#you think I'm being dramatic but I'm serious. this is the reason I prefer to write oneshots

[m0thisonfire]

What was I thinking

What was I thinking

I took on another personal project I am not sure I can complete again.

Not Watcher, I am going to write about her.

Not the new Mirror, Mirror fic I'm working on, no, I'm invested in it still.

I had the bright idea to write a slowburn fanfic of Caramele and Vedan. One where every chapter is following a different book from Caramele's favorite book series. Twenty-four books. I convinced and condemned myself to write an insane twenty-four chapter oc x canon slow burn that may or may not be terrible and definitely has angst.

What have I done. What was I thinking. I already hate myself, this is going to SUCK.

Do it bad, I fucking guess-

[fire-lizard-ro]

Hi Roro, hope you’re doing well! Let me start by saying your Sunday stuff is MAGNIFICENT, oh my gosh this MAN-

I’ve come with a request for you…

Dr. Veritas Ratio x fem or gn reader. Bathtub. Sex. Like most of the time he’s only interested in reading in the tub, rejecting reader’s advances. But one day, idk, he’s in a MOOD but he doesn’t want to admit it, so he lets reader go a little further than normal with her advances, but he’s still being petty about it, kinda denying and still trying to read his book or whatever and it just Escalates eventually…

Aaaa thank you so much if you decide to do my request! Remember to take breaks and stay hydrated!

I'm ILL over this man jfc-

Dr. Ratio here to prescribe you with a dose of vitamin D-//SHOT

Veri, my love, please just one chance I'm begging just a crumb oisego-

But yesssss gimme the bathtube sex I want it- I wanna do all kinds of wild things to or with this man. Crazy.

But hehehe I know what you are. 👁️👁️

A s i m p . 🫵 (Like I'm any better.)

And thank you!!! This took a While, but I did it. I had lots of fun with it so feel free to request again~

CW and writing under the cut:

CW: vagina and cock (gasp), PIV sex, cockwarming, rough sex, hair pulling, choking (+some breath play), cumming inside (wrap it before you tap it folks), spanking, degradation+praise, objectification, kinda sorta human furniture thing???, name calling (ex:slut), use of words like "cunt" (wow that feels weird writing here-), marking, ignoring you during cockwarming, doggy position(?), cum play, holding your hands behind your back, discussion of safe wording (check-ins), kinda cum as lube?, funishment, d/s aspects to the relationship (though you are dating for romantic reasons as well), slight pussy slapping, talking to your pussy (I know this man a freak <333), crying during sex (+dacryphilia), dumbification (ofc this was gonna be here), ruined orgasm, edging, slight cum eating, a liiiiittle bit of gagging (w/ fingers), usage of "pet" exactly once

Reader gender: fem (I talked with anon separately and they decided on this when I asked for preference- I also only have one fem reader ask. If people want, I can write another version tweaked to be gn or AMAB/male reader~)

Disclaimers:

>>>Dr. Ratio will be referred to as Veritas here since reader is dating him.

>>>This was written and almost finished before 1.6 release.

Bathtub sex, surprisingly, probably isn't the norm for you two. After all, Veritas (oml it feels weird calling him that after so long of calling him Ratio-) enjoys his down time in the bath where he can relax with you and read his books. I like to think that it's one of the few times when his ever racing mind is a bit quieter. So when you are finally pent up enough at just the right time to want to pounce on him in the tub, he's a bit surpised at first. But the surprise would soon melt into mild annoyance. "Can't you just stay still? Quit it- I'm trying to read."

Of course he says it in that ever dramatic way of his while not even glancing up from his book. Speaking of said book- "You're going to get my book wet, darling-" (Yes, he's a "darling" kind of guy. It's sophisticated as he is. And you know he'd say it with that drawl of his and drag the word out. Sometimes in those more intimate moments, it sounds almost like a sultry purr with the way he says it, commanding all your attention.) "And if you do that, you know I'm going to have to punish you, hm?" You almost want it if it means he'd touch you where you want him, but you know that his punishments aren't necessarily fun. Yet still you like them all the same.

(They're more of funishments than punishments in this case- Please do know that funishments and punishments aren't the same, my dear little kinksters~ Since the reader actually enjoys these "punishments" a lot and they are done for their and Veritas' mutual gratification, it's a funishment. These are normally for bratting behavior while actual punishments are for serious things and are meant to actually discourage the behavior that earned you the punishment. Hopefully I explanied it well, lololol-)

But of course you continue to try and rouse his interest, touching him here and there. It reaches the point where you manage to wiggle your way between his arms, in front of his book. Not only does this block his view, but you're dripping water all over his book! (It was all of one or two droplets.) If you listened close enough, you'd probably have heard the sound of his reason breaking in that moment. Like you had poked a sleeping bear one too many times. (And some little part of himself that knew it was also partly because he also was getting into a mood was squashed. Of course it was just because you needed to be disciplined.)

"That's it. You want my attention, darling? Well now you have it.” There was something dark in his voice that sent a shiver down your back and made your nethers tingle in anticipation. He snapped the book closed and set it on the table by the bathtub almost gently, a stark contrast between how his voice sounded and how he was looking at you. He'd tilt his head and consider you, seemingly thinking about how best to punish you for your transgressions. "Hands on my shoulders and do not move them. Color?" Veritas was launching right into it, huh? "Green." "Good."

With hands on his strong shoulders, you watched him with eyes darting around his form to try and figure out what he'd do. Your question was answered by a hand gripping your hip and another dragging down between your breasts, then over your belly, then stopping on your mound. He didn't move any lower, fingers thrumming there just above where you wanted him. Teasing. "I can see your cunt drooling from here. Was she just so hungry that you couldn't be good and hold it until we were out of the tub?" Heat bloomed in your cheeks as he spoke. "Should I punish her? Hm?" Veritas gave your wetness a few light slaps, just enough to make you jolt but not enough to do more than just barely sting. "No- It isn't her fault she's so empty and wanting. But it is your fault that you couldn't be obedient and wait. Isn't that right, my cute little slut?" He whispered in your ear, leaned forward to curl possessively over you while his fingers slipped down to trace around your twitching hole as it tried to suck his finger in.

"Mmmmm..." he hummed lowly, the sound vibrating against you where your chests were pressed together. He kissed the spot beneath your ear before his lips marked a path down your neck, sucking and nipping marks into the tender flesh there. Just as he reached the junction between your neck and shoulder, he suddenly sunk his teeth in and thrusted two fingers into you at the same time. Veritas had sneakily wrapped an arm around your waist to keep you still right before so you weren't able to squirm away from his teeth or his fingers that now plunged in and out of you, agonizingly slow after that fast, rough entry.

The man pressed a kiss to your new bitemark before sliding the hand of the arm around your waist up your back to latch onto your nape and hold you still for a kiss. He chuckled into it as you attempted to fight him for dominance, your tongues clashing. Ultimately, he won and was now devouring your mouth, licking into it with fervor.

At some point, his fingers began to speed up. Veritas was fingerfucking you with his palm slapping against your throbbing clit. And right as you felt yourself begin that climb- He slowed down, his thrusts going back to a leisurely rhythm. He swallowed the whine that left your throat, smirking into the kiss you were still locked in. As he pulled away, he looked incredibly smug. "Thought it would be that easy? Of course not. This is a punishment.”

He did this another time, bringing you close to the rise of pleasure (not at all that close to your peak, though) before going frustratingly slowing. The third time, however... It didn't seem that he was going to stop, and you felt it build and build inside you like a white hot flame. And right as you were reaching the end... He spanked you and ripped his fingers out, sending you over the edge but ruining your orgasm. It had tears beading in your eyes. Fuck did that make him want to fuck you absolutely stupid, but he had more control than that. Your punishment was far from over.

He soothingly ran his hand over your back as you leaned into him, body shivering. "Color?" Through your panting breaths, you managed a weak, "Green." "Good girl." He didn't let you rest any longer, manhandling you into a new position. Now you were leaned over the edge of the tub with your hands keeping you from falling out, Veritas behind you. "I'm going to fuck you now, and you're going to take it all like a good girl, right?" At first you thought he was talking to you, but then he caressed your slit and cooed at it. That mixed sense of shame and arousal shot through you and had you clenching around nothing, making Veritas laugh condescendingly. "So honest..."

Again he started out slow, the sensual slide of his cock inside of your pussy making you close your eyes to focus on the pleasure he was giving you. But he was faster to ramp things up now that he'd already edged you and ruined one of your orgasms. It may or may not have also been because he was quite ready to slake his own lust with your body.

The only reason you didn't slam your face into the tub's edge or fall out was Veritas' grip on you when he grabbed both of your wrists and pulled your arms behind your back. You felt a hand slide into your hair and then he was thrusting into you hard, the slap of his hips slamming into your ass loud in the confined space of the bathroom. It was obscene the way you could even hear the wet sound of his cock going in and out of you amplified by the natural acoustics of said bathroom. "You like hearing how well you take me, slut? I certainly do. It's filthy. Fitting-"

Your hips are bruising from them being pressed onto the edge of the tub, bumping into it with almost every thrust. It hurt but fuck did it all feel so good because he was pressing against your sweet spot every time he fucked into your wet hole.

The hand pulling your head back by your hair let go only to wrap around your throat and pull you up so your back pressed against his chest. "Fuck you sound like such a whore right now. Are you my good little whore? Just for me?" Of course you couldn't answer because your mind was blank from his hand pressing just right to cut off some of that blood flow. Oh and because he had also just tilted his hand to cut off your air. He held for a bit, waiting until your vision was a bit fuzzy at the edges before letting you breathe, the feeling of the air rushing back into your lungs making you dizzy. You felt so close you could scream- And then you nearly did when he pulled out and stopped your orgasm.

His hands let go of you and you nearly keeled over, but he caught you. With an arm around your waist, you couldn't tell what he was doing behind you until you heard the slick sound of him fisting his cock. Right as he began cumming, he slammed back into you to fill you with it while biting down hard on the back of your neck. Another bite to mark you as his.

Veritas then pulled out so the last few spurts of cum would paint your labia in white, marking you inside and out with his spend.

You could feel the frustrated tears pouring down your face as you felt your burning arousal festering in your belly and the mix of embarrassment and thrill at his actions. Fuck this man would be the end of you. He unlatched from your neck to lean forward and lick the tears off your face with a hum. "You look so pretty like this..." He patted your ass before that same hand was sliding down to open you up using your pussy lips as he leaned back to watch as the cum he poured into you began to slip out.

Scooping up the cum that had dribbled out, he fingered it back in, purposefully tapping at your gspot a few times. He then pulled the white covered fingers out and petted your clit, playing with it a little before bringing it to your face. "Clean them off." Your tongue kitten licked some of it off before he was shoving them in your mouth. You gagged a little, drooling over his fingers while weakly sliding your tongue over them to clean them of the cum clinging to them.

"Good girl," he praised with a kiss to your jaw before he let out a sigh. "I'm going to sit you on my cock and finish my reading. Color?" "Green, fuck-" "That's a good pet."

Warming his cock while leaned forward to rest your arms on the lip of the tub while your head rested on those was hard. You desperately wanted to cum, but you now were willing to be obedient to get what you wanted. You weren't sure how much more punishment you could take. It didn't help that he had an arm resting on the back of your hips, slung over them as he leaned on you a bit while his other arm rested atop the other one. That hand was holding up his book. He wasn't touching you besides that and your ass resting in the cradle of his hips, cock deep inside your pussy which still fluttered around his thickness occasionally. Every time you squirmed he would spank you with a pointed look before going back to his book, ignoring you entirely. Any whining or talking would be met with the same treatment.

He checked in on you after a bit. "Color?" "...yellow." His demeanor changed immedately. Petting your side, he eased you back to lean against him once more. "What's wrong, baby?" He typically saved that endearment for intimate moments alone together and times like this where you might need reassurance. "I wanna see your face... wanna hold you." It seemed you might be a bit sensitive, now, after being punished for a while and needed that from him. "Of course, baby. Your punishment is almost over. I'll let you come soon and we can continue in the bedroom, hm?" You loved this man. "Okay." He kissed your forehead. "Good girl."

He slipped out, making you whine. It was met with a chuckle and he helped you turn around to slide into his lap again, this time facing him.

Veritas pulled you to rest against him, tucking you into his neck as he wrapped an arm around your waist. Once you both were settled in, he went back to reading. He still ignored you, but it wasn't so bad this time.

You knew he was done when he set his book on the table again.

He settled his grip on your hips before going straight into fucking up into you hard and fast, what cum was still left in you from his cock plugging it in you aiding the slide of dick in and out of you. He fucked you and played with you until you felt like you couldn't think straight. Even when he asked you questions, knowing you couldn't answer, you weren't quite sure what you said. Whether it was even coherent or not.

"Such a cute, dumb girl for me."

