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coldsoupbowl-blog · 3 years

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For The Sake Of Better Times (Ler Hawks/Lee Dabi)

This has been a long time coming bruh. Hope you like it Eevee my heart and soul was poured into this. Love you and everything that you do <3

When you see big bad villains on TV or on the big screen, you usually see them in the midst of an incredible battle. Guns blaring, fiery explosions, big declarations of their victory over the hero. All of these big productions of turning the world into something that fits their own worldview, even if that worldview is broken and demented. One often wonders what's going on behind the mind of someone who has that worldview; one who sees a perfectly fine place as disgusting and corrupt. Because they've been through the disgusting and corrupt, and they know that not everyone's glass walls have been shattered as theirs has. The big explosions and wide killing sprees and wild maniacal laughter of a textbook villain is nothing compared to the wild currents blurring their mind and storming their heart.

The League of Villains, a villain organization made up of powerful quirk abusers and double agents had no current agenda as of today. Most of the patrons that made up the alliance were residing in their hideout, a hollowed-out building that was restored to resemble a bar service. One of the villains that participated in the League, Dabi, occupied a bar stool and watched the latest news intently from the flat screen in the corner of the room.

A new interrogation method against villains was being proposed by the Hero Commission, the spokesperson reported, an interrogation method that would take a sensitivity-heightening quirk and develop it into a mass-produced serum. This serum, once administered, would take the subjects five senses and heighten them to make nearly any stimuli incredibly uncomfortable. Using this, tools and extra manpower would be unnecessary seeing as how the subject would be sensitive to almost anything that would be thrown at them.

Dabi rolled his lidded eyes at this. What a pathetic way of saying that the Hero Commission couldn't handle the enemies as they came, they had to power them down as well as they could to get the upper hand. Taking advantage of the villain's five senses just for interrogation purposes seemed inhumane. Another patron to the League of Villains, Himiko Toga, didn't have the same reaction to this news, however.

"Ehehehee!~ Doesn't that sound so thrilling, Dabi-Kun? Being unable to resist anything the interrogators decide to do to your unwilling body, whether you liked it or not? What if the interrogator is cute, all of your forced reactions will be the product of their actions against you! Ooooh, my heart is pounding!~" Toga smiled dreamily and twirled around like a princess, although Dabi didn't know any princesses who wielded knives with dried blood crusted over the blade. Toga threw herself onto Dabi's shoulders and pinched the spikes that his onyx hair naturally made when it was tousled like this.

"Say you agree with me, Dabi-Kun~ We can be freaks together!" Toga's voice dropped to a seductive mutter in Dabi's ear, but this had no effect on him. The villain wasn't attracted to girls like Toga, or girls of any nature, now that he was finding out. He was about to reply, surprisingly, before he felt a finger slide down his side. He felt the pressure end at the top of his hip, but to this, he only gazed at Toga's hand to make sure the blonde villain didn't pull anything. Toga visibly pouted when the male villain didn't give her the reaction she wanted.

"Dabi-Kun! You're not ticklish? Why nooot? No tickles for big bad Blueflame?" Toga's fingers started to wriggle over Dabi's left side, but he simply watched. Watching the fingers slide over his cotton shirt made a memory flashbang in his mind, but the vision soon slid away once he thought about it. The bored villain slapped away his partner's hand and signaled the barkeep, Kurogiri, for a drink.

"I don't have time for kid games like those." He said simply. This caught the attention of a certain personality in the room, a personality that not everyone was excited to see, but his presence was necessary nevertheless. The number two hero on the Pro Hero Charts, Keigo Takami, or Hawks, peered up above the couch he was seated on to get a glimpse of the onyx villain. The double agent's amber eyes shone in the dim lighting as something that the villain said piqued his interest.

"Oh boo. You and Shiggy-Kun aren't ticklish like I want you to be. This place would be so much cuter if you were! Maybe I can steal a few of those serums from the Hero Commission and turn you into my little-" Toga daydreamed out loud, but a swooshing sound interrupted behind her, like a pile of feathers were thrown onto a chair. In a sense, they were. The double agent Hawks had selected a barstool to sit in next to Dabi, which Dabi groaned at. Hawks gave Toga a warm smile despite their different lines of profession.

"Himiko, Shig-Man needs to see ya in his office. Said it was urgent, and you know he hates to wait. Maybe he overheard your serum idea and wants to play a prank on Twice." At this, Toga swooned and gave a girlish squeal of excitement.

"Oh, how exciting! I already know the table I want to strap him into!~" The blonde villain skipped out of the room, humming a sweet song despite her knife scraping up the plaster on the walls as she ran past. Hawks watched her leave and shook his head, turning back to see Kurogiri handing Dabi his drink.

"So, Staples, when you say that you don't have time for certain kid games, what exactly are those kid games? Are you saying that you played different games when you were a kid?" Dabi threw the conniving man a sideways glance as he finished the sip of his darkly colored drink.

"Staples? The hell kinda name is that? It's Dabi, and nothing more. Secondly, you don't get to know the kid games I played when I was younger. Because I didn't play any of them." Dabi's tone was quiet but forceful. Sometimes that was scarier than being loud and upfront. Hawks, or Keigo, drummed his fingers over the wooden barkeep. Dabi's response didn't scare him, not this time anyway; it riled him up. His crimson wings were puffed up and clearly agitated like an upset bird.

"So what did you do over the course of your childhood then? You didn't pop up in the gutter at 24 years old and just start blowing shit up." Keigo was needling for something; he didn't know what it was exactly, he just wanted to get any indication that Dabi had been happy at least once in his life. Maybe happy with a childhood friend-

"Let it alone before I turn you into a burnt chicken wing," Dabi growled and shoved his barstool back to stalk out of the room. Kurogiri watched silently. Keigo's left leg bounced as he thought up an idea to look inside Dabi's past. There was something that the blonde hero was looking for, and maybe with enough pressure, Dabi would give it up. Keigo sniffed and looked up to the television, the Pro Hero Eraserhead speaking on the panel about the developments of the sensitivity-heightening serum.

"-serum is now being trial-tested against our own strongest participants. This project will put an end to cruel and unusual interrogation methods. The Hero Commission recognizes that these villains are wicked, yes, but they still deserve to be treated with a level of dignity and respect that these new developing methods will offer. Thank you very much for your time." The tired hero stood from his chair and bowed towards the reporters who were all asking their questions at once. Keigo's wings suddenly perked up with an incredible idea.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Yeah, Shig said he wanted us in the conference room. Something about this sensitivity-heightening serum has him rubbed the wrong way." Keigo relayed onto Dabi, who was walking right next to the conniving hero. The hero's heart was racing. Two days after the incident at the bar, the number two hero had pulled some strings with the scientists creating the serum and had them form it into a gas. He had them make it under confidential means. It was the chloroform gas that was the hard part to set up-

"Whatever it is, let's get done with it. I got shit to do." So short and to the point with him. Keigo was jealous of Dabi's straightforward demeanor. Alright, the room was almost here. Just a little bit further before Dabi realized that they were needed in the conference room that was on the other side of the building.

The golden double agent and the onyx villain walked into a decontamination hallway, the doors on either side locking and bolting shut. Dabi looked visibly confused before it was replaced with his usual bored expression. The villain turned to the hero for an explanation. Keigo shrugged nonchalantly.

"You know the boss. Every precaution is not nearly enough..." Dabi had turned his back on the hero as he narrowed his eyes towards the chambers that held the decontaminating spray. There were black nozzles screwed onto the chambers that hadn't been there before. Dabi's cyan eyes flew open as a thin vapor began to seep into the chamber. Keigo had just clamped a mask over his own mouth and nose as Dabi was already losing consciousness, his knees striking the floor and his hands sending out small defensive flames. Keigo relished a quick moment of pride as he watched the hardened villain choke on the powerful gas, his head already rolling to the side in defeat.

The hero knelt down beside Dabi and held his cheek; the insane murderer looking almost innocent in his peaceful rest. "Poor Dabi. You'll realize soon enough that I'm doing you a favor. You and I both need to find out what happened to Touya Todoroki.."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''

The room was cold, freezing even, as if the cold air were needles sticking into his skin. He was too aware of his surroundings even with his eyes closed; the biting leather strapped over his arms and legs, his soft cotton shirt now a lead weight on his chest, his soft aerodynamic hair now a dense mat on his forehead. It was incredibly bizarre and uncomfortable; it was like he was feeling everything all at once. And not just feeling; The dim lights in the room were bright enough to him that they stabbed into his shut eyes, he could taste the acrid gas that had knocked him out on his tongue despite it being hours since that had happened, the low buzzing of the generator outside of this holding cell was a high enough frequency to give him a headache. The skin stitched between his scarred skin and pale skin were like live wires sparking against his nerves.

