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glassartpeasants · 2 days

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How to Love .03

Trafalgar Law x F!Reader

Warnings: Fluff, angst

A/N: Sorry that it's shorter then normal but i can not tell you how hard i had to grind to get this shit out.

~~~

“Law? You alive?” Soft fingers could be felt gently skimming against Law’s forehead, making him lean into their warmth before his eyes snapped open.

Jumping up, Law looks around his room before seeing you kneeling down beside his bed. His heart slowly calms before finally finding the words to speak. “(Y/N)? What are you doing in my room?”

“Well, good evening to you, too.” Rubbing his eyes, Law looks at you with a confused look.

“What? Evening?” Turning to his alarm clock, he sees it’s 8 am.

“We had a power outage due to an unexpected storm last night. I thought you might have already fixed your clock, but I was wrong.” Law jumps out of his bed and opens his curtains to see a beautiful sunset staring back at him.

“Why didn’t you wake me earlier?! What time is it?!”

“It’s currently 6 pm. Also, I thought you were actually trying to catch up on sleep.” Standing up, Law looks at (Y/N) in bewilderment before pacing around.

“I have stuff I need to do! Shit, I need to pay bills.”

“Done.”

Stopping in his tracks, Law stares at you. “What?”

“I said done. I paid them.”

“I also made a sheet with finances on everything I know we’ve spent at least together in the last month. I didn’t go through your mail. Went grocery shopping and cleaned the entire house. I did save some financing things so we can go through them together.”

“I-”

“I did everything.�� A silence covers Law and you as you both look at each other.

“Why?”

“You always work so hard! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you sleep in once since I’ve known you! For a doctor, you think you’d take care of yourself more.” Law watches as you cross your arms.

“I…Thank you.” Law says in almost a whisper. “But never let me sleep in again.”

“But you look so refreshed! Even if you got wild bedhead.” You tease. Law grumbles before trying to flatten his hair, only for it to bounce back. You can’t help but giggle.

“Maybe if you take a shower, it’ll fix it.”

“Alright. Now get out.” You can feel Law push you out of his room before closing the door.

“What? No ‘Thank you for waking me up (Y/N)?’” You say sarcastically.

“I would have said that if it wasn’t 6 pm!” His voice rang from behind the door.

“So ungrateful!” You chuckle before walking away towards the kitchen. The smell of dinner is too much to resist.

As soon as Law heard you walk away, a loud crash and curse left your lips.

“Fuck! Bepo, no!” Law quickly put on a decent shirt before running out to the dining room. His jaw dropped as he watched you holding Bepo, who had a whole grilled fish in his mouth.

“Spit it out! How dare you eat my fish, you asshole! I thought we were cool!” Law was speechless, so he watched his cat and roommate fighting over fish.

Turning your head, you saw Law just standing there. “Law! Help me! Little shit has my food!” You get a good grab on the fish, and just as you think you’ve gotten it, Bepo takes another bite.

Law can’t help but stiffle a laugh as he watches you fight with Bepo. When you finally lost grip of the fish, Bepo made a break for it, which led you to begin chase.

“Damnit, cat! Give it to me!” Law hears you yell from down the hall. Chuckling, Law moved to what used to be the dinner you made. Paw prints everywhere as well as nibble marks from Bepo’s teeth. White cat hair covering every inch of food.

“He’s never jumped on the table and ate our food before. What’s gotten into him?”

He could hear you stomping and cursing your way back to the kitchen, telling him that you were unsuccessful in your mission. When you entered the kitchen, you stood beside him and looked at the mess Bepo had reduced dinner to.

“Looks like he ate good tonight.” Law chuckled, trying to lighten up your now-soured mood.

“He probably just gained all the weight we’ve worked so hard for him to lose! Why would he do this? He’s never done this before!” You whine. With a frown, you begin to clean up the ruined dinner.

“This fucking sucks. I spent so long on this dinner for you, and he came along and ate it!” Law’s eyes widen upon hearing your words.

“You made it for me?” Law watches you stiffen before going back to normal posture.

“Yeah, I did. I wanted you to have a stress-free day, but Bepo decided to be an asshole and destroy dinner!” You sigh as you throw away the destroyed food before putting the dishes in the sink to wash.

“I don’t wanna order takeout 'cause I know you don’t like fast food. I just…” You sigh as you try to figure out what to do.

“Takeout is not that bad. We can order something and watch TV…together?”

Feeling your heartbeat pick up its pace, you gulp before answering. “You sure? I don’t wanna force you to eat food you don’t like just to cheer me up.”

“I’m sure we can find something. I think Olive Garden delivers?”

“Olive Garden, huh? Never took you for a pasta fan.” You joke, trying to lighten up the mood.

“I’m a sucker for restaurants who put actual effort into making their food.”

You laugh. “And our old classmates said you weren’t funny.”

“What? Who the hell said that?” Law’s offended tone made you smile.

“Doesn’t matter. You're a doctor making big bucks and saving lives while they're cleaning Mcdonald's bathrooms for quick cash.” Law couldn’t help but feel a slight smile tug at his lips from your words.

A laugh escapes Law’s throat. “I guess if you think so, that’s all that matters.” Law pauses as soon as he realizes what he’s said. Yet he doesn’t see how his words bring a smile to your face.

~~~

You can’t help the smile that sticks to your face as you work endlessly to fulfill customers' orders. Your mind is running with the thought of Law and his smile.

“What’s got you all smiley?” Killer asks you as he cleans the counter.

“What? Am I not allowed to smile?”

“You are, but that’s not a regular smile you got on your face there.” His words make you stop in your tracks as you snap your head in his direction.

“You have someone on your mind, don’t you?” You can practically hear the smirk behind his mask.

“You don’t know what the hell you're talking about, Killer.”

“I bet it’s Law, huh? Doesn’t shock me. You’ve been his roommate for about five months and went through a breakup together.” You hit Killer in the arm.

“Shut up! What if someone hears you!” You whisper with a burning face.

“Afraid he’s gonna show up and hear me saying the truth?”

“Killer, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to murder you.” Killer only laughs as he looks at you.

“Yeah, okay (Y/N). Whatever you say.” You huff as you look down at the clean coffee machine in front of you. Killer’s words bouncing in your skull. You didn’t want to admit it, but maybe Killer was right. Perhaps you were falling in love with him again.

“I did have a thing for him in college. Before dating Eustass. I ended up falling for him during our time together working on that project.” Killer stops cleaning as he looks at you. Silent but wanting to hear your words.

“I don’t know what it was about him, but by the end of the project we were grouped together for, I had ended up falling for him. Hard. It took me a lot of convincing, but I thought that maybe he liked me too.”

“Did he?”

You stay silent before answering. “ I guess not because my best friend asked him out, and he said yes.” A deep pang shot through your heart as you remembered.

“She had told me afterward that she liked him since we started college but never told me until I talked to her about asking someone out. I didn’t say Law’s name, but he was the one I was talking about.” Sighing, you grip the counter.

“Her telling me she’s liked him since we started college broke me. How could I try dating the man I liked for a whole semester while my friends liked him from the beginning? It broke my heart to hear him agree to be her boyfriend. Having her bring him around was like torture the first few months.”

“While I, of course, never acted out of place with Law while he was with (.....), I only managed to get over him when I heard him say ‘I love you’ to her. That was when I knew I had lost. After a few months after that at graduation, I begin to date Eustass. After that, we slowly stopped talking and only saw each other when it was with (.....). Until five months ago.”

“When you caught Eustass and (.....)?”

“Yeah…When I caught them.” Your heart burns at the memory, but not as bad as it had been before. What used to be a stab in the heart now felt like a bee sting.

“How am I supposed to tell him that I’ve fallen for him again? What if he doesn’t feel the same? How am I supposed to live with him? Not to mention, ruin a friendship.”

“I suppose that does complicate things.”

“I don’t understand. How come this has to happen? It’s like the universe is doing this to fuck with me. Shoving something in my face that I want something I can’t have.” Killer stays quiet as he listens to you speak.

“It’s easier just to shove them down before you end up hurt.”

~~~

“Is that a smile on our grumpy doctor's face? What’s got you all happy?” the charge nurse teased Law.

“Your the second person to tell me that, and it’s annoying me.” The nurse chuckled.

“Oh, please, Law. Everyone can see you’ve got something on your mind, or is it…someone?” The nurse watches as Law tenses, and his cheeks dust pink.

The nurse squeals. “It is!” She claps her hands in excitement. "You have to tell me! I promise I won’t tell anyone!”

“No! I’m not telling you anything!” Law whisper yells.

“Aw, why not? I could give you advice!”

“I’m not telling you about my personal life! So stop asking!”

Huffing, the nurse gave up. “Fine! But here, there is a 3rd-degree burn case in room eight. Says a new co-worker turned up the coffee machine too high, and when it accidentally spilled on her hand, it scalded her.” Law snatches the clipboard and narrows his eyes at the nurse before making his way to room eight.

Opening the door, he expected anyone but the person before him. “(Y/N)?!”

“Hi, Law,” you chuckle nervously. “I didn’t know you worked in the ER.” Law can hear the nervousness in your voice. His eyes scan your body before seeing your bandaged hand. He carefully grabs your hand and looks at it.

“How did this happen?”

“A relatively new co-worker put the coffee temperature too high, so when I went to pour it and accidentally spilled some on me, it got all over my hand and burned it. I didn’t think it was that serious initially, but Killer made me come in. And now it turns out I have a third-degree burn.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. Not really.”

“Well, you're an idiot for not coming in sooner.”

“It didn’t hurt other than the initial pain of being burnt!”

“That’s cause it burnt away your nerves!” Your shocked expression told him all he needed to know. Law sighs as he examines your burn.

“It’s definitely a 3rd-degree burn; you're gonna have to keep it bandaged and change it at least once daily. It’s not big enough to need surgery, but it’s still gonna scar. Drink a lot of fluids. I’m prescribing you an antibiotic to prevent infection.”

“Alright. Good thing I live with you. You can help me with it all.” You say with a smirk, causing him to roll his eyes but with a smile.

“But forgetting about me, how’s your day going? Did you drink your fluids?”

“I’m the doctor, and you're the patient. Don’t try that with me.” Law chuckles.

“You seem to be popular with the ladies' Law. A lot of nurses are looking at you from outside the room.” Law’s head snaps to the doorway to see a few nurses sticking their heads into the room through the doorway.

“I’ll be back.” You giggle as Law walks away and out the door.

Leaving the room and closing the door, Law turns his head to the nurses. “What are you doing?!” Law whisper yells at them.

“She’s the one that's got you all smiley, isn’t she?!” The nurses squeal.

“No, she isn’t! She’s just my roommate until she finds a place she can afford!” Law tries to defend himself, but the pink that swarms his cheeks tells the nurses everything.

“She is! And you're even roommates with her! That’s perfect! Come on, you have to ask her out on an official date!”

“That’s not happening! God, you people are so nosy!”

“What’s stopping you-”

“I’m not her type, alright?” Law snaps, causing the nurses to hush.

Running a hand through his hair, Law sighs. “I’m not her type, so even if I did like her, she wouldn’t say yes.”

“How do you know?”

“I went to college with her. That’s all your gonna get.” Law runs a hand through his hair.

You rotten his brain and wormed your way into his heart. Somehow, in the semester-long project he did with you all those years ago, he ended up gaining feelings for you. There was just something about you. The way you laughed, your smile, how you always seemed as happy, the list could go on.

He was sure you liked him too. How you looked at him couldn’t be anything other than it, right? You’d scoot closer to him when you both worked on the project—texting him about things other than the project. Bringing him food you had made.

He wanted to, oh, how he desperately wanted to ask you out. So when he got a note on the desk he always sat on had a note that said to meet him at the park, he was so sure it was you. It had your handwriting and everything. It had to be you. And when he saw (.....), your friend instead of you, he was shocked.

She had told him that you had written the note for her cause she was too scared to do it during school hours. She had even joked about a double date with you and a guy you were thinking about asking out. He felt his heart break when he heard it. Did he really jump to conclusions and think you liked him when you could have just been friendly?

All these thoughts ran through his mind that day. He didn’t know why at the time, but he did say yes to (.....) asking him out on a date. Possibly to forget the pain he felt? A distraction? He didn’t know.

But now, those feelings he thought were snuffed out reappeared stronger than ever. He wanted to be with you all the time. All he could think about was you. Even worse than college. His dreams were filled with images of you. He heard your voice when you weren’t there. Almost everything reminded him of you. He could look at a cloud and somehow be reminded of a memory you two shared.

Ever since you moved in as well, his diet has gotten relatively healthier. While he still drank coffee and energy drinks nonstop, you always ensured he ate. Hell, you’ve even started making him lunches to bring to work two months ago when you found out he usually didn’t eat anything during his shift. He couldn’t help but chuckle cause with every lunch came with a terribly drawn Bepo picture on whatever color sticky note you had. Each one he kept in his desk drawer.

“Law! What do you want for dinner?” You yell through the rooms door to Law, causing him to be pulled from his thoughts.

“Just roommates, huh?” One of the nurses asked with a smirk while the others held smug grins. They could easily see through the stoic doctor's facade.

“Just roommates.” Law glares before entering the room to answer your question.

“I give it another month before he caves.”

“I say two. He seems to be pretty worried about his friendship with her.”

“True, I say three, though. Gotta give him time to boil in his feelings for a little longer.” The nurses converse with each other as they try to sneak peeks at the doctor and the cause of his smile.

~~~

“Law, hurry up! It’s about to start!” You yell to him. The sound of his footsteps rings throughout the apartment, letting you know that he heard you.

“I’m coming. I’m coming. Give me a second.” Chuckling, Law sits down next to you on the couch.

“I’m so excited! I can’t believe they’re making a Sora: Warrior of the Sea show! You know what that means, right?” You squirm in your seat in excitement.

Putting his feet up, Law looks at you. “ What does it mean?” He says with a smile.

“That means every Thursday we get to hang out and watch a new episode! Doesn’t that sound awesome?” You can feel your heart beating out of your chest from happiness as you smile brightly at him.

Law looked down at you and felt his heart leap. You were so excited to be near him. Telling him how you couldn’t wait for it to be a common occurrence. Despite him telling himself not to go down this road again. He couldn’t help but imagine how it’d be if you two were an actual thing—feeling your warmth against his cold frame, holding you close. Laying down next to you at night, hearing your soft breaths. Being able to admire your calm features as you sleep. And even feel your lips against his.

Law could see you sitting next to him, so close your thigh touched his. You didn’t seem to notice or care, which made his heart beat in his ears. He couldn’t even pay attention to the show, as he was more focused on you and how close you were to him. There was an itch inside him, telling him to do something. Now would be the perfect time to make a move, even if it was small. So, taking a breath, he took the risk.

Law moves his arm up slowly before laying it behind you on the couch. His heart beats rapidly, as he pretends not to notice he’s done it, giving you quick glances to see if you’ve noticed anything. So far, to him, you haven’t

But you noticed right away.

You were screaming internally with excitement and nervously biting your tongue. Could it mean he liked you too? Was it an accident? Either or made your heart beat against your ribs. Your head spins as you try to act cool and not show how excited you were to have him so close to you.

If he had made a move, then who were you to ignore it? So, with an internal deep breath, you lean back against his arm. His warmth makes a shiver run across your spine. It felt as if your face and body was on fire from his skin touching yours. You curled your toes in your socks as you tried to contain a steady breathing.

You take a swallow the lump in your throat as you decide to take a jump of hope. With a sharp intake of breath, you lean closer into Law, placing your head on his shoulder. His cologne flooding you like a calming aroma. In his arms felt like a dream come true. Laying against his shoulder as his arm laid behind your head.

