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emelinstriker · 7 months

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About those 3 Anon messages recently...

Yes, there's 3 now. Third on came up while I was finishing typing about the 2nd one.

tl;dr context: peeps defending a fictional 2D lego character, questioning the morality of esau (despite the lack of lore context), as well as for some reason a personal attack on me... also smol chinese jesus??? :'D

DISCLAIMER:

I respect y'all's opinions and headcanons and whatnot. It's all valid. However. I expect respect on my own opinions and headcanons return. That's literally all I'm asking.

That's common sense and I will from this point on just delete anyone else's anon asks if they try to argue with me about my standings on these matters mentioned in here. Or this post in general.

There's literally no point in arguing over words written in a story, or debating whether or not pixels on a screen are hot or not.

With that disclaimer being said...

Case 1:

I'm fully aware of the entire discussion thing of Nezha being eternally 12 and all that, but I'm also fully aware of how LMK Nezha is more of a parody on the original. LMK Nezha is more of an adult 2D character who took the characteristics of the source, but then was turned into an aged-up parody.

It's not weird with the context of how things even came to be in the AU. It does involve a form of "infection" that changes those that are infected. In ESAU it's just slightly different from my original story's OCs to appeal more to the Reader. There are people out there who seek comfort in their own superiority complex too, especially if they can never explore that part of themselves normally. If that doesn't appeal to you, that's fine. But don't assume it's weird just because you don't like it if a fictional master/servant relationship isn't for you.

Now, this ask wasn't really bad or directly disrespectful. That was just basic questioning on the general relationship of the AU as well as the LMK Nezha being 12 discussion. So I went to bed, cuz I didn't wanna respond with my rather aggressive response to the topic. Like, I ranted about it to my Discord server, but it was already around midnight and I knew I'd come off as aggressive, despite the logic and facts, if I just copy n pasted the way I phrased the rant. So I went to bed. But then I woke up to an essay in another ask...

Case 2:

I'm assuming this is the exact same person, based on the timeframe and the writing style..? Maybe even the same person who asked that question about whether I'd make Nezha's relationship towards the Reader romantic or platonic..??

For the sake of this entire thing being unworthy of an unnecessary discussion, as well as the fact that the person sending this isn't worth directly responding to if they hide behind an anon face, knowing they would get flamed, I will solely respond to these for my actual viewers, who do enjoy ESAU.

As in, I noticed how almost every single point is easily arguable. Like, they literally just made it up as if every single relationship between the Reader and their champions is romantic. Which couldn't be further from the truth. This is a point I wanna get more into due to how it covers the Master System more. A random anon sending me questions, or rather statements, like this doesn't deserve to get a detailed response to this directly either. My viewers do deserve more insight though. Be it to avoid more people thinking this is automatically grooming, or just to give interested people more lore dump.

To keep it short: Everyone who wants to be a Reader, is a Reader. I myself am a Reader of fiction, which is why I use my persona to fill in the Reader's space in any drawing I do for ESAU. Which is also why Macaque referred to their Master currently being female in that one drawing- Because in that moment, in my drawings, I'm technically seen as their Master.

So when you see the champions swap between their Master using non-binary or female pronouns, this is why. If you see me draw them referring to their Master as a "she", they're referring to basically their current Master in that exact moment. However, literally anyone else can also be placed in that spot.

Whenever I refer to a Reader's reincarnation, I usually mean either "the same person, but another life" OR "different people of the same/a different life". As in, the Reader can imagine themselves having had multiple past lives, or their "past life" is actually another Reader. We're all the Reader. That's why I kept saying the Master System is rather philosophical.

The Reader can imagine themselves if they met their champions as a child or as an adult. However, nothing in ESAU is forced to be romantic or sexual. If you were born as a prince/princess/royalty, that doesn't mean your servants are immediately destined to be romantic or sexual with you, right? That entire portion is up to the Reader to decide and imagine. I do not control what another person thinks of and imagines. If they chose to pick a darker path, the fuck do you want me to do about that? Unless it ends up hurting anyone, or they actively push the topic onto others, I see no issue with however a Reader wants to think up what happens in their life with their servants. All I do is create material for others to play with.

Except for the First Master, any other Reader can be considered either the same person or various people. That's up to the person behind the screen, whether they feel more comforted with one idea or another.

On the Nezha being 12 topic... Do people know what a parody is, I-

LMK Nezha looks more like THIS-

Not as young as THIS-

And he was never said to be 12 years old in LMK. Nor does he look 12, act 12, speak 12, sound 12... LMK needs to be seen and accepted as more like a parody AU of the original story, if that wasn't obvious enough. I find it funny how they brought up my own age though-

Cuz yeah, I'm 21, almost 22, and I do understand the difference between reality's religions, fictional 2D pixels, and the difference between the source and a parody. Wow. Shocker. I know.

Or as I said it in tags earlier today-

Also I'd just like to add… If we go by the theory of specifically LMK Nezha still being 12, despite literally thousands of years having passed, his body being depicted as a fully grown adult in basically every single goddamn aspect of his character within the show… Literally all he got is his paperwork saying he's 12. Like- LMK Nezha would literally just be one of those people that were born on February 29th. Just him not getting any birthdays. Do you assume after literal thousands of years, with his body and mind being mature, and only his paperwork saying he's 12, this dude wouldn't be tryna explore more of himself and his interests, wh-

Like- LMK Nezha isn't the original source Nezha. Simple as that. Just accept it's a parody and be done with it. If you don't agree with it, that's your opinion and I respect that. But don't you dare fucking push that opinion on others who do actually accept the show as a parody and wanna live out their fantasies in said parody.

Your opinion does not mean it's the opinion of others.

Like, the entire age thing in LMK is such a headcanon thing to the point where no one seems to have a solid age, besides maybe MK, who I've seen people calculate his age for due to his driving license and all that. LMK Nezha is confirmed to be depicted as an adult within the show, which is the headcanon I'm going with, regardless of whatever bullshittery people are trying to argue with.

In conclusion: Nezha may be eternally 12 in a story. But that story is NOT Lego Monkie Kid.

On a side note, something I found ironic and funny, is if an aged up character isn't allowed to be sexualized, then I guess if someone ages a character down, suddenly that original source of the character is no longer allowed to be sexualized either, just because that character suddenly has a younger version of themselves. It's not even the younger version that's being sexualized. That literally is the entire logic of this debate on not wanting a fictional character to have an aged up version of themselves.

Good job, nobody wins. I guess nothing can be sexualized at that point- But then again, Rule 34 wouldn't exist then.

Okay, but now this, THIS is where I got REALLY annoyed, cuz NOW we're getting into more personal territory of nitpicking at ESAU. And those who know me are aware of how I go Asian mom mode when my creations, or younger friends and mutuals, are being wrongfully disrespected.

In general, their entire point is a snowflake-behavior nitpick. Branding is also seen as a way to claim ownership over something. The torture part is basically just the pain of it. I could've also just have the champions have one of those toy stamps for lil children be slapped onto them if you really wanna snowflake it all for tHe PrEcIoUs cHilDrEn...

C'mon. I grew up with FNAF and Creepypastas. Which tend to be usually two of the first fandoms I see children get interested in and hyperfixated on. Mentions of brandmarks that have fully healed ain't nothin' at all.

Like, I literally met a boy who was 8ish years old, who was so happy and hyped about FNAF that he asked me to draw Freddy and Bonnie.

Creepypastas also might make one edgy for a while, but they do grow A LOT from it once they leave that phase. So far, everyone I've ever talked to about Creepypastas in the past became such a good person. Because they look back, and recognize morals so much better. They have seen what bad things can happen and we all know where to draw the line between what's fine, and what's not. Nitpicking on LMK Nezha and ESAU doesn't mean anything since it's just that, nitpicking. I know where to draw the line, but this line these people set is a line no one but themselves can imagine.

Show children bits of reality's darker side and they will know how to deal with the knowledge much better and faster as they grow. That wasn't even just about branding, but I'm tired of people saying how we need to keep children safe. Well yeah, keep them safe physically, but they will never fucking grow and become more independent unless you fucking let them think and process the good AND the bad for themselves.

Also on the topic of adding content warnings- Like, the fuck do you want me to even add? Those asks other people sent of the Reader being basically raised by their servants need no warnings, X Readers in general need no warnings, the brandmarks need no warnings cuz they're just there as aesthetic symbols for anyone not invested in the lore, LMK Nezha needs no content warnings-

Literally the only content warning I'd ever need to add is something like gore, which I do admit I didn't add on the ESAU!Nezha X Reader one.

And I'd just like to add a little something that made me raise an eyebrow: They complained about me going against "Wukong's celibacy vows" when they literally admitted to actively looking through the LMK X Reader tag. While that doesn't necessarily mean they would marry or bang Wukong, that means they're at least curious or interested in what a relationship with any of those characters would be like. Which by all means, would not be possible without it being fiction/fanfiction, and without them having some curiosity or interest in the 2D show of LMK.

Like you're literally telling me I'm practically hurting a fictional character's feelings on the matter, but then turn around and try to get with another character.

Fanfiction and AU's are a thing, man. It's all opinions, headcanons, and literally made up shenanigans. And there's nothing wrong with it when it differs from one person to another.

But dumping empty accusations onto me, someone who thinks more logically than emotionally, literally doesn't help your case. Like, you're debating whether or not this 2D character would actually give a shit if someone would wanna bang them cuz they look hot to the other person.

Case 3:

This one just got dropped into my inbox as I finished typing out the last paragraph and just- This is literally just a unnecessary and only somewhat personal hatred thing at this point- But I'm wheezing at the idea of a smol Chinese Jesus-

Bro, as someone who was forced to be Christian on paper, but never gave a shit about it, because Religion doesn't prove anything or form you, I really don't care. And even if that were the case, I wouldn't complain. It's all fiction dammit. You're again, defending pixels on a screen. Besides that, that wouldn't even be the original source character, again. Also in general, honestly, I see any religious story as fiction anyway. Cuz that literally is what a religion is- You put a belief onto someone over a being/a story-

If you're religious, I respect that. But so do you have to respect that I'm not exactly religious myself.

Case 3 was probably the most directly aggressive one of the 3, but also the most unmeaningful one and so unnecessary one... as if that would be the one to prove a point.

Anyway, rant over, I'm done with this.

If I see any other personal hate on me for not sharing the same fucking opinion on such a niche debate, I'll just ignore and delete it all. This is such a pointless topic.

ESAU is supposed to be a comfort zone for those who actually do feel connected to it. If you don't, that's fine, I fully respect it. If people believe Nezha is 12, I respect that. But don't push that onto those who literally are just here to have a nice time away from shit like this. If you wanna "keep the children safe", fucking keep them away from this sort of nowhere-leading discussion topic.

Literally look at Genshin's Twitter Community, this just feels like the exact same type of unnecessary drama I see there.

And no I will not tag these 3 anons. If they respect me enough, they will either just keep quiet or block me and move on. I don't mind. But I refuse to let this bullshit be a whole ass discussion when I'm just trying to have a good time connecting to my viewers after a long day at work. If they look for a fight for some reason, I won't give them one. They can pick someone else for this bullshit, it's not worth my time as it's all OPINION AND HEADCANON-BASED.

And such debates don't end in peace. So I'd rather be the bigger, more mature person and just say "This is the line. Discussion over. We're done here".

Have a nice day, anyone who actually is nice and respectful towards others and their own takes/opinions on things! Weekend's here now tho so y'all ESAU lovers might see some wholesome lil doodles! :D

#lmk esau #eternal servants au #rant #the fact that all 3 are anons tho and 3rd one tells me to respond #but i'm over here still finding the anon part funny #like- easiest way to solve it is to literally just either block me or have me block you. problem solved. i won't change my opinion on thing #or just block the esau tags idk man #usually i wouldn't just say “ignore if you don't like it”#but in this case that's like the only option #this is a nowhere-leading topic that doesn't need to be discussed further #it's just opinion-based bullshittery #if you see nezha as 12 that's fine #if you see nezha as an adult that's also fine #neither side has to push their opinion onto the other #just let us have our fun and we'll let you have your fun. simple. just accept that humans and human minds differ from another.

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chekhovs-nailgun · 2 months

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i have some thoughts on coping thru fiction and using fic/writing as a general tool that i wanna put out there. warning: i will be discussing grooming below the cut.

so to get it out of the way, i was groomed when i was 11. i don’t think this is the time nor place for me to go into a whole ramble about the specifics of that, so i won’t. all that’s necessary right now is that it happened and within a year i started adding similar dynamics to a project i was working on.

it was a sideplot during my first nanowrimo attempt centered around a post-apocalyptic scenario. the jist of it was a kid in his mid-teens, think 16 or so, was romantically obsessed with a mid-20s, closer to 30 woman. the age difference was about the same. i would ask for advice on the story in general from my mom (phd in psychology, literally never had a problem with it lmfao, funny how that works).

was it ass? absolutely, it was. a 12 year old wrote it. it’s never seeing the light of day lmao. but it was really important in the process of me not fucking hating myself for years for thinking/internalizing that it was a moral failing on my part.

the thing about it is that at the time, it didn’t feel like coping. i felt like i was just writing about something that happens. fleshing it out in that sterile environment helped me get a grip of how fucking gross what happened to me was, while putting myself in a position where i had control over what happened, something i didn’t have irl. i didn’t even realize that’s what happened until i thought “ah yes, i started writing dark fic when i was 12, the same calendar year i was groomed.”

“…”

now i look at people arguing over the semantics of it, with fic of that type being morally reprehensible with exceptions like “only if you never share it” or “only if you use it to cope” or “using it to cope is morally reprehensible for this-or-that reason, don’t interact with it in any way other than seething rage or some other specific way”. while seething rage and pure fucking anger can be a totally fine way to deal with it, people who think in these kinds of ways need to remember: not everybody is you. making broad assumptions, nitpicking, and believing that your way is the only correct way does nothing but harm other victims by taking away an opportunity for them to work out their trauma, at best. at worst? it allows more predators to hide and commit tangible harm due to widespread assumptions that the people hurting others are the people posting fic, and not the “safe” adults playing into kids’ interests and making them feel important and special. (source: that’s what mine did; yucky bad fanfiction was never a part of the equation.)

i know what the response to this is. “ackshully posting it is doing harm because it normalizes it and gives predators the confidence to act on the thoughts they already have; the human psyche is more sensitive to porn and if you get tired of fiction you’re bound to turn to nonfiction”. this is where the age old disagreement comes into play, and while i don’t see much of a point in rehashing it for people who already have their minds made up on it, i would like to note a couple of things, firstly that humans aren’t mirrors. most people see things like this and recognize it’s wrong, just like they recognize that other subjects criminalized irl are wrong, such as murder, theft, etc. if somebody sees something problematic and decides it’s a good way to act, there was something already wrong, be it undiagnosed mental illness or being too young/impressionable to participate safely in such circles. i also find this viewpoint really cruel in that it takes responsibility away from the actual predators, essentially painting them as wild animals who “couldn’t help it, they became desensitized and just had to have more of that vile content you people make” when grooming is, at its core, a desire for power over another. im gonna come out and say it: predators are smart. they are called predators for a reason. thinking of them as lawless beasts who operate out of instinct is entirely disrespectful to victims.

the cold hard truth of the matter is that darkfic, no matter how disgusting people find it on a case by case basis, is morally neutral. it cannot damage anybody by simply existing unless warnings are ignored or it is actively weaponized, sometimes meaning that the content itself is removed from the protective warnings and wantonly put on display for large audiences of underage people to see.

i personally don’t like a whole lot of darkfic, im really picky about what i read. and i think that no matter my thoughts on it, it has a right to exist. idc, consider me a “bad victim” lmao. if you do that’s your cross to bear, not mine.

tldr: sometimes you need to express shit and fuck you if you try to enforce your own feelings on others trying to do so

#ok to rb #tw grooming mention #chekhov’s cathedral #shipcourse #proship #anti anti #proship please interact

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anti-endo-haven · 20 days

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this isnt an attack, im genuinely trying to share my thoughts. if we just need to agree to disagree, sure. but hopefully someone understands where im coming from.

this is about tagging dormancy and fusion as "tw (dormancy/fusion)". i will be talking about what others have said and our personal experience. this is warning enough. please do not tag this post as "tw (dormancy/fusion)". i find that disrespectful, considering what im about to discuss. if you tag the words without tw, fine. but i do not want you putting a trigger warning on my healing journey.

as a system who have had their fair share of negative experiences with both dormancy and fusion, i understand how those subjects can be distressing. as a system who used to be scared of both of those things, i understand.

so, tagging the words? fine. it helping just filtering posts for other reasons too. but i heavily dislike the push to make everyone tag it as "tw (dormancy/fusion)". here are my reasons why:

- obviously the first is that, dont ask people to trigger warn their own healing? i know for some people these things aren't necessarily "healing" but it is healing for a lot of people, us included. and just because you don't have that as your experience as healing, doesn't mean i have to trigger warn my own progress. we've found emdr incredibly triggering and unhelpful for us, but we dont go running around telling everyone to tag it as "tw emdr". thats not fair. emdr helps a lot of people. our bad experience doesn't affect their good one.

