naked.

Would constantly be asking if you both could have something alcoholic with tiny umbrellas in the glass.

Beau is going to want to feel like a rich bitch today and you're going to feel like one with her.

Essek

He is so out of his element with this spa day.

He's used to working all day and night on theories and magic and now you're forcing him to relax.

Essek is a paranoid individual (with good reason) so I doubt he'd be able to enjoy the day too much without him wondering if someone is going to get him when his guard is down.

Like he'll give you smiles and state that this is nice. And it is, the atmosphere and aromas are great. But he's just unable to fully enjoy himself.

Would honestly just prefer to have you by his side while he's working. That would be the most relaxing to him cause he knows you're both safe. Maybe he'll pick up some candles or incense to take with him.

Fjord

Fjord is unsure at first. It looks like a really nice place and the whole aesthetic is nice but is it really?

He'll totally act so suspicious of it and like something bad is going to happen but then he just melts.

He is going to get everything done. Massages, face masks, (maybe not fire cupping, he doesn't have his ring).

Will 100% ask for some fruity drink before coughing and stating, "Because my S/O wants me to try it. Yep. That's all."

He's such a doofus and honestly a spa day with him is so fun and there's definitely light hearted teasing and jokes about how he tries to act tough but now he's being dainty.

Yasha

Also unsure at first but she quickly grows to love it.

Honestly she just wants to see what candle and incense selection there is. She wants to experience all the smells and sensations.

Is on the lookout for any vases of flowers while there because she's 100% going to either steal some or ask where the spa people got them.

While she does enjoy the massages and face masks, I can see her preferring to do that kind of thing just with you. Like the two of you giving face masks and massages to each other. Definitely writes it down as a date idea.

Honestly kind of feels like she doesn't deserve any of this. With her past and what she has done, this is just too nice for someone like her. She's happy she has you to keep her grounded though.

[julesclues]

fake dating

“please talk to me about it” // chapter 5

warnings: mentions of sex and verbal abuse

pairings: jj maybank x reader

word count: 3.35k

you wake up with a pounding headache. you thought maybe hitting your head a couple times on the wall would be better than what you were experiencing right now. you groan and look over at the nightstand next to your bed. you grab your phone and you gasp in nervousness. you had 23 miss calls from your mom and over 100 texts wondering where you were. “fuck,” you whisper, and roll to your side. your body collides with another, and you scream. “woah princess, relax, it’s me,” you hear them say. it was jj. “god jj,” you moan. he smirks and you give him a look. “when i imagine you moaning my name, it definitely doesn’t look like this,” he states. you roll your eyes and giggle with a deep red blush creeping up on your face. you slap his shoulder lightly, remembering the events from last night, and look back down at your phone. “you’re so immature,” you complain. “i have to call my parents back,” you say, sitting up. jj stretches and groans, still laying down. “us having sex reminded you of your parents?” he asks jokingly, and you let out a tiny gasp. “might i remind you jj, we didn’t have sex!” he chuckles and so do you. “i know, i know,” he sighs, pretending to be hurt. “your mom thinks we did though.” your eyes widen. “oh crap, i forgot about that,” you say, while dialing your mom’s number and hitting the ‘call’ button.

she immediately answers and starts yelling at you. “y/n i’ve been calling you all night! where are you! i was worried sick!” you look back at jj and he sits up, not breaking eye contact with you. “i’m with jj mom. we’re at john–“ she cuts you off before you can finish. “oh god y/n! i was so worried! you can’t just run off with your boyfriend to do god knows what and not tell your mother!” you sigh and get up from the bed. “mom, please. i’m fine! i’m with jj,” you repeat. ”what if something happened to you?” she asks, not knowing you had that whole confrontation with rafe. you look down at your bruised knuckles from hitting rafe in the face. you smile slightly from the satisfaction of the memory. “nothing would’ve happened to me!” you yell, pacing the room, feeling jj’s eyes follow you. “i was with jj, okay? i know you were nervous, and i’m so sorry, i lost track of time. but i wasn’t alone ma. he’ll protect me.” you turn to him and he smirks. “i’ll use protection all right,” he whispers, and you groan is disgust.

“stop being horny,” you whisper. “what did you say?” your mom asks from the other side of the phone. “nothing mom,” you say quickly, and jj laughs. “was that jj?” you hear your mom question from the other side of the phone. “yes ma.. look, i’ll be home soon, okay?” she sighs and says okay, saying she loves you and that she’ll see you soon.

“oh and one more thing y/n,” she adds on. “your father is really mad at you. he was worried too.” you scoff in disbelief. your father being worried about you? please. “yeah, sure he was mom. i bet he was shitting his pants,” you say sarcastically. jj knew you were talking about your dad. he had noticed some tension the other day he was at your house for dinner. especially when he brought it up and you shot him down. he knew something more was going on behind the scenes. he wanted to be there for you. he wanted to be the one you went to first when you needed comfort. he didn’t want you to go through anything by yourself. he knew how lonely and broken it could make a person feel.

“watch your language y/n! he was worried. just cut him some slack, okay?” you scoff after hearing your mother’s words. for all of your life, your father has treated you no better than trash. only when there were people around was when he would actually act like a father. his worry your mom kept constantly talking about, was actually a disguise for anger. he never showed it in front of your mom or little sister, but he would get really enraged when it came to you. that’s why when you tried to get help, no one would believe you. he thankfully never laid a hand on you, but there’s a first time for everything.

“whatever mom.. look, i have to go, okay?” you say, seeing jj get up and look through his closet for a better outfit other than pajamas. “okay okay. just be back in time for dinner please. oh, and bring jj!” you pinch the bridge of your nose, wishing you could just go back to bed. “mom come on, i don’t think jj would want to come back. dad’s just going to rip into him again, like he always does!” your mother huffs in anger. “y/n l/n bring your boyfriend for dinner and stop talking bad about your father!”

“goodbye mom,” you say, ignoring her and hanging up. “trouble in paradise?” jj asks, taking off his shirt to exchange it for another. you nod in agreement, biting the inside of your mouth. “what’s wrong?” he asks, slipping the shirt over his head. “why? does it look like something is wrong?” you ask back. “you bite the inside of your lip when you’re stressed,” he comments, whiling pointing to his own mouth. “you noticed that?” you question. why would jj be noticing things that not even your parents knew about you?

“yeah,” he says casually. he starts taking off his pants and your eyes go wide. “woah!” you exclaim, turning around. he laughs, as you hear the noise of his pants on the floor. your cheeks were as red as a tomato and if you were to turn around, you thought they would explode. “you’ve seen me without pants before y/n,” he says, walking to his closet to find shorts to wear. “th-that’s different,” you stutter. “you w-were in your swimsuit.” you hear him grunt while lifting up the pair of shorts. he grabs your arm and spins you around to look at him. “here,” he says, giving you his sweatshirt and some shorts. “where’d you get the girl shorts from?” you laugh. he laughs along with you and thinks. “honestly, i don’t know. they look about your size. some girl must’ve left them here.” your eyes widen as you realize what he meant. “ew! i don’t wanna wear one of your girl toy’s shorts! how did she even leave without pants..?” jj shrugs while yawning. “i’m going to the bathroom. just wear the clothes,” he says, ignoring your question.

before you could protest, jj walks into the spare bathroom and you groan, looking down at the clothes. since you didn’t think you were going to sleep over john b’s, jj gave you one of his t-shirts and boxers to sleep in. he would never admit it to you, but he thought you looked absolutely adorable in his clothes.

you start to change out of your, well, jj’s, clothes. you slip the sweatshirt over your head and almost instantly feel warmth. you take in the minor scent of weed, but the major scent of cologne. jj always found a way to smell amazing, even if he was smoking for hours straight. you loved it.

you slipped on the shorts of the unknown woman, feeling a little disgusting. you were bare foot, so you tried to find some slides or flip flops jj had that would miraculously fit you. you open his closet and are greeted by a strong whiff of his scent. his closet was actually well organized, unlike his room. you hear the toilet flush and jj walks out almost instantly, making eye contact with you. “i need shoes,” you chuckle nervously. he eyes you up and down, before meeting your e/c orbs once more. “you look hot in my clothes,” he grins. “oh my god, shut up,” you groan, feeling butterflies erupt in your stomach. “you love it,” he smirks, walking closer to you. he comes right in front of you, so tall, he might as well be hovering. “the shoes are right here,” he says in a low voice, pointing to the bottom of his closet, but still making eye contact with you. you turn your eyes from his to the shoes, and smile. “thank you!” you say enthusiastically, bending down to grab the shoes.

you felt jj still eyeing you. not knowing whether he was looking at your head or your ass, you didn’t really care. you looked hella good in those shorts anyways.

you stand back up and slip the slides on, looking up at jj. “oh i almost forgot,” you say, looking in the mirror to fix your hair. “my mom wants you to come for dinner tonight. wanna come?”