Even though the you told yourself that you wouldn’t fall for Law or act on your feelings, sometimes it’s okay to lie. Even if it’s to yourself.

~~~

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#one piece x reader #trafalgar law x reader #law x reader

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cutielando · 2 hours

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I just finished reading your chubby reader fic which I loved as a chubby girl myself!! I was wondering if you could do something similar with like a fit gym girlie I feel like muscle mummy’s tend to be forgotten a lot!

a/n: of course! people always overlook a gym mummy!!

my masterlist

♡♡♡♡♡

Lando has always been keen on exercising. He didn’t really have a choice in the matter, seeing as his job required him to be in the best shape possible.

However, that doesn’t mean that he looks down on people who don’t exercise as regularly as he did or at all. Every person was entitled to their own routine, in his opinion.

But when he met you, someone who lived and breathed exercise and hitting the gym, he felt like he had hit the jackpot. Being in the gym together, sharing your love for exercise with each other and always pushing one another to better themselves.

It was a dream come true, frankly.

The first time he had suggested joining you for your workout, he figured you would go easy on yourself, do some light exercises and call it a day. The shock on his face when he saw you lifting weights, twice the weight he himself could barely lift, was something out of a movie.

You had found it so endearing, seeing him staring at you with such a perplexed expression and shock, you found it sweet and funny at the same time.

“Why are you looking at me like I’ve suddenly grown 3 heads that I don’t know about?” you joked once you had put the weights back and joined him where he was standing.

“You know you just lifted twice what I can lift, right?” he said, eyes still wide and staring back at you.

You laughed, holding your belly as your laughter rang through the fairly empty gym. This was one of your favorite things about living with Lando, the fact that the apartment building where you both lived had a private gym exclusive only for the residents.

“Babe, you know I’ve been a gym rat for years now. What did you think I’ve been doing all this time?” you asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Lando shrugged, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his pants.

“I don’t know, running on the treadmill? I figured you lifted weights and all that stuff, but I didn’t think you could lift more than me. And I’ve been training straight up hardcore my entire life” he explained, scratching the back of his neck before he reached out for your hand and pulled you closer to him.

You chuckled, wrapping your arms around his neck and letting yourself melt against his body.

“I can do more than that, but I’m still jet-lagged and my body takes a while to recover, you know” you explained, making the shock return twice as intense.

Lando could swear his brain was malfunctioning. He didn’t know why or how, but the way you were speaking and the things you were saying were doing things to him. He found you so attractive before, but now it had reached a whole other level.

“Have I ever told you how hot you are?’ he asked, his voice having dropped to a dangerous low mumble.

You bit your lip, looking into his eyes sensually. If you had known this was all it took to get to him, you would have brought him with you a very long time ago.

“You have, and I could say the same about you. However, as much as I want to jump your bones this very second in this very gym, I need to finish my workout and you need to work on your neck” you said, your lips brushing against his as you suddenly pull away from him and make your way towards the treadmill for a running session.

Lando stared dumbfounded as you walked away from him like nothing had happened, getting back to your workout just like that.

He would lie if he said he didn’t want to just ditch his workout and take you upstairs, but he knew Jon would be coming soon enough to help him with his neck training and he didn’t want to have to explain to him why he decided to skip it.

♡♡♡♡♡

Ever since that first day in the gym, Lando had insisted on joining you for every workout routine that he had time to attend. It didn’t matter if he had just got back from a race halfway across the globe, or he was tired and sore.

He wanted to be there, even if it was just to watch and admire.

“Baby, you’re tired, you really don’t have to come with me” you argued with him one very early morning as you were getting ready to go downstairs to the gym.

Lando had just got back home very late last night, having flown all the way from China. The amount of sleep he got was nowhere near enough for him to get enough rest after such a busy weekend.

And yet there he was, wide awake before 8 am and ready to go watch you while you work out.

“But I want to watch you” he pouted, his eyes barely open. His hair was fluffy and his curls were sticking up in every possible direction.

You sighed, knowing you would never be able to say no when he looked at you like that, lips all pouty and those puppy dog eyes staring right into your soul.

“You need to sleep, love. You’ve barely had any time to rest this weekend and when you finally come home you’d rather come and watch me exercise than get some sleep?” you asked, smiling slightly, but you already knew the answer.

“I would rather spend any time with you than sleep. If you’re not here with me then what’s the point of sleeping?” he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

You chuckled, shaking your head. He knew how to weasel his way straight into your heart, saying things like that which you couldn’t overlook.

Once he noticed the defeated look on your face, he got up from the bed and took your hand, offering to carry your bag downstairs.

When you arrived downstairs, you were pleased to see that there was nobody in the gym at that hour, giving you two some much needed privacy.

“Alright, I’m going to run on the treadmill for a while and then do some leg lifting. Are you okay here by yourself for a little while?” you asked him once you put your earphones in and your headband on your head.

He nodded, taking a seat on a bench in the middle of the room. The sight all but melted your heart, the way he sat there with his hands on his lap, like a little kid waiting for his mother.

You nodded and leaned in to quickly kiss him on the lips, turning on your music and getting to work.

It wasn’t even 20 minutes after that you got off the treadmill and noticed Lando had fallen asleep on the bench, his head resting on his knee. You pouted, taking out your phone and snapping a quick picture.

Because you knew there was no way he was comfortable in that position, you decided to cut your workout short and get him to bed, figuring you could get some more sleep yourself.

“Lando, baby. Come on, let’s go upstairs” you slowly shook him awake, his eyes opening and meeting yours sleepily.

“Are you done working out?” he asked, stretching a little and looking around, seeing you more rested than you usually were.

“I only ran on the treadmill today, I’m skipping my legs session today so we can catch up on some sleep together” you explained, taking his hand and trying to get him to follow you upstairs.

He protested, shaking his head and not moving an inch.

“No, go on and finish. We can get some sleep later. I don’t want you to jeopardize your routine because of me. I’ll watch, do your thing” he said and planted himself more comfortable on the bench, now facing towards the apparatus he knew you would be using.

You smiled lightly, finding his obsession with watching you train endearing.

Never before in your life had anyone been as supportive of your workouts than Lando has been. Compromising his sleep schedule just to see you train and do your thing, sleeping on a gym bench just so he could watch you in your element.

You couldn’t have asked for a better partner in life, someone just as passionate about the gym as you were.

Maybe even more.

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nanamis-princess · 2 days

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✯¸.•´*¨`*•✿ ✿•*`¨*`•.¸✯

Patching you up

Synopsis: venture getting healed by reader after a mission. Venture is head over heals for you! Reader is a healer:) sorry this is short:(

Genre: fluff:)

T/w: mentions of bruises & light talk on bl00d, nothing too harsh. No mentions of y/n. Plz read a/n at the bottom!

Venture X (healer)reader

After a mission you were patching sloan up as they talked about a new artifact they recently found. Cleaning their wounds as they take in a huff, holding in their breath as it stings a little. You glance up at them “its okay, I’m almost done cleaning” you say continuing to patch them up. Sloan lets out an exhale “I was just trying to be cool” they laugh a little as their eyes watch you work diligently. Admiring your features as your focus makes their stomach feel giddy, without realizing their smiling you look up. Hearing your laugh caught them off guard for a moment but they smiled a bit bigger “what?” They said a bit confused. “You’re all banged and bruised but you smile like it didn’t even happen” you said chuckling, after the discarding the bloody alcohol wipes. “I can’t die, I’ve more stuff to see.” Sloan lightheartedly says, watching you set up healing equipment.

Their treatment went smoothly, once you were just finishing up Baptiste walked into the infirmary “oh hello you two” he said surprised making his way to his area of the room. “Don’t mind me just needed to grab something” he says nonchalantly as he opens up his filing cabinet, digging through it. You turned your attention back to venture after you both greeted him, “everything is all good, just get a meal in and plenty of water before going to sleep. If anything feels off you know where to find me” you say softly to venture with a smile. “Uh yeah! Thank you so much, I’ll see you at dinner then if you want to sit together?” Venture asks as they hop off the table looking at you as they fidget with a zipper on their jacket. Studying your face once more, taking in your features with admiration. They look at you as if you hung the stars and moon. “yeah I’m down, I’ll see you there” you say with a smile that makes their stomach feel all giddy again. “Cool… cool” Sloan says with a smile before exiting and saying bye to both you, and Baptiste. “Whew doctor! Looks like you have a little admirer” Baptiste says in a playful way as he looks at you and winks. “Sloan? What? No no” you laugh a little brushing it off as your heart beats a little faster and you let out a chuckle. “We’re just friends” you add. Closing the cabinet he looks back up at you “Awe don’t tell me you need an eye exam now doctor” he clicks his tongue at your dismissiveness followed by a light chuckle.

A/n: sorry this is short, I’m thinking about making more venture content tho 🤔. Thank you guys for all the love on recent posts & requests. My requests are open! You must be 18+ tho! Also I don’t do smut (as of rn)

#venture overwatch #venture ow2 #sloan cameron #sloan cameron x reader #venture x reader #overwatch x reader #overwatch x male reader #overwatch x you #venture x you #overwatch 2 #fluff #overwatch headcanons #x male reader #x chubby reader #x black reader

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kindlingkeen · 3 days

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I need to know if I’m alone in this or maybe missing something.

It always bothers me when people say Tim’s childhood was so much worse than Jason’s, or even says they’re the same kinda thing. Am I the only one in this?? (More specifically when they compare them) Like it feels like they’re minimizing Jason’s story to nothing, when it makes his character up as much as his death does. (I’ve even seen people compare Tim’s childhood to Jason’s death, which is. A choice.)

Granted, I’m not a big Tim fan (he’s a cool character, just not the one I focus on) so maybe I’ve missed some part of his canonical backstory or ive subconsciously got something against his character idk.

But from my understanding, Tim is a rich kid who was taken care of (as in, he always had what he needed), just his parents were neglectful? Or away? (Not to say this isn’t bad, of course wouldn’t wish that on a kid either)

But Jason’s lived surrounded by crime and poverty, hell we see panels where he’s hurt and generally not havin a great time.

And I’m fine with people making angst worse because like, favourite character. I’m sure I’m guilty of doing the same to Jason (fave character bias and whatnot) it’s just something that strikes me as odd. But hey, maybe I just don’t know about some canon panel that shows Tim’s childhood as a tragedy where he almost died countless times (another thing I’ve seen fans use)

So yeah. Generally, what do you think about this? I am not too great with character analysis & whatever else, but I like the stuff you’ve said in regards to characters. I know you’re a Jason fan, unsure about how you feel about Tim/how much you know, but curious about your opinion anyway. Thanks.

You are not alone, anon.

You’re also not missing anything in canon, Tim’s childhood was not a tragedy (his parents traveled a lot and he spent his time in boarding school). Were his parents on the neglectful side? Yes. Does that equate to being parentless and living on the street before the age of 12? No. I answered an Ask about Tim a little while ago explaining why I don’t really care much for Tim in the comics or a lot of fanfics. And I only ranted a little about how projecting Jason’s trauma onto Tim is Not. Cool. So maybe check that out.

As for my opinion on this … *takes a deep breath* Let me start by saying that everyone should like what they like, read what they want, write what they want, etc. No judgement or shame intended at all.

But … my opinion is that the enemy-to-caretaker trope is to blame for the over abundance of this dynamic in the fandom.

It seems like this trope grew out of/is a Gen take on enemies-to-lovers. I have absolutely no problem with this trope in general. In fact, I quite enjoy it in certain settings. But the thing is, lovers can be equals. But a caretaker, that has an inherent power imbalance to the relationship. A caretaker takes care of a person who is in some way weaker or less able than them.

So, to make Jason a caretaker for Tim, you somehow have to make Tim weaker, and with time and repetition that’s gotten amplified to much weaker.

The easiest way to do this is to jack up the angst and trauma of Tim’s origin story and increase his overall vulnerability. Because in reality, the inherent power imbalance between Jason and Tim is not that significant. Jason is only two years older than Tim. They’re both supposed to be badass vigilantes who can fight and solve crimes. Tim’s home life was loads more stable and supportive.

Play a few games of fanfic telephone, and all of a sudden you have a baseline of touch-starved Timmy who was made to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs as a wee little niblet and then Lazarus-mad Jason came along and tried to murder him repeatedly (nope), slit his throat (‘twas but a scratch), and generally traumatized him beyond repair (Tim is Robin, pretty sure he’s been beaten up before). 🤦‍♀️

That’s my opinion, anon! Thanks for the ask! 💙

#keen converses #an essay on the influence of the caretaker to enemy trope on the batfam fandom #tim is like plain cheerios #they’re fine #but why would i choose them when i can have honey nut #<- jason being the honey nut here #jason todd #tim drake

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An Updated ‘Reasons Why I Ship Hiorin’ — Because It’s Been Ages Since I Made The First One And I’ve Had More Thoughts (and we got more moments!)

Aka: can you tell this ship makes me mentally unwell?

Hi again! It’s been a while. I did make one of these long posts a while back outlining why I choose to ship hiorin even though they’ve barely interacted and on the surface don’t look like they’d make sense at all. Since then, hiorin has gained quite a few shippers in the fandom and I keep thinking about my boys, especially with the Bastard Munchen vs PXG game FINALLY giving us some new moments. Unsurprisingly, ever since making the first post I’ve also had a lot more ideas about the dynamic, it’s potential, some more connections between them that I never touched on before, etc… and rather than editing the other post I thought it would be easier to just make a new one.

Some stuff I go over here might be familiar from the first post. I want this to be a kind of hub for any and all of my hiorin interpretations, analysis, trivia, headcanons, ‘theories’ (which I don’t think will be canon but the narrative potential for them is through the roof) and anything else I think is relevant to the ship. Feel free to jump around and read whatever is most interesting for you. Hiorin is a ship that, for me, is built on mountains of untapped potential. I just want to bring that potential to light all in one place.

Note: for this post I’ll only use information that has been written by Kaneshiro, drawn by Nomura or Sanomiya, or has otherwise been green-lit by Kaneshiro as canon. Merch collabs, voice actor QnAs, the PWC game etc… for me do not count as canon and I won’t use them. Also, the 10-image limit is biting my ass so my formatting for certain bits might be a bit all over the place. Apologies.

So without further ado. Let’s start! Enjoy the yap sesh!

Part 1 — The Manga Canon

Hiorin get their (very sparse and brief) interactions mostly from the Third Selection Arc (chapters 87-108) and the U20 arc (chapters 109-151). We recently got some new moments in the BM vs PXG match (chapters 250-present).

First off, the tryouts. It’s implied here that Hiori and Rin have never met, as Hiori notices Isagi’s response to Rin and asks if Isagi knows who Rin is. Rin also doesn’t acknowledge Hiori in any way here, so we can presume they’re strangers (although some shippers like to headcanon that they met during the first selection).

That being said during the match, after Isagi has been thoroughly shut down by Karasu, Rin turns his attention to Hiori as a teammate to help him get the ball up the field. Rin has never seen Hiori play before (as far as we know). They’ve never even talked. They’re barely getting familiar with each other’s play styles. And yet, they immediately link up to form a clean, deadly back and forth that optimises Rin’s play style. In fact, this duo helped Rin score 1 goal, and it would have helped Rin score 2 had Shidou not rudely interrupted the second.

It was so deadly that Otoya had to intervene specifically to break them up, so that they could no longer continue their one-two passes up the field and threaten to go for another goal. (Also notice in this page below how as soon as the kickoff happened, Hiori was already running into position in the background. He understands what Rin wants to do).

Not only did Hiori and Rin naturally form a link-up, but Hiori was also fully capable of keeping up with Rin, something Nanase admitted he struggled with during this match and even Isagi was struggling with as well, since later on we see Isagi fail to intercept one of Hiori’s passes due to not being able to reach it in time (which presumably Rin would have been able to were he in Isagi’s position). So, from what we see of Hiori and Rin in this match, they’re on a similar wavelength in terms of skills, field vision and gameplay, and are naturally able to link up even as strangers. I’ll note here that neither of them were playing at full power — Hiori was playing on 0 motivation, and Rin was still utilising his Puppeteer play style instead of his Destroyer. More on this later in the ‘Headcanons’ section.

After the Tryouts, we next see them interact in the U20 match. We start with a brief callback to their tryouts link up in chapter 132, where Rin passes to Hiori. Hiori is acting as a relay between Isagi and Rin, which in my opinion would be a good way to utilise him in the current manga after the NEL. Whether or not that’s how Kaneshiro chooses to use him in the future is anyone’s guess though.

The next big moment comes in chapter 140, after Shidou has kicked Rin in the face and the game has briefly paused. I think this is by far the most ‘iconic’ hiorin moment. While Isagi is analysing the previous gameplay and Karasu is arguing with the ref, it’s Hiori who is the only one to actually go and check on Rin. Even Bachira and Reo were right next to Rin and neither of them were the ones going up to him. Hiori was further down the field but he was the one who moved to help Rin first. Not only is he gentle with and worried for Rin, but by some miracle Rin actually accepts his help! It feels almost out of character given how angry Rin is for the rest of the match, but for this very brief moment he lets Hiori help him up and reassures him that he’s ‘totally fine’ (yeah sure buddy…).

For many this is the main ‘ooooooh’ moment with hiorin. But what if I told you it actually happens a second time this match? After Aiku goes rogue in chapter 142 and tries to score a goal, Rin ends up slide-tackling him to prevent it. And once again, if you look in the background of the panels following the interception in chapter 143, who is it helping Rin stand? It’s Hiori. And this time they actually hold hands!

The final hiorin moment in the U20 match come soon after this in chapter 144, when Rin is about to enter his Destroyer mode. When Rin enters Destroyer mode, Hiori is in possession of the ball and so Rin steals it from him in a completely unpredictable move that had everyone stunned.