- continuing on from that point. i have not seen a single person ever tag a post as "tw functional multiplicity". why do we have to tag one healing option but not the other? what about people who want to see how things go? do they need to say "tw unsure healing path"? if majority of people genuinely want to start forcing people to tag any kind of healing they are doing, im all for it. but i heavily doubt that'll happen.

- the "its anti-recovery" debate. i agree with this statement somewhat. is it necessarily anti-recovery? no (so yeah sure, i agree with that one anon a few asks back). but we found the more people tagged it, even for good things, it was so demonising and ostracising. it made us stress MORE by seeing the warning. it made us feel so incredibly guilty for having fusions and having people go dormant. because how dare we experience and enjoy something that is so triggering for others?

additionally, yes, absolutely rejecting that fusions will happen, is anti-recovery. we are and always have been aiming for functional multiplicity. over time we are more accepting and encouraging for fusions because that will almost always happen when healing. no, im not saying "its inevitable you will all fuse no matter what". what im saying is "it will genuinely surprise me if you go through the healing process and didn’t fuse at least once".

- if you are in a period of your life where the mere mention of it triggers you, block as many of the tags as you can. genuinely. block "dormancy". block "fusion". because i see at least majority of people tag that, even without the "tw" beforehand. if it is that bad, and tumblrs little "this post contains #tw dormancy" bothers you, get off tumblr because you actually cant avoid that happening.

- "its a common trigger, its courteous that people tag it with "tw"". while yes, common triggers are of course courteous to tag, but i dont think you're the majority here. at least from what we've seen. idk could be wrong. please tw things that obviously need warnings (if you wanna argue over what counts, fucking go for it). but as always, you are still responsible for the content you engage with. if you see a post where in the first few sentences looks like itll talk about fusion or dormancy, or even if you see the word out of context on the post. go ahead and scroll or block that post for all i care.

if i made a post saying "i talked about some dormant alters in therapy today" or "that fusion between x and x finally happened" or even "im really proud of how far weve come, weve made good progress with integrating certain alters and maybe i wanna fuse soon". and you have an intense triggered reaction, that is your responsibility to deal with. if you cannot be safe online with the content you may view, you should not be going online. block tags, block creators. do things to keep yourself safe, but you need to be okay with the fact that you still have a chance of running into triggers.

again, you can tag this post as dormancy and fusion, but im going to feel disrespected if you go against my wishes and tag it as "tw (fusion/dormancy)"

- JADS

I understand where you’re coming from, and the push for censoring it is harming those that do have it as a healing method.

And I won’t trigger warn this post since you’ve requested it not be warned, but I’ll still add the dormancy and fusion tags.

I completely understand the points you made, but I also want to further explain why I add the tw here on the blog.

It’s not meant as a means of demonizing a healing process, it’s to cover bases for those that just don’t want to see it or have forgotten to add “dormancy” or “fusion” as a single filtered tag. It’s not meant as a mean ordeal or as anti-recovery. It’s there for those that just can’t deal with it currently or the talk of it has issues for them.

Am I responsible for what is on peoples dashes? No. But I am responsible for the tags that I use, something that I like making sure bases are crossed on so everyone can stay safe.

As someone who has had dormancy and fusions happen, it causes a mental strain for us to think on it. Does that mean we trigger warn it? No. We don’t even have the tags filtered because it’s something that can happen. But do we warn it for others that might not be ready or are currently dealing with a lot of things already? Yes.

Again, it’s not for anti-recovery, and it might seem that way. But I like knowing what’s being talked about when I’m scrolling through tumblr or sysblr as a blanket statement on if I can read it or not.

Such as if we’ve currently had someone that’s helped the system so much that just goes dormant and leaves multiple parts heartbroken? I won’t be in the spot to read anything about dormancy but I’m glad that others are able to heal and continue healing with it. But at that time, we have felt like someone close to us has gone, even if they can come back, but they can come back different or not the same.

I don’t know if any of that made sense or provides any extra insight on why the TW for both is here on the page, but hopefully it helps some?

I do appreciate you putting your views on it. But I also want to state that everyone will view things differently and different times and that’s alright.

I know some might also have some situations where dormancy and fusion just doesn’t seem fun due to final fusion being seen as the catch all healing option rather than functional multiplicity, but the community really just needs to do better as a whole of letting people heal in a way that works best for them rather than trying to force a healing path on someone else. (Not an attack on you, just a general statement because I feel like the healing options have become a zone of constant belittling to others about).

#JADS #anti endo #endos dni #did system #system #actually did #osddid #traumagenic system #endos not for you #did plural #actually traumagenic #did plurality #osdd plural #osdd plurality #dormancy #fusion

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onebigfangirlworld · 2 years

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Confrontation

Summary: Bradley is back in Y/N, Maverick and Iceman’s life but someone is still angry for being left behind

Relationship: Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw x sister!reader

Warnings: Some explicit language

Word count: 1669

Link to masterlist a/n: this is the discussion that was mentioned in On the outside looking in (p.2), not a requirement to read on the outside looking in but it would help add context.

Everyone was expecting Y/N to welcome Bradley back with open arms. That’s what her fathers had done. Her honorary uncles had done it as well. But she could not. She couldn’t understand it all.

“How could they just welcome him back like nothing happened? Like the past 17 years never existed? Like he’d always been here?” She thought to herself.

“You keep glaring at that plate like it killed your entire family,” Slider’s voice brought Y/N out of her thinking. They were getting lunch together and playing catch up. “You’ve been real quiet over there. Wanna talk about it?”

“I think you already know what I’m thinking about,” Y/N accuses her father’s former RIO and one of her honorary uncles. “Did you invite me out to lunch just to talk about it and then report back to my dads?”

It. It was what Bradley had become in Y/N’s mind. A thing, not even worthy of being called a person.

“Ice and Mav are just worried. Anytime they bring Bradley up, you just brush them off or change the conversation entirely. Your also leaving the room as soon as Bradley or hell any of the other pilots come over,” Slider told her. Y/n scoffed at him.

“Seriously? I’m not talking about this with you.”

“Y/N c’mon.” Y/N just stared at him. “Fine. If that’s how it's gonna be. We can just sit hear in silence.”

Five minutes pass. They both sit there and silently eat their food. The tension in the air is thick and heavy.

“If I talk, are you going to run and tell pops or dad?” Y/N softley asks.

“Do you want me too?”

“No but I also know you and pops tell each other everything.”

It was a hard decision for Slider to make. On one hand, Slider loved Y/N and would do pretty much anything for her including keeping secrets for her. He's done it plenty of times in the past. But on the other hand both Mav and Ice were worried about their only daughter. She wasn’t talking to either of them and was becoming more and more of a recluse. They just wanted to know how she was doing.

“Ice and Mav are worried-” Y/N groaned “but I will keep my mouth shut if you promise to talk to them about this.”

“Deal.” Y/N stuck her hand out for Slider to shake and he took it. Y/N took a deep breath. She didn’t know where to start and knew if she said too much Slider might go back on his promise to not tell her dads.

“It’s just. I don’t even know how to put it into words. But everyone has welcomed him back. Like, nothing is wrong. Like he didn’t just disappear for 17 years. And everyone expects me to act like nothing is wrong. And I try to go along with it but it’s just so hard and he’s always there along with the rest of them. Then anytime one of them calls, both pop and dad drop what they're doing and run towards them. Doesn’t matter if we were in the middle of something, it’s just ‘oh hangman called and needs help’, ‘yale and harvard need something’. One word from any of those fucking pilots and suddenly nothing else matters. And I’m just so tired and frustrated of being pushed to the back burner,” Y/n let it all out before she could even realize what was happening. “You can’t tell dad or or pops any of this. They’ve been so happy recently, and I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Y/N, you can’t just keep this to yourself, you need to tell them what’s going on. I think you should also talk it out with Bradley,” Slider tried reasoning with her.

“No.”

“Y/N, you used to be so close to Bradley.”

“Yeah, when I was 4. And then he left,” Y/n argued with Slider.

“Y/N.”

“Fine. At some point, I will sit down with Bradley and pops and dad.”

Slider let out a deep sigh. She was as stubborn as her dads, slider thought to himself.

November turned into December, which meant finals for Y/N. While she had promised Slider that she would talk to her dads, she still hadn’t done it. She had no plans to have that talk anytime soon. But she knew at some point, she’d also have to talk to Bradley. The talk with Bradley came sooner than Y/N would have hoped for.

It all happened when Ice and Mav were gone to DC for a work conference and Y/N thought she had the house to herself for a few days. That’s what she thought.

Y/N made her way to the kitchen for a midnight snack and a break from studying when she noticed the lights were on in the kitchen. Y/N knew she had turned them off before moving to her room earlier in the night. She grabbed a picture frame and raised it, ready to defend herself from whoever had entered the house. She turned the corner.

“Oh it’s just you,” Y/N said. There at the kitchen counter was Bradley, munching away on a sandwich like nothing was wrong. She placed the picture frame onto the counter and moved around to start gathering items for a midnight sandwich.

“Were you about to hit me with a picture frame?” Bradley asked her.

“Yes.” Y/N kept her answer short. “Where’s the peanut butter?”

“I used the last of it to make my sandwich. Sorry, squirt”

“Of fucking course you did. That’s just fan-fucking-tastic,” Y/N huffed. Bradley looked at her in confusion.

“What’s wrong?” Bradley asked.

“Nothing. I’m fine,” Y/N told him. She looked through the fridge and pulled out some deli meats and cheese. She took up a spot at the kitchen counter across from Bradley.

“Don’t brush me off, like you do to everyone else Squirt. Something is obviously wrong,” Bradley retorted.

“Don’t call me that and I’m not brushing anyone off.” Y/N bit into her sandwich. “I’m going back to my room. Don’t forget to clean up!”

“No, Squirt wait a minute.” Bradley got up to follow her.

“Stop calling me squirt!” Y/N whirled around and faced him. Bradley took a step back. There was fire in her eyes and he could feel the anger and rage rolling off of her in waves. All consuming waves. “You don’t get to call me that. Not anymore.”

“Wha?”

“Don’t act all confused Bradley,” Y/N hissed out. She stalked towards him like a predator hunting its prey. “You left, so what makes you think you get to waltz back in here like nothing is wrong and like you didn’t just disappear for 17 years? Huh?”

“Y/N, I thought we were fine,” Brtadley stammered out. The back of his knees hit the bar stool that he had just been sitting in. He sat back down. Even though Bradley was taller than Y/N he felt so small sitting there under her stare.

“Really? What made you think that? Huh? Tell me. In fact tell me what made you and everyone else in this fucking family think that? Because I am not fine or happy with everything that has happened!”

“I thought that maybe you would be happy for me to back,” Bradley shot back.

“Happy? Happy?! You left for 17 years. 17 years! and then waltz back into our lives like nothing is wrong. That those 17 fucking years didn’t happen. It’s like everyone has forgotten that but me.” Tears welled up in Y/N’s eyes.

“I tried-” Y/N grabbed the bread off the kitchen and smacked Bradley with it. He was left stunned.

“I don’t care. You should have tried harder. I reached out to you multiple times by writing letters. Hell, I even begged Slider and anyone else to go and talk to you but you just ignored them!”

“I was angry with Mav and Ice -”

“So you cut me out! I needed you! I needed my big brother and you tossed me aside like I was nothing.” Tears slowly started to fall down Y/N’s face. She hit Bradley’s shoulder. “I needed you. I needed you. I needed you.”

Y/N kept repeating the phrase “I needed you” and hitting Bradley anywhere she could on his body. His arms. His shoulder. His chest. Bradley grabbed her by her wrists and pulled her into a hug.

“Shhhh, I know, I'm sorry,” he kept whispering to her, as she sobbed into his chest. He held her as tight as possible, letting her cry it all out.

After a few minutes, the sobs turned to gentle whimpers and Y/N started to calm down.

“You had your turn to talk and now it’s my turn,” Bradley told her. Y/N looked up at him, and he gently cupped her face with his hands.

“I am so sorry for what I did and nothing I can say or do can make it up to you. Okay? But I am here now and I want to be a part of your life. I know I’ve been a huge dick and have missed out on everything but I’m here now.”

“How do I know that you're not going to leave again?” Y/N gently asked.

“I know that you may not trust me too much right now, but I promise I will not leave you again. I’m here to stay. For good,” Bradley assured her.

“I’m still not super happy with everything but I am happy to have you back. I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too, squirt.” Bradley pulled her into a hug and held on to her tightly. While there was still some work that needed to be done to fully repair their relationship, both Y/N and Bradley were happy to have each other back in their lives.

#top gun maverick #bradley bradshaw #bradley bradshaw x reader #ron slider kerner

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boozye · 2 years

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alright, deepdive on solomon's reasoning here as requested! this is probably going to be LONG (popping back in after saying everything I wanted to, it is definitely long. there's no need to post or even read this, just turned out I had more to explain than I thought.) but it should stay mostly within the realms of s1-2 other than a couple brief nods to s3 as supporting evidence. to be clear, I'm not by any means an expert on solomon, I just dug through some solomon moments pretty thoroughly.

first of all, I just wanna say I appreciate your past post-people seem to say that purgatory hall "canonically doesn't know" but all I've seen is that they haven't mentioned it. I don't know what they do or don't know, or if I would have told them myself, but I think it's way more interesting to operate under the assumption that they do know. and in regards to the "immortality has desensitized him" theory, I'm not super in love with it myself- just because I feel part of the appeal of the solomon and MC dynamic is that he's not necessarily more sympathetic of the plight of their humanity than the others, but he is more cognizant of it. some of the boys are more aware of their fragility, others are more aware of their skills, but I think solomon is the only one I'd describe as at least aware of both. and I think while immortality might desensitize him to the other mistreatments of the exchange program, I'd argue that it would only make a death more impactful.

anyway, that's just giving credit to the theories I see more frequently. as for my own personal thoughts: season one solomon is a prick. he gets a weird fandom rap as being either unacceptably suspicious or somehow one of the most decent of the boys, and I kind of have to agree with both. basically everything he does for a while is either completely unclear in motive or very much layered and morally grey- which fits, honestly. he's not evil, he's just not especially good at first either. his first appearance he (jokingly, but still) threatens the MC and laughs at their situation if they ask for help, but also in doing so interrupts demons about to attack them. second real appearance, he saves them from lucifer and lends them his magic, but also pretty blatantly only does it because he thinks it'd be interesting. his discussion with belphie and MC in lesson 18? read to me as not exactly mean, but antagonistic- he says he didn't expect belphie to be willing to make a pact, but asks not only about one for himself but also for MC, and then about why belphie's looking for a reaction.