“i’ll go anywhere with you my love,” he jokes, and you chuckle. “shut up doofus.” he smiles widely and laughs. “doofus? is that a new nickname?” you turn to him and smile. “yep,” you speak softly, popping the p.

you both walk out of jj’s room, and are greeted with pope and john b. “why hello lovebirds,” john b says, raising his eyebrows. you chuckle and sit down at the kitchen island, while jj plops down on the couch. pope hands you a water bottle and you thank him while yawning. “good morning,” you smile. john b laughs and you give him a confused look. “it’s 2:30,” he chuckles. “i think you mean good afternoon.” your eyes widen when you realize you have to be at your house by 3:00. “babe, we gotta go,” you say, grabbing his hand and pulling him up from the couch with a grunt. “where are you two going? gonna go mack on each other?” john b comments, making a small blush rise up to your cheeks. “john b!” you yelp. “w-we’re going to dinner at my house,” you stutter, making jj laugh. still holding jj’s hand, you walk out of john b’s house and start walking down the street.

“you’re still holding my hand love, not that i’m complaining,” jj exclaims. you go to let go of his hand, but his grip tightens. “what’re you doing?” you ask jj. “the pouges arent here, it’s okay,” you add. “isn’t it one of the rules though? to hold hands?” you smile at the small gesture, hoping he didn’t realize you were flustered. “yo-you’re right.” quit the stuttering, you think to yourself. “then let’s go,” he says confidently.

20 minutes pass and you two finally make it to your house. you let go of jj’s hand, and groan. “my hand hurts so much,” you sigh. not saying anything, jj opens the door for you and you thank him. you’re immediately pulled into a long, awkward hug with your mom. “woah, relax ma, i’m good,” you speak in her shoulder, hesitantly wrapping your arms around her small body. “i was so worried about you! what is wrong with you?” she questions as she pulls away and slaps your chest. you roll your eyes and look into hers. “please calm down mom. i’m okay. jj and i left the midsummers early and went back to john b’s house.” she gives you a glare and squints her eyes. “and what did you do decide to do, hm?” she asks, making you groan and blush a bit. “m-mom can we just eat dinner please?” you laugh awkwardly. she finally agrees, and leads both you and jj to the kitchen, where your dad and little sister sat.

your dad looked pissed, but you tried your best not to make eye contact with him. no eye contact meant that you wouldn’t have to stir up a conversation about where you and jj were, what you were doing, and why you didn’t answer the million texts your mother sent you. you and jj sit down next to each other, as your mother walks to the stove to put the chicken in the oven. jj senses how tense you are, so he puts his hand on your thigh. you stiffen up a bit before relaxing into his touch. you were wearing shorts, so you felt the coolness of both his fingertips and rings. you don’t turn your head, but you move your eyes to look at him. he is eyeing your father, while your father is looking at your mother in the kitchen.

“so,” your father starts, making you look up at him. “where were you yesterday?” you look at jj and he gives you a small smile, calming you down a bit. “i was at midsummers but jj and i left early.” you didn’t want to tell him about the fight that went down. he would never let you hang out with jj or the other pouges ever again. “why did you leave? so you and your boy toy could get it on?” you gasp in offense and glare at your father. “my boy toy?!” you yell, as jj squeezes your thigh a bit, to try and calm you down. you ignore it, and the butterflies it sent to your stomach, and continue to get mad at your dad. “jj is my boyfriend,” you emphasize. “he’s not some fling, or something i use just to feel pleasure! he’s my boyfriend and i love him so get your shit together and be happy for me for once!” your father stands up with a loud bang, scaring both you and your sister. “dad..” your sister whispers, not used to seeing him like this. you, however, have seen him like this more times than you can count. “you’re a good for nothing whore y/n! of course jj would only be using you for your body! you think he really loves you? how could he? you’re you. and there’s no cure for that,” he hisses harshly. you take a sharp breath in, as your eyes goes wide.

“wow,” you chuckle sadly, standing up, making jj’s hand fall from your thigh. “why don’t you tell everyone how you really feel.” your eyes glisten with tears as you look at jj. “go home, okay? i’ll talk to you later.” before he could say anything, you run upstairs and slam your door.

jj turns to your father and slams his fist on the table. “what the fuck is wrong with you?” he screams. your father is taken aback by the anger in the blonde’s voice. “excuse me?” he scoffs in offense. “how dare you speak about y/n like that? i love her! i would never use her for her body. sure, we might be young, but she taught me what love is. i fell in love with her, and i’m glad i did. you’re her father. you’re supposed to love her when no one else does, or when no one else will. you’re supposed to be there for her no matter what. you’re a sorry excuse for a dad and i really hope you get help because you’ve just lost your daughter for good.”

not wanting to hear your father’s response or reaction, jj runs upstairs after you and violently knocks on the door. “leave me alone,” you cry. “y/n,” jj whispers sincerely. once you hear that it’s him, the door almost swings open immediately. you stand in front of him, your hair frizzy and eyes red and puffy. “i thought you were going home,” you sniffle. he looks at you with sad eyes and walks in your room, shutting the door with his foot behind him. “are you okay?” he asks, as you lay down on your bed. he comes to the other side and lays down next to you. he turns his head to look at you and you do the same. “yeah,” you answer falsely. his eyebrows twitch as he waits for you to continue. however, nothing else comes. “you’re not okay,” he says and you look up at the ceiling. “please talk to me about it,” he exclaims softly. you turn back to him with soft eyes, and just his look alone makes you break down.

you sob, as he wraps his arms around you and pulls you to his chest. “he always says shit like this,” you cry. your tears were getting jj’s sweatshirt wet, but he didn’t care one bit. he just hugged you tighter, hoping that if he hugged you tight enough, he could just squeeze all the sadness out. “he’s only mean to me. not my sister, not my mother. just me. what did i do so wrong that he does this? he verbally abuses me jj. he doesn’t hit me, but my god, it hurts so bad.” you knew you were putting yourself in a vulnerable place in front of jj, but you didn’t care. if anyone understood what you were going through, it was him. and you were glad to finally have someone to talk to.

“i’m so sorry,” he whispers, running his fingers through your hair as your head rests on his chest. his other hand is rubbing your back up and down, giving you chills. you giggle softly at the feeling of his fingertips and he looks down at you. “why are you laughing?” he asks with a small smile. he loved seeing you laugh. “you’re tickling me,” you admit. you lifts your chin up with his hand and raises his eyebrows. “oh yeah?” he asks, and you nod. “like this?” all of a sudden, he starts tickling your sides and stomach, making you laugh in excitement. “jj!” you yell as you laugh hard. his hands go everywhere as you try to wiggle out of his embrace, but it’s no use. he flips you over so you’re under him, and he’s on top of you, still tickling you. “okay, okay! jj, please!” you yell in laughter, tears coming out of your eyes and you move your head back and forth. he finally stops and looks down at you, as you pant trying to catch your breath.

