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#had someone talk about how their friend's mom LITERALLY starved her and now she makes self-deprecating comments about her own
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upset about the fact that people think it's cute and trendy to talk about ppl with EDs as if they're just like "haha im ugly lol i'm shallow and vain and fatphobic <3"
like please do 2 seconds of research on EDs and stop spitting vitriol at ppl with a life-threatening illness who hate themselves deeply and have a 10% death rate thanks
#ed discussion /#like yeah there are people who act cruelly to others and take their own stuff out on other people. it's like that with every mental illness#there's a whole range of experiences with eds that i just can not cover in the tags of a post#and one of my loved ones has an ed and internalized fatphobia from many years of deep trauma. and they DO struggle w/seeing other people#in certain ways & will occasionally make a judgmental comment#but it's something they're holding themself accountable for and feel guilty about and actively working on and addressing and challenging.#and they're really supportive of body positivity and are trying to get better. but when you grow up like that it doesn't happen overnight#and as for me i've never seen other people like that. it's not like that for me. i think fatphobia is stupid as fuck and know all the#reasons why it is. i think society and beauty standards are complete BS. at its core it isn't about the food or weight#it's about trying to avoid mistreatment & false associations with oppressive/capitalist beauty standards=love &#coping mechanisms & addiction & isolation & attempting to exert control over traumatic situations through self-destruction#it's not ''lol im stupid and shallow and vain'' for anyone and i wish people would stop talking about it like it is.#had someone talk about how their friend's mom LITERALLY starved her and now she makes self-deprecating comments about her own#body (but says nice things about other people). then they IMMEDIATELY went on to talk very angrily about that friend for doing that.#and i was like?????? oh my GOD???#like if it's triggering to hear those comments that's totally understandable and please let her know. those comments can be triggering for#me too. but why do people treat people with EDs so horribly#it's terrible
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raisedbythetv89 · 3 months
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I hate all of this “well he was Buffy’s first love!” talk when discussing how much pain and devastation Angel caused in Buffy’s life as if for women our first loves MUST be horrible and painful always???? As if it was unavoidable anyway so let’s not be too critical of him.
First off, HE LITERALLY WASNT EVEN HER FIRST LOVE
The show acknowledges what happens in the movie so canonically what happened in the movie happened to tv show Buffy INCLUDING HER RELATIONSHIP. ANGEL WAS NOT HER FIRST LOVE.
Angel was just the first guy who stalked and targeted Buffy when she was at her most vulnerable and continued to constantly lie and manipulate her for his own selfish gains only to toss her aside once she no longer served her original purpose while continuing to lead her on and show up in her life every time she tried to move on and THAT is why it was so painful!!!
STOP NORMALIZING THE PAIN CAUSED BY ABUSE AND MANIPULATION AS THE SAME THING AS REGULAR HEARTBREAK IN NORMAL RELATIONSHIPS.
I did not have a good childhood, my parents had a horrible divorce when I was 7 and I had never seen a healthy relationship modeled IN MY LIFE - AND YET - my first serious relationship when I was 16 while it definitely had it problems like all young love does (his friends didn’t like how much time he spent with me and his mom both hated me for “taking her son away” but also loved me because she wanted a daughter so badly but only had sons - she was insane lol and we were both teenagers who made stupid teenager mistakes) he was with me for 3 1/2 years and absolutely would have married me if that was what I had wanted.
He would sneak out to see me when I was sad despite his strict parents, always bought me lunch because I would eat what I was sent to school with by 10 AM because I was STARVING because I had an almond mom who never fed either of us enough. Would happily listen to me rant about the twilight books as I read them during that whole phase, WROTE ME A SONG for my birthday (he was actually a talented musician and works as a sound engineer and music producer now) and basically just spent every second he could either with me or talking to me when we were apart. He loved taking me on dates and writing me love notes and we just laughed all the time. He was my best friend as well as my boyfriend and ending that relationship because I had outgrown him was SO PAINFUL because he loved me so much and even during the break up - which I handled HORRIBLY - he was kind and even gave me the birthday present he had bought me because he wanted me to have it even though it was still months away. (I say all of this to try and just show first loves CAN be more than just pain and devastation and if it isn’t making you happy a minimum 80% of the time and you instead just feel sad and confused THAT IS NOT NORMAL AND YOU DESERVE BETTER 🩷)
I know good experiences are not the case for everyone when it comes to first relationships and that’s awful and is not fair because young love SHOULD be innocent and naive. Just two idiots in love who have no clue what they’re doing but just happy to be around each other no matter what they’re doing (like what willow got to experience with Oz in high school) and Angel robbed Buffy of those experiences. He broke her trust of other people and in love and her trust in HERSELF - that’s not her “first love” that’s her first abusive relationship and calling it “her first love” or worse “her soulmate” only serves the patriarchy and harms little girls everywhere who grow up not knowing to look for or expect better because everyone around them and society is telling them “your first experiences with love and sex will be awful and painful and there’s no escaping it” when that is just NOT TRUE at all, especially if you date someone age appropriate in high school. Angel is the first older “man” she dated and like all older men with high school girls do, he took advantage of that imbalance in power in literally every way possible and I will despise that whiney little bitch until the end of time for that and wish he would have just stayed trapped in that hell dimension until the end of time as it is what he deserves.
“True love” doesn’t require severe pain and tears for it to be deep or meaningful. Don’t believe the lies terrible men like jw and so many others feed us.
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sheltershock · 1 year
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There’s a popular headcanon/piece of fanon that Sasha can’t stand being touched. It makes sense for someone on the Spectrum, and he does use telekinesis quite a lot to avoid touching stuff so it’s a nice headcanon. I’ve also had my moments of discomfort with people touching me, to the point that people pointed out it’s strange that I have the tendency to lower my head/bow to people instead of accepting hugs/shaking hands. 
I really like this idea, so I’m adding onto it. 
Sasha’s reaction to being touched is completely involuntary, and has been happening for as long as he could remember(which is his entire life apparently since he remembers his mom). Whenever someone brushes by, shakes his hand, or grabs him suddenly his entire body suddenly stiffens, heart rate increases, and he gets unreasonably stressed. Over time he’s developed his signature control over emotions so he has really good strategies to reduce the stress and resets about 95% of the mental/emotional labor, though the 5% still sticks with him for a while. The act of calming down takes a little while, it depends on how much stress was involved, but still experiencing touch is an extremely uncomfortable inconvenience in his life. 
The thing is that Milla seems to have physical touch as her primary love language, along with words of affirmation, but mostly physical touch. She’s ecstatic about it, always down to hold hands, hug and high five others. It could be that she likes to literally feel like she’s not alone, but it’s her thing nonetheless.
At first, Milla was deeply concerned and disappointed at Sasha’s sudden reaction to something as simple as holding hands. She initially took it when they had a budding friendship as a secret hatred/disgust of her, but was able to gather from others that it’s not just her, it’s everyone. So after they developed a little bit as friends, Milla asked if there was anything, “particularly offensive about myself,” that he felt towards her and was shocked when he said no. The greatest thing he could come up with was, “well sometimes I can’t rationalize the colors you choose to wear on a particular day, but it always looks good on you.” So then Milla just straight out asked what she wanted to say the entire time, and Sasha just explained that he just doesn’t like to be touched. Simple. 
However, I like the idea of contradictory desires, because it’s realistic. You can love your family, but also don’t want to spend any time with them, for example. And for Sasha, he can’t stand being touched, but he’s also human and still wants affection, but receiving said affection would also induce stress… So it’s a ruthless paradox of being touched-starved. 
When Sasha and Milla start “dating-not-dating,” Milla of course, wants a lot of physical affection. It’s how she shows/feels love and there is nothing wrong with that. She wants to do romantic stuff like hold hands in public, cuddle and be embraced with such warmth and comfort that even in the midst of a blizzard she’d risk getting heatstroke. But she knows that Sasha doesn’t like being touched so it’s a strange, impossible position to be in. Or so she thought. 
The two of them figured out the brilliant, mind blowing solution of…just ask for permission first. They’re already practically experts at communication, and all Milla has to do if she wants to hold her boyfriend’s hand is ask “hey, wanna hold hands?” and it’s that easy. Even if Sasha doesn’t like being touched, he still wants Milla to be happy. She’d listen to him talk about aliens and space and constellations for five hours straight, so why can’t he put his own comfort aside for a little while to make her happy? Of course, they almost always ask telepathically, because it’s really their private business and it’s embarrassing in public if you verbally get turned down because the other person really isn’t up for holding hands right now. 
But like how Milla wouldn’t particularly mind listening to Sasha infodump about special interests for hours, it turns out he doesn’t actually particularly mind touching Milla. Even if she asks, for example, to hold hands, Milla accepts the fact that even when Sasha says yes, he’s still going to tense up initially, because it’s an involuntary reaction. But he can still calm himself down even if they are still physically touching, it’s a combination of experience, strategies, preparation and just that he just likes Milla and secretly wants to be close to her. He can even get to a point that they’re both relaxed and acting like a “normal couple.” That being said, Milla wouldn’t want Sasha to change at all.
When they started dating, everytime Sasha would have to calm down enough to comfortably hold Milla’s hand he’d get embarrassed that it’s this hard to do something that’s really common. But Milla had a completely different view of it and he stopped feeling that way once she explained it. Milla often verbalizes her love a lot, she’d throw out an “I love you” similarly to how some people say “like” in a sentence. But even though Sasha barely says “I love you,” but when they do interlink their hands, Milla can feel the tension, but enjoys slowly feeling that tension lessen up and can physically feel Sasha relax around her. To Milla, it’s a constant reminder that he really cares about/enjoys being around her. And everytime it happens it feels like he’s saying “I love you” to her. It makes her so happy. One time, they ended up cuddling while watching TV, and she, again, liked watching the screen while feeling Sasha slowly relax. But then she looked away and was about to say something, she realized that he’d just completely fallen asleep and she was so happy that she nearly cried. She just loves her boyfriend so much. 
After hearing her say all this, Sasha felt far less embarrassed about it. Whenever they hold hands he’d turn to look at her and she’d have the biggest smile and her joy, warmth and comfort is dangerously contagious. It’s the only type of germs Sasha’s okay being exposed to. 
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brokenmusicboxwolfe · 2 years
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I’m too tired to articulate this properly, but I wanted to post about something I think deserves a bit of acknowledgement. Today someone’s kindness stunned me.
It was the end of rough day of shopping, and I’d spent down my money more than I anticipated.* I needed to get kerosene for the hot water heater, but first I needed to figure out how much I could get. It wasn’t good.
So, decision made, I hobbled into the gas station. My feet in agony, and had been all day. Some days the ankle braces aren’t enough. I was so worn down it was taking a lot of willpower to keep going. This was one of those days that gets lost in a wave of pain.
At the register I said how much kerosene I wanted and the lady looked up at me surprised. I guess people usually get neater amounts, full five gallon containers or dollars, not a “this is how much I have in my pocket” amounts.
I shrugged, laughed, and said it was all I could afford. I quickly said tomorrow is my birthday, and I wanted to go to a movie and get take out. It looked like I’d just have $25 to do it, but if I got more kerosene I wouldn’t have anything.
Then I just sort of laughed again, thanking her (it’s funny, but I always thank people working in stores), and as I headed for the door she said “It’s your birthday?”
I told her no, it’s tomorrow, smiled, and rushed off to get the kerosene.
So there I was hunched over pumping kerosene, when the woman came running breathlessly up to me and shoved something into my hand. “Think of it as an early birthday present!”.
Stunned, I called after her as she ran back to her register, thanking her and almost in tears.
This woman that I didn’t know, that I had never even seen before, had given me $12!
Honestly, you have no idea how touched I was. The $12 does mean I will actually get to go to that movie and get some take out, yes, but it was more than that. It was kindness. Pure kindness.
Of course, in the last few hours I have wondered why she decided to do that for me. I mean, I didn’t think seemed so pathetic. I was cheerful sounding, smiling, hurting but hiding it, frazzled but still not too bedraggled, off handedly mentioning the lack of money and not in a way that sounded like moaning… I’m poor, but I get by enough I’m not starving. Surely there were people far more deserving in kindness.
But then I think of the gift and smile. A gift! For me! A birthday present when I had long ago accepted I probably never get them again.
Things have been rough. Mom’s health is failing fast, the two homes I am responsible for are almost literally falling, and inflation has tipped me over a financial cliff. Even my own body seems to have decided to turn against me.
And now it’s holidays and birthday, to make the lack of friends and loved ones be felt horribly acutely. I’d been feeling so alone and forgotten, left out as people laugh and chat in stores or talk about holiday plans, watching families and friends and missing all of mine. A kid picking out their birthday cake as their mom discusses what color frosting he wants her to make had made me ache for someone to care about my own birthday.
But there are also people that are actively jerks. The person that cuts you off, blaring their horn, or swoops into a parking spot you are already pulling into. Someone that shoves ahead of you are blocks the shelf you were looking at or makes a sneering joke out of what’s in your cart or your scuffed boots Glares. Too many glares. Little things can be easy to shrug off, but not always. People being rude and inconsiderate seem bigger when they are the only ones noticing you. I admit today I was struggling to remember people can be good.
But they can be. People can be kind to a stranger with nothing at all to gain for it. It’s wonderful to be reminded.
I wonder if that lady has any idea how much that gift has meant to me?
* Ex. The cat food supply locally continues to be only bags half my usual 30lb size, or less. And only the expensive brands. So to get the 90lbs of feed I buy every two weeks I am paying a LOT more. Just added a shocking amount to the finally tally when every penny counts.
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saiya-anthony · 2 years
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Full Name: Saiya Anthony
Character’s nickname: Sai
Reason for nickname: Don’t be stupid
Birth date: August 30
Physical appearance
Faceclaim: Simone Ashley
Gender: she/her / cisfemale
Height: 5′5
Build: thin, athletic, a nice ass sorry not sorry.
Eye color: brown
Glasses or contacts?: contacts
Distinguishing marks/scars: a long, thin scar on her right thigh she got while snowboarding
Hair color: black
Type of hair: thick and curly, sometimes she straightens it.
Hairstyle: usually she can’t be bothered with her hair.  it’s either down and curly, straightened, or in a braid.
Voice claim: n/a
Physical disabilities: n/a
Clothing style: She is for sure not a heels kind of person.  I don’t think she has a set style though, just wears what she feels the best in.  She does have a leather jacket she wears a lot though
Make up: natural
Personality
Good personality traits: smart, resilient, determined, loyal, quick-witted
Bad personality traits: sarcastic, impatient, dramatic
Mood character is most often in: amused
Sense of humor: dry and sarcastic
Articulation: it depends on the vibe.  if she’s upset she just gets louder and faster, but usually she talks in a normal tone.
Character’s greatest joy in life: she likes being a guard, but she’d really like to go to medical school if she can pull it off with angel.
Character’s greatest fear: she is really driven.  she wants to be a good guard, wants to be a doctor, wants to be a good friend.  her greatest fear is failing at any of that.
Character is most at ease when: when she feels like she’s in control of a situation
Most ill at ease when: she feels like its getting away from her.
Enraged when: really and truly angry doesn’t happen often -- but she doesn’t like being made to look dumb, and she doesn’t like being lied too.
Depressed or sad when: losing someone she cares about, not being any more than she is right now, not accomplishing her goals.
Priorities: finding a way to both accomplish her goals and to protect angel
Life philosophy: don’t be stupid, honestly
Greatest strength: her intelligence
Greatest vulnerability or weakness: she is WILDLY impatient.  she would also literally starve to death without take out.
Childhood
Hometown: Taos, New Mexico
Type of childhood: It was okay.  Not the best, not the worst.  She had *wanted* to join the program when the men came to her school to recruit her.  She was excited.  It seemed like a cool opportunity.  It was only now, as an adult, that she was realizing how fucked up it all was.  But she’s in too deep now.
Pets: none
core childhood memory: learning how to snowboard with her dad
Dream job: some kind of doctor.  pediatrics or some kind of surgeon maybe.
Religion: atheist
Present
Current location: nyc
Currently living with: probably alone, but very close to angel.
Pets: none
Religion: atheist
Sexuality: pansexual
Politics: socialist.  burn it all down, start again.
Occupation/education: student, pre-med / spy kid
Mode of transportation: a motorcycle
Family
Parent one: Paresh Anthony
Relationship with them: She loves him.  He’s a dork that watches jeopardy and yells the answer out before the contestants can.  He gave her her love of biology and taught her to snowboard.  She doesn’t know that he was the best dad, but she’s grown to accept him for who he is.
Parent two: Fatima Anthony
Relationship with them: Her mom is one of her favorite people, despite a bit of underlying resentment for the way they let her join this program.
Siblings: None
Relationship with them: N/A
Other important family members: Grandma Anthony out there thriving in New Mexico.  Pour one out for the coolest of the Anthonys.
Favorites
Color: blue
Music: She’s fine with most music types, but she does like instrumental music because it helps her focus.