The U20 match moments, for many of us hiorin shippers, felt like the last time we’d ever see them properly interact. I at least had zero hopes for PXG. But oh boy was I wrong! Kaneshiro might not realise the dynamic he’s setting up with this duo but I’m gonna milk every interaction for what it’s worth! And so with that, I’ll bring you to the BM vs PXG match (note: currently still ongoing, so I might have to update this section soon). Since the U20 match, we’ve had some changes. The biggest one is Hiori’s personality. After going through his arc in Ubers, Hiori has become more outspoken and confident, playing into his ‘Ultra-Sadist’ style and being more than happy to speak his mind. He’s more argumentative and can whip up a good piece of trash talk (my gamer boy fr!). We see this on full display in chapter 251 when he completely shuts down Rin’s goal opportunity because Rin was too focussed on Isagi to see the bigger picture of the match. He turns around, points at Rin, and tells him “if ya want a goal… come at me with an unpredictable script!”

Notice here how he isn’t simply putting Rin down for not being able to score. Hiori may be taunting Rin, but he does still technically give Rin helpful advice. In a previous panel he explains how he was able to read Rin because Rin was too focussed on Isagi, and in combination with Hiori’s ‘unpredictable script’ line it forms some rather blunt and rude but nevertheless useful advice. Hiori is telling Rin exactly how to get past him and what Rin needs to do to improve. Notice the focus on unpredictability. This is veering into headcanon territory, but I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to think that perhaps Hiori is thinking about Rin’s unpredictable Destroyer mode. He experienced it first hand when Rin stole the ball from him in the U20 match. He knows what Rin is truly capable of. To Hiori, that version of Rin is a reasonable expectation (and I’ll get to their relationship with ‘expectations’ later) that would be the perfect key to getting through BM’s defence. But Rin isn’t showing that off because his obsession with defeating Isagi over scoring goals is hurting his performance. Hiori’s advice is reasonable and maybe Rin should listen to it.

As of right now, the final moment we have of them together is from chapter 259, where Hiori is aided by Raichi to block Rin in a 2-person press, causing Rin to lose the ball. From a purely indulgent shipping perspective, notice how Hiori and Rin’s legs are touching, their hands are on each other’s chests and they’re looking at each other. Raichi is just there lol.

This may be it for their canon interactions, however it’s far from all the canon information we have about them that’s interesting for the dynamic. A big part of the hiorin ship is about looking at their individual information and drawing together similarities and/or parallels. While on the surface they seem very different, almost opposites, digging a little deeper reveals a lot of small coincidences about them that build up to make you realise that they’re a lot more similar than you might initially think.

Part 2 — Where Hiori and Rin Align

Analytical players. Both of them have a deeply analytical play style that utilises field vision and high levels of technical skills. They don’t rely on brute strength or pure intimidation to get through the opponents’ defence, rather they analyse, play with and overcome their opponents with strategy and out-play their opponents with sheer levels of skill. This similarity is likely what led to them to be able to so easily link up when they first met.

Sadism. Both are known sadists. Rin’s Destroyer mode is particularly sadistic but in general he revels in being at the top with others under him. He’s open with his insults and destroys chaotically, looking for breaks in his opponents’ defence and completely tearing them down until there’s no hope of his opponents winning. Hiori is a self-proclaimed “ultra-sadist” (personally I think he’s more a sado-masochist but we’re sticking to canon only here). After his arc, he enjoys watching his opponents scramble to try and keep up with him only to be destroyed by his top-tier plays, especially in a ‘best play’ scenario with his chosen striker of the moment. He’s also not loyal to any one striker and will leave them behind if they’re not playing up to his standards or goal vision. Hiori’s sadism also manifests as him teasing his friends, as we see in chapter 241 when he jokingly teases Isagi for getting shipped with Kaiser by BLTV fans.

Sae connections. Rin is Sae’s younger brother and was abandoned by Sae after Sae returned home from Spain. He says he hates his brother after the U20 match, when Sae noticed Isagi over Rin, and now Rin is playing for the sake of crushing Sae (more on this later). Hiori also has connections to Sae though. He’s been compared to Sae twice in-universe, once by Sendou in chapter 129 who said his passes had the same level of skill as Sae’s, and once by Yukimiya in chapter 241 who thinks Hiori’s ultra-sadist mindset is similar to Sae’s.

They’re both gamers. Obviously we know Hiori is one. That’s been a big part of his character ever since we first met him. However, Rin also plays video games, specifically horror games. We get this info from both the Egoist Bible and his prequel light novel, where it explains that he plays horror games to de-stress at night: (chapter 2) “… even games, should be chilling and scary. Playing horror games alone at night is quite thrilling”.

Horror, gore and zombies. As well as playing horror games to de-stress, it’s explained in the Egoist Bible and Rin’s light novel that he watches horror movies for the same reason: (chapter 2) “When he’s done, he watches a horror movie and then goes to bed. This is his daily routine. For some reason, since Sae has been gone, he only watches horror movies. Movies, videos …”. The light novel slightly expands on this to specify he enjoys splatter films, as well as showing an illustration of him watching rather a gory zombie movie: (chapter 4) “Lately, he's been into splatter films. The one where a killer comes out with an electric saw and a big-ass ax, then blood splatters all over the place. The one where a killer chases you no matter how hard you try to escape, and if you get caught, you end up being dismembered. His heart is pounding, but he’s not the type to show on his face, so Rin watching the slaughter scene without any expression on his face is much more horrifying”. Likewise, Hiori is shown in chapter 206 playing a zombie shooter in which he imagines the zombies being his parents and he violently kills them. We see his inner monologue of this in his prequel light novel, showing the depths of how much he wants them to suffer: (chapter 6) “Before he knew it, in his imagination, his parents became zombies. His father and mother are coming towards him, laughing. He shoots without hesitation. Bang! Headshot. The bullet that entered the father's jaw blew off the back of his head. Bang! Bang! His mother's eyeballs pop out and there's a hole in her chest. He aims for vital spots with rapid fire, but they don't fall easily because they're zombies”.

Solitude. They’re both introverts according to their MBTIs. Rin is ranked as the most anti-social member of Blue Lock in the Egoist Bible. He says he “doesn’t have time for lukewarm conversations” (although I do think on some level he longs for approval and love from someone, given how much he craves his brother’s attention). He is also one of the only characters who genuinely has no friends in Blue Lock. He tolerated Bachira for a time and trained Nanase begrudgingly, but no one is very close with him at all. Now, at a glance Hiori might seem far more social. He has a lot of friends and seems to enjoy hanging out with them. However, in a Twitter qna (which tend to have questions compiled for the Egoist Bible but alas Hiori doesn’t have a page) it was revealed that his ideal type in a romantic partner is “someone who can leave me alone”. The wording he used — 放置し合えるん — seems to imply a reciprocal nature of this ‘leaving alone’, ie ‘you leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone’. Now tell me that arrangement wouldn’t work perfectly for Rin. Hiori is also shown in chapter 172 (pre-character arc) spending time alone in the BM dorms while others are out training. While Hiori can enjoy socialising, he also needs plenty of time to himself to the point where it becomes a deal-breaker in a relationship for him.

Ochazuke (tea on rice). Rin’s favourite food according to the Egoist Bible is ochazuke, specifically taichazuke. In the new Episode Rin extra chapter we also see him going to enjoy some taichazuke at a traditional restaurant because he was hungry for ochazuke. When Hiori was asked in another Twitter qna what his favourite accompaniment for rice is, he replied that it was the ochazuke brand Nagatanien.

Stripes. Rin’s casual outfits for both the Shibuya collab (designed by Nomura) and Episode Rin feature a striped/ribbed pattern. Likewise, Hiori’s casual pyjamas, childhood design and one of Nomura’s coaster designs all feature him wearing striped clothing.

Eyelashes. Both of them have long under lashes. That’s kinda it for this one lol.

Name kanji (yes, I’m in this deep). In Rin’s surname, the kanji 糸 means ‘thread/yarn’. In Hiori’s surname, the kanji 織 means ‘weaver’. Both of them have kanji relating to weaving, likely in relation to both Rin’s Puppeteer play style (and Sae’s insane control of the midfield), and Hiori’s way of ‘weaving’ together a best play through his skills (and his parents ‘weaving’ his life for him rather than letting him control it himself). To get poetic about it, you could say Hiori is the weaver who knows how best to utilise Rin’s threads and can guarantee their shared goal vision will be woven into place. To get even more conspiracy theorist-y, when Charles meets Hiori he calls Hiori “水色お兄さん” — literally ‘water-coloured big brother’, likely in relation to his hair colour because 水色 can also mean ‘cyan’. To keep it on the topic of water though, whose aura is made of water? That’s right. Rin’s! (yes I know this is really grasping at straws but I did say this post was for EVERYTHING hiorin soooo).

Part 3 — Family Relationships: Love, Expectations and Abandonment

Rin and Hiori both have relationships with particular members of their family that are similar and also unique among the rest of the cast. For Rin, it’s his relationship with Sae. For Hiori, it’s his relationship with his parents.

To begin with Hiori, his parents only wanted a child who could fulfil their dream of being number 1. They held this expectation of him throughout his whole life, pretending to genuinely care about and love him when in reality all they wanted was for him to be the best. If he tried to step out of line, they’d become monstrous, as seen in Hiori’s light novel: (chapter 2) “Can I take a day off from soccer tomorrow and go play with my friends?” As soon as he said this, the smiles disappeared from his parents’ faces. His mother looked very surprised, and then she made the scariest face he's ever seen. “......!” He doesn’t remember what she said. He just remembers that he was scolded terribly. After that, he was hugged tightly. “Hiori, you are born to be the best at soccer.” “You can play with other kids anytime you want.” “But if you don’t do soccer properly from now on, you will never be the best.” His mother was desperate. His father was behind her, looking sadly at Hiori. “Please, Hiori, trust us and play soccer.” Hiori felt that he had done something very wrong. … What should I do? I said something bad. I'm sorry. The air was stifling, as if he had been locked in a room full of needles. He felt like he would get hurt if he moved, so all Hiori could do was nod.” We also see the extent of this in chapter 206, when Hiori overhears his parents threatening to get a divorce if he isn’t the best. This makes him realise that if he doesn’t fulfil their expectations, he’ll be abandoned by them.

With Rin, it’s a bit more complicated. His relationship with his older brother Sae is still pretty up in the air as to what really happened from Sae’s perspective. We need to distinguish between what actually happened (which is difficult to determine as of right now) and what Rin interpreted as happening. From his perspective, Sae pretended to love him while they were growing up, only using him as a stepping stone to get to the world stage. After that had been achieved, Rin was abandoned (as seen in his inner monologue in chapter 125). While it’s difficult to discern, on a broad scale we could argue that instead of this, Sae has a particular expectation of Rin that currently Rin is failing to meet, and as a result Sae sees this abandonment as somehow ‘necessary’ to get Rin to evolve… or he really has abandoned Rin and is just an asshole, but I hope towards the former. This is where I cry on deaf ears for a Sae light novel or spin-off chapter, anything to get his side of the story. My current interpretation of canon is that Sae still loves Rin, however he knows that Rin’s desire to be the world’s best as a duo is impossible, and his way of trying to ween Rin off such a dream was to sever their relationship. No matter what really happened though, I’m more interested in what Rin interpreted and took away from being abandoned, which is an interesting mix of hatred and confusion but also still a desire for recognition.

This to me reads as very similar to what Hiori’s relationship with his parents used to be. He hated them. He wished death upon them. And yet he kept fighting for what they wanted, fulfilling their expectations because he was so afraid that if he didn’t, all the blame would be placed on him for their family falling apart and his parents abandoning him. Rin’s situation is sort of a dark mirror to Hiori’s where instead of just fearing that abandonment, Rin was abandoned, with all the blame being placed on him by Sae. And yet, deep down, he’s still fighting for Sae’s approval and love again, trying to find any way he can to fulfil Sae’s expectations. We see this in the way Rin has chosen Isagi to be his rival, not because of anything in particular that Isagi has done, but because Sae acknowledged Isagi over him. We see his desire for love in the way he travelled to Tokyo in the Episode Rin extra chapter to possibly watch Sae’s match, even though they’d already fallen out by that point. Rin and Hiori both strove for love from their families, it’s just that Hiori has now managed to break free from this mindset and fight only for himself, meanwhile Rin is still clinging to the memory of Sae no matter how much he wants to crush Sae for abandoning him.

This complicated relationship the two of them have with love, expectations and abandonment in relation to family members is what draws me to a lot of hiorin headcanon material. Rin is cold, antisocial and ruthless, and yet Hiori potentially has the capacity to understand his pain more than anyone else. This is especially true now that Hiori has broken free of his parents’ expectations. It gives him the freedom to look at these situations more objectively while retaining an understanding of their emotional core. He knows how difficult it is to both hate your family but strive for their approval, perhaps fruitlessly. And likewise, Rin might be able to actually learn something from how Hiori overcame his situation by going all-in with the egoist mindset, playing only for himself, completely discarding his family members’ expectations.

Part 4 — Headcanons Part 1: The Hiorin Potential For A Joint Arc (which yes I know won’t happen. Let me dream)

Anything from this point on is pure headcanon, taking into account all the canon information listed in the previous sections. This is NOT ‘speculation’. I genuinely don’t think any of this will be canon or else Kaneshiro would have started calling attention to it by now in the main manga. However by the end of this I’m sure some of you will join me in wishing it could be canon, because even if Kaneshiro hasn’t consciously laid the groundwork for Rin and Hiori to have a joint arc together, he has done so by accident and all the pieces are in place.

The bulk of this section revolves around Rin’s Destroyer mode and Hiori’s ultra-sadism, as well as the ‘best-play’ scenario theorised by Isagi and Hiori in the recent PXG chapters. Basically, I think that a ‘best-play’ chemical reaction between ultra-sadist Hiori and Destroyer Rin would be both broken as fuck and would be a great way to showcase Rin’s character development as he learns to break away from wanting to crush Isagi and Sae.

In Rin’s light novel, we learn that as a child playing alongside Sae as a duo, Rin didn’t have the Puppeteer play style he’s known for in the main series. Instead, he was fully zoned in on himself and the game, moving on instinct, looking for the perfect spot to break through the enemy’s defence, trusting fully that he’d receive Sae’s pass (chapter 1): ‘“Rin, what are you thinking about when you play soccer?” Rin scored two goals in today’s match. Meanwhile, Sae scored three points with a hat trick. His Nii-chan is great after all. “Hm? Nothing. I guess it's just about goals. I just run to the bad area and then Nii-chan passes to me.” “What do you mean by bad area?” Sae asks, while playing with the stick in his mouth. “Hm. The area where the enemy panics and falls through.” The area the enemy falls through. Sae let his younger brother's words quietly seep into his mind. “You rely too much on your intuition, you know.” “But Nii-chan always passes to me, so why not? Nobody else is good enough for me.” That’s why it’s okay to move on impulse without thinking. “......What will you do when I’m not around?” “I don’t know but, I guess I’ll look for a replacement.” Rin says nonchalantly.’

This method of running ‘to the area where the enemy panics and falls through’ seems to be alluding to Rin’s Destroyer mode — the version of Rin we see in the final moments of the U20 match after he loses control and goes on a destructive rampage. Indeed, in chapter 152 we also see Rin wondering what this side of him is truly capable of and how he wants to try harnessing it more, but he still only wants to use it to destroy Isagi and Sae rather than playing for himself. His Puppeteer is not his original play style, instead it’s one he developed after Sae left in order to appease his teammates and be a able to carry his team to victory by himself (chapter 3); ‘Even in a high-level club team, no one could handle Rin’s moves’, (chapter 4): ‘Without Sae's passes, he can't play the way he wants to play’, (chapter 5): ‘Rin erases his best image and then captures the whole picture. In his head, he sees the movements of all the players, as if filmed from a drone’, (chapter 5): ‘No one understands Rin's frustration. But they can win, so that's fine. It's as if there are marionette strings attached to his teammates, controlling and moving the team…… That is Rin's new weapon. It is a play that can only be made with Rin's combination of technical, physical, and tactical skills. It has also led him to bring out the best in his teammates’. It was only in the U20 match that the Destroyer was able to come out again after it had been sealed away for so long. It was a completely different way of playing that was more primal and natural for Rin but less controlled and more clumsy due to his lack of practice using it. Still, its pure destructive power was insane enough to almost score.

In the current chapters of the manga, we know that Rin has gotten a certain better grasp of the Destroyer since the start of the NEL. In chapter 239 (immediately after Hiori says he’ll happily drop Isagi for someone else should they come along, mind you) we see Rin utilising a seemingly toned down version of the Destroyer against Nagi in the PXG vs MC match. Clearly he has been trying to improve it since first letting it loose again during the U20 match. However, so far in PXG vs BM we haven’t seen it at all. Given Hiori’s comment about focussing on Isagi and predictability, as well as Isagi and Hiori’s theory of ‘ego types’ and a ‘best play’ scenario, it appears as though Rin’s biggest problem is that he’s using a world-type ego to show off his skills to Isagi (and therefore, by extension, to Sae as well). This is the ego type suited for the Puppeteer, one that utilises teammates and was created for the sake of appeasing others. The Destroyer on the other hand seems far better suited to a ‘self-type’ ego because Rin accesses it when in a state of mind that ignores Isagi, ignores Sae and hyper-zones in on himself and his own ability to score a goal. This would mean that Rin’s ‘true’ ego is a ‘self-type’ but he is hindering himself by using a ‘world-type’ to try and prove something to Isagi and Sae.

Now, undoubtably we’ll see the Destroyer at some point in this match, and I really hope when it comes out we see it decimate Hiori. Since Hiori flat out told Rin to come at him with ‘an unpredictable script’, the Destroyer can be the ‘unpredictable script’ that blows Hiori away. And I think that would catch Hiori’s attention. Remember, his resolve in chapter 239 is to create the greatest striker, and his ultra-sadism means he’s more than happy to drop Isagi for someone he thinks is better. So, no matter what the outcome of the match is, I think Rin’s Destroyer should pique Hiori’s interest as a potential best striker candidate. This is especially so when you remember that Hiori has technically already experienced Rin’s Destroyer first hand in the U20 match, when Rin stole the ball from Hiori (interesting side note here: Hiori’s immediate thoughts before the ball was stolen from him were him struggling to figure out who he should pass to, Barou or Nagi. He thought ‘which one of you?’ but didn’t pass, in my eyes because he couldn’t envision the play working with either of them, and then immediately Rin stole the ball. Rin unknowingly answered the question Hiori was asking in those crucial seconds).