"Sensory overload, must be absolute hell. I can't imagine what it must feel like. Then again I'm not really interested in finding out. Oh, and don't try to get yourself out with your flames. Not only will it hurt like hell against your sensitive skin, but your quirk has been canceled out anyway. I totally didn't have some guests over while you were konked to help me set this up...and take pictures of you." The voice that was speaking to Dabi sounded like he was fighting back a laugh. It was also damn loud and obnoxious, more so than with this sensitivity-heightening serum coursing through his veins.

Dabi's lidded eyes opened with a furiousness in his pupils so honest that Keigo swallowed nervously. Dabi had his arms strapped outward on either side of him, his palms face up and clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Leather straps were pulled tight over his biceps, forearms, and wrists. A belt laid dangling by the side of the table in case his midsection needed restraint, and his legs were held down at his thighs, above his knees and his ankles. Keigo couldn't help but look him over a few times; the villain looked like he was made just to be on this table and in these restraints.

"Let. Me. Out. Before I set your skeleton on fire." Dabi growled, and pulled on the restraints. They were tight and unforgiving, no wiggling room here. Whatever was in that serum also made sure to sap him of his strength; the once strong villain felt as if he were made of liquid. Keigo shook his head and tsked, walking over to place a hand on Dabi's belly. The hero's light hand felt like a five-pound weight on the sensitive villain. Dabi watched the hero's every move, although it didn't feel like nearly enough to prepare him for what was to come.

"Tsk tsk, little blueflame. You really think I'd set you free after everything I've done to get you here? Not to mention," Keigo's luminous golden eyes looked up to Dabi's cyan ones, a hardened seriousness in the pupils, "that you're a convicted child abductor." Keigo removed his hand from Dabi's chest, and Dabi took in a deep breath once Keigo had looked away. The villain felt as if a weight had been removed from his chest. This serum was horribly effective; it almost made him sick.

Keigo turned back to Dabi and cracked his knuckles. Dabi started to sweat; he had no idea just how elevated his nerve endings were and how they would receive everything, but he felt like all of his nerves were standing on the edge of his skin, just underneath the surface. Despite his anxiety, Dabi cleared his throat and shook his head.

"I'm no child abductor. That brat from UA was Shigaraki's project. I knew the kid was bad news from the start." His voice came out evenly, thank God. But this didn't convince Hawks. Keigo walked back over to Dabi and inspected his restraints. The fun must be about to start, Dabi involuntarily thought in his head. He took choppy breathes, wondering what torture would be first on the docket.

"Nah ah ah, not Bakugou. I'm talking about Touya Todoroki. He's been missing for about 10 years now. He came from a loving family with siblings and friends alike...but he suddenly disappeared. And you were the last one to have been seen around him." Dabi's heart flipped at the name. He didn't know why, he's never heard the name before. But something settled in his stomach like a fluttering of butterfly wings. Keigo placed his hands flat on the table on either side of Dabi, the warmth of his skin was even felt against Dabi's hypersensitive nerves.

"You're gonna tell me what you did to Touya Todoroki, even if I have to force you." Dabi looked at Keigo like he was a crazy person. He's never taken a kid named Touya, but his body felt like it remembered the name even if his brain didn't. Dabi cleared his throat and hardened himself before looking back up at Keigo.

"Whatever you do won't get the truth. You have the wrong guy, and even if I did have any idea what you're talking about, I wouldn't give you shit." Keigo chuckled darkly at this and set his bare fingers up to Dabi's triceps and traced along the muscled lines in his skin. Keigo hardened his own expression, flat gold disks looking into even blue plains, and smirked at Dabi's immediate reaction. The villain had twitched and jolted in his chair, his fists balling up and his muscles flexing underneath the leather straps.

"We'll see about that. Oh-ho-ho, we'll see." The blonde hero kept his smirk on his face as Dabi tried to worm away from the alien sensations; Keigo lightly tracing his fingers underneath the villain's twitching arms. Dabi hasn't felt a sensation this light in years; he's completely forgotten anything could feel so gentle and tingly.

"Ya know Stitches, this sensitivity-heightening quirk caught my eye for a reason. The scientists who developed it reported that nerves the subject thought had gone dormant years ago were suddenly reawakened, like the kindles of a dying fire bursting into bright flames in a split second." Dabi's fingers knuckled, his breath hitching as Keigo's fingers skittered nearest to his open armpits, but scuttled back at the last second. Dabi shuddered and let out his breath silently. Keigo however, soaked in every delicious reaction with a sadistic hunger.

"At first I thought, "There's no way hardened lowlife criminals could be so sensitive to such small stimulus. Bright lights, loud music, gross smells-" Keigo took both of his pointer fingers and circled them around the outer rim of Dabi's armpits, which made Dabi's eyes fly open and suck in his breath. The damn tingles were climbing in his arms and fluttering in his chest, like there was a swarm of butterflies caged in behind his ribs. "-light touches~ Oh don't tell me these light touches are doing anything for you, are they? They're already drawing out such animated expressions from the most stoic man I've ever seen stalk this earth."

Dabi's stomach was jumping, like he was going uphill on a rollercoaster, just waiting for the descent. The onyx villain's fingers relaxed, however, once Keigo drew his own fingers away from the sensitive spot. Keigo quirked his lips and held his chin, in a thinking pose before the restrained criminal. The blonde hero resembled a butcher standing over a cow carcass, wondering which part of the animal he was gonna slice up first. Dabi swallowed in a dry throat as he chose his words cautiously. As he opened his mouth to speak, Keigo pointed a finger to the ceiling as he thought up what he wanted to say with a delighted grin on his face.

"Of course. There just so happens to be a word for this phenomenon, these light touches that feel like they're taking over your body~" Keigo suddenly swooped in close to Dabi and layered all ten of his fingers onto Dabi's raised individual ribs. Dabi's eyes stared right into the double agent's unreadable expression as the fingers started to press in.

"It's called 'tickling', the kid games that you were dissing earlier. Looks like we have all the time in the world to play them now, right little blueflame? And you're just sensitive enough to enjoy them this time with me~" Keigo's fingers shook into Dabi's ribs, each finger taking up a bone and vibrating into it. Dabi winced instinctively, but instead of pain, he found maddening consistent tingles. Ungracefully, the villain let out a snort and started letting out frantic giggles. His muscled arms pulling on the restraints and his legs hitched up to try and curl into a ball.

"Pffmmt- H-Hahahawks! S-Stohohop thihihis nahahahaow!" Deep baritone laughs rumbled out from Dabi's chest without his consent. There was no restraining or trying to keep back his giggles. Keigo's fingers were like lead weights scribbling on his hypersensitive skin. Keigo had a proud look on his face; he was half-expecting for something like this to simply not work on Dabi. But it seemed the exact opposite was true. This was working a little TOO well; with the hardened criminals face bright and squinted in a look of happiness.

"Mmhmm... If you wanna tell me what happened to Touya Todoroki, I'd be more than happy to help you. On the other hand, though, it looks like you're missing some ribs there, kid. Wouldn't want ya walking around with half an empty ribcage, now would we~" Keigo narrowed his eyes with a smirk on his face as he started from the top of Dabi's ribcage and made sure to scritch each bone and count loudly enough for the villain to hear.

"Ooone...twooo...threee-" "Keihehehego stohohohop!" "Mmmm...I don't think 'stop' is an acceptable number, I'll have to start aaaall the way back at the top~" With Dabi's arms spread on either side of him, every time he bucked to rid himself of the sensation just pushed the hero's lead fingers into his sensitive skin. His skin felt as if Keigo's fingers were actually about to reach inside of him and count the bare bones of his skeleton.

The blonde hero took a moment, stilling his fingers, to watch Dabi's reactions to his stimulus. A bright smile infused with mirth was spread across his face; his eyes already glittering over with tears, and his fluffy hair crowned his head to make him look like a bashful giggling kid. His cheeks were dusted over with a light pink from all his hard chuckles. Keigo bit his tongue to keep back the truth; he wanted to blurt it all out for Dabi so they could hurry up and reminisce together.

The hero covered up his torture stopping by becoming all business and suddenly gripping Dabi's chin to force him to look up into his golden eyes. Dabi was woozy from his lack of oxygen, a dumb smile still plastered across his face. It made Hawks' heart do kickflips, but he couldn't speak to that now.

"Touya Todoroki was declared a missing person 10 years ago on October 25th, 2010. What did you do with him? Is he still alive? When is his birthday?" Keigo threw all of these questions at once at the dumbfounded villain. The villain tried to jerk his head out from the hero's grip but the hero held on tight.

"I told you already you fucking dumbass birdbrain! I never abducted any kid! The squirt probably got hit by a train or was bullied to death by some bastard schoolkids!" That last yelp of desperation left his chest without him realizing what he said. Bullied to death....bullied? Something about that doesn't feel right. Like...it's true. Maybe the kid was bullied. It's almost as if... I've experienced it-

Dabi's thoughts were suddenly scattered with his own bouncing cackles; Hawks' fingers gripping his slender sides and squeezing into them. Hawks made sure to hold onto his bottom ribs and taze them while his thumbs squished into the criminal's skin. Dabi jerked on his leather restraints as the cords of his neck stood out on the surface of his skin from his insane laughter.