I honestly just thought he was kind of an oddball at first, because he does generally make kind decisions if not for especially kind reasoning, but my opinion on him changed a little after I stumbled upon a relationship chart (era s1) posted by the official twitter. basically everything on it has been addressed at one point or another, some of it way later than the chart was made, but solomon's is particularly striking- other than his pact with asmo, his only relationship is that he sees the other characters as "toys". which is kind of a harsh swerve from how he generally acts, but it does play into the fact that he tends to pretty often make decisions just for entertainment value. and he does somewhat address this in season 3, not explicitly, but he pretty heavily implies that he didn't always care about the demons- they also addressed simeon and diavolo's dislike of each other (first stated on the chart) in a similar timeframe, so I'm inclined to believe that's what it's referencing.

while I do feel that's relevant to solomon's motives, I do think he has the same motivations during season 1 that he does in season 2, or I don't see most of the events of season 2 ever transpiring. so, I went back through, and I'm assuming the dialogue that you're thinking of is "I'll do whatever I must to protect humanity... and you as well, MC.", because that also stumped me for a while. but I honestly think the important part here is "and." solomon has kind of an interesting dialogue quirk where he doesn't often refer to humanity, just the human world . the demons do too, sure, but only when they're talking about the world itself. solomon refers to humanity itself as the human world, which, vitally, MC is not in during season 1. he mentions that "Just as Diavolo puts the interest of the Devildom above all else, I feel the same about the human world. Nothing is more important to me than its peace and stability." and, given that by the time Solomon would find out about it, Diavolo and Barbatos have already ""saved the exchange program"", the realm itself isn't in any danger. there's sort of a parallel there that because diavolo's in charge of the devildom, solomon isn't particularly concerned with it. he says he's come to be fond of the devildom, too, when he's discussing the night dagger section with MC, but also admits that doesn't factor into his choices in resolving the situation. with "I've spent countless years watching over the people of our world, I have to make sure that their lives and livelihoods are secure, now and in the future"- it's contained in the Devildom, it's secure, and it's not his business.

that said, that raises the entirely different question of why does he interact with MC the way he does in both seasons. in season 1, he doesn't care about them as a human, he finds them interesting as a human in the devildom. "When it comes down to it, you're human, and that makes you different", he calls them a "destabilizing factor". they're objectively entertaining, in the uproar they cause, how unprecedented it all is (for a man who has precedent for nearly everything), and in their pacts. something not even he's been able to do.

in season 2, though, he picks them over the human world. he says himself that if he has to sacrifice the life of a demon to ensure the future of the human, that's what he'll do. without hesitation. and by all means, he could have. he had the dagger to begin with, there's no reason for MC to be the one to do it, but he hands it off to them knowing they will not kill him. like he says, he couldn't bear the thought of MC being angry with him, because by season 2 I think they're more important to him-not entirely sure where that happens, maybe sometime after the events of lesson 17-18 to the dance in s2. honestly, MC sort of IS the danger to the human world at this point, there's no other reason for him to be so lenient. maybe it's only because he has them to look in the eyes about it, and not necessarily because he's fallen for them, but because solomon is an inherently lonely man (this is again referenced in s3, but suffice to say a symptom of immortality), who is determined to make sure that the world he came from will last as long as he does despite not one individual person from it being able to, and saw the only people who could match his lifespan as playthings until just before. but MC is unprecedented. so when he says he'll do anything to protect the human world, and MC as well, he's not saying they're a part of the rule. he's saying by then, they are an exception to it.

TL;DR, because I had WAY more to say than I expected: solomon cares about protecting the human world and humanity as a concept, not necessarily every human as a person. season 1 solomon technically has no immediate need to protect the human world, and only the desire to protect MC when or because he finds them interesting. season 2 solomon does have to protect the human world, technically even from MC, but he's a very lonely character and has begun to care about them enough that they take precedent now. obviously this is a personal interpretation, there's always the chance I'm missing, adding, or misinterpreting things, but this is how I've come to understand his character. hope it helps, or is at least an interesting read, if you actually sit through it!

I agree, it is more interesting and makes more sense if the Purgatory Hall people know what happened. Even if we disagree on whether he's grown desensitized.

And this is a wonderful read, anon. It's exactly what I was hoping for. Something or someone to make it make sense for me. This does make it make sense. It's a great interpretation. It's a wonderful overview of his general attitude towards MC from a season to another and how it changed, as well as the logic behind it. And the change makes sense if we consider he went from NonDateable to Gen 2 Dateable.

I will say though I think my biggest problem is it was a major oversight of the writers to just gloss over whether the other characters were told what happened. It's so important, I don't care that everyone acts as if it didn't happen or matter at all, that's fine. That is a scene that should simply exist. Their reactions to the news would have been A PRIME OPORTUNITY to develop or showcase their characters, idiosincracies, personalities, etc. Whether they remain indifferent or not. Or a scene where MC is asked not to tell. It would have also given so much depth and weigh to the whole thing. Alas, it remains unadressed.

It's like watching someone paint a wall and leave a huge gap somewhere between strokes and never fixing it. GAAAAAAHHH so frustrating.

But yeah, I will continue to play with the notion that They Know and just basically Don't/Didn't Care.

#devs you know people with like #object permanence play this game right #devs do you know #I need you to know

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naminethewriter · 2 years

Text

Between Two Lives Chapter Two: Gluttony

Masterpost | Previous | Next | Ao3

Summary: Written for Intrulogical Week 2022 @intrulogicalweek

Logan is stuck in Limbo until the Afterlife Registration Bureau processes his case so he can properly move onto a afterlife, whether that is heaven, hell, reincarnation or something else. While wandering around aimlessly, he’s approached by a demon that introduces himself as Remus and offers him a quicker way to the next life.

Content Warnings: Food, Discussion of Past Lives

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Salutations Remus.”

“There you are! I almost thought you changed your mind!” Remus grinned at Logan. Today the demon was dressed in what Logan would consider a more reasonable outfit than the day before with black, ripped pants that covered his entire legs, though paired with the same boots and a shirt that had more colors than Logan had seen since he got to Limbo.

“I apologize, I did not remember the path as well as I thought I did,” he explained, straightening his tie. As a pair the two must look very odd since Logan’s shirt was neatly tucked into his pants and without a wrinkle on it. Add to that his dress shoes and slacks, the two couldn’t have more different styles.

Remus took a look around. “Yeah, this place doesn’t really have anything that makes it stand out, huh? You know what, I’ll take you back to your apartment later, then I can pick you up there next time.”

“That is satisfactory.”

“Great! Let’s get to todays challenge! I need you to take my hand.” Logan raised a brow but didn’t argue. “Better press those teeth together, you don’t wanna bite your tongue!” Remus warned as the other takes his hand and before Logan can ask what he means by that, he’s pulled through a portal of some kind. Thankfully he heeded Remus’ warning because as the land on the other side, the impact would have for sure clacked his teeth together rather forcefully.

“Welcome to Sector P!” Remus announced and Logan takes a moment to look around. They stood on a street, similar to the ones in his own sector, but instead of apartment buildings – though he could see lots of them, too, just a bit further away – it was lined with restaurants. Any food imaginable was advertised with blinking signage, not as brilliant as on earth, they were still in Limbo after all, but it was much livelier than in the sector Logan was used to.

“I was under the impression that all sectors were the same,” he said after clearing his throat.

“Yeah, most would. They don’t really tell you that they group you based on like one defining characteristic.” Remus starts wandering down the road, eyeing the different signs. Logan follows, brows pinched.

“What characteristics?”

“Well, this is the sector for the foodies. There’s one for gamblers, nature lovers, children, animal people and so on. The ARB picks one out that seems to fit the best and sends you there.”

“I understand, I think. But what is my sector about then? It’s a lot emptier.”

“I think Sector G is mostly for loners and intellectuals. You had a library at one point but that apparently led to some fights about books and heated debates.” Remus used air quotes as he said ‘heated’. “It caused more trouble than it was worth, so they just put some random, fancy books in your rooms and hoped that would keep you entertained for long enough.”

Indeed, there had been some books in Logan’s apartment, and despite them not catering to his specific tastes, he had read them since there was nothing else to do, but he finished them a while ago and had no desire to revisit them. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that his neighbors could have different ones he could borrow.

“Here we are!” Remus called, pulling Logan out of his thoughts. They stood in front of a restaurant that advertised their all-you-can-eat buffet. With a grin, Remus led Logan inside. Immediately they were assaulted with an almost overwhelming mix of different smells. They all came from the buffet that had a bigger selection than Logan had ever seen.

“This seems… excessive,” he commented, making Remus giggle.

“You are the kind of person that would say that. You’re challenge for today is to try everything here.”

“Everything?” Logan asked, eyes wide. “There is no way I can eat that much.”

“Sure you can, if you put your mind to it!”

“What about allergies?” Logan didn’t have any, but he was willing to fake one. Remus bellowed out a laugh.

“You’re dead! You can’t have allergies!”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t have a flesh prison anymore that could react badly to anything here. You don’t need to breathe anymore either. You’re a soul, you don’t need sustenance. I could stab you and nothing would happen.”

Logan furrowed his brows in thought. “But I still feel pain. I even cut myself before.”

“That’s because you’re used to having a flesh prison. You expect to feel pain, so you feel pain.”

“You mean it’s like a pavlovian response?”

“Yeah, essentially. It’s a habit your soul isn’t aware of.”

“I see. But then what is the point of the restaurant if no one here needs to eat?”

“Questions like that are exactly why you don’t have any in your sector. Some people enjoy the taste of food, even if it doesn’t get them anything else. Now, no more questions, you don’t have forever.” Remus pulled Logan over to a table where he plops down in a seat. “Go on, get a selection. I’ll wait here.”

“If you insist,” Logan sighs and gets to work. Deciding to start at the salad bar, he filled a bowl with all different types of leaves, toppings, and sauces, before returning to Remus.

“Starting light, are we?” he asked with his typical grin. Logan simply nodded.

“I did not experiment much with food during my lifetime, so I thought I would start with what is familiar.”

“Smart but boring.”

“I am not in the intellectual sector for nothing,” Logan commented dryly, earning another laugh from Remus.

“Tell me why else you’re there,” he asked, propping up his chin on his hands and studying Logan intently as he takes the first bite of his salad.

“I was a professor in life. I have a doctorate in astronomy.”

“Uhh, I love space!” Remus exclaims, wiggling in his seat. “It’s a shame I rarely get to see it. Tell me more.”

So, during the time it took Logan to eat his salad, they discussed space and Logan’s research. In the time it took Logan to fill his plate a second time, this time with an array of appetizers, Remus decided he wanted to change topics.

“What about family, Nerdy Wolverine? Ever got married?” he asked before Logan had even sat back down.

“No. I had a few relationships during my twenties and at the beginning of my thirties, but they didn’t last that long. I never missed it, however.”

“Yeah, that checks out, I guess.”

“What about you?” Logan shot back, a bit offended by Remus dismissive comment.

“I never got married when I was alive, but I’ve got-“

“Wait a minute,” Logan interrupts. “You were alive once? A human, I mean?”

“Yeah. Was ages ago, but yeah.”

“How did you become” – Logan gestures to his horns and wings – “a demon then? I thought you were created like that.”

“There are some demons and angels like that, mostly the oldest ones, but I think most of us are converted from human souls after being alive.”

“Did you choose to become a demon then?”

“Yeah! I was in heaven for a while, but it was like super boring and then I met Janny and he showed me how fun things can be, so I decided to become a demon and stick with him. We’ve been together ever since.”

“Fascinating. What about your family then? If you had one, I mean.”

“I wasn’t really close to anyone but my brother. We were soldiers, born and bred, pretty much, so we didn’t get a lot of parental love if you know what I mean. But me and Ro got along for the most part. Ended up becoming war heroes and died on a battlefield. Got us both into heaven and while I went down to hell, Ro stayed up there and became an angel. We still hang out from time to time.”

“That’s allowed? Aren’t heaven and hell enemies?”

“They used to be but not anymore really since there are way too many souls nowadays. It’s why this whole Limbo system exists; they would be overrun otherwise.”

They continued like that for hours. Remus would ask Logan about his life on earth and Logan would inquire about the afterlife while slowly making his way through the assortment of dishes. Neither of them really paid attention to that though, too enthralled by their discussion.

Eventually Logan arrived at the table with one last plate.

“This should be all that I’m missing. I don’t feel like I ate all that much.”

“Like I said when we came here, you don’t have a flesh prison anymore, you don’t have a stomach you can fill.”

“And I suppose since I was so focused on our discussion, I didn’t even register how much I ate which is why it didn’t trigger the pavlovian response.”

“Sounds legit to me,” Remus shrugged and watched as Logan finished the last of the dishes. “Congrats, Wristwatch, you passed challenge one!”

“Thank you, Remus. I must say this was more delightful than I thought. You are a good conversationalist.”

“Aw, thanks, Lo Lo! I had fun, too. But it’s time to go back. Gimme your hand.”

Logan blinked. “Don’t we have to pay?”

Remus burst out laughing. “Pay with what? We don’t have money here. And have you seen even one employee around here?”

“I haven’t but… Where does the food come from then?”

“Don’t question everything, dork. Now let’s go.”

Logan wanted to protest more but he stopped himself. He had taken up a lot of Remus’ time already and they would meet again soon, so he could postpone his curiosity for now.

“Very well then.” He takes Remus hand and is pulled through another portal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, how was your day with the stuck-up?” Janus asked later that day when Remus once again deposited himself on his lap.

“Fun! Got a lot of info about him. He was a professor for astronomy! He told me lots of space facts!”

“Sounds wonderful, dear.”

“Yeah, and tomorrow I’m gonna take him to Sector W.”

“Isn’t that the sector full of… Are you sure that is a good idea, Muse?”

“It’s gonna be fun, don’t worry!”

“I doubt he will find it funny.”

“I’m gonna make it up to him after. But first I really want to rile him up. He’s hot when he’s passionate.”

Janus sighed. He had a feeling that he would need to step in before the seven challenges were done.

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hot-take-tournament · 9 months

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most of my theories are surrounding kazui because he's my favourite prisoner (if you can't tell)

right first off - his "sin". At first I assumed it was cheating from the half music video because, wow that was vague, but now with cat and his new voice drama I don't think so anymore. I have 3 working theories

1. He's gay and married to meet societal expectations

2. He's aroallo and married to meet societal expectations

3. he just simply never loved her and married to meet societal expectations

Ranked that in order of likeliness because tbh I feel like the last one wouldn't give as much of dept to his character as the other two and I think milgram has a running theme of "they did a bad thing BUT" blah blah blah with the prisoners and no.3 kinda just makes him seem like an asshole for not telling her sooner.

So: No.1 and No.2

Both of my reasonings for thinking so are very similar, the lyrics about acting and "why can't I be normal?" would fit for both. If he's gay/aromatic he'd be 'different' then what society expects of him. The apple = sin imagery (atleast that's how I've interpreted it) would fit for being gay, and the lyrics about how he "just wanted to touch and caress" could hint that he only wanted a physical relationship (or that he's aromantic) and kinda just dug himself into a hole so he could fit society's expectations (I could go alot more indept but I don't wanna bombard you)

Then there's the whole question of how his wife actually died, and again I've got two main theories

1. She hung herself

2. Kazui pushed her off a balcony

For No.1 the chair constantly appearing in Half could point to that, also the fact that based on his voice dramas it seems he never actually killed her with his hands but No.2 also has some evidence behind it aswell.

We know he's strong enough to defeat Kotoko, he probably wouldn't have a problem with pushing his wife in terms of strength. When Kazui is bent towards the chair in Half there's imagery of a balcony in the distance, and in Cat at the end when Kazui 'eats' the dove his wife immediately falls and the apple splats on the ground. If they were arguing after Kazui told her the truth and things got heated, he would be able to overpower her. Also right before his wife falls his shadow is standing behind her rather,, omenicingly (that's probably spelt wrong)

then I have two more kinda throw away theories

1. The line at the end of Cat - "Lick that sin and oppose punishment, until you can meet the king of the masquerade" kind of sounds like Kazui is asking the audience to vote him innocent/forgiven. If we "oppose his punishment", we'll see the true Kazui in his 3rd Trial? The "King of the Masquerade"?? Maybe.

2. Shidou's family died in a car crash he caused/ he was driving when it happened. This is definitely reaching but look his answer about driving in the Q&A's feels very off okay. It would kind of make sense too,, if someone in his family needed blood or an organ or something it could be reason enough in his eyes to purposefully fail surgeries (assuming that's his crime)

Thats all, I like to think about imagery and symbolism more than actually theorising (leave that to the smarter pros) so I don't have many. Good day

I know that after a discussion about Valentine's Day is by far the worst time to post this specifically, but I finally caught up and I don't want to leave this any longer, so before I forget;

(I know some of you aren't here to see milgram theories, so I'll tag it and hide it under the cut)

Now that I've finally watched Cat, I really wanted to put together a full complete theory I was pretty confident on, but I've spent hours thinking about this trainwreck of a man, and I still got nothing - here's how much theory I wrote on Kazui after watching Cat, and I still don't know shit

Everything about him is so contradictory; after Shidou's second MV I feel as though I have a theory that I think explains everything from both Trial 1 and 2 - his MVs, his voice dramas, all of it - so I'd really hoped I could do the same with Kazui, but he's such a hot mess that I've really been struggling to even wrap my head around everything we've seen so far.