In the next arc (a U20 World Cup training mini-arc I’d presume), I’d have Hiori and Rin slowly start to come to an understanding. I think Hiori’s ultra-sadism would be incredibly useful in helping draw the Destroyer out of Rin because Hiori only passes to the best spot on the field. He doesn’t alter his level of play for the sake of his striker. So, if Rin is in a mindset where he’s too focussed on proving Sae wrong, crushing Sae and defeating Isagi, then his plays become affected and Hiori simply won’t pass to him, likely passing to Isagi instead. This creates a bottle-neck where Rin has to evolve his mindset, discarding the ‘world-type’ ego of the Puppeteer (which is still useful in some cases, but not here) and instead fully embrace the Destroyer. If he can get into that mindset, only focussing on himself and not Isagi, Sae or even the other players around him, zoning in on just the goal ahead, he is guaranteed to be rewarded by receiving Hiori’s perfect pass to the ideal spot where the enemy ‘breaks’. It mirrors how Sae used to pass to him in their childhood (remembering Hiori has been compared to Sae in terms of both skill and mindset), except now Rin isn’t thinking that he’s part of a permanent duo, rather he alone is the star and he can trust his midfielder to aid him and match goal-visions without the need for the Puppeteer.

The key word here is trust. Rin and Hiori would have to develop a level of trust. Hiori has to trust that Rin will embody the Destroyer, and Rin has to trust that Hiori will side with him. It’s why Hiori has currently been able to work so well with Isagi. Their goal visions aligned and they placed the utmost trust in each other to perform at their individual bests, thus leading to Isagi scoring successful goals. For me, if Rin could also reach this state, it would be a showcase of the culmination of his development as he breaks free of Sae and learns how to play fully for himself. It would simultaneously be a return to his childhood, where he was able to freely utilise the Destroyer without worrying about the rest of the team, while also showing his evolution because he no longer places that trust onto just Sae ‘because it’s Nii-chan’. When Rin trusts in Hiori, it wouldn’t be because ‘it’s Hiori’, rather it would be Rin fully focussing purely on himself and his own plays, forgetting about everything and everyone else, and simply allowing the ball to land in the ideal spot at his feet. It’s a completely sadistic, self-serving mindset, just like Hiori’s is from a midfielder’s perspective. Hiori’s ultra-sadism means he likely can’t be controlled by Rin’s Puppeteer style, since he plays for himself fully. Therefore in order to successfully earn Hiori’s passes, Rin would need to fully embrace the Destroyer, abandon Isagi and Sae clouding his judgement, and throw himself fully into goal-scoring. Hiori can’t be controlled but he’s reliable and can be trusted. I do think the road to building this trust should have its ups and downs. Let Rin get frustrated at Hiori not being controllable. Let Hiori want to see Rin improve while also not bending to Rin’s will. Let Hiori refuse to work with Rin sometimes. All of it would be part of a gradual, arc-spanning development for Rin that doesn’t take place in a single chapter.

In my personal opinion, having Hiori specifically be the midfielder who helps Rin most would be more narratively satisfying someone like Nanase (no hate to Nanase or nanarin tho. Love them 🫶). While Nanase works as a nice support for Rin especially at the moment in PXG, plus his sunshine personality might help to make Rin relax and open up more over time, his skill level isn’t quite up to scratch for Rin’s highest level plays. Nanase’s passes are useful with his ambidexterity but they aren’t clean. They aren’t as reliable. Rin still has to pay attention to Nanase in order to guarantee a successful play. He can’t block out literally everything else to hyper-focus on goal-scoring in this state. Hiori on the other hand provides that high level of play which means that Rin can afford to essentially forget Hiori even exists — the ball will still find its way to him. They wouldn’t even have to look at each other (much like the Isagi x Hiori best play we saw in Ubers that was recently recreated in PXG). There’s also the thematic element that Hiori has been compared to Sae before, setting him up as a Sae parallel which I think could be utilised in Rin’s evolution. Placing trust in Hiori would show that Rin is finally able to detach his reason to play from Sae and he can stop striving so strongly for Sae to notice him. Then there’s the shared relationship Hiori and Rin both have with expectations, love and abandonment, which could arguably help them get on each others wavelength to understand exactly what they want from a play and how best to execute a strategy they haven’t even discussed beforehand, as well as have Hiori be the one to help ‘create’ Rin since Hiori has already gone through the mental baggage of his arc and would understand Rin’s mental blocks.

Still, I do think canonically Rin and Nanase will be the duo that continues forwards into the next arc. Rin’s development will likely come from a combination of Nanase’s kindness, Isagi’s yap sessions and a lot of internal monologues. Meanwhile, Hiori will continue to improve alongside Isagi as a plot device who can be pulled out at convenient moments, while occasionally passing to other strikers for dramatic flair (I don’t really like this after Hiori’s resolve so strongly telegraphed that he’d very happily drop Isagi without a second thought, but oh well, what can you do?). I doubt Hiori will canonically play into Rin’s development at all.

Still, from the moment Rin and Hiori met in the third selection tryouts, they were able to flawlessly link up without the need for planning or communication. Hiori understood what Rin needed and moved to the perfect spot to work with him. If both of them were in Flow, creating a ‘best-play’ scenario with the Destroyer and the Ultra-Sadist, it would both be a show of incredible skill and high-level play while also showcasing Rin’s personal development and evolution, as well as utilising Hiori as a narrative support in a way that doesn’t impose him too strongly on the main plot but keeps him relevant and active in the story.

Part 5 — Headcanons Part 2: Some Fun Ideas

This section is all about some fun ideas I’ve had about hiorin, mostly trying to use canon as a strong basis so that they make sense. They aren’t things I think will ever be explored in canon but they’re fun to think about nonetheless. These can range from canon-adjacent to domestic AU material, it’s a whole mix really. I’ll probably come back to this bit every now and again to update it with new ideas I have, so keep an eye out for that.

A shared understanding. Since they’re both familiar with what they perceive to be feelings of false love from family members, it creates a situation where they can understand why they act the way they do better than anyone else. I hc that this would help them to more naturally form link-ups on the field, since they’d be in tune with each other’s mental states as well as general play styles, and off-field in being able to recognise when something has ticked off the other and resurfaced some unpleasant memories. I don’t think they’d really be ones to talk about their family traumas to each other openly, but they’d have an understanding of the things they do find out and wouldn’t think the other is overreacting, especially Hiori understanding Rin. While I think it’s good that Rin has friends like Nanase who he can be more chilled out with, I personally prefer the idea that his partner be someone who can actually understand the depths of his issues and sit with him in the eye of the storm rather than trying to just ‘fix’ him or drag him out of it.

Touch-starved and both slow to physical affection. Since they’re both introverted and Rin is emotionally constipated as fuck, they aren’t really a couple that would be very into PDA. Not even hand-holding. But it doesn’t really matter for them. They’re both not very used to that sort of physical comfort especially in the presence of others. However, while I think in general Rin might be a bit more reluctant to initiate intimacy than Hiori, I do think he’d still be more inclined to initiate hugs. Why Rin of all people? Because he grew up with a sibling. And he was a younger sibling at that. On some level he would have received attention from Sae while their relationship was still good, even if only a little bit. Hiori on the other hand grew up an only child in a household where hugs and doting were used as a tool to manipulate him. He’d likely not be used to the idea of hugs as a genuine show of affection. But Rin’s hugs are always genuine and often given out sparingly and bashfully, after a lot of hesitation. They’re both slow to physical affection but they’d find a way to navigate their wants and needs together, taking their time.

All-nighter horror dates. Be it playing co-op horror games or binging horror movies in the dark, I think they’d both prefer that as a date night over going out to a restaurant. It’s an activity they can both have fun with as a shared interest, just the two of them, alone at home with no need to even leave the house. They can let themselves get more passionate and competitive (and sadistic) while playing horror games too.

Yoga together. While we only have canonical confirmation that Rin both regularly does yoga and is good at it, I hc that Hiori would also be quite good at it due to his parents likely drilling him with intense schedules and being helicopter parents about his health. Yoga would likely fall into it somewhere as a cool-down and a good way to exercise on rainy days. While Hiori initially wouldn’t find yoga fun to do with Rin due to his negative associations with it, I feel like over time it could be a nice bonding activity for the two of them. It requires minimal talking of they’re doing their own things, and as long as Hiori isn’t messing up the moves I think Rin would tolerate the two of them existing in the same space. At the very least, Hiori wouldn’t try to one-up Rin with moves he can’t do and topple into Rin as a result (looking at you, Isagi…). They wouldn’t do couples yoga though, just their own thing in the same space.

Sharing food. In the Twitter QnAs, it states that Hiori’s favourite food is salt-grilled saury (saury shiyoyaki) “including the bitter bits”. His least favourite food is cotton candy because “it’s just sugar”. Therefore, I hc that he tends to enjoy bitter food while disliking sweet food. In contrast, we know that Rin quite likes sweet food because he used to eat ice cream with Sae on the way home from practice, plus in the Episode Rin extra chapter he goes to buy dessert at a special desserts cafe after eating ochazuke (a traditionally salty dish). Because of this difference in tastes, I like to hc Hiori giving any sweet food Blue Lock offers in their meals to Rin. Likewise, if the main meal Rin is given is ever burnt or charred too much for his liking, he gives the charred bits to Hiori since he knows Hiori will eat them so the food won’t be wasted.

Tea and coffee. As an addendum to the previous hc, I think Hiori would be a coffee drinker and Rin would be a tea drinker. This is because coffee tends to be more bitter, especially ones without sugar like espressos, so I can see Hiori preferring it to tea. There’s also the idea that ochazuke is made with tea, which is a bonus for Rin liking tea over coffee.

Cooking. Last food-related one I promise! While Hiori likely has a ton of technical knowledge about nutrition, dieting, calorie counting etc… due to his mother’s frenzied control of his diet growing up, I headcanon that he doesn’t actually have a clue how to cook. Once again, this is because of his parents being overprotective and worrying that he’d injure himself with a kitchen knife or on the stove. So he has zero clue where to start in the kitchen. On the flip-side, while Rin isn’t the best cook in the world I reckon he’d have somewhat an idea of how to cook the basics, plus he likely also has knowledge of dieting and nutrition for the sake of his own health. So while they’d both have things to learn in the kitchen, it would be Rin doing more of the actual cooking and Hiori deciding what meals to eat to optimise their health and training.

A joint-aura that’s a blizzard — in the event that they ever were to team up on the field, I think that the aura they’d give off together should be a blizzard. It makes sense to me for them to have this because Hiori has ice associations with the kanji 氷 in his surname, which means ‘ice’, and in chapter 239 when he gives his monologue about finding a reason to play, a metaphorical key appears with a snowflake on it to symbolise his newfound resolve. Rin’s connections to snow are less positive though, since it was snowing the day that Sae abandoned him. I think making their joint aura a blizzard could symbolise both Hiori’s ultra-sadist resolve to play, and Rin finally being able to move on from Sae to associate the snow with his sadistic determination. The fact that it’s a snowstorm emphasises the pair of them having a sadistic, destructive take-down of their opponents.

Hiori has a type. His canon type is already ‘someone who will leave me alone’ as I previously discussed in section 2. However, I do like to semi-jokingly say that his type is also ‘dark-haired, analytical guys with an attitude who are really good at football’. Obviously this is meant to refer mostly to Isagi and Karasu (we’ve all seen the heart-eyes you give them, Hiori!), but it is amusing to me that the description also fits Rin perfectly.

Part 6 — Transformative Works I Recommend For New Shippers

These are just some of my favourite fanfics all linked together in one place. I’ll start with a shameless plug of my own fic:

14 Days To NOT Fall In Love (but guess who did anyway)

Summary: This annoyingly mandated break of Ego's was only fourteen days long. That would never be enough time for Rin to fall for this aggravatingly sweet, understanding, level-headed, cyan-haired gamer boy... Okay, maybe he'd need to exercise SOME restraint. Aka: how Rin and Hiori become mutually pining idiots after the U-20 match through a combination of video games, late night discord calls and learning that perhaps they're not all that different after all.

(Chapters: 10 , Word Count: 67088 , Rating: T)

And now for my personal favourites I think new shippers will enjoy, in no particular order (if any of the authors see this and have tumblrs you want me to tag, lmk!):

catch us in the morning by transrightssokka (kellallyourfriends)

Summary: Hiori looks down and brings his hand up to his mouth, hiding a faint smile. “You don’t wanna go home, do you?” “No shit, I don’t,” Rin says. He’d rather sleep on the sidewalk than spend the next two weeks with Sae. Hiori is silent for a minute. His pretty eyes flick to his feet. Up to the back of the seat in front of them. Over to Rin. “So.” “So?” Rin says. Hiori lowers his voice. “So, what if we didn’t?”

(Chapters: 3 , Word Count: 27206 , Rated: M)

Even When It’s Starless by saturnshots

Summary: Everyone’s had an imaginary friend or two — it’s not often they change the course of your life, but who says being imaginary could stop them from bringing your dreams come true?

(Chapters: 1 , Word Count: 2838 , Rating: G)

sine wave by starstruckdove

Summary: Rin discovers Bachira’s “super secret surprise” sooner than he’d thought. There’s a new boy standing next to Ego at practice, and Rin knows he’s new because each of his unfortunate teammates have made their presence (loudly and raucously) known in his life. The boy has a nice face–wide eyes and soft mouth, all rounded corners instead of sharp edges. His hair is a shocking shade of blue and Rin finds it almost familiar. “This is your new manager,” Ego says with about as much energy as a dead battery.

(Chapters: 1 , Word Count: 8990 , Rated: T)

Daydreaming by em_hiorin

Summary: Hiori can’t seem to concentrate during practice, as a certain Itoshi has been plaguing his mind.

(Chapters: 1 , Word Count: 1560 , Rating: G)

My family thinks we’re dating. by akiangelsolos

Summary: “Oh, I see.” His mother hummed, placing her silver fork down on the table. “You must be upset, Hiori hasn’t come over in a while. You have to be lonely without your boyfriend around.” “I’m not lonely-” Rin shot his eyes at his mom, “What did you just say?”

(Chapters: 2 , Word Count: 5486 , Rating: G)

Part 7 — Wow, You Made It This Far? Congratulations And Thank You!

If you’ve made it this far, then I am both immensely thankful and I applaud you. Seriously, thank you for putting up with my insane, delusional brainrot over this silly rarepair that has barely any canon backing to speak of. Hopefully if anything, you now understand why people are starting to take interest in the ship (or at least why I enjoy it). And if you’re a shipper now, welcome to the club! You will now have to watch Hiori and Rin never affect each other’s development, never interact in any meaningful capacity and you’ll be eternally bitter about it 👍. For any aspiring fic writers, I hope this can be a nice hub of info for all of you if you want to consult the hiorin ‘dynamic’ (i say in quotations because let’s face it, I made up like 95% of the dynamic based on analysis and a canon dynamic doesn’t actually exist). Also, bear in mind that in the off chance we do get some more moments, I plan to update this post. So you may end up being subject to even more brainrot in the future.

Until that day comes though, I can only thank you once again. Hiorin is my otp and no matter how much Kaneshiro doesn’t make it come to fruition, he will have to try incredibly hard to make me stop shipping them. The dynamic can change. They can become more and more ‘incompatible’. I don’t care. If hiorin has no shippers, I have passed on from this world.

#blue lock #bllk #hiorin #hiori yo #itoshi rin #blue lock hiori #blue lock rin #FINALLY this post is finished!!!#I’ve been working on it for weeks #it’s mostly for myself ngl #just a nice place to compile all my screaming into one clump #might as well share it with the world yk?#I hope it makes even a modicum of sense to any unsuspecting readers who don’t ship it #rinhio #rnho

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ohtobealady · 2 days

Text

This is for @callhimnowmarisamylove … it’s not exactly that you were hoping for, but I hope you like it all the same. Missing scene: S3E8.

—//—//—//—//—//—//—

Women’s Stuff 3

“You know something, don’t you?”

Cora startled a little at his words, and she looked up and away from her book at the dividing door. “Oh! Robert.” She found where she was on the page. “You frightened me.”

“But you do, don’t you?”

“Do what?” She mumbled, but her eyes scanned the page. ‘Dearest,’ exclaimed Valentine, with her adorable smile, ‘awake and look at me!’ Morrel uttered a loud exclamation and frantic, doubtful, dazzled, as though by a celestial vision, he fell upon his knees.

“Honestly, Cora, I’m speaking to you.”

“Sorry, darling, but I’m only paragraphs away from the end,” she sighed, but tucked her thumb into the pages of her book and closed the cover over it. “Surely it can wait five more minutes?”

“No,” he enunciated, and began to untie his dressing gown, “it cannot. Especially because I suspect—” here he tossed the garment at the end of her bed and worked to slide himself inside her blankets. “—That you know something and you’re keeping it from me.”

Cora rolled her eyes, but chuckled. “I really haven’t a clue what you could be referring to.”

“Mary.”

“Mary?” She waited for Robert to finish adjusting the pillow behind his back before speaking, but her mind went immediately to where Mary was: London. “What about her?”

Her husband lifted his brows. His face looked brighter than it had been in months and months, and her heart grew a little in her breast. She felt her mouth soften into a smile. “She’s told you she’s pregnant, hasn’t she?”

And Cora deflated. “Oh, Robert—“

He chuckled. “I saw the way you glanced over to her yesterday. And today in the library, darting your eyes away from me. Really, Cora, you’re not quite as subtle as you think.”

“She’s not pregnant.” Cora opened her book and attempted to find her place again. “I’d tell you,” she added. “And that glance was for something else entirely.”

“Something else?”

Cora hummed, and she read. The next morning at daybreak, Valentine and Morrel were walking arm-in-arm—

“Then you do know something. Has it to do with—“

Cora sighed deeply and looked up. “With what?”

“They’ve been married for nearly a year, Cora.” She looked at him as he spoke. “Matthew hasn’t a living father. Do you think I should speak with him?”

She felt her mouth fall open a little as she studied her husband’s face. His eyes watched her, waiting, his pink mouth opened slightly in his earnestness. “It hasn't been a year, not as long as that. And besides, I’ve already said no,” she answered. “I think they both know all they need to know. In fact—“ she took in a breath, and then stopped herself.

“You do know.”

Oh. She was terrible at secrets. “Alright, but you mustn’t let on that I’ve told you anything.”

“What is it?”