Food: pancakes
Film: ET
Drink: Coffee.  37 shots of espresso a day please
Form of entertainment: Studying, decimating the competition at bar trivia, snowboarding when she can manage it.
Habits
Hobbies: studying, board games, reading, etc
Plays a musical instrument?: no
Plays a sport?: snowboarding
How she would spend a rainy day: doing her homework, pouring through piles of textbooks, working out
Spending habits: frugal.  she doesn’t spend a lot
Smoking/drinking/drugs?: she would do any of these things socially
Extremely skilled at: anything academic
Extremely unskilled at: being wrong and admitting it
Nervous tics: rambling
Usual body posture: she stands up straight
Traits
Optimist or pessimist?: realist.  logical to a fault
Introvert or extrovert?: extroverted
Daredevil or cautious?: daredevil 
Logical or emotional? logical
Leader or follower?: leader.  she’s not good at taking directions
Disorderly and messy or methodical and neat?: organized chaos.  she’s not MESSY though so much as cluttered
Prefers working or relaxing?: working.  she’d never sit still if she could get away with it.
Confident or unsure of herself?: confident
Animal lover?: from a distance mostly
Relationships with others
Opinion of other people in general: most people are good, even if they’re annoying
Opinion of the Scooby Gang: velma and daphne are in love, change her mind.
Does the character hide their true opinions and emotions from others? not really.  she’ll tell people what she’s thinking usually
Most important person in character’s life: she wouldn’t admit an answer to this probably.  maybe she’d say angel because that’s her job
Best friend/s: the other guards .  she’s known them most of her life.
Dating experience: she’s not inexperienced
Romancing: a hook up, fwb situation with riley that she is SURE no one else knows about but it’s probably obvious as hell.  she really likes them but she won’t be admitting that unless she’s sure they feel the same way.
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outerbankies · 3 years
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You know how teenager rafe is gonna just be spiralling over reader going to prom with someone else? I’m going to cry cause like he’s a baby and he doesn’t know why he has these feeling for this one person that he’s always kind of orbited around?? And he knows she’s it for him but only deep down cause he’s trying to figure so much out and how could you know who you’re going to end up with at the age of 17 let alone 10 or 12 but he’s always known and aaaaah imagine that kind of love
an angsty little pre-series prom blurb partially inspired by this ^ ask that made me spiralll. thanks anon i hope u like this!
new light blurb: before we knew — rafe cameron
new light series masterlist
obv takes place pre-series in high school! referenced in part 1
warnings: underage drinking
“Top, it’s not fucking funny.”
“It’s kinda fucking funny, Y/n/n. Like, way more than a little.”
Rafe had ditched the last fifteen minutes of statistics when he finished his test early today, and he’d been messing around on his phone for ten minutes waiting for the rest of you to come and get in Topper’s Jeep so you could all go to lunch off-campus today.
Rafe stands up straight from where he’d been leaning against the hood when he hears your voice approaching, his smile matching yours once you see him. “Hey, Rafe. How did your stats test go?”
“Good, hey, Y/n. What’s not funny?” he asks, opening the passenger side door for you before sliding into the backseat behind you.
“Oh, get this, Rafe,” Topper says, laughing. You just groan again, clicking your seatbelt on. “Griffin is gonna ask Y/n to prom. Tomorrow.”
Rafe blanches. “Griffin?”
He knew Griffin thought you were hot. Certainly had to hear it enough times in the pool at practice every day. Rafe always found himself biting back a remark—well, almost always. As captain, Rafe was able to tell everyone to run another play whenever he felt like it. The extra exertion in the pool was nothing compared to having to tread water and hear his teammate talk about you like that.
But even after all of that, he still had no idea Griffin had the balls to actually make a move on you. Because Rafe could tell you’d seriously rather die than ever give Griffin the time of day. And Griffin had been pursuing you without luck for months, even though you’d been trying to gently show you weren’t interested. Half of the time, Rafe wished you'd just tell him to fuck off.
The other half of the time, Rafe was considering just doing it for you.
Rafe clears his throat after his outburst, a finger digging into a hole in his jeans. “How do you know?”
“He just told me in PE,” Topper says. “He said he has this huge banner, and speakers, and he’s gonna do it at lunch right in the middle of the quad—”
“Topper.” You cut him off a bit more seriously this time; Rafe can hear the shift in your tone. You've always hated being anywhere close to the center of attention, getting embarrassed by the smallest things others wouldn’t even think about. If Griffin actually knew anything about you the way Rafe does, he’d know you wouldn’t like something big and flashy. “Can you stop?”
“Hey, cut it out, Top,” Rafe is saying immediately. Topper just rolls his eyes, but Rafe doesn’t care. “You okay?”
“Yeah, Rafe,” you say, smiling over your shoulder at him. “M’fine.”
“Do you want me to tell Griffin to—”
Topper laughs from the driver’s seat, clearing his throat to cover it up when you look over at him. You look back at Rafe, and his heart breaks at the worry in your face. “Don’t, Rafe.”
“Are you gonna say yes?”
“No,” you immediately laugh, looking at him like the idea is preposterous.
“Oh c’mon, Y/n/n. Can’t say no to him in front of all those people,” Topper teases. “And where the fuck is Kelce? I’m starving.”
“You’re right,” you sigh. “I don’t wanna embarrass him. I’ll just find him after school today and tell him I’m going with Kelce.”
Topper’s eyes widen, Rafe catches it in the rearview mirror before he hurriedly looks away. Rafe clears his throat, settling back into his seat from where he’d been leaning into the front space to talk with you. “You—uh, are you actually going with Kelce?”
“Yeah,” you nod, distracted by your phone. “We said we’d go together if we didn’t find dates. Kelce didn’t really wanna ask anyone after what happened last summer. And after nearly being set up with Top last night, I’m about ready to throw in the towel.“
Rafe looks to his friend that sits in the driver’s seat, who's looking straight at his lap, the back of his neck bright red. “Wait, you two?”
“It was just our parents, dude. Went to dinner at the club last night and our moms brought it up,” Topper mumbles. You giggle at the idea, completely unaware of the energy in the car right now.
“Yeah, sorry, Thornton. But no thanks. You and Emily should be really cute, though,” you say earnestly, patting his shoulder.
Topper just stares straight ahead. “Thanks, Y/n/n.”
“And then this thing with Griffin—I’m just so over the idea of finding an actual date at this point,” you sigh. “Plus, I know Kelce won’t put up a fight about the color scheme. I’m thinking like, aqua. Or maybe pink? I don't think I'd look good in gold.”
You'll look good in absolutely anything, and Rafe will just have to watch you from across the floor of the Island Club, while Kelce twirls you around the dance floor or holds you close during a slow dance.
The guy in question opens the car door and slides into the backseat next to Rafe right then, sighing as he slides his backpack off. “Sorry guys, coach stopped me in the hall. Where are we eating?”
Rafe glares at him.
“I want a smoothie,” you declare from the front seat.
“Fine with me,” Topper nods, pulling out of his parking spot. “Guys?”
“Can we go to that place with the deli next door? I’m so hungry,” Kelce says.
“Yeah, I like their açaí bowls,” you say, twisting around to look at Rafe one more time. He must not be able to hide his emotions as much as he thought, because your smile drops when you see him. “Rafe? Does that sound good?”
He turns his body to look out the window, eyes flicking back to yours one last time. “Not hungry.”
Rafe meets Topper and Kelce at the dock later that night, the three of them intending to get drunk and maybe take Topper’s boat out if they felt like it.
Kelce is already there by the time Rafe pulls up, drinking a beer with Topper while they laugh at something on his phone.
And Rafe paces right down the dock, snatches Kelce’s phone out of his hand, and pushes him off the platform and into the water.
“Rafe, dude,” Topper says, immediately pushing him back by his chest.
“What the fuck?” Kelce sputters, spitting out water as he surfaces and climbs the ladder back up. “What is your fucking problem?”
“You couldn’t ask literally fucking anyone else? It had to be Y/n?” Rafe says, laughing indignantly. He looks down at where Topper is still keeping them separated. “And you—what the fuck—”
“I told you, man. It was just our moms. We didn’t even consider it,” Topper says, rolling his eyes.
“You both lied to me,” Rafe accuses. “Because you knew I’d be mad.”
“And why’s that, Rafe?” Kelce spits, reaching around Topper to try and push at his chest. “Why are you mad? Not like you were gonna ask her.”
“No,” Rafe says immediately. And he isn’t even lying; it’d never crossed his mind as a possibility. Which is why he can’t even begin to try and work out why he’s this upset about it. He didn’t do anything to stop this, but it’s still happening, and it’s making him crazy. “You know my dad’s making me take Reagan since we’re both on prom court.”
“That’s what I thought,” Kelce grumbles. “I was gonna tell you.”
“When?”
“Soon, I just—we made the plan so long ago, bro. Neither of us wanted to worry about dates… but I gave it time because I thought you might—I dunno,” Kelce trails off, shrugging. “I dunno.”
“Thought I might what?”
“Figure your shit out and ask her yourself,” Topper says, coming back from the boathouse with a towel that he passes to Kelce.
“Even if I could, Y/n/n would never say yes to me,” Rafe scoffs, shaking his head and reaching for the six-pack they were working through.
Topper scoffs back. “Oh, yeah ri—”
“Guess we’ll never know,” Kelce says, cutting him off while he dumps the water out of his shoes. He sighs at his soaked clothes before he looks back up at Rafe. “You know I’m not into her right? We’re just going as friends. It’s senior prom.”
“Why would I care what you’re going as?” Rafe says, shifting in discomfort, hand clutching his already-half-empty beer can a little tighter. “None of it even matters.”
“Whatever you wanna tell yourself, bro,” Kelce sighs, grabbing his phone out of Rafe’s hand and pushing past him to go change.
“Nice taste, Y/l/n.”
You whirl around from where you’d been adjusting Kelce’s boutonnière (you’d only pricked him twice, which was a personal record for you) at the sound of Rafe’s voice, plastering on a smile before you face him. Your eyes drop to his attire immediately. “Oh shit, Rafe. We match.”
“I know,” he laughs. “My step-mom wants a picture.”
You furrow your eyebrows, shifting in your heels, the tule of your dress suddenly itchy against your legs. “Um. Shouldn’t you take one with Reagan?”
“We already took a million. From every angle. With every possible fucking pose,” Rafe sighs. “C’mon, please? Before the limo comes.”
Rafe grabs your hand and you look back at Kelce who just nods, downing some champagne. “Take care of my date, Cameron.”
You can see Rafe just shake his head where you trail behind him, leading you back to where Rose is talking to one of the other moms. “There you are. Your dress is beautiful! I wish we'd found one like that for Reagan. It looks great with Rafe's tuxedo.”
“Uh, yeah. It's nice to see you, Mrs. Cameron,” you say politely, ignoring the last half of what she said completely. She pulls up her phone and Rafe’s bringing you into his side, his hand resting in the middle of your back.
“This okay?” he murmurs, his breath fanning over your neck as he leans down.
“Yep,” you say quickly, but you can’t help but look around and catch multiple of your friends watching you, including Reagan, who promptly rolls her eyes once you make eye contact with her.
“Y/n, sweetie, just a few pictures for the newsletter,” Rose says, reminding you of your purpose right now.
“Right, sorry,” you say.
“Hey,” Rafe whispers. You look up at him, feeling his hand bring you closer to his body. “Take this a little more seriously, Y/l/n. Don’t you know that the next issue of the Island Club newsletter will be completely ruined without this one specific photo, that will probably be squished into the corner of a terribly- edited collage?”
You laugh in surprise, hitting him on his chest for joking about his step-mom right in front of her. “Rafe. Be nice.”
He just grins down at you, before straightening up and turning back to the camera. “If I’m nice, will you save a dance for me later tonight?”
You’re glad he’s not looking at you anymore, because then he’d see the way your smile faltered before you turn back to the camera as well. “Sure.”
“How is my flask empty?” Kelce groans, tipping it over and shaking it out for emphasis.
“That’s what happens when you drink it all, bud,” you laugh, patting his shoulder. He rolls his eyes at you, linking his arm in yours as you both pass through the crowd to find Topper and his date, Emily. You all watch Rafe up on stage, waiting to inevitably be crowned prom king.
He was a shoo-in anyway, but you’d definitely distracted your English teacher with a conversation about the 1984 essay you just turned in while Topper and Kelce stuffed the ballot box he was meant to be guarding.
Rafe seemed like he couldn’t care less about stuff like prom court, just shaking his head when his name was announced over the speaker as a nominee three weeks ago at lunch.
And he’d dragged his feet through finding a date, just shrugging whenever you brought it up to him, prying partially for your own sake.
You couldn’t figure out why he seemed so averse to the entire event, but you supposed that was better than having to hear him go on and on about Reagan and how he asked her and what corsage he bought for her and if he was bringing her to after-prom—or anything else that would’ve dragged up some feelings you thought you’d firmly buried at this point, telling yourself for years that you never stood a chance with Rafe.
But the closer graduation got, the more you’ve been realizing that things with your friends would never be the same. Things with Rafe would never be the same.
“Kildare Academy, your prom king is Rafe Cameron,” the DJ says, snapping you out of your thoughts. Kelce and Topper cheer obnoxiously while you laugh, a little grateful they’re both drunk and distracted—so happy their plan worked (Rafe subtly flips them off behind his back as he’s crowned) that they can’t notice the way your shoulders slump as Rafe leads Reagan, just crowned queen, out to the middle of the dance floor while some Ed Sheeran song starts playing through the speakers. You’d roll your eyes at the terrible music selection if that was what you could focus on.
All you could focus on was wondering if Rafe would even remember that you promised him a dance tonight.
Kelce is dramatically bringing you into his arms as the prom court dance takes place, subtly turning you around so your back faces the stage and the court, smiling as he holds your waist. “C’mon, dance with me.”
Rafe’s letting go of Reagan as soon as the song ends and everybody cheers, dashing off to the DJ booth after telling her he’d be back in a bit. She merely shrugged before adjusting her crown and going off to some friends.
“Hey man, can I pull some prom king privilege right now?” he says, leaning in to speak into the guys’ ear. “I have a song request.”
“Playlist is set, approved by the school,” he says dismissively.
“Thought you might say that,” Rafe grumbles, reaching into his breast pocket before he can take the time to wonder if he’s really going to do this—if he’s really going to bribe the DJ to play a song by your favorite band before he goes to cash in on that dance together that you’d promised.
He hands him a crisp hundred.
The DJ sighs, snatching it out of his hand and pocketing it while Rafe smirks in victory. “Alright, what song, country club?”
And then it's practically a race to find you before the Kid Cudi remix currently playing ends. Rafe heads off in the direction where Topper and Kelce had been yelling when he was on stage, evening his pace when he spots you jumping around with Kelce, your dress fanning around you while you laugh, the string lights illuminating your face.
You’re smiling so big that it stops Rafe in his tracks.
Guys had always shown interest in you, and you turned most of them down. Not all of them; Rafe still had to see you with guys who absolutely did not deserve you giving them the time of day, sometimes at parties or maybe at the Club. Rafe could usually lie to himself, write off these feelings as some protectiveness over you, a nice girl who’d been a good friend to him his entire life. Rafe was protective of all the people he held close in his life, why wouldn’t he look out for you, too?
But something must have changed, because now—now Rafe’s looking at you, and he knows time is running out before you both set off on your futures. He has three weeks of school left with you, then a summer of seeing you around. And then... that's it.
And now he’s looking at you, those feelings less and less ignorable with every single second closer Rafe gets to not having you around him every day anymore.
Those feelings are crowding every corner of his mind, finally coming to the surface after all of the drama with prom dates had forced Rafe to wonder why he couldn’t stand you going with Griffin or Topper or Kelce. Couldn’t stand thinking about you ever being with someone that wasn’t him—a reality he knows he’d have to get used to you a lot quicker than it took him to even realize he’d fallen for you.
Because the future’s coming, and maybe in the future you actually end up with someone like Griffin, or Mateo, or that guy from the party that one time, or that touron from New England that your parents tried to set you up with, some hotshot you brought home from California after a semester, or Kelce—even Topper. Your parents would love that one. And one day in this future, you’re running into Rafe on the soccer field; your kids play for the same team together. Rafe ended up settling for someone he could never like half as much as he loved you, and he sees you across the field with a sweater tied around your shoulders, chatting with all of the other moms. The lucky asshole you finally chose just watches you the way Rafe always had, the way he is now as you dance with his best friend, the way Rafe will probably never be able to stop himself from doing.
Or maybe there's another future without you, where you move away to somewhere that suits you; the Outer Banks had never good enough for you, in his mind. Maybe you stay in California after school. And you bring home that hotshot that’s perfectly matched for you, who gets to hold you and kiss you and have you. Rafe only gets to see you every once in a while, when you decide to grace the Outer Banks with your presence for the holidays or for Midsummers. Maybe in this scenario, Rafe was never able to find someone else, maybe he shows up solo while you flash your engagement ring when the old crew gets together for drinks—no, you wouldn’t do that. You’d be absolutely smitten with whoever won your heart, showing the ring he got you to your girl friends with an embarrassed little smile pulling at your lips while they all gush over it. And maybe one of your friends jokes about how Rafe used to have a crush on you. You'll just laugh and shrug it off, nodding—because you knew all along. Of course you knew, everyone had to know at this point. And Rafe can picture you merely laughing at his feelings for you as the other guy gets to pull you closer on his lap.