Just from what we were shown in Undercover, I don't think that it's a stretch to assume that Kazui's wife took her own life by jumping from the balcony - but that's about the only thing I'm even remotely confident in.

We know that Kazui apparently spent his marriage - and most of his life - hiding some big secret that we don't know about, and there's a lot of evidence that would support the idea that the secret he was hiding was that he's gay; he talks about trying to live as himself, the 'way he was born' - even the title of his MV, 'Cat', could be a reference to how apparently in Japanese slang 'neko' can refer to a bottom in a gay relationship, as opposed to 'tachi', which means top.

But his second voice drama really threw me - it heavily implies that Kazui has a previous history of violence that he's potentially been trying to leave in the past, and if that was the big secret he was hiding, it would explain a lot of the things that don't quite seem to fit the 'Kazui is gay' theory - but Cat doesn't really support that idea, so I don't know how much water it holds.

And then there's the woman in Half, who, given that she has a detailed face, must be important to him - but she hasn't been mentioned since.

So yeah, I have no idea what to do with this man lol

I've also been thinking a lot about that line from Cat you mentioned - 'Lick that sin and oppose punishment, until you can meet the king of the masquerade' - and I think it's meant to be a metaphor comparing Kazui and Es (and by extension, the audience) to cats grooming each other; basically, like one cat cleaning another, we're washing away his sin to justify an innocent verdict, even though we're not even close to seeing the real him.

It's more or less the same sentiment Yuno expressed in her voice drama - because we (the audience) want to believe Kazui is a good person, we're manufacturing scenarios that let us be sympathetic to him, even though there's no evidence to base those theories on.

All in all, the only thing I'm sure of is that I'm terrified of how little we still know about Kazui.

(Though to be fair, I'm way more terrified by the fact that we're most of the way through Trial 2 and we still don't know where Kotoko managed to find a baseball bat in the magic murder prison.)

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts - either way, Cat's a jam and it's been living rent-free in my head all day <3

#asks #not a poll #h-t-t milgram #cw suicide

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bisluthq · 2 years

Note

I hate Harry for… believing that he wasn’t a virgin when he was 16? Huh? I’m very much no an anti. I love this man to death and I’m going to multiple shows in the next few weeks. It’s just bizarre to me that a blog that I frequent (for different reasons than Harry, I love Taylor too), talks so confidently about one of my favorite artists while also saying so much rubbish (with love, but you say a lot of rubbish and pass it as fact 😭)

I have nothing against you or your anons. You guys are genuinely funny and entertaining I love your takes and discussions and I love reading back when I have some time off, but you’re often way off about Harry, which is normal because you don’t have the level of knowledge you do with, for instance, Taylor or even Karlie. But you guys, you can ask! Pls the assumptions sometimes cjencnannfnsg

I don’t think Harry was a stud at 15 😆 (or even now fksnfnang). I just think he was popular, good at sports, and had sex because he and his friends/family said so. I’m actually against the whole notion of Harry as a womanizer, I think he’s very tame considering he could be fucking everything that moves. I think most of the stuff pedalled by the media is rubbish. I don’t think he ever cheated on anyone, that he can’t keep it in his pants, or that he’s defined by sex.

I don’t wanna be shady but it feels low key slut shamey that you’re talking about 15/16 year olds having sex as if it was an insult. I lost my virginity at 14 and I’m a fully functional adult with a healthy sex life who’s only slutty for her boyfriend of 2 years.

Perhaps culture is slightly different? Harry is from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. I identify (I’m from the east of England but similarly my town was also very small). Alcohol and sex become more normalized at a younger age because… there’s nothing else to do rip. It doesn’t become promiscuous (some do but those are outliers) or like, unhealthy. Typically everyone dates everyone because the dating pool is so small, and then longish relationships end up in sex perhaps more often than they do in bigger towns (my comparison point is my friends so it’s not a scientific study). By the time you go to Uni you fall into step with everyone else more or less, but you tend to have more (fumbly) experience than others.

It’s why statements like “they looked like kids and probably weren’t fucking” are so bizarre to me. We all looked like kids and most of us were fucking at that age 😭 He grew up in the early 2000s in England not in the 1950s.

I’ll more readily believe Taylor didn’t have that experience growing up since both Pennsylvania and Tennessee, at least from a pop culture standpoint, seem a bit more “uptight” in that sense.

With that said, Caroline Flack was a perv, and whatever Harry’s experience was when he met Taylor didn’t make the relationship any less… weird, to say the least. I’m not arguing that whatsoever.

Okay so I think we agree. Maybe he had sex with his girlfriend. Maybe he had had two girlfriends even by the time he was 16 that he’d had sex with. He didn’t have a ton of them because his girlfriends have kinda been outed or come forward, even that baby girlfriend. He wasn’t the coolest guy in his town pre X Factor (that’s pretty obvious tbh).

He was legit just some guy, Caroline was a perv, he wasn’t sexually experienced at 16 (neither were you at 16 even though you’d been sexually actively for 2 years like because no one is tbh in that period unless they were very abused), and like both the pregnancy shit and the virginity shit were jokey points made with an element of truth to them and idk what else to say lmao.

Like we agree dude.

We don’t know exactly when Harry had sex because we aren’t him (and his family and friends aren’t good indicators because boys that age LIE dude like that’s a hallmark of that age).

Kids are just kids man, barring really radical cultural differences (East v West vibes) it’s all the same tbh factoring in yeah size of town and whatnot.

Also at a certain point, we know he lies about sex because he said like 3 sexual partners to GQ and he either has a weird definition of sex or is lying or could’ve been lying before like we don’t KNOW which is my point. Teenage boys LIE about this shit and they exaggerate for the most part.

#nat talks Harry

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sofiaaaaaaaa03 · 2 years

Text

A Moment to Reconcile

Summary: After the failure of the Ennead's meeting, y/n searches for Marc in order to make amends for the events which had occured.

Pairing: Marc Spector/Steven Grant x teen/young adult gn platonix reader

Rating: pg-14 (blood, cursing, graphic description of wounds i think?)

Word count: 7.03 k

Author's note: Not going to lie I struggled putting this chapter out, but please enjoy :) This is part two of episode 3! I had to go back and rewrite the discussions a lot because I wanted to make sure their arguments were concrete and valid, so there's a lot of love that went into this. Again, thank you for the love, it means so much to me.

Part Four: A Moment To Reconcile

Series Masterlist

Behind y/n, the portal of the chamber closed, sealing the entrance of the pyramid’s chambers. Now emerged into one of the many back alleys of Cairo, amidst the plethora of people walking all over, they searched for a certain marine. There was no sight of Marc. He’d only emerged a few minutes before them. How did he get ahead so quickly?

The librarian called Marc’s name, standing on the edges of their toes to try and catch any glimpse of him. They turned a corner and wove through the congested alley, mumbling apologies to those they’d bumped into accidentally. There was a slight hitch in their breath when they thought about how they’d have to spend all day looking for Marc if they had to. Though preferably they wanted to find him before it got dark so that they could take advantage of the broad daylight.

y/n was ignoring calls from a local vendor who’d tried to ask if they were lost, when they caught a glimpse of Marc. They jogged backwards, having walked ahead before registering the sight, and slowed down to make sure they’d actually seen him. Confirming their suspicions, there he was walking towards an opening. Eyes widened at him in recognition.

“Marc!” Y/n called and picked up their pace.

There was no answer, though they didn’t put it past Marc to ignore their shouts.

“Spector!” Y/n called again. They were almost at a full run at this point. When they were close enough, they grabbed onto the fabric on the back of his jacket. Marc stopped at the sudden force of their grip and stumbled back a little though y/n remained completely stable in their place. He stayed in place, back turned to them.

“You sure you wanna do that?” His voice was a low growl.

Y/n held on the coat tenaciously. “Let’s just cut to the point. We’re both under the servitude of the gods for a reason, working together is the best option to stop Harrow.”

“bullshit, you told the gods you didn’t believe Harrow’s plan.” Marc slowly turned around and y/n glared at his expression.

“I didn’t say that. I told them the truth, Marc, as shitty as it was to say it, it’s true.” Their attitude was volatile now out of response to Marc’s demeanor. It was something they tried to refrain from throughout this mission. But Marc made it so hard to do. Everytime they tried to speak to the man he would dismiss their words or speak to them condescendingly. Y/n should get a fucking award for the shit they go through, or a vacation at the very least.

Y/n inhaled deeply in an attempt to regain some of the composure they’d lost.

Marc pointed a finger at them. His voice almost growled. “You told them that you don’t know what’s going on when you know damn well what’s happening.”

“Oh my god,” y/n exclaimed in disbelief and exasperation, “Literally, you are the reason why I couldn’t argue to the ennead, what with you being too busy playing John Wick to realize it, but guess what, even he worked with partners while he was off on a murder rampage! I can’t keep running all over Cairo to find you. That’s why I don’t have a full idea of what’s going on! I’m really tired of your shit, I’m so tired of it, but either we suck it up and work together or everything goes to shit because of Harrow.”

Marc stays quiet and y/n thinks it's a good chance to speak once more.

“I’ll do you the favor of saving your pride and say what you already know, I’m a good ally to have. I’m not going to be dragging you down if that’s what you’re concerned about. ”

Marc shook his head and held a hand up to stop them. “Just ‘cause you can write in hieratics doesn’t make you special, kid. What are you gonna do? Throw a reed to the first person who comes at you with a knife? You’re gonna…”

His voice fazed out of y/n’s hearing. They were still concentrated at the first remark he’d said, about the heiratics. It was a low ball to throw at them, to say the least. Was that all that Marc saw of them? Someone who scribed for the gods?

“What the fuck, Marc.” Y/n interrupted, eyes narrowed at the marine. They’d taken offense to this. After two weeks of following Marc and Steven around unnoticed, they’d shown their combat skills and their ability to sneak around undetected by either alter. It wasn’t an easy job, and yet they were capable of doing it. Of all people, they would have expected for him to at least recognize their hard work.

Marc lowered his hand, “Don’t take it personal, kid. It’s just-”

He was cut off by a loud groan from the librarian, who furiously shook their head and wiped their face into their hands. “Marc, you don’t get it-”

“Oh yeah?” Marc’s voice raised at their words. “What don’t I get?”

“That it’s a big deal, Marc! Don’t you dare open your fucking mouth and tell me that it’s not.” They’d retorted, their own voice raising in response to Marc’s. “You just lost the trust of the Ennead because Harrow convinced the gods to take his word over yours. Now instead of a council, you only have one god. Think about it. And I mean really think about it Marc. There’s nobody else to help you. Djehuty is sticking it out to help Khonshu and you. Why can’t you process in your head that maybe, you should accept the help that you’re being given?”

Marc steps forward, as though he was trying to intimidate y/n though they stood their ground. “Your god sent me a child-”

“Don’t disrespect m-”

“-I’ve done nothing but save your ass.”

“When you needed help with Steven, who was there?”

There was a change in Marc’s posture; shoulders slacked at the mention of his alter. Though that was not to dismiss the radiating anger that still surrounded his body. Y/n was still pissed at the man for his words, but they were letting themselves get worked up and wanted to refrain from letting their emotions out. If they did even more yelling, they could lose their chance at getting through to Marc.

What y/n felt now, well, they would just have to sort it out later.

They decided to take a different approach when talking to Marc. They lowered their voice to a hushed tone.

“I know you work hard to make sure that Steven doesn’t get out. You’ve done a good job at keeping him safe for the most part, I’m sure he… he… Marc? Marc, are you listening?”

There was no recognition in his eyes when y/n spoke. They faltered mid sentence, watching him with narrowed eyes. His attention was no longer on the librarian, his eyes looking past their shoulders, and turning back y/n saw that there was nobody behind them.

“Asshole!” They allowed themselves to get a little vexed by this and pushed both hands onto his chest to get his attention.

Marc caught a punch y/n had thrown to his face. Fingers enclosed around their first, Marc’s previous expression of anger had completely relaxed. He briefly glanced down at them, “Khonshu.”

Y/n, understanding what he meant, stepped aside so that he could speak with the deity.

Khonshu and I gambled on a game of Senet. I should thank you, I’ve been itching to beat him one more time.

y/n turned to look at the ibis headed deity who’d appeared next to them. He leaned most of his weight on his quarterstaff, one hand on his hip.

“You gambled with Khonsu again? On what?” Y/n was well aware of the history behind Thoth’s words. Long ago, the deity won enough moonlight from Khonshu to add five more days to the calendar for the sake of the goddess Nut. It was because of him that the goddess was able to bear children.

Thoth turned his head down to meet their eyes.

A sliver of my powers.

Oh. Well that made sense to the scribe. Khonshu wouldn’t entertain the thought without the chance of winning something in his favor.

“So what happens now?” They inquired curiously.

He’s giving Marc the opportunity to decide whether or not to allow you to join him. It’s all up to you now. Watch your attitude.

Don’t blow this.

And just like that, the god disappeared as Marc returned to speak to the librarian. There was a sort of look to his face, as though he was unsure of what to think.

Y/n turned to him, arms crossed. They were curious as to what was going on in his mind but decided to not ask about it just yet. “What did he tell you?”

Marc sighed, his eyes averted. “Khonshu says I can give you another chance if I’d like.”

—--

Marc’s gaze fell onto y/n, eyes looking at the young thing before him up and down. Now that he thought about it, for the time that they’d known each other y/n hadn’t revealed their true age to him. Honestly, just how old were they? They were significantly younger compared to him, their features give it away so easily, yet they acted as though they’d shared a similar lifetime as him. A life of responsibilities far bigger than either of them should have to take on.

When Khonshu appeared before him with the offer to allow y/n to join the mission once more, he’d warned Marc that once he came to a decision he would have to stick with it despite whatever happens after.

So even though Marc listened to their case, he wasn’t convinced that bringing y/n along for the rest of the mission was a good idea. It had nothing to do with his opinion of them, though he’d long deemed the younger adult a smartass with a sharp mouth since the first time they opened their mouth. It was because of their role as Thoth’s avatar. Out of all the gods that could have sent their avatar to aid Khonshu and Marc, it had to have beenThoth.Thoth, Djehuty, call him as you wish, the god of scribes, knowledge, and the mystics. The God has no reason to indulge in means of combat, so who was to say that their avatar should either?

They worked at the library. That was all there was to it, in his eyes. Their only connection to Marc was because of Steven.

Steven, who loved to go on and on about egyptology with his librarian and often brought them dark chocolates from the museum.

Suppose there wasn’t all much to distrust from y/n. If Steven liked them, then there was reason for Marc to lower his guard. But only a little.

All Marc knew about y/n was their cushy job at the library, their scribing, and nothing more.

He could respect y/n for their work. But Marc never expected the scribe to know how to handle a gun, or any sort of weapon at all. It was because of his previous expectations of y/n that the past couple of days were surprising to him, to say the least. This young, smart mouthed librarian actually knew more than just texts and archived works. But even that wasn’t enough to convince Marc. It was the underwhelming lack of experience they had in the field that held him back from agreeing to their company.

No. They had their own job to do, just like he has his own.

Bring ‘em along Marc.

The marine’s eyes averted to a mirror that hung a few paces from them. Steven stood within it, both arms crossed into his chest. His hair was disheveled from grabbing his hair anxiously as he had watched their interaction.

Was all this yelling too much for Steven? Marc panicked, and quickly tried to settle this.

“No, Steven. I can’t go around protecting you and-”

I don’t want to do this alone. Please.

—--

Marc had been occupied with Steven to give y/n a few moments to calm their nerves. Their ears rang dreadfully, mostly due to the loudness of Marc’s yelling at them. Spending most of their time in the library had made them a tad sensitive to the ears, they supposed.

Y/n shifted uncomfortably, looking around the vicinity to make sure nobody was watching. Their attention quickly turned back to Marc when he began speaking to Steven. The two bickered between another. Y/n said nothing and chose to watch Marc grow a tad frustrated at his alter, and after some more exchange of words the marine goes quiet. He ran a hand down his face, the other raised to his hip.

He pointed a finger at y/n, barely touching their nose as he shook his hand. “You’re gonna be in deep shit if you don’t cooperate. We do things my way.”

Y/n said nothing to his words. Their thoughts were still on the argument.

“‘Kay kid, let’s go.” They looked at Marc, surprised at him. “You’re in.”