"GAHAHAHAD!! STAHAHAHAP!! I DOHOHON'T KNOHOHOW SHIHIHIT!! I SWEHEHEAR!!' The criminal's eyes screwed shut tightly in his laughter, the vibrations so deep and pronounced that it felt like it was inside of him. Dabi's knees pulled up and slammed back down on the table in an attempt to do anything to get out of this situation, but his restraints were too tight. Keigo had a VERY amused look on his face at this recent development.

"Swearing already?~ That's cause for celebration, isn't it? Bravo to our modern scientists for creating something so malicious that it made our hardened criminal swear within the first five minutes~ Although, it doesn't answer my question. Where is Touya Todoroki? What color is his hair? What outfit was he wearing on the day you captured him?" Keigo threw nonsense questions at Dabi to see how he would react to them. Of course, Keigo already knew all of the answers, in part anyway, but he wanted to see how this villain would crack under the pressure. The hero's fingers vibrated in Dabi's lowest ribs as his thumbs massaged in two places on his lean belly. Keigo tried not to look for too long at the villain's contracting abs.

Dabi's limbs were restless in their quest to try and weasel their way out of this situation; his legs and arms squirming and wrestling against the restraints. Dabi's fists balled up to try and fight the maddening tingling sensations, and his hips bucked up like the bronco he was only to slam down on the table once more. Keigo felt like he was tickling the riding bull you find in dive bars and the like.

"I SAHAHAID I DOHOHON'T KNOHOHOW THE FUHUHUCKING KID!! YOU GAHAHAHA!-" Dabi's deep rumbling laughter soon turned into high pitched hysterical giggles. Keigo's crimson wings had accidentally fluttered over the criminal's belly as he had shifted in his place. Keigo looked back at his magnificent wings and soon had a horrible look shadow over his face. The hero's fingers stilled once more as he plucked a feather out from his own wing. Dabi's cyan eyes were rolled to the back of his head as he laid limp on the table; his mouth open and sucking in as much oxygen as possible.

"I don't think that's gonna cut it, Patches. I want real answers, not this tippy-toe bullshit you keep pulling on me. I'm gonna get what I'm looking for even if it means I have to kill you." His voice was deep and serious enough for Dabi to perk up and look at him. Dabi didn't care about dying; he even welcomed it at this point just to get out of this damn table. Dabi turned sharply towards his collarbone and coughed into his shoulder. A regular cough wouldn't hurt unless it was a virus, but Dabi's hyper-sensitive insides made this cough burn up his parched throat. The villain looked back with a newfound seriousness and tried not to look too terrified at the slim wiggling feather in the hero's hand.

"Ask the multiple personalities dude or the blonde psycho bitch! They're always up to some random bullshit that doesn't involve me. I only live by Stain's ideologies and live up to the expectations to make the future he wanted to be realized. Child abduction isn't gonna make that future happen!" Even Dabi could hear the desperation in his own voice; he wanted to kill Hawks for making him so vulnerable. Especially while the hero was looking down at him with that damn lazy smirk, like this was all too amusing for him.

Keigo took a long breath and twirled the feather in between his fingers; his lips quirked in that thinking look once more. Dabi's eyes couldn't tear away from the hypnotizing piece of tickling equipment. The blonde hero could tell that Dabi was getting shrill, and distraught at that. He was getting there; with just a little more pushing Keigo could possibly unlock Dabi's memories and make him see that HE was Touya Todoroki himself. That's what all of this was.

"Mmmm... not convinced. Sorry, when it comes to child abduction cases like these, pointing fingers won't help when I know YOU'RE the child abductor. Just a matter of time until you wanna admit it to me. But hey, at least it's fun torture and not a messy one, right? A few things I have to do before we get started up again though-" Keigo stepped forward and tucked his feather in the crest of Dabi's ear like he was holding a pencil there.

"Hold onto that for a second," Keigo said simply as he lifted Dabi's thin cotton shirt and lifted it up over his head.

"As soon as I get out of these restraints, you're bones are gonna be liquefied inside of your damn disgusting body." Dabi hissed, while Keigo wasn't paying attention to that and staring directly at Dabi's impressive toned six-pack. Dabi followed Keigo's gaze and blushed deeply at the realization. Keigo suddenly snapped out of it and reanimated himself.

"Oh, well, in that case. I'll just put more on you so that doesn't have to happen!" Keigo flashed Dabi a squinted smile and took the straps that lay on either side of Dabi's hips. Keigo pulled on the leather belt tightly so now his midsection couldn't buck in any direction. The belt also helped pull Dabi's diamond navel taut. Dabi's belly and entire torso were unmarked with his scars; the scars only curving over his sides and disappearing under his pants. Keigo also noted that Dabi's hips were deep and indented, like someone pressed their thumbs into them. They must be really warm and hopefully very sensitive at this rate-

Keigo cleared his throat and stole back his feather with a wink while he was face to face with Dabi, to which Dabi attempted to headbutt the birdman. It was then that Dabi realized that with the belt now strapped just above his belly button, any wiggling room that he had before had just evaporated.

"Realizing just how fucked you are? And the effects of the serum don't start depleting until the victim's body has cooled down. The victim's body cooldown tells the serum that the job has been finished and the Hero's have the information they're looking for. Until then, it lasts as long as it needs to." After Keigo's helpful explanation, Dabi then noticed just how hot his body actually was, like he was running a high fever. Which meant that the serum was probably running at it's highest potent capacity to keep him horribly hyper-sensitive to any and all touches. Keigo watched the realization play over Dabi's face as he stepped forward and started circling his wiggly feather over Dabi's belly button.

Dabi jerked immediately and clamped his teeth down to prevent any giggles from slipping out. Keigo watched with a newfound sadistic hunger; he watched with the sudden drive to make this man shout his lungs out and regret ever forgetting about his childhood best friend.

"This can all stop if you just tell me where the kid is. Just give me a location and I'll send the heroes on their way. I got a phone right here. I got heroes at my disposal. We're just waiting on you, Patchwork." Keigo continued to circle and even started sweeping his feather across Dabi's strip of belly like he was dusting a piece of furniture.

Dabi shook his head and kept his laughter caged in his chest. The single feather was so tingly that he wanted to crawl out of his skin. "I mmph- I t-tohold yohou! I- grrmmph- I-I don't knohow ahahanything about the kid! I never heheard his nahame before!" Dabi involuntarily thought back to Touya Todoroki's name, the damn kid that he was being tortured over. In Dabi's haze, he thought he remembered the Bakugou brat having a friend named Todoroki-

"Wahait wait wait! I-I-I remember something! I reeheemehember sohohomething I promise!" Dabi pleaded, Keigo taking immediate pity and stopping his red wiggly feather. Keigo pointed his feather like an accusing sword towards Dabi's face.

"If the information is bullshit, you're getting a second dose injected right in your belly button. Imagine that hell burning in your stomach. Think about this wisely." Dabi swallowed what felt like cotton balls in his throat. He didn't know if Keigo was bullshitting or not, but he also didn't know if he could trust his own memories. He's never been able to remember too much of anything past his twenties... Dabi's shaking fingers hardened into fists as he hardened his resolve to get out of this table.

"Okay okay... The Touya kid has a brother right? Todoroki? What's the half and half kid's name? Shoto? Yeah, it was Shoto. Go fucking torture him for answers instead of me you damn prick! He knows more about his own brother than I do-" At the sound of the repeated use of the word 'brother', a flash of red hair jumped past Dabi's vision. Keigo shook his head and was starting to step forward to tickle the criminal's belly once more before Dabi hurriedly stopped him. "Woah Woah Woah Woah Woah, hold on, hold on! The Touya kid had red hair! Instead of half and half like his brother, he had all red hair." And white hair with red strips, and blank white hair like the snow- Dabi involuntarily remembered this as well, but before he could grab onto it, it slid away.

Keigo had a pleased look on his face, however. Dabi was starting to remember bits and pieces of the past, and that's what Keigo wanted. Just a little bit further, and hopefully he would remember who he was.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere. Unfortunately, no cookies for you. We know Touya had red hair, his family comes from a line of gingers. We need to know where the kid is, Dabi. And you're the only one with the answers. So let's hear 'em." Dabi fought the urge to protest as Keigo willed about six of his feathers to detach from his wings and dust over Dabi's belly, while Keigo's fingers gripped his sides and scribbled his manicured nails into them. Dabi pulled on his restraints and cackled loudly into the sound-proof room.