As you came around his cock again, you moaned as you felt the warmth of his cum in you. "Did so, so good for me. Such a good girl." Veritas gave you some time to come down from your high before asking. "You wanna continue in the bedroom or are you finished for the night?" "...m' done." "Alright, baby." He gave you some more time before cleaning you up and draining the tub. Another kiss was pressed to your forehead, then your cheek, then your lips. "Let's go to bed, darling. I'll take care of you."

Lololol hopefully you like it. 🙏

If there’s any typos or if it doesn’t make sense somewhere… Your honor my client claims “oopsie daisy”. It’s me. The client is me, your honor-

[qierxing]

A/N: An interpreted continuation of @shiny-jr wonderful fic. (checks calendar) Uhm, happy three month update to this series AND 1k notes on the first part! I would say sorry for the wait, but I really did need it LOL. Anyway, it's not super obvious, but the timeline is a bit all over the place in this part, because I'm jumping back and forth between past and present.

TW/CW: Immolation, violence, implied stalking+actual stalking, obsessive behavior, mild psychological and body horror, toxic relationships, Yuu uses it/its pronouns, we get a little meta in here, the boys are FIGHTINGGG I. II. | Isekai AU | Yan! Heartslabyul x Reader

“Who are you?” said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I—I hardly know, Sir, just at present—at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.”

“What do you mean by that?” said the Caterpillar, sternly. “Explain yourself!”

“I ca’n’t explain myself, I’m afraid, Sir,” said Alice, “because I am not myself, you see.”

— Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Caroll

vi. Mourning

It is incredibly hard to get Yuu alone.

Whether it be by the forces of fate or just because so many vie for their attention, there is rarely, if ever, any time when someone is able to spend time personally alongside them. The only exception to this rule is Grim, who was practically the player's companion from the beginning.

So when Ace Trappola manages a rare chance to snag some one on one time with Yuu, he guns for it. Course, he had to time it perfectly. 

It was just another night like any other. Ace and Deuce decided to come over to hang out for a casual sleepover as usual. The four of them did initially start out studying, before the textbooks and worksheets were being abandoned in favor of more exciting things, such as the deck of cards that Ace brought with him.

Sending Deuce and Grim off to get snacks through a won bet over a card game was easy as pie.

"Hey Ace?" 

He hums in response, letting Yuu know he's listening. His nimble fingers shuffle the worn cards, flipping through them with practiced ease. Stacking them up quickly, he wonders if he should try to impress Yuu with another card trick to gain their enthralled praise.

"Do you…like…being my friend?"

The question makes him blink and look up in surprise at Yuu. It feels blasphemous to hear such doubt lingering in their words.

"Why? Scared I'm gonna ditch ya?" He teases.

Yuu doesn't respond, only giving a sheepish smile back. 

"I-It's not like I don't like being friends with you." He tries to keep his cool. "I just-"

Yuu's smile doesn't falter. "It's okay, Ace."

He's reminded of his previous girlfriend in middle school. It was more of a fling than a serious thing, but it's something he remembers vividly. Their breakup, after all, was rather dramatic.

"You're too much, Ace. Sometimes you just take it too far." 

What was even her name? Elizabeth? He could barely even remember, but for some reason, he still recalls the intense way her face was twisted in burning resentment. He tried to bury it in the past. He swore he would never fall in love or get into another relationship, preferring friendships over any kind of romantic trysts.

Now that he looks at Yuu, he already knows he's screwed up big time.

Yuu's gaze is no longer meeting his, instead staring into the fireplace that Grim had so generously set up earlier. The crackling blue flames reflect in their irises and in that moment, dread curls inside Ace's stomach. Yuu doesn't seem right.

"Hey…you okay?" He asks hesitantly, placing a hand on their shoulder.

Yuu doesn't move, still staring at the fire intently. He opens his mouth to ask again, but then they speak.

"If I wasn't acting like myself, would you still like me?" 

Another question out of left field. 

"Even if you somehow grow anemones on your head, Yuu's still Yuu, right?" His heart swells in pride at the way their lips quirk at his inside joke. 

"Yeah…" they murmur back. 

"Wanna see somethin' cool?" he says, holding out a card. Yuu tilts their head questioningly.

"It's the ace of hearts. What about it?"

"It's not just the ace of hearts!" Ace puffs out his cheeks. "Don't you know the meaning of this card?"

Yuu shakes their head.

"It means good news for yourself or someone close. Practically a lucky charm!" Ace waggles his eyebrows suggestively. "So how can things go wrong now that you have me?"

Yuu snorts and shoves him playfully. "Yeah, yeah, okay, Mr. Lucky Charm."

But it works. The foggy clouds clear from Yuu's eyes, finally returning them to the familiar luster he's used to. For the rest of the night, there is no hint of hollowness within them. And Ace hopes he will never see that sight again.

-

He should've known something was up since that night.

When Headmaster Crowley personally makes an appearance at their dorm, he should've realized it then. If there was anything that the old raven hated more, it was having to do more work than usual. 

"That person wasn't an imposter." Crowley says, coughing awkwardly into his fist.

The solemn words echo in his head on end. The rest of the Headmaster's words start to tune out for Ace. Automatically, his legs begin to move on their own. The calls of the others chase after him, but he ignores them, racing out of the lounge and towards the mirror portal.

Because if you didn't hurt Yuu-

-then what had he done?

When he first arrived in NRC, he didn't even know that Ramshackle dorm existed. Not until Yuu came to reside there; until he had to beg for shelter from them when he was chained with that damn collar. He knew that they didn't have to take him in. But they did, and maybe that's why Ace couldn't turn his back after that. 

The building before him is no longer the broken down hovel that he remembers back then. He remembers how the roof was almost caving in and wooden beams were always in danger of collapsing. Each knock on the entrance doors would send cascades of dust upon his head. Now, the walls are painted with a fresh coat of paint, the roof has new shingles, and the place actually looks like a house you could safely live in. 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Prefect! Are you there?!" He yells, desperation leaking into his voice. "Please!"

Bang! Bang!

He's gotta be out of his damn mind, acting like some crazy person. But he can't help but be blinded by his fear. So he keeps hitting the door with his fists, praying, hoping, for…well that someone would open the door.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Yuu!!" He screams, and his voice echoes around him, mocking his helplessness. His fists are becoming numb from slamming the wood so hard, but he can't stop himself.

"Yuu–!"

"Oi! Ace!!!" A rough hand on his shoulder shoves him back and before he could knock the souvnabit-

"Ace, look at me!"

He's stopped by Deuce's fists meeting his in an even match of strength. Like an illusion broken, Ace stills and yanks his hands back.

There's only heavy breathing in between them for a long while. 

"...they're not here." Ace snaps to look at Deuce, who only closes his eyes in a painful grimace.

"What do you mean, 'not here'?" Ace asks.

Deuce doesn't say anything for a beat.

"What do you mean they're–"

"They're in the infirmary." Deuce's words flow out in a breathless rush. "The Headmaster said that after you ran."

Fuck, he just acted like an idiot then. No wonder no one was responding to his absolute earth shattering door banging and yelling. Then the meaning of Deuce's words begin to sink in. Oh Seven, no–

He turns and before he could even step in the direction of the main building, his arm is yanked back.

He snarls at Deuce. "Let me go! I have to see the prefect!"

"Housewarden is calling you back." Deuce forces out through gritted teeth and closed eyes. "The Headmaster said that…they don't want to see anyone."

And like a fire put out, Ace's anger chokes to flickering embers.

He lets Deuce guide him back, all the way from the Ramshackle dorm, to the mirror portal, and then back to Heartslabyul's lounge where the other three are grimly awaiting them.

Ace half expects to be yelled at once he passes the threshold. Or get some kind of lecture on how he should have better manners than to just run off like that. It would've been just like his housewarden to only care about weird, arbitrary rules when there were other arguably more important matters.

But his housewarden sits silently on his gilded velvet throne with glassy eyes. There's no anger burning behind them, and the freshmen are terrified to see their once proud and fearsome queen reduced to this husk. He almost would rather him back to the state where he was barking out orders for them. The silence in the lounge is deafening.

Ace swears they must be all thinking the same thing.

Please let this be a bad dream.

-

He tried calling you. Texting you. Hell, he even tried messaging you on Magicam! Magicam, of all things! 

Anxiety claws at his heart with each unread message and dial voice tone greeting. He has so much to say, to ask for-

Deuce wasn't faring well on his side either. He had also tried calling and texting you, to no avail. Grim, that traitor, hadn't come back to visit Heartslabyul at all since the incident. Never mind the fact he had only himself to blame for that—he thought at the very least the cat direbeast would have some sense of pity for their friendship and throw them a bone. 

Ace tried two more times to meet you. 

First, during your infirmary stay, when you were still unconscious.

The second time was when you returned to Ramshackle dorm with Grim.

Maybe the Seven were punishing him for his hubris. Or he supposes this is just karma. Because both times, he fails spectacularly at the front door of Heartslabyul. Because of this, he's the reason why Riddle had put them all on house arrest (with the exception of academic reasons, of course).

It's a declaration that would've been met with mutiny from all of them, if it weren't for the fact that even Headmaster Crowley had explicitly forbade anyone from showing up on Ramshackle's doorstep or trying to meet you. So he understands. Really! He does. He's seen how Riddle holes up in his room, muttering to himself while carrying out boxes upon boxes of crumpled paper. When he manages to snag a stray paper that flutters out on garbage day, Ace realizes that Riddle is also just as frenzied trying to reach out to you. Even if he is going about it in an old fashioned way.

He'll chip in to help. If his housewarden is left to his own devices, they’ll all be fossils by the time he sends what he deems a satisfactory letter. 

And the faster they do this, the faster they have a chance of reaching you.

vii. Embalming

The most horrifying thing is that it doesn't seem to care about dying.

That cursed pile of ceramic shards had disappeared—no, pieced itself back together—and once again, it became the smiling face of Yuu, the being they all knew and used to adore.

Riddle Rosehearts immediately smashed it to pieces again under the weight of his magic.

No one had tried to stop their housewarden. Not even the faceless mobs. Even if they were all alarmed at the erratic behavior of their housewarden, they could not deny the fear of seeing something dead come back alive. With not so much as a dent or wound in them, for that matter.

The third time it happened, Riddle ordered for the remains to be dumped into the school’s incinerator at the highest heat level. Surely, that would be enough. 

He watched as the incinerator roared and shuddered, shaking as if the pits of hell had opened. After a few agonizing minutes, the rumbling stops, and before he can even breathe a sigh of relief, the iron hatches creak open, and out strolls Yuu, perfectly fine and pieced together again.

It's magic. Or some kind of century old curse. Of course it is. After all, it was at a higher power than even Draconia's comprehension. Why he didn't consider the possibility beforehand is something he berates himself now. 

What might be the most damning thing is that it has no fear or suspicion in its face; even after the multiple times it’s been maimed and torn apart. Not like you, who immediately closed themselves off at being hurt so thoroughly. 

The irony isn't lost on him. The temptation of letting the puppet take its place back in favor of just bringing everything back to how it was is something Riddle could not deny. But now that he's actually met you, Yuu just seems more of a shadow of what he remembers during your interactions together.

It has your face. It acts like you.

But it's not you.

When Ace asks after the commotion at the Unbirthday party on how he was able to figure out that it wasn’t [First], he had to take a moment to gather his thoughts. Ace’s face changes into something of disbelief when Riddle merely replies with: “[First] takes their tea with two sugars and a dash of milk.”

“You were so sure only because of that?”

He doesn’t want to think what Ace’s face would look like if he had explained his whole list of reasons how he realized that the puppet wasn’t you. How he soaked up as much as he could when you came over for the tea party. Your expressions, your little habits, the way you fidget…it was all filed away in Riddle's head and later, his private notebook.

But that doesn’t matter now. Now, there’s an even bigger problem than the puppet resurrecting itself.

Grim is missing again.

This alone should've been more worrying than anything for Yuu, but it merely shrugs and says it’s not sure where he scampered off to. He's more than suspicious, of course, but there is no proof, which is infuriating already.

But without Grim, they are missing the key to finding [First]. 

The others raise hell once they hear the news Riddle reports at the weekly housewarden meeting. A new wave of tension washes over NRC and with it, an unprecedented deep disdain for the puppet. It returns back to classes unannounced, making Ace and Deuce rant to him about how weird it is that it’s trying so hard to act like nothing had happened. It attends school events with their camera, drumming up conversations like normal between all of them; despite the fact it gets ignorance or violence in response (depending on the person it greets).

But none of them are really sure on how to interact with Yuu.

The nicer ones, like Trey or Deuce, entertain Yuu with frigidly civil responses, in hopes of boring the puppet and making it flit away to another victim. Meanwhile, he and Ace have finally come together on an agreed opinion: that they would rather die before letting the puppet even think it could take [First]’s place.