Somewhere within the realms, a pactum was made between Khonshu and Djehuty. The gods, now in agreement, looked to their avatars with trust that they would do what was right for the mission.

“Are we sticking together?” They pressed on, hoping that they could get a vocal response.

Marc looked at them as though he was tired of their shit. Though he nods, a hand sticking out to shake theirs. “We stick together.”

“Good,” A small smile falls on their lips. Y/n took Marc’s hand into their own.

They had a feeling that Marc wasn’t completely sold on the idea but was willing enough to give them the chance, despite his doubts. Letting go, Marc gave them a simple look and turned to walk out to the opening of the marketplace.

Y/n called Marc after he took a couple steps forward. He turned to them, head tilted to hear what they had to say.

“I’ll rock your shit if you leave me one more time.”

—

The plaza was crowded with an alarmingly large number of people, littered with a maze of food stalls and vendors shouting on top of one another to be heard. A car drove in front of Marc as he approached the central plaza, y/n following close behind. As he continued on, Marc reached out into his bag and put on a baseball cap.

Y/n observed this, an amused smile on their face. “Chicago cubs?”

Marc gave them a look of indignation. “Yeah, what about it?”

“I dunno,” They shrugged absentmindedly, kicking a pebble on their path. “Just had a feeling you were a bum, just didn’t expect this kind.”

A loud scoff came from the mercenary and he rolled his eyes. Y/n, watching this, chuckled a bit that they managed to nerve the man.

They looked around the scene with fascination in their eyes, as they loved plazas. Not just because plazas offered a large variety of purchasable goods, but also because plazas meant that they could get another snack.

“Hey,” They tug at his sleeve as though they didn’t insult him moments prior. They point ahead, “Can we get Kharoub juice?”

Marc took a moment to find where y/n was pointing at. A man wandered about the plaza carrying a contraption on his body that held the juice that they were talking about. It was noon time, and it’d been awhile since either of them had grabbed some sort of meal. Though there wasn’t much aside from fresh produce, the juice might help quench any desires for the time being.

“Sure, kid.”

Marc approached the man and held up two fingers. “We’ll take two.”

“Perfect, two sir. Best juice ever in the world.”

y/n licked their lips in anticipation for the juice. The sweet flavor was something they’d been craving since their last trip to the city. Sure, the ethnic markets in London had the kharoub syrup in stock. But it just wasn’t the same, no matter how hard they tried to recreate it.

“I swear they put crack or something in this.” They mumbled, fingers moving slightly in anticipation to receive the cup from the vendor.

Finished with their drinks, the kharoub vendor hands the one cup over to the younger among the two. Marc watched y/n accept the juice in their hands and allowed himself a small smirk to see the smile on their face. It was a nice change compared to the exasperation they’d emitted for the past while. As they give a sip of the drink, humming in delight, Marc turned to the vendor that was bent over pouring his drink.

“I’m looking for Senfu’s sarcophagus.” The vendor stopped pouring the drink and looked at Marc with a sudden suspicion in his eyes. If the vendor knew something, he wouldn’t give away the information so easily, and neither would he give Marc his juice as the man immediately walked away from the pair. Marc frowned at the interaction.

“Hah, guess I’m just better than you!” Snarked y/n before they quickly covered their eyes in their drink at Marc’s glare.

Suddenly, Layla’s there. Kharoub juice in hand and she stares at Marc condescendingly whilst sipping the juice. Y/n looked up at the sound of her voice. They were surprised to see her there!

“I hope you like attention.” She stared Marc down though he turned away from her as though he was in disbelief that she was actually there. “Right guy, right place. But you’re not egyptian.

“Layla, what the hell are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.” Marc’s manner was suddenly turned to one of irritation.

“Why? Because my name pisses off a few people in Cairo? Who cares?”

“It’s not the people that I’m worried about.”

“Come with me, I’ll help you find what you need.”

—---

“So what exactly are we gonna do here? What’s the plan?”

“Oh,” Layla gasped in feign shock. She then spoke sarcastically, “It’s not fun being left in the dark, is it?”

Beside them, y/n caught their attention when they snickered. Covering their mouth with their hand, they deliberately looked straight at Marc to see his reaction. He’d had his eyebrows raised at them in question.

“Now you know how it feels, asshole.”

“Charming.” Marc retorted, and tried to get Layla’s attention though she was already turned to y/n

“Running after him too, I see?”

They groaned slightly, covering their eyes with their hands for a moment. “You have no idea.”

“Alright, alright” Marc interjects, calling off their conversations. He used his hand to wave Layla’s attention, ignoring the quiet mumbling (“asshole.”) that emanated from the librarian just nearby. “I get that you’re not happy about me leaving so quickly and coming to cairo. I understand.”

Layla leans forward, “Wait. Is that your apology?”

“Take it. It’s better than what I got.” was all y/n said.

Marc took a moment to shoot y/n a glare. The librarian stuck their tongue out at him.

“That’s good. That’s really good.” Layla didn’t seem too happy about Marc’s attitude. Y/n glanced at her and wondered just how she did. Marriage was never easy. No relationship is. But to have your husband disappear without a word and send divorce papers?

Well, let’s just say that y/n could understand why Layla was adamant about tracking down Marc all the way to Cairo. It was actually very admirable to them. This was a woman who knew what she wanted, and would go beyond to get it. They looked at Marc and couldn’t understand why he had decided to marry Layla only to abandon her.

What had happened between them?

It wasn’t their place to question it.

Layla had her forearms leaned on her knees, hushed whispers filled the air. “Just so you know, I’m not here to help you. I’m here for me and for everyone else who would die if Harrow succeeds.”

“God I wish I could say the same.”

Marc glared at y/n. “Shut up.”

His tone was minacious enough to keep them quiet. “Copy that.”

“Y/n, can you give us a minute?”

Y/n stared at Marc for a moment, incredulous that he wanted to leave them out of the conversation but complied anyway. Flashing a quick middle finger, they scoot a little away from the two and lean back on the boat’s seating, looking around at the scenery before them. Other passengers aboard the boat spoke loudly among one another. The boat swayed too and from, rocked by the waves of the river. The city itself glowed brilliantly.

Y/n wanted to spend more time here. They loved Cairo, its culture, its people, its history. Maybe it was the influence of the deity that made them so fascinated by the city. But it couldn’t be helped, could it?

A slight breeze to their face, and y/n’s attention turns to the music as it grew louder. The passengers of the boat had begun to dance to the upbeat middle-eastern music, and though the boat began to rock slightly from their movements a smile couldn’t be helped watching them.

“طفل!”

A man beckoned for y/n to join the group. Y/n, letting a laugh escape their lips, shook their head in embarrassment and respectfully denied. They’d much preferred watching the people. This sight, to them, was beautiful.

Beside them, Layla and Marc spoke in hushed whispers, hands barely touching one another.

—-

Stepping onto the pier, y/n found their balance on the land and waited for Marc and Layla. Looking ahead, they took in the bustling ambiance of Mogart’s property. If they didn’t know any better, they would have guessed that there was some sort of festival going on here.

“Nice place he has…” y/n mumbled to themselves.

Marc approached them, holding out his hand. “Your bag.”

They removed their backpack and wordlessly handed it to Marc, eyes still trained on the view before them. There were too many people there. They had to be extremely careful, if shit went south they’d have to deal with every person in the vicinity. And although they had the help of Marc’s suit, there wasn’t enough motivation on their part to want to get into a fight just yet.

Y/n turned to Layla, “Are you sure I need to go with you guys? This Mogart guy has known you for a while hasn’t he? No offense, but I don’t peg you as the friendly type with someone as young as me. It’s a bit suspicious, no?”

Marc spoke for Layla as he shoved their bags under the pier. “Senfu’s sarcophagus holds the map to Ammit’s tomb. You’re our best bet at figuring out what the map is.”

“And what about Steven?” Y/n frowned.

Layla, this time, gently placed a hand to their shoulders and began to lead the way into the open fields. Her voice dropped a whisper, “Marc doesn’t want to let Steven out right now, y/n. You’re our best bet.”

Y/n stopped despite Layla continuing forward, noticing that their shoes were untied. Quickly they knelt down to tie them and by the time they finish Marc walks past them.

A hand pats their shoulder. It was Marc, signaling for them to follow the older adults. “Listening kid?”

“Yes sir.” They saluted at Marc as Layla began speaking.

“We’re discussing our story,” Layla began though her voice dropped a level as they walked further into the premises. “Marc, or Rufino Estrada, and I are married. You’re Ata. Anyone asks, we took you in after your parents died. Close friends.”

“Yes ma’am.”

By this time, the trio had approached a large clearing further from the crowds and grass beginning to turn to sand. Ahead in a sand arena a group of men perched on horses clanged spears against spears.

A rather tall man bearing nothing but a red robe approached the group, his eyes only on Layla. While they spoke to each other y/n’s gaze fell on a large pyramid structure made of glass that was not too far from the arena. They could see the sarcophagus inside and couldn’t help but smirk, amused that the most prized possession laid a few yards from where weapons were.

“Who’s this?” The red robed man, Mogart was all y/n could assume, had been staring at them.

Y/n met his gaze and immediately put on a warm smile to the man. He gazed at them with curiosity, surprised that Layla had someone so young with her.

Layla warmly placed a hand on y/n’s shoulder, “Ata, my ward. I was going to leave them at the hotel, but they were so adamant to join us. Bit of a history buff.”

“Oh, delightful.” Margot flashed y/n a smile and began to wander to the glass structure that held the sarcophagus, “You’ll certainly enjoy what I have in here then. I hope you understand this is more than a collection to me. Preserving history is a responsibility I take very seriously.”

Layla made small conversation with Mogart while they walked to the edifice. They spoke of their reasoning behind the impromptu visit, using the lie that they were here on Marc’s behalf as he wanted to see the sarcophagus before his own eyes. Although, when he was questioned Marc half assed his explanation, and y/n had to hold in a breath as they thought they were to be caught. But however it did, it worked, and Mogart nodded in simple agreement.

“Funny man. Feel free.” Mogart gestures to the edifice, seemingly convinced by Marc.

Y/n piped in, earning the attention of all of the older adults. “Can I see too?”

Layla and Marc meet each other’s eyes very briefly. Though there was no need to worry as Mogart nodded to them with a smile, “Be my guest.”

A wide smile grew on their lips. They quickly looked at Layla as though asking for permission. Layla nodded to their gaze and with a skip in their step y/n walked ahead to the entrance of the edifice. Even though they were supposed to be in character, they were genuinely excited to see Senfu’s sarcophagus. Little information was recorded about the Medjay from centuries ago. So it was sort of like closure for y/n, to finally have some sort of knowledge about the man after years of seeing his scrolls empty. If given the opportunity, they wanted to document its contents.

Marc and Layla enter the structure, joining y/n at the sarcophagus. They all gazed at the piece of history, hieratics and the smell of old stone in their lungs.

“Right, got any ideas kid?” Asked Marc. Beside him, Layla leaned over to examine the writing.

Y/n did the same, though they were doing so while recalling the many texts they’d rewritten over the years. Reaching to the stone, their fingers hovered the lettering as they read the heiratics aloud. “Man is to become god-like through a life of virtue and the cultivation of the spirit… No, some of this is just literature to guide the dead. Straight from the Kitab Al-Mawtaa.”

Layla read another section and deemed that it was from Studenwachen texts “Uh-huh. There’s no location indicated.”

Marc went quiet and looked up to the glass ceiling of the pyramid.

“Alright then, I’ll ask y/n.” Marc turned to the teen beside him, who’d looked at him incredulously. “Steven says the texts are coded. Can you figure it out?”

Slowly y/n scanned the lines of the texts, one last look at the consents of the sarcophagus. They frowned and shook their head. “Senfu has no recorded documents in my archives, so I don’t have enough background information to be able to decipher this properly.”

A pause. Y/n suddenly realized that they weren’t trained for this type of documentation. They’d have to work on that. With a chuckle of this realization, y/n ran their hand on the back of their neck and lightheartedly joked, “Code breaking isn’t in the job description, anyways.”

“Right, right,” Marc nods, and y/n was relieved that he didn’t get too bothered by their hesitance. “Will you give me a minute? I gotta talk to Steven. Just keep him occupied.”

Layla stopped y/n from moving with a hand on their shoulder. “Stay with Marc, I’ll go.”

“Okay.” Their voice was low and they turned back to Marc. “I have to commit the texts to memory, can you handle talking to Steven?”

“Yeah, go for it.” The mercenary acknowledged y/n with a nod and began to speak to his alter. Meanwhile, y/n worked to memorize every paragraph of text and detail of the sarcophagus. Once they return to the London Library, or to their notebook when they have the time to sit down, whichever comes first, they’d document the details and put it into the archives. For now, memorizing the texts would just have to do. If only they had their phone on them to take a photo of the contents. It along with their pen and papers were sitting underneath the pier’s floorboards where they’d left them.

Suddenly they stiffened, shoulders locked up and their hands gripped. They’d sensed a sort of impending doom that gave them goosebumps.

Y/n whirled around at the sound of someone approaching and before their eyes Marc disarmed one of Mogart’s bodyguard. Gun in hand, Marc keeps it trained at the man. Beside him, y/n had their fists ready if ever necessary, but it was when they saw Layla approach with two guns pointed to her head that they knew no fight would occur. Marc seemed to know this too, letting out a frustrated “shit!” and returned the piece to the bodyguard. Y/n quickly raised their hands into the air. They were pinned.

“Do you really think I’m an idiot? Get on your knees.”

Behind Mogart, Layla tried to catch his attention. “Anton stop!”

“Get on your knees!” A gruffness was in Mogart’s tone. Marc slowly obeyed, lowering himself to the ground and y/n hesitated, unsure if they were to get on their knees too.

Mogart noticed the lack of obedience from the younger adult among them. He quickly reached for them, gripping to their shoulders and forcing them to their knees without consideration of harming them. They grunted, not at all suspecting the brutality of Mogart, but tried to ignore the sting in their knees.

“Hey! Hey!” Marc shouted at Anton’s actions and was about to get up when he heard a gun reload, reminding him of the fragile situation that they were in.

“Quiet.” Mogart seethed, his voice loud enough that it reverberated around the edifice. Layla was forced forward as Mogart turned to meet her gaze. “Layla, I was so ready to make peace with you.”

“You don’t understand, we’re trying to save many lives.”

Marc whispered from the ground. “Hey, pal. Take a look inside the sarcophagus. There’s somethin’ really, really big going on here.”

The bodyguard who’d been disarmed by Marc stepped forward, stopping Margot, and whispered into his ear. A smirk that made y/n feel uneasy spread across his lips. The red robed man turns and begins to exit the edifice.

“It appears we have a concerned third party here. Get up.”

A man nudged his gun against y/n’s back and they took it as their signal to get up.

“No, no. You stay with them here,” Margot looked back at the man with the gun against y/n. “If anything happens, shoot them.”

“What-” Marc was quick to step toward Mogart but one of the men reloaded their guns and pointed it at him. Y/n flashed him a look, warning him to follow the man’s orders.

I can handle it. Was the message that they tried to convey to him.

Marc and Layla, unease in their gait, were escorted out of the glass pyramid. This left y/n alone with a gun to their head. They stood there, arms still raised to their head and was about to open their mouth to speak when a voice boomed from the void.

Don’t. You’ll get yourself shot.

A peeved frown was on y/n’s lips. The god couldn’t do so much as more than just give them a warning?

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if your nieces and nephews showed you respect.” Y/n whispered in a low voice. “You left me to speak to the gods by myself.”

They are still young. It would be unwise to interfere with their court, they’re still learning.

“Pushover.”

Excuse me?

“Nothing.” Y/n quickly shut their mouth and hitched their breath. They allowed themselves to look outside for Marc and Layla, wanting to make sure that they were safe. With them, was Harrow. Harrow? What the hell was he doing here? If y/n’s guard could go any higher, it did. Seeing the estranged man alarmed them immensely. Was he following the group?

Harrow spoke to Margot, and even though y/n was unable to hear them from where they stood they had a feeling things were not going to end well. Harrow raised his staff, and when he did a burst of heat forced itself upon the glass edifice. The bodyguard who had them pinned immediately shouted and fled the premises, but Y/n stood their ground and raised their hands to their face to protect it from the purple flames that surrounded the sarcophagus. Around them, poles that held ceremonial masks trembled, some falling over.

“Y/n get out of there!”