“you’re beautiful,” he admits in a whisper. “shut up maybank,” you say with a blush, smacking him lightly in the chest. “thank you for making me feel better,” you say as you still stare into your eyes. “of course.” your eyes flicker to his lips for a quick second, wondering what it must feel like to kiss them. they must be soft, but when he’s kissing you, he’s probably rough. you try to remove the thought from your head, but when you look back up to his eyes, they’re on your lips now.

“j..?” you whisper. “yeah?” he asks in the same tone if voice. “i wa–“

ring ring

your phone rings loudly, making you jump in nervousness. you turn your head to your nightstand, as jj let’s go of you and gets off, clearing his throat with a slight blush on his cheeks. “it’s kie,” you grunt, getting off the bed, trying to forget the moment you two almost had. maybe you were just imagining it. yeah, you say to yourself. i was imagining it.

“hello?” you say, answering the phone. “hey y/n,” you hear her say. “we’re having a kegger tonight. you and jj coming?” you turn to jj and pretend to drink something, your secret signal for a kegger. he nods with a small smile. you turn around and pace around the room. “we’ll be there,” you say in excitement. “john b!” she yells. “they’ll be there!” she repeats in a scream, and you hear john b mumble an “okay.”

you hang up the phone and turn to jj. “i really don’t feel like going downstairs right now,” you admit. he smiles widely at you and plops on your bed. “what’re ya doing loser?” you ask, sitting down next to him. “let’s watch a movie!” he says, turning on your tv. “or, you know, netflix and chill,” he smirks. you roll your eyes and groan. “you’re so inappropriate maybank!”

“only for you my love.”

🏷 tag list: @spencereidbasis @lonely-kermit @pankow1218 @downbytheouterbanks @softtfordrew @maybanksbaby @teamnick @diverrdown @octopus1284 @merchantjjreply @k-k0129 @broken-jj @obxmxybxnk @euphoriapains @sofianunes10 @1d5sosddl @peterparkour15 @hales-a-bells @bailspogue @lemur46 @prejudic3 @itsagurl @castiel-savvy18 @drewswannabegirl @queenofthepouges @harryswigss @lunaposey @largedenominationsplease @kay667 @poguestyle17 @itsyagirljay @agirlwholovescoffee @illbesafeforyou @poguestyleskye @httpstarkey @jjpoperights @netflix-imagines @mijnliefste @anotheryoungin @mitchloveswriting @cheshirecat107 @danicarosaline @nearlydanger9 @marvel-ousnesss @brie-gr3y @otrbnks @mayleenmaybank1 @wallsrudy

[waitineedaname]

"this wasn't supposed to end in murder, guys, we talked about this" with the gordon, tommy + benrey (but BENREY'S saying the line, please?)

Gordon was more surprised than he should have been to discover Benrey was a stickler for rules.

Perhaps it should’ve been expected; they’d spent the entirety of the trek through Black Mesa harassing him endlessly about rules that Gordon was fairly certain were not meant to be enforced in a life or death situation. Gordon had thought maybe it was just Benrey taking their work a little too far or enforcing the rules only to inconvenience him. While some of that may have been true -- Benrey really seemed to get a thrill out of bothering him -- it turned out to be more so because when Benrey was given rules, they liked to follow them, even when most would ignore it. 

Most of the time, this only affected Benrey, and Gordon didn’t mind it. If the doofus wanted to avoid pirating movies like it was the worst crime imaginable, Gordon wasn’t going to argue with them. But sometimes, they enforced rules in a way that ruined Gordon’s fun. 

Case in point: attempting to stop Gordon and Tommy from getting their frustrations out in Chuck E. Cheese.

“This wasn't supposed to end in murder, guys, we talked about this,” Benrey complained from the main area of the restaurant (because it was a restaurant, dammit, no matter what Tommy’s intimidating dad said). Tommy ignored them and continued lobbing skee balls at the animatronics at an alarming velocity. Gordon cheered him on from where he stood atop the air hockey table.

It had been Tommy who suggested an outing to Chuck E. Cheese, no surprise. Gordon was bored and had nothing better to do, so he said fuck it, sure, he’ll partake in the rat’s pizza for an afternoon. Before they entered the restaurant, he had grabbed Tommy and Benrey by the shoulders and told them (but mostly Benrey) that they weren’t going to cause trouble, please behave, he wanted to be able to take Joshua to this Chuck E. Cheese at some point and he didn’t want to get banned. Tommy hadn’t said anything, had only smiled in a way that probably would’ve conveyed “who, me?” had Gordon been paying attention and hadn’t been distracted by Benrey going “booo, Gordon banning us from fun, lame.” When they went inside to buy tokens, however, Gordon saw Benrey hanging back and reading the rules of play that had been posted near the arcade entrance. Well, if they weren’t going to listen to Gordon, at least they were going to listen to the sign. 

The restaurant was virtually empty, just them and the bored employees who seemed unfazed to see three grown adults in an arcade designed for five year olds. Gordon briefly wondered if he should’ve brought Joshua just for appearance’s sake, but the kid was with his ex for the week, and besides, the employees didn’t seem to care. They had about an hour of fun fucking around with the arcade games when Gordon finally pulled himself away from the fighting game he had been playing with Benrey. The two of them had been getting way too competitive, and he had learned by now that there was a certain point where he needed to take a step back or else it would end with one of them in a headlock and the other one yelling about cheating. At least, that’s how it always ended when they played Street Fighter at home, and he definitely didn’t want to risk being the one with his face in the sticky Chuck E. Cheese carpeting. So he waved Benrey off with a promise of a rematch later and wandered over to where Tommy was standing in front of the skee ball machine, a small frown on his face.

“Hey, you good, man?” Gordon asked, putting his hand on Tommy’s arm. Tommy didn’t look away from the skee ball machine, but his mouth twisted into a tighter frown, a look of annoyance on his face that he usually reserved for truly frustrating Resonance Cascade related bullshit. Or for when Gordon or Benrey put the orange juice cartons back in the fridge with only a tablespoon of juice left in them.

“This- I think this game is rigged,” Tommy said, tossing a ball in his hand absently. 

“What?” Gordon laughed a little. “Are you sure you’re not just losing?”

“No, I- I have perfect aim. This game should be a cakewalk.” Sometimes it was a little hard to tell when Tommy was joking, but Gordon was fairly certain he was dead serious about this. 

“I mean, I’m pretty sure all the games are kinda rigged. They make the buttons intentionally stiff or something to scam people out of money.” Gordon rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. Tommy turned to face him, looking betrayed. 

“But… that’s fraudulent! Isn’t- Aren’t there regulations against that?”

“Uh, I mean, maybe, but I don’t think they’re really enforced. Pretty much any arcade is gonna be like that.”

“They shouldn’t be allowed to do that.”

“Nope.”

“But they do it anyway?”

“Yep.”

Tommy was silent for a minute, appearing deep in thought. He then turned on his heel, and before Gordon could react, he was throwing the skee ball at the nearest animatronic with the skill of a professional baseball pitcher. Gordon’s jaw dropped, and Tommy turned back to him with a broad smile on his face. “See, Mr. Freeman? Perfect aim!”

“Yeah, I- I see that!” Gordon laughed, startled. “Why’d you do that, bud?”

“If they’re not going to follow the rules, I’m not either!” Tommy seemed to sense Gordon’s apprehension and tossed him a skee ball. “Don’t worry, my dad knows really good lawyers.”