"CHRIHIHIHIST!! I DOHOHON'T KNOHOHOHOW AHAHAHANYTHING!! LET ME GOHOHOHO!!" Dabi's eyes screwed shut as his mouth was agape with his hysterical laughter. Both Hawks and Dabi were unaware that the reserved and quiet male could produce such sounds. Dabi's veins stood out like cords against his neck as his chest heaved in with his laughter. Such small stimulus is driving him insane, Hawks thought to himself. Six of his feathers from his crimson wings were dusting over his belly and his navel, while his fingers scratched and scraped over the villains pronounced ribcage. Sure, maybe it was a little intense in terms of tickling, but he thought that this would be too easy for the hardened villain. Apparently not; Hawks could see that Dabi was fighting for breath already.

"HAHAHAHAWKS I SWEAHAHAHAHA-" Dabi cut his own laughter short with a hard snort. One of the fluffy crimson feathers had started twirling itself into Dabi's stretched navel. There was nowhere that the villain could twist on the table to escape its feathery clutches. Hawks cracked half a smile. Even if he were to take his hands off the villain's ribcage to halt his fingers tickling, which he did; Dabi still produced the same amount of crazed hysterical cackles from just the feathers tickling. The double agent stood with his arms folded and watched his childhood best friend laugh an insane amount.

The villain had tousled his onyx crown all over his eyes; the once fluffy hair now a dense mop against his forehead. Dabi's smile was agape enough that Keigo could see his glinting incisors. His biceps flexed and struggled; the sweeping of the crimson feathers not ceasing for a moment. They traced over his waistline, the deep cavernous dips of his hip indents, fluttering over the small pinch of skin underneath his navel. Keigo stood fascinated by the scene, while Dabi's eyes started rolling in the back of his head.

"-AHAHAHAP!! I'LL-I'LL TAHAHAHAHALK I PROHOHOMISE!" That roused Keigo out of his stupor. He forgot that Dabi was in an extremely sensitive situation. The agent quickly halted his feathers and lifted them up from Dabi's belly. The feathers had worked so fervently that the villain's hypersensitive skin was a baby pink on the surface of it. Dabi sniffed back his tears of mirth and heaved in delicious clean oxygen. It was ice cold in his lungs, but the villain much preferred it over the sweaty ticklish hell he was just subjected to.

"Alright, Staples. Get to talking then, or there's gonna be a lot more feathers where that came from. You don't want these puppies all over you in the situation you're in." Keigo flapped his wings and shook them out to showcase his entire wingspan of crimson ticklers, all individually flowing and wiggling delicately in the air. Dabi gave him a death glare, but even the feathers made him gulp. The villain flexed his fingers as he tried to think up of something that this douche didn't already know about the kid. Keigo could see the villain's brain working to think up a bullshit story just to appease him. That just meant more tickles for-

"He-He was 15 when he went missing. His father had abused him when he was young and he was shunned by his siblings. His mother tried to protect him but-" But she was crazy. And no one protected him. He was the forgotten one, the one who faded into the background. And no one had a problem with that.

Dabi choked on his words, clearing his throat and clearing his mind. Keigo watched with interest as Dabi had spilled all of this information from thin air. Even the villain looked confused, he didn't know where this revelation came from.

"Mm-hmm, quite the truth serum this stuff is, isn't it? Just a little bit more and you can get off this table and get yourself an ice cream." Dabi shot his gaze up to Keigo's eyes and pulled on his restraints.

"N-No! No more I can't handle it! It's too much! Don't do this!" For some reason Dabi didn't even sound convincing to his own ears. Maybe because even he knew that no matter how much pleading he tried, he wouldn't get out of this until he coughed up more information. Keigo looked quite amused by the display, however. That fox's grin was back on his face.

"Come on now, it can't be that bad, little patch~ It's just some tickling afterall." Dabi's heart stopped when Keigo walked up to him and gently placed his fingers on Dabi's waistline. "Little kid games, right Blueflame? You can handle it." Keigo suddenly gripped Dabi's right hip and squished his thumb inside, making Dabi curl up and giggle like a schoolboy.

"Gahahahad! Hahahaha-Hahahaow mahahahany tihihihimes?!" "How many times what? How many times do I have to tickle tickle tickle you before you get the gist of your situation? You're not getting out of this until I get my answers, kid. So cough 'em up, before you cough up a lung." Even holding Dabi's hip like this made the villain squeal out. His hips bucked and shook in their binds, which only drove the hero's thumb in further to his divet.

"I dohohohon't knohohohow anything! I-I cahahan't rehehember!" Hawks could see that Dabi was actively trying to remember something, he wasn't lying in a situation like this. And Keigo wasn't wanting him to remember his childhood trauma or to relive it in any way, he just wanted his childhood best friend to remember him. Hawks took a deep breath in his lungs and decided to up the anty. Hawks sent four crimson feathers up to Dabi's stretched armpits, the wiggling plumes fluffing over the villain's soft divets. Dabi started to shriek, but Hawks suddenly slid his hands down to Dabi's thighs and squished into the soft material.

Dabi must have unlocked a second quirk along with his Cremate abilities, because Hawks had never heard such an unearthly howl thrash itself from Dabi's chest. Keigo winced from the piercing sounds from the villain as Dabi's eyes were screwed tightly in hysterical cackles with tears budding in the corners of his eyes. The feathers twisting and fluffing in his stretched armpits along with Hawks kneading up and down his toned thighs had the villain in tears. Dabi didn't know which way to buck, to twist, to jump on the table. He was stuck either leaning into the fluffy feathers for more relentless dusting, or to literally push himself into his captors hands for closer and more effective squeezing.

"Looks like you're in a pickle, bud. I say just cough up the information and be done with the whole thing but, to each their own, right? If you like it, you like it. I won't judge, I'm having way too much fun~" Keigo had his thumbs fixed to the villains inner thighs as his other eight fingers splayed out as wide as they could stretch to squeeze and grip the skin underneath Dabi's jeans. Dabi wanted to tear his hot tingling skin off with how insane the sensations were.

"SHUHUHUT THE FUHUHUHUCK-GAHAHAHAHAD!! AHAHAHAHAHAHA NAHAHAHA!!" Dabi was screaming at this rate, the man's throat parched and raw from the yelling. Keigo rolled his eyes at the exclamations of his victim when something silver flashed in his eye. Keigo thought it was probably just the restraints glinting off the light in the room, but it was Dabi's stitches that caught his eye. Keigo suddenly had a stroke of curiosity and reached behind him to pluck a feather from his wings and swiped the fluffy appendage across Dabi's silver stitch.

It was liked the criminal was electrified, his body jolting like it touched a live current and his insane cackles jumped an octave with the single swipe. Dabi's stitches had already been sensitive to touch even before he had the serum in his body. Now the nerve endings underneath the stitch felt like it was intertwined with the silver itself. Keigo bit his lip at the torture that was to come. Watching Dabi writhe on the table with the feathers in his armpits, Keigo sent six feathers to every visible stitch on the mans body and let the appendages fluff and dust and wriggle all over him. They were twirling in his ears and driving in his collarbones; they were doing figure eights in his armpits and dragging up his triceps; they were skating down his sides and writing nonsense with their quills down the lines of his abs.

"GOHOHOHOD!! SAHAHAHAVE MEHEHEHEE!! PLEHEHEHEHEASE!! I-I'M DHYHYHYHYING!!" It was a horribly dramatic thing to exclaim that Keigo should have listened to, but the way the bird saw it, if Dabi still had breath in his lungs to shout, then he should be fine. Keigo's never seen such a contorted face on anyone before. It was a mix of childlike happiness and mirth with pure anguish and torture. But, whatever gets the truth out, Keigo supposed. It was only a matter of time before Dabi choked on the truth. And Keigo could never get enough of the sight of Dabi's abs contracting with every giggly laugh harvested from his chest.

"KEHEEHEEHEE-KEIGO!! KEHEHEHEEIGO PLEHEHEHEHEASE!! STOHOHOHOHOP!! I-I REEHEEMEMBER!! STAHAHAHAP IHIHIHIHIT!!" Dabi suddenly erupted his confession once Keigo neared his bucking kneecaps with his own fingers. Keigo's feathers and hands suddenly halted; the villains heart bursting through his ribcage. The poor captured man had aching ribs and a sore stomach, and his limbs were irritated from pulling on them for so long. Hawks stood with his hands on his hips. His entire body shivered with flashes and icicles, his searing hot sweat sliding down his icy back. It was complete hell, but the stimulus was enough to break the barrier of his lost memories. This was it. Dabi just needed to remember where he came from and who he used to be. Maybe he'd be more cheerful, or at least a little more...anything, at this point.

Dabi's head was laid back on the table, his body slightly curled up in the small defense he had. His eyes were rolled up to the whites in exhaustion. But in the swirling chaotic blackness behind his eyelids that he was used to, he saw something new. Something he hasn't appreciated in a long time.

Summer, the scalding heat on the back of my neck, the taste of ice-cold popsicles, the sand inbetween my toes. Being the kid with the dad who pushed them the highest on the swingset. My scraped knees and elbows patched up by the smiling boy. The summer festival and the exploding fireworks in the infinite sky above me. My best friend who stood there to watch when nobody else would. Keigo, my best friend. His toothy smile and his squinting eyes; his untied shoelaces and messy hair. He never left my side. But I left his.