The flames enclosed into the sarcophagus and with a final push the stone collapsed. Y/n removed their arms from their face to look at its remains. For a moment, y/n sighed and lamented how they’d barely had a read of the texts. They turned to look back, Layla running into the pyramid and by their side.

“What’s-”

“Just get what you can.” Layla dismissed, diving her hands into the sarcophogus’s remains for anything that could be salvaged. Y/n turned back and realized what was happening when they saw Marc, now dressed in his armor, fighting off against what could be assumed was all of Mogart’s men.

All but one.

Had y/n not looked back, they would have missed the man approaching them and layla with malicious intentions shown in his eyes.

Grabbing broken shards of glass from the ruins, y/n threw them to the large man and reached for one of the poles that had fallen amidst the destruction. They raised their leg and kicked onto the base so that it was suitable enough to use as a makeshift spear. They raised their forearm over their head to block an incoming hit and swung the spear to the side of the man’s head. He was disoriented for only a moment and moments after y/n and him were engaged in combat.

Punches and blocks were passed until the man brought out a knife. Breath hitching at the sharp weapon, y/n stumbled back when the man swung the knife to them. He swung again and again, almost erratically, stepping forward with each swing. One more push and y/n forced themselves farther back. And in good timing did they do so, as Layla had a large piece of wood in her hands and smashed it into his head. Although, the man recovered at an almost impressive rate as in that moment he used layla’s force to further push her into the ground.

While Layla laid stunned, y/n charged at the guard and drove their spear into his side. It made an impact and y/n twisted the wood further into the skin, grunting at the force they were putting into it.

And suddenly, the man had a block from the sarcophgus’s remains in his hands and pounded it into the side of y/n’s face. Y/n released their grip of the spear and felt their body being thrown to one side of the edifice. Groaning, they laid there on the ground for a moment.

God, their face felt very warm from the hit. All they could think about was reaching a hand up to their face to feel the blood from the scrapes it had made.

Head spinning, y/n tried to get their senses straight as they planted themselves on all fours. Their knees wobbled as they lifted themselves to their feet, swaying to the right and catching themselves. Fuck, stop spinning. Stop spinning. Fuck fuck fuck.

Y/n gripped the sides of their head and bent over with another groan, again trying to find balance in the world. When they finally found it, they’d straightened themselves and forced their attention to what was happening around them. Layla had driven the man against the remains of the sarcophagus, both hands had her weapons plunged into his chest, though the man had not yet lost his will to continue fighting as he tried to get himself into the air once more but was struggling against Layla’s hold.

Quickly grabbing the spear, y/n charged at the man from behind and forcefully plunged the spear into his back. The force they’d exerted was enough to get the spear into his back. Though it was more than likely possible that the spear was more than halfway through.

The man let out a few strained noises, making y/n feel just a smidge of pity. They quickly frowned at their thoughts, reminding themselves that this man showed no hesitation to injure them, and twisted the spear once more.

“I’m going to help Marc.” Layla released her grip of the man, acknowledging y/n with one look and ran out to the open field to help Marc. Y/n wanted to follow Layla, but took one final chance to push the dying man to the floor and examine the sarcophagus once more for anything salvageable. They scraped several pieces of text from the box and took a moment to admire the hieratics. They really were something else, though no doubt there was no use for them on the mission at hand.

Stuffing the papers to their pocket, y/n looked at the mummified wraps of Senfu.

“Thanks for the help.”

Tomb robbery? Really y/n, I thought you were better than that.

Y/n looked around though their god was nowhere to be seen. Fed up with his admonishing tone, they shook their head. “Do you want the records or not, Djehuty?”

Certainly. But what good is stealing when you don’t take all of it?

A gust of wind circled the demolished remains of the sarcophagus. Pieces of written texts that had gone unnoticed by the avatar were picked up and flown into the air. Y/n reached out and caught the papyrus pieces, almost dropping some, and stuffed them into their pockets as delicately as they could.

“You’re a bad influence.” Y/n flashed an evil smirk.

From the plane of the gods, Djehuty watched y/n run out of the pyramids at the call of their names. He chuckled in amusement at the young thing as they reunited with an injured Marc and Layla to plan their next move. Pride swelled within. Y/n has always carried out tasks without Djehuty’s reminders. They were a good avatar.

—--

Marc examined the tattered jacket in his hands. A look of detest on his face as he sighed, dropping the jacket ever so slightly. Beside him, Layla drove the jeep. They had gotten a van and were on their way out of Cairo and into the desert. With luck, they could figure out how to get to Ammit’s tomb.

“Ay. I really liked that Jacket. Oh, well.”

He turns over to throw the jacket to the passenger seats. As he did, he took a moment to look at y/n. They leaned against the windowpane of the car, hugging their backpack in their arms. After further observation, he’d realized that they were asleep. Tired no doubt from the battle that had occurred at Mogart’s property. Beside them was a notepad and paper, filled with memorized notes from the sarcophagus’s hieratics.

“Are they asleep?” Layla asked.

“Yeah, they are.”

The more he examined them, the more Marc realized how quickly their wounds they’d received were healing. Although not immediately, the gashes along their arms and chest from the knives already had begun to heal. The kid had guts, being able to hold out as long as they did before allowing themselves to rest. At least they’re doing it now. Who knows how long until the next time they can properly rest.

“They’re like you, aren’t they?” Layla spoke in a hushed tone, having noticed that Marc was observing them.

“Sure is.” Marc whispersed, “Makes you feel a little bad, don’t it?”

“Hm?” Her tone was meant to prod him.

Marc continued, “I mean, just look at them. How young can they be? Under what circumstance would a god choose someone like them to be their avatar?”

Layla said nothing for a moment, and Marc didn’t blame her.

He continued on. “Anybody in the world, and they were chosen. They've barely started their life."

Anyone listening to Marc could tell that he was concerned for their situation, shocked even, but this was something he would let show once before he bottled it up inside, most likely never to be seen again.

A moment of silence fell before Layla spoke again.

“I need to talk to you, but, should we wake them up?”

“Nah,” Marc looked back at the scribe once more. They needed their rest, besides, there was much to discuss with Layla about the recent events that had occurred. “Let them sleep.”

The car drove into the desert that night.

------

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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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IOTA Reviews: Wishmaker

Goddamn it...

It's bad enough Astruc tastelessly axed Lukanette, but now he just had to show up to give a sarcastic eulogy at the funeral.

Let's get into the fourteenth (chronologically the eighteenth) episode of Miraculous Ladybug's fourth season: Wishmaker

Right out of the gate, we get a “Chloe bad” joke with her insulting Marinette for being poor or whatever as she hands out flyers for an upcoming career fair. Chloe doesn't have much of a role in the episode, but she will be important towards the end, trust me. We also get a funny “Marinette stares lovingly at Adrien” joke while she sees him, so it's good the writers are at least trying to get their strange habits out of their systems now instead of later.

While reading over the flyer in his room, Adrien ponders a possible career as he doesn't want to keep being a model.

(The episode came out in English first, so I'm just going to be using quotes instead of screenshots of subbed scenes for this review)

Plagg: Don't you wanna continue to model?

Adrien: I don't think so, Plagg. I'm doing it now because my father asked me to. But now I realize I don't know what I'd want to do. I've never asked myself that question.

This is a really interesting dilemma for Adrien. Unlike other episodes that just have him feel sad for entirely superfluous reasons like Ladybug turning him down or generally moping about his mom, it feels like something you can really understand. He genuinely isn't sure what he wants to do with his life because he's had everything chosen for him before. I also like the use of the English dub saying Adrien modeled because his father asked him to, as if he couldn't actually say no. I also like how Adrien is still starting to lose faith in Ladybug for giving out Miraculous to everyone, which makes even more sense after his view of her was shaken in the previous episode chronologically, “Rocketear”. I also like how Plagg suggests ideas for a career for Adrien, like the two of them opening up a cheese shop together, which shows how Plagg cares for Adrien and wants what's best for him, ultimately highlighting how healthy their relationship is. He's almost like a big brother who gives advice to Adrien, even if it isn't the most sound advice at times.

On the other hand, Marinette already knows what she wants to do with her life, but the Kwamis start to argue over what she actually means by it by saying they know what she wants to do, a painfully accurate metaphor for the writers dictating Marinette's actions no matter how inconsistent they are.

Pollen: What's a career, dear Guardian?

Marinette: Oh. Well, it's... your job! Something really important that you do and gives meaning to your life!

Roaar: Oh! So, your job is being the Guardian of the Miraculous!

Mullo: Of course not! It's being a student!

Xuppu: Not at all! It's making presents for Adrien!

Marinette:Well...

Longg: She said “something important”, like when she crafted the big doll house to hide the Miracle Box!

Wayzz: Or when she designed the alarm for this room! What a masterpiece!

Marinette: Sure, I love crafting but—

Ziggy: You guys don't get it! What gives meaning to her life is to be in love with Adrien, or Luka, that's her job!

Fluff: Luka's the one with the guitar, right?

Kaalki: Her real career is being Ladybug and carve her name in history by her glorious deeds, of course!

Of course, their bickering somehow makes Marinette realize she isn't sure what she wants to do in the future after all.

We then cut to a reality show hosted by TV personality, Alec Cataldi. He's generally an asshole to the people on the shows he hosts and takes pleasure in humiliating or just being a dick to them, making you wonder how he still gets work with that attitude. Basically, he's the Alec Baldwin of the Miraculous Ladybug universe. The current show he's hosting is one where he roasts people for their jobs, making Andre a target by pointing how counterproductive his “business” is.

Alec: Here's a perfect example: Andre, the Ice Cream Maker, the ice cream man that is never around! Let me remind you how this goes: Andre doesn't have a shop, no one knows where he is, it takes forever to find him, and he gets to pick a flavor of your ice cream! You've gotta be kidding, Andre! Give me one reason why I should bother to chase after you when I could get my choice of ice cream in any corner supermarket!

Andre: Well, people don't just come for ice cream when they find me. They come to share their love and experience of magical moments! A supermarket cannot do what I do! I am a creator of magical moments!

Alec: “Creator of magical moments?” You've gotta be kidding!

I'm pretty sure that's what a lot of people thought of Andre when they first saw “Glaciator”. The idea behind Andre is that he chooses ice cream for you representing something about yourself, so he gives Alec a scoop of lime to represent his sour exterior and chocolate cinnamon to represent the dreams he still has within. Alec flinches a little at the ice cream, presumably because of how terrible of a combination that is, and decides to go to commercial to think.

Marinette talks to Andre about what he does, and he explains he used to be an office worker, with the only highlight of his days being making ice cream for himself after work. It eventually inspired him to quit his job and start making ice cream for everyone. It's a nice backstory, and I think a lot of people watching who are struggling to think about their future can relate to this like with the earlier scene with Adrien. It's also a nice touch for the flashbacks to reveal Andre has served ice cream to some of France's most famous couples.

(Jean Coutau and Jean Marais)

(Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin)

(Marion Cotillard and Guillaume Canet)

Granted, I'm wondering how old Andre is to have even met some of these people given Jean Cocteau died in 1963, but seeing how Master Fu is 186, I'm guessing the Miraculous Ladybug universe just has really good healthcare. Either that, or the people in this universe take Jay Kordich's diet very seriously.

Andre gives some ice cream to Marinette, who is soon joined by her ex-boyfriend who she never loved according to the writers. Actually, judging from her face when Luka talks about the very first guitar he made, the writers made another 180 regarding Marinette's feelings for Luka.

Of course, because the show wants to remind the audience Alec still exists, he makes fun of Luka for taking two years to perfect the delicate craftsmanship it takes to sculpt any instrument when you can just download an app on your phone. Your inner boomer is showing, writers, even if you were born after the time period for that generation. Luka retorts with some vague philosophical line he's known for that's one of the reasons why people are so mixed on him as a character

Luka: Musical instruments fill the space and space fills the instruments. No phone in the world will ever be able to do that.

Despite it being incredibly confusing, it gets to Alec, causing him to run off in tears. Luka and Marinette continue to talk, but it turns out that's Adrien decided to sit down nearby because of course he did. Though, like the last scene, it's a pretty interesting one as the three discuss what they want to do with their lives. There's also a really nice visual of a blimp with an ad Adrien was in passing by while Adrien talks about his father dictating his life, a really nice symbol. Of course, the scene is somewhat ruined by Luka suddenly deciding to be an Adrienette shipper.

Luka: You two will eventually find what's already in front of you, but you can't hear it clearly. Just let the melody flow.

He's referring to their uncertainty of their futures, but earlier on, Luka wanted to help Marinette be honest with her feelings about Adrien, and even before that, Andre was saying that Marinette and Luka didn't have to be in love to enjoy his magic ice cream. It's here when I realized this episode is subtly trying to end any chances of Lukanette still happening with so many little details. Right when the two spend time together, that's when they decided to help Adrien who showed up for no reason, preventing them from potentially coming to terms with their feelings for each other or at the very least discuss how hard it is to be friends with their history. And things only get more frustrating towards the end, where you'd swear someone decided to smother Lukanette with a pillow in its sleep.

Back to Alec, he's roasting a wig salesman (does he even have permission to film any of these people?) for his job, but as soon as the salesman puts a wig on him, Alec immediately gives us his life story.

Alec: When I was a kid, I used to have long hair, but everyone made fun of me. That's why I shaved it all off. I've been making the wrong choices my whole life. My TV shows are nothing personal. I make fun of people when they make fun of me when I was a kid. (Starts to tear up) I should've been the person I always wanted to be, trying to change the world instead of mocking it! (Falls on his knees) I've wasted my life!

I didn't paraphrase this at all. This is seriously what happened. He goes from mocking everyone he meets, to slightly doubting himself after seeing an ice cream vendor and a young musician, and then he starts having an existential crisis about his tragic backstory. It's not a bad idea, but if there was some more buildup in previous episodes, I'd understand. But this goes from confusing to straight out insulting towards the end. I'll get to that later on.

Shadowmoth notices Alec's emotions and akumatizes him into Wishmaker through his microphone.

Wishmaker has a pretty cool design. The grey skin color coupled with the mostly black outfit really highlights Alec's broken heart, and he looks pretty sinister. His powers... leave a lot to be desired. Like the name states, Wishmaker has the power to make everyone's childhood dreams come true, like this one guy's dream is to be Santa Claus, so he transforms into Saint Nick without any hitch. Wouldn't it make more sense if Wishmaker twisted the dreams of his victims like a genie and made them miserable while they ironically lived out their fantasies by twisting around their words? Instead, all of his “victims” seem pretty happy, which doesn't really do much to make him a threat in my opinion.

So the aforementioned Santa starts dropping presents like bombs near Marinette, Adrien, and Luka, and they're separated by a giant robot. Marinette quickly transforms into Ladybug, and gets Luka to safety, though as soon as she leaves, Luka goes to check on where he told Marinette to stay for safety, and doesn't see her there. Instead, he sees his deadbeat father (transformed into a crocodile) drowning and goes to save him.

Ladybug meets up with Cat Noir (who transformed off-screen) and the two easily incapacitate the robot before engaging Wishmaker, avoiding his blasts. Apparently, they'll get their secret identities revealed if they get hit, so Ladybug goes to get Luka to help out as Viperion while Cat Noir holds off Wishmaker. Ladybug goes to get Luka, leading to the funniest joke in the episode.

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She gives Luka the Snake Miraculous and he transforms into Viperion, immediately activating his Second Chance. For newcomers, Second Chance allows the user to set a point in time when activating it and if something goes wrong, they can go back to that checkpoint in up to five minutes. Ladybug also summons her Lucky Charm, a stuffed dinosaur toy.

Back with Cat Noir, as he engages Wishmaker, the Akuma starts to tempt him with the idea of living out his childhood dream, because he genuinely doesn't remember his. As Shadowmoth orders Wishmaker to use his powers on Cat Noir, Ladybug and Viperion show up, but in the chaos of the fight, Ladybug gets hit by Wishmaker, revealing her childhood dream as the “Knitting Fairy”, and exposes her identity to Viperion, who uses Second Chance to undo the timeline.

In the new timeline, Cat Noir's vulnerability gets to him, so he willingly lets himself get his by Wishmaker, not only exposing his identity as Adrien, but tragically reveals his childhood dream, to be whatever his parents wanted him to be. I feel like this works a lot better than some of the other moments where Cat Noir defied orders or screwed around on the battlefield because it's clearly framed as a moment of weakness on his part, and it was naturally built up over the course of the episode. The reveal of Adrien's childhood dream is a real gut punch too, as it shows just how much Adrien's life has been controlled by his family.