Gordon rolled the skee ball between his hands and glanced back at the main counter. One of the cashiers looked stunned at the display of violence, but the other one gave them a bored hand wave as if to say they weren’t paid nearly enough to stop them. “You know what? Fuck it. If we get banned, we get banned.”

Tommy flapped his hands excitedly and cheered Gordon on as he climbed on top of the air hockey table. “Do something- Do something crazy!”

Gordon’s aim wasn’t nearly as good as Tommy’s, but turns out that throwing anything with a destructive intent was a good way to release energy. Tommy continued chucking skee balls at the animatronics while Gordon started kicking the pucks off the air hockey table. They were making enough noise to distract Benrey into abandoning their fighting game to investigate what the hell they were doing. 

“Broooo, what are you doing?” Benrey complained, watching the two of them wreck havoc. “That’s- This is against the rules. Gonna get banned, man, whadda hell.”

“Come on, Benrey, I know you wanna break shit.” Gordon sat down on the air hockey table, which creaked concerningly underneath him, and threw a striker at them. 

“Wh- No, dude!” Benrey let the striker hit them on the chest and didn’t seem to notice. “You’re killing him! You’re killing Chunky Cheese, oh my god.”

Tommy laughed, breathless. “Aren’t- Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you want to go apeshit?”

Benrey sang out a panicked string of brown to white Sweet Voice. “I’m gonna hafta call security on you. Gonna send you to Chunky Cheese jail.”

“Chuck E. Cheese doesn’t have on-location security!” Tommy countered, climbing over the barrier that separated the main area from the animatronic band to better attack them.

“I’m on this location, bro.” Benrey said, even though they were clearly in sweatpants and hoodie they’d stolen from Tommy, not anything resembling their security uniform. 

“You don’t work for Chuck E. Cheese.” Gordon argued, still perched on the air hockey table and repeatedly kicking the nearest arcade machine.

“Huh? I’m gonna have to ask you to stop, sir, or else I’m gonna have to take you in under Cabinet Man violations.” Benrey started to approach Gordon in an attempt to stop him, knowing they had no chance of stopping Tommy from climbing on top of the animatronics.

“You’ll never take me alive!” Gordon cried out, overcome with the giddiness of childish destruction. He clambered to his feet atop the table and almost immediately heard the distinct sound of wood breaking. He only had an instant to make panicked eye contact with Benrey before he was plummeting to the ground. 

Tommy ended up driving him to urgent care, Benrey berating the two of them the whole time. They did get banned from every Chuck E. Cheese location in a thirty mile radius, but that’s fine. Josh liked Dave & Buster’s better anyway.

[commentaryvorg]

Digimon Savers Commentary Episode 5 - Break into the Digital World! Drimogemon’s Trap!

In this episode, both Tohma and Masaru separately enter the Digital World to resolve unfinished business with the Digimon they failed to stop last episode. While there, they meet up in a perilous situation and end up bonding, learning to respect each other and work together at last.

Since this episode follows on directly from the events of the last one, we start with a recap of last episode. This is a rare thing for now as most of these early episodes are self-contained events, but it’ll soon become very regular once we get into the series’ overarching plot.

There’s nothing particularly interesting about the recaps; the narration is done by a non-character narrator, and they sometimes tend to show far more clips than necessary to remind people of the relevant things that happened. I often just skip them, though since for the purposes of this commentary I’ll be obligated to watch every single part of an episode to comment on the full experience, I will probably end up moaning about how unnecessarily long they eventually shift into being.

Narrator:  “To fulfil his duty, Tohma went to the Digital World to chase down Drimogemon.”

It’s interesting that the narration frames it this way, since disobeying very strict orders isn’t exactly what one would usually consider fulfilling a duty to the organisation that gave him those orders. And yet, this also is to do with Tohma’s very strong sense of duty and need to complete every job perfectly.

Anyway, as we get back into events happening in the present, please appreciate this Very Done Yoshino Face as she realises that Tohma’s gone and endangered himself by going to the Digital World alone and she’s going to get in trouble for it.

As it happens, Masaru and Agumon have got the exact same idea into their heads of disobeying orders and sneaking into the Digital World to finish things with Drimogemon. While Tohma was legitimately very good at the stealth aspect of this plan, Masaru and Agumon’s idea of stealth is, uh… not so great.

Masaru:  “Successful infiltration!”

Agumon:  “We’re so smooth, Aniki!”

Yep. The smoothest.

Yoshino:  “What are you doing.”

Naturally, Yoshino has very much noticed them. The subs put a question mark here, but I’m using my judgement to not include it, because her voice is so deadpan and I love her.

Masaru:  “Tohma did a Digital Dive? Damn it, he got away before us!”

Yoshino:  “Before?”

Agumon:  “Nothing, he’s just talking to himself.”

Yoshino does seem to be genuinely rather wrapped up in trying to deal with the Tohma situation and bring him back, because she doesn’t appear to pick up on the obvious implication of Masaru’s slip-up here (and the obvious only reason they’d be sneaking in in the middle of the night like this in the first place).

Yoshino:  “Doing a Dive when the equipment hasn’t even been tested on humans…”

Huh, interesting. I guess this particular version of the Digital Gate equipment that DATS has is newer, then, which tracks.

Yoshino manages to detect the signal from Tohma’s Digivice, but before she can use that to bring him back, the signal is lost.

Masaru:  “Really. Well isn’t that a pity.”

Masaru sounds so incredibly (not) concerned here. Though I’m sure this isn’t him genuinely not even caring if Tohma dies; he just assumes Tohma can handle himself and doesn’t see this as his problem at all.

Yoshino:  “Listen to me! It’s dangerous!”

Masaru:  “That doesn’t matter! I’m just going there to settle my fight!”

Yoshino:  “Who cares about your fight? You’re just going to make things worse!”

I mean, it seems like Tohma cares about this fight just as much as Masaru does, actually, if in a somewhat different way. We have two stubborn idiots refusing to let this go here, not just one.

Masaru wanders into the Dive chamber, and, naturally, doesn’t have a clue how to start it up. Yoshino seems quite willing to leave and not help him with this, until he and Agumon start the appropriately Masaru approach of hitting the machine to try and get it to work. (We saw how successful that approach was last episode.)

Masaru:  “You think I’ll just sit back while that guy gets all the action?”

Obviously, Masaru is not exactly thinking this through here; he just wants to somehow get to finish his fight before Tohma can do it for him, damn it!

Since Masaru and Agumon are clearly not about to be sensible and stop trying to break the equipment, Yoshino has no choice but to give in.

Lalamon:  “Yoshino, are you sure about this?”

Yoshino:  “Letting him have his way is better than a broken machine and Tohma stuck over there…”

It really is only because Tohma went first that Masaru is able to get his way here. A broken machine that can be fixed later would be better than Masaru throwing himself into the unknown, but a broken machine while Tohma is stuck over there is not okay at all.

Yoshino:  “Listen! I’m sending you the co-ordinates where we lost Tohma. Make sure to bring him back, okay?”

Masaru:  “Whatever, just do it!”

Yoshino is making the best of this she can and at least using Masaru as a way to try and ensure Tohma is safe. Masaru acts like he doesn’t care – but note he also isn’t explicitly saying he definitely won’t try to help Tohma and will leave him to fend for himself no matter what.

Yoshino:  “I can’t help you when you get to the other side.”

Masaru:  “Like I even need it.”

Yoshino:  “Oh, really.”

Obviously. Masaru is a tough independent fighter who can definitely throw himself into a completely different world without a clue what he’s doing and manage just fine. Being a liiittle cocky there, Masaru. (Exactly as much as Tohma was when he sent himself over knowing he’d have no backup.) And I love how Yoshino isn’t buying it for a second.

Yoshino:  “Return to where you first entered by 0500. That’s where I’ll bring you both back.”