Suddenly I don't feel so heavy. I don't feel so alone, so burdened with this weight on my chest. Because I know Keigo is there. He always was.

"And I always will be, Touya." Dabi slowly looked up to see Keigo with a gentle smile on his face. Dabi hadn't realized that he was speaking aloud. Hawks turned to Dabi's right arm and started setting free his aching wrist. But after this newest revelation, Dabi didn't feel hurt anymore. He felt like a completed puzzle; the lost piece that made him whole was finally inserted. Dabi held his wrist to his chest and rubbed over his tingling body to rid himself of the leftover sensations.

"T-Trauma's a bitch, huh? It...Itmade me forget my best friend, the only one who was truly there for me. I'm...I'm sorry about that, Keigo." Keigo shook his head, his bangs swaying back and forth. "Please, don't be sorry. It's your dad that should apologize. I just wanted you to remember everything that was bright in your life, and not live in this bleak purgatory. You have friends and people who care about you. And you used to smile all the time, you know. I know it's not your fault that you forgot who you were and you forgot how to smile. But now at least, maybe you can put your past to good use in the future."

Dabi nodded, understanding Keigo's words better than he would have thought. Keigo extended his hand out to Dabi to help him off of the table. Dabi hesitated for a moment, a good second passing before he grabbed it and hopped off the table. Dabi was still slightly curled and hunched even as he walked, his defenses still not lowered after that episode.

"Don't worry, it's all over. No more tickles, I promise. Unless you kinda liked it, then I can give you more. I thought I saw you leaning in for some more now and again on the table. You also remember how ticklish you used to be and you still are, right? I mean, I thought something this childish was gonna work on ya dude, but your vocal cords must be thrashed-"

"Yeah, you know what, Keegs, I think I remember just how ticklish you used to be as well when you were a kid. Care to test it out?" Dabi picked up one of the syringes off the table filled with the swirling blue sensitivity serum with a horribly antagonizing look in his eyes.

Keigo gulped and ran for dear life.

#icanttellyouhowlongthistookme notcomplainingthoyoudeserveitbabe hopeyoulikeitmerrycrimin

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sincerelystranger · 4 years

Text

Author: Basically this is like step 2 in rebuilding the Lotus Brothers’ relationship.

—-

Jiang Cheng is not jealous. He is the Yunmeng Jiang Sect leader – very rich and very handsome – and he’s not jealous. He doesn’t even know what jealousy feels like actually. Never felt it before.

He’s just a bit… disappointed. Yeah, he’s disappointed.

He’s raised Jin Ling for 16 years! Given him everything under the sun. Changed his diapers for him when he was a baby! So it’s totally reasonable that he’s just a tiny (tiny) bit disappointed that Jin Ling seems to have tossed him to the side for his newly alive uncle, Wei Wuxian.

Jiang Cheng should have expected it, he guesses, irritation bubbling in his stomach. Everyone always seemed to like that insufferable idiot more than Jiang Cheng… Whatever, Jiang Cheng doesn’t care.

He had just expected that his nephew might show him some loyalty…

Whatever, he’s not jealous. Wei Wuxian can have Jin Ling if he wants! Good riddance, actually! Jiang Cheng will probably have so much more free time now that he doesn’t have to run to Koi Tower every time Jin Ling is upset. Wei Wuxian can deal with Jin Ling’s temper tantrums now. See how he likes that! Good riddance.

Yes, so Jiang Cheng is totally not jealous and he’s totally not eavesdropping right now. He just happened to be sitting right outside of the room that Wei Wuxian is occupying during his stay at Koi Tower. He hadn’t known it was Wei Wuxian’s room! He just wanted to rest his legs for a little bit. And it was a total coincidence that Jin Ling was in there, chattering away. (Jin Ling never talked this much when he was with Jiang Cheng…)

“Were you always scared of dogs?” Jin Ling asks, “Can’t you get over it? It’s annoying to make Fairy hide every time you visit.”

(Fairy doesn’t have to hide when Jiang Cheng visits.)

“Can’t you just get rid of that evil creature?” Wei Wuxian replies petulantly, “I can’t even go outside for a piss because I’m scared I’ll run into that demon.”

“Fairy’s not a demon!” Jin Ling says indignantly, “She’s saved my life a bunch of times. If she was a cultivator, she’d probably be an immortal by now.”

“Well I’ll do all your life saving from now on, so go on, get rid of that demon for your poor uncle Wei Wuxian.”

“You’re so annoying,” Jin Ling sighs. (The most annoying! Jiang Cheng agrees silently.) “It’s a wonder uncle didn’t murder you growing up.” (Yes! Is Jin Ling finally seeing the light?)

Wei Wuxian, infuriatingly enough, laughs at that. “I was too fun for Jiang Cheng to want to murder me. Besides, if he had murdered me, your mother would have been upset and Jiang Cheng would never risk upsetting your mother.”

(That was true. There used to be nothing worse than upsetting shijie)

“I can’t imagine my mother liking you that much,” Jin Ling replies cuttingly.

Wei Wuxian laughs again. “She was a saint,” he says, “Too good to have been cursed with brothers such as me and Jiang Cheng.”

“Was she really as kind as you say?” Jin Ling asks suspiciously, “I can only imagine her being like a girl version of uncle.”

“To be honest, she was probably even kinder than what I remember,” Wei Wuxian says, something wistful in his voice that makes Jiang Cheng’s chest ache. “The girl version of Jiang Cheng was actually your grandmother – Madam Yu.”

“Really?” Jin Ling asks. (Why didn’t Jin Ling ever ask Jiang Cheng these sort of questions?) “What was she like? Was she as scary as uncle?”

“Scarier,” Wei Wuxian answers easily. “She’s probably the scariest woman I’ve ever and will ever meet in my life – in both lives actually!”

(His mother was the scariest woman Jiang Cheng had and probably ever will meet as well)

“Scarier than uncle, huh?” Jin Ling says, something like awe in his voice. “How did you survive her?”

“What do you mean survive? She was kind to me,” Wei Wuxian says to Jiang Cheng’s surprise.

(Kind? Kind? His mother had been a lot of things – powerful, ruthless, intelligent – but kind? Even as her son, he had known that his mother was not kind. His mother had a soft side to her, yes, but he had never seen her show it to Wei Wuxian. Was Wei Wuxian… sparing her memory for her grandson? Did Wei Wuxian have that kind of forethought?)

“Was she really kind, or are you just saying that because that’s what all orphans are required to say?” Jin Ling asks, again to Jiang Cheng’s surprise. (What was Jin Ling talking about? Orphan? Hadn’t Jiang Cheng taken care of him? Wei Wuxian had also been adopted – he hadn’t really grown up an orphan, had he?)

“What do you mean?” Wei Wuxian asks.

(Yes, what does he mean, Jiang Cheng wonders.)

“Oh, you know,” Jin Ling answers flippantly, “Like Jin Chan’s mom is a horrible, horrible lady, but since she’s my aunt and she let me live in her house when I was younger, whenever someone asks, I have to sound super thankful or they’ll say I’m ungrateful and curse my parents.”

Anger, hot and deep, boils inside of Jiang Cheng at Jin Ling’s words. How was this the first time he heard of this? He had been so grateful to Madam Yang for taking in Jin Ling when he was just a toddler – she had said that it was no trouble since her son was of similar age! Had she mistreated Jin Ling behind Jiang Cheng’s back? Had Jin Guangyao known about this? Why hadn’t Jin Ling told Jiang Cheng before?

“Jin Ling!” Wei Wuxian says, something dangerous in his voice. “Did Jin Chan’s mother treat you poorly? Did you tell Jiang Cheng about this?”

“She didn’t like… beat me or anything!” Jin Ling backtracks hesitantly, as if unsure why Wei Wuxian is upset. “Isn’t it expected that she doesn’t like me? I mean, I’m always going to have a higher standing than her son and I’ve always been a better cultivator than Jin Chan. Second-uncle used to say that she was just jealous.”

“She didn’t beat you, but what did she do?” Wei Wuxian asks darkly. Jiang Cheng has a feeling that Madam Yang will receive a visit soon – he wonders if he should stop Wei Wuxian or join him. Murdering the wife of a high ranking Jin sect member probably wouldn’t be viewed kindly upon…

“It’s not a big deal!” Jin Ling mutters childishly, “She’s a just a mean lady and she never stopped Jin Chan from beating on me with his friends, and she never let me eat at the same table as them, and she made me kneel outside a lot to ‘reflect.’”

Jiang Cheng will definitely join Wei Wuxian to visit Madam Yang. Anger and guilt are boiling in his veins, threatening to explode out of him. His fists are clenched so tightly that they’re shaking.