In the third timeline, Viperon deflects Wishmaker's blast meant for Cat Noir and redirects it toward a man whose childhood dream was to become a giant stuffed dinosaur. The stuffed dinosaur in question goes to give Wishmaker a hug, restraining him long enough for Ladybug to steal for Cat Noir to cataclysm (It's a microphone, how hard is it to break???) before she de-evilizes the Akuma. Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to force everyone to stop living out their childhood dreams, she gives Alec a Magical Charm, and Luka decides not to tell Ladybug he knows both her and Cat Noir's secret identities. Why did Ladybug expect Luka not to know her identity when the whole reason she recruited him was to make sure nobody else found out her identity?

Now, while it isn't outright said, it's hinted at that now that Luka knows Marinette is Ladybug and Adrien is Cat Noir, judging from his dejected look after finding out the latter, he may be giving up on all attempts at the idea of getting back together with Marinette, and may or may not start shipping the Love Square now, just like how Kagami decided to ship Adrienette in “Mr. Pigeon 72”. I'm not saying the idea of Luka knowing someone's identity is bad, but it feels like this only happened specifically to stop him from having feelings for Marinette because now he knows Adrien loves her alter ego, and vice versa. Maybe it'll be touched upon in a later episode, but this was just a dick move by the writers in terms of ending all chances of Lukanette like this in order to ensure the Love Square has absolutely no competition.

So the episode ends with Marinette and Adrien deciding to focus on their futures while Alec starts a new show where he helps people live out their childhood dreams, albeit dressed like Style Queen for some reason.

Eh, he still picked a pretty cool Akuma to dress up as in my opinion. A lot of people have viewed this ending as evidence Alec is a drag queen with how he dressed up, coupled with the fact that he said something that was very similar to famous drag queen RuPaul.

Alec: And now, we're gonna love one another, starting with everyone loving themselves! Because how are you gonna love other people if you don't love yourself?

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Though Astruc, being Astruc, once again decided to be vague when asked about the subject on Twitter, though at least the subtext is better than when he said he didn't make Juleka and Rose girlfriends because of censors while making it seem like a noble act.

Overall, this was a really good episode, though there were some underlying issues that really kept me from actually liking it. For the most part, it had some good drama with the main character, a rare scene where Marinette didn't stammer around Adrien, a creative (albeit flawed) Akuma with some good action, and an interesting idea with Luka knowing everything about the Love Square now.

There are just two big problems that really got to me about this episode. Let's get the obvious one out of the way, Luka. Honestly, he really didn't need to be in the episode. Sure, he gave some sound advice to Marinette and Adrien about their careers, but it felt kind of strange to see someone their age talking to them about their future when Andre, someone who actually had experience struggling to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, was pushed to the side. And like I said earlier, I think the only reason Luka found out about Marinette and Adrien's identities was to discourage him from thinking about getting back together with Marinette. After all, now that he realizes how “made for each other” they are, he can't stand in the way of the Love Square.

The problem is that in the context of the episode, we don't really see what made him see things that way. At least in “Mr. Pigeon 72”, Kagami consistently viewed Marinette's attempts to get her and Adrien back together as a subconscious desire to be with Adrien. It was dumb with how she decided to go to Team Adrienette at the end of the episode, but it was something. I'm glad the episode didn't force in too many Love Square shenanigans, but I think more should have been done to contextualize Luka's feelings towards the reveal. I get the writers wanted to make sure Lukanette had no chance of coming back, but this just feels rushed.

And then there's Alec's redemption arc. While it's not a bad idea in concept, the problem is that it flies in the fact of a recurring theme this season, that being redemption. Because, here's the funny thing: Alec blatantly said he became an asshole TV personality because of his history of bullying, and decided to retaliate as a result, but he eventually saw the error of his ways and turned over a new leaf. For long time readers of this blog, I apologize for bringing this up yet again, but what exactly makes this different from everything Astruc said about Chloe? You know, when he said that you make your formative choices when you're fourteen? Just like how Alec decided to become a reality TV host making fun of people after a troubling experience from when he was a kid?

Let's say that I agree with Astruc's views about Chloe. How is Alec different from what Astruc's said about Chloe for almost two years at this point? What makes Chloe, someone who was the victim of a troubled childhood who never got help, an irredeemable monster while Alec, someone who also had a troubled childhood and had even more time to get help while never getting any, capable of change? I thought he Alec made a formative choice when he was young and stuck with it, just like how Chloe started to fully develop at the age of fourteen. I mean, Astruc, you yourself said that Chloe's troubled childhood “was no excuse to treat people like shit”, according to you.

I'm just saying, dude, if Chloe can't be redeemed because of the stuff you yourself said, then that shouldn't apply to Alec either. When you really think about it, it's almost like Astruc either made up a bunch of excuses to not redeem Chloe, or he's a massive hypocrite for going back on his word. You can't really justify this kind of hypocrisy relating to Alec's redemption when you remember just how much of a hardass Astruc was when explaining why redemption was impossible for Chloe.

This coupled with the treatment of Luka really drags this episode from really good to blatantly insulting to certain viewers. Then again, these two choices just got to me personally. I feel like if those two things weren't there, things could have made this episode a lot better for me personally. I can see why a lot of people in the fandom still like this episode, but I'm honestly not a fan of it.

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strawberrymilkgeorge · 3 years

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Part Five. "You guys gossip about boys without me?"

warnings: swearing, mentions of emotional abusive/manipulation word count: 3.2k (not including pictures)

behind the screen (irl dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist

Y/n dropped her phone on the bed and slowly rolled off and onto the ground with a soft THUD. She grunted, falling harder than she expected but the dull pain now present in her right shoulder felt deserved somehow. Why did she think she deserved it? Maybe because she was an unconfrontational worm even when the person needed to be confronted because he hurt her more than anyone ever had.

She closed her eyes and wiggled to get comfortable on the thin carpet in her room. Laying on the ground was relaxing to her, forcing her gamer back to straighten to how it was intended. It helped her think, being on the floor. She didn't know why but she didn't question it. Just laid on the floor in acceptance with the dirt and forgotten candy wrappers.

Why didn't she want to respond to Peter? Well, years of being with him and even the months of not being with him had taught her that her ex liked to get his way and liked to take his anger out in her verbally when he didn't.

You could say she's heard some terrible things over very simple inconveniences.

Y/n slowly pattered to her desk and slid on her headphones, finding the discord server Dream said he and George were on. It was a server that a lot of their friends were in, one that Y/n hardly went in since she still hadn't met a lot of them and wasn't super comfortable with talking in it yet.

She scrolled through the various text chats, one for boredom, one for stream questions, one for memes, one for pictures of pets, one for.... discussing the inevitable takeover of rats...? Y/n wasn't sure what that was about but she knew she didn't want to find out. The list went on. She was pretty sure they had made a channel for every possible message someone could ever send.

There were equally as many voice channels, most of them titled with the names of different games for when they only played with each other and didn't stream. Some of them were just random names and she noticed there was one to match the rat takeover text channel. Okay, who was responsible for that?

After what felt like an entire scavenger hunt and with many new questions in her mind, Y/n finally found the voice channel Dream and George were in and clicked on it. It was called memerz-only.

"I'm not a memer, am I allowed in here?" she asked. She hadn't realized how messed up her voice was since she hadn't talked all day.

"Holy shit, Bug, you sound awful."

She scoffed a laugh. "Thanks, Dream. Really means a lot." She did sound pretty scuffed. Her voice was a little scratchy from not talking literally all day.

"You doing okay, Bugsy?" George asked kindly, to which she hummed.

“I just have one quick question...”

“Mhm?”

“This is simple, please don’t elaborate further. There’s a channel on this server... did you guys mean rat as in BadBoyHalo’s dog or rats as in rats?”

Neither of them spoke for a minute before George understood what she was referring to. “Oh! Rats as in rats.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“Yeah, Quackity—“

“No!” she interupted. “No! I said I don’t wanna know. I really don’t. I’m too afraid to understand.”

“Wha- HA, okay.”

“Good choice, Bugsy. I wish I didn’t know what it’s about. It’s a lot weirder than you’d think.”

“Now that that’s settled,” Dream said with a laugh. “How are you doing, Bug?”

"Neither of you are streaming, right?" she asked, doubling checking the twitch app on her phone to be sure.

"No."

"So I don't have to pretend to be happy and bubbly?"

"No, you can be as mundane as you'd like," Dream said. "We don't mind."

"Yeah, honestly, most of the time when Dream and I are on calls alone it's just us being super boring and hardly talking."

"That's..." she paused to find the right words and decided with, "actually really cute. You guys just enjoy each other's presence."

George scoffed and Dream giggled. "See, even Bug says we're cute, Georgie! Why can you tell me you love me?"

"I'll leave right now if you don't stop," George threatened. "Can we go back to how Bugsy's miserable?"

"I'm not miserable, I just..." she hesitated. She had already told George about why she was having a bad day, but Dream?

She didn't want to tell Karl because she knew he would yell at her. She didn't want to tell Sapnap because she didn't trust him not to tell everyone (on accident, of course). For some reason, it was a different kind of hesitation than with the others that made her not want to tell Dream. She didn't want to tell him because she didn't want to be... embarrassed? Maybe that was it. She thought it would be embarrassing to tell Dream about how her ex-boyfriend treated her like shit and how now he wants to get back together with her. Plus, she knew how everyone else individually would react but Dream was a complete mystery. Maybe he'd yell at her too and say she's stupid for being affected by an ex. Maybe he'd break down crying for some reason? Who knows?

"You don't have to tell us," Dream stated. "Seriously."

"It's embarrassing," she said, tucking her feet beneath her on her seat. As she said the words, she decided they felt right. She was embarrassed. "But George already knows."

Above everyone else, Y/n was okay with telling George about her situation because he and her tended to talk about their troublesome relationships quite often. He always came to her for advice and she to him. They were very similar in their ways of thinking and seemed to have lots of similar dating stories, even if neither of them knew what the hell they were doing. She knew he'd never judge her for thinking unclearly since he tended to do the same.

George hummed, not knowing what to say since she hadn't said much. She could tell he didn't wanna say something that might make Dream more nosey and start hounding her about telling him.

"What hap—never mind. Not my business," Dream said quickly.

"No, I mean, I kinda wanted to talk to George about it again anyway so I guess you can join in on the gossip." Guess my mouth decided for me on this one, she thought.

"Wait, what? You guys gossip about boys without me?"

"Oh my gosh, don't say it like that, Dream," George groaned. "Bugsy and I talk about relationship problems a lot, yes. Not just boys."

"How did I not know this?"

"Because you don't know a lot of things?"

"It's normally George sending screenshots of text conversations with girls and asking me how to let them down gently," Y/n explained with a giggle.

"Or Y/n talking about her asshole ex."

"George! What do you and Karl not get about not calling him names?"

"I'm so lost," Dream mumbled.

Y/n sighed. "Okay, well," she cut herself off with a groan. "It's so embarrassing. Basically, my ex asked me to 'chat' this morning which is code for he wants to get back together—"

"Do you know that for sure?" Dream asked.

"Yeah, we already decided that," George snapped. "Let her finish."

"Sorry."

"So he wants to get back together and I feel stupid for wanting to listen to what he has to say."

"How is that embarrassing?"

"Because he hurt me and I feel like an idiot because him even suggesting that means he doesn't realize how badly he hurt me. It makes me feel like, I don't know, like all the time I spent being upset was for nothing," Y/n explained in a soft voice. "And because his simple, like, five word text made me freak out all day to the point of exhaustion."

"I don't think you should be embarrassed, Bugsy," George offered.

"Have either of you, uh, have you ever considered dating an ex?"

"Didn't you just say he hurt you badly?" Dream asked. "You aren't thinking of getting back with him, are you?"

"No... but I want to stay friends so maybe I should hear him out?"

"Well, I've never gotten back with an ex," he said bluntly. "But to be fair, all my relationships have ended badly or for bad reasons so I've never wanted to see any of them again. Staying friends depends on why you and he broke up, I guess, but..."

"Um, how do I put this..." she trailed off. "He was mean to me."

"Then no? Simple."

"But I've forgiven him and I think he's changed."

"People don't change that easily. Didn't you break up like, a few months ago?" George asked.

"Yeah, but—"

"Honestly I think if a guy was ever mean to you he doesn't deserve any more of your attention," Dream decided. "So, no. Don't even be his friend. Don't listen to a single thing he has to say."

"That's what I told her," George agreed.

"If that were the case, you guys shouldn't be friends," she argued. "You're mean to each other all the time."

"But we know it's a joke," George defended.

"So you're saying if someone is ever purposefully mean to you just once, you drop them forever?"

"Well, no," Dream said. "Not exactly. But it sounds like he was super mean to you since it's why you broke up."

She took a deep breath. She didn't want to go into detail. She was already uncomfortable enough talking about her personal life so much, but she trusted both of them and needed to get it off her chest and they were there and willing to listen. They had already established wanting to listen to her if she wanted to speak and right now, she wanted to speak. Maybe not the full story, but at least some. "He, um, well, the mean things he said, he said because he was trying to get me to see what he thought was the truth about myself."

Both of them were silent for a few moments. "I'm still confused," George admitted.

"Me too... But you don't have to tell us." Dream explained again. She thought it was sweet that they kept reassuring her that.

"I know, but I want to. If it's not too much for you guys..."

"No, go ahead, if you want."

"Uh, he lowkey emotionally manipulated me by telling me I wasn't good enough for anyone and stuff and how he was the only one who could ever love me. The second part he said truly believing that he was being romantic. There are a lot worse and specific things engraved in my brain but that's the gist of what he would tell me. He made me believe that I could never leave him because I could never be loved by anyone else. But he said it all in a way that... he thought he was just... letting me in on something no one else had the guts to tell me."

George gasped. "What?! Bugsy, I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was like that."

"Woah, what the hell? No. Absolutely not. Don't give this guy a second thought. Cut him off for good," Dream said sternly, angry that anyone would say that to anyone, especially to someone like Y/n. "Wait, so, you broke up with him?"

"Yeah. After Karl yelled at me a lot and explained his outside point of view, I finally realized Peter was gaslighting me and emotionally abusing me and stuff so I dumped him. I guess right now I'm just upset by it because I thought we were past this and I was healing and him reaching out affected me again. I'm just emotionally exhausted. Like I said, it hurts to know that he doesn't realize what he did to me."

"I'm really sorry, Bug," Dream said softly. "Gimme his address and I'll punch him for you."

She laughed through her nose. "That's okay. Thanks."

"Yeah, she can go set his house on fire if she wants. She's proven that already."

"Shut up, George," she said with a small laugh.

"Wh......at?" Dream stuttered and George briefly explained.

"Well, Bug, just so you know, in case you weren't aware, you're really cool and sweet and funny and we really like having you around–" Dream started.

"Oh, ugh, no don't do this," she tried to joke but he ignored her as he continued his speech.

"–and you're way too good to be hanging out with either of us, and whatever that asshole was showing you wasn't love. 'No one could love you like he did' because what he was doing was not love, it was abuse." Dream's voice had a certain gentleness to it as he spoke that comforted Y/n and made her believe him. He was blunt but it didn't stab her in the heart like it should have.

If Y/n ever cried, she might have just then from how sweet they were both being. But she didn't because that wasn't something she did. She never cried over anything Peter said, never cried during movies, and didn't cry then. But she did smile very fondly at the Discord screen in front of her.

"Thank you, Dream."

"You know I'm not good with words, but, yeah, what Dream said," George said. "I'm sorry you had to go through that thinking it was normal. Please, please, do not get back together with him and please don't be friends with him."

"He's fine as a friend though."

"Bug. Whether he's fine as a friend doesn't matter, he doesn't deserve to have you as a friend. He treated you like shit, it's okay to be a little cold to him."

She sighed. They were right. "Okay." There was a long pause before, "thanks, guys. Sorry for coming in here and dumping my problems on you—"

"Don't be sorry," George said. "We're the ones that asked you to come in and share. We knew what we signed up for and don't regret it."

"Seriously, Bug, we care about you. You're allowed to, you know, talk about yourself." How did he know that's what she meant by that sentence? The way he could read her mind was heart-warming.

"Also, George knows this but Dream, there's a strict no-telling policy about this kinda thing. Please don't tell anyone."