Apparently they need to be in a specific location in order for the Dive equipment to work in reverse (since there isn’t a big handy machine with a chamber in it on the Digital World side). Yoshino was briefly attempting to pull Tohma back earlier before she lost his signal, so I guess that was when he was still within the range of the reverse-transport?

Masaru:  “Bah, it’s like having a curfew.”

Haha. Something Masaru is probably quite used to, since he is only fourteen and his mother must worry about what he gets up to a lot. He did mention having to sneak out of the house to come to DATS last episode, which I surmised was not because DATS was a secret to Sayuri but rather just because it was late.

Masaru looks at his Digivice, which has a clock feature telling us it’s 0:33 right now. Yoshino apparently expects him to navigate a completely unfamiliar world, find Tohma (and also defeat the Drimogemon because she knows he’s going to want to do that even if she’d rather he didn’t bother), and get back to where he arrived, within four and a half hours. That seems a little bit tight – why couldn’t she just let him have as long as he needs and just wait to pull him and Tohma back whenever they appear back in range?

The reason, I imagine, is that she’s really hoping she can get this all wrapped up before the morning shift at DATS starts and Satsuma finds out what’s been going on here. I don’t blame her.

Agumon:  “Aniki, I’m kinda nervous…”

Masaru:  “Don’t get scared now, idiot.”

I like how Masaru is admonishing Agumon for getting scared not as if he’s being a coward or anything like that, but just as if he’s being an idiot. Obviously if they let themselves get scared and hesitate, that might get in the way of them winning their fight! It’s like Masaru is thinking of “getting scared” less in terms of the initial emotion that you can’t help feeling, but in terms of whether you choose to let it control you, or you just push it aside and press on anyway. Anyone who wouldn’t want to do the latter is an idiot, right?

Agumon:  “You sure this is okay?”

Masaru:  “You think I know?”

As the countdown to transfer gets close to zero and the energy starts swirling around them, I love the tiny little hint that Masaru is actually just as nervous about this as Agumon is – he has no idea if this is gonna be okay or not either! – and is just very stubbornly refusing to show it.

As we briefly see here, moving from one world to another involves travelling through a trippy computery in-between void. Future trips to and from the Digital World in the series will (usually, with one notable exception) skip over this part, but we can assume that it’s a thing that happens every time.

The opening also contains a shot of the characters going through this void between worlds. Yoshino doesn’t head to the Digital World herself in this episode, of course, but she will in time.

Masaru:  “This is the Digital World? Cool… The sky and the ground are upside-down!”

I like how Masaru is totally willing to buy that the Digital World really is this weird.

Agumon:  “Aniki… You’re the one who’s upside-down.”

Masaru:  “I knew that.”

…Rather than the much more likely option that he’s just a huge ridiculous dork.

(The subs say “I knew that” like Masaru’s trying to save face, but the word he says in Japanese could also translate as “Oh, I see,” as if he isn’t even trying to hide how he genuinely thought the Digital World was upside-down for a second. That doofus.)

Agumon:  “It’s my first time seeing it, too.”

Masaru:  “But you’re a Digimon, aren’t you?”

Agumon:  “Yeah, but I’ve been in DATS all my life.”

Yep, just like he said in the first episode about not remembering anything but being in DATS. Seems like, unlike the rampaging Digimon they deal with, Agumon came to the human world while he was not exactly “alive”, as such.

They wander through the Digital World for a while, marvelling at some of its weirdness. Circuit board patterns in the sky! Pixelated rivers! All sorts of Digimon walking and bouncing and flying around!

Masaru:  “We’re looking for that mole thing. If we keep walking, we should come across a clue or something.”

Man, Masaru, you sure thought this through and planned things out real good.

Agumon:  “What about Tohma?”

[cut to the DATS control room]

Yoshino:  “‘Leave him, he’ll figure something out on his own.’ …If he said that, what’ll we do?”

Lalamon:  “You’re overthinking it.”

[cut back to the Digital World]

Masaru:  “Leave him, he’ll figure something out on his own.”

Oh dear. Yoshino has already got Masaru pretty figured out and knew full well he wasn’t likely to take looking for Tohma that seriously. Though, to be fair, it is pretty reasonable to assume that Tohma can figure something out on his own. Masaru wouldn’t admit this just yet, but this is him having faith in Tohma’s capabilities! If Masaru had reason to believe that Tohma was definitely in life-threatening danger he couldn’t get out of by himself, I’m sure he wouldn’t be so nonchalant about this.

As Masaru and Agumon explore more Digital World weirdness – more stuff in the sky! Digital plants! A crystalline colosseum-looking thing that’s actually a Chekhov’s Gun for this episode! – a particular piece of BGM is playing that evokes a sense of grand exploration and discovery, as you’d expect for this moment. This piece happens to be called Savers’ “Main Theme”, which was a little surprising to me when I saw its name on the soundtrack. You’d expect this series’ main theme to be something more actiony, in fitting with all the focus on fighting and the way Masaru is. But maybe a more discovery-like piece is actually quite appropriate for what the overall themes of this story are.

Agumon:  “But it feels kinda nostalgic.”

An interesting comment from Agumon here. Though he doesn’t consciously remember anything about the Digital World because he was born in DATS, it seems like he has a subconscious sense of familiarity with it. As we’ve seen every time DATS defeats a Digimon, they don’t die and are simply turned into eggs and “reborn” – so maybe this is a sign of Agumon’s previous life, in which he did live in the Digital World, still vaguely there with him even though the conscious memories of it are lost.

As fun as showing off Digital World weirdness is, we soon get to the point as Drimogemon happens to pop out of a cliff face nearby. Which, yes, is kind of arbitrarily convenient. But I will take this any day over them wandering aimlessly having unnecessary filler adventures for episodes on end before getting to the actual point that the story is here for.

It also may make some reasonable amount of sense, actually. Masaru was sent to where Tohma was last seen, and it’s likely that Tohma deliberately sent himself somewhere near where he could detect Drimogemon. Tohma sending himself over here with absolutely no idea where to find a single Digimon among an entire world would have been incredibly stupid, after all, and I don’t think he could have justified that to himself even with his determination to fix his mistake. Given that, it’s not so unreasonable that Masaru would have run into Drimogemon at some point, since it was going to be somewhere near to where he arrived.

Also, while the other Digimon they’ve seen were just kind of wandering around naturally, the Drimogemon straight up crashed out of a cliffside. It’s still rampaging, exactly as they were worried about last episode, and therefore it’s even more likely that Masaru would have noticed it sooner or later with all the commotion it’s making.

Drimogemon tunnels into the ground, so naturally Masaru heads straight after it – and back at DATS, Yoshino loses his Digivice signal just like she lost Tohma’s. So apparently these signals can be picked up through the boundary between worlds, but not if someone is in another world and also underground. Uhhh, okay then.

This also means that presumably the reason she lost Tohma’s signal is because he went underground while trying to track Drimogemon, not because he was necessarily in any severe danger.

Lalamon:  “This may be the worst…”

I’m amused by Lalamon borrowing Yoshino’s catchphrase, but hedging her bets on it a little bit. Maybe it’s not actually the worst! Maybe.

Satsuma:  “What are you doing?”

Yoshino:  “Searching for an idiot! Geez, why me?”

Yoshino is so focused on frustratedly searching for Masaru’s signal that she doesn’t even register that Satsuma and Kudamon have shown up at first, which is probably the exact thing she was really hoping wasn’t going to happen until Masaru and Tohma were back. Nope, turns out this definitely is the worst.

Back in the Digital World, Masaru’s tried-and-true strategy of tracking Drimogemon down by simply following it through its own tunnel has led them into a huge underground cavern.

Masaru:  “Doesn’t matter where this is! Let’s go, Agumon!”