The opening chords of your song snap him out of his reverie. He can see the exact moment you realize what song it is.
Rafe beelines for you, holding his hand out as soon as he’s in your vicinity, fully pretending he hadn’t just realized he’s fallen for one of his closest friends in the middle of prom. Like he hadn't realized that he wasn't just into you, didn't just think you were cute or like the way you made him feel when you remembered his stats tests or wore his shirt to his water polo games. Like he hadn't just realized that no matter how many times he'd told himself it didn't bother him that much that you'd never come close to giving him the time of day, that he'd never forget what it felt like to not even be on your radar.
“You promised me a dance, Y/n.”
You look at him and his outstretched hand and smile, then look back to Kelce, who's quickly letting you out of his arms, casting an accusatory glance at Rafe. But then he smiles a little. “I'm gonna hit the restrooms.”
“Too bad our one dance is gonna be to a song by a band you hate,” you laugh, accepting Rafe's hand. Rafe’s on autopilot, his hands resting on your lower back while yours move to his chest, swaying the two of you in little circles. The song is already through with the first verse.
“I don’t hate this band,” he lies. But maybe it’s not a lie—how could he hate anything you loved?
“Okay, prom king,” you laugh, fiddling with his pocket square a little, the one that matches your dress. “Still can’t believe we ended up matching.”
“Great minds, Y/l/n,” he shrugs, eyes trained on your face. Your hands slip up around his shoulders, and you nudge the plastic crown on his head before leaving your arms to rest there, fingers locked behind his neck. Rafe pulls you closer. The second chorus was already starting up. Time was running out.
“I’m not sure what the optics are of our matching and you leaving the prom queen to come dance with your friend,” you say, your small smile turning into a frown. “Reagan already seemed pissed earlier.”
“Don’t worry about her,” Rafe says. “It’s just you and me right now.”
“When we go off to college, I think I might just miss you, Cameron,” you say, smiling.
And Rafe might not ever get to tell you how he feels, or ever be with you the way he wants to, but at least he got to dance with you at his senior prom.
“I know I'm gonna miss you.”
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btsqualityy · 3 years
Text
Fools Rush In: Chapter 6
Jungkook x Reader
Genre/Rate: 18+, Strangers-to-lovers, age gap!AU (reader is 30, Jungkook is 23), Angst, smut, fluff
Summary: You catch up with your friends and Jungkook shows you that he’s serious about the baby.
Warnings: None to note.
WC: 1.3K
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“So, how are things going with you and Jungkook?” Yumi asked as she settled herself down on the couch next to Jimin in your living room. Since you had decided to stay in Korea for the next few months, Yumi and your other best friend Jimin came to see you and catch up.
“Good, good,” you nodded as you looked over at her. “We’re uh, kind of seeing each other now.”
“Really?” Jimin gasped. “From what you had told me, you were insistent on raising the baby alone.”
“That was if she had to,” Yumi interjected.
“Exactly. And after I told him about the baby and he had a few days to think it over, he realized that he didn’t want me to have to do it alone,” you explained. “If he’s willing to step up, I don’t see why I shouldn’t give him a chance.”
“That’s all well and good but you don’t have to necessarily have to be with him just because he’s stepping up and literally doing what he should,” Jimin cautioned.
“I get that Jimin,” you rolled your eyes. “But I actually like him too. I mean, there is a reason why I slept with him almost four months ago.”
“It wasn’t just the good sex?” Yumi teased.
“No,” you giggled. “He’s just so...sure of himself and what he wants in life. Sure, he’s young and still trying to figure his shit out but he has a much better outlook on things than I did at 23, and I arguably had the world at my fingertips by that age. He’s funny and kind hearted and sweet, not to even mention how attractive he is.”
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk about someone that you’ve dated that way,” Yumi pointed out but before you could reply, there was a knock on your front door. Excusing yourself, you got up from the couch and jogged over to your front door to pull it open.
“Hi,” you smiled when you saw Jungkook standing there, two bags in each of his hands. “What are you doing here?”
“Brought you lunch,” he replied, holding up the bags. “You busy?”
“I’m just hanging out with some friends but come in, come in,” you waved your hand and he nodded before stepping inside, watching as you shut the door behind him.
“Come here,” he said and you stepped closer to him, setting your hands on his cheeks as you kissed him firmly. The two of you kissed for a few seconds before you pulled away, taking a second to wipe a little spit from the side of his mouth. 
“Come meet my friends,” you told him and he followed behind you as you led the way back into the living room. 
“Who is this?” Yumi smirked knowingly and you just huffed before you began the introductions. 
“Jungkook, these are my best friends Sato Yumi and Park Jimin,” you said. “Yumi, Jimin, this is Jeon Jungkook.”
“Your baby daddy,” Jimin added.
“Yeah, my baby daddy,” you laughed, making Jungkook do the same. 
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Jungkook smiled, bowing a little towards the both of them.
“Mm, cute and polite,” Yumi hummed in approval. “We love to see it.”
“I didn’t know that you guys were here, otherwise I would’ve brought more food,” Jungkook apologized sheepishly as he gestured to the bags in his hands. 
“Oh, don’t worry about us, we were just leaving,” Jimin replied, motioning to Yumi who nodded before they both stood up. 
“We’ll call you later Y/N,” Yumi whispered.
“Alright, see you guys later,” you said.
“Nice meeting you Jungkook!” Both Yumi and Jimin yelled out as they walked out of the door.
“You too!” Jungkook shouted back and once the door shut behind them, he turned to look at you. “Hungry?”
“Starving,” you grinned. The two of you decided to settle in the living room, and Jungkook emptied the bags that he had brought with him and placed them onto the small table that was placed in front of the couch. 
“Wow, did you buy the entire restaurant out?” You joked as you sat down on the floor. 
“I’m kind of a big eater,” Jungkook chuckled sheepishly. “Truthfully, I could easily eat all of this by myself so I bought extra to make sure that there would be enough for the three of us.”
“Three?” You echoed, breaking apart the chopsticks that had come with the meal. 
“You, me, and the baby,” he smiled shyly. “I know that with pregnancy, sometimes your appetite can change.”
“That’s sweet that you thought of that Jungkook,” you smiled. “It’s true, your appetite can change during pregnancy and I just got mines back after all that morning sickness.”
“I was right on time then huh?”
“Definitely,” you giggled and that was the last thing that was said before you both dug into the food.
“How was your day?” Jungkook asked as he slurped up some noodles and you chuckled before answering him. 
“It was ok,” you shrugged. “I’m still a little sore from the tournament last week so I’ve kind of been laying around and then Yumi and Jimin came to see me. What about you? How was yours?”
“Good, good,” he nodded enthusiastically. “I did the photography for an event this morning and then I decided to get lunch for us.”
“Sounds entertaining,” you chuckled as you took a bite of samgyeopsal. 
“Eh,” he muttered. “Oh, I uh...also talked to my parents today, and I told them about the baby.”
“Really?” You wondered with a raised eyebrow.
“Are you upset?”
“Of course not,” you shook your head instantly. “How did they take it?”
“Considering the situation, pretty well I think,” he explained. “They’re pretty modern given their age though, so I didn’t think they were going to be super upset. They did say that they would like to meet you soon though.”
“Ok, we can do that,” you agreed easily. 
“What about your parents?” He questioned. “Have you told them yet?”
“No,” you huffed. “They’re extremely traditional and I know that they won’t react well to me not being married.”
“Are they married?” He asked.
“They just celebrated their 32nd anniversary in January,” you replied. “My mom is super religious and my dad is a stickler for tradition so if I tell them that their unmarried daughter is having a baby with a man seven years younger, they’ll have a heart attack, so I’ll tell them eventually but just not yet.”
“That’s understandable,” Jungkook murmured and the two of you continued your meal with small talk passing in between. 
Once the two of you were finished and had cleaned up, Jungkook opened up his bag and pulled out a small box.
“I got something today,” he said as he passed the box over to it and you didn’t hesitate to pull the top off of it and inside were the smallest pair of green Nike’s sneakers that you had ever seen in your life. 
“Jungkook, these are so cute!” You gushed as you reached inside and pulled out one of the shoes, examining it. 
“I noticed that you prefer wearing Nike’s when you play and after I got the food, I saw these in a shop window and just had to get them,” Jungkook told you. “They had a few different colors but since we don’t know what you’re having, I thought green was a good unisex color.”
“It is,” you nodded, tears welling up in your eyes as you looked up at him. “They’re amazing.”
“Then why are you crying?” He wondered as he reached out and wiped away the tears that had fallen down your cheeks. 
“Hormones,” you blurted, making him laugh. “Seriously, I love them.”
“I’m glad. I wanted to show you that I’m serious about this,” he muttered.
“I see that, and I appreciate it so much,” you assured him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he smirked, leaning forward and kissing you gently. 
................................................
Tag List:  @mwitsmejk @hey-youre-appreciated @bettyschwallocksyee @jaiuneamesolitaiire @knowlestaehyung @missseoulite @afangirllikeme-blog @fan-ati--c @d-noona @bang-bang-bangtxn @claricedelune @daydreambrliever @dunixxd @unicornbabylover @paperpurple @addictedtohobi @bbtsficrecs @bts-junseagull @eltrain80 @karlykim92
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enderwoah · 3 years
Text
ORIGINS SMP HEADCANONS (because i love them): SEASON TWO EDITION BAYBEEE
(this is really long ENJOY :gun:)
tommy
he is phil's son smile
phil's most recent son at least
he's got like one more somewhere
he picked this one up off the dangerous streets a few years ago and he's been sticking with phil ever since
his wings are small- not too small to fly, but they're untrained to the point where it would take a lot or work to get him off the ground
but at first, he didn't really seem to want to learn all that much?
(he has three scars on his face- all from trying to learn how to fly when he was younger)
(he gave up after the third one)
("if at first you don't succeed; try, try again" is his motto, and he tried all three times)
but!! phil and wilbur are very persuasive :) and now that he knows he can fly, he's not going to rest until he does
he's a little manipulative to get what he wants sometimes, but can you blame someone that lived on the street for so long?
he had to do that to survive! it's not his fault.
(it's a great excuse.)
he laughs like a kookaburra amen
he squawks when he gets scared
he chirps. he tries not to because it makes phil go absolutely bird-brained but he does sometimes and he hates it.
tubbo
NOW'S YOUR CHANCE TO BE A B[GUNSHOTS]
god he is. so fucking annoying (/rp)
he simply does not know when to stop
he ignores social cues to see when someone is annoyed
(see: he can read social cues. he does read social cues. when you get annoyed that's when he starts being more annoying, because you're more likely to give him what he wants to get him to shut the fuck up.)
he loves talking to (at) people, especially people he doesn't really know that well
so he's trying to be friends with ranboo, but the absolute prick keeps trying to avoid any actual conversations, so that's not working
he buzzes when he gets excited-happy
his fingertips are completely blackened and horrendously sharp, functioning as ten individual stingers
they don't do any actual damage but he's working on that
techno
wither hybrid (??)
how can you be a wither hybrid?? nobody got down and dirty with the wither
he's an experiment
the reason we haven't seen him yet? he's staying away from the main area of the smp
he doesn't want to ruin its natural beauty with his withering effect, so he keeps to himself on the outskirts of the smp
which sucks
withers get health from killing things
he's not fully a wither, so he gets energy from being around people and sort of draining their life force a little bit
he feels terrible when he's with just one person because they are Literally his life support and it makes the person feel like shit
when he's with a big group of people its great!! he only has to take a little bit from everyone and its barely noticable!!
but then there's the wither part. so he has to stay away.
he's always tired
always exhausted
he's a farmer, so taking it from animals works, but god does he miss people
but he can only visit a few times and for very short
(he's afraid that one of these days he'll get so bad that the next time he sees someone he'll accidentally kill them)
(it already happened once. he's blessed that he's been forgiven, even made friends with by the victims, but he doubts he'll be able to pull that off again with no consequences like last time)
wilbur
phantlings are dead elytrians, and given that wilbur was phil's son...he's a phantling
he died in the late 50s and was a librarian when he was alive, so he's very possessive (ha) over all of his things
you should never ask to "borrow" anything from him, he will hound you about it until you give it back
it's best to just say that you want something from him to keep
even if youre going to give it back
just for your own peace of mind
phantlings can feel fear and get a genuine feeling of elation from scaring people
of course, sometimes its unwelcome (feeling large amounts of fear from someone they care about in a bad way just makes them pissed)
but for the most part, wilbur loves appearing in the corner of people's visions just to jumpscare them a few minutes later
all in good fun, of course!! it's just hilarious :)
being the lighthearted, fun guy he is, he's not particularly secretive about his method of death
"how did i die? well, it all started -- ended -- on november 16th, 1958!"
"i walked out of the library late, since i took the shift for my wife since she was feeling sick and i worked there anyways,"
"the streets were dark and only lit up by gaslamps...and out of an alley...appeared..........."
techno.
he didn't mean it. wilbur isn't at all mad at him (anymore)
he was starving. he didn't know that one touch would be enough to fully revitalize him...
and murder wilbur where he stood.
sneeg
has details on everyone on the server
you Cannot Hide Shit From Sneeg
its impossible
if you find of his any shittly little mouse holes then you're doomed
you find one and there are twenty more
he's under your floorboards while you're having your important discussion about trapping the nether roof
sucks to suck ig??
he seems to be the favourite of many, which is weird since he rarely goes out of his way to actually talk to many people
he's the only person that tubbo doesn't actively try to annoy (or maybe he just doesn't find tubbo's antics all that annoying)
he's the only person that ranboo stays around (or maybe he stays around ranboo- he and Phil seem to be the only ones not off-put by his slightly sadistic and whiny demeanour (not counting tubbo, who annoys him anyways)
phil seems to be more protective of him than he thinks is normal (he lets sneeg ride on his shoulder while travelling, so he doesn't really complain)
niki is completely protective over him (again, not complaining)
contrary to popular believe, he does not get high from sugar
if anything he gets
high-per
(get it)
(high-per)
(hyper)
he's literally just a nine-year old getting a sugar rush leave him alone
phil
take the normal "bird-brain" headcanons and multiply it by like sixty-four
and you've got origins phil
he can't see glass- or, rather, he can, but it doesn't register that 'hey, this is a solid surface i am going to slam into'
its very funny for everyone else but he's pretty sure he has permanent brain damage from the blunt force trauma
if there is ANYONE on the server who dares to chirp, bird or no, they must understand that they are signing away their privacy and giving phil the right to go absolutely bonkers over them momma bird style
(shoutout to tommy, wilbur, ranboo, and fundy for having to suffer through this)
"oh??? you don't have wings?? you don't have feathers?? omg?? then what's this im preening?? what do you mean im just braiding your hair?? nono this is preening smile"
god help you if you dare to have wings
poor tommy, wilbur, sneeg, and tubbo
phil can't help himself alright
do you think he wants to be any sort of protective over sneegsnag?
no!! but he cant stop himself!! sneeg might damage his wings if he keeps flying those super long distances!!! nnnno! carry the bug man!!!
it's weird, he's always had that protective sense over ranboo, too
but ranboo very obviously doesn't have wings, so he doesn't get it...
ranboo
yes ur a peasant
yes ur poor
yes im cooler than u
what r u gonna do about it
the enderdragon's son! partially a dragon, partially enderman, partially human (don't ask, his other mom is a hybrid), all spoiled brat!
given that he has a ton of dragon genes, he's extremely possessive over his stuff and Yes He Does Do The Hoarding Thing
he has a pile of rings and gold chains and necklaces and most of his jewellery hidden underneath his bed
(if you ask him, no, he doesn't)
not to wear
just to Have
one time, fundy stole one (1) bracelet from the hoard and ranboo was sent into a panic for a good 24 hours
he wouldn't leave his cave and kept counting and recounting as if that'd make the missing piece reappear
(when fundy had to give it back because of the guilt, he expected to get his face bitten off)
(instead, he just watched as the prince was flooded with relief, telling him to get the hell out and nothing more)
it's weird, he has so much gold and even a crown, and yet here he is
living with all those people ^^^
truth be told, the enderdragon isn't a very nice dragon
nor is she a very kind queen
nor was the other queen
nor was her son
there was a mutiny in the end, leading to the dragon queen and her wife being killed brutally by the crowd of angered people
they went after their son next, who had ordered executions and worked servants to the bone just as much as they had
they cut off his wings in the middle of the square
he was sure he was going to die until a random person (a peasant) jumped up and yelled at them for publicly torturing a child
but ranboo didn't really catch all of it, given he was delirious from pain
he got to get some stuff quickly and escape with his life
this wasn't too long ago, either, so he's still trying to...adjust...to people talking rudely to him
(he's also trying to adjust to not having wings)
(hence why he hurls himself off the edges of cliffs and then has to teleport to the bottom instead of glide. he keeps forgetting.)