“Go away.”

Yuu merely smiles in response to Riddle’s annoyed voice. The puppet leisurely lounges in the chair across the table from him. The school library is vast but empty, his authoritative voice echoing down the long halls. Several floating books flit past above their heads and the chandeliers above flicker with bright candlelight.

“I just wanted to keep you company.” Riddle purses his mouth in disgust. It’s invasive, it’s gross, and most of all it feels wrong to hear those words coming from Yuu. 

“I didn’t ask for your company,” he replies coldly. “Shouldn’t you know that it’s bad manners to bother someone who wants to be left alone?”

“I don’t think you like being left alone, Riddle.” He flinches at the way Yuu’s eyes bore into him. “Well, then again, you sure like to pretend you’re fine, don’t you?”

His hand tightens around the textbook he’s reading about cursed dolls. There would be no point if he brought out his magical pen and reduced it to rubble. But he is tempted, if only to get some peace and quiet for just a few minutes.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Riddle says.

“Hmm…” Yuu hums into its hand, “...then I suppose I will just let you be. What a shame, I had something entertaining to tell.”

“What? What do you mean?” 

Yuu giggles and waves him off. “No, no! You said you didn’t want my company now. Why should I tell you anything?”

He resists the urge to incinerate the book in his hands. “Fine! I would like your company. What is this ‘entertaining’ thing you want to tell me so badly?”

“Hmm…how insincere,” Yuu tilts its head coyly with a smile more akin to a smirk. “But I guess that’s the most I can get.”

“Since you’ve all been driving yourselves crazy, [First] is safe.” The floor feels like it’s been yanked underneath him. The puppet is smiling still, as if it’s all some big joke rather than the revelation it delivered. He can hear his blood roaring through his ears.

“You…” Riddle snarls, face heating into a bright red rage. “What did you do to them?”

It bursts into laughter at his face. 

“Why, I only granted their wish!”

Its laughter is cut short by the sound of ceramic being crushed, and Riddle is left shakily breathing at the pile of shards that used to be Yuu. The puppet’s words churn over and over in his head.

What did you wish for? 

-

It is currently 3:20 on a Wednesday afternoon. 

In his planner, the bullet point neatly penned on the schedule shows ‘Studying for History Test’ in bold blue ink for the time slot. ‘History of the Queendom of Roses’ is laid open on his desk, to the chapter about the local mythos of the area, just as he intended. His notes from lecture are next to it, with several of his stationary needed to jot down annotations. 

And yet, Riddle has yet to touch any of these items or actually adhere to his daily schedule—he’s too distracted by what he should do in order to reach the player.

Riddle's already embarrassed enough, resorting to handwritten letters with the best calligraphy he can muster. He's sent only a couple that passed his satisfaction, and they have all been met with judgemental silence. He’s hunched over another crumpled letter near ripping his hair out when someone knocks on his bedroom door. He quickly shoves the envelope under some textbooks out of frantic instinct.

“Come in.”

A familiar bob of red orange hair pops out behind his door, and Riddle raises an eyebrow at the underclassman who enters.

“Ace? What is it?” Normally, Ace would never be in his room if he could help it. If he was in Riddle’s room, it most likely meant he was either being scolded or punished. And Ace’s eyes are shifting side to side, as if he was trying to sneak his way in. 

“Out with it, Ace.” He’s not in the mood for the underclassman’s shenanigans.

“Housewarden, you’re writing letters to the prefect, aren’t ya?” The question completely takes him off-guard sputtering.

“W-What does t-that have to do with you?” He tries to maintain his composure, but Ace is already giving him a smug smirk for the one up on him. Of all people, it had to be him finding out. 

"I had an idea, Housewarden. Why don't we send them something with the letter?" Riddle blinks in surprise.

“...How smart of you for once, Ace.” It was so simple, yet he marvels at the idea's brilliance. Perhaps there was merit in trying this proposal.

“Hey! What the hell does that mean?!” His underclassman snaps back in a huff. “Whatever, point being, maybe we should switch it up instead of letters all the time.”

He crosses his arms, “And what do you suggest? There’s not much we can really send that hasn't been sent already by other dorms.”

Ace winces. Clearly he didn’t think about the other dorms with more affluent people; people who had more than enough thaumarks and prestige to spend it to appeal to you. Riddle can't blame him either: although he is at the top of the school and his parents are well known mages, it's not like any of that could help him here. All of them, in a sense, were stuck in that situation. 

For once, he starts to resent not having more.

"Ugh, well…maybe it doesn't need to be so fancy, you know?" Ace rubs his neck, face scrunched in frustration. "Like…uh…you know-flowers! People send flowers all the time, yeah?"

This is true. And for Queendom of Roses’ residents, it has become custom to send bouquets with subtle messages left in petals and stems. Although he is a bit loath to admit that he isn’t as well versed in the language of flowers compared to hedgehogs.

"And what do you recommend, Ace?" He asks. "What would be the best flower to send to the prefect in our circumstance?"

"We got all these roses, why not send them that?" Ace responds, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Riddle coughs in annoyance. 

"Why not just procure some from Sam's shop? Today is Wednesday. Do you not remember rule 228?" He chides. Ace groans, rolling his eyes. 

"Not the weird rules again…"

"Ace."

"Yeeesss Housewarden…" The card soldier mock salutes with a deadpan expression. "I'll see if we can get some flowers at Sam's."

"You better, or else it's–" 

"-off with my head, I got it, I got it." Riddle seethes as Ace cuts him off and dashes out of his room before he could get another word in. So troublesome…

Still, there's nothing to do except wait for his card soldier to report back. He turns back to his desk, bringing out the crumpled letter from its hiding place. Running a hand over the crumpled pages, he attempts to pick up his pen again, but fails as his thoughts begin to wander. 

Riddle only manages to pen a couple legible sentences when his door slams open, banging against the wall. He almost falls out of his chair in shock from the loud noise. How was Ace back so quickly?

"Have you not heard of knocking?!" He scowls, turning around to see Ace panting and sweating as if he had run a marathon.

"Never mind that, Housewarden, I saw them!" Ace shouts. 

“What are you jabbering…” Riddle trails off in realization. “You better not be horsing around, Ace.”

“Do you think I would lie to you about this?” Ace retorts frantically. “I saw them at Sam’s shop working the cashier!”

For a moment, his mind races with this information. If you were working at Sam’s shop, it would explain why you weren’t showing up to classes, let alone in the hallways or rooms of NRC. It’s a clever ruse—classes may be over during this time of day, but nearly all of them were participating in mandatory club activities or study labs. No wonder no one else has caught on to this. Riddle rubs his chin in thought, settling back in his chair.

“What are you going to do now, Housewarden Riddle?” Ace asks hesitantly. His eyes are filled with some kind of anticipation and hope, no doubt wondering if he could get some leeway in his own agenda. Normally, he would go right away as there was no need to hesitate about these kinds of things.

But. Crowley’s stern announcement comes back to his mind and guilt starts to creep in. 

“First, we’ll go with your idea, Ace.” He responds. “The ban hasn’t been lifted, after all.” Ace opens his mouth to protest, but he holds a hand up to interrupt him.

“But if that doesn’t work, then I’m sure even Crowley can’t say anything about coincidences.”

viii. Calling Hours

“I’m not joking around, you two.” 

There’s very few times that the vice housewarden of Heartslabyul gets truly mad. His patience seems boundless, honed by years of taking care of younger siblings at home and then dealing with rowdy underclassmen in NRC. But even his saint-like patience could only stretch so far.  

“I told you, we didn’t do it!” Ace scowls with furrowed eyebrows and crossed arms. Meanwhile, Deuce is silent by his side, face twisted with conflicting emotions. “You don’t even have proof! You just singled us out just because!”

“Who else was around the kitchen when I left it?” Trey asks, voice starting to rise in anger. “Did you think I wouldn’t notice you two lurking around before?”

The two freshmen began to speak out, voices rambling over each other and cascading into a loud shouting match that was barely intelligible.

“We just wanted to see if we could get something from the fridge, how were we supposed to know someone would-”

“Me and Ace just wanted to bring something along when we deliver the Housewarden’s invitation to-”

"You dumbass, don't just say that out loud-!"

It’s at this moment that Cater Diamond strolls in, takes one look at the mess of the situation and does a 180 back round to the door. But it’s too late, because the interruption is just enough for Ace to sink his hooks into him.

“Cater-senpai, you believe us, right?” Ace shouts after the orange head, making him flinch in place. “You saw us get the order from Housewarden Riddle!”

Cater turns around slowly like a door on rusty hinges, with an expression that screams of not wanting to be involved. "Oh Acey! Uhm, you mean the letter Riddle gave you two-"

"Yes!" Deuce interrupts in earnest, already trying to barrel his way to proving his innocence. "Housewarden Riddle entrusted us to deliver the tea party invitation ourselves personally." 

Cater turns to Trey, who is rubbing the bridge of his nose, eyes closed with a tiredness that seems comically reminiscent of an old man. "Well, I'm not sure what this is all about, Trey, but maybe you should cut 'em some slack and let it go."

The other senior nods in reluctant agreement and the two freshmen all but nearly trample over each other trying to run from the tension filled room. But they're stopped in their tracks when Trey calls out again.

"Wait, you two." The duo slowly looks back with cautious eyes.

"You wanted to bring something to the prefect, didn't you?" Trey tilts his head to one of the many strange topsy turvey cabinets in the kitchen. "I have some leftover cookies that I made yesterday. Take them. I'm sorry for accusing you guys like that."

Ace and Deuce exchange confused glances, and although Ace looks away in denial, Deuce nods in gratitude. They leave the kitchen just as chaotically, this time with the aroma of lavender following them.

A brief silence follows their absence, while Cater raises an eyebrow at Trey.

"Sooo…care to spill the tea?"

"Don't even start." Trey groans.

Cater seats himself on one of the stools near the counter, waiting. Trey busies himself with cleaning the stoves and counter, trying not to meet Cater's eyes. Silence falls, but it's with none of the comfort that Cater is familiar with. Giving up, he turns to his phone, refreshing his Magicam dash mindlessly. This continues for a good while until finally—

A low sigh, then– "Somebody took my candied violets."

Cater looks up from his phone. Another beat passes, and he realizes it's not a passing statement. 

"It's not like you to get this bent out of shape over your ingredients going MIA." Cater shifts his face onto the elbow meeting pristine marble while shoving his phone away. "You sure that one of the froshes didn't just end up taking them thinking they were for everyone?"

Trey lets out a rough guffaw. "You know better than I do that the others don't touch our stuff."

Cater taps his fingers on the polished white granite, hands already itching to grab his phone and check for updates, but he restrains himself. "That's…mostly true."

"That can only mean one of you guys has taken it." The hairs on Cater's neck raise at Trey's tone.

"Hey now," Cater grins, raising his hands in mock surrender, "you heard it from those two. I was with Riddle when he gave them that invitation."

"I know." Cater's fingers twitch as Trey carelessly tossed aside the rag used to clean the counter into a bucket. The soggy fabric makes a hollow sound against the wood, echoing rather loudly in contrast. "But Riddle would never do such a thing either."

Cater resists the urge to roll his eyes. It's true that their cute housewarden would hardly dare to stoop to thievery, but Trey's blind faith in him can be annoying at times. After all, didn't their little teapot tyrant threaten to kill the prefect at one point?

He supposes that was his fault, though.

"Then it's back to square one." Cater shrugs. "Besides, what were you even planning to do with them if you weren't gonna eat it?"

The baker runs a hand through his mussed forest green hair and frowns. "I was going to bake a cake with them as a peace offering to the prefect."

Cater's mouth forms an 'o' shape in realization. "That's pretty big brain."

"Yeah, but look how that turned out."

"It's fine~you were able to at least send cookies this time round." Cater finally cracks, digging into his pocket for the familiar grooves of his phone case. "All's well that ends well, right?"

Trey doesn't respond and Cater is too engrossed in his phone to look up to see his expression. He slides off the stool naturally, tapping through recent posts and comments, eyes laser focused on recent posts on his dash. 

"Cater." 

There it is. It's the most recent story reel by Ace(according to the time stamp, about two minutes ago). It's an inconspicuous black out picture with several cute teapot and teacup stickers decorating the screen. The banner message is short and sweet: 'Dorm tea party bout to get real this month 🤔😶'

"Cater." Cater's attention snaps back and towards his friend, who gazes at him with dark eyes.

"Please don't lie to me next time."

With that, Cater watches as his long time friend finally leaves the kitchen. 

Thank the Seven he did. He might have been a decent actor, but Trey has been with him through thick and thin, and it's given him the annoying ability to see through his tells.

Really now. Trey knows that he hates sweets. Shouldn't that be enough of an alibi?

It's not fair that Trey already has everything to set him up for a good relationship with you. Even if they're all set back by their violent reaction to you arriving in this world, he's sure it would only take a couple tries with Trey offering genuine heartfelt food to get to you.