“Jin Guangyao knew this and he did nothing?” Wei Wuxian asks, his voice climbing higher with every syllable, “Does Jiang Cheng know about this?”

“He didn’t do nothing!” Jin Ling defends hotly (Jiang Cheng can’t fault him for defending that snake. He can… understand what it is like to love someone who everyone else has declared a villain). “He gave me Fairy – and she put a stop to Jin Chan’s antics. Besides, I never wanted to eat with her and stupid Jin Chan anyway so that worked out. And why would I tell uncle?”

“You told Jin Guangyao but you didn’t tell Jiang Cheng?” Wei Wuxian asks incredulously.

“No, I didn’t tell second-uncle either! He just found out somehow – you know how he is – was! He just… knew everything all the time.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” Wei Wuxian asks, “Jiang Cheng definitely would have taken you back to Lotus Pier! You didn’t have to suffer like that!”

“Oh stop being dramatic,” Jin Ling huffs, “I didn’t suffer. It wasn’t anything worth troubling uncle over.”

(There’s nothing too small, Jiang Cheng thinks hotly. He wishes now that he had gone into the room instead of listening outside in secret. But would Jin Ling have even said these things if Jiang Cheng had been in there?)

“Oh, Jin Ling,” Wei Wuxian sighs, “promise me that you’ll let me know if someone so much as looks at you the wrong way. Promise me.”

“I don’t need you to coddle me,” Jin Ling snorts, “I’m the youngest sect leader – I get plenty of bad looks. If I reported every single one to you, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else.”

“Promise me,” Wei Wuxian repeats, “promise me or I’ll make a scene. I’ll take all my clothes off and run around Koi Tower in tears, yelling the whole time. You know I will.”

“Ugh, fine,” Jin Ling groans, “I thought you’d be less protective than uncle Jiang, but you’re somehow worse.”

“Whatever Jiang Cheng can do, I can do better,” Wei Wuxian answers solemnly, “except scowl. He’s got it over me on the scowling.”

“Yeah, no one can out-scowl uncle,” Jin Ling agrees (to Jiang Cheng’s ever growing irritation), “Anyway, you never answered my question. What kind of ‘kind’ was grandmother?”

“Really kind,” Wei Wuxian answers.

He’s lying, Jiang Cheng knows. He’s horrified to know that Wei Wuxian is lying – lying to save face for a woman who hated him. Someone who beat him regularly. How many times has Wei Wuxian had to say this lie, Jiang Cheng wonders faintly. How many times had Jin Ling lied to him?

Was this why Jin Ling kept seeking Wei Wuxian out? To speak this language of orphans that Jiang Cheng didn’t understand?

“Madam Yu and Uncle Jiang were kinder to me than I deserved.”

“You’re lying,” Jin Ling says plainly, “Grandmother must have been really horrible for you to lie so much.”

“I’m not lying!” Wei Wuxian lies again.

“You are!”

“Am not!”

“You are!”

“I’m not!” Wei Wuxian says exasperatedly, “Uncle and Madam Yu really were very kind – your grandparents were very kind people.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jin Ling says, “I’ll believe that about grandfather, but I know you’re lying about grandmother.”

“Why do you think that?”

“Because you call grandfather uncle and grandmother ‘Madam Yu,’” Jin Ling answers matter-of-factly. “Besides, you said she was the female version of uncle – and uncle is great and all, but he’s barely nice to me, and he loves me! She must have been absolutely horrible to you.”

“She wasn’t horrible,” Wei Wuxian defends weakly, “She treated me fairly.”

Guilt and anger – two feelings Jiang Cheng is becoming intimately acquainted with during this eavesdropping mission. He remembers all those times he watched Wei Wuxian get punished. Punished for… being better than Jiang Cheng mostly. A better cultivator, a better swordsmith, a better archer – and Jiang Cheng had been helpless then. Helpless against his mother’s anger, her jealousy. He loved his mother – loves her still – but… it’s horrible, remembering the things she had done to Wei Wuxian. It’s one of the reasons Jiang Cheng can never find it in himself to raise a hand against Jin Ling. He’s never seen physical punishment used fairly.

“Sure,” Jin Ling says disbelievingly.

Wei Wuxian laughs at that, and Jiang Cheng can’t understand it. Why does that idiot laugh at everything? Does he think laughter will brush everything away? Every whiplash, every beating, every harsh word? There’s no way that Wei Wuxian has forgotten his mother’s cruelty – there’s no way that those memories could ever be something worth laughter. Jiang Cheng had only watched and even he can’t forget.

“Oh, Jin Ling,” Wei Wuxian says fondly, “I was just a kid on the streets – your grandmother had no reason to let me stay, but she did, and I’ll always be grateful for that. Thanks to her, I got your mother, I got Jiang Cheng, and now I have you.”

Jiang Cheng has to leave then. Can’t bear to listen to any more of this horrid conversation.

He’s always known Wei Wuxian was stupid, but it’s… jarring to realize just how stupid he is.

Grateful, he says. Grateful. What an idiot.

----

Later that evening, Jin Ling eats dinner with Jiang Cheng in the room he uses whenever he comes to Koi Tower.

“Where’s Wei Wuxian?” Jiang Cheng asks, trying not to sound too interested.

“He’s probably in his room,” Jin Ling answers, his mouth full of food. It’s gross and Jiang Cheng definitely didn’t raise him like that. “I told him to join us but he said he didn’t want to risk being murdered over dinner.”

Jiang Cheng snorts at that. He wouldn’t murder Wei Wuxian in front of Jin Ling.

“You should try to get along with him,” Jin Ling continues, shoving more food into his mouth. “He’s not that bad once you get used to him.”

“Shut up,” Jiang Cheng huffs. He doesn’t need to hear that from Jin Ling – he doesn’t need to hear that from anyone! He knows better than anyone that Wei Wuxian can be… tolerable at times. “Also, don’t talk with your mouth full. It’s disgusting.”

Jin Ling pouts (is he really the Sect leader?) but dutifully swallows his food before talking again. “You’re so annoying, uncle,” the impudent little punk says, “I know you actually want to get along with him but you’re probably embarrassed or something. You shouldn’t be embarrassed, he’s really easy, you know.”

“Keep talking and I’m going to break your legs,” Jiang Cheng growls. He knows, he wants to say. He knows better than anyone how easy Wei Wuxian is. He can’t remember Wei Wuxian ever getting mad at him. Can’t ever remember a time Wei Wuxian wasn’t smiling. He’d always been so easy to please – so quick to forgive. A word from shijie, a gentle shove from Jiang Cheng, or a swim in the lake, and he’d be back to the annoying smiley idiot he always was.

Jiang Cheng knows better than anyone that he holds all the tools to decide whether the relationship between him and Wei Wuxian gets rebuilt.

But the thing is that… he’s never been the one who’s had to reach out first.

It was always Wei Wuxian who chased after him. Always Wei Wuxian who apologized. Always Wei Wuixian who soothed Jiang Cheng’s hurt feelings, his hurt pride.

Maybe Jiang Cheng had taken it for granted all this time, but somehow he was still waiting for Wei Wuxian to reach out to him first. There’s also a horrible thought in his mind that tells him that Wei Wuxian isn’t reaching out because, actually, he doesn’t want to. What if Wei Wuxian doesn’t want anything to do with Jiang Cheng after all? It’s a childish and humiliating realization – even to admit to himself.

“Tomorrow,” he says as naturally as possible, “We’ll have breakfast in Wei Wuxian’s room, tomorrow. I will not murder him.” Great. That was natural, right? Totally natural.

Jiang Cheng thinks he hears Jin Ling snort into his bowl of rice.

“I think I should make that a rule,” Jin Ling says, “No murdering of uncles at Koi Tower.”

“Is it murder if I’m just defending you from all his nonsense?” Jiang Cheng asks seriously.

“I can defend myself just fine, uncle,” Jin Ling answers, rolling his eyes. Where had he learned all this rudeness? Probably Wei Wuxian. Jiang Cheng never rolled his eyes like that.

Maybe he’ll tell Wei Wuxian to stop teaching Jin Ling all these rude things tomorrow at breakfast. He feels a little… nervous. What will he say? What if Wei Wuxian and Jin Ling just talk together and leave him out? What if Wei Wuxian says something stupid and Jiang Cheng can’t contain his anger and says something mean? Ugh… breakfast tomorrow was a bad idea. He’s already regretting it.

“No take backs on breakfast,” Jin Ling says, as if he can read Jiang Cheng’s mind.

“I said what I said,” Jiang Cheng replies hotly, “A man never goes back on his word.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jin Ling snorts.

Impudent little ingrate!

They finish dinner and Jin Ling hangs out for a bit. Brings Fairy into Jiang Cheng’s room and shows Jiang Cheng all the new tricks he’s taught her since Jiang Cheng last visited.

Jiang Cheng watches all the tricks dutifully. Jin Ling obviously worked at them, after all. But his mind does drift a little. Wonders why Jin Ling speaks about such… serious things with Wei Wuxian but not with Jiang Cheng. Did he not think Jiang Cheng was a good listener?