"I wouldn't even think of it," he promised. "My lips are sealed."

"Good."

A soft animal noise came from one of their mics and Y/n strained her ears to listen. "Was that a cat?"

"Patches has entered the chat," George joked.

Dream chuckled. "Yeah, my cat just jumped on my lap."

"Aw, you have a cat? Lemme see lemme see lemme see!" Y/n begged. "Partly because I would love if we could stop talking about my ex-boyfriend and the other part because I love cats."

"There's pictures of her in the pets channel on Discord—"

"No, no I want a picture of her on your lap. Is she all snuggled up?"

"Yeah, she is."

"PleASE, Dream. I need to see the snuggly cat."

"Fine, fine, if you insist. Give me a second."

A few moments later, she got a DM from Dream and smiled at the picture. His room was dark but the computer screen cast a cold glow over a ball of fur on a lap clad in sweatpants. "Awww, she's so cute."

"Dream, I wanna see it too," George whined. "Send it to the pets channel."

"I'm literally making this my lock screen," Y/n informed, making Dream laugh.

"No, George, it's only for Bug. She's had a bad day so she gets exclusive Patches content."

"What? That is so messed up."

"You know what's messed up, George?" Dream asked. "You never come to me with advice on how to reject girls. We're on the phone for 12 hours a day but you can't talk to me about girls? Do you know how that makes me feel?"

"You'll just make fun of me."

"Why would I? What makes you think that?"

"Because Sapnap and I make fun of you? So obviously you and him would make fun of me?" George said with a laugh.

"....that's fair."

Y/n locked her phone and clicked the home button to admire her new lock screen. "I love her," she whispered.

Dream and George both laughed. "I'm regretting sending you that. You're gonna, like, make a shrine or something."

"What would be wrong with that? She's precious. She deserves a shrine."

"Yeah, Dream, you're the one that feeds her gormet cooked food," George teased with a laugh. "You probably have a shrine."

"That's normal! That's what people feed their cats! That's completely normal!"

"I don't," George countered.

"Then what do you feed your cat?" Dream asked.

"I dunno, normal cat food?"

"Wait! You have a cat too??" Y/n asked. "I feel like we're missing a huge detail and it's that George never told me he had a cat."

"And a dog."

"WHAT? GEORGE! Send me pictures!!!!!"

"I can't right now, it's like three am. They're sleeping. Look in the pets channel."

"You're the worst," she grumbled, clicking and scrolling to find his pets. She saw a lot of cute pictures of other peoples pets along the way but couldn't find George's.

"Hey, do your animals have English accents?" Dream asked, making Y/n laugh.

"What?" George scoffed. "You're so stupid."

"How would that even sound?" Y/n asked.

"Like..." Dream thought, preparing to test out how it would hypothetically sound. "Meow," Dream meowed in his best accent, failing miserable.

"Oh gosh, never do that again," Y/n begged.

Dream laughed into his mic. "That was disgusting. George, I really hope your pets don't have accents."

"They're animals, so probably not. And if they did, it definitely wouldn't sound like whatever that was."

"Oh come on–"

"OH I FOUND THEM." Y/n announced as she found a message from George in the pets channel with the message 'heard we're sharing our pets'. "GEORGE. THEY'RE SO CUTE."

"Are you gonna make them your background picture now?" George asked.

"What, no way! It's Patches!" Dream scoffed.

"Yeah, I'll make George's pets my home screen. Oh, what a good day." As soon as she said it, a metal bowling ball fell to her stomach, reminding her of all the reasons it was, in fact, not a good day.

She got off after a while, feeling the weight of a particular idiot man's stupid simple text catch up with her again. She thanked Dream and George for letting her join, they invited her to always hang out with them, and she went on her way.

Y/n fell on her bed and curled up under the covers as her mind started to wander from Peter to Dream. She was really glad she met him. He was a really good person and he was always so incredibly kind to her. George and Sapnap and Karl were all great friends, so caring and understanding and always looking out for her, but Dream was different and she didn't know why.

Maybe it was because he seemed untouchable still, like he had no reason to hang out around someone like her. But he wasn't untouchable in the celebrity was since he had a large following, because all of her friends did and they didn't seem untouchable. Then what was it? What set him apart from, say, Karl? She trusted Karl with her life and had known him for quite a while. She knew Dream for maybe a few weeks and almost trusted him the same amount.

Why?

She picked her phone up off the bed and pulled up Twitter, deciding to DM Dream since he was already existing in her mind rent-free. Might as well make him pay his rent by bothering him.

*********

PREVIOUS | NEXT

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A/N: EEEEEEEE I hope that all made sense lmaaoooo basically yn ex = gaarrbbaaagggeeeee and ruined her self-worth a lot!! not poggers!!!!!! THANK U GUYS FOR BEING SO SWEET ALL THE TIME ALL FOR ALL THE POSITIVE FEEDBACK ON ALL THE CHAPTERS!!! I love seeing you guys make predictions and tell me how aljkDFB chapters make you feel bc same :/

taglist: OPEN (at the time) @hydrate-tion @loraleiix @tinaswagbd @charsdummb @smileyyuta @1ghoste1 @cerberus-hellhound @gaysludge @queestionmark @carnations-red @letsloveimagines @the-fictionwriters-hairdo @boiled-onionrings @a-cryptic @fee-btheweeb @letsloveimagines @erwinss @just-a-stan @axths @kayleigh2703 @furiouspockettoad @sometimeseverythingsucks @powerpuffyn @itshaileyn @millavalntyne @automaticcomputerpaper @nikkineeky @fivedicksinatrenchcoat @sprucekot @jabby16 @mae-musicbitch @hungoverhellhound @dreamyteam @kuroo-icedtea @stuffforreferences @menacingaesthetic @sapphic-soot @fangeekkk

#rpf #real person fiction #dream x reader #dreamwastaken x reader #dream x y/n #dreamwastaken x y/n #mcty x reader #mcyt x y/n #clay x reader #dream smau #dreamwastaken smau #smau #social media fic #dream social media fic #social media au

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jiminiesfavouritecolourisblue · 3 years

Text

Types of love - Jin Drabble ft Jungkook {fluff + angst} Housemate au

You hear a deep sigh beside you as you take out the laundry from the washing machine.

“Noona what are you doing?” Jungkook sounds exasperated with you and it’s only 7 in the morning.

“Jin’s got a meeting at 12, I told him I’d get his clothes ready for him,” you grin brightly at your youngest housemate.

“Why can’t Hyung do it?” He doesn’t return the smile.

“He wanted a lie in.”

There’s that sigh again but you ignore it, it made you feel a little shame that you tried to push down.

“Okay new question,” you could see him pinch the bridge of his nose from the coroner of your eye as you put the clothes in the dryer. “Why are you doing it?”

You shrug, “he’s been busy and I just though-”

“Noona,” cold judgy eyes came from the maknae.

“Kookie leave it, I’m doing it because I want to,” your sunny outlook on today was suddenly dampened by the annoying brat following you.

“He’s taking advantage of you and your feelin-”

“Kook I said leave it!”

You slam the door as you walk out.

——————————————————————————

It was no secret to anyone that you may have feelings for the oldest of your housemates, even though you’ve never ever said it out loud. Your actions spoke for you. You always went the extra mile due to your unrequited affection, but you didn’t mind, you were always taught to love without limits and you swore you did what you did without expecting anything in return. He was just so handsome and funny, you were happy just to be his friend, even if your heart hoped to be something more, you couldn’t help it. Maybe he did sometimes take a little advantage of you? But truly you were to blame for that and you took full responsibility.

You and Jin ignored the way Jungkook was staring daggers at him as you brought him his tea with some cakes to the table when he got back from a long day of work.

“How was work Jin?” You asked.

“Perks of being son of the CEO, everyone offered to do my work for me,” cue the windshield wiper laughter you loved to hear. “The new girl on my floor slipped me her number, it was a pretty good day.”

Your heart sank and with it your smile, you forced it to stay on as he rambled about his day and the pretty new girl, if they both could see your discomfort they didn’t say anything.

Jin wasn’t oblivious he just didn’t care, Jungkook on the other hand now watched your reactions like a hawk.

“It may not be the most professional thing to do as her potential new boss but I may have agreed to drinks Friday night,” he chortles, his spiel coming to an end.

“You’re not taking over the business any time soon Hyung, hold your horses,” Jungkook rolled his eyes.

“Wait Friday?” You suddenly speak after staying quiet. “Jin we’re all supposed to go for dinner Friday, we booked the table and everything.”

The three of you reserved dinner at the same place every year on the anniversary of you all moving in, it was an important night for you, you three were always so busy or tired so nights out were rare. Plus Jin was always so busy, he was either at work or at the gym or sleeping or out, the housemate anniversary was the only real time you got to spend with him.

“Y/n I think you missed the part of the story where I told you she was hot,” he argues with what he thinks is sound logic.

“Jin it’s the housemate anniversary, it’s sacred are you seriously ditching us for some random girl?”

“It’s not a big deal Y/n, hoes before bros you know?” he laughs at his own stupid joke and for the first time it irritates you a little.

“Not your bro Jin,” you grit your teeth.

“You might as well be Y/n, you’re not exactly the girliest girl ever,” he responds.

“Hyung,” Jungkook warns, finally butting in after watching your discussion like a tennis match.

You sit back in shock, did he seriously bro zone you? What the hell!

“Noona is pretty Hyung, stop being mean,” young Kookie comes to your defence when you fail to speak.

“Oh no I’m not saying she’s not, she’s just not my type,” why the hell was he talking about you like you weren’t there, he wasn’t even looking at you anymore. You sit deflated with you head low, biting back tears. Jin didn’t notice, when did he ever, Jungkook did.

“I think that’s enough.”

Jungkook was right, that was enough, you stood up to leave without uttering another word to them both. Once he heard your door close, Jungkook unleashed hell.

“What the hell hyung! Are you trying to upset her on purpose?” He seethed in a hush tone. “You know how she feels about you what the hell was that?”

“God Kookie don’t start on me it’s been a long day, it’s fun to pick on her a little, what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is you hurt her feelings,” Jungkook says a little louder still trying to control the rage he felt at the man sitting in nonchalance while he had his fists formed and jaws clenched. Jin shrugged his shoulders and Jungkook wondered what happened to his good friend, he was never like this before.

“Hyung you take advantage on her all the time, she literally does everything for you because she cares about you without expecting anything in return and you treat her like shit,” he explains, “it has to stop.”

“I don’t know why you’re lecturing me you brat,” Jin rolls his eyes, “I’m older than you by 5 years, learn some respect.”

Jungkook walked away before he laid his fist into his friend and lived to regret it, he didn’t realise you heard every word.

——————————————————————————

“Is he seriously not coming?”

It was stupid to hope that Jin would make an appearance while you both waited for him at home dressed and ready. He still hadn’t come from work... he finished two hours ago. You weren’t upset because you liked Jin, you were upset because you thought at least you meant something as a friend. Jin and Jungkook became what you thought were best friends for you, regardless of stupid feelings, you just thought they felt the same.

Jungkook stood next to your sitting form, moving his weight from foot to foot.

“I don’t think he is Noona, he said he wasn’t going to,” Jungkook sighed. “Why are we still waiting, we’re going to miss our reservation.”

He hated seeing you sad, if he could punch some sense into Jin he would, hell he’d punch him anyway for making you look so downcast. He sighs deeply again, throwing his head back in exasperation.

He kneels down in front of you, taking you hands into his as you look up slightly to meet his gaze. He has stars in his eyes, you think, why hadn’t you noticed before?

“Noona should we just cancel?” He asks delicately. “We can go get our pjs and order an Indian and have a stupid movie night.”

He was really trying to make things better you could feel it, your blatant emotions for his friend must’ve made him feel so uncomfortable but he’s still trying for you. You offer him a small smile.

“Sounds great Kookie,” you say sincerely.

——————————————————————————

“Oh my god are you kidding me!” Jungkook says half seriously yelling at you. “Iron man is way better than Batman.”

You laugh out so loud, you can’t remember the last time you felt like this.

“I didn’t mean it Koo,” you say between breaths of laughter. “You’re just so cute!”

He fights the red feeling blooming in his face as he pokes the inside of cheek with his tongue in faux annoyance. Jungkook was loving your impromptu movie night, it was the first time in forever you didn’t mention he who must not be named.

“That’s just cruel, you don’t joke about iron man, it’s blasphemy,” his words make you laugh harder and it makes him break out in a big grin, one that wipes away as you both hear the keys turn.

Jin was not expecting you both curled up on the sofa with take away containers on the coffee table when he walked home from a rather boring date. Your laughter dies in your throat before he even walked into the room, eyes boring into the tv. Jungkook keeps his arm around you in place, he felt warm and comfortable he didn’t want this feeling to end.

“Good date Hyung?” He doesn’t know why he asked when he could feel you stiffen in his hold.

“Yeah,” he says a little dazed at the sight in front of him. “did you guys not go out?”

“Nah we stayed in and had a iron man marathon,” the bunny teeth were out as he grinned.

“I lost Rock Paper Scissors,” you offered meekly. Why did you feel like you were cheating on Jin? That was ridiculous, you were not dating Jin and you were just friends with Jungkook, right? “Wanna join?”

He shakes his head, “no you guys look like you’re having fun, plus I’m a bit tired so I’m going to head to bed.”

You normally offer him some tea and cake at this point, but you stay silent, Jin tries not to read into why it makes his chest feel heavy with disappointment and something else he can’t quite figure out.

——————————————————————————

You were laughing loudly again, it was irritating the broad shouldered man to no end, he didn’t mind the sound honestly, he just hated the reason why you were in this state. Jungkook was making faces at you while you both cooked and honestly Jin couldn’t understand why you found it so funny.

“You look like a meme!” You chortle.

“Is dinner ready yet?” Jin interrupts.

“Patience Hyung,” Jungkook doesn’t break eye contact with you, still smiling brightly. He’s so pretty when he smiles, you felt like you hadn’t seen it for a while before your movie night.

“Are you two dating?” Jin slams his laptop shut in his outbreak, he didn’t mean to ask but it came out anyway. You nearly drop the plate you’re holding but Jungkook catches it before you let it go. Now your both holding a plate while staring at each other wide eyed, while Jin gawks at you both with a quiet anger simmering away inside of him.

Why are you both blushing furiously? Jungkook is the first to break away as he stares his Hyung down with his own anger.

“So what if we are?” He asks. “I don’t think it’s any of your business either way.”

“Jungkook...” you frown, you were not dating, why didn’t he just say no... why didn’t you just say no?

Jin scoffs, he couldn’t really say anything to that but it pissed him off.

“I didn’t realise you were into toy boys Y/n,” he jeers.

Now you were frowning at Jin as Jungkook started to shake with rage.

“I could treat her a lot better than you ever could,” he seethes back.

“You’re still a kid Jungkookie, Y/n always treats you like one,” did he seriously not hear the irony in his words?

“That’s enough!” It’s you that breaks up the inane argument. “Jungkook is not a kid Jin, just because he’s young and nice doesn’t make him any less of a man than you.”

They’re both shocked at your outburst.

“He’s been a wonderful friend to me for years, he’s always had my back, always looked out for me even when I was being a stupid idiot pining after you!”

The youngest of the trio can feel his chest full with warmth at your words and the way your glaring at the oldest with such disdain he never thought he’d see. Jin stays quiet at your onslaught starting to feel shame as he reflected on how he’s treated you through the years. He used to really adore you too, really appreciated everything you did for him but when everyone at work started treating him the same it became a normalcy, something expected instead of a gift.

“I’d be so lucky if Kookie dated me, although he’d be out of his mind to after how pathetic I’ve been, he’s the best guy I know, don’t speak to him like that.”

Jungkook can’t help the small smile fighting to turn the corners up on his mouth, Jin doesn’t miss the way he looks at you, full of love. You were an idiot not to see it, it had been there for a while.

“Noona, the pastas burning...”

You turn back to the stove feeling the heat in your face from your rant, you didn’t expect it from yourself to be honest. Jungkook stood beside you, mixing the sauce in the other pan while the room sat in silence.

He couldn’t help but steal glances at you, couldn’t help the hope in his heart build, maybe you felt the same way about him too. Maybe this is what redamancy feels like.

You try to sneak a peak at the man standing next to you, surprised to see his eyes already on you, you feel your heart stop for a second before it restarted anew.

You return his smile, you can’t help it.

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