It's just not fair. 

Isn't he fun to hang out with? He consistently gets compliments online for his suave looks and easy personality. So why couldn't he compare to-

He shakes his head. There's no point in overthinking it now. Cay Cay #3 had easily taken the cutely decorated jar of violets and discarded it in the dorm dumpster. Like candy from a baby.

He knows it's petty. But for once, he feels much better, knowing that he upset Trey's original plans to ensnare you.

Now, he once again checks Ace's story reel and screenshots it, while quickly pulling up the search bar. He just needs to level the playing field.

-

There can only be one fake bitch in this house and Cater has had enough of the competition.

“I wasn’t aware that you were going to visit me, Cater.” 

The puppet tilts its head with a warm smile, but there’s a frosty undercurrent to the greeting. It’s clear that he’s not welcome, if the way it’s blocking the doorway of Ramshackle has anything to say.

“Yeah, I ended up losing something here. You mind if I look for it, Yuu-chan?” Cater asks innocently. “Promise it won’t take too long.”

“Hm, sure. But I don’t think you’ll find what you’re looking for.” Yuu's grin is sharp as a razor blade. It knows what he’s here for and it’s definitely taunting him. That little–

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to look~” He responds back airily. His fist curls around his phone in his pocket tightly. The puppet shrugs and walks off, leaving him standing in the doorway.

It’s been a while since he’s personally been at Ramshackle dorm. Cater remembers how Ace complained about the house being a real fixer upper, but then again, he doesn’t remember much of that, since Yuu always spent most of the time at Heartslabyul dorm. The renovations certainly made it much more pleasing to the eye and more importantly, livable by HOA standards.

There’s nothing to write home about the living room. The coffee table is bare and there’s no wrinkles in the sofa cushions at all. It’s a little eerie—as if no one even lived in the house in the first place. The only sign of living was perhaps the fact it is clean of dust or dirt. 

Nothing in the kitchen either. He gives a wayward glance to the second floor, searching for any signs of movement. Couldn’t hurt to be thorough. 

Rows of tall doors pass by as Cater opens each one of them. A storage closet, a spare room, an electric cabinet, another storage area–it all blurs by after the fourth door. There really is nothing, as if the whole house has been wiped of any trace of you. He's about to toss in the towel when an old, dusty memory crops up. His little freshman, Ace. Cater swears he had been making fun of Yuu for seeing strange things at night. Something about a mouse?

Right, their room! Why didn't he think of looking there?  

His feet take him rapidly from memory to the door that was the third from last in the hallway in the east wing. He manages to wrench the door open to see a regular bedroom, bed sheets barely stirred. Before he can even put one foot in, a throat clears behind him. 

"It's rather rude to go into other people's bedrooms, don't you think?"

You got to be kidding me. Cater turns around with the fakest smile plastered across his face. Yuu looks unamused, tapping its foot impatiently against the wooden floorboards. 

"Just wanted to make sure, y'know?" Cater replies. Yuu gives a tight smile back. It goes around him and shuts the door with a hard thunk.

"Ever heard about how curiosity killed the cat?" 

Cater shakes his head in surrender, "I guess I need to look elsewhere for my lost item."

The entrance doors slam shut behind him hard enough to startle several birds out the dead trees in the yard. Cater doesn't bother giving a look back as he strides out of the yard and past the gated fence surrounding the property. That glimpse was enough and much more. Cater smirks to himself, taking his phone out and sending a quick text message to the group chat. Yes, curiosity may have killed the poor kitty cat…

But satisfaction brought it back.

viiii. Eulogy

It might surprise people to know that Trey Clover's first real friend is Che'nya Pinker.

That's not to say that Trey had trouble getting along with others as a kid, oh no. Everyone in his neighborhood agreed that he was a very sweet boy, who looked out for others around him. When he wasn’t taking care of his baby sister, he would be asked by other parents around the block to look after their own children, whether that be playing soccer games with the more energetic kids or patty cakes with the quiet ones. So it isn’t a stretch to say that he’s friends with nearly everyone. But Che’nya was a special case.

Their first meeting is still burned into Trey’s memory.

“You see it too, don’cha?” The boy had greeted him while swinging upside down on a low hanging tree branch. Trey had half a mind to scold him for the dangerous action before he actually looked at him. 

The first thing that takes Trey off guard is that he has eyes. They’re a shiny yellow, just a shade lighter than his. His pupils are long and thin, not round like his at all. He supposes it must be like a cat’s pupils—for he’s never seen anything like it. Then it’s his unique colorful hair, streaks of light pink intermingling with dark purple, making a strange striped pattern across the chopped uneven hair. Trey faintly recalls a certain cat from their local legends, whose fur boasted those very same colors. 

“...What are you talking about?” Trey eyes him warily. The cat boy gives a cheeky grin. He vanishes and then reappears in front of him, albeit with missing arms.

“The people around us who wear the faces of strangers.” Trey’s skin gets goosebumps at the way the boy observes him. He is not looking through Trey, but at him. Their eyes are directly making contact. “But you’re different. You have the face of a friend.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Trey furrows his eyebrows. The boy's grin stretches wider in response. (His teeth were rather blunter than expected, but his canines were pointed.)

“You’re strange. I’m stranger. Together, we can both be strange,” the cat boy chirps back lightheartedly. “The name’s Artemiy Artemiyevich Pinker. But you can just call me Che’nya.”

Something in his mind had clicked then. It’s hard to explain the feeling–just that it felt like a puzzle piece put into place. He hadn’t known it then, but at that point, the hands of fate had moved. 

Whatever the case may be, Trey was grateful to have Che’nya. Because now he knows that he isn’t crazy; not when he couldn’t see his parent’s faces nor his baby sister’s or even his other friends'. Che’nya too, only shrugs his shoulders when Trey asks him about his grandfather.

“The old man? Yeah, they say I have his eyes, but I wouldn’t know.” The statement is so casually delivered that Trey can hardly believe he’s talking about his only living relative and guardian. “His face does not mirror mine in my mind.”

Staring down at you, shivering with cold and hunger, he feels something churn in him again, just like that fateful day. 

He has his orders from Riddle: bring in the imposter alive. Trey isn’t a violent sort and nor does he enjoy boasting his strength over others like a sadist. And he cannot deny the feeling of cold rage that day when Yuu shuts down, fear inundating him that he may never, ever, get an explanation for the world he was born in. Why he and Che’nya were special, why he had to witness Riddle suffer under his mother–what was it all for?

Your face. There is no blank stretched skin—he can see your wide open eyes, bloodshot and fixated on him. Your mouth too, shaped in a pained grimace, lips bruised and bloodied from previous skirmishes. Surely, surely, there must be a reason why you were here. Why you bear the same face as Yuu. You hold all the answers, if you would just cooperate.

“Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Trey tries reaching out, but you scurry back into the hedges, squinted eyes wary and untrusting. You remind him of a frightened hedgehog, prickly spines bristled and body curled in to protect yourself. “I just wanna talk.”

“Go away, please,” the imposter quietly pleads. “Just pretend you never saw me! I swear I didn’t even know how I got here…”

Trey swallows hard. 

“Just come quietly. Please.” He is the one begging now. “It’ll be easier for all of us.”

“For who?” The imposter barks a sharp laugh. Trey doesn't miss the way they wince in pain from their wounds. “For me? Or for you?”

He doesn’t have an answer. The sound of running footsteps has him turning, and when he looks back, you’re already gone. The only traces that you were there at all were faint splotches of red blood and crushed grass.

Trey wonders if this, too, was meant to be fate.

—

Trey’s been lovingly dubbed as someone reliable. Some consider him to be an older brother figure due to his nagging and supportive care. It's ingrained in him at this point from the years he’s spent playing babysitter. Trey knows the students around him are not his younger siblings who need constant watching (although their actions say otherwise).

But he worries.

Just a bit. Trey knows better than anyone that you can take care of yourself just fine. He's seen how you carry yourself within those hedges. 

It's just that, he doesn't know if you're okay right now. How could he know? You've been silent even in the face of Riddle's unceasing letters. So of course he's just a bit unsure if you're actually okay, or if you don't trust them enough to say so.

Trey finds himself more frustrated with the ban they're under. Not because of the inability to see you, although that is part of it. No, it's because Riddle has managed to skirt around that rule to desperately grab onto you, and that was just enough to wear you down. 

He thinks if he was bold enough, he could've tried.

As if it wasn't enough, even Ace and Deuce find their own way to get to you, snatching up the chance to deliver the monthly tea party invitation. It takes everything in Trey to clench his teeth and let go—even when Cater ruins his plans. He can't get mad here because it won't get him any closer to you. He has to be the bigger person.

If there is one thing Trey knows about Cater, it's that he absolutely hates getting sweaty or dirty. If Cater wasn’t trying to get out of running those P.E laps, he would absolutely be shirking any extra work assigned. So he's more than suspicious when Cater bounces up to him with a grin saying he could help cover Trey's science club duty of watering plants. 

Trey likes to think he can tell when Cater’s lying. His close friend's happy go lucky demeanor often throws off others, but he’s been with him long enough to pick out his subtle tells. His eyebrow twitches when he’s particularly anxious and the corner of his mouth tends to perk up if he’s feeling particularly daring or desperate. Trey figures this must be something that even he can’t trust Trey with, if he’s going out of his way to take on extra work.

So Trey considers this repayment for letting him take his violets. He watches as Cater dashes off in labwear, waiting for a minute, before following after him. His duty was in the tropical zone of the botanical garden, so he has no worries even if he does lose him. 

He nearly does a double take when he sees you walking in the courtyard hallways by yourself. And before Trey could rethink his actions, he follows behind you, eyes not leaving your form for a minute. 

You look like you haven't slept well. There's dark circles under your eyes. He hopes you're brushing your teeth. There’s no signs of bandages or wounds that he remembers you in, which he supposes is one relief. Even if he so desperately wishes to cook you a proper meal—you look like you could fall over at any minute.

The realization your path is leading to the botanical garden comes just as Trey catches sight of the glass dome. He wants to rush in after you, but he stops himself just as the door swings close behind your form.

Cater is in there. It all makes sense now. Trey has to give it to him—Cater really does know every little happening in the school. But Trey knows him well too—and if he had to guess, even if Cater manages to talk to you, it won’t end pretty. His inability to be genuine will definitely only set you on edge and less likely to reciprocate. 

The waiting game he plays is nothing compared to the silence he had to endure before. Trey doesn’t have to look to know that you’re the one slamming open the doors to the botanical gardens, labwear dirtied and face twisted in a frustrated anger. He watches as you enter Professor Crewel’s office again and after some time, pop back out in completely different clothes. 

His chest tightens in longing as he continues to follow after (more from an instinctual drive now, rather than deliberate), trying to keep you in sight within the stone pillars. He wants to call out after you so badly and ask you what’s the matter, if you need help with anything. If there was anything he could do to make you forgive him for watching you bleed out on dewy grass. The sun is about to set, warm golden rays flickering between pillars and casting long shadows. Trey’s so enamored with following after you that he flinches back when the sun directly shines into his eyes, blinding him momentarily. 

He barely manages to get a hold of himself. By the time his eyes blink away the blurry blots, he realizes you’re looking back at him. His breath stops. Your eyes are wide and frightened as they are that day, and his heart drops to his stomach. Both of you don’t move, merely staring at each other. 

You finally break the connection, turning around and quickly walking away. Trey gasps, remembering to breathe, lungs screaming for air. 

What was that?

x. Entombment

It's a nice sunny afternoon in the Heartslabyul domain. There weren't any track club activities nor dreaded remedial lessons. If anything, this free time would have been perfect for a nap. He hadn’t been up to any large shenanigans like this since the whole fiasco of [First] and Yuu. 

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” 

Ace scoffs, rolling his eyes. “You got a better one, loosey Deucy? If we don’t do this now, then all of us are stuck until Housewarden grows a pair of balls.” 

Deuce Spade bites his lips. “I just think there might be a better way around this.”

“Yeah? And the sky is blue. Keep going, we don't have much time." Ace cranes his neck to the side of the bush, eyes warily looking out to make sure the coast is clear. 

Deuce grumbles but continues plucking, some roses already tucked within his arms. They chose a bush the furthest away from the dorm, in a hidden corner where no arched windows could overlook them. It was necessary, because today was Wednesday, and the Housewarden would have their heads for plucking his beloved roses out of all the flora.

His fingers are bleeding already, finger pads torn from repetitive tugging on the thorns and stems. They couldn’t afford taking any of the gardening tools, lest they be questioned for what they were doing with them. Still, even he had his limits.  

“Why is it that you aren’t helping at all?” Deuce snipes at Ace, who scowls back. 

“You want to be caught by someone, genius?” Ace replies snarkily. “Someone has to keep look out.”