As before, Masaru doesn’t care about the location so long as he gets to fight! Or, perhaps, he’s trying to tell himself the location doesn’t matter, because on some level he’s realising that Drimogemon is very much in its element and has the advantage here. Which it does, as Masaru and Agumon quickly learn they’re not very good at Whack-a-giant-Digimole.

Bear in mind that Drimogemon is not saying a word, just like it hasn’t since it grew bigger last episode. It’s still in that mindless rampaging state, and so it seems to have no issue with straight-up collapsing the ground underneath Masaru and Agumon. That would be going a bit far if this were a Digimon that was still properly in control of itself.

Agumon:  “Aniki!”

Masaru:  “Idiot, don’t get scared over something like this!”

Masaru is still trying to set an example for his follower and insist that there’s no point in getting scared, even though being in an underground cave-in is in fact a pretty legitimate reason to be scared right now.

They both fall into a pretty deep-looking chasm but manage to somehow land reasonably unhurt, because shounen anime. Agumon’s awkward legs-in-the-air pose he landed in is pretty cute.

It turns out that Tohma and Gaomon are down here too. Seems like Drimogemon took the same approach when it was faced with them.

Masaru:  “What’s this? Does that mean the same thing happened to you?” [he and Agumon burst out laughing] “I see, you’re just like us!”

I really like Masaru’s reaction here. He’s not trying to be mean-spirited; if you listen to the tone of his laughter, there’s nothing malicious or mocking about it. It’s just such a huge relief for him to finally be seeing proof that Tohma’s human. He can fail sometimes and mess up in ways as equally ridiculous and undignified as Masaru. He’s not actually some kind of infuriatingly perfect walking supercomputer who can never do wrong like Masaru’s kind of been resentfully seeing him as. He’s just a person.

The relief of that realisation comes out as laughter not because Masaru’s really trying to mock Tohma for failing, but just because of the elation of finally being able to see Tohma as an equal. “You’re just like us”, indeed.

Tohma’s response is also great. He’s not getting frustrated and snapping back at Masaru like he often would in the previous episode, because he must be able to tell that Masaru isn’t actually trying to insult him here. He’s just embarrassed to be unable to deny the fact that he really is more of a fallible human person than he would have ideally liked Masaru to see him as.

Gaomon, meanwhile, the good dog that he is, has been carefully excavating rocks and found a potential way out. As Tohma heads towards it, he stumbles, because his leg was injured from the fall.

Masaru:  “Hey, you’re hurt!”

Tohma:  [grimacing] “This barely counts as an injury.”

Tohma clearly doesn’t want to give Masaru even more reason to think he’s human and fallible and might need help or something. But Masaru doesn’t care about Tohma’s stubbornness and immediately moves to put himself under Tohma’s arm to support him.

Masaru:  “Here.”

Tohma:  “Stop that. I don’t need you to help—”

Masaru:  “When you’re a man… When you’re a man, there are some things you just have to *do* despite yourself.”

I love Masaru so much. This is the first time we’re getting to see that his manliness thing is about a whole lot more than just fighting. It’s about honour, and integrity, and simply being a good person. The “despite yourself” is because he still doesn’t really like Tohma just yet and there’s a part of him that stubbornly wants to continue to be irritable and contrary towards him for the hell of it – but since Tohma’s injured and needs help, Masaru’s principles about doing the right thing in this kind of situation are more important to him than anything, so he can put that petty stubbornness aside. And these principles of Masaru’s come from exactly the same place as the reason he always gives it his all in fights!

(All those parts earlier in the episode where I confidently asserted that there’s no way Masaru actually wouldn’t have cared if Tohma had got himself killed, and that if he’d believed Tohma was in genuine danger then he wouldn’t have just left him to his own devices? Yeah, this is why. Masaru is Good.)

Masaru’s manly speech was mostly about himself, but it also works as advice to Tohma in this situation. He could continue to try and be stubborn and prideful and insist he doesn’t need help from anyone, but when there’s someone right here offering to help him – someone who was until recently at his throat, no less – what kind of a dick move would it be to reject that offer? Accepting Masaru’s help is the right thing for Tohma to do as well, despite his own pride. And he does.

Agumon:  “You’re making me cry, Aniki!”

Agumon also approves of his aniki’s manly principles, like a good follower should. Aniki is teaching him so much.

Masaru:  “Let’s get outta here first. Then we can think about other things.”

Implicit in Masaru’s statement here is “then we can get back to arguing with each other if we want” – but I like how he isn’t even mentioning that here, because right now it isn’t about that. Their lives are in danger, they need to help each other and work together to get out, and so nothing else matters for the time being.

This turns into a brief cute montage of the four of them helping each other make their way through the tunnels, which turn out to be quite the underground labyrinth. A lot of time implicitly passes here, and while I doubt Masaru and Tohma are saying very much to each other, this is no doubt making them bond a bit. They’re finally spending some time seeing each other as a person and an equal, rather than as some kind of infuriating representation of everything opposite to their own approach that brings out all their insecurities.

Meanwhile at DATS, Yoshino is indeed getting fiercely chewed out by Satsuma.

Yoshino:  “But that was all I could do…”

It really was, or Masaru would have broken the equipment and left Tohma stranded there! She did the absolute best thing she could under the circumstances! Alas, Yoshino doesn’t seem to quite have it in her to stand up for herself and more clearly express this.

Kudamon:  “Instead of berating them, we should find out where they are quickly!”

At least Kudamon has the right idea. And I imagine Satsuma understands this, too – he’s probably only so furious at Yoshino because he’s worried about Tohma and Masaru. He likely would have chewed them out if he could, since this is absolutely far more their fault than Yoshino’s. But they aren’t available for him to yell at, so poor Yoshino got the brunt of it instead.

Masaru:  “Hey, why didn’t you evolve Gaomon and break out?”

Back in the Digital World, Masaru asking this suggests he’s been thinking himself about, naturally, the most straightforward way to get out of here – he’d just evolve Agumon to GeoGreymon and smash their way out, if only he could!

But it says a lot that Masaru is then also applying his mindset to Tohma and assuming that he’s probably thought of the same thing, hence asking why he hasn’t done so, since Tohma can evolve his partner more easily. Masaru’s starting to empathise with Tohma and see him as a person!

(I guess technically Masaru might be able to get his Digisoul by turning around and punching Gaomon in the face? But it’s entirely possible that it wouldn’t work against a Digimon that’s not actively trying to fight him. Or, even if it did, that’d be a dick move to suddenly punch someone who’s not ready to fight and defend themselves, so I doubt Masaru would want to do that.)

Tohma demonstrates why he didn’t just evolve Gaomon by asking Gaomon to punch the wall, showing how dangerously unstable these tunnels are. Which is, uh, something he really could have just explained with words rather than taking a risk like that. But then again, Masaru is definitely someone who learns things better through actions rather than words, so maybe this is Tohma beginning to appreciate that!

They reach another fork in the tunnel and disagree on which path they should take. Tohma explains that the path he’s choosing isn’t random; he’s been dropping coins on the ground as they’ve been moving, and the path Masaru picked has a coin in it, indicating that they’ve been that way before.

(This is a 100 yen coin, by the way, which is roughly equal to one US dollar, and Tohma’s apparently been dropping loads of them. Could he not have used, I dunno, just 1 yen coins? Someone has more money than he knows what to do with.)

Masaru:  “Hey, you’re pretty smart!”

I like how Masaru remarks on this like it’s the first time he’s noticing this, as if he wasn’t already infuriatingly aware that Tohma’s a straight-up genius. This is Tohma displaying his smarts in a low-key, down-to-earth way that a regular person like Masaru can understand and appreciate is a useful way to go about things, rather than a way that makes him just come across as incomprehensibly, unreachably perfect.