Cora studied him a few moments more—the tired lines around his eyes, the crease between his brows, the evening stubble at his jaw—and again she closed her book over her finger. “Mary has to have a tiny procedure done—very quick, and very small—“

“—a surgery?”

Cora shook her head to ease the nerves she saw etch deeper lines into his face. “Not a surgery, Robert. A procedure. Lasts only a handful of moments and is fairly painless.”

He repositioned himself against the pillows, and he shook his head. “That still sounds rather like a surgery to me.” He looked over at her again. “And Matthew thinks this wise?”

“He doesn’t know. And I don’t think it’s our place to tell him, Robert. Really, I’m not sure it’s my place to say anything at all—“

“What? And when is Clarkson doing this?”

“It’s not Clarkson.” Robert still looked at her, and his brows bobbed higher. “It’s a Doctor Ryder in London. And she had it done today.”

“Is that why she’s gone? I don’t like this,” his anxiety now crept into his voice. “Some quack of a doctor doing—“

“—he’s not a quack—“

“—God knows what to our daughter and perhaps destroying her chances of ever having a child—“

“He’s a very good doctor, darling. Trust me.” Her husband looked at her, but this time the brightness she’d seen moments before had clouded over, and she knew why. How could she not? Her chest felt tighter, and she gave a small little smile to reassure him. “Doctor Ryder is well-respected and very knowledgeable. Truly. He’s done the procedure dozens of times. I’m not worried in the slightest.”

But Robert frowned. “You can’t be sure.”

“I am sure,” she let her eyes go back to her book when Robert began to cover himself more with the sheets. “It’s amazing what he knows just by appearances alone. And it helps that he’s kind. I’m certain he put her at ease.”

“You speak as if you know him.”

Cora stilled. And suddenly she realized she’d said too much, had gone a step too far in the truth.

She could feel beside her as Robert leaned to his left and back again, and she heard the sound of his book’s pages fluttering. “Cora? Do you?”

She heard herself make a little unintelligible sound, her ability to conceal anything from Robert not an ability of hers at all. Especially now. She wouldn’t hide anything from him now.

Cora looked up from her book, and held her breath. Oh. Her mouth moved open and then closed again. “Well, I—“

“How?”

“How?” she repeated.

“How do you know him?” Robert blinked at her, peering meaningfully, and Cora let all the air she held in her lungs escape. It was useless.

“Because I’ve been his patient,” she confessed quietly. Robert’s eyes widened.

“What?” He angled his body towards hers. “When was this?”

“Years ago, before the war,” she rushed out. She watched her husband do the quick tallying of math and memory before his mouth fell slightly agape. A quick look of hurt flashed across his features, and she felt herself crumbling. “I didn’t mean to keep it from you; it wasn’t meant to be a secret forever.” She tipped her head. “At the time, I didn’t want you to get your hopes up if it didn’t work, and then when it did, nearly a year had gone and—“

“It being the pregnancy,” he said in a flat voice, and after a moment Cora tried her best to nod.

They were quiet, and Cora felt her throat grow thick. “Seemed pointless to speak of it afterward,” she added quietly.

And then their quiet slipped into silence.

“You should have told me,” he said after some time, and she nodded.

“Yes,” she agreed.

“Had something happened to you—“

“It’s really not that sort of procedure, darling,” she reiterated. “It’s very safe.”

“But it wasn’t necessary.” His shoulders rose with a deep breath. “We had our girls.” And, without warning, Cora’s eyes stung.

Oh, the past week had been better. She’d managed to avoid weeping, but Robert’s words—“had”—caught in her chest and ached. “I…” she did as he had done a moment before and pulled in a breath. She understood now why he had done it: so that he could speak around the emotion that she was sure was as lodged in his throat as it was hers. “…I wanted to make you happy.”

Nearly immediately, he turned away from her. He swung his legs over the side of her bed where she heard his book slide against the top of the table there. Tears threatened her composure.

“Oh,” her chin trembled, and she moved her jaw. “Please don’t be angry with me.”

But when he turned quickly and looked at her, Cora choked. “I’m not angry. No.” And as he reached his hand toward her, Cora could see that his eyes were teary. “Not at all.”

She took his hand and held it.

“Unexpected,” was all he said as an excuse as he turned his head away again, and she heard as he cleared his throat.

She tightened her grasp of his thumb. She let him sit that way for another moment, another two, before at some length, he turned again towards her.

“Goodness,” he chuckled, but wryly. “Apologies.”

“Don’t apologize.” She let him release her hand, and not knowing what else to do—how else to comfort him—she tugged the covers beside her. With a small grin, he pulled his legs up, and he pushed them back to where they had been.

“She’ll be alright,” he said quietly.

“Yes,” she affirmed. “Perfectly alright.”

He nodded, but did not speak.

“Matthew should know,” he added, and she nodded. “She’ll tell him.”

“Hmm.” He nodded, too, and touched the covers at his waist.

She leaned to him, trying to catch his gaze. “Let’s try to sleep?” She pursed her lips. “You’ve got plenty of things to think about in the morning.”

“You’re right. The Cricket.”

She didn’t even roll her eyes.

“Didn’t you want to finish?” He added, sniffing, and nodded towards her book that still lay in her lap. “You said you were at the end.”

“Oh.” She’d nearly forgotten. “Yes, I am.”

He held out his hand, and gestured with his fingers. “I’ll read aloud.”

“You won’t.” She opened her book, and shaking away the cloud that threatened her, she lifted her chin. “It’s just like you to swoop in at the best part.”

He laughed, a pitiful, wet sound, but all the same, it made Cora’s heart go skipping about her breast. “You always make me out to be much more calculating than I am.”

“Well…” Cora eyed him, assessed him, and then smirked. “Alright.” She passed the book to him, and she turned and settled on her left side, lying ever closer to him as he sniffed and cleared his throat once more.

“Here?”

She peered up at where he pointed and nodded. “At the break.”

His chest expanded, and he began. “The next morning at daybreak, Valentine and Morrel were walking arm-in-arm, Valentine relating how Monte Cristo had appeared in her room …”

Cora listened as he read, listened to the beautiful lifts and falls of his words, listened to the small crack at the vowels that had come from the emotion he’d buried away again. She listened to him, and she felt the hum of his voice against her, humming through his arm, his side.

And without much other thought, she pressed her lips to his sleeve.

He paused, and she looked up at him. Her eyes felt warmer and stung again, but she smiled. She lifted herself and finding his lips, she kissed him again.

“Darling—“

But she didn’t want him to speak; she kissed him again, and this time she felt him smile against her mouth.

“Shall I tell you how it ends?”

Cora kissed his prickly jaw, his throat. She felt his hand go to her neck and a finger thread into the base of her braid. She hummed. “Would it please you to spoil the ending?”

A laugh rumbled against her, and she closed her eyes.

“‘All human wisdom is summed up in two words…’” She knew he closed the book, and she was glad. She let her fingers find his cheeks and opened her eyes to see him. “‘Wait and hope,” he finished in a whisper.

And, wanting to cry, Cora kissed him again.

————-

Excepts from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

#cora crawley #robert crawley #cobert #cobert drabbles #hope you find something about it that you like!#thanks for suggesting it

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mdhwrites · 3 days

Note

I’ve been watching Amphibia while studying. I should definitely do a rewatch during the summer, but it’s occurred to me that Amphibia’s strengths are criminally underrated.

Amphibia feels like a more focused show than TOH. It has its flaws ofc especially in Season 3, but Amphibia’s cast comes across as a lot more developed than TOH’s cast. I mean, Andrias got a dedicated flashback episode and Belos didn’t???

Amphibia’s execution of the found family trope is one of the best things I’ve seen in animation. In contrast, I always felt that King, Lilith, Eda, and the Hexside crew are plot devices to get Luz where she needs to go. Eda has some depth but generally speaking TOH never “got into their heads,” unlike with the Plantars, Sasha, Marcy, Grime, and Andrias.

And I gotta praise Amphibia’s ending!!! I wish more kids cartoons embraced the idea of permanent, bittersweet change. The idea of letting things go but not forgetting them.

So while I agree Amphibia is more focused, I actually don't think that's what the bigger difference is between TOH and Amphibia that I think needs to be highlighted. No, instead, I'm interrogate something you said: Does Belos not get a dedicated backstory episode? For that matter... Does he potentially get MORE time spent on backstory than Andrias?

Andrias literally only gets The Core and the King. He actually gets VERY little screentime, mostly because the effects of his cruelty are more important than what he does himself. So for backstory, he gets 11 minutes. MAYBE you could stretch to like 12 or 13 if you want to include hints to Lief but that's all post her time with him. So 11 minutes because Andrias only gets one segment, not two.

What does Belos get?

Well... I think everyone just forgets about Elsewhere Elsewhen. That IS backstory. That is previous characterization. It's not a flashback but it is still interacting with a Belos earlier in the timeline, like a backstory exposition dump or a flashback does. And interacting with Philip is the main purpose of the A plot of the episode, even if it takes a bit to get to him and then he dips out before the end.

As the author of the journal though, he also counts for backstory whenever passages of the journal are told to us. It's unreliable but it is still previous characterization. So stuff like Eclipse Lake and the end of Looking Glass Ruins adds a little here and there.

Then of course... What the fuck do you call Hollow Mind if not a dedicated backstory episode to Belos? The majority of the run time is literally go through his brain, and his memories, to show his rise to power. His backstory. And while there is technically a B plot, it doesn't take up much time so probably at least a third of the episode is spent on this and these are 22 minute episodes. If just two thirds get spent on backstory, that's more than Andrias gets.

So why doesn't it feel like that? Why does it feel like we get a VERY complete version of Andrias' backstory, despite seeing cumulatively three days in a row of his life, while it feels like we were never told Belos'?

Efficiency. Amphibia is a VERY efficient work. It crams a LOT into its run times. It's part of why the episodes are so satisfying because they actually manage to tell complete stories with morals, sometimes their own A and B plots in an 11 minute segment and actually move the characters forward a full step within the span of that time. It does this while also being hilarious and action packed, much more than TOH or, honestly, a lot of cartoons. Not every episode segment counts for this but ESPECIALLY the important ones do and The Core and the King should be taught in classes for how to get across a character's motivations and backstory in a nuanced, breezy way while also being DENSE. AS. FUCK.

In eleven minutes, we get a clear idea of the utopia that Andrias used to live in, the cost of that utopia, the pressures upon him as a prince, how deep his relationships are with two other characters, Lief gets some genuinely good characterization that helps explain her choice, a logical progression of events that matches with the sillier side of Andrias we know of, an escalation and then a climax. We can VERY clearly see what Andrias lost, what he is trying to get back, and why he would want it back on multiple levels, both societal, familial and even personal, that will motivate into being a MONSTER for a thousand years. All while still being a lot of fun and having some really great jokes. It introduces so many elements but it never feels bogged down by any of this. Instead, it chose the PERFECT moment to get across everything it needed to and left very few questions that you as an audience couldn't figure out yourselves. This also all while being explicit about much of the motivation and what not instead of relying on background details.

Which TOH can't claim for Belos. In Elsewhere Elsewhen, we see that Philip hates witches, that his journal is unreliable and that he has ALWAYS been an asshole and a manipulator. That's befitting who he will be but doesn't actually tell us jack shit. It also includes I guess how he met the Collector but that's moving plot, not expanding on your villain. Because the journal is unreliable, it tells us very little to nothing about him except for some reason he donated his journal to the people he fucking despised. Then Hollow Mind shows how he came to power... But not who he is. Not his motivation, what he actually wants to accomplish besides murder, etc. like that. The paintings in the background tell you far more just by being far more suggestive of what he's been through.

TOH is fucking awful when it comes to density. Most episodes, not even just Belos, have the problem of only taking half steps. Each of Belos' parts are those half steps. Revealing only one or two elements when it easily could have shown more to be more satisfying. As an example: Amphibia has a GREAT episode between Ivy and her mom about rebellion, the consequences of fighting what your parent wants for you, why they might do the things they do, etc. like that. In 11 minutes, we get a genuinely complex relationship between Ivy and her mom who haven't had much talk about each other or their relationship up until now. Meanwhile, TOH decides to focus on Luz being expelled for the episode about Amity and Odalia, meaning Amity is in like... Three, maybe five minutes of that episode? A full minute of that being the intro to the episode where she's just showing off the abomaton?

Because it isn't actually focused on Amity, the relationship between Amity and Odalia isn't actually explored. Because they can't explore that, they also need to now make Odalia cartoonishly villainous so as to fit the fact that Luz also spends very little time with her due to making the conflict be about Hexside so we have to waste some time with a stock standard montage of Luz, Willow and Gus trying to get back in. And by the end, what is the resolution between Amity and Odalia? "Get in my way again and I will kick your fucking ass."

Much deep. Very brave.

There's TONS of stuff like this where Amphibia is genuinely the work trying to do more interesting, more meaningful and deeper things than TOH and managing to do it in literally half the time. If not even less. That breakneck pace is part of what makes Amphibia feel like a kids show but it's also what makes it just more enjoyable to watch.

Which actually makes TOH fit in better with our current era of streaming television. TOH is constantly baiting you for the payoffs it promises. It keeps swearing that its elements are deeper than they appear so make sure to tune in next week because this SURELY can't be all there is to, right?

Unfortunately, that is all there is to it. And once you realize that and look at the show with that sort of lens, it starts falling apart. It's part of why TOH should be thankful it was shortened. It lets people more easily claim that it just needed another season. Another fourteen episodes. That TOTALLY would have solved all the problems with episodes that happened even before the shortening.

That is extremely rarely how this works everyone. Sorry.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#Emperor Belos #king andrias #toh critical #the owl house criticism #Amphibia

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pattypanini · 1 day

Text

Lay All Your Love On Me

Chapter 12- Triple Threat

Josh Kiszka x Reader and Jake Kiszka x Reader

Word Count: 6.1k

TAGLIST

AN: Hi everyone! Long time no see, lol. But fr it has been too long and Marley and I have been so sad that we haven't been able to write as much. We're sorry for how late this is but so happy to get the twelfth chapter out finally. We're trying to find a good schedule for writing over the summer so bare with us. Thank you so much for your patience, we love you all so much and couldn't do this without your support 💗. So enjoy the twelfth chapter, Triple Threat.

Warnings: 18+, SMUT, penetrative sex, threesome (NO INCEST,) oral (f and m receiving), sex toys, butt stuff, cursing, angst, dirty talk, praise, possessiveness.

Josh’s POV

It’s been four days since you’d found out about it. You hadn’t bothered texting her or talking to her. She’d been calling out sick from rehearsals, even though you’ve seen her walking around campus. So you’ve been stuck with Sophia as her understudy.

You know you hurt her, but she hurt you far more. She can be the first one to contact you again, whenever she is ready. You can’t lie though, you have been missing her.

You are currently walking back to your apartment with your AirPods stuck in your ears. You’re trying your best to drown out your own thoughts. You’ve been swimming around in your head delving way too deep within these last few days.

When you finally push the key into the door and walk in you’re met with Jake sitting there in silence.

“Josh, we need to talk.” He looks up at you from the couch.

“No. I don’t want to fucking talk to you Jake. Just give me some space.” You spit back at him.

“You can’t just keep putting it off. We need to talk this out, man to man.” You roll your eyes and bring yourself into the living room. “Listen you can’t be mad at y/n because of this, it was all my fault I wanted her and you guys weren’t together.”

“We were still something Jake, and you knew that.” You narrow your eyes at him as you clench your fists into tight balls.

“Then maybe if you felt that way you should have made it official sooner. She was happy with both of us man, it’s over now between us so just move on with it. She clearly loves you Josh. Has she reached out to you yet?”

“No not yet, and I don’t plan on reaching out to her.”

“Why not, you know she's the one for you. I’ve never seen you so happy Josh, seriously. And when she was around me it wasn’t as nearly as happy as when she was with you. She lit up and looked like she had no worries.”

You never realized how she acted around you. You think for a second before you finally come to your senses.

“Clearly I wasn’t enough because she ran off to your dumbass,” You roll your eyes at him.

“Like I said, maybe she just wanted a little fun in her life while she was still single. She did say if she could have us both she would…” He trails off and thinks to himself. “...hey Josh.”

“What?” You say with a deep sigh not wanting to hear whatever he’s about to say.

“What if she could have both of us, you know…for a night?”

“Jake-” you abruptly cut him off.

“I know what you're about to say and I know we said we weren’t going to do it again but…”

“I don’t know Jake. What would I be gaining from it?” You give him a pointed look.

“What do you have to lose? You’ll have a fun night with her and you know she’d like it. Just one time and I’ll be out of your guy's life.”

“I feel like this is just for you, Jake. You just want one more time with her.” “I mean it would be a benefit but it would clear the air and make things less awkward. It’ll be like a therapy type of thing you know? Closure?”

“I don’t know, I’ll think about it.” You make your way to your room and collapse onto your bed. You don’t know what to think. It’s not like you and Jake hadn’t done it before. You would never tell people that but sophomore year a girl that we were both talking to begged us to have a threesome with her. You both talked it over, and maybe it was the alcohol that you both had in your system, but the more you talked it over it made sense. So you made plans with the girl over the weekend and gave her the time of her life. She swore to never share and you never heard anything of it again.

And it wasn’t that you were against the idea of doing it again. It was the idea of Jake being able to get with y/n again. You didn’t know if you were ready to see that happen. But maybe it will relieve some tension between everyone. Jake would be out of y/n’s life, and maybe you could rekindle things with y/n.

You hate thinking about her, after everything that happened. But she has such control over you. And you hate that, but you need her, even after everything that happened.

You are debating sending her a text message to check in on her. You feel bad for ignoring her the past few days. But you needed the space, and so did she obviously. Your feelings cave in on you and you pull your phone out from your pocket.

You pull up her message thread and just stare at the texts for a moment, debating if you really wanted to do this or your emotions were just getting the best of you. You think about what you were going to even say. It felt like the first time you’ve ever texted her again, not knowing if she would even give you the time of day. But you needed to try, you didn’t want to lose her.

So, you come up with the best response you could think of. Not too pushy but also being assertive.