“Doesn’t explain why I have to do all the work.” 

Ace rolls his eyes, deigning not to bother engaging in another futile argument that would lead to nowhere. Deuce is about to cut off a particularly stubborn rose when Ace pipes up again.

“...Did they ever respond to your texts?” Deuce only deflates in response. Ace’s mouth slants crookedly in an annoyed grimace. The two of them know full well what the answer to that was.

“Damn that cat…” Ace mutters bitterly under his breath. Deuce doesn’t say anything. He too, is finding it hard to not feel petty towards Grim right now. Weren’t they friends? He could’ve afforded to help them out somehow. But it’s no use. Their texts went unanswered. Headmaster had banned them from stepping foot onto Ramshackle grounds. It’s like you had closed everything off from them.

It’s why he doesn’t protest this plan, as reckless as it is. He’s not any better than Ace—he needs to see you. He and Ace were your closest friends, your first friends! He loved you. That had to mean something. If it didn’t, then…

“I think this is enough.” Deuce adjusts the messy bouquet in his hands, attempting to hold them without crushing the delicate petals. Ace looks over and nods in approval. He takes out crimson ribbons and a silk handkerchief and begins tying it around the stems in a very artful way that has Deuce’s eyebrows raising.

“Where did you get that?” Ace smirks in response at the interrogative question.

“Don’t worry about it.” Ace snatches the bouquet from his hands and slips in an envelope with the housewarden’s seal. Deuce silences the questions on the tip of his tongue. For whatever Ace has planned, he’s rather not know anything more troublesome than necesscary. 

What he failed to account for was getting caught. Housewarden Riddle was beyond furious for what they did. It was only by Trey and Cater's gentle reminders that what they did was for all of them, that he only calmed down.

Deuce supposes three days with the collar is better than a week. Even if it is a heavy thing that weighs on his very soul.

He only hopes that you don't notice the thorns they forgot to trim.

—

It’s a given that although Trey is the right hand of Heartslabyul, Cater is considered the left hand of Housewarden Riddle. It’s been that way since Deuce himself enrolled in NRC, and possibly even further back. He hadn’t understood it quite then, but after some time, he realized something that he should’ve realized a long time ago. 

To never get on Cater’s bad side.

There are events where the five of them gather outside of Yuu’s influence. Administrative meetings, monthly tea parties, and the occasional casual hang out. When you’re aware of how much of your life is affected from being not like the others, it’s common to side with those who are like you. 

Cater had called the meeting this time. It was a bit out of the blue, at least for him and Ace. It’s only when they’re all gathered around the playing table in the lounge, not another soul in sight, when Deuce realizes Cater has that gleam in his eye. One that screams that he got a viral lead on a hot topic. His upperclassman must have been investigating.

"Remember how mirrors are considered to be portals?"

Deuce's neck prickles.

"Your point, Cater?" Their housewarden is impatient, not aware of what the question poses. His arms are crossed with his eyebrows furrowed in a frustrated glare. Deuce realizes that he must have been the one to send out Cater.

"There's a mirror in the prefect's bedroom." Deuce blurts out, and Riddle’s steely eyes snap over in surprise. Cater nods in affirmation.

"Yeah. I only managed a glimpse, but Yuu covered their mirror." Cater says. 

“Hold on, you went into the prefect’s bedroom? Scratch that, to Ramshackle?” Ace asks. “Why are we just getting this now?”

“Because I just came back Acey,” Cater flicks his forehead, causing Ace to exclaim in pain. Trey smiles faintly at the action. “Also Riddle told me to keep it confidential—you two would have ran straight out if we had told you.” 

Deuce sheepishly rubs his neck at Cater’s pointed sentence. Riddle rubs his chin in thoughtfulness, eyebrows still furrowed. 

“But there isn’t anything magical about that mirror, is there?” Riddle asks, skepticism coating his tone. “The puppet could have simply covered that mirror out of an odd preference.”

“Acey, didn’t you mention that Yuu always mentioned seeing things in that mirror?” Cater responds, deflecting the question upon his underclassmen. Ace straightens as he and Deuce both exchange a glance.

“Yeah…something about a mouse in their mirror,” Ace answers slowly, face scrunched in an effort to recall memories. “I always thought it was just crazy dreams but…”

“Yuu was always insisting about it,” Deuce chimes in. “Said the mouse speaks to them and everything—that there was another world it was in.”

Trey and Cater share a furtive glance together before looking at Riddle. Their housewarden seems to be taking in the new information, closing his eyes in thought. For a while, no one dares to speak. 

“What do you think, Riddle?” Trey finally breaks the heavy silence, and Deuce breathlessly releases a sigh. Leave it to Trey to speak for all of them.

“If the mirror in the bedroom is magical, then that changes things.” Riddle pronounces with conviction. “If that mirror potentially holds a dimension, then that would be the perfect place to trap someone.”

“Cater.” The orange head straightens to attention at the stern command. “Find a way to get the puppet out of the dorm for a while. We’ll need to look into this ourselves.”

Cater smirks and a chill runs down Deuce’s spine. While Cater still has an easy going look, his jade green eyes have darkened with a sadistic gleam. 

“Roger that, housewarden!” His upperclassman chirps, already taking out his phone. 

Riddle is already barking orders that each of them are to take up within this mission of theirs. But Deuce nearly misses his task, eyes stuck on Cater’s face as he scrolls his phone.

He catches a glimpse of a photo before it’s quickly clicked away. Deuce snaps back to Riddle just in time for Cater to shoot him a wary glare, checking to make sure no one else was looking. 

Deuce is very glad he is working together with Cater.

[heartssatoru]

How about JJK men(Gojo, Megumi, Nanaimo,Itadori and Toge if possible) how they react to a fight with their s/o!

Of course! Toge is also one I can do! Thank you for the request <3

Characters: Gojo, megumi, nanami, itadori, sukuna, and toge!

warnings: none, but angst to fluff, kinda suggestive on sukunas part. Also not proofread!

On request, don't forget to ask if you want fluff, angst, or even smut! I prefer hcs but it's fine if you don't want that, just don't expect much from me on there😭

Also, I noticed that you had put nanami, i don't know at all how to write for him! I'm really sorry, I've rewatched jujutsu kaisen multiple times and I still don't really know😭 please forgive me on that part🙏

Gojo:

Tells you you're being dramatic, which only causes the argument to get worse.

Thinks that he's the one being mature in this argument

He really just wants for this to end, but he doesn't realize he's pissing you off even more

Or maybe he does

Tries to end it, because he hates arguing with you. He always feels guilty

Even if he started it

As soon as you start giving him silent treatment he feels bad

But tries to ignore it because he thinks you'll probably stop

He thinks your gonna end up coming to him

If you don't then he'll whine out apologies, especially if it means no more cuddles for him

If you ignore him more than he's sigh dramatically

Either scoops you up in his arms, or buys you stuff then scoops you up in arms

There's really no way to avoid him😭

Megumi:

Why are you mad at him? Let alone arguing??

kinda just stares at you and stays silent, cause he doesn't know what to say

Also he doesn't want the argument to get worse. So he just stands there

Probably doesn't really care, because he thinks that you'll calm down

If you don't however

He doesn't really know what to do. And is clueless because he doesn't want to upset you even more

Apologizes once and then tries to act like as if nothing happened

You'll let him off this time

Itadori

Says little mean things back, just not really rude. Because he doesn't wanna hurt your feelings

Goofs around especially if he doesn't know why your arguing.

But If your dead serious he'll stop, he doesn't really like seeing you angry

It scares him a bit

Sukuna will probably insult you too but ignore him please 😭

Genuinely will apologize and try to make up because he hates being yelled at

Probably had tears in his eyes when you were yelling

Sukuna:

Laughs at you, whats your problem this time??

Oh what, is it because he's insulting you? Hes just like that

Was it his jokes? Their just jokes, for the time being so why so upset??

Even though he finds it amusing, calm down. Its kinda annoying to him

don't really expect much from this man, most likely puts you in your place before anything else happens

Also because he refuses to take disrespect from a human. Thats disgusting

And if you have the guts to try and argue with him, so be it!

He wont kill you don't worry. Thats far from his mind, but will make you apologize one way or another

Toge:

Feels bad and doesn't know what to do, especially because he can't talk

You guys probably argue on messages or something😭😭

Whatever the reason is he trys to explain

His hands all sweaty and him texting all fast. Tries to get you to feel better on text

Probably spams you with apologies, poor boy. And plus he doesn't like seeing you angry

Gives you personal space, times like these make him feel especially bad because he can't try and talk

And after a bit he'll message you asking you if your okay

If you are he'll take you out because he still feels bad about the argument

Edit: hi! I know some people have liked this post but before so, I put sukuna instead of toge. It was 11PM so I apologize on that part! (I just now realized I didn't do toge and rushed on his part) also my apologies with toge, my auto correct makes his name "together"

[thelunarfairy]

Hi, so… pleeeeeeease don't think I'm perverted XD please

It's just that I saw your answer about Hanako's sexual desire, so I was thinking…. you know, I ship Hanene a lot, so….

Do you think Hanako and Yashiro can… do… you know… S…

you know, if the two of them can do it….sometime?

For the love of God, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, and I'm not a peeeeervert

Oww sweetie, it's okay, I won't think you're a pervert hahaha

It's just curiosity, it's okay, talking about it is the most natural thing in the world, so don't worry, okay?

So, I think there is a possibility of Hanako and Yashiro having sexual involvement, but I believe the chances are very small.

There are some factors that lead us to this result.

Firstly, their relationship develops very slowly, and this is not without reason. Hanako is responsible for this, he and Yashiro could have started a relationship a long time ago.

Yashiro was going to accept Hanako's confession in the confession tree, which means that if he didn't ask her to reject it, they would be together now hahah in other words, Hanako is responsible for letting their relationship move slowly.

Yashiro gave him several opportunities to kiss her, but he avoided it for a long time, even though he wanted to kiss her back. Hanako doesn't do this for nothing or because he plays hard to get, no, he does it because he knows that their relationship would be very complicated to conceive.

He's a ghost, a murderer, a supernatural with a dark and cloudy past, he's insecure and afraid of himself, and he can't grow up. Even though he looks like a teenager now like Yashiro, he won't be able to keep up with her. And he still believes that he doesn't deserve to love or be loved by anyone. Hanako has many internal conflicts that he needs to resolve.

So he avoids it, he even tries to get away from her twice, in the PP arc and in the number six arc. He gives up on her even though he suffers from it, because he wanted her to live happily, even without him. He didn't resist when she went after him, she preferred him to having to live her "dream" life without him. Then he kissed her.

But despite the kiss, we didn't see the two talking about it. He kissed but soon after they changed the subject and time passed without either of them saying anything about it hahaha. Yashiro is afraid of putting pressure on Hanako, and he preferred to remain silent.

In other words, even though the kiss happened, there is still nothing serious between them, Nene decided that she will declare herself to him for this. She wants to be with him, but he shows no signs that he will accept being her boyfriend. He definitely wants to, but at the same time he avoids it because he's more realistic than Yashiro.

So, they took a while to hold hands and kiss, and even so the panel we had of the kiss was very distant. Hanako is perverted, yes, he has desires for Yashiro, yes, but he has impediments.

Hanako is now in love, so he will be more cautious around her. He won't stand around her or pressure her into having a sexual relationship, you don't see him having perverted interactions with her anymore. He hugs her a lot, but he doesn't talk as often about perverted things as he used to, it was very subtle but you could tell. He is now embarrassed.

Yes, don't forget that Hanako is also Amane, and Amane is shy. Hanako likes to flirt, he has confidence in it, but Amane doesn't.

If this is to happen, it will be at a very intense moment. Or during an intense romantic interaction, whether it's a long kiss or something, or a near loss.

Like what happened before the kiss, they had to go through a prolonged separation and a dramatic reunion before they could have their first kiss. So, for the apex of the relationship to happen, it would have to be something in that style. Did you see how it was with Hakubo and Sumire? After 100 years, to destroy the boundary, a dramatic and intense moment.

Another factor, the one who has a lot of desire is Hanako, and if he's avoiding it I think that will make things more difficult. It would be unlikely that Yashiro would take the initiative for this, so he would have to do so.

Let's think about something else, I don't know how Aidairo deals with this but, Hanako and Yashiro are teenagers, it's different from Hakubo and Sumire who are adults. Two teenagers, one with a thirteen-year-old body, and another with a sixteen-year-old, having sex… I don't know. They say that in Japan the age of "consent" was thirteen, but this year they changed it to sixteen. So I don't know whether or not she would do scenes like that if she considers their age.