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👏KOTLC👏CHARACTERS’👏LOVE👏LANGUAGES👏
if you’re curious as to what the heck that even is... here’s a linkie boi
Sophie Foster: Words of Affirmation. All those years of constantly hearing people hate on her internally really sucked. Like, honestly, she just wanted someone to tell her she was doing a good job, that she was a good kid-- like she didn’t get a lot of that. Twas rough. It’s better now. But seriously, tell this girl that she’s doing things right and you’re proud of her and she might burst into tears.
Keefe Sencen: Physical Touch. He’d be doing a lot better emotionally if he weren’t so absolutely frigging touch-starved. He really just needs someone, anyone at this point, to hold him very close and tight and let him know that he is loved.
Fitz Vacker: Acts of service. He is tired of having to do all the things. The things are too much. It is a lot of things. If someone could do the things for him, he would be so happy. He might cry.
Biana Vacker: Receiving Gifts. She likes things. Things are real, things are physical, she can hold them to her chest, and look back at them when she isn’t quite certain in whether or not people actually care about her. It’s not a lot of things, she only keeps a couple. But when people give her a gift, and say things like, “Here! This made me think of you!” You’d be hard pressed to find something she doesn’t like. If you tell her you thought of her when you first saw it, she’ll smile wider than the sky, and tell you “thank you” with such honesty that you feel slightly awkward because that’s a big emotion in two little words. But she means it. She will smile at that rock for the rest of her life, because you said it matched the color of her bracelet that day.
Dex Diznee: Quality Time. He wants to be around people. Not a lot, and not constantly. He likes his space, certainly. But he likes being around people. He likes talking with people aimlessly for hours, he likes spending time on the floors of his friends’ bedrooms listening to music. They don’t have to talk about much. He just wants to be around them. He might be sitting next to them, reading or working or something, but he’s with someone. So it’s good. It’s really good. 
Marella Redek: Physical Touch. Give the fire girl cuddles. Sometimes she feels like no one wants to be close to her because she radiates heat like Linh radiates kindness. But then her mom, or her dad, or one of her friends will swoop her into a hug, not worried about all the harm she could do with her touch, or the flames she could bring into existence, and tell her that she’s a human heater or that she gives the best hugs and this flamey girl will melt. It’s literally the cutest thing.
Linh Song: Words of Affirmation. Tam is the only reason she’s felt loved for so long, if only because he’s the only person for most of her childhood who would tell her that she was good, she was worth it, she was loved. It’s rough, wanting people to tell you good things your whole life, and only ever receiving bad, except in a few scant places.
Tam Song: Words of Affirmation. He is the same as Linh, except for one thing. Where Linh got her love from Tam, he couldn’t get that same kind of love from her. If only because she was little, she was small, and she depended on him, and older siblings cannot depend on their little siblings. You cannot. You need to protect, defend, and it is not their job. 
Stina Heks: Quality Time. Sit next to her during lunch willingly? She’d die for you. Hang out with her for more than a 90 minutes at a time? She’ll swoon. Make a concerted effort to be around her at little to no benefit to yourself other than the fact that you’re spending time with her? She’ll marry you.  
Wylie Endal: Acts of Service. He likes coming home from work or school and seeing that someone made dinner, and that it’s his favorite. It warms up the corners of his soul that had gotten cold over the day. Maybe his friend helps him clean his room, without him asking, and his grin will make you wonder how such small things mean so much. Linh once copied out a letter for him(he hates writing letters like you hate emailing your teacher because it’s three weeks into the semester and you still can’t find the syllabus) and his eyes lit up brighter than the stars. He never expects it, and that’s probably why it always floors him.
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joviewinchester · 3 years
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Part 2 to the supernatural MBAV crossover ✌️ Also this is on crack so I’m sorry in advance. Lol.
“Oh my gosh, Jack! We’ve been living here for two weeks! Do you know what that means?! We actually live here.” Y/N said excitedly.
“Yeah. I like it here I hope we stay awhile.”
“I have a boyfriend now! Do you know how cool that is?”
“You what?!” Dean exclaimed.
“Don’t eavesdrop! It’s none of your concern.”
“Yes it is. I’m your dad!”
“Moms handle the boys and the periods, and she promised me she’d visit sometime this week, so therefore, it’s none of your concern.”
“Since when have you had contact with Amara?”
“Since like a month ago. Uncle Chuck taught her about the world of cellphones. She promised she’d drop by for at least an hour. You don’t think she’s going to flake on me do you?” Tears welled up in her eyes. Dean held his arms out for a hug.
“Hey, come here, kid. Your mom has done a lot of bad things, but if there’s one thing I know for sure about her, it’s that she never says something unless she means it. Now about the boyfriend thing…”
“His name is Benny, he likes Star Wars, and he’s a calculus nerd. Good enough?”
“Come on Dean. Calculus nerd? You have nothing to worry about.” Sam chimed in.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Sammy.”
“Does that mean that me and Jack can go hang out with him and our other friends tonight?” Y/N asked hopefully, putting on the puppy eyes she had inherited from her uncle.
“Fine, but don’t be out any later than 1 am okay?”
“Got it. Would you be mad if we left right now?”
“No. It’s fine. Go ahead, but Jack she is not to be left in a room alone with this punk. Got it? Good.”
Y/N rolled her eyes. “Drama queen.” She muttered.
“I heard that!”
“Good!”
All of their friends had already arrived by the time they got there. The only thing missing was pizza.
“Dude the delivery guy was so slow last time though. Someone should just go get it. I’m starving.” Ethan complained.
“Not it.” Y/N and Erica said at the same time. Benny and Jack both looked at Sarah.
“Um…don’t look at me. I’m babysitting.” She gestured to Jane who was sitting peacefully watching Dusk.
“I’ll go.” Jack volunteered. Y/N tossed him the keys to the Jeep.
“Don’t wreck my baby.” She said sternly, laying on the floor beside Jane.
“Careful. You sound like your dad.” Jack joked. Y/N threw a pillow at him.
“Okay. Okay. I’m going.”
“So this Dusk thing, what is it even about?” Y/N asked. Erica immediately jumped in.
“Oh my god. It is so good. You’ve never seen Dusk? It’s about a human who falls in love with a vampire and vice versa, but there’s also this werewolf that’s in love with the girl, but she ends up choosing the vampire because, duh, she’s in love with him, but anyways it’s so good and you have to watch all of them with me some time.”
“I’ve seen the Vampire Diaries but I’ve never watched this.”
“Oh my God. Don’t you just love the Salvatore brothers?”
“I love Damon, but I’m not huge on Stefan. Oh and Katherine is so hot, but my favorites are Kol and Kai.”
“You have a thing for murderers with sociopath tendencies and you’re dating Benny?” Erica asked.
“Okay, just leave me alone. Kai is hot and he had reason to murder his entire family.” Literally the entire room was just looking back and forth between them in confusion.
“Remind me to never leave you two alone.” Sarah said.
“Did you just say murdered his entire family casually in a sentence?” Benny asked.
“Yes. If you guys watched the show you would totally get it. Although Jack doesn’t and I made him watch it but then again his biological dad is literally satan-“
“Wait. Wait. Wait. First of all, Castiel isn’t his biological dad? Second of all what is his biological father a serial killer or something?” Ethan asked.
That was when Y/N registered what she had said. “It’s not my place to tell you guys about his biological dad, so like please don’t tell him I told you anything.”
Everyone agreed and dropped it. Soon after Jack came back with the pizza. “Who’s hungry?”
“I am.” Erica whispered passive aggressively under her breath. Sarah elbowed her and gave her a look, mouthing the words shut up.
Benny, Ethan, Jack, and Jane all grabbed a slice.
“Want one?” Benny asked.
“No I’m fine. Thanks though.” Y/N said. Her mood had noticeably dropped, and it was because she was thinking of her mother. What if she didn’t come like she’d promised? Well, at least her cousin Gabriel promised a visit soon, despite her father’s protest.
“Hey what’s wrong?” Sarah asked her.
“It’s stupid. My mom told me that she was going to visit me sometime this week, but I’m worried she won’t show up.” At that very moment Amara appeared in the room. Now there was a lot of explaining to be done.
“Holy shit! Who are you and how did you do that?!” Ethan exclaimed.
“Wow. Gorgeous alert.” Erica said, ignoring the fact that a woman she didn’t know had just appeared out of nowhere. Y/N immediately jumped up and hugged her.
“I missed you, mom.” She muttered into her hair.
“Mom?!” They all asked at once.
“Woah. Woah. Woah. So what are you then?” Benny asked.
“Why are you guys not very freaked out about this?” Jack asked.
“We know about the supernatural, but nothing like this.” Ethan said still in shock.
“So, you made friends? I’m proud of you. How’s your dad doing?” Amara said.
“Same old. Same old. Sad, confused, protective.”
“Wait how do you guys know about the supernatural?” Jack asked ignoring the side conversation.
“That depends. How do you feel about vampires, warlocks, and seers?” Benny asked.
“Wait! You’re vampires?!” Y/N exclaimed suddenly.
“Not all of us. Just Erica and Sarah.” Ethan said.
“You guys haven’t even the ones killing people have you, because that would suck because then I’d have to kill you.”
“No, but really?! Kill us?!” Sarah exclaimed.
“My family hunts the supernatural! You guys have got to stay on the downlow or my dad and my uncle will straight up kill you and not think twice, please be careful!”
“Are warlocks on that list?” Benny asked.
“Wait, you’re a waflock and you didn’t tell me?!”
“We still don’t know what you two are and I think I speak for everyone when I say I would like to know!”
Y/N sighed. This would be a long conversation. She took in a deep breath. “So, my dad is the vessel of the archangel Michael aka the person Michael needed to possess to win the apocalypse which already happened by the way. My dad kind of saved the world. My Uncle Sam on the other hand is the vessel of Lucifer who is Jack’s biological dad which makes Jack a nephilim, and by the way Lucifer is actually pretty chill. But that’s beside the point. This is Amara my mom aka the darkness aka god’s sister which kind of makes me a Demigod which makes god aka Chuck my uncle and Lucifer, Michael and Gabriel my cousins which makes Jack my second cousin and also by the way Castiel is an angel too. Oh and also my dad is kind of gay for Cas but neither of them will admit but you know, subtext.”
They all looked at her with wide eyes. “If you plan on sticking with me welcome to my dysfunctional family.” She announced.
“Are they okay?” Amara whispered.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Y/N whispered back.
“Ya know what? Cool. Also can we just talk about how Y/N has hot parents? MILF alert. Like it finally makes sense why she is so pretty.” Erica said casually.
“What’s a MILF?” Amara asked her. Y/N face palmed.
“It’s good. It’s a compliment, but don’t say it to anyone , ever.” Y/N tried to explain.
“Anyways…I guess I’m gonna go and let you all process this interaction. Benny, call me. Bye!” They all left, and Y/N insisted that they take the Jeep and not just teleport.
When they got back to the house everyone kind of just looked at each other awkwardly. “Mom and I are gonna go…what do normal teenage girls do with their non supernatural mothers? Paint their nails? We’ll go do that. See you soon.”
Dean looked at Jack waiting for an explanation. “I’ve got…homework. Yeah. Anyways bye.”
“What just happened?” Sam asked.
Dean shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”
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Text
Only Friend
Character: Jason Todd x Fem!Reader [Robin!Jason Todd]
Summary: Gotham mourned for Robin. But who mourned for Jason Todd? Y/F/N Y/L/N wasn’t just another one of Jason Todd’s friends. She was his only friend.  
Word Count: 7,000 [One Shot]
Warnings: Violence, Death, Loss, Grief
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Y/N didn’t know what time it was. She hadn’t opened the blinds in her room for days. And she didn’t plan on doing so anytime soon. In fact, she didn’t plan on getting out of bed anytime soon.
She heard a knock on her bedroom door. From the sound alone, she knew it was her mother.
“Y/N, dear. Can I come in?”
She wanted to say, ‘No.’ She wanted to say, ‘Go away.’ But Y/N didn’t even have the energy to do that. So she just laid still with the covers over her shoulders and said nothing. 
Her mom slowly opened the door.
Y/N’s family had been tiptoeing around her since it happened. They didn’t know how to handle the situation. Most parents don’t expect for their daughter’s best friend to die. No child should have to face grief like this.
But Y/N had no choice.
Because Jason Todd was dead.
“Hi, honey,” Y/N’s mother cooed as she walked into the room. Then she placed a plate of food on her nightstand. “I brought you something to eat.”
Y/N didn’t even so much as look at her mother, just continued to stare off into nothing.
“Is it alright if I open of your blinds and windows. I think you could use some fresh air.”
Y/N gave what appeared to be a half shrug, barely visible underneath the thick covers.
But her mother seemed relieved, it was starting to smell musty in the room.
Her mother sat on the edge of the bed and stroked Y/N’s face. “The funeral’s tomorrow.”
Y/N’s eyes finally looked up at her mother – desperate and scared. “Do I have to go?”
“I think you’d regret it if you didn’t, honey. You deserve your chance to say goodbye. Your father and I will be there with you.”
Then Y/N closed her eyes and burst into tears. “I had a dream about him last night. And I woke up and remembered–” she had to pause to catch her breath. “I-I-I remembered he’s g-gone.”
“Oh, honey,” her mom whispered as she pulled Y/N into her arms. “I know you miss him. I know. He was your best friend.”
Y/N pulled away and looked up at her mom. “He was my only friend,” she corrected.
———
Jason Todd was sitting at a lunch table by himself and reading when someone slammed their tray down across from him. His eyes flickered up in a glare, already expecting someone to try and pick a fight with him or something.
But instead he found a girl standing above him, smirking down at him.
No, not just any girl, the prettiest girl in their grade. No one else at this stupid school seemed to think so. But that just further proved Jason’s theory that everyone here were idiots.
“Hi,” she said confidently.
“H-Hi?” Jason stuttered back.
“I’m sitting with you,” she announced as she sat down. “I’m Y/N.”
Jason finally smirked and remained confused. “I know who you are…”
“You’ve never talked to me, so how was I supposed to know?” Y/N said back. “And you’re Jason Todd.”
“Yes?” He responded.
Y/N laughed at his confusion.
Jason Todd wasn’t popular. There was a disconnect between him and his peers. The kids at Gotham Academy were trust-fund babies and spoiled brats. They were such snobs that there were even cliques separating the kids who came from old money from those who came from new money. It all seemed ridiculous after literally starving in the slums of the city. 
Jason Todd wasn’t a rebel. He didn’t lash out or let his inability to connect to the other students make him feel down. Ask any teacher who had him and they would say he was a straight-A student and he never once caused trouble in their class. He was always polite and respectful, responsible and well-behaved.
Jason Todd wasn’t bullied. Maybe it was a vibe he gave off, but somehow the other kids knew not to mess with him. Jason came to school with a black eye once, and he always wondered if it freaked them all out enough to never try to mess with him – not that they would ever stand a chance against him.
In regards to the middle school hierarchy, Jason was nobody.
Because Jason Todd wasn’t really a kid. He just had the misfortune of also not being an adult yet.
He was just a poor punk from the Narrows, who just happened to try and steal the tires off the car of Gotham’s notorious vigilante. He didn’t belong at this snobby prep school.
But going to school was one of Bruce’s demands after making Jason his new Robin.
Jason just didn’t know how to make a convincing argument for why he didn’t need social interactions with kids his own age.
“Is this some kind of dare?” Jason asked Y/N.
She froze her eating and scoffed at him. “You’ve watched too many bad teen movies. What kind of asshole would I be to do something like that?”
But Jason still looked around the cafeteria, expecting to find a table full of people watching this interaction and trying to hide their giggles.
Y/N finally slammed down her food, sat back, and crossed her arms. “People at this school suck.”
“Uhh…OK?”
“I saw you reading Pride & Prejudice the other week. And you were wearing a Led Zeppelin t-shirt yesterday. You helped pick up Jill’s stuff when her backpack ripped open, while everyone else just laughed.” She paused. But Jason waited. “What I’m saying is that I’ve decided that you don’t suck.”
“Oh,” Jason blurted out.
“Do you honestly think anyone at this school even knows who Jane Austen is? And some dude in my English class tried to tell me Nickelback was his favorite band.”
Jason laughed at that. “How did you even respond to that?”
“I asked him if he was fucking with me and then the teacher yelled at me for swearing. And I told her, ‘How am I supposed to react to a Nickelback fan without using profanities?’”
Jason laughed again.
That was how Jason and Y/N became best friends. That was all it took.
Jason would soon find out that Y/N didn’t belong here just as much as him. She didn’t come from money – just your normal, middle-class suburban family. She’d won a full-ride scholarship to Gotham Academy, which was impressive since they only handed out one per grade.
Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne made one 30-second call and Jason was accepted – no questions asked.
Y/N was rather mature for her age, but it wasn’t the product of being Batman’s sidekick and fighting the criminals of Gotham City.