Jiang Cheng clears his throat after Fairy’s last trick. “Um, great job,” he says naturally. Super naturally. “Uh, Jin Ling… If you ever have anything you want to talk about with me… you… can.” Great job. Totally natural.

Jin Ling stares at him strangely for a couple of seconds.

Jiang Cheng stares back, feeling prickles of embarrassment making their way up his spine.

“What would I have to tell you?” Jin Ling says finally, tilting his head just a little. He looks like a toddler again like that, his soft cheeks looking even softer in the candlelight.

“Just… anything…” Jiang Cheng answers. “Anything that might be bothering you.”

“Well…” Jin Ling says slowly, “there’s one thing…”

Finally! Real bonding time with Jin Ling. Take that, Wei Wuxian!

“Why is Wei Wuxian so scared of dogs? I want to show him all of Fairy’s tricks too, and it’s annoying that I have to hide Fairy away every time he comes over. Do you think I could, like, train him out of his fear of dogs?”

Jiang Cheng feels the blood vessel in his forehead fill with blood.

“Nevermind,” he says, waving at Jin Ling to get out of his room. “I take back what I said. Don’t tell me anything. Get out before I break your legs.”

“I thought men didn’t go back on their word!” Jin Ling says cheekily, sticking his tongue out at Jiang Cheng before running out of the room. Fucking brat.

Wei Wuxian can have him.

#the untamed #mdzs #jiang cheng #jin ling #Wei Wuxian #this is really too long for tumblr #but seems a bit unfinished for ao3 #might add more at a later time and post it there then

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fairymadnessyeah · 3 years

Text

BNHA Ship to Finish the Year

KotEri (Izumi Kota x Eri Aizawa)

Canon

I like to think that Kota and Eri meet during October. Eri never went trick or treating, and since Kota is a kid her age and Ragdoll is available for taking the door to door, Shota deems it okay.

They met before Halloween night, and it goes okay. Mostly they talk about costumes.

They dress up as LeMillion and Deku. Ragdoll sends a lot of pictures, It's too cute.

From there on out, the two are inseparable. I feel like Kota would be Eri's first friends, and he teaches her the beauty of pranks. Once, they put cooking oil on the floor and watched as Iida went flying into the TV. There is a no running rule now.

I don't think they would go to school together until they go to UA.

I feel like until then Kota only sees her as a friend until they start high school. Suddenly, the guys of class 1a are talking about who the cutest girl and they all think it's Eri.

He knows he shouldn't, but he is mad about it... Oh no!

I feel that for Eri, it happens later and more slowly. She knows she can trust Kota. Whenever she has a problem or needs someone to talk to, she knows she can trust in him.

By the second year, when I imagine he suddenly hits a growth spurt and enters his emo phase, she realizes he is handsome.

The two don't say anything until they go to a hero-convention (Deku Merch!) and one of the ex-Hassaikai attacks as a villain and recognizes Eri.

Kota helps her by taking her around the city, and when they get to a Sakura tree, Eri leans in and kisses him. He obviously returns it, and they start dating.

They keep it a secret for as long as they can, since Aizawa is the principal and very protective of his daughter. However, once he finds out, his trust in Kota is completely broken. He is not welcome in their home anymore.

However, Shinsou is weaker against Eri's puppy eyes.

I don't know why, but I would love a fic about them like this:

"Hey Izu-kun, you know how to drive right? And your aunt's and uncle let you take their car whenever?"

"Yeah, why?" "I need you to drive me somewhere?" "Sure, where?" "Tartarous," "... alright."

"So, why am I driving you to Tartarous?" "Oh, I want to talk with Chisaki," "*stops abruptly* WHAT!? You want to talk with the man that tortured you since you can remember and made your life a living hell!? WHY!?!?"

"I need closure. I know I might never be able to forget him and what he did, but I can't freeze every time somebody mentions him. I need to do this, I need to move on,"

He goes with her, as moral support. It kind of helps seeing him armless, behind bars and defeated, but Eri simply tells him she is moving on with her life and he should too.

After it, they go for ice-cream and a walk in the beach (I like to think this is a favourite date for them). I think it's a very romantic moment until Shinsou interrupt them.

Her family was made aware that she visited Chisaki and have been looking for her like crazy.

Family

Aizawa is not happy when he finds out. This is what happens:

*Eri comes in with Kota. The two have smoothies, Kota a blue one and Eri a red one* "Hi dad! We are going to be in my room studying! Don't interrupt us!" "Alright!"

*An hour later* "Eri, Mic is going to be home in a few minutes, we'll have dinner when he arrives. Is Kota staying?" "No, his aunt is picking him up in a bit," "...Why is your tongue purple?" "Oh... um... maybe it was the smoothie," "You had a red smoothie... and Kota had a blue... one..."

*He realizes what happened and starts stomping up the stair, Eri behind him, telling him to calm down. He slams the door open and sees Kota, with his hair messed and his lips covered in lip gloss, throwing himself off the window.* "Come here, you traitor!"

Aizawa calls a family meeting, and even Shinsou who has his own home has to come. He is ready to expel him, he feels betrayed. He trusted that kid in his home, and he takes advantage of his daughter? I don't think so! He is going to die.

Hizashi cries, his baby girl is replacing him. (I headcanon that she would die her hair to look like a rainbow, and Kota helps her, instead of Hizashi)

Shinsou is the one who sides with Eri, reminding his parents that she is old enough to make a decision like this, and they should trust her. "Besides, I was her age when Kaminari and I started doing stuff," "What?" "What?" "I don't live here anymore, I don't have to keep secrets,"

Shinsou lets her come to his home to get ready for her dates, so that Koda doesn't have to fear for his life in their living room. However, he still threatens him.

"For some reason, you make Eri happy. But if that changes, and you make her sad, you are going to wish, Midoriya never saved you from Muscular," "H-how do you know that?" "I know everything. Have fun on your date!"

The WWP are embarrassing. They have a photo album ready, they tell Eri how much he talks about her.

They also have an open-door policy, but Koda is a rebel and doesn't follow the rule. However, they found a way around it.

*comes in without knocking* "Hey kiddos, want some cookies?" "No, Aunt. We are fine," "Alright, just keep the door open!"

*comes in without knocking* "Hey lovebirds, are you thirsty? I made some lemonade!" "We are fine, Pixie-bob," "Alright, just keep the door open!"

*comes in without knocking* "Have you seen the cat?" "We don't have a cat, Ragdoll!" "Oh, right! Keep the door open!"

But when he locks the door:

*BANG!* "Aaaaahhhh!" "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" "Tiger! Did you just kick the door open!?" "Yes! Remember to keep the door open!"

Also, when they found out, the WWD follows them on their date. They need pictures.

The problem is that Kota and Eri are not on a date. They are helping Katsumo give a tour of the city to his sister. They all notice the four pros following them, Kota tells them to ignore them.

I feel like Deku would be happy for them. His first fans are so cute together.

AU - Band AU

This is a modern setting au.

So, Eri was adopted into music. After she was rescued from Chisaki, she was adopted by Present Mic and his husband, Aizawa.

Present Mic is a famous radio host, and before that, he and Aizawa and Oboro played in a band together. Now, Aizawa is a music manager for young artist, in between those there is 1A band.

As she grows up, she is introduced to music, and it becomes one of the best things in her life. She is a great singer, and she also learns how to play the piano.

She want to have a career in music, so when she is a teen, at UA school, she joins the music club.

She is trying to form a band, and along the way she finds Katsuma, who becomes the bassist, Tamashiro on the drums, and they only need a guitarist and vocalist.

Enter Bad boy Kota. His parents were musicians that died in a boat accident, and so Kota now lives his aunt and their dancing group, The Wild Wild Pussycats.

He used to love music, but now it's only a reminder of who he lost.

But one day, Eri hears him sing. She asks if he would want to join their band. He refuses and leaves, but that is not the last he sees of Eri.

The two are paired for some school work, and while working on it, Eri starts singing, and it wakes something in him.

Kota doesn't know what it was, but suddenly, he felt as if he was with his parents again.

He tells her that he'll join her band temporarily, at least so he has enough time to figure out what was that feeling.

They are all ecstatic, and they start playing together.

Eri and Kota are the ones who most clash since he is really into rock and edgy stuff, and she is more cute and pop style.

However, the two spend a lot of time together.

Kota wants to understand how Eri makes him feel stuff, and Eri doesn't really mind his company, so she lets him stay. She was always very shy, so it's hard for her to make friends without recurring to music.

At some point, Eri tells Kota about her life as Chisaki's toy, and it makes him realize why Eri is so special.

She is real, she suffered and survived, and now she can keep smiling. Which Kota never got to, he never moved on from his parents death, and still hold on to the rage and sadness.

Kota also opens up to Eri, and he tells her about his parents death and his departure from music.