Personally, I think it's very difficult for us to see, it could happen, it could, but the possibilities are very small. And in the worst case scenario, the scene we would have would be the same as Hakubo and Sumire's (please no)

I think if it happens, it will be very discreet, just like their kiss. Aidairo even showed Tsukasa's kiss up close, but Hanako and Yashiro's didn't, I felt harmed hahahaha

Anyway, let's see what will happen, JSHK likes to surprise us, so let them surprise us.

I hope you liked it, thanks for the ask! ♡

[atmilliways]

“Do you know the rules?” for the question prompts!

(from this list)

Stepping outside my comfort zone to post part one of something that I haven't finished yet, because I could not for the life of me decide between doing this as a pre-ship thing, a "this is the oh moment" thing, or a "they've already been in each other's pants" thing. So I'm writing all of them.

Anyway, here it is. 1276 words so far.

~

Twister, Part 1

“Do you know the rules?”

Steve stares at Dustin and knows, knows he’s taking too long to answer if Dustin is being serious. But . . . is he being serious? Really?

Even though Steve wants to give the kid more credit than that, the way Dustin is staring at him over the top of the spinner board suggests that he is one hundred percent asking him this question.

“Dude,” Steve sighs. “It’s fucking Twister.”

Dustin raises his eyebrows in classic Dustin fashion. (Eddie, watching the standoff from the side, pretends to scratch his nose for cover while discretely mouthing to Steve, ‘Tone.’ Steve tamps down the impulse to smirk in agreement.) “Soooo, you’re saying—”

“Yes, Henderson, I know the damn rules. Hands and feet go on specific colors, first person to wipe out loses. Toddlers can play this, man.”

No one else seems to be paying much attention, still preoccupied with barbeque spread over on the patio—slow eaters, all of ‘em. The burgers and chips and soda will run out sooner or later though. Steve would prefer this heckling to be over by the time any other players straggle over to their patch of shaded lawn.

“Do you need a refresher on left and right?” Dustin asks, and Steve tips his head back to stare at the sky outside of Joyce and Hopper’s new house in despair. “Because the other day—”

Eddie snorts, and now he’s scratching the other side of his nose, no doubt mouthing encouragement to Dustin. Traitor.

“The other day,” Steve snaps, “I missed that turn because you waited until the last possible second to tell me you wanted to go to Mike’s instead of Will’s! And I took the next turn instead, it barely added half a minute to the meter.”

“Meter?” Dustin frowns, perplexed. (Score one for team Harrington! . . . Against a lot, but Steve will take it.) “What meter?”

“Like in a taxi, egghead. I’m going to send away for one and start charging you a fare every time I give you a ride if you don’t cool it with this shit.”

Eddie lets out an honest to god guffaw, and now it’s Dustin‘s turn to look betrayed. Pretty dramatic of him, in Steve’s opinion, but they get through the rest of the game’s minimal setup without much more sniping. When they’re done Dustin yells at his friends to come play, then lets out a frustrated huff and heads towards the patio when no one gets up.

Steve and Eddie both survey the mat and its colorful dots with a sense of accomplishment, minuscule as it is. Well—minuscule for Steve. His bites have pretty much healed up. Eddie still has a ways to go, deeper holes in his skin and muscles to knit slowly up into knots of scar tissue. Sometimes, if he moves too quick or for too long, Steve catches him wincing when he thinks no one’s looking.

“You playing?” Steve asks, somewhere between curious and concerned.

There’s a flash in Eddie’s eyes as he glances over that Steve doesn’t know how to read. If he had to guess, he’d say that the guy doesn’t want to be babied, which. Understandable. But the look makes Steve’s skin prickle oddly, like. . . . Well, he doesn’t know, but like something. (There’s a reason the Henderson vs Harrington board, which thankfully doesn’t literally exist, is showing about a million to one. Steve tries not to think about it much.)

“What, and miss a game that even toddlers can play?” Eddie smirks, putting his hands on his hips in a perfect mirror of Steve—who hadn’t even realized he’s doing that, shit. “Not on your life, Big Boy.”

The words are still echoing in Steve’s head several rounds of the stupid game later when he puts his right foot on blue. Eddie, with his right hand and foot on yellow and blue respectively, left foot camped out over on red, is hovering smack dab over his lap.

One slip and, Jesus fucking Christ, Munson will be able to weigh in on that big boy thing for sure, and Steve just doesn’t feel ready for that. Not while Mike Wheeler is making the noodliest human bridge right next to them, both feet on green and both hands on red. They shouldn’t have put Will in charge of the spinner for this round, because it's the rest of them that keep getting all the weird pretzel positions.

“Robin, right foot on blue,” Will calls.

With a groan, Robin moves her foot to the nearest blue circle—right under Steve. “If your ass touches my foot, Harrington, I swear to god,” she mutters under her breath.

“If my ass touches your foot, your gnarly toenails are going to jab me through my shorts,” Steve grumbles back. Because what the hell, it’s not like he talked her into this! She’d agreed to play all on her own.

“Now now, children,” Eddie says. (Is it Steve, or does his voice sound strained?) “Robin’s toenails are lovely, and so is Stevie’s ass. Let’s not any of us be Debbie Downers here.”

“Eddie,” Will calls next, and the spinner whirs. “Right hand green.”

There’s a pause, then Eddie lets out a heavy breath and starts inching that hand back. His fingers crab-walk over the plastic mat. “Some—Someone tell me when I hit it. Can’t see back there.”

And Steve. . . . Steve can see it, alright. In slow motion, almost as though he knows exactly what’s coming a second before it actually happens. Eddie is almost there when he starts trying to switch from crouched forward over his feet like a gargoyle to leaning back on that hand into a full backward arch. Except he doesn’t quite make it, buckling halfway to the equilibrium point, and goes down like a brick.

He lands exactly the way Steve had worried about, forcing an undignified sound from Steve’s lungs as he drops onto Robin’s foot, who yelps and falls over.

“Did I win?” Mike asks, peering upside down at them from amidst his dangling hair. “Hey, I won!”

“My elbow,” Robin groans from half on the mat, half eating grass.

“Off,” Steve wheezes, shoving at Eddie and trying to uncross his eyes.

Eddie rolls away with a groan of his own, arms wrapped around his middle. “Sorry dude. Slipped. Ow.”

Steve—who did get jabbed in the ass by his best friend’s big toenail, thankyouverymuch, in addition to now very much wanting an ice pack to shove down the front of his shorts—doesn’t bother to call bullshit. He knows what happened, Eddie knows what happened. . . . Eddie probably knows that he knows, and that’s enough.

So he ignores Mike’s victory dance (if you could call it that, the kid has no grace whatsoever). He stays on his back, staring up at the gently shifting leaves of the tree hanging over them, and nudges Eddie gingerly in the back with his knee. “Y’okay?”

Will is already helping Robin to her feet. In the background, Steve can hear Joyce directing someone to bring ice. And Argyle saying something about purple palm trees.

“Yeah,” Eddie pants. He cranes his head around to look at Steve with an apologetic smile that still, somehow, makes Steve’s skin prickle. Weird. “Yeah, I’m good,” he says, sounding more recovered. “You?”

Steve lets his eyes fall closed. “I may not be able to have children now, but I’ll live.”

He smirks when he hears Eddie’s snort of surprised laughter. When Eddie, sheepish, tries to apologize again, Steve is already prepared. "No, you’re right, that was like something out of the fucking Three Stooges.”

It’s fine. He needs ice, some aspirin, and no more Twister ever, and he'll be fine.

-

Part 2

[altocat]

Alto, I don't get it. I really don't. While I'm not the biggest Genesis fan, I don't get saying all those hurtful things to you. I personally prefer your take on gen, then Canon genesis.

Genesis definitely needs a rewrite. I've been very vocal on that. He needs some polishing to make his feelings and motivations clearer to the audience. And, more than anything else, there needs to be a way to express to the audience that Genesis was 1.) Not himself during the majority of CC, 2.) Dying, and 3.) A victim of Shinra's abuse. These are valid, canonically important aspects that guide his actions that people choose to ignore. They aren't displayed well at all in the game. But they are critical and they are relevant.

There are more reasons why Genesis tends to rub people the wrong way. They don't like his inclusion in Nibelheim. They think he was too mean to Seph at the reactor. They find him spamming Loveless annoying. They think him being overly dramatic is grating. Etc. Now I've addressed ALL of these arguments in the past with my own personal opinions. I don't want to go into detail on them again, at least not right now. Genesis is not an inherently likable character to a lot of people, but he is an interesting one, and there is depth to him. With a few tweaks, he could be one of the greatest characters in the Compilation, I wholeheartedly believe that. But that's AFTER some serious rewrites and clarifications.

As he is, I love him. He's flawed, he's petty, he's kind of a complete theater kid. And he's weirdly fascinating. There is something incredibly tragic about his story, and the outcome he meets at the end. And it's enough to where I don't care if I'm the only one in a sea of haters who actually loves him. There are way, WAY worse characters out there, trust me.

[kbirby]

People dislike the 2001 FB because it’s unfaithful to the original story.

I'm aware! But I think its an unjust reason.

I think that what makes a good adaptation or even a good story based on something is not directly tied to how faithful it is to the original.

It is about what that story does with its premise, how does it transform it?

Making something completely like the original does not make it immediately the best thing ever, and I would argue that Fruits Basket 2001 actually does a better job of conveying the original FEELING of Fruits Basket, even if it lacks in the story.

Fruits Basket 2001 was running when the manga wasn't finished which doomed it to split into a different narrative path, missing many things people loved about the manga's story and we never got a second season, missing out on the intricacies of the story of FB.

HOWEVER, what 2019 does horribly in comparison to 2001, that for me personally ruined my entire watching experience, was the atmosphere and feeling of the story. Specifically in the music.

While FB 2001 fails to ever tell the full story of FB, the story it does tell hits harder emotionally and the experience is more shocking than when I watched 2019. And I realized this was because of the music, 2019's music failed to stick with me in any positive way. It is so boring that I cannot remember a SINGLE tune of it, except for the one I hate the most that plays during ever serious or sad moment. The atmosphere for 2019 ends up being strangely, non comedic during many times there should be comedy. Mostly again due to the music, the atmosphere is starkingly dark and dramatic and I know that a lot of people most likely prefer this.

A lot of critique 2001 gets is that it is "too comedic", as if fruits basket isnt a ROMANTIC COMEDY SLICE OF LIFE. In fact the comedy INCREDIBLY aided in the serious moments of 2001; The music of 2001 gives us such beautiful melodies and themes, motifs of different characters and different feelings, sometimes even reoccurring in different instruments to have us feel a different way. Hiro's theme going from slightly slower to a faster paced when he starts hustling and fast talking people, flustering them. The main theme "Memory" being played in its full form or being played in lighter instruments giving us a feeling of nostalgia tinged with sadness. There is life and character in this OST, it is beautiful and largely carries 2001.

Now I understand why 2019 couldn't use the OG soundtrack, whether for copyright reasons or maybe they just wanted to go a different direction, but the new OST is boring. It is lifeless. It is REPETITIVE. The SAME exact track is played for almost ever serious moment, and in general fails to make me feel ANYTHING for the characters of 2019, so much so that it completely ruins the atmosphere of the show.

It helps aid in Fruits Basket feeling overtly serious, that and line delivery and general direction of the show. And the main reason this is an issue is that extremely serious moments of trauma we are shown, moments that we should be feeling bad for characters, have left me holding back LAUGHTER from how ridiculous it feels. There is not "Oh fuck this is super serious" moment in 2019 because EVERYTHING feels so serious.

2001 Does an amazing job of subtly drifting from the comedic slife of life energy, to more serious topics like Hatori's trauma, Momiji's family relationship, Kisa being bullied, and the AMAZING finale that I wont even spoil. The end of Fruits Basket 2001 left me aching for more and stunned at how I had ended up there, yet does it so seemlessly. Tohru is the light that carries the show, that carries the characters through their deep trauma, staying positive despite her situation no matter how incredibly depressing. And 2001 does this through its music.

If you like 2019, by god I hope you do. I really do. I wish I liked 2019 I wanted to SO BAD. I waited YEAAAAARRSS for a season 2 or revival, and when it came I was so excited!! But as I watched, I could not get over how much the general vibe and ambience bothered me, it hindered my watching experience and I actually DROPPED IT when it first came out, only picking it back up when the show FINISHED. I hope despite all this, despite all my grievances people that love 2019 love it for their reasons and dont care what I say.

But by god, something being more accurate to the original does not automatically make it better, or the first rendition that was not completely true to the original bad. And I will never get over how people can actually think that.

[hidingoutbackstage]

Sid I'm inviting you to air our your woes on re6 with Chris's end I wanna hear them

Muahaha I baited you to send this ask I’m such a schemer. Anyway

Gonna start at the beginning, and by the beginning I mean the development of 6, because the original ending of Chris’ campaign has CHRIS infecting himself and sacrificing himself for PIERS, not the other way around. Already I’m going to start with saying that I think this ending is much better than Piers infecting himself and sacrificing himself for Chris. It is a dramatic and kind of satisfying ending for Chris’ story and his life.