Any second Jason had to be a normal kid was spent hanging out with Y/N. Jason was at Y/N’s house all the time, loving Y/N’s parents and envious of the stable home Y/N got to grow up in.
It took awhile for Jason to feel comfortable inviting Y/N to the manor, despite Alfred saying he was welcome to have friends over whenever he wished. Jason eventually got over his embarrassment. While Y/N seemed in awe of Wayne Manor, the evidence of Jason’s wealth didn’t make her treat him any different. They mostly hung out in Jason’s room anyways. Or in the kitchen when Alfred made them snacks.
While they were at school, they always ate lunch together and walked to classes shoulder-to-shoulder any chance they got. They only needed each other.
They ignored everyone else. And in return, everyone else left them alone.
For the most part.
Jason should’ve known something was wrong when he heard the commotion on his way to third period.
When he heard kids start chanting “Fight!” his gut somehow knew Y/N was involved.
Jason shoved his way through the thick circle that was surrounding the drama.
He reached the opening just in time to see Y/N tackle a boy named Parker to the ground. The crowd gasped, not actually expecting them to actually go through with violence. Then Y/N lifted her fist and landed a punch to Parker’s face.
But Jason quickly stepped forward and pulled Y/N off.
“He’s not worth it, Y/N.”
Recognizing the voice of her best friend, Y/N allowed him to pull her away.
“Gonna let your boyfriend pull you away?” Parker yelled out.
Y/N whipped back toward him, but Jason wrapped his arms around her and held her back. “Y/N, leave it!”
“I’m not the one with the a black eye and bloodied nose, asshole!” Y/N screamed, only half fighting Jason’s hold. “Next time, I’ll kick you so hard in your tiny dick that you won’t be able to have kids.”
Jason managed to drag her through the halls with a vice-like grip on her hand.
Y/N scoffed at his efforts, “Where are you even taking me?”
“We’re ditching class.”
She shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”
Jason knew exactly what exit didn’t have an alarmed rigged to it or any video surveillance. He also grabbed a cellphone in his back pocket and started to type frantically.
“You have a cellphone! What? Since when? My parents said I can’t get one until high school,” Y/N groaned enviously.
Little did she know, Jason had set up an AI system that would call the school with Bruce’s voice and leave a recording about how Jason needed to be dismissed from school. It was perfect for Bat emergencies. 
He had added Y/N’s parents voices to the algorithm a few months ago, having a hunch it would come in handy.
As soon as they were a safe distance away from the school, Y/N let go of Jason’s hand and walked slightly ahead of him.
With their freedom secured, Jason could focus on Y/N now.
“What did he do?” He asked her gently.
Y/N was smart and calculated. If she’d picked a fight with someone, Jason knew it had to have been caused by something serious.
“Doesn’t matter,” she mumbled.
Jason rushed forward and stopped her walking. “Hey, come on. It’s me you’re talking to…”
Y/N nodded, knowing he was right. They told each other everything, or so she thought.
Her eyes went to the ground, too embarrassed to meet his gaze. “We were in health class. Today was the unfortunate lesson for learning male and female anatomy. Mrs. Martin started talking about…” Y/N hesitated. “She started talking about boobs. Said something about when girls start seeing a change.”
“And?” Jason urged softly.
“Parker chimed in and said, ‘Or if you’re Y/L/N… never.’”
Embarrassed by her confession, Y/N started walking again – quicker, this time.
Jason jogged to catch up to her. “Fuck him. Only a loser asshole would say something like that.”
“Well…he’s probably right.”
Jason shrugged. “Who cares?”
This time Y/N stopped walking. “You don’t get it,” she snapped. “Every girl in our grade is growing up. And I still have the chest of a boy. My mom won’t even let me buy a bra because she says I don’t need it yet.”
Jason was speechless. 
To be honest, he had never really noticed. Y/N wore baggy band t-shirts or flannels all the time. He wasn’t exactly studying her silhouette when they hung out. But he never imagined that Y/N would be bothered by something like that.
“Sometimes I’d just like to…I don’t fucking know…feel like a girl.” She paused. “A pretty girl,” she emphasized.
Jason stared into her eyes. “You are a pretty girl.”
Y/N sighed and rolled her eyes. “J, you don’t have to say that.”
“I’m serious. You’re the prettiest girl in our grade, Y/N.”
That caught her off guard. He’d never said anything like that to her before. 
Sure, Jason said nice things to her. But it was usually him complimenting her taste in music or thanking her for showing him a new book he loved. But he’d never called her pretty before.
Jason, worried that he’d exposed himself, pulled her to him so he could give her a noogie. And the moment was broken.
“Jason! I think I’ve proved today that I will hit a bitch!”
He just laughed and playfully shoved her away. “Come on. I’ll buy you one of those embarrassing frappuccinos from Starbucks.”
“Excuse you! They’re not embarrassing. They’re delicious.”
Jason could tell Y/N didn’t want to talk about the fight anymore. So he thought distracting her was the next best thing. 
And, by some miracle, they returned to school the next day without any punishment.
But Jason wasn’t done yet.
Parker didn’t realize he was messing with Robin’s best friend.
Jason was patient. He waited for the precise moment when Parker would be alone.
A week after the fight, Parker turned the corner of an empty hallway and jumped when he nearly ran into Jason.
“What do you want, Todd?”
Jason took a step toward him and lowered his voice, “If you ever say anything like that to Y/N again – or to any girl, for that matter – I won’t hesitate to beat the shit out of you.”
Parker side eyed him. “Yeah, right.”
Without hesitating, Jason reached forward, grabbed Parkers palm, and snapped the index finger of his dominant hand.
Parker let out a screech of pain and fell to his knees.
Jason kneeled down to whisper in his ear, “No witnesses. No cameras. And I’m actually in gym class right now, running the mile. No one will believe you.”
Parker looked up at Jason like he was a madman.
Jason smiled and patted him on the head. “Remember what I said.”
After that, Parker never even so much as looked in Y/N’s direction.
Jason and Y/N looked out for each other, protected each other
And Jason may have kept his other life of Robin from her, but Y/N seemed to already sense that there was something Jason was hiding. It wasn’t just something, it was dark.
When Y/N started noticing bruises and cuts on Jason’s body, she grew concerned. But she wanted to observe and think of all the possibilities before she ever brought it up.
Then one day at her house, she made a joke and slapped Jason playfully on the back.
He hissed uncontrollably and his entire body froze.
“Jason?” Y/N asked with concern.
“I’m fine. You just surprised me and knocked the wind out of me,” Jason said hurriedly.
But Y/N wasn’t stupid. She quickly grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and ripped it up so she could see his back.
“JASON! What the fuck!” She gasped in horror as she saw the bruises scattered across his skin. She had never seen anything like it. 
“Shh!” Jason tried to calm her to stop her parents from coming in and then having her immediately showing them too.
“What happened?” Y/N whispered, her eyes glazed over with tears.
“Nothing. I’m fine, Y/N. I promise.”
“You’re not fine. And this isn’t the first time,” Y/N countered. “You think you do a good job of hiding them, but I see the other bruises and cuts, Jason. And don’t think I don’t notice how often you skip school because your ‘sick.’”
Jason stayed quiet. He didn’t want to lie to her. But he couldn’t tell her. It could put her in danger. And if Bruce ever found out, he’d put a stop to the whole thing. Jason would never be Robin ever again.
“He does it,” Y/N whispered.
Jason blinked. “Who?”
“Bruce,” she clarified. “He beats you, doesn’t he?”
Jason’s eyes widened in horror. He knew Y/N was weary of his adoptive father. She noticed how absent he was from Jason’s life, then took note of how cold he was when he was present. But her theory made perfect sense. And if the roles were reversed, Jason probably would’ve come to the same conclusion.
“Y/N, Bruce has never hurt me.”
She frowned. “You don’t have to protect him. And you don’t have to take his shit. I knew something was off about him ever since I met him. But I didn’t think it was this.”
“Y/N…” Jason began.
“Does Alfred know?” She couldn’t imagined him every letting something like this happen if he did. Y/N had grown to love Alfred almost as much as Jason.
“There’s nothing for him to know, Y/N.” Jason laughed. “I was trying to walk across the railing above the great hall and fell and landed on my back. I didn’t tell you because I was embarrassed, OK?”
He knew from Y/N’s face that she wasn’t convinced. But she also knew not to push someone who was in the position she thought Jason was.
But to his horror, tears started falling.
“I just…I want you know that I’d do anything for you. You can live here! My parents love you and they’d take you in! Or-or-or we can run away together – just you and me.”
Jason hated seeing her cry. She rarely ever did it. And to know he was the cause made him feel sick.
Not knowing what else to do, Jason pulled her into a hug.
“I’m OK, Y/N. Promise. You don’t have to worry about me. Please don’t cry.”
“We just have to steal some of the stupid jewelry he has laying around and we’d be set for life,” she mumbled into his shoulder.
Jason laughed and pulled away. “Bruce took me in. Gave me a better life. He’s protected me. I know you don’t believe me, but the bruises aren’t because of him.”
Y/N wiped the tears away sloppily and nodded, but they both knew that Y/N didn’t believe him.
Y/N didn’t look at Bruce the same since that day. Not that she spent a lot of time around him.
But Bruce shared a look with Jason when he received the first very harsh glare from the pre-teen girl. It ended with a very uncomfortable conversation between Bruce and Jason where the boy explained what theory Y/N had come to.
Though Bruce said very little in response, he was wracked with guilt. To learn that someone thought he had the potential to behold the evil he tried so hard to eradicate in the world? It made Bruce sick to his stomach.
———
Now Y/N stood with her head hung low, in a crowd dressed in black.
These people didn’t know Jason Todd. Maybe they played the part of mourning funeral goer well. But Y/N saw their performances still.
The only people Y/N recognized were Bruce Wayne, Alfred, and Jason’s older brother, Dick Grayson. She’d never met him before, only seen pictures of him around the manor. Jason always seemed disappointed when Y/N brought Dick up or tried to ask about him. Y/N got the impression that he wasn’t all that great of a brother to Jason. Especially when it was obvious Jason looked up to him and was desperate for some sort of fraternal relationship.
Y/N looked up at her mother when the priest was finished with whatever he was saying. His words were impersonal, sullied by religion, and did nothing to comfort Y/N. He didn’t even say one thing about what made Jason so great. 
“Can we go now?” She whispered to her mother.
She patted Y/N’s back. “There’s a gathering inside the house now. We should say our condolences to Mr. Wayne and Alfred.”
Y/N frowned at that. The last person she wished to talk to was Bruce Wayne.
She had been watching the man through the entire service. He was stoic and collected. There didn’t seem to be any sadness to be found in his eyes.
The longer Y/N watched him, the angrier she became.
“Please, let’s just go,” Y/N begged her mother.
People were making there way into the manor now and weren’t paying any attention to a girl, despite the fact that she was the best and only friend of the boy they were pretending to mourn.
Her mother gave her a sympathetic look. “Honey, don’t you want to say hi to Alfred. I’m sure it would make him happy to see you.”
Y/N knew her mother was right. She could do that for Alfred. Plus, he gave the best hugs, and Y/N could sure use one of them right now.
They waited in a sort of informal line. Y/N wanted to hit everyone in front of them as she was forced to listen to their empty and rehearsed sympathies. Bruce didn’t say much in return, simply thanking each of them.
But when Y/N and her parents were finally up, Bruce Wayne’s expression shifted.
It was the first time Y/N saw any sort of emotion from the man. He looked heartbroken at the sight of Y/N, who’s hand was tightly gripping her mothers.
Bruce, standing at 6’2, knelt down to be at Y/N’s eye level.
“Hello, Y/N.” He greeted quietly so no one lingering around them could hear.
Y/N only glared at him. 
If she were being honest, she was surprised he even remembered her name. 
But Bruce continued. “Thank you for coming today. I’m sure the past few days haven’t been easy for you.”
Then he cleared his throat. And Y/N’s brow furrowed at the sound. Was he trying to hold back tears? No, that couldn’t be possible.
“I wanted to thank you for being such a good friend to Jason. He talked about you all the time. I’m glad he had someone like you in his life.”
Y/N felt nauseous at how genuine Bruce Wayne’s words sounded. His eyes were even more sincere.
What happened to the cold and distance man she’d had little to no interaction with?
‘He has an audience now,’ Y/N told herself. ‘He knows everyone’s watching. He’s performing just like the rest of them.’
“What did you do to him?” Y/N finally whispered to him.
Where she got the courage to speak to an adult in such a way, she had no idea – especially one as powerful as Bruce Wayne.
Bruce tensed at her question. Was that hurt in his eyes?
“Y/N!” Her mother hissed down at her.
“It was you. I know it was,” Y/N muttered as her lips trembled and tears started falling. She thought she’d run out of tears, but this was her final outburst.
“Y/N, enough!” Her mother hissed again and then made eye contact with Bruce and Alfred. “I’m so sorry. She’s not…she’s not handling any of this well.”
“You did this to him!” Y/N yelled. “He always had bruises…and-and-and cuts! You used to hurt him!”
“Y/N!” Her father finally chimed in, completely stunned by his daughter’s accusations.
“I hate you!” Y/N screamed in Bruce’s face as tears flowed down her face.
With that, she ripped her hand from her mom’s grasp and made a run for it. She heard her parents yell her name, but she ignored it and kept running.
Bruce stood up, looking unfazed from Y/N’s hateful and accusatory outburst.
“We are so, so sorry,” Y/N’s mom insisted. “She’s never done anything like that before.”
Bruce held up a hand, stopping them from continuing. “It’s alright. Really.” Then he sighed. “I’ll have Alfred go find her in a bit. Perhaps she just needs to let out some steam.”
Y/N didn’t even realize where she was running until she ended up at Jason’s bedroom.
Her entire body shook with sobs as she opened up the door.
It looked exactly the same, like nothing had even happened.
Y/N walked to the other side and slide against the giant windows, curling into a ball on the floor with her arms hugging her knees to her chest.
She cried and she cried and she cried.
There was no way for her to know how long she’d been there. But her head snapped up when there was a knock on the doorframe.
Dick Grayson leaned against the doorway with his arms crossed and a sad smile on his lips.
“Hi,” he greeted softly.
Y/N sniffed and rubbed the snot from her nose with the back of her fist, “Hi.”
“I’m Dick,” he introduced as he closed the door behind him and sat on the foot of Jason’s bed, making sure to give Y/N her space.
“I know,” Y/N answered back through a stuffy nose.
“Alfred tells me you and Jason were good friends.”
“We were each other’s only friend,” Y/N corrected him.
Dick nodded slowly.
“I hate him,” Y/N mumbled.
Dick winced. “Jason?”
“Bruce.”
“Believe it or not, I know how that feels,” he sighed.
“Did he hit you, too?” Y/N asked with wide eyes.
Dick opened his mouth, but was so shocked by the question that no words escaped.
“Why didn’t you help him?” She followed up with. “Where were you?”
Dick knew she wasn’t asking what he felt like she was: Why didn’t you stop the Joker? Why was Robin all alone? Why didn’t Batman call you for help?
But that didn’t stop her interrogation from hurting him.
“I haven’t always been there for him,” Dick finally admitted. “Actually…I’ve never really been there for him.”
Y/N looked at him with bewilderment. “Umm…” she sniffed. “I should find my parents.”
When she stood up, something caught her attention on Jason’s desk.
Y/N’s hand shook as she picked up Pride & Prejudice. He was the only middle school boy she’s ever seen reading a Jane Austen book. It was one of the reasons she wanted to befriend him in the first place.
“Keep it,” Dick surprised her by saying.
She quickly turned around and gave him a questioning look.
“You should keep it,” he told her. Then he looked at the overflowing book case she was standing near. “Take whatever ones want. He’d want you to have them.”
Y/N’s eyes flickered through the bookcase. Her heart was telling her, ‘No, they’re his books. He’ll need them when he gets back.’ But Jason Todd wasn’t coming back.
So she reached up and grabbed Jane Eyre and then Frankenstein.
“That’s it?” Dick asked. Because he would’ve let her take Jason’s entire collection.
Y/N nodded shyly.
Dick escorted her through the house and back to the gathering.
When she saw Alfred, Y/N rushed forward.
Dick’s heart ached as he saw the butler immediately kneel down and pull Y/N into a hug. He wondered what the man whispered to her. Whatever it was, it seemed to comfort her in a way that apparently nothing else was.
Then Y/N’s parents returned to her side. Dick expected them to scold her for her earlier outburst, but they just seemed concerned and started making their leave.
Y/N looked behind her and searched through the crowd to find Dick again. When she did, she gave him a sad wave.
Dick returned it with a sorrowful smile.
———
8 Years Later...
Jason had been keeping tabs on her since he returned to Gotham. He kept his distance, remained out of sight. He would jump from rooftop to rooftop as she walked home from a night class. Or he would wait for the window of her apartment bedroom to go off if it was a slow night of patrolling.
He told himself it was out of curiosity. But he knew deep down he was making sure she stayed safe.