5:23pm Josh: Hey Y/n, I know you probably don’t want to hear from me, but I really want to talk to you, and see you. I miss you.

You reread the message probably 20 times before clicking the send button. You try to distract yourself but you can’t help but look back to see if she saw it or not. After an hour goes by, a notification pops up on your phone.

6:31pm Y/n: What do you want?

6:32pm Josh: I wanted to talk to you. I miss you a lot, mama.

6:44pm Y/n: I don’t really know what to say to you.

6:47pm Josh: Y/n, I’m really concerned about you. You keep missing rehearsals and things are not going well with Sophia as your understudy. This musical is very important to me, but it’s going to go to shit if you don’t start coming to rehearsals again.

6:52pm Y/n: Really?! All you fucking care about is whether I show up to the rehearsals? You don’t care about my wellbeing or why I’m not going to them?

6:54pm Josh: Well…I know you’re not going because you’d have to see me.

6:56pm Y/n: Have you even given one thought about the awful things you said to me the other night? Calling me a bitch and a slut? Calling me those things is not okay in the slightest.

She was right, it wasn’t okay. You’ve always struggled with saying things you didn’t mean when you were angry.

6:59pm Josh: Look, I’m really sorry. I was committed to you in my head and I realize we were never actually dating. I said some things I did not mean at all. You don’t deserve to be treated that way.

7:05pm Y/n: Even though you thought we were committed you didn’t act committed either. You were all over Sophia TO MY FACE to make me jealous. I just wanted someone to treat me right and I didn’t show it off to you. I know what I did wasn’t necessarily right but we were never together. I told you that I needed to tie up loose ends and you understood that, it was only until you found out it was your brother you had a problem. So what is it, me being with someone or your brother?

7:09pm Josh: I didn't want anyone to see you in that way, while we were hooking up, but finding out it was my twin brother? Yeah, it did make it sting a little more.

7:11pm Y/n: I still want you Josh. The night you said that out relationship was fucked I almost died on the spot. I cried the entire night thinking about how much I fucked up, then those flowers showed up. I just want to be with you, and I wanna be yours.

7:13pm Josh: I know mama, I want you to be mine too. Do you forgive me sweet girl?

7:15pm Y/n: I think so

7:17pm Josh: Do you want me to come over later?

7:19pm Y/n: Yes, please come over. How does 9 sound?

7:20pm Josh: Sounds perfect, I’ll see you then.

You sit up from your bed, pleasantly surprised with how well that conversation went. You roll off the mattress and make your way to the living room, where Jake was.

He looks up at you from the couch. “I texted her.” You say blankly.

“Okay… what did she say?” Jake asks, suddenly very interested in the conversation.

“Well we talked and we both apologized for everything. Although I don’t like the idea of you being with her I wasn’t with her officially at the time because I was a pussy and didn’t do it earlier. But I’m going to see her tonight and I didn’t mention the idea to her or anything but…”

“Yes I wanna come. What time?” You see him perk up, sitting up straighter.

“9 o’clock.” You weren’t too thrilled but decided this needed to end once and for all.

“I’ll be there.” He says pointedly.

Y/n’s POV

You hop out of the shower deciding after multiple days you needed to make a good impression for Josh. You were happy that he texted you. Not talking to him made you lose your mind but you couldn’t be the person to make the first move. You felt refreshed, not only physically but also mentally. All of the upsetting thoughts that have been flowing through your head were finally cleansed and you could start over with Josh.

As you make your way to the room you pass by Char’s room.

“Hey Josh is coming over tonight and I know what you're going to say but…”

“JOSH? Seriously y/n after everything that happened between you two? You told me yesterday that if he..” Before she can go any further and jump down your throat even more you cut her off.

“I know I know Char, but you also saw how sad I was when things ended. He’s the one for me, he's the one I want.”

Charlotte closes the book she was reading and sits up on her bed. “He said such awful things to you though.”

“We all say things we don’t mean when we're angry, Char. Besides, I wasn’t saying the nicest stuff either. Mistakes were made on both ends and now we're going to resolve it once and for all.”

She gives you a questioning look. “And by resolve you mean make up sex? But hey I trust you, I will be gone for the night so you guys do what you gotta do.” She shoots you a wink to which you just roll your eyes at.

She begins to pack a night bag and you make your way to your room. You go to your drawers and pick out a cute matching pair of panties and bralette. You slip on a pair of gray sweatpants and your tattered blue Michigan crewneck. You quickly run a brush through your hair realizing that Josh was going to be arriving any moment. As you make your way to the kitchen you fill up your water bottle and sit down on the couch and patiently wait for his arrival.

Before you know it the sound of the doorbell echoes throughout the dorm. Char runs to the door bag in hand and lets Josh in with an upsetting look.

“Bye y/n, see you tomorrow!” With that she was out the door, leaving you and Josh all alone.

The tension in the room was heavy, and the silence you could cut with a knife. You both stand there in your kitchen staring at each other in total silence.

“Hey.” Josh says curtly.

“Hi.” You give him a small smile to hopefully ease the tension a bit. You lead him to the living room and take a seat on the couch. He follows you and takes a seat on the other side of the couch.

There is silence for a brief moment, before you are the first to speak.

“I miss you a lot, Josh. I’m so incredibly sorry.” And you were telling the truth. You were sorry. It never should have gotten this far with Jake, but you still didn’t regret it no matter how wrong it was.

“I know baby, I’m so sorry too.” He reaches over and grabs for your hand. “I want you to know that what happened between you and Jake was not my business. Although it hurt me that you would do it behind my back I understand why you didn’t share it. I should have treated you the way you deserved to be treated. If Jake could do that for you I understand why you went back to him, but I’m here to do that now.” He leans in to push your hair behind your ear. “I need you y/n. And I hope you can accept my apology, even if it’s not today.”

“I accept your apology Josh.” You lean your head into his hand, as he begins to gently rub your cheek with his thumb. “I’m also really sorry. I should have never done any of it behind your back, especially with your own brother. You both were great to me and I appreciate the time I had with both of you, but I want you.”

You watch as a grin forms on his face and he reaches for his phone in his back pocket. He pulls it out and begins… texting someone? You can’t understand how this would be a good time to be texting. When you’re both in this vulnerable, heart-baring state?

He sends the message and looks back up at you. “Well I’m glad you loved your time with both of us, but after tonight it’s just me mama.”

“No I totally understand Josh I just, wait…what did you say?” You hadn’t processed what he actually said. You think over his words in your head…

“Well I’m glad you loved your time with both of us, but after tonight it’s just me mama.”

“What do you mean after tonight?”

“Well Jake led me onto something you had said. Something about how ‘if you could have both of us you would’ and whatever context that was for, you’ll be able to have that.” He says with a smirk on his perfect face.

“A-are you serious?” Your eyes widen, as your heart rate picks up.

He couldn’t possibly mean it.

“You mean, we’re all just gonna talk tonight?” You are in denial.

“Oh sweetheart, you’re not that dense are you?” He gives you a sexy smirk and you begin to put the pieces together.

As if on cue, you hear a knock at the door. Your body goes numb and feels as if you could pass out.

There is no way this could be happening.

Moments go by and you realize you never answered the door. You bounce up off the couch and quickly make your way to your door.

You take a deep breath before opening it, knowing exactly who would be standing on the other side. You hope in your mind that it could be Char coming back for something she forgot, or a surprise visitor, but it's not.

On the other side of the door was no one other than Jake. Standing with the same demeanor as his twin brother. You make eye contact with him and immediately feel the nerves swirling around in your belly.

He is dressed in a black button up, only buttoned up to his navel, and white linen pants. His hair is still wet, you assume from the shower he must have just gotten. He smells of musky teakwood, you almost collapse right then and there. He looks positively delectable.

“Hi, darling. Long time no see.” He says stepping over the threshold into your dorm with a small brown box, causing you to back up a few steps.

“Hi Jake.” You shut the door and stand there looking at both men. You are hoping that Josh is going to hold up on this offer.

Josh stands up from the couch and makes his way over to where you and Jake are standing.

“How is this for a peace offering, mama?” At first you think Josh is being rhetorical, until he gives you a look as if he is waiting for you to answer.

You choose not to say anything, in fear of saying the wrong thing .

“Is my baby girl not going to answer me? Do you still not understand mama?”

You shake your head at him as Jake turns your head towards him.

“Since Josh only wants you to himself, which I think is very selfish,” he says as his eyes travel down to your lips, “He’s agreed that we can all have one more night together, all of us.”

“Oh.” You let your mouth fall open in shock.

Jake pushes your jaw up to close your mouth. “Only if you want to though.”

“I do I do,” you say almost too fast “but isn’t it like incest?”

They both let out a chuckle at your question.

“No y/n it is not, we know what we’re doing. It isn’t our first time.” Josh alluded.

Your eyes widen and can’t believe what they just admitted.

“You’ve done this before?” You were in complete shock. You knew how they both were in bed, but this? This is a total curveball.

“Once, with some random girl a long time ago. But with you,” he looks you up and down with desperate eyes, “it’ll be so much better with you, right darling?” Jake says beginning to pressure you back towards Josh.

You feel Josh’s arms wrap around your chest, pulling your back against his chest. Jake makes his way towards you, connecting his hands to your waist. You are sandwiched between both boys. You begin to relax your body and your heart rate evening out.

“That's it, relax for us mama.” Josh whispers seductively into your ear. He gives you a squeeze around your chest before leaning down and kissing your neck.

You watch as Jake slowly drops to his knees in front of you. “We both know that you wanted us both y/n, you're going to finally have that. Tell us baby, what do you want us to do?” His hands travel up the sides of your legs to your hips. His submissive eyes look up to you, something you had missed looking at.

“Just touch me please. Both of you.” You say with a shaky breath as Jake’s hand starts to make its way underneath your sweatshirt. You feel Josh’s kisses turn into hard sucking on your neck. You began to feel your legs go weak beneath you.

You feel Josh’s lips detach for a brief moment. “Wanna go to your room mama, so we can have you all spread out for us?”

You pull their arms off of you before grabbing both of their hands and leading them back to your room. Once you enter you are swiftly pushed back onto the bed by Josh. As he makes his way to your shirt you feel Jake begin to pull at the hem of your sweats.

You feel like you're on another planet. That a filthy dream you have had is coming to life. You would have never thought this would ever happen, but now it is playing out right in front of you.

After discarding your clothing on the floor you are left in nothing but your matching set. You feel Jake’s hands move up and down your thighs, creeping dangerously towards your core.

“Were you expecting this to happen tonight mama? I don’t think most people just wear something like this to makeup with their boyfriend.” Josh says as he massages your tits through the thin lace.

Boyfriend?

You can’t decide if this was his way of asking or something he had just said in the moment. Either way you were too distracted to decide with the current situation at hand.

“I didn’t expect this to be happening tonight. But it isn’t out of the question when you come over, Josh.” He gives a satisfied hum to your statement as his fingers slide underneath your bra strap. He reaches under you unclasping it and pulling it from your body.

You feel Jake's finger’s slip under the waistband of your panties. “I think this is getting to her more than she wants to lead on, her panties are fucking soaked and we barely did anything.” Josh walks around to take a look himself.

“Such a slut for us mama. You sure you’ll be able to handle us both?” Josh says as he takes over the lower half of you. He grabs your ankles pulling you down towards the end of the bed, making you wince.

You aggressively nod your head, afraid of them stopping. Josh kneels in front of you and grins as he pulls down your panties and throws them to Jake.

“So wet darling, I can’t wait to have it all over my cock.” Jakes says as he examines your drenched underwear. He brings them close to his mouth before licking up the center of them. “Hmm you taste so good. Josh is so lucky to be able to taste that right now.” Before you have a chance to look back down at Josh, you feel his tongue being pressed into your core.

Your hands fly down to grip onto the sheets. “Oh fuck.” You whine out as Josh's tongue laps up your slit.

Josh pulls his head away for a second, “Missed your pretty voice so much, and this sweet pussy of yours.”

You feel the bed shifting around your head as Jake makes his way towards you. “Are you gonna make me feel good darling? I can’t wait to feel those pretty moans around my cock.” As he brings his cock closer to your face you grant him access and open your mouth wide for his. Right as you begin to move up and down his shaft you feel Josh grab your inner thighs and widen them.

As you try to focus on Jake you can’t help but get distracted by Josh beneath you. You release your hands from the firm grip you have on the sheets. You move your hand up to Jake’s cock, stroking what didn’t fit into your mouth. You feel Jake push his cock further into your mouth, making you gag.

“Yes baby, just like that. Gag around my cock. Feels so fucking good” He reaches to your shoulders and begins to fuck himself into your mouth. Your mouth and throat are filled with every inch of Jake.

Josh continues lapping at your cunt, making sure to pay special attention to your swollen clit. You can feel your orgasm creeping up on you. Your noises caused by Josh were being muffled onto Jake cock making him release his own filthy noises.

“Fuck y/n I’m gonna cum keep gagging on my cock, yes just like that baby.” Jake says in his whiny voice. “I missed your pretty mouth so much, always making me feel so fucking good.” He drops his head back as he releases a primal growl.

You start to grind your pussy against Josh’s mouth, causing him to moan into your wet folds. Before you can reach your own release you feel Jake’s cum hit the back of your throat. He pulls himself out and immediately attaches his mouth to your nipple. Your back arches off the bed and you can tell you close.

“Josh, I’m so close. Oh God, please don’t stop, feels so good.” As he continues to suck and lick your clit you feel him insert a finger into you. You reach your one hand into Jake’s hair and slide your other down your body and into Josh’s hair. You never knew you could feel this way, never in your life have you felt this good.

The knot in your stomach became overwhelming and before you could do anything the wave of pleasure took over you. As your eyes squeeze shut and hands clutch around Josh’s hair you let your body relax beneath the brothers. When you open your eyes you can’t believe that they are both in the room with you.

“You cum so gorgeous, mama.” Josh smiles up at you from between your legs. He kisses all the way up your legs to your thighs and stomach. “You're so perfect, did you make Jake feel good?” You nod down to him as Jake walks to the end of the bed. Jake lifts your foot and slowly kisses up to your ankle. “Can you make me feel good now, mama?”

You nod and begin to sit up and reach for his cock through his pants before he stops you. “I had something else in mind, baby.”

“Like what Josh?”

“Well after last time we were together we experimented and I wanted to see if you wanted to do it again, but with someone else now.”

“Like having him in my ass?” You say, not knowing how you feel about it.

“No, no not like that. I’ll be pleasing that perfect pussy of yours and Jake will just get to have a little fun with your tight little ass. Does that sound like something you wanna try?”

It wasn’t something you had thought about, but you weren’t opposed.

“It’s definitely something I wanna try.” You confess to him. He begins shedding off his clothes, until he is completely bare.

“Yeah?” He gives you the sexiest smirk. “Flip over for us. Hands and knees. Now.”

You immediately obey him rolling over onto your stomach, pushing up to your hands and knees. You feel their eyes scan over your body. You hear footsteps walking away from you, causing you to turn to look over your shoulder.

You see Jake walking back over to you and Josh carrying a small wooden box.

“W-what's that?” You stutter on your words, excitement pulsing through your veins.

“Oh darling,” Jake pops the box open for you to see the contents, “just a couple toys. We figured you’d want to try them out.”

“Well what are they?” You question him, as he reappears at your side on the bed.

“Take a look for yourself.” You sit down onto your heels as he hands you the box and lets you examine.

You unclasp the small lock on the front and open the lid slowly. Inside you see three butt plugs ranging in different sizes, glass anal bead dildo, and a small vibrator.

“Can I try them all out?” You say in a half joking tone, hoping they would catch onto the serious part of your tone.

Josh looks at Jake and you see them communicate with only their eyes, in some way that you would never be able to understand.

“We can do whatever you want mama. If you wanna try them all you can. We’ll work your way up.” Josh says as he pushes your hair behind your ear and rubs your jaw before grabbing a chunk and bringing you back onto all fours. Josh makes his way behind you before lining himself up with your core and slowly pushing in.

You feel Jake reach into the box and pull out the smallest butt plug. “Open.” You open your mouth and Jake presses the cold metal into your mouth. You lick the metal and he pulls it out with a pop. Josh begins to thrust faster into you, filling you up in a way that you haven’t felt in a while.

After getting comfortable with the pace you feel a cold gel being massaged onto your asshole by Jake who is standing off the bed looking down at you. “Tell me if you want me to stop okay darling?”

“Yes Jake, oh fuck Josh.” You try to give Jake some type of attention but Josh quickly steals that from him.

“Remember who you belong to, mama, tell me who’s are you?” Josh asks as he grabs some hair and yanks on it softly.

“I’m yours Josh, no one else's.” You say in your shaky voice.

“And you know after today Jake doesn’t get to have you anymore right.” He says, pulling more forcefully and he continues to drive himself into you.

“I’m not his, all yours and.. OH FUCK!” Before you can finish your statement you feel the cool metal butt plug entering you. “Oh Jake, that feels so good. I don’t know how long I can last, it feels so good guys.”

“Let your body relax mama, just let us make you feel good, and fill you up.” Josh adds before slowing his pace slightly. “You wanna put in a bigger plug baby? I think you can take it. Can you take it like a good girl for us?”

That alone could have sent you over the edge. “I want the glass one. I want you to fuck me with it Jakey.”

Jake smirks down at you. “Gladly darling. I wanna make this time memorable for me.” Shooting a daring look at Jake, like there is some type of underlying anger between them even though they agreed to do this. You know that they are both slightly jealous but you wanna make sure Josh knows that you are his.

“Joshy, can you put it in for me? I wanna feel you fill me up in both holes, and then Jake can fuck me with it.” You say looking back at him with seductive eyes.

“God mama you’re gonna be the end of me.” Jake hands Josh the beaded dildo. Before placing it in your ass Josh licks up and down the toy and slowly pushes it into your lubed asshole. After having the first bead pushed in Josh hands it over to Jake and slowly continues his thrust.

You feel each rivet of the toy make its way into you. After two divots Jake stops and lets you adjust.

“Is that too much, or do you want another?” Jake questions softly.

“Another please, and Josh goes faster. I know you guys are trying to be nice but I need it harder.”

Without speaking to one another Josh picks up and the pace on your pussy while Jake begins to fuck the glass dildo in and out of you slowly, but enough to give you a deeper pleasure.