Piers, in my opinion, is a direct parallel to Chris, going as far as to look like him and even be the same age as Chris was when RE1 happened. So this ending works as a way to pass on the torch from Chris to Piers (which also considers the somewhat consistent theme of RE6 being about the next generation of Resident Evil and likely being an attempt to shift the focus from old protagonists to new)

I guess the studio, someone or a group of people that were higher up in the company were like "Nope, you can't kill our poster boy" so instead of writing a new ending that still works with these characters, they decided to take the easy way out and go “Let’s just swap who sacrifices himself for whom and call it a day.”

This change makes the impact feel less great, in my opinion, because once you hear it was initially supposed to be Chris sacrificing himself and Piers being left to continue the legacy, you REALLY can’t unsee it and unsee it’s potential. The cutscene between the two men in the elevator where Chris says he wants Piers to take up the torch when Chris retires after this feels a lot more impactful if Chris dies on THIS mission and Piers immediately decides to honor his captain’s legacy and fulfill his request. The end scene with Chris at the bar being recruited for his next mission doesn’t feel like it’s come full circle, it feels like Chris is at rock bottom and nothing has changed, he lost his entire team and is feeling lonely but this time he isn’t turning to drink. It feels more fitting as a mirror of the first scene having Piers be in Chris’ former position, mourning, and being summoned by someone who’s now in his old position. It actually feels like the story came full circle.

Not to mention, Chris literally shows that he’s willing to die for the good of the world when he tells Jake to shoot him, it’d feels like he’s showing he’s serious about it if he infected himself to save Piers and take down the HAOS, then saved Piers by forcing him into the escape pod and leaving him behind. Chris is determined to eliminate bioterrorism, no matter the cost, and he’d definitely be willing to sacrifice his own life to keep one more B.O.W. out of this world. Piers being young and naive and desperately trying to save Chris because he hasn’t been as hardened by this world as Chris had again just feels a bit more akin to the vibe I feel like they were going for.

I know 6 didn’t give a shit about Marhawa Desire, but I do, and again I feel like Piers living would make that more impactful too. Piers promised Merah that he’d take out bioterrorism with Chris, Merah asked that of Piers, so Piers continuing on for both Merah and Chris is again, impactful.

Not to get too spoiler-y for Your Heart’s Still Beating, but Piers carrying on Chris’ legacy works in regards to my favorite AU, where he takes Chris’ role in 7 and 8. It works as kind of development for Piers, he isn’t Chris Redfield and his approach in the world of bioterrorism is different than Chris’. Could have been fun to see! Oh well.

Another tiny thing I would’ve preferred be different about the end of Chris’ story in 6 was to see Chris, Piers, Jake and Sherry all fight the HAOS together. It really felt like they were building up to that fight in-game, before Jake and Sherry left them for seemingly no story reason. Chris sacrificing himself could’ve been impactful there too if the four of them had escaped together, Sherry seeing the death of someone she admires (because ofc Claire told Sherry about her brother) Piers helpless to save his captain who he promised Merah he’d fight alongside to end bioterrorism, and Jake seeing the man who he literally pointed a gun at and told Jake he’d killed Wesker, now sacrificing himself for Jake and the others, that’s gotta hurt. Only exists in my mind ig

[que-de-metal]

Sending you the ball back (seishin)

When I started shipping it if I did:

Day one — well day one of me playing DDC. Since I had a few years (late middle school + high school) where I wasn't following Touhou canon anymore and it came out during those times, I found out about them when I caught up to all the canon I missed circa 2015. But I had managed to not get a single thing about them spoiled somehow so the experience was the same.

My thoughts:

I love them so so much but you all know that. But specifically out of all the Touhou ships I feel like this is the one that's the most "contained?" Like they actually have a complete story arc that starts with DDC, then ISC, and "ends" with their conversation in Grimoire of Usami. If I wanted to explain most TH ships to someone who isn't in the fandom, I would have to pull out a diagram and hundreds of small details and worldbuilding bits to get it to make sense, but for these two there's a cohesive "trilogy" that contains a whole love story with onscreen character arcs and a satisfying "epilogue". Because of that I feel like this is a very special ship, it really stands out from the other pairings in that regard…

Things done in fanworks that annoy me:

I think people think I'm joking when I say I'm an unironic Seija apologist, but I genuinely dislike the framing of Shinmyoumaru as a helpless victim. I do think there's no real victim, that they mutually used each other awkwardly, but if it HAS to be a contest of who has it worse… What Seija did to Shin was: invent a bunch of overinflated bullshit to push Shin over the edge of joining a cause that she already half-agreed with without the lies. What Shin did to Seija was: weaponize her weakness to throw her under the bus as the main perpetrator AND not back down from that narrative EVEN AFTER a DEAD OR ALIVE MANHUNT was called on Seija. I feel like out of these two betrayals there is one that is way harder to forgive and it's not Seija's! They're both brilliant manipulators in totally different ways and it's one of the reasons they fit so well in the first place aaaaahhhhhhhhhh. I prefer fanworks that are more morally gray but if I'm to be compeltely honest I also want to see a more villainous Shin to compensate for all the fanworks that smooth her edges so much!

Things I look for in fanworks:

One of the big charm points of this ship for me is the Bonnie & Clyde dynamic, the partner in criming, so I can't get enough of fanworks of them working well together and being in sync. I like fanart where they look kind of cool, serious and competent, I find it very romantic in a way.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Because of DDC being such a self-contained complete story like I said earlier there's not a lot of material of them interacting with the rest of the world… I love love love Sei/Shin/Reimu and Sei/Shin/Marisa because it has interesting power dynamics but it needs to be a throuple because as soon as you take Seija or Shinmyoumaru out I'm not interested.

Thought I like the idea of Shin going for other women during their time apart. Because I have a loving jealousy tropes too much problem. And I'm interested in Seija having to face insecurities. In that regard I'm into the Shin/Tenshi dynamic in AoCF. Because I think a Tenshi VS Seija rivalry could get very ugly (positive). But once again this is still with a SeiShin lens…

My prefered future/ending for them:

I want them to have big dramatic adventures. I do think they can change some of the unfair things in Gensokyo if they get over themselves first. It's also the kind of ship where I appreciate a tragic ending and a tragic death but I haven't found the fanwork that would hit this the right way for me yet :3

What is their favorite activity together:

Planning adventures. I picture Shin as the kind of person who can spend hours talking about projects, travels, shady businesses, things she wants to try someday. And she enjoys doing SOME of these things but coming up with the ideas counts as part of the fun. And paradoxically to the fact that her whole thing is playing with negatives, I feel like Seija would be a good Yes Man for those situations because the way she always twists and criticizes everything could be pretty stimulating to bounce ideas off. I'm getting frustrated because there's no english equivalent to "faire des plans sur la comète" and "refaire le monde" but I can totally see them spending a night on a high peak in Gensokyo, pointing to locations they want to travel the next day and bantering all night while mapping out the whole itinerary, then waking up in the morning and going the opposite direction of where they had planned.

A fic I’d like to write about them/A sentence from one already in my WIPs: 

(not a prose line cause this fic is in its rough 1st draft state a but a scene placeholder that I like) "Seija goes to sleep holding one of Shin's robes next to her head to make sure she dreams of her."

ship and characters asks 💌

[doubledyke]

Im picking at random: 16, 22, 8, 7, 4 9

Thank you for humoring me!! Again, all of these thoughts are in regards to EddEddy as adults, obviously. Except maybe the first one I guess.

4. Describe their first kiss.

I haven't given this one much thought, weirdly enough. I don't have a specific timeline in my mind about how they end up getting together or any specific scenarios, really. I imagine they would have their first actual kiss in late high school. I think Edd initiates it and Eddy gets super freaked out because of how much it affects him. It sends him into a spiral about his sexuality and he starts to feel super awkward around Edd for a while. Edd also feels awkward but only because he's worried he did something to upset Eddy - Edd accepted and understood his sexuality from a young age I'd imagine. I do, however, also really liked sweeteggy's depiction in their nanomango comic from wayyyyy back in the day where Edd and Sarah are dating, break up and he and Eddy share a kiss for the first time as adults. I'm cool with whatever, I suppose.

7. I did answer this one previously. Thanks nonetheless!

8. What do they like least about each other?

Hoooooo boy. Eddy can't stand how aloof Edd can be at times. I think it takes Edd a long time to adjust to actually living with someone, and despite his polite and caring disposition, he is pretty self-centered. I think Eddy lacks the patience that's required to deal with someone who has severe anxiety and OCD, so at first, he is easily annoyed when Edd has his moments and he ends up doing more harm than good. In fact he probably gets a little creeped out when he and Edd begin living together and he sees some of Edd's weird behaviors for the first time. I also think Edd is prone to bouts of depression and tends to isolate himself, maybe without even realizing. Eddy doesn't know how to handle it in any way other than becoming annoyed and/or blaming himself. Eventually of course, he knows the signs and what to look for when Edd starts displaying certain behaviors.

Edd's favorite thing about Eddy is also the thing that brings him the most grief in a way (how profound 🧐). He appreciates that Eddy speaks his mind and takes charge, but can't stand his stubbornness and how quick he is to anger. When Eddy gets angry, he's inconsolable. It scares Edd. Eddy is irrational and impulsive (moreso than normal) when he's angry, and Edd doesn't know how to help. His logical approach just makes Eddy angrier. "Why don't you use your faggy psychology on yourself then, huh?" They're both super sensitive in their own ways and the arguments are plentiful in their early relationship. But as with any normal functioning adults (ha) in relationships, you learn more about each other, grow as people and eventually find ways to help, redirect and console each other in ways that actually work. Especially once they claw out of their angsty teen/young adult stage.

9. Similar to what I just yapped about for 40 minutes, I'd say it's still the differences in their personalities. Bickering is like flirting for them. Like it just gets them going for some reason. So they can argue about nearly anything, and it's usually only half serious. I guess on a real note, I do think that they'd run into some actual issues when Edd is in school/just starting his career. Kind of plays back into him being aloof. He'd become so preoccupied with his education or job that he and Eddy's relationship might begin to suffer as a result. He doesn't even realize it, or justifies it to himself because he's knows it's for the best in the long run. Eddy eventually explodes over something minor and Edd has to really pry for Eddy to tell him what the hell is wrong. Similar to your tattoo fic! But probably overly dramatic in my retelling, lmao.

16. What kind of couple's vacations and getaways do they prefer?

Something gay and tropical, I would imagine. Despite the fact that Eddy does not tan, he loves to pretend like he's getting some color (that color being red). They'd probably go on lgbt cruises and would love to go on road trips as well. I think all 3 Eds would try to keep a tradition of yearly cross country road trips. Outside of the occasional cruise and road trip, I can't think of anything that they'd specifically enjoy as a couple.

22. Describe the wedding.

Oof. Well, we all had some discourse around this topic already. I agree that they'd probably hold out on marriage until they're semi-geezers. And in that scenario, I think they might actually go all out. Huge ceremony, huge reception. All the bells and whistles for a couple of veteran gays. Ed is the only person in the wedding party, and plays mediator between the gagging grooms. Edd lets go of any hopes he might have had about a simple, down-played wedding and lets Eddy handle all of the creative details. He handles the seating chart, the cost breakdown, the schedule, the invitations, etc. I'm half tempted to say that a couple weeks before the wedding, Eddy decides that it's too much to think about and begins insisting they just elope in Vegas instead.

Thanks again for asking! My brain is fried from training for my new job, but this was a fun little distraction from my plight 🥴

[utilitycaster]

I saw your post about Bor'Dor and people wondering if there's a Twist of some kind and you mentioned Veth being one of the least popular characters for CR in passing. I think you talked about it elsewhere as well, and I had recently realized *why* I never really gave her a lot of thought. Because on paper she should be one of my favourite characters that I relate to the most--I read her comic and had a moment of "oh, I should really go back and reevaluate this character because damn". I took some time to think about it and I realized that, for me at least, the reason I never really gave her a lot of thought was kind of because of Sam, or at least the way he plays at the table. I find his antics distracting at best and grating at worst. I still mute his section of the ads whenever I watch because something about his energy just doesn't vibe with me. And like, I do love the moments where he does get serious and has a really good dramatic scene, but then a few minutes later he does something that takes me out of it again. This is of course, something that's a me thing, not a him thing. I'm fully aware of the fact that it's his game and he gets to play however he wants. Hell, if the others had an issue with it, they wouldn't have played with him in the first place. So I fully understand that it's just my own personal preferences regarding the type of humour and energy I respond to. But it is something I noticed after giving it some thought. I have hope with the Mighty Nein animated series I'll get to enjoy Veth's story a little more, since that was what happened with Scanlan (I went back to watch campaign 1 after watching LOVM, and I am having a hard time getting past the stark differences). So yeah, that's kind of the reason I never connected with Veth as much as I probably should have. I don't know if other people have the same views, but I'd be interested to hear why you think other don't like Veth (or at least don't respond to her as much as they do the other characters/players).