Jason was happy to see that Y/N didn’t retain her lonesome ways in her life after his death. He frequently spotted her having dinner or drinks with friends.
But Jason didn’t know how to feel when it was clear that Y/N had no romantic partner. Was he relieved? Was he irritated that someone didn’t love and care for her the way she deserved? Would he have been jealous if there was someone in his life?
Jason wanted to find her as soon as he was brought from the dead. Even when he felt like he’d gone insane, when his thoughts didn’t make sense and he was confused…her face still echoed through his mind.
But vengeance became his priority.
And with it, Jason slowly convinced himself that it was best to stay far away from the only person he still cared about.
But that didn’t mean her didn’t want answers still.
After his war with Bruce – or really, his attempted murder Batman and the Joker – Jason allowed himself to actually look back on his old life, the parts that didn’t involve being a child vigilante.
Still not on speaking terms with Bruce. Jason decided to get his info from another source.
Cue a month or so after his brush with Bruce, Jason blindsided Dick the next time he was in Gotham and slammed him against the closest brick wall.
Jason used to look up to Dick as a kid, despite his older brother rarely even giving him the time of day.
But now, Dick was quite literally looking up at Jason. 
While Jason died a 13-year-old Robin, he was now a 6’3 man who had the set of a heavyweight boxer. Dick might be more flexible and acrobatic, but Jason had brute strength.
“What? B tell all of you not to talk to me?” Jason challenged when Dick didn’t fight his hold or speak to him.
“What do you want?” Dick asked evenly.
“Why did you keep tabs on her?” Jason growled, his voice distorted through his helmet.
“Keep tabs on who?”
“Y/F/N Y/L/N.”
Dick finally had enough of being bullied and shoved Jason’s grip off him. “Why don’t you look her up yourself? I’m sure you have no issue with hacking every personal database of hers.”
“That’s not why I’m asking,” Jason growled.
In fact, Jason had already done everything Dick had suggested. Which made him see that she had made a third-party domestic violence report to the police a week or so after Jason had died. And she had kept following up with it until the police finally came clean and told her there was no evidence to support her claim and she was wasting her time.  
It seemed Y/N was the only person that fought for Jason after he was gone. She had just picked the wrong fight.
“Why did you keep tabs on her?” Jason clarified.
“I just wanted to make sure she was OK.”
That caught him off guard a bit, seeing as Dick never gave a shit about Jason when he was alive. So why would he look after his best friend?
“What? Out of the goodness of your heart?” Jason ridiculed.
“She didn’t handle your death well, Jason. She even picked a fight with Bruce at your funeral.”
Jason smirked behind the safety of his helmet at the image.
Dick sighed and finally put down his defenses. “I failed you, Jason. All of us failed you.” He shook his head as he got lost in a memory. “Y/N even asked me why I hadn’t tried harder to protect you.”
Dick’s eyes saddened. “I figured if I couldn’t be there for you, the least I could do was make sure the most important person in your life was OK.”
It wasn’t the answer Jason was suspecting, but it was all he came for.
“Will you go see her?” Dick asked as he saw that Jason was about to take his leave.
“We were kids. Things have changed,” Jason grunted.
“I don’t think any of that would matter to her,” Dick defended. “I think she’d like to see you and know you’re OK.”
“Mind your business,” was the last thing Jason snapped at him before jumping off the rooftop and disappearing.
————
Jason did what he said: he left Y/N alone. 
He watched over her when he could. But most importantly, he didn’t drop a ghost from the past back into her life.
But he also tried to find that ghost in himself.
Somedays he thought that Jason Todd was lost forever.
But other days, like today, he still seemed to live on.
Jason browsed through the books on the shelves. He missed so many of them when he was dead and then when he reinvented himself.
Now he saw books as a time to fill in the empty space.
He was lost reading the back of covers when he heard it. No, when he heard her.
Next thing Jason knew, he was walking toward it.
“I’m sorry, dear. We’re all sold out of that title. You should’ve reserved it weeks ago,” one of the clerks told her with sympathy.
Jason peered between the shelves and caught a glimpse of y/h/c.
“I know. I just totally spaced. I think I’ll just browse for something else. Thank you for your help.”
Her voice sounded mostly the same, maybe a bit more mature. But he still would recognize it anywhere.
Jason knew he shouldn’t move any closer.
But he couldn’t help himself.
He was just one aisle away from her now, only a bookshelf separating them.
He slowly edged around the corner and smiled as he saw the massive pile of books that Y/N was trying to juggle in her arms. When she tried adding one more, they broke free from her grasp and stumbled loudly to the ground.
Jason didn’t know what he was thinking as he jumped forward and bent down to help her pick them up.
He saw her blush, but keep her head dipped from the embarrassment.
“Thank you,” she quickly laughed as she tried to pile the books back together as fast as possible.
Y/N opened her mouth to say more, but the words got caught in her mouth when she finally met Jason’s eyes.
He wondered how different he looked to her. Could she even recognize him? Or was he fooling himself when he became convinced he was an entirely different person after being brought back from the dead?
But his questions were answered when Y/N looked in shock, only unfreezing when her eyes began to tear up.
“It’s not possible,” she said so quietly that it was barely a whisper.
“Everyone good? I heard a loud noise.” The clear interrupted loudly.
Y/N jumped in response.
Jason stood and faced the clerk, “We’re fine.”
But when he turned back around, Y/N had booked it.
“Fuck,” Jason hissed before carefully handing the books to the clerk and quickly following after Y/N.
She made it further than he would expect. He actually had to look around the streets outside the store for a moment before he could spot her.
As soon as he did, he ran. But he called her name before he reached her to make sure he didn’t terrify her more.
Y/N froze when she heard him and whipped around. “Who are you?” She asked roughly.
There was a moment, when she first met Jason’s blue eyes, where she allowed herself to believe that perhaps a miracle had occurred.
But now she only saw this as some sort of heinous prank.
“It’s me, Y/N.” Jason almost sounded like he was begging her. 
She then fully took him in. Yes, he had the same face. But now he was a full-grown man – and an extremely handsome one at that.
“I shouldn’t have spooked you like that. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve been dead for 8 years,” she muttered.
“I know. It’s a…” Jesus. Jason didn’t even know how to go about this. “It’s a long and complicated story.”
“Were you ever really dead?” Then Y/N’s eyes flashed with a realization. “Did you stage your death? To get away from him?”
Bruce. She meant to get away from Bruce.
Jason looked around. This was no place to have this conversation. He couldn’t believe they were having it at all.
“Fuck. OK.” He quickly shuffled through his pockets until he found an old paper receipt and a pen. He quickly wrote something down.
“I know this is…a lot.” He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture that reminded Y/N of the Jason she used to know. “If you want nothing to do with me, I understand. You’ll never have to see me again.”
He took in a deep breath and handed her the receipt.
Y/N slowly took it and looked down to see a phone number written down.
“You deserve time and space to…” he couldn’t find the right word, “process all of this.”
Y/N watched him as if she was expecting him to vanish like some sort of hallucination.
“After you do,” Jason continued. “If you’re willing to hear me out, I’ll be there,” he told her sincerely as he gestured to the number Y/N now held in her hand.
He waited for Y/N to say something, or maybe even try to make a run for her life.
But after what felt like forever, Y/N gave a short nod.
Jason gave her a shy grin as he slowly started walking backwards. He hesitated saying one last thing for her. But his mind finally told him, ‘Fuck it.’
“I’ve missed you, Y/N.”
————
Jason told himself not to get his hopes up. Y/N had every right to be horrified by him and wish to never see him again. From what Dick described, Y/N hadn’t handled Jason’s death well at all. What child could?
But when Jason got a text from Y/N’s number a week later, asking him to come to her place, he couldn’t help but beam.
Except reality then quickly settled in. And it reminded Jason that this conversation would involve talking about his past for the first time.
‘Suck it up. She deserves to know,’ he heard his past self screaming in his mind.
An hour later, Jason was knocking on Y/N’s apartment door.
“Hi,” she greeted stiffly.
“Hi.”
She led him to her bedroom. “My roommates aren’t home right now. But who knows how long that’ll last.”
Jason didn’t stop himself from looking around. Maybe it was a habit, all of his training of taking in every new environment with acute detail. But really Jason just wanted to take in Y/N and her new life.
That’s when he spotted the three books.
Jason immediately reached for one of them.
“Oh,” Y/N said sadly as she saw what he grabbed. “Umm…Dick told me I could take those. He…umm…said you’d want me to have them.”
“You kept them all this time?” He muttered, still looking at Pride & Prejudice.
“Of course.” Then a thought suddenly occurred to her. “You can have them back. I mean, they’re yours after all.”
Jason smirked at her fumbling. “No, keep ‘em.”
Then the tension from this strange reunion returned to the room.
Y/N gave him a heartbroken look and sat on the edge of her bed. “Jason,” she whispered, “what the hell happened to you?”
Jason slowly joined her on the bed.
His breathing shook as he tried to prepare.
But Y/N deserved to know the truth – the whole truth.
So he told her everything. He told her he was Robin. He told her how he died. He told her how he came back to life. He told her where he’d been.
The only thing he left out was how she was all he could think about when he watched the bomb tick down to 0 and he knew he was about to die. 
But the hardest part was explaining why returning to her wasn’t the first thing he did.
“It wasn’t Bruce. It…you…you were Robin that whole time?” Y/N couldn’t even seem to process it.
Jason just gave a curt nod.
“I reported him,” Y/N gasped. “I was convinced he had something to do with your death.”
Jason winced at that. “Well, if you asked him, I’m sure he’d take responsibility for it still.”
Y/N’s eyes glazed over as she tried to take another look at the past now that she knew the real truth that had been hidden. So many things made sense: all the injuries, Bruce’s behavior, Dick being a distant brother – all of it.
“Y/N,” Jason whispered. Her eyes whipped to his. “I’m so sorry for leaving you like that.”
Y/N finally allowed herself to cry. “Missing you is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Jason didn’t care about keeping his distance any longer. He pulled Y/N into his arms, just like he used to when they were kids.
Eventually, her crying slowed and Jason knew he needed to finally say the hardest thing about this all.
“But I can’t stay, Y/N.”
Y/N wasn’t expecting that. “What?”
“I’m not…I’m not that kid anymore. I’ve done things – terrible things – that won’t ever let me return to the person you knew.”
“I don’t care,” Y/N said surprisingly harsh.
“What?”
“I said I don’t care,” even though she knew he heard her. “You think I’m the same person after 8 years, Jason? You think that little girl didn’t face the consequences of losing the best friend she’s ever had?”
Jason didn’t know what to say to that.
Y/N wiped away her tears and her entire body shifted. “From everything you’ve told me, you don’t seem to have many friends – if any. So, sounds like you could use one.”
How could Jason have overlooked Y/N’s stubbornness when he anticipated how this would all end?
“I lost you once. I’m not losing you again. Especially not with all I know now,” she added. 
Jason didn’t even bother fighting her on it. Y/N had always been his greatest weakness. At least he knew that hadn’t changed.
“OK.” He agreed. “So what now?”
Y/N smiled at his surrender. “Now…we have a whole lot of catching up to do.”
--------------------
Wow. I did not realize how long this was going to take me. 
Please, please, please let me know what you think. Reactions and feedback and reblogs are the only thing that keep me writing on here. 
644 notes · View notes
im-in-vin-ci-ble · 3 years
Note
Heyy could I possibly request f!OC x Mark, in which the OC is Red Rush’s daughter who also inherited his powers. Set before the events of episode one maybe at a Guardian’s work party or smth. Mark and OC are hitting it off in a ‘Idk what’s going on my dad just works here’ solidarity during the party; while her doting and protective father Josef is keeping an eye on them, unsure about how he feels about his favorite sidekick growing up on him. Maybe Olga and Debbie try to be matchmakers too lol
A/N: okay well this is CUTE AF, I love this sm thank u for requesting <3 also josef and olga are married here, no one dies (yet) and everyone is happy!!!
Pairing: Mark Grayson x Fem!OC
Rating: T
Warnings: mild swearing
The annual Guardians of the Globe Founder's Day party was never really Zasha's scene. It mainly consisted of the Guardians and the Global Defense Agency's families, and more often than not, she was the only one in her age group. Her true purpose there was to really just pay her respects to the people — including her father, who people knew as Red Rush — who protected the planet.
This year's Founder's Day event was different, however, as Omni-Man finally accepted the party invitations he'd been ignoring for years. Although there were jokes that he had accidentally RSVP'd to the party, or that his wife had accepted the invite behind his back, everyone seemed happy, and still pleasantly surprised, when he and his family walked in.
Sitting down with a non-alcoholic beverage in her hand, she watched as everyone shook hands with the powerful Nolan Grayson and his loving family. Zasha's mom, Olga, walked over to say hello and immediately dragged the three to where Zasha and Josef were. The two male superheroes first exchanged pleasantries, followed by Olga forcing her daughter to get up so she can properly be introduced to the teenage boy standing across from her.
"Zasha, hi," Debbie said with a wide smile as she gave you a warm hug. "This is my son, Mark. I don't think you two have properly met yet."
He extended his arm, "Oh, hi, uh, I'm Mark," he replied with a sheepish smile.
"Hi, I'm Z," she said as Olga gave her a soft push to move her forward. The young girl's eyes threw daggers at her mom before politely shaking his hand, "Nice to meet you."
"Are you all hungry? They've got a lot of food," Olga told the Graysons, leading them and Josef, who squinted his eyes at Zasha and Mark, over to the buffet table.
Zasha and Mark looked at each other awkwardly and exchanged nervous smiles. He began to rock back and forth on his feet, shoving his hands into his pockets as he attempted to think of what to say.
"So uh, how's... superhero training?" he asked.
"Uh, good," Zasha answered, nodding her head. "We managed to take down Titan yesterday so that was pretty cool."
"Oh yeah? That's great," Mark exclaimed. "How about, um..." he scratched the back of his head, "Is the, i-is the drink... good?"
She looked down at her cup and clicked her tongue, "You know for a party that's sponsored by the government, you'd think they'd have better catering."
He chuckled, "If I knew this was going to be a boring party with adults and toddlers and no good food, I would have at least brought a snack and some comic books."
Zasha sat back down and looked up at him with a smile, "Well you better take a seat, buddy, because the next few hours are going to make you wish you were being hurled at buildings instead."
She gently patted the seat next to her and Mark accepted the offer. "Do you go to these things a lot?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, yes," Zasha replied. "You are so damn lucky your dad never wants to come to a Guardians event."
Mark laughed, "You know what, I used to be really jealous of all the families who got together during these events but right now, I'd do anything to just go home." He looked around and sighed, "I don't even know most of these people."
"Me too, and I've seen their faces at least thrice a year ever since I could remember," she agreed. "Actually, I think this is the first solid conversation I've had with someone at these things."
"Really?" he asked in shock.
"Really," she answered, taking a sip of the bland orange juice that now mostly tastes like water. "Most of the guys who are my age that have attended aren't really cute, nor are they interesting, so meh."
Mark's head snapped up at that remark and he felt the warmth rush up to his cheeks. "The other guys aren’t... cute and not... interesting?"
"Hell no," Zasha laughed. "Have you ever tried connecting with a person who has no special abilities but know you're a superhero? It feels like talking to a wall."
He crossed his brows, "What do you mean?"
She sighed and leaned forward, "They usually ask me what being a superhero is like, but when I tell them that I managed to take down a man with rock for skin, it's like I'm a freak."
"You're not a freak, Zasha," he replied. "And any guy who feels that way about a girl who's trying to save others sounds like a shitty person."
"And they're not even cute!" she added.
"And they're not even cute," he repeated after her with a laugh.
Zasha sighed again and sat back up. She looked over at him and briefly examined his face, "Well it's a good thing you are."
Josef turned around and watched as the 17-year-old boy chatted up his daughter, as well as literally take his seat at the table.
He held on to Olga's arm and leaned in, "I don't like what I'm seeing over there."
Olga turned to look then laughed at her overbearing husband. "They're just talking, Josef," she said. "It's not Zasha's fault she can enjoy a pleasant conversation and you can't."
"Mm..." Josef groaned, "I don't like it."
"Don't like what?" Debbie asked from behind.
Olga walked over to her and excitingly yet subtly pointed at Zasha and Mark, who were now facing each other now laughing. "Josef's worried that Zasha won't have time to be his daughter anymore if she ever started dating boys," she explained to Debbie. "You know he scares off every single boy Zasha introduces to us? I'm worried she'll never have a boyfriend!"
"She doesn't need a boyfriend, Olga," Josef chimed in grumpily, crossing his arms as he watched the two like a hawk. "No one will be good enough for Zasha anyway. She can literally outrun all the boys she dates."
"So are you saying that my Mark isn't good enough for Zasha?" Debbie asked with half a smile, momentarily shutting Josef up before he nervously tried to form a sentence. "I'm just teasing, Josef," she followed, winking at him and almost warning him not to underestimate her son.
Olga chuckled, "It's good for them to bond. They're both teenagers and superheroes, if they ever date at least they won't have to worry about keeping secrets."