Tohma:  “As I said, I’m not like you.”

Tohma’s still taking a little longer to warm up to Masaru and acknowledge that they might actually be similar to each other in a lot of ways, since he insists on stressing this point. Come on, Tohma! Masaru’s already started to admit that maybe you’re more like him than he would have liked you to be a day ago; you should start closing that gap, too!

Masaru makes a face in response to this comment. Apparently he’s agreeing with my sentiment about Tohma being a little too unnecessarily uptight here.

Agumon:  “Aniki… When are we gonna get outta here?!”

Masaru:  “Don’t worry! Keep up your spirits and we’ll use it to work this out somehow!”

Tohma:  “Spirit has nothing to do with it, but we *are* heading up.”

I love the contrast between Masaru’s baseless emotion-driven optimism, and Tohma preferring to base his optimism in actual facts. Both are good ways to be optimistic!

Masaru:  “You’re really unbearable.”

Tohma:  “You too.”

They say this, but they both sound a lot less vitriolic about it than they did in the previous episodes. They still have huge differences in their approach to things that inherently frustrate each other, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be beginning to respect each other anyway!

Masaru and Tohma reach an opening into a wider cavern, but they’re too high up for it to be safe to drop down into it. They’re about to turn back when Drimogemon shows up in the lower cavern.

Masaru:  “He’s out of luck to meet us here! Let’s go, Agumon!”

Yes, out of luck, this is definitely the least advantageous possible position that Drimogemon could be meeting them in. Masaru is still being Masaru and paying no heed to the environment; he sees Drimogemon as being out of luck to meet him at all, because hey, this means they don’t have to go searching for it later!

Tohma points out the incredible disadvantage they’re at, including reminding Masaru that it’s not safe for their partners to evolve in here, and insists they should keep heading for the surface and leave it be for now. But Masaru is having none of it.

Masaru:  “Not gonna!”

I absolutely adore his ridiculous grumpy walk towards Tohma. It’s so perfect for getting across his stubborn attitude here. No. Masaru is gonna fight the thing and no amount of logic or safety is gonna stop him.

Masaru:  “I’m not gonna run or hide! A man takes his fights head-on!”

Also, running away at a time like this isn’t what a man does, according to him, and it’s already become pretty clear just how important sticking to that principle is to Masaru.

So he pulls Tohma with him to the edge of the tunnel and straight-up leaps down onto Drimogemon’s back, with Agumon and Gaomon frantically jumping after them.

(Tohma grimaces in pain as he lands on its back. Yeah, considering his leg injury, ouch.)

Masaru:  “Yo.”

Masaru climbs forward onto Drimogemon’s head and has this delightfully audacious moment.

Then, realising they’re there, Drimogemon goes mad trying to shake them off. When they keep clinging on, it rushes towards the nearest wall trying to tunnel away. Masaru tugs on its fur like reins to redirect it to tunnel where he wants it to – in a more upwards direction, since they soon emerge out on the surface.

(It’s a little questionable how Masaru and co. aren’t just utterly crushed between Drimogemon’s back and the earth as it digs its tunnel, but then again it’s questionable how Drimogemon’s drill even manages to drill out a tunnel big enough for its entire body through what seems like not earth but solid rock in the first place. Shush, it’s anime physics; it’s fine.)

Tohma:  (He… Did he plan all of this from the start? But wait…)

And here’s Tohma applying his mindset to Masaru, imagining that Masaru might have planned this! He’s, uh… not precisely correct on that one, but it says a lot that he’s even considering it at all.

Rather than jump off its back and fight it here, Masaru keeps pulling on Drimogemon’s fur to direct its panicked running.

Masaru:  “Yahoo! This is just like a rodeo!”

(And he’s having a whale of a time while doing it, too, the huge dork.)

Tohma:  “Where are you taking us?”

Masaru:  “You’re the one who said to think of a good battleground!”

Look at Masaru actually thinking about this and applying a decent amount of strategy! He’s really not that bad at doing so when someone prompts him to actually consider it; he’s just usually so raring to jump straight in that it doesn’t occur to him to do so.

The “good battleground” in question is the crystalline colosseum Masaru noticed earlier – just the kind of place where Drimogemon won’t be able to dig. Inside the crystal arena, Masaru gives it a nice big punch before leaping off its back, and its evolution time.

…Except, it turns out, it’s also about to be evolution time for Drimogemon. For some reason. It starts twitching and shaking like it’s having some kind of adverse reaction to something, but I cannot come up with any possible reason why it would be doing so. The robbers who may or may not have been (read: they definitely were) responsible for it growing bigger and rampaging in the first place back in the human world are long gone and out of the picture. This does not make any sense to me. Maybe this is just something that happens if a Digimon that’s grown bigger but not evolved is left to rampage unchecked for long enough? I don’t think we see any other instances in the series that would contradict this, but this is definitely me reaching here.

Meanwhile at DATS, Miki and Megumi have also been called in to help search for the two reckless idiots, and they finally manage to relocate their signals – probably because they’re above ground again now. But they also detect Drimogemon evolving, which, for some reason, activates DATS’s alarm. You know, the one that’s supposed to be for Digimon appearing in the human world, because it’s hardly like a Digimon evolving back in the Digital World is usually anything they need to worry about.

Drimogemon finishes evolving, and it’s now… a Digmon. (Dig, without the second “I”; yes, this is very easy to awkwardly misread as just Digimon, I know.) And, uh, Digimon evolution level facts: this shouldn’t be a stronger Digimon.

If Drimogemon, an Adult-level like Gaogamon and GeoGreymon, had evolved upwards like you’d expect into the next proper evolution level, it’d have reached Perfect level. And, as I’ve mentioned with regards to evolution levels, they are each ridiculously exponentially stronger than the last, to the point that even GeoGreymon and Gaogamon working together would not have stood a chance against even a single Perfect-level.

So, well, obviously that couldn’t actually happen here, because Masaru and Tohma need to win this fight. Instead, Drimogemon just evolved sideways into a bonus gimmicky evolution level called Armour level, which, from its appearances in other series, seems to be roughly just as strong as Adult. This is not actually any significantly more of a threat at all.

Tohma:  “It’s Digmon. He’s far more powerful and has a higher mobility than Drimogemon.”

I guess we’re meant to assume that Armour levels work somewhat differently in this Digimon universe and are in fact just a little bit stronger than Adult, while not nearly as much so as Perfect? Sure, I guess; the general mechanics of Digimon don’t always work exactly the same in different universes.

(Still, Tohma conspicuously does not mention Digmon’s evolution level and explain the fact that it just evolved more sideways than upwards, because the writers don’t want you to notice how awkward this is.)

This whole thing, nonsensical DATS alarm and all, is a hilariously transparent attempt by the writers to inject more artificial tension into this situation, and, I dunno, to maybe showcase a different Monster of the Week since we’ve been dealing with Drimogemon for two episodes now. It’s very silly. Drimogemon should have just stayed as a Drimogemon and everything would have been fine.

At least this does mean, thanks to Digmon’s apparent higher defences and mobility, we get GeoGreymon not winning the fight in a single attack. (Though my brain looks at Digmon and sees something that’s clearly a Bug/Steel-type and is very bothered by how an obviously Fire-type attack like Mega Flame doesn’t harm it at all. Shush, I was raised on Pokémon; I can’t help but see things this way.) It puts up a decent fight for a while, dodging or withstanding their attacks and hitting back, which at least is a refreshing change from the one-attack victories we’ve seen before – because there’s a narrative point to be made in this fight that wouldn’t work if they won straight away.

…I still think this could have been made to work just fine with Drimogemon turning out to be tougher and have more mobility above ground than they’d been expecting, though. It shouldn’t have needed to evolve sideways for this fight to be a challenge.