Anon, I am...not sure why you sent this. It feels like it really misses my point, and it's not something I can address. I've brought this up before but like, I don't always connect with the themes Sam tends to engage with, but I feel that when I've criticized his characters on other bases someone always brings up how they don't vibe with his sense of humor and like, cannot relate, can never relate, I actively enjoy the ASMR ad, and I don't know why I get unrelated Sam criticism - especially about his sense of humor, which is like...not even particularly weird or unusual nor excessive for the table. This is something that really needs to be a post you make on your own blog rather than an anon ask to someone who is getting a little weirded out that this keeps happening.

But I think more importantly my point is not "everyone needs to love Veth". There are plenty of reasons why Veth might not be someone's favorite character, and also it is completely valid to dislike a character based on your pet peeves! If you don't vibe with Veth as a character or Sam as a player, you are not obligated to try to rewire your brain to make it happen. But I do find it incredibly telling that "this character is secretly another race" pops up constantly as a popular theory, and then when a player actually took care and built a character based on that premise with all the implications it entailed, it was a comparatively unpopular choice. My point is "a lot of theories that hinge on there being some Big Twist Reveal really boil down to 'waaaah i think humans are boring and I play a kalashtar so I want someone else to play a kalashtar' without actually engaging in what the narrative would necessarily need to be to support this," and I find that a very, very strong argument against many of those theories as a result.

[blockgamepirate]

The Purgatory event and the new Traffic/Life series happening at the same time is really making me think about my personal frustrations with mixing storytelling oriented roleplay and structured or rules oriented gameplay

I'm obviously not saying you can't mix those successfully, but for me at least there are some grey areas between the two where it just becomes extremely frustrating to me, to the point that I can't enjoy it and often get actually mad about it

(I know, I know, I should be more mature about it, whatever, I'm being mature by trying my best to shut up, at least in public)

Basically my problem is that if you're gonna mix these two types of playing, there's basically only two options I find satisfying:

1. keep the roleplay very light and non-serious while focusing on the structured gameplay (some fudging of the rules for the sake of roleplay is fine if it makes things more fun)

2. make the gameplay and the rules just the setting/starting off point and from there the roleplay and storytelling should always be the priority (obviously some occasional handwaving is fine but it should never be anything that seriously breaks character or gets in the way of what would be the most interesting direction for the story)

The problem is that between these two there's option 1.5, which is where both styles of play are equally mixed, and that's where the danger zone lies for me.

I think the best case scenario for me is when it's option 1 turning gradually into option 2. I'm sort of fine with that direction, because I just love roleplay and storytelling. What REALLY gets to me though, is when option 2 suddenly starts moving towards option 1.

The best example of this for me is the Last Life SMP finale, which I'm just still so mad about and no I have no chill, if I seem chill about it, it's because I'm censoring myself to be polite. They had the perfect set up for Scott and Pearl, the two survivers of the GGG, and Rendog and Martyn, the two survivers of the Shadows and also characters connected through a bond that crossed over from Third Life, to go head to head in a final battle, but crucially staying loyal to their teammates to the end. But nahhhhh clearly what we should do instead is just ignore all preceding character arcs and just do a basic ass four person battle royale round. And then unceremoniously kill the winner immediately after so they can't even do one last thing before they go.

(Sorry Last Life fans, I think that's like most people's favourite season, or that's the impression I have. I did say that I was holding back purely out of politeness. I actually have zero chill about this. I even had to delete some lines that were getting a bit too salty just now.)

But yeah, the reason why I had to stop watching Purgatory on day one was because I was getting that same feeling of frustration because it felt like they were going from peak dramatic roleplay to suddenly doing a random ass PVP tournament with random ass teams. I mean to be fair there is a story excuse for it because there's that eye entity or whatever that's making the players do this in-universe, but still, it was getting to me. I wasn't having a good time and I was getting mad so I decided I needed to quit and hear from others later whether it would even be worth watching for me.

Still not entirely sure if I like this arc, but I've calmed down enough to give it a shot

Just trying to analyse why I have these reservations. And yes I know it's personal preference and most people probably don't feel this way or at least not as intensely about it. I know a lot of people understandably enjoy the variety and that's fine. I'm just explaining my perspective.

I guess it really is mostly just about feeling jebaited as a fan of roleplay and storytelling.

[thebiscuiteternal]

(IDK if you're looking for writing prompts or just questions, so I'm including both. Feel free to ignore any of them!) For the writing prompt, I love how your Nie Huaisang is often dealing with a chronic illness. It heals my spoonie heart. I'd love to see anything related to that. I adore your horror writing, but I'd be so happy with something lighter if you'd prefer. For the question: Could you share a character headcanon you love but haven't had a chance to talk about? Any character is great!

I've talked about a few of these on twitter, but I don't think I've posted any of them here. And some of them are part of the Big Overall Headcanon that Huaisang has chronic illness, so two birds with one stone?

Be it virus, injury, tragedy, what-have-you, Nie Huaisang actually gets quieter the more serious it is. If he's being a big dramatic bitch about something? He's most likely fine. If he's in tears or curled up in a ball or whatever and not complaining about the problem? Time to call the healers and/or bust some heads.

He absolutely has the ADHD habit of once he actually manages to get himself in a groove, he forgets about everything else until he finishes what he's doing, because the literal second he stops, his mind's already moved on. This is why he keeps snacks at hand at all times; if he gets up to go get something to eat, there goes all his drive.

As much as he wanted to go visit Yunmeng for a summer, it would have sucked for him because of a previously posted headcanon that his body has almost no body heat regulation, even with a core. While the baseline temperatures wouldn't have been too awful by themselves, the sheer level of humidity probably would have melted him into a puddle by the end of the first day unless he decided to go around barely decent (and he would if it wouldn't get him in trouble with da-ge).

Despite all of his health problems, all his practice catching birds mean he is an excellent climber. His hands hurt all the time but he has incredible grip strength. This little weasel could probably scale a cliff no problem, unless someone tried to make him do it as regular exercise, and then he'd never so much as touch a tree branch again out of spite.

Roughly a year after his da-ge's death, he suffered a public qi deviation of his own. No one saw it coming because he was just sitting in a meeting like normal and then all of a sudden he's got blood trickling from his nose and eyes. The reason is because I headcanon that a qi deviation causes the person to lash out at any target of resentment... and this happened while he was still under the belief that Nie Mingjue's death was his fault for being a terrible brother.

I think it would be both incredibly funny and incredibly tragic if he, of his entire generation, was the only one to attain some form of immortality. And he did it by accident, solely because he refused to die before he could purify his brother's soul. He had full intention to die after that, only to find out that... uh... oops. He can't. Now what?

Okay so going back to that one idea I love using where he and Meng Yao are actually cousins via their mothers... think about how fucking lucky it is that the one other living person besides Meng Yao who could have identified them as such because he'd known both their mothers to some degree -Jin Guangshan- didn't care enough about either woman to pay that much attention.

[nyx-sagau-dreams]

Hi there I go by Voidless! (She/They, albeit I'm fine with whatever). Welcome to the SAGAU space, I hope you can find some happiness here. Probably monoamorous and would prefer guys for this ask (with the exception of Childe)

To put it bluntly: I’m a child at heart, and fairly observant. It's not a challenge to figure out what someone’s feeling or thinking, their motives ect.

● I tend to be forthright with my emotions

● ENFP

● I like sharing bits of knowledge and fun anecdotes!

● Can be overly enthusiastic when socializing

● I’ve also gotten insecure, and assumed others don't like/distrust me without basis, proceeding to form an image in mind that's not true to who they really are. At the same time though it's really hard for me to judge a person for their past or secrets, I like to think I've seen it all

● From the outside, I’ve been described as being like Zhongli (Serious, goes on tangents and socially awkward). Very much enjoy flirty folk though, they make me feel loved

●Likes: museums, cool rocks, having a good laugh, travelling, anemo and electro slimes, civilizations of antiquity, and shopping

Hobbies: Anything under the sun! I sincerely wish I could live forever to do everything. I love to sing and tell stories and invoke the imagination. Also write and enjoy astronomy!

● I'm not unique, but I really do fear death. I can't live just to die. I still have plenty I want to experience and not enough time. Isolation is also terrifying, just being alone with your thoughts forever. But the scariest thing has to be dandelion leaves. Yeah.. I really don’t know either.

As for a scenario: How about recounting eachothers life stories. It'd be a moment of trust, relying on one another letting the wind take care of our burdens

Thank you so much for asking!

I have matched you with: Venti!

Venti can also be childish yet observant. He loves music, and is also afraid of death. And, as an Archon, he is far less likely to die than almost anyone else.

You said that you enjoy flirty people, and I think, in the right situations, Venti can be a HUGE flirt.

Venti is a very reassuring person, and I feel like even if he's having to keep secrets, he'd assure you that they won't come between you.

He's very physically affectionate. Venti tells a lot of stories through songs, and I'm sure he would tell you more and more jokes just to hear your laugh.

--

"... and so that's how I ended up in Mondstadt," you finished, waving your hand dramatically at the sky. You turned your head to Venti, who was laying on the ground next to you. "And the rest is history."

Venti snorted. "Not yet, but someday it will be."

"Okay fine, someday. But what about you?"

Venti laughed a quiet, solemn laugh. "My life is a bit hard to sum up, sweet songbird. Let me see." He raised his fingers off and started counting off on them. "I was born, helped in a rebellion when I was pretty young, lost a friend..." He went on for quite some time. "And then there was that whole deal with Dvalin and the traveler. That was a rough time."

You giggled. "You sound a thousand years old," you teased, fully aware as to why.

"Hmm, I can't imagine what reason that might be for."

A peaceful silence fell between the two of you. Venti laced his fingers with yours. "Should you ever feel afraid or worried, love. I'll be here."

You squeezed his hand. "And I will be here for you," you replied, free hand brushing on the glowing teal tattoo on your occupied wrist.

-end-

(I'm sorry if the scenario is really short, I'm not used to writing for Venti 😅)

[bireggiemantle]

Very vague but do you have any queer rvd head cannons? Like characters you head cannon as queer or things to do with queer ships?

I think every single rvd character w the exception of like hal is queer but here are some more specific headcanons I have about that :)

- reggie and sweet pea briefly had a fling during the time skip but it didn't work out bc reggie didn't want the same level of commitment that sweet pea needed (similar to the fallout of his and josie's relationship)

- reggie realized he was bi pretty soon after highschool. it was nothing life altering or dramatic, he's always kind of thought guys were hot, he's just never focused on that much before.

- this one is a little sad, but I think the reason penelope resented cheryl so much was at least in part due to her own jealously of the fact that cheryl could be out and proud about being gay. penelope's relationship with her kids is very interesting to me, because I do think she loves them, but she must also feel trapped by them, since the whole reason she was brought into the blossom family in the first place was to have children and keep the lineage going. she's never had the option to express her sexuality freely and openly; she's never had the option to express any part of herself freely and openly, so it must really hurt to watch cheryl be able to do that in a way she never could. of course that doesn't justify her behavior towards her daughter, but since penelope spent so much of her life unloved, repressed, and used, I think the anger ended up manifesting itself in her actions towards cheryl, whether she intended for them to or not. it's just really nice to see penelope finally figure these things out and let herself heal from her childhood. I love all the growth she's had as a character.

- on a lighter note, I think toni decides to start up a gsa in riverdale high after the situation with britta, and she helps provide a safe space for young lgbt kids to freely express themselves.

- despite not being out yet, I think queer teens at rvd high tend to flock to archie because they know he'll be able to fulfill the role of supportive, loving, paternal figure in their lives, especially if their families don't fully accept them. I think this kind of attention motivates him to reopen the community center, and help out some of these kids there.

- tabitha hangs up a pride flag in the window of pop's in june and never takes it down, further solidifying the idea that it's meant to provide refuge to anybody who needs it.

- I think pop is the first person tabitha ever came out, and he was obviously beyond supportive.

- another slightly sad one, but I think when archie does come to turns with his sexuality he ends up calling fp to ask him about how his dad would feel about him being bi. he's pretty sure fred would accept him, but there's a part of him that's not fully sure, and it's really comforting to hear fp reassure him about everything.

- piggybacking off that last hc, I think talking to fp would also help archie a lot because fp himself is bi, and is able to really understand where archie is coming from and provide an anecdote of his own to try and quell his fears.

I don't want this post to be too terribly long, so I think I'm gonna stop there, but I hope these are what you had in mind, anon! I tried to mix up some more serious hcs with some more lighthearted ones, since I wasn't sure which you'd prefer. thank you for the ask, though!