"Whoa, wait," Josef exclaimed. "They just met, who said anything about dating?"
His wife rolled her eyes at his remark. "We should, what's the term... hook them up," Olga said. "Debbie, ask Mark what's going on and I'll ask Zasha."
Debbie agreed to the plan and walked over to Mark and Zasha while Josef huffed in annoyance but stayed in his position; there was no way in hell he was going to keep his eyes off of them.
Debbie offered Mark some food from her plate but he kindly declined. "Good choice," she said. "For a party paid for by the government, you'd think they'd have better food."
Mark laughed and nodded in agreement, "That's what Z said!"
"Oh really?" Debbie replied with a playful smirk.
Mark and Zasha looked at each other as if they were sharing an inside joke before Olga called her daughter over.
"Sorry, mama is calling me," she told the Graysons as she excused herself.
"So..." Debbie trailed off, raising her eyebrow at her son whose cheeks were rosy red.
"Mom, please don't make it weird," Mark begged.
"You and Zasha seem to be hitting it off."
"I begged you not to make it weird," he groaned, covering his face.
"I was just asking!" Debbie said with a giggle. "Why are you being so offensive?"
"I'm not, mom, I'm just... ugh," he groaned again. "Please don't say anything to Josef and Olga. Don't make it weird."
"I won't, I won't," Debbie reassured him. "Are you gonna ask her out though?"
"Mom!"
"Okay, okay, I'm leaving," she said with a hearty laugh, nodding at Zasha who was walking back to her seat.
"Sorry about that, my mom was being strange," Zasha said. "Everything okay?" she asked Mark, who now looked like he'd been slapped over and over again.
"Yeah, yeah! Great! Everything's great!"
She smiled at him but Mark leaned over and kept his head down. Another moment of awkward silence fell upon the two; Zasha looked around while tapping her toes and Mark's sight was glued to the floor. From the corner of his eye, he could see his mom and Olga delicately signalling at him to make his move. He covered the sides of his face and continuously mouthed "No," but the two were unrelenting. He took a deep breath and finally sat back up, and looked over at Zasha who was still pretending to casually look around.
"Hey, uh, Z?"
She quickly looked over at him with wide eyes, "Yes?"
Mark looked behind her head and watched as Olga and Debbie were giggling and whispering to each other, like a bunch of high school girls who just saw their best friend talking to their crush.
"Uh, I'm hungry."
The smile on Zasha's face was quickly replaced with a look of confusion. "Okay... and?"
"Oh! Um," he cleared his throat, "do you... like burgers?"
Zasha giggled and nodded, "I do like burgers."
Controlling his urge to fist pump, Mark cheekily bit his lower lip and moved a little closer, "You wanna head out and grab a bite?"
"Uh..." she turned around and watched as Olga and Debbie quickly nodded their heads, her mom giving her a sign of approval to leave the party. "Sure, I'm starving."
Josef looked on as the two of them stood up and began to make their way to the exit. Sighing in defeat and sadness, he called them over to the place where he's been stationed at since the Graysons arrived.
"Papa, we're just gonna get something to eat," she informed him nervously, knowing his scare tactics when it came to the guys she introduced him to.
Josef's eyes softened as the sight of his little girl, who he knew and finally accepted was growing up. She was making her way into the world and as much as he wanted to always protect her, he knew that she was just as smart and as capable to start doing it herself.
He took his daughter's hand and held it tight, "Okay, call me if you need a ride home."
"I will," Zasha said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Love you, papa."
"I love you too," he replied with a smile that was immediately erased when he focused his attention to Mark. "Bring her home by 11:30, and no sneaking into her room by the window," he ordered the teenage boy sternly.
Caught by surprise by the sudden formality, Mark straightened his back and nodded. "Uh yes, y-yes sir, Red Rush, sir."
"Papa!" she exclaimed. "No more scare tactics."
"I'm sorry," he chuckled, "that was the last one, I promise."
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happyandticklish · 3 years
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I just read your recent post about Percy and Jason being compared and stuff, and was wondering if you have any headcanons about the big three kids when it comes to tickling? <3
I would love to!
Percy:
. Alright, so Percy is like... unreasonably ticklish. His mom used to tickle him all the time when he was a kid, but as he grew older he managed to convince her his sensitivity had worn off. Of course that brief respite only lasted so long before he came to Camp Half-Blood and everyone discovered his secret. 
. His worst spots are his armpits, ribs, and feet. I also believe that his lower back is unfairly ticklish ever since the River Styx, and even after the curse wore off the spot remained hyper sensitive. Annabeth likes to trace her nails softly over it while they’re cuddling until he collapses until a giggly puddle in her arms. 
. He loves being tickled, as it makes him feel loved and wanted, but he has a difficult time admitting it. Annabeth is the only person he’s told before, but the others have put in their guesses by this point. His go-to method is just provoking people into tickle fights until they wreck his shit (which, you know, same).
. As a ler he’s super playful and teasy. He’s one of those people that uses baby talk when he’s tickling others and it flusters the shit out of people. Overall, he’s the biggest switch out of all of them. 
Jason:
. So Jason’s not super ticklish actually.
. At first.
. He’s really good at hiding his sensitivity because Thalia used to tickle him all the time as a kid and so he’s used to defending against it. The only people who know are Piper, Leo, Percy, and Nico. Piper, because his neck is deathly ticklish and it makes making very giggly. Leo, because he’s a persistent little shit and wouldn’t stop trying until Jason finally broke. Percy only found out after play wrestling took a right wrong turn. Jason actually ended up confessing that he didn’t mind tickling to Nico, and whenever the former was stressed about something then Nico will softly tickle his sides until he forgets about it. 
. His worst spots are his sides and neck, as well as the backs of his knees. He will kick you if you get him there (luckily Piper knows how to defend herself and uses this information to her advantage often). His laugh starts off as these huffed, breathy chuckles, but once he really gets going he starts letting out these deep belly-laughs that rock his whole body. Nico says it only adds to his Superman aesthetic. Jason got him back mercilessly for that comment. 
. He’s a fairly gentle ler, not liking to push people’s boundaries too much and always worrying that he’s going to far. He loves seeing his friend’s smile however, and he finds Piper’s laugh adorable, so he has been known to ler on occasion. His most often victim is Nico, and possibly the only person he doesn’t hold back on. He knows Nico loves it though and needs to laugh, so he’s happy to engage him. 
. He and Percy can get into the occasional competitive tickle fight and everyone backs off when they’re in that mode, afraid of getting pulled in. 
Hazel:
. God help this girl... 
. She’s basically a walking tickle spot. A single poke to the side will get her to jump and squeak, and she’s one of those people who will start giggling before you even touch her. 
. She’s ticklish everywhere, but her worst spot is her stomach and knees. One time Percy tried to show her the spider-knee trick and she near lost her mind. 
. Has the cutest fucking giggles man, like, it is not even fair how adorable she is while being tickled. Will double over and turn into a squirmy puddle in your arms, but cannot fight back to save the life of her. Almost everyone on the Argo II tickles her just because her reactions are too great not to. Frank is the most often provoker of these moments, as he loves making her smile, though he’s a fairly shy ler himself.
. Contrary to popular belief, Hazel is a vicious ler. She knows everyone’s death spots, though no one is sure how she does, and she will exploit them if needed. Don’t get me wrong, she can’t defend herself for the life of her while being tickled, but after? You better start running. 
. Sometimes she’ll team up with Nico and have him use his skeletons to hold the victim down. Together they make an unstoppable combo. 
Thalia:
. Like Jason, everyone assumes she’s not ticklish. But whereas Jason was good at hiding it, no one ever tried with Thalia; they were all too scared of retaliation. Not even Jason knows, as he was almost always the victim of their fights. 
. One day when Reyna and Thalia are hanging out (which a lot of the time translates to making out with the two), Reyna’s fingers brush against her sides and she accidentally giggles into her mouth. Reyna’s eyes widen and Thalia freezes up in her arms. She narrows her eyes and does the whole “Don’t you dare-” spiel, but it’s too late and soon she’s squealing and pleading underneath Reyna’s skilled hands. 
. So now every time Thalia is trying to act tough and all high and mighty in front of the others, Reyna will squeeze her sides in passing and let the others sort out the accompanying squeak for themselves (to this day Reyna is the only one who’s gotten away with tickling Thalia successfully). 
. Her worst spots are sides, like her brother, and her hips. Has this adorable, girly squeal that she’s super embarrassed about though Reyna assures her it’s cute. 
. Doesn’t like to be tickled that much, and will tell everyone she knows that she hates it. She doesn’t mind really soft, gentle tickles though, if it’s from people she trusts (i.e. Jason and Reyna). 
. The cruelest fucking ler, she will wreck her victim until they are a shrieking, begging mess. A merciless demon who cannot be stopped, she’s struck fear in the hearts of many. Jason used to be her most common victim, though now it’s usually Reyna. Percy once pissed her off and he was giggling for several minutes after she stopped he may or may not have tried to provoke her into it again later whaaaat
Nico:
. BABY.
. Literally so ticklish, how is he still alive??? Maybe it just runs in Hades children.
. Will insist he’s not ticklish and that he’s grown above “such childish nonsense”. Percy, of course, knows this is bullshit as he used to tickle him all the time as a kid and remembers that he used to love it. Sometimes he’ll bring it up when he’s denying it to others and Nico will turn this bright, cherry red and snap at Percy to shut up. 
. He can’t even admit it while he’s being tickled. In the same way that he could be dying and insist he’s fine, he could be curled up on the ground and giggling like a child and still wheeze out that he’s “not ticklish”. 
. His worst spots are his hips, feet, and thighs, as well as his shoulder blades (Will is the only one who knows about that last one and loves to torment him with it). 
. He has these adorable high-pitched giggles that are interspersed with hiccups and squeaks when it gets to be too much for him. He flails a lot when tickled, and generally has to be restrained for fear of injuring someone. 
. Contrary to his adamant denials, he loves being tickled. My boy is super touch-starved and loves the physical closeness that tickling brings. I also think there’s something about that fluttery, desperate quality to it that he loves and is flustered by all at the same time. 
. Will, Jason, and Percy all tickle him constantly, and he loves/hates it.
. Loves to be a ler almost as much as he likes being a lee. He’ll smirk and taunt his victim while holding them down with skeletons and wiggling his fingers right above their death spots until they can’t help but break down laughing before he’s even touched them. He tickles Will and Jason the most (he’s gets too flustered to even try tickling Percy), though he will tickle Hazel on occasion because he likes seeing her happy. 
Thank you for the ask!
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i-love-hobbies · 3 years
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Eda's reckless behaviour and overall mental health
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Summary
Eda is a genius, but is very emotional when making decisions (not anger, but fear, stress ect.)
Her reckless behaviour and apple blood problem in my opinion are her ways of running from reality.
In season 1 she made a bit of progress on this issue. Then the finale happened. Then she made again progress and s2ep7 did a complete reset. And she is making progress now again.
Eda's intelligence
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She's been a criminal for thirty years. She has been in the shady business for an extremely long time. Yes magic definitely helps but you also have to find a way to be on top of the game, so you can survive.
Remember Tibbles' shrinking potion. She can't really use a lot of magic if she is shrinked or poisoned and dead, can she? Not to talk about her enemies which you'd think would attack her now that she is magicless.
They haven't on screen, yet. The only ones that tried are Adegast and Tibbles and they both died without her using any magic (or close to nothing).
Now we know that she doesn't make plans a lot on screen. In s2ep3 especially she just let's Luz make the plan but that's because she is her mentor.
In s2ep6 Luz used sleeping needles which is wild magic so no, it's not knowledge coming from Hexside. Also the pickpocketing Luz mentioned.
Teachers don't do the tests instead of students.
She teaches her everything that isn't glyphs. I wouldn't be surprised if she has told stories to Luz about her best "outsmarting everyone in the room" moments.
Now we have seen some of her problem solving on screen. One of which was in ep.18 fight only using her channelled magic trough the staff (im not taking credit for noticing this, have no idea who did though) and used the bridge.
Also if she can telepathically talk to her staff. Owlbert saving Luz was probably her idea.
She had her impact on Raine's rebellion as well, without having magic or turning into a harpy.
"You are not our mom!"
"Wow, we actually helped people this time!"
"Bye, mommy Eda!"
In the back of her head she knows exactly what to do, everytime something happens.
Eda's mental health
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Eda's curse and the nightmares it causes. The father incident. The fact that she probably thought Lilith was scared of her.
Lilith's hidden guilt and her taking her father's eye out don't mix well together. I wouldn't be surprised if they barely spoke even if they lived in a house together.
Her losing Raine.
Her faith in the emporer being broken.
She has seen a lot of death, that does impact people.
Season 1
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At the beginning of the series she was making a lot of bad choices which don't aline with her experience.
The series starts with her getting caught by Warden Wrath. Instead of just sneaking, they were just walking comfortably in the corridors.
They are kids, one from another dimension, but her... She doesn't know better? And for a paper crown that she can replace by stealing from someone else.
Next episode we are introduced to her morning drink later on confirmed to be for adults only. And that drink didn't get a mention for the rest of the season. In that episode she is also not the most clear-headed. She didn't try to sneak, she didn't use potions. Didn't try to plan.
A list about her being impatient can go on and on.
So when does she think. When she realises it's dangerous (aka when it's right in her face). Literally in the first episode the moment she started doing stuff is when she got caught and spat on the warden's face.
In episode 2 she didn't do that because she didn't know if Luz was alive and had a hard time bottling her feelings. Like if Luz proved to him to be hard to keep tight up he could have killed her, the girl that came back for her and her son yesterday. And she proved to Eda that she is a little dangerous the previous episode with her fireworks.
Eda was rational again, after she was with both King and Luz.
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As the series went on though she started to calm down a bit.
Firstly, the fact that she was so focused on fixing her card problem, after Tibbles scammed her, that she trew them away in another dimension.
I was wondering how she overcame it so quickly.
It also shows her knowledge of how to handle this type of problems which brings up a question. How did she learn it?
Secondly let's compare the first half of the season to the second.
1. Everything I already pointed out and was hiding the curse. The stuff that happened in ep.5. Her refusal to be parental in ep.7. Body swapped.
2. She gets scammed again (this time though, how do you expect that someone was digging their own grave). Didn't use a sleeping spell on the slitherbeast immediately instead was just standing there. Got caught by the fun police. Worsened King's stage fright.
In ep.15 because of her ignorance Luz and Amity almost die. Except that is not the full story. She had at this point a lot of faith in Luz and this was her friend's mind.
For Amity it's not that she hated her. Amity actually saved her in ep.12. It's because she wasn't that important for her to realise. "Omg Willow is at the very least extremely mad at her."
It's again a refusal to think, but for a stranger and not really on purpose. It was just a habit of hers.
Episode 18 and 19
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At the beginning of the episode. Eda hid the curse, again.
When she learned that Lilith had kidnapped Luz. She didn't try to make a plan. She just revealed herself in all her glory while her magic was disappearing.
Shot the staff in a wall while she was having no idea, what that was supposed to accomplish.
Luz showed up and she finally started thinking.
Afterwards Lilith said we all know what and for the first time Eda's anger was the leader of her choices and Luz almost fell on to the spikes.
So then, for the very least a night, she was stuck in her mind with something, that was chasing her. She woke up to Emporer Baby the B*tch, who was telling her, he was about to go after Luz.
And no she didn't believe in Lilith, but was so overwhelmed. It was insane. So she begged. After some more running, she woke up to Luz in the Comformatoriam.
Next, she was about to get petrified and for awhile this was the calmest things have been since she got caught. Then Lilith shows up (ah yes she existed).
King jumped "She was trying to help!". Wait King was there.
Petrification beam go.
PURE PAIN!
Then she got the idea for all of them to fly away. Lilith shared the curse making the confusion even bigger. Then her magic is gone (that was a thing). She learned that the portal is destroyed. Now she was living with Lilith and might have starved to death with everyone else in the house.
After all of this she not only tried but HAD TO pretend that she was mentally stable, so they could survive this mess.
Season 2A
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In episode 1 she told Luz not to go after big bounties and then tried to steal from a coven's ship.
At this point her emotions are the only thing that made decisions while they were also getting hidden. Don't get me wrong she did help and should, especially Luz but it's ALL feelings. She didn't think about consequences, which sometimes are good.
She didn't attack Lilith cause it's just not the time, she's scared from her own anger. Plus she can't really stand being with the roller coaster of emotions, that came with being in one room with her.
This didn't mean she didn't work with her and hadn't listened to the backstory, though.
The episode ends with her and everyone else not being close to dieing. Finally!
So now what? She tried to think about Lilith? Yeah, she probably preferred not to.
Then her glyph almost kills King, but Lilith showed up and helped. This is probably a familiarity she missed. So again she decided not to process it, but it definitely sticks.
She also didn't notice Luz being hurt.
Next episode, we saw Eda taking a shower which means she has healthy coping mechanisms, at least one, self-care and is not yet a workaholic.
Luz's apple blood joke is concerning.