So anyway, after a little bit of them not getting anywhere in defeating it, Tohma reminds Masaru of the part last episode where GeoGreymon and Gaogamon’s attacks collided from opposing directions and cancelled each other out.

Tohma:  “But what if the opposite happened?”

Masaru:  “What’d happen?”

Tohma:  “Let’s find out!”

Look at Tohma getting into the Masaru spirit of things! He has an idea, but unlike his usual carefully-calculated strategies, he doesn’t know exactly how this one’s going to play out. And yet he’s going for it anyway!

Tohma:  “Isn’t that your style?”

Masaru:  “Now you’re getting it!”

Not only that, but Tohma knows this is him pulling something Masaru would pull, and he’s okay with it! And of course Masaru enthusiastically approves.

Believer kicks in here, by the way, not earlier when they were evolving. We’re still hearing it every episode for now, but even then, the music directors know better than to just blindly throw it in the moment an evolution animation happens, regardless of context. They’re deliberately saving it for the actually triumphant moments, like all “evolution” songs should be.

Masaru:  “The timing has to be perfect.”

Meanwhile, Masaru is taking a leaf out of Tohma’s book and caring about little strategic details like timing! Look at them both go.

On their command, GeoGreymon and Gaogamon fire their Mega Flame and Spiral Blow attacks together in the same direction at the same time, which turns them into a huge flaming tornado that engulfs Digmon and overwhelms it.

Tohma:  “The opposing attacks didn’t clash… they fused! Their combined powers enhanced each other and became amplified to more than before!”

Which, though I don’t know if Tohma himself quite realises this or not, is also a very fitting metaphor for his and Masaru’s methods, just like what happened last episode. If they oppose each other, all they do is get in each other’s way and achieve nothing at all, but if they work together, they can each complement the other’s skills to become something greater than either of them could be on his own!

Masaru:  “Who cares about that? All that matters now is… he dies!”

Meanwhile, of course Masaru doesn’t care about figuring out the sciencey logistics of how this is working (and he certainly cares even less about possibly making some kind of metaphor). He just knows that it’s awesome and it means they win.

(The “he dies!” is, uh, rather dark, especially considering it’s only being turned into an egg, but I’m pretty sure that’s a subs thing and that Masaru doesn’t actually directly reference death here. The subbers were probably just going for something that sounds a bit snappier than “he’s defeated”, which I imagine is closer to what Masaru actually literally said.)

As Masaru starts celebrating their win like the adorable excited dork he is, GeoGreymon and Gaogamon give a small smile to each other, and it’s cute.

Tohma, meanwhile, isn’t quite the type to join in with Masaru’s loud celebrations, but he has a smile to himself and is obviously happy about this outcome as well, in his much more subdued way.

We cut to sun…set? Huh, now that I think about it, I guess this part of the Digital World runs on a different timezone to Japan in the human world, because it was daytime the whole time over here while it was night in Japan. Maybe this world even has an entirely different day length.

Masaru, Tohma and their devolved partners are heading back to the recall point – with Masaru still supporting Tohma’s walking, because he is still good and Tohma probably still needs it.

Tohma:  “When you jumped down towards Drimogemon… Did you plan right from the start to use him so we could get to the surface?”

Tohma only asks this now even though they’ve been implicitly walking back from the fight for a while. It seems he tried to tell himself that it probably was all planned, but the thought kept nagging at him – was it really, though? This is Masaru, after all – that he eventually just had to ask and confirm it.

Masaru:  “Nah, that was just spirit! But the result was great, wasn’t it?!”

Aaaand of course it wasn’t all planned from the start. Of course not. But, hey, there was still deliberate intent and strategy involved as it was happening. It seems Masaru can be pretty good at the whole seat-of-your-pants, make-it-up-as-you-go type of strategising when he needs to be!

Tohma:  (I hate to admit it, but I can’t analyse his ability with my intellect.)

And that’s okay, Tohma! This is Tohma acknowledging that Masaru’s approach is nothing like his, but that it still works just as well and is just as valid a way of going about things. He’s opening his mind to more than just his very rigid way of thinking!

Tohma stops in their walking and… offers Masaru a fist-bump. I really like how he’s the one to offer here, after Masaru was the first to offer support to Tohma earlier and Tohma was still being kind of hesitant about fully accepting Masaru as being similar to him. He’s making up for that now and closing the rest of the gap himself, just like he began to do in the battle when he suggested a Masaru-like risky strategy!

Masaru accepts it without question, of course. He probably already felt like they’d grown enough of an unspoken bond from their experiences that it didn’t need to be said, otherwise I imagine he’d have already made this gesture himself sooner. But I like that it didn’t occur to him, so that we could see Tohma be the one to choose to initiate this.

They are friends now and it is good!

Agumon:  “Aniki’s got himself another follower!”

That’s, uh, not quite what this is, Agumon. But it’s adorable that Agumon jumps to seeing things that way, because to him his aniki is just The Coolest and he can’t imagine anyone else ever being his equal. So if Aniki’s gained the respect of someone new, that must mean he’s also become an aniki to them, right?

Gaomon:  “Master is no follower!”

Meanwhile, maybe Gaomon feels pretty similarly about his master, too. He is, after all, a very good dog.

Safely back at DATS, Masaru and Tohma and their partners have the grace to look appropriately sheepish about this whole thing as Satsuma yells at them. Yoshino is also there and also looks like she’s getting yelled at along with them, which seems unfair to me – she already bore her share of the blame earlier, and it was far less her fault than theirs!

Kudamon:  “You were able to make it back this time, but did you think about what would’ve happen if you’d failed? You still know nothing of the Digital World!”

It’s pretty interesting that Kudamon says this to them, considering that he knows far more about the Digital World than anyone else in this room and yet hasn’t ever thought to inform his agents about it in case something like this ever happened.

Satsuma drops his anger and turns his back to them before finally complimenting them on managing to return. Despite his sternness, he does care about his subordinates! I really do think he was only so angry because he was worried about them never making it back. Going there in the first place was monumentally reckless on both their parts, but Masaru and Tohma did at least handle things quite impressively while they were there, and that deserves to be acknowledged.

(Speaking of worried, I imagine Masaru is very much not planning on telling his mother about how he nearly went and got himself stranded in another world, which is definitely for the best. Poor Sayuri would be terrified just thinking about how close that came to happening.)

Overall thoughts

When I first watched Savers, I think there was a part of me that expected the Masaru-Tohma rivalry to drag on unnecessarily long, like for ten episodes or more, and probably become kind of stale and tiresome before it finally got resolved. But no! Savers doesn’t waste any time with this mini-arc. We’ve seen Masaru’s insecurities brought out by Tohma; we’ve seen Tohma’s insecurities brought out by Masaru; now it’s time to shove them into a situation where they can learn to get along, so that the story can move on with them actually working together.

And, really, it was never going to take Masaru and Tohma that long to reach this point. They always had so much in common along with their differences, and they’re both fundamentally decent people despite their tendency to be very stubbornly insistent about their own way of doing things. All it took was putting them in a situation where they can come to see the other as a person and not have their own issues brought out by the other’s very presence, and each one was always going to see that there’s plenty about the other that he can respect.

So I like this episode a lot, because I think it pulls this off really well. There’s a lot more to it than just the basic premise of “put them in danger so they’re forced to work together” – there’s all sorts of little moments I’ve talked about here that show each of them is slowly beginning to see the other as human and come to understand and respect his different way of thinking. The writers really thought about this, and about these characters. Savers’ character writing is great.

And yeah, the Drimogemon evolving into Digmon is pretty silly, but that’s only a small thing. The conclusion of the metaphor started last episode with GeoGreymon and Gaogamon’s attacks is a narratively appropriate way to end the fight, at least.

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[Dub comparison]