Your arms give out on you and your body falls onto the mattress. Josh was able to fuck you deeper, hitting a part of your pussy that was left untouched for a while. As he continues on your pussy you feel Jake pull the toy all the way out, leaving your ass feeling empty.

“Look at that pretty hole Josh.” Jake points out. You look back to Jake and see him spit into your ass that is now left open for both of them to see. Throughout it all Josh never slowed down or faltered his movements. You knew you were getting close to your second orgasm.

“Oh my god I’m so close. Put it back in, fuck me harder Jake don’t hold back. I need it.” Jake swiftly grabs the toy and pushes it back into you. As the boys fill you up Josh pulls you back up onto your hands.

Jake leans down and kisses your ass before biting hard down onto it. The feelings that were roaming your body were becoming a sensation of overwhelming bliss. You never wanted it to end, but you knew after tonight it would never happen again, so you took in every feeling you could. You let your body let go and let Josh and Jake lead you to your climax.

“Joshy I’m gonna cum please please harder. Jakey harder oh my god.” They both quicken their pace and bring you to your peak. Your orgasm washes over your body and you feel your arms giving out on you again. Jake slowly pulls out the dildo and Josh shortly after brings himself to his climax. After finishing you he collapses on top of you. His warm moist body being pressed against you was something you had missed.

You almost forgot Jake was in the room until you heard movement in front of the bed. After Josh moves off from on top of you, you flip to your side and look at both of them. They look to you, waiting for some type of response for what just happened.

“I- that was the best sex I’ve ever had. I don’t even know what to say.” They laugh at your comment as Jake and Josh begin to cloth themselves.

“I’m glad you had a good time mama.” Josh says as he sits beside you on the bed and plays with the hair framing your face. “But you know that’s the only time right, and the last time with Jake.”

“I know, and that’s okay. I’m yours Josh and that’s the only way I’d ever want it. No offense Jake.”

“None taken. I enjoyed our time y/n. I’ll head out and let you guys talk things over.” Jake grabs his things and leaves with one final smile and a wave. You felt weird, but glad that things came to an end the way they did. You turn your attention back to Josh who was staring down to you with loving eyes.

“So tell me mama what was your favorite part?”

“You.” You say with a smile as you play with the jaw string of his sweats.

“Are you saying that to make me happy or are you saying it for real?”

“For real Josh. You made me feel so good. If I could have you do both things I’d take that in a heartbeat.” You sit up and make your way to your drawers and pick out a shirt and shorts for bed.

“Alright baby if you say so. I’d much rather do both parts but I feel like the way things played out was healthy. I know if anyone else knew about this they’d probably call the cops but for the situation I think it helped work everything out. You got to have a fling one more time with Jake but me being here made it feel like I could control it a little, I know that’s weird but I was more comfortable with it than just letting you be with him alone.” Josh explains as he plays with the comforter he’s sat upon.

“I know Josh. I wanna talk everything over. Like everything but my mind is very foggy from tonight and I’m tired. Do you wanna go to bed and go to breakfast tomorrow and talk it over? I’m not trying to cut things off short and act like I’m trying to escape the conversation but I think talking about this tomorrow would be best for both of us.” You turn the lights off and climb into bed, Josh following you under the sheets.

“I agree. There are certain things I want answers to but I don’t want to force you into answering them now. Let’s talk it over tomorrow. Thank you for going along with tonight. Were you uncomfortable in any way?”

“Not at all. At first I was worried because, you know, incest. But after being a part of it I understand it now. But this can never be spoken about to anyone ever.” Josh nods his head aggressively, making you laugh.

“Goodnight Joshy, thank you for giving me a second chance. I don’t think I’d be able to live life without you.”

“I don't know if you’re just saying that because you're tired, but I wouldn’t be able to live without you either, mama. Good night, love.”

As he presses a kiss onto your lips and pull yourself closer to him feeling some sort of completeness. A sense of whole, and you wouldn’t trade that feeling for any other guy in the world.

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trans-cuchulainn · 1 day

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so i’ve been drawing ulster cycle/tain bo cuailnge characters for a while now and a problem that i have repeatedly run into is that i have no idea how these people dress. their clothes always end up looking wrong and i don’t know where to look to find good info about it or references to work from, and it can be difficult to differentiate the more faithful depictions from the stereotypical “ancient celtic warrior” stuff, especially since i’m not well versed in most of the texts they’re based on. do you have any advice/resources/tips/anything to help? thanks :)

i am not particularly an expert on historic clothing and i have to admit it's not an area i have a great deal of knowledge about in the context of the ulster cycle specifically but here are some thoughts!

a good starting point would be the descriptions of clothes within the texts themselves. so you can just go to the online edition of o'rahilly's translations (recension 1 / book of leinster) and search a word like "cloak" or "tunic" and get all the descriptions of cloaks and tunics that show up in the story itself. e.g:

this is a good starting point bc what you'll be representing is at least clothing as it's presented in these stories even if it doesn't necessarily 100% represent historical fact, because it's often stylised, idealised, uses colours for symbolic value rather than practicalities of dyeing etc

(here's a link to the index of translated texts on this part of the CELT site if you wanna have a browse for others)

but that can be tricky without visual references which is where you start needing other sources

and that's where it's worth noting that the ulster cycle texts are set a long time before they're written, but the material culture in the stories is generally neither a historically accurate representation of the distant past, or a totally contemporary and up-to-date depiction of what people were wearing at the time (bc there's a degree of archaising and trying to make stuff sound old and also drawing on earlier sources). so you end up with multiple options for what period you might be trying to represent -- ~1st cent BCE when they're set? ~8th cent when our earliest surviving stories show up? ~11th-12th cent when TBC was written in its surviving form?

the good news is that you can probably learn a lot from reenactors and experimental archaeologists and living history types -- from vikings in ireland through to normans in ireland is pretty well covered in that regard, but there's some earlier bronze-iron age stuff as well, and that should give you some visual references to draw on. i'm sure some more reenactment and living history minded followers of mine will have specific recs for resources there, but you could try looking at the UCD experimental arch folks, craggaunowen living history centre in the west of ireland (they have a video on weaving and clothing), the dublinia museum for viking-age stuff, etc

and the big advantage of the texts not being "historically accurate" themselves is that you don't have to stick too closely to a specific century or whatever if you don't want to! not that the basic design of a tunic would change a huge amount but if you wanna mix and match the vibes somewhat, nobody could really call you out on it

the HARDEST part is probably representing armour, which shows up fairly rarely, but you've got things like cu chulainn's 27 'waxed shirts' and i've seen various theories about what that's supposed to entail but i don't think there's a definite answer. having said that, most of the time he's not wearing that so you can just... ignore it, if you want to and don't want to conform to any specific theory about it lol

finally you can't go wrong with tunics. just layers of tunics. long tunics under short tunics. tunics with cloaks. fancy tunics. simple tunics. people loved a tunic

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idkwhattoputhereidontknow · 2 days

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Saw your requests were open so thought i'd give it a shot for the Obey Me crew.

Depsite the game, imagine an MC that will avoid conflict, either by appeasing or avoiding, just any way to not argue or fight with anyone. What would that look like?

Thanks for the request!!! I tried my best to do your request justice, but I didn’t really know how you wanted me to write it. (ಥ _ ಥ) So, if you do ask for anymore requests, please tell me the format {I think that’s what it’s called at least.} you’d like, THANK YOU!!! {Oh! And spoilers for Obey Me.}

If MC was like this and was actually successful, it would definitely change the whole story. Like in lesson 4 when MC was trying to find a way into the attic by taking Levi’s TSL soundtrack and giving it to Lucifer to distract him. I feel like this MC could maybe find some way to get the soundtrack without setting Levi’s demon form off and without injuring their wrist. (But at the same time that needs to happen so Levi makes a pact with MC, right?) Although that's only if MC is actually good at avoiding conflict which I doubt considering the story. Poor MC. I also don't think MC would be able to avoid DEATH in lesson 16 since like how are you supposed to avoid that. So, in summary, MC would probably be able to get past some stuff but most things I don’t think are really avoidable.

Lucifer would definitely like this MC at the start compared to our normal MC. I mean the whole reason Lucifer didn’t like MC at first was because they were too noisy and troublesome. He probably still wouldn't really like this MC, but he'd probably like them more than our usual MC, at least a little bit.

Mammon’s feelings wouldn't really change for this MC. In my professional opinion. He’s just a simp and if your name is MC you're a victim of his simping. Just like Lucifer and most of the other brothers, he would probably like this Mc a bit more at the very start before he catches feelings but he would also think this MC is a little bit of a wimp.

As I’ve said before, if this MC could avoid the whole lesson 4 situation, Levi and MC might have a better relationship at the start but at the same time I have no idea how MC would be able to make a pact with Levi without the whole incident. (I honestly don't have much to say about Levi or Satan since I don’t really focus on him a lot, sorry Levi fans.)

Satan would definitely get along with this MC. If MC avoids conflict, then there's less things to make Satan mad. Happy Satan = Happy times.

With Asmo I doubt anything would really change much. I mean, this is Asmo we're talking about. There hasn't been any moments where I feel like a MC like this would change much between them. (At Least from where I’m at in the game.) He would still love MC no matter what they’re like.

Once again with Beel I don’t think much would change….. Actually, scratch that. In lesson 4-5 MC probably would not eat Beel’s custard even under Mammon’s pressure so Beel wouldn't go demon mode on them. So, that would change the story a little bit.

Now Belphie is a special case. MC can’t avoid conflict if Belphie has any chance of getting out of the attic, so that's why I think MC would try to avoid conflict but wouldn't really be effective. And if Belphie’s is out of the attic that means MC dies, they can’t really do anything about that. So, I doubt anything would really change at all in their relationship whatsoever. MC still has to get traumatized for THE PLOT!

I kinda rushed this because I was like “OH NO!!! I still haven't done any of the requests yet! I need to finish at least one NOW!!!” So, apologies if there are spelling mistakes or it’s not the best, I tried. I also haven't really played Obey Me in a little while until recently, so I was having a hard time “capturing” the brothers' personalities...? But I hope it was at least kind of decent. And if anyone would like me to redo this with a different writing format or whatever, please tell me. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

#obey me #obey me shall we date #mc #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #and finally #obey me belphegor #uhhh what else?#headcanon #i think thats it #Well...Have a great day! ᓚᘏᗢ

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peachkkuma · 1 day

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📓. DIARY ENTRY 07 ︴MAY 15, 2024

dear loass diary…

I just fully realized that I’ve been doing this like five minutes ago, so I had to write it here to get my thoughts out, make sure I don’t forget my realization, and hopefully have an epiphany.

So, context first. I’m sick rn and I remembered a specific part of one of Neville’s lectures where he said something along the lines of how a sick man wanted to be healthy so all he did was focus on being healthy. (semi-unrelated note to future self: Notice how I put “ALL HE DID” as in, that was the only thing he did? That’s because that’s the only thing he needs to do!! it’s all about having genuine awareness of obtaining your desires, stop over complicating it and trying to make excuses when u know damn well that’s all there is to the law). After remembering that I was like, “yo why don’t I try that” because why would I want to be sick?? So anyways I was like trying (emphasis on the trying) to imagine myself as my healthiest self and only be aware of being healthy. After two minutes of that, I decided to call it quits and thought to myself “hope it works.” GIRL WHATTT?? That’s my problem right there, I’m pretending even in my own imagination. I think I have myself fooled, that I’ve deceived myself into thinking that I believe I have what I want in imagination when I DONT. Right after my so called imagining I literally had the thoughts of a person who was sick, was aware and focused on my illness, and just overall identified as someone who caught a cold. and then, that’s when the common sense hit me and I was like “wait, who do I think I’m fooling?” It’s like I thought just because these circumstances exist in the 3D doesn’t mean they can’t also be in my imagination. It fr is like i see the 3D and 4D as something separate when that’s not at all the case. Because those thoughts of me being sick? That was a state, the was who I was in imagination. Who I am in imagination. Life truly is imagination. And I rlly feel that now. So, future me, let me try to help u out by telling u how to actually get into ur desired state and maintain it:

1. Decide u have it

“I have xyz” BOOM ur done, it’s done, because creation is finished. There is nothing to create in the 3D or the 4D, it already exists exactly the way u want it to, waiting for you. So act like it.

2. State ≠ instant gratification

I’m gonna hold ur hand while I say this, states aren’t here to be a relief or a distraction. They’re not meant to temporarily ease any anxiety u have. So stop treating the sowf as a temporary escape from the 3D, it’s real. and if u keep up this bad habit, if u start seeing the sowf as just a way to shut up ur worries without actually knowing it’ll come to pass, then you’re on a dangerous road that leads to believing the 3D is the real reality. And yk that it’s not.

3. Actually maintaining a state

U r meant to see the world from the perspective of ur desired self, the u that has it all. Why do u think it’s called the law of assumption girly? U gotta assume u already got it. My thing is, I have too much going on in my real life and I think “I don’t have time to be in the sowf I have too much on my mind.” That’s a problem because one, ur allowed to be a part of the 3D. U don’t have to pretend it doesn’t exist. And two, I’m identifying with the 3D and it’s circumstances. News flash, the 3D doesn’t just disappear the moment u say an affirmation or visualize a scene, u still have responsibilities. The trick is knowing that’s not u. U don’t have to be thinking like ur desired self 100% of the time so don’t expect urself too. Deal with ur stuff, but know who u actually are, who YOU chose to be. To maintain ur state, do whatever helps u feel like ur the u want to be. Revise ur day before bed, think the thoughts ur desired self would think, but don’t force anything. Forcing urself just means u feel like u don’t have what u want, and so ur desperate to get it, if u feel like u don’t have it, don’t force a method. Instead remind urself that it’s already done, it’s been done.u already decided that u had it, nothing can erase that decision except for u.

4. Getting used to it

Everytime I think of ur desired self remember that THAT IS U!! Not someone u could be or will be soon, BUT YOU RN. If u don’t feel that way, it’s because u identify with the 3D and ur past assumptions of urself, and we already discussed how that’s a huuuuuuggggeeeee no. Don’t force urself into getting used to it because, again, force means wanting to get something out of the 3D. But that’s not the real reality, so why want something from there when u can have what u want rn? Remember that ur imagination, ur awareness, ur consciousness, whatever u wanna call it won’t lie to u. It’s the most accurate reflection of both u and ur life. What u experience in there is ur real reality, whether that be the one u want or not. So girl, get used to being who u want to be. It’ll feel so weird at first, uncomfortable rlly. Cuz ik myself, the only way I’ll get in the state is if I keep myself in check. (going on a mental diet is okay if ur not doing it for the 3D, future self.)I’ll probably just be asking myself 24/7 “would my desired self think/react/feel like that?” And honestly, that’ll probably be the only way I’ll learn. Once u start correcting urself, for the sake of wanting to be ur desired self, it’ll come naturally. Both the habit of being in the state and ur manifestations

The law wasn’t mean to be tricky, how could it be when it’s literally called the law of assumption? There rlly isn’t much to it except assuming u have what u want by helping urself believe u have what u want, so stop trying to think there’s more to it— that it’s not that simple or easy. Ur wasting ur time with everything else, the overthinking, the wondering about the when and how, the over complicating, and the wondering if u did it right. Just be.

kisses, peachkkuma

#loa blog #manifestation diary #peachkkumas diary #loa tumblr #loassumption #manifesting #pure consciousness #edward art #loassblog #manifesation #manifestation #neville goddard #loa #loablr #loa diary #law of assumption #assume and persist #shifting consciousness

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socially-awkward-skeleton · 2 days

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tagged by: @voidika and @thesingularityseries last week, thank you both <3

Well it's been almost two months and guess who's back to her FC5 verse again :) Still deep in the family angst with the kids so forgive me if this feels like a retread of stuff folks have already read, I swear things will progress with this chapter eventually. Anyhoo, usual warnings when it comes to Kit:

The gates at Saint Francis creaked closed as the white Eden’s Gate delivery van drove off into the foggy depths of the forest lined roads of the Whitetails, its red tail lights disappearing behind the misty wall near the bend in the road. November had rolled into December and frost littered the ground, leaving sparkling ice crystals clinging to the dead leaves, pine needles and gravel that made up the exterior grounds of the vet center's courtyard. Kit hadn’t even realized her birthday came and went with all of the chaos and the carnage surrounding her, her thoughts suddenly turning to the fact that she was now thirty two years old as she stood alone in her spot on the front steps, arms crossed over her chest, supervising as two of the followers carried in crates marked with Joseph’s cross.

Shifting her stance, bunching up the oversized flannel shirt she wore in her fist, Kit pulled the material closer to her where the cold air stung her still healing wound. Thick black stitches remained, holding skin taut as it sealed itself together once more, the flesh puckered and pale to match the letters carved above her breasts and across her shoulders, as well as the scars that littered her abdomen. The bitter, freezing air stung with each intake of breath, burning her nostrils, throat and lungs. The temperatures dropping up the mountain at a rate where frostbite would likely set in if she stood here without a coat for much longer. Her teeth clenched and her gums started to ache, knuckles chilled to the point where they seemed locked in place. A person could catch their death out here, not that she was going anywhere. From the darkened depths of the interior of Saint Francis, Jacob emerged with a cigarette, resting his shoulder against the pillar at the top of the steps beside her, covering the flickering flame of his lighter with his hand as he lit the end. “Didn’t know there was a delivery scheduled today,” he mumbled around his cigarette.