After the events of episode 3. Luz probably told her that Lilith stayed with her and King, instead of just leaving them, get killed by Jean-Luc.
Then Eda still isn't certain where she stands about everything and Lilith just left, with her final act being, giving King mental issues.
Throughout this whole thing her mom was there with her cures/annual accidental attempt to kill her favourite daughter.
In this episode, Eda fell for apple blood signs. Rationality is out of the window.
In ep.6 she decided to help, with students getting palisman. Again not thinking about all the trauma, but finally doing something against her first instinct.
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In ep.7 she heard King's "Le-" and refused to fully process, where the heck is he gonna go.
She also punched someone, cause this is gonna work?
Now she has reconnected with Raine having no idea should she even think of a romantic relationship again? And decided to be useful at least for something since she "can't raise kids".
She was helping and being very good at it, but it came from fear of loneliness.
Then she heard that Belos has a plan and just is overwhelmed. What if the kids get hurt, is she powerless?
Oh, look! Raine might be dead!
Next episode she overworked herself.
In between ep.8 and 9 she was trying to scare the beast into transforming. (She is losing her sanity. Literally the previous episode told her not to do that.)
In episode 9 again it's all emotional. She wants to feel better and be stronger, so she told King to blast her (almost blasting Amity), hit fool's blood even though Amity said the lake is further ahead.
Luckily she showed progress too.
She ate voles, which was against how she was feeling.
In ep.10 she was scared of letting Luz in the portal. I'm not saying she wouldn't have before, but I don't think it was easy.
Right now, after s2ep10, I think she isn't the most mentally stable. But she is definitely working on it.
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melismaticmadness · 3 years
Text
STOLEN
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Request: “Request for a Owen x reader: Owen and the reader have been best friends forever and both confess their feelings when the reader helps Owen get settled in his new apartment” 
Hope you like it!!
Description: the cutest FLUFF
1775 words
Warnings: kissing, very mild language
Owen Patrick Joyner x Reader
***********************************
“Miss Dinah, let me take that.”
“No, it’s okay honey! I’ll just put it in his truck. Are you two sure you can take this last load yourselves?”
“Yeah! We’ll be fine, it’s like four boxes.” Miss Dinah patted me on the shoulder and left to put the last box into Owen’s truck. It was brand new, and honestly, a godsend for him right now. There is no way he would’ve wanted to take a thousand trips to move all his stuff in his small car.
“O,” I yelled to him upstairs, “anything else up there?”
“Uh, I’m not sure…” his voice trailed off. I started up the stairs and could hear him pacing in his childhood bedroom.
“Think I should take the extra blanket?” he asked.
“You took, like, four. You can always come back for it if you decide you want it later. I’m sure your mom won’t trash the stuff you leave behind.”
He was still pacing but was definitely thinking pretty hard about something.
“It’ll be so weird...obviously this will always be home, but now at the end of the day I won’t be coming back here…”
“This room will always be here if you need it, and your family is less than 30 minutes away. You can come chill with Bindi anytime you want. You’re just taking the next step for yourself.”
“Yeah, it’s definitely time. This is a good thing, but tonight will be hard to sleep. Ugh,” he sighed and threw his arm over my shoulders.
“Let’s go, y/n - before my mom cries.”
We both laughed and said our final goodbye to his childhood room. Nothing would be the same now, even if the room was still there. His drums were gone, his hats were gone, his photos, everything. We played so many games on the floor of his living room, listened to musicals over and over again in his room, and definitely took advantage of his mom and dad making snacks for us. It was here, in his house, that I cried into his arms when a bully in middle school made jokes about my appearance.
His room was the place I first realized I had feelings for him. We were thirteen and it was in the summer after a day of swimming and a night-time bonfire with our friends. I was allowed to stay the night and we had a blast. The two of us were inseparable and unstoppable. Those feelings never went away, no matter how long we were apart, or how much our lives changed. It’s crazy to think that those two little energetic, slightly sunburnt kids were leaving the same house years later, still best friends.
Out in the driveway, his mom was talking to a neighbor and we were making sure everything in the bed of his truck was secure before we hit the road.
“Got everything?” Miss Dinah said.
“Yeah, Mom, if not I’ll come back during the week. Are you sure it’s okay that I’m leaving some stuff in my room? I just don’t know what to do with it yet.”
“Don’t worry about it. Have a safe drive and let me know when you’re finished.”
“Will do, Mom. Love you.”
With a kiss and a hug from Owen’s mom, I threw myself up into the truck and we were off.
*****************************************
There were so many things to set up at the apartment. It makes me glad that it was Owen moving and not me. He has a lot less stuff than I do.
We spent hours setting up closet organizers, deciding how the decorative couch pillows should look, cleaning windows, hanging curtains, folding towels, everything.
Hours went by and we had just finished anchoring a really heavy mirror to the wall when Owen mentioned calling it a night.
“I just can’t do anymore today, y/n. I don’t even want to put the sheets on my bed, I’m so tired.”
“Let’s just hurry up and do it really quick and then we can warm up the food your mom sent and watch a movie.”
“Ugh, fine. I guess I do need a bed. Crap, what time is it? Do you need to be home?”
“No, I’m good. If you’re too tired later to drive, my mom said she’d come to get me on her way home from work.”
“Fantastic. You warm up the food, I’ll start on the bed.”
I headed to the kitchen and started warming up our dinner. I even made some popcorn for our movie later. When I got back to Owen’s room, he had made the bed and was laying on it in total darkness.
“Uh, your order is ready..”
“Thanks.”
“What are you going to do in, like, a day when your mom’s food runs out?”
“Starve probably,” he replied sarcastically, “I think I’ll use this magical device called the stove and cook something.”
“Remind me to write down Poison Control’s number before I go then…” I laughed.
“Haha so funny. What do you wanna watch?” He said sitting up and scooting right next to me. Owen was so close I could feel his body heat, but I wasn’t complaining. It did make my stomach do flips and my heart race though.
“I don’t care. Whatever you want.” He knew I meant that and so he picked Baby Driver.
We ate mostly in silence, and then we were laying down, heads touching on his bed, just watching the movie. Laying there with him was probably the closest I would ever get to be with him as anything more than friends. I was fine with that though if it meant always having moments like these.
The movie had 20 minutes left so I reached over to his nightstand for my phone that was charging, so I could text my mom for a ride. I knew Owen was too tired to drive me all the way home.
“Hey, no phones during movies. That’s a rule,” he whispered as he reached over and put my phone back on the nightstand.
“Sorry, I just had to text my mom to let her know she should come to pick me up!” I said, grabbing his arm and play-fighting him for my phone.
We were both laughing hysterically as he tried holding my phone over our bodies out of my reach until my phone fell out of Owen’s hand and onto the floor.
“Oh shit, is it okay?” We both reached over the same side of the bed to get it, our bodies completely touching as his chest leaned over my back.
“I got it. It’s fine.” I hit send on my message to my mom and locked my phone as the credits rolled past on the screen.
“What if you didn’t leave?” We were both lying on our backs again, but this time my eyes flew over to meet his. I wasn’t sure that I heard him or if he said what I thought he had said.
“O, you’re too tired to drive me later.”
“No, No. I mean what if you just stayed here tonight,” he rolled over to face me, “if you wanted to…”
“Really. Owen, it’s okay. I can have my mom come, it’s no big deal.”
Owen sat up and had his head in his hands. “Y/n, I don’t think I’m doing this right.”
“Owen, what are you talking about?” My mind was racing. Could he be trying to say what I hoped he would say for years? I couldn’t even think straight and if he kept going I think I might have thrown up.
“God, I’m sorry, I just- I’m very scared to mess this up.”
“You’re not messing anything up..I’ll stay if it makes you happy, I am totally cool with that, but I’m stealing a blanket for the couch.”
“Y/n, look at me,” Owen said, taking my arms in his hands, “I have- I- Okay, so here it is: I don’t want to ruin what we have because you’re literally my oldest and best friend, but I can’t keep doing this. I want to kiss you when we have to say goodbye from now on, I want to take you on cheesy dates, and make breakfast together in my nice new apartment. And I’m sorry if this messed things up between us, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I have wanted to be with you for years and spending all this time together this year just made me realize I never want to worry if you’re still mine when I leave and come back again.” Owen sighed with what was probably a mix of relief and anxiety.
“I don’t know what to say. I-,” I started.
“You don’t have to say anything..” He let go of me and now was sitting further away from me.
“No, I do. Owen. I have wanted to hear you say that for- god I don’t even know how long- definitely years, possibly even my whole life. I never seriously went after other guys because no one could compare to you. Even when you were shooting a show thousands of miles away and I didn’t know if you had found someone, I couldn’t find anyone who made me feel like you did. I still can’t.. So I guess what I’m saying is I want all those things too. I don’t think it’ll ruin us.”
Before I could even get up or move, Owen’s lips were on mine. He was so soft and gentle. How was this happening to me? The little blonde boy who played with me in kindergarten, and danced with me in the snow when we were ten, and let me cry into his arms, was kissing me.
He released me from his hold and our foreheads touched.
“Hi,” I whispered.
“Hi.”
“So, I’m staying here tonight…”
“Only if you want to. We can put The Office on and just hang out. Then tomorrow I have an idea for a date,” he said tapping my nose as he moved away.
“Wow, you sure do move fast, Joyner.”
“FAST?! It’s been like 15 years! I was dying here!”
“You were dying?! Try having to watch you go off to LA and knowing you would be around so many beautiful people who could steal you away from me…”
“I never could have been stolen away. I’ve always been yours.” He said, planting a chaste kiss on my forehead.
“I guess I should tell my mom not to come. Since I’m staying with you, do you think we could try that kissing thing again?” I smirked.
“Hmm, I think I can arrange that…”
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On Education
An excerpt from Memoirs of a Flesh Eater, never published.
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I think every parent struggles with the question of when they should teach their children hard truths. At some point, every child needs to learn about death. They need to learn about hatred. They need to learn about the horrors people will inflict on them for being different. This is something that is as true for ghouls as it is for humans. For most people, it is a fact of life that someone will hate you for existing.
Human-on-human prejudice is still something I don’t fully understand. At least humans have a reason to hate us. I don’t know why they go looking for reasons to hate each other too.
Educating ghouls is a challenge. We need to know about ourselves, of course. We need to know about our kind - our needs, our history, our ways of moving through human society - but we need to learn everything that humans learn too. The more we can fit seamlessly into the human world, the safer we are. You probably don’t know this, what with how much the news loves a story about a ghoul living in secret among humans, their murders exposed to the shock of their friends and acquaintances, but those of us who are brought up among humans don’t get found out very often. It’s the feral children, the big city packs that still hunt most of their food, the all-ghoul communes, that are easier targets for the exterminators. Those of us that are fully integrated are much harder to sniff out, unless we seriously fuck up.
{Editing Note: Don’t say fuck. Even though it’s a really good word}
The best way to make sure a ghoul can pass as human is to start us young. Get us into kindergarten, then elementary school, and keep going all the way through college. There’s nothing better than hands-on training. That’s what my mom did for me, mostly. I was raised in human society, in the human public school system, and I’ve never had a true close call. I’ve never caught the eye of an exterminator, and no human has ever asked me pointed questions about my habits or diet.
For the sake of completeness, I should say that I was in the human public school system for everything except for middle school. It’s not like that’s a great loss, though - everything I’ve heard about middle school sounds like hell. I don’t know how any of you survived going through puberty in front of all your peers.
{Editing Note: I am not talking about ghoul puberty unless I can find a reliable human to tell me what their puberty was like. If I wrote about something that I thought was ghoul-specific but is actually normal I’d die on the spot. I’d call a fucking exterminator on myself.}
Conventional schooling might be the best setup for success, but it’s also the most dangerous route. Kids talk, and that’s as true for us as it is for you. It takes a lot of work to make a child understand that there are some things you can never tell anyone, not even your closest friends, not ever. It’s not a fun burden to grow up carrying either. I’ve known the fear of death for literally longer than I can remember. I’ve known that letting myself be truly honest and vulnerable with any of my classmates would bring it to me and my parents before the day was over {Editing Note: True vulnerability is what I need now, though. I should find a place to talk about my dad}. It’s more loneliness than any child should ever grow up with. I was lucky; I found Scarlet in 4th grade. There are plenty of ghoul children that don’t find each other until high school, if there are even any other ghoul children to be found.
Some parents decide that the risk is too great. They’d rather have alive children than well-adjusted children, so they homeschool them {Editing Note: Okay, that’s way too harsh. Don’t be biased}. I did get to experience this approach for those couple of years when I wasn’t in middle school, and it does have some advantages other than safety. When I was in public school, my mom had to find time after school to teach me about our people. In a homeschool setting, ghoul studies could actually be integrated into our curriculum. It wasn’t completely asocial, either - ghoul parents often use their Society connections to find other ghoul children that are homeschooling so we can learn together. I met my second best friend, Scorpio, because we were homeschooled together.
{Editing Note: My friends are going to read this. I need to make it super clear that Scorpio is the second best friend I made chronologically. I’m not ranking my friends in front of the entire world.}
Scorpio’s a good friend, but he’s also a good case study for the drawbacks of homeschooling. He was homeschooled K through 12 and he is definitely the worst of my friends at passing. He has no idea what’s normal for ghouls vs normal for humans, so he compensates by either saying nothing or saying the most obvious, outlandish lies you could imagine when childhood comes up in conversation. In his defense, those lies are usually pretty funny, and he does connect pretty well with the right kind of people. Scorpio’s got a bunch of very specific subjects that he knows a ton about and loves to talk about. He and Scarlet can go on for hours about literary theory.
{Editing Note: That’s too meandering. I’m just trying to explain why some ghouls homeschool and some don’t - I don’t need to put my weird friends on blast.}
There’s another kind of formal schooling for ghouls that’s much, much rarer - the ghoul private school. The only one I even knew of, St. Raymond’s, was shut down last year by exterminators. Normally I’d tell you to take the lurid details you hear on the news with a healthy pinch of salt, and I still would, but that many rich young ghouls, completely cut off from the rest of humanity… it’s hard to predict what becomes normalized in that kind of echo chamber.
Fortunately, my patron knows more people than I do, so I have more to offer you than grim speculation. According to her, these kinds of places always have a very small student body, rarely breaking a hundred. The lesson content is pretty similar to homeschool - fully integrated ghoul curriculum, plus a few specialized lessons on blending into human society. Out of necessity, they’re almost always boarding schools. It’s easier to keep a low profile if you don’t have a bunch of ghoul kids not used to hiding going to and from the campus every day.
Apparently, it’s that kind of logistical challenge that makes these schools so rare. Aside from all the money you need to run a school in the first place, and how careful you need to be to pass scrutiny from the Board of Education, providing discretely for the needs of that many ghouls is an organizational nightmare. I mean, there’s a reason that ghoul families are so small, a reason why even our extended households rarely do more than scrape the double digits. There’s only so much flesh that can be safely obtained in one area at a time. There aren’t a lot of ghouls that have the resources and the inclination to put one of these schools together.
There is, of course, one more ways that ghouls are educated - the school of hard knocks {Editing Note: That’s such a trivializing way to put it. Have some sensitivity, me}. Given how short our average life expectancy is, it’s inevitable that some ghoul children have to fend for themselves from a very young age. I doubt it comes as a surprise that most of them don’t manage to integrate into human society very well. The lucky ones figure out early on how to kill discreetly, how to hide their nature from observers, and how to vary their hunting patterns enough to avoid the attention of the exterminators. The rest either starve quietly or die violently.
Most of these feral ghouls who survive to be teenagers eventually find each other and form packs. From a pure survival standpoint, this is a bad move. A group of feral teenage ghouls have a much harder time covering their tracks than they would as individuals, but for most, the chance at companionship is too tempting. It’s miserable, being alone in the world. Packs offer most of them the best chance to escape loneliness that they’ll ever get. And for most of them, it ends in a shallow grave within a year. Putting down a pack of feral ghouls is a good headline for an exterminator, and it’s a lot less work than trying to ferret out those of us who’ve figured out how to pass. That isn’t how the majority of ghouls die, but it’s how a plurality of us do.
For those few feral ghouls that survive to adulthood, their lives take one of three paths. Sometimes they find a patron and fall in with a household, and they do their best to heal from the trauma of their childhood. They do their best to find a happy life in human society, just like those of us who were luckier. Sometimes they become true Hunters, living their lives on the outskirts of our Society; still embraced by us, if only at an arm’s length. I’ll talk more about them later.
And sometimes, they become the Lost. Not that ghouls from any walk of life are immune to that fate, but… I’ll get to them later too. You may not have heard of them by that name, but I guarantee you’ve heard of the Lost.
{Editing Note: That’s a really grim note to end the chapter on. I should play with the structure a bit and find a more uplifting note to leave this subject on.}
{Editing Note: Or I could ask Kestrel. I’m sure she’d have ideas on how to better write the section on feral ghouls, and she could help me strike a more authentic tone. But… I don’t want to upset her. She doesn’t like to think about it, and I don’t want to hurt her. Is this important enough? Would she think it’s important enough?}
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