She turned to give him a sideways glance, their eyes meeting for only a brief moment. “Not one of the usual ones. Had a few crates of clothes and things for the kids sent here. The rest is heading to the armory.”

He grunted and slipped the lighter back into the pocket of his army jacket. “Didn’t give you permission to do that.”

“Didn’t ask.”

Stepping towards her, Jacob grabbed her arm tightly, pulling on it to spin her to face him. He sighed to steady himself, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her. “You are really testin’ my patience here, angel,” he growled.

“You might have made me break before, but I'm not rolling over with this one.”

“You’ve gotten too comfortable. Complacent. Think ya rule the roost here, huh?” He took a drag of his cigarette and stared her down. His cheeks ruddy with the cold and the constricted blood vessels under his skin.

“You were stuck in that bed for almost two weeks – I was forced to think that way in order to keep everything running.”

“Suppose ya did do a good job of that,” he said, looking her up and down before blowing smoke in her face.

“You’re goddamn right I did.”

Jacob scoffed, giving a quick shrug. “Don’t need me then, do ya?”

“Really?” Her scowl deepened as she glared up at him, molars grinding, keeping the cold at bay as the rage boiled up inside her once more. “God, you are such a fucking asshole sometimes.”

“Careful, Kitty.” Leaning in towards her, gripping her tighter until his fingertips buried grooves into her skin, he returned an icy glower in her direction. “I might have given you some slack on the leash, don’t think I’ve let go completely,” he rasped.

Her frozen stare pierced him and she ripped her arm out of his clutches, heading into the building without another word.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“To check on my children,” she called back over her shoulder.

Tossing his half burned cigarette to the ground, he followed her in with sure strides, ready to continue their argument. “They aren’t yours, kitten.”

“Except they are. Someday you might even come around to that fact.”

Jaw clenching as she challenged him, his arctic eyes burned holes into her from under his darkened brow. “We both know that’s not happenin’, angel.”

The will to fight with him on this point burned bright inside of her. That white hot rage that lived deep in the pitch black dark at her core was rising up. Refusing to give in or submit. She had the will of God behind her, a conviction that could not be beaten. Christ, she might have actually finally understood Joseph and his mission, the way he felt so strongly about his orders given to him by a power far greater than he. It was an unbeatable force, a feeling that could not be ignored or dampened, and she was giving herself to it entirely.

Digging her heel into the floor, Kit turned to face him, darkness in her eyes. “You asked me to give you something to live for, if I’m not enough for you on my own, then maybe a family is.”

“No.” His cold, dead-eyed stare was enough to set her off, the flat tone of his voice was the final tipping point. “You haven’t even met them, you’ve refused to,” she spat.

“‘Cause they aren’t stayin’, so why would I get attached? There’s nothing there for me to care about, Kit. They aren’t mine.” “God, if you only knew…” She seethed, a mother lioness ready to take on the world. “The things those kids have seen and lived through. That little boy was raising his sister, they were all the other had left in this world…” Storming towards him, she shoved her finger into his chest pointedly. “You tell me that that doesn’t sound familiar.” “It does, which is why I know that taking those two in isn't the right decision. You hear me, Kit?” His large hands lifted to cup her face, gripping the skin tight, stroking through waves of copper and crimson that framed it. “Listen to me, Kitty. The last thing those kids need is us playing make believe as a family.”

Her brow lifted. “Don't give me that bullshit about if I love them, I should leave them… you don't understand,” she whispered, voice husky with the cold as her eyes fell downcast, “I was willing to die to protect them, only ever felt that way about one other before.” Pale eyes steered upwards, meeting Jacob's gaze. Not having to confirm her feelings with words, a look was all that it took. “I need those babies, Jacob. I need them to keep me sane,” she pleaded. “They’ve already made their home here with me, they aren’t scared anymore – they will be if they’re with anyone else. They trust me. They trust Staci. Give ‘em a chance and they’ll trust you too.” “The last thing those kids need is to be puttin’ their trust in me, angel. I’m not here to raise a family, I’m here to train an army.” Kit rolled her eyes, chewing the inside of her cheek as she snarled. “Fine. Go back to your office, General.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, a glint of defiance in her eyes. “You should know, I reorganized the duties lists while you were out of commission. You had inefficient overlap,” she said, biting out the words before heading down the corridor to go to see the children.

tagging: @henbased @roofgeese @cloudofbutterflies92 @aceghosts @galaxycunt

@unholymilf @wrathfulrook @hookhearted @fourlittleseedlings @mxanigel

@finding-comfort-in-rain @carlosoliveiraa @confidentandgood @afarcry5fromstraight @imogenkol

@inafieldofdaisies @kyber-infinitygems @clicheantagonist @adelaidedrubman @strafethesesinners

@statichvm @josephslittledeputy @marivenah @simplegenius042 @theelderhazelnut

@josephseedismyfather @voidbuggg @direwombat @florbelles @cassieuncaged

@shallow-gravy @cassietrn @strangefable @stacispratt

#wip wednesday #fic: american beasts #oc: kit cross #jacob seed #fc5 #skelly writes

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lopez-richter-fangirl · 2 days

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Starkid innit: the most magical experience

It took me a full day to even begin to know where to start with this post and then took me all day yesterday to type out. Normally to do one of these posts after a show I frantically note down everything I can remember in the interval and as soon as I can afterwards, but I was too overwhelmed by this show to even do that. And thank god so many people filmed so much of the show so I don’t have to rely on memory for all the little things. This will be kind of stream of consciousness thought dump of everything that made this experience so incredible, feat. a lot of Feelings. It’s much too long! Over 2500 words - you’ve been warned!

Looking at all the pictures and videos from the show, it feels surreal that I was there in a way that I don’t think any other shows I’ve gone to have. Maybe because I can’t believe we finally got a full UK Starkid show. Maybe because it was Starkid selling out the fucking London Palladium, twice (and the added production value that came with that). Maybe because we got the concert premiere of new stuff alongside iconic moments included from previous concerts that I’ve watched a hundred times and now got to see live. Whatever it was, I still can’t quite believe it and I’m so grateful I got to be there. And my GOD was luck on my side getting a front row centre seat in that ticket hell 🙏😭

Right from the staple sing-along outside the theatre before the show the excitement was as palpable as you’d expect from a crowd where so many people had been waiting such a long time to see these people live. And I think a lot of Starkid fans but especially international fans have had the feeling of isolation that comes with being a fan of a relatively “niche” group (though their popularity is only growing), so to get to be in a room full of people who understand the references and scream as soon as the opening notes of a song play is the best thing

Starting with tgwdlm feels like an excellent choice being from the show that created a new wave of fans while still catching some of the people who might not be caught up with the newest shows. And I know we had it at jangle ball too but love love getting to see Brian and Meredith be part of the hatchetfield stuff

And having NPMD songs performed live for the first time was just as exciting and special as I was expecting!! Was not expecting HSIKM WITH some OG choreo but I am grateful for it. Jaime messing up the Literal Monster lyrics at the matinee is 100% understandable and I thank her for that because Lauren cracking up at the complete nonsense lyrics she made up was too good. Love the OG choreo there including Lauren grabbing Joey for no reason whatsoever 😌 Slay of Lauren to bring out the Ruth voice too. Jeff gave a killer performance of NPMD and we understood the assignment with the Richie part

And Together 😭 TOGETHER 😭😭 I said that was a song I’d absolutely love but was definitely not at all expecting them to play so I got UNBELIEVABLY excited seeing it on Mere’s playlist and it was EVEN better than I imagined 😭 Angelic!!!! I love women!!!! Seeing their friendship shine through on stage is so special and Lauren supporting Mere through the lyric mess up in the matinee and also her laugh were the cutest things. And then from the front row at the evening show I don’t think I even breathed. They sounded amazing in the OG show but EVEN better now and I truly could not be more grateful to them for putting that on the setlist. A literal dream that I will be thinking about for the rest of my life. I still can’t believe it. AHHHHHH!!!!!!

Happy we got Our Doors are Open cause I love that song!

Jaime singing Harry but dedicated to Nori was very cute and making that a flashlight moment is one of the sillier things we’ve done

So glad Clark got his moment with I Was where we all sat in enraptured silence listening to his magical voice and some never before heard lyrics

I will be so honest and say there was the tiiiiiiiiiniest part of me sad when Joey started introducing Sidekick because I knew that meant my Status Quo hopes were dashed. However had I not seen it at homecoming I probably would have been rooting for Sidekick because it is the better *performance* for Joey, he absolutely owns the stage and it was still a delight to hear it again, and with his continued vocal improvement. Audience participation on point too of course. And when I saw Lauren standing in the wings before he started I knew I could not let myself keep looking over there but shoutout to everyone who did get footage of her being the proudest wife there is

Oh lordddd the Rogues Medley update we’ve been praying for (even if not in the way I expected). I had a feeling that’s what was coming when they started Not Over Yet based on the interview Brian did but to hear that transition into Feast or Famine was crazyyyyyy. Rogues Medley is such an iconic piece of Starkid history and it’s so cool that they gave us that. Fucking of course Brian fucked up the verses in Not Over Yet but he is a master at styling it out and him making Lauren laugh with that song feels like time honoured tradition (okay I’m just thinking of that leaky 2017 performance). First Feast or Famine in concert was so good although Joey and Lauren leaning on each other at EVERY little duet bit… relax babes. And Rogues, I knew if we got it we’d have Lauren doing the harlots and the hussies bit and I still did not adequately prepare myself

Brian calling Meredith wifey in We Got Work to Do was gold. SO so so happy to hear climate change, they did that because I stopped myself from spending a stupid amount of money to go to jangle ball. Still obsessed with Lauren’s little riff. And her moves? HOT. And we LOVE Meredith’s music getting so much love as it SHOULD

The forgotten songs section was hilarious but could have been about 20% shorter Brian was not wrong about them milking that bit Biggest of shout outs to the person who yelled Boy Toy for Lauren to respond “don’t make me do that” and I believe the same person who yelled fucking Airport 4 Birds and had her momentarily stunned. Her rendition of Hideous Creatures was heavenly no joke. Brian doing his soundcheck song did not read so well at the matinee lmao but I personally thought it was perfect. And Lauren joked about the open vibe but genuinely I love that they were confident enough they could do some obscure songs and not have an absolutely dead audience. Can’t believe we got TWO MAMD songs although they really should have let Joey sing Even Though (I know it wouldn’t have been *funny* okay)

What did not need to be even one second shorter was the shirt bit. No notes. Especially Brian trolling Lauren with “roll on the floor like Draco”

Back on top was amazing, they all sounded so good and again, love to see the Ani music getting recognition. And at the evening show I was watching Lauren do the choreo in the wings which was absolutely adorable

What if I now write the entire length of this post just about Granger Danger lol. Didn’t even realise until this post that they had the two OG Starkid couples back to back (at least I’m going off the order of the setlist I saw on twitter I do not actually remember the order lmao) Their whole “brand new song” bit was everything to me, I really could watch them riff off each other for hours. And honestly it was the perfect thing to do KNOWING what the reaction would be to the two of them coming out because what fucking else would they be singing. Apart from the person who genuinely thought we were getting Priceless because they forgot Granger Danger existed, you know who you are. As in my other post, I had said I wouldn’t mind if, as long as I got to see one married Granger Danger live (which I then did), they stopped singing Granger Danger, but that was only if they were getting sick of it and on the condition they did in fact replace it with Priceless. But I will NEVER get sick of watching them do it (even if the heart eyes on stage continue to make me a little sick) and I love that they do still have fun with it. The universal excitement with those opening notes is the best thing. Continuing to say “it gets different” was funnier than it should have been, they are comedians. And how far back she leaned on him at that evening show was truly insane and I thank them for giving me one of my new favourite pics (even if Lauren laughing and Joey’s hand going back to make sure she wouldn’t fall made me want to sobbbbb). 15 years of this song and it’s still getting more iconic and you all know how deeply special it is to me and I’m so happy to have gotten to see it again. King and queen of Starkid for real for real

Corey Show Stoppin Number was CRAZY he killed it

Jaime’s speech before Not Alone was incredibly special and I think Darren would agree that the song actually ended up exactly where it needed to be. But her saying she’s been singing it for 15 years of course had me thinking about the same thing for granger danger which is absolutely not something I was emotionally strong enough for in that moment!!! But blessed to get the beautiful harmonies and as always the audience singing Darren’s parts is the best

Superfriends is ofc so fun and Jeff nailed the Robin parts (unlike someone else there might have done (sorry Joey)). And again, there’s something so nostalgic about seeing it with that classic choreo too

And mashing it up with WANNABE oh my god. I did see someone say they didn’t know why they did that song and I’m like,, do you know how to have fun?? I get it we’re there to hear Starkid songs but this isn’t like a once in a lifetime situation (love that performance but it was a song for them not the audience and they knew it lmao), it’s actually perfect for Starkid. “Friendship never ends” you’re fucking right it doesn’t, 15 years of making stuff with your friends. And I’m being so serious when I say it’s one of my favourite performances they’ve ever done. I also might never get it out of my head and I’m fine with that. The accents? The boys in the back? The dancing? Brian? And then Brian and Joey?? (and ofc the evening performance where Lauren was touching Joey after “if you wanna be my lover” and where he put his hand on her back as she was stepping up on the stage and I once again wanted to sob) It was JOYFUL

And then GBTH as the encore we all knew was coming because no way were they leaving without singing that one. Whatever some people might have to say about it, it is SUCH a special song to hear in a room full of Starkid fans, and especially this version where we sang the beginning. No doubt they couldn’t have imagined performing that song on a stage like this when they were singing it in Studio 1, but it’s so deserved because they’re all absolute superstars. And their friendship and the fun they have onstage together has remained so integral to what makes them work and it never gets any less special to witness. I love that after over a decade of singing this song they STILL get the words wrong and it doesn’t even matter because we’re singing it so loudly. I love the sheer power Lauren radiates every time she sings her part and her happiness when we scream ours. And then I watched her smile looking out at the audience during the train part and I’m just so proud we were part of making this show so incredible for them and proud of them for doing it 😭 Singing happy birthday to Jeff in the middle was really cute too

Also, can’t believe we got to witness the most INSANE shirt pic happen live??!!? A shirt pic in front of a crowd of 2000 people, I keep looking at it and I’m like how is that not photoshopped?? But it’s real!! I was there!! And it’s honestly the most Starkid move of all time to perform their sold out Palladium concerts in matching pyjama shirts. Ngl there was a tiny part of me that didn’t want the matching shirts because I wanted to see the Concert Fits but I didn’t even need to worry because Lauren still came to serve. Hottest girl I’ve ever seen but also just the cutest human. And her hair looked so good too. (Jaime was also serving with the sparkly tights and cowboy boots)

Clearly they’re such a well oiled machine and the show ran SO smoothly that they were ahead of schedule and ended up doing a little more vamping in the evening than at the matinee. Why they chose Together (Lauren and Meredith are “too old” to want solos), Clark’s explanation of I Was originally being a solo (thank god because I felt insane at the matinee thinking ‘I’ve never heard these lyrics before’), even more references to Brian’s lack of solos. But the fuck ups in spite of that rehearsal really are just part of the Starkid charm. We love it, they know we love it, there’s no pressure to make it perfect which means all of us are just having *fun* together. But none of that takes away from how genuinely talented each and every one of them is

I do also think there’s something to be said for Brian and Lauren being the producers. They’ve really been through it all with the company and they know what works and how to serve people’s strengths. And of course we can trust Clark to put together an incredible setlist (yes there was a distinct lack of certain shows but I do think all the songs they did were a really good showcase for them and everyone had an opportunity to shine)

And Lauren of COURSE nailed the choreo for the whole show, it would be impossible for her not to. Honestly cannot reiterate enough how much of a queen she was in every aspect of this show. So fucking proud of her!!!!!!!!!!

And because this post wouldn’t be complete without mention of the M&G, Joey remembering my nameeee bearing in mind this is only the second time I’ve met him in person where he’d actually know me and yes the first time was only 7 months ago but I still don’t know how he recognised me there either. He seemed so proud to remember it too. And I knowww it’s not special to me he just has a good memory for that but the fact is he DOES make you feel special and I love him!! The best man. And I’m glad I got to give them the bracelets I made, Lauren’s reaction to seeing hers said precious angel was the sweetest and I really am trying to be normal about Joey only wearing the one from me (but it said Diane’s dad and was in michigan colours so… I think I nailed it) It was the sweetest thing seeing how many bracelets some of them were wearing during the show though

All this to say I fucking love Starkid and I love the community they’ve created. As soon as I saw the crowd outside the theatre (which was phenomenal!!) I knew it was just gonna be one of those days it was too overwhelming to talk to many people and while the people I did talk to were lovely I think I gave out a grand total of 8 bracelets which is my second biggest regret. But @pazazzalil and @laurenlpz, meeting up with you was like being with old friends even though we hadn’t met in person in 5/6 years. Love you both (and maybe we can actually get seats together next time)

And as one last little note, while it did feel extra special having people who have been with the company for all/the majority of these last 15 years, I have loved seeing the newer Starkids being so proud of their friends 🥺

I don’t know how I’m ever getting over this show. There was no way it was going to be bad with how highly anticipated a UK show was but it went way beyond my expectations. Pure magic. And I really do believe that after that it won’t be long before they’re back here, and I can’t wait

#vhsccs seeing as we didn’t get one single song even though we were in LONDON? i can dream #but whatever it ends up being i’m sure it’s coming soon #and this fucking essay is my application to get front row seats again lmao #this post could take a leaf out of joey’s book as far as emojis go tbh but i’ve already spent to long on it

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