Eri asks him to sing with her, and when they do, Kota feels like he has his parents back. It brings him to tears, but Eri hold him.

The band present themselves to the talent show of the school and somehow end up winning.

During the celebration party, Kota and Eri kiss.

Fanon Opinion

I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable writing NSFW stuff about Kota or Eri.

I know that I age up everybody, and I did so with these two, too, but I can't.

I can't picture them as nothing, but children and I am not going to write PWP about that.

I don't they would do it until their third year, but I do think that they make out.

I think this is a very cute couple. They have that puppy-love thing going for them.

Also, I love this because it would be a good thing for Eri. We just want good things for Eri.

And I know that Eri is older than Kota, and supposedly she should be his senpai. But with all the emotional baggage she has, I think it makes sense that she would start school a little later.

I think that they would be a beach and parks couple. In summer, they go to the beach, while in the winter they hang around the park.

I feel like they would love to go camping.

Also, they match. They are horn buddies.

Also, Tik-Tok has a lot of stuff about them, so I recommend seeing them. I got the Band AU idea from it.

I imagine that they would become heroes when they are older. Eri would be like a new recovery girl, but scarier, and Kota would torture the children when they go to the training camp.

In my mind, Eri uses Aizawa's capture weapon, but she has it wrapped around her arms, covering her scars.

Also, while they are at the dorms, they are the Parent Couple. The two take care of their classmates with Kota stopping them from doing stupid shit and lecturing them, and Eri comforting them and healing their bruises.

Also, if Katsuma goes with them to class, he would be the baby.

"Oh, No! This is Bad! This is Bad! Stress is bad for the baby!"

"What baby?"

"ME! I'm the baby!"

#bnha #mha #kouta x eri #kouteri #izumi kouta #eri bnha #eri aizawa #bnha headcanons #bnha ships to finish the year #canon #family #band au #fanon opinion

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sunnymusingsao3 · 3 years

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⭐ please mr director! release the morgwen cut....(where'd your headcanons for gwen come from, what are some challenges you have re: writing them)

Behind the Scenes: Fanfic Edition

Essay incoming! This one got long as well!

Oh bless you for asking me about this; she once was a true love of mine is one of my favorite things I've ever written, and I am always 110% ready to scream about the things that inspired it!

So the answer to your second question goes hand-in-hand with the answer to the first actually, so I'm gonna answer these out of order!

The biggest challenge with these two is mostly just how little we have in canon in regards to their relationship, background, history, and other such information that would typically be very helpful for writing a canon character-- or how two of them relate-- for a fanfic!

With Morgana, we have a little bit, but she's also not often allowed-- in the show, at least-- to be a character outside of being a villain for our heroes to fight, so one challenge with her is understanding what she does in her day-to-day life. What is she doing when she isn't advancing the plot via attempted fratricide, or directly opposing Merlin in some way? Since she can't possibly always be sitting in her tower rubbing her hands together maniacally (or pulling a BBC Merlin and smirking in full view of everyone who suspects her) I want to know what kinds of things she likes to do when she's not in court, or tackling the Big Themes Of The Show.

She's clearly moved on from lessons with Merlin, so she is not spending all her time studying-- though I do think she must be self-taught in shadow magic, so perhaps some days are spent on magic study-- and ToA is set before Morgana starts being a general-purpose villain to throw into your knight's tale (because as any medieval male writer will tell you, there is nothing scarier than a woman with power).

The way I see it, then, is that in order to establish this close friendship that Wizards says Guinevere and Morgana have, a good chunk of Morgana's time must be spent around Guinevere. And for a Guinevere who, in my headcanon, married Arthur for strategic reasons? For a Guinevere who's got a crush on Morgana the size of Arthur's ego? Spending that much time with her is bound to cause some good old fashioned yearning.

And this is where we get into my headcanons for Guinevere. As I said above, the biggest challenge is how little information we have about Guinevere. She's fallen victim to the Disposable Woman trope, and while I don't inherently fault ToA for that (they have plenty of other very strong and developed ladies), it does leave her with very little character beyond "she was Arthur's wife," and "she was Morgana's best friend." (Short sidenote: I really appreciate the Crusading Widower page on TV Tropes's site, for pointing out that the crusading widower is often an anti-hero or even an anti-villain because I think that's absolutely right when it comes to Arthur).

Anyway, all this to say, since there's so little canon, it's basically a perfect sandbox for fanfic writers to come in and have the time of their lives lol, so this is what I have done!

I am a huge Arthuriana nerd (though I am hardly an expert by any means; I'm just a simple fan who enjoys the stories) so when I saw Wizards utilize wildly famous Arthurian characters, I rather lost my mind over the potential.

I have so many headcanons about how to merge ToA and a bunch of Arthuriana plot points/tropes/characterizations, but for the purposes of this, I will stick to Guinevere!

The main way I went about making headcanons for ToA's Guinevere, was to look at what legends I knew about her and see what could apply to the Wizards canon, without contradicting it, in order to fill in these huge gaps.

For example, we know absolutely nothing about where Guinevere came from, so I kept her father and her home city from legend. Since her mother is not even mentioned in the legends, I also translated that over to an absence of her mother in the story, while also giving her at least a mention, as I think she'd be important to Guinevere, even if she hadn't really gotten to meet her properly. I really wanted this story to highlight the responsibilities that Guinevere has within her roles as wife and medieval royal woman, and I think having her consider what her mother would have done in her shoes tied into that theme of Guinevere wondering "what kind of woman do I want to become?" as she grew up. This is also why Igraine is given a moment in the fic as well; Guinevere's relationships with the women around her is something which I think deserves attention, even in a fic where I'm mostly just trying to establish a general timeline and characterization for Guinevere as a whole.

The idea for Guin's mother to have fallen in battle, in fact, came from ToA establishing that some of the background Camelot knights are men, and some are women, and it's treated as perfectly normal, as far as I noticed. Claire has that one line about a "boy's club," but I do think that it's actually just that she couldn't compete because she wasn't registered as a knight. I might be wrong about that, but I really liked the idea of there being knights in Camelot who are women, and I wanted to keep that in the fic I was writing. Therefore, I think that Guinevere's mother was both a queen and a knight, or, at least, a skilled warrior. Similarly, I also think that Guinevere's father is most known for his relationship with the Pendragons in legend. This then translated to her father being the diplomat, to tie in with her mother being the fighter. I didn't dwell too much on that because, again, the fic was meant to focus on Guinevere, and it had already gotten longer than I'd meant for it to. But, I tried to give a hint at that in the way that Guinevere's father is the one who physically takes Guin's bow, and puts a crown in her hands instead. He's not saying she can't be a fighter, but he is emphasizing that she also needs to be ready to appear in other kingdoms in a formal setting. I like to think that Leodegrance would have wanted Guinevere to have both options, to be a bit more well-rounded than he or her mother were.

Brief addition before I move on to the next phase of the fic: I chose a bow because when the stalkling advances on her, she tries using a stick to fight it off, but shows a bit of an ineptitude at using a weapon like that. Since I didn't want that to turn into "she's a weak royal who couldn't fight at all," especially since it seems to me that most of the time, being royal in the Middle Ages also meant receiving fight training, I chose for her to be better at ranged weapons, like bows, crossbows, maybe even spear throwing.

At any rate, my headcanons from there were created in a similar fashion to the ones mentioned above; I used a mixture of ToA canon (ex: Arthur, Morgana, and Guinevere being shown as childhood friends; Morgana and Guinevere spending time in the woods) and Arthuriana (ex: pulling the sword in the stone, losing it, getting it reforged by Nimue; Leodegrance bringing the round table as Guinevere's dowry; Merlin being a royal advisor).

Now, since this isn't much of a Morgwen cut just yet (so sorry omg), I wanted to skip ahead to the Morgwen pining moments, to talk about them!

The juxtaposition between a burning candle flame representing her love for Morgana, and an uncomfortable midnight cuddle from Arthur (where she can't even bring herself to scratch her nose-- an irritant meant to heighten that feeling of discomfort) representing her relationship with him, is one of my favorite ways to examine the wild difference in how Guinevere sees both relationships. One is untouchable but beautiful, interesting. It burns, and it's bright, and getting too near it hurts too bad.

And then on the other hand, one is there always, it's inescapable, but mostly sweet, though it comes up short of providing comfort. It's not bad, and it's even gentle, and Arthur does love her, but she married him for diplomacy. She married him because it's expected, and it keeps her safe.

(Which, sidenote: I think some stories work well with period-accurate homophobia, and others do not. This is one I would not have put period-accurate homophobia in, as it's fantasy and legend, and I think it's more interesting if Guinevere can't pick Morgana not because of Morgana also being a woman, but because Guinevere is bound by her duties as a royal).

The last thing I wanna talk about is that I have considered writing another Morgwen fic, but I'm just not sure what kind of plot hook or idea I'd like to pursue. So, if there's interest, or any requests that someone might have for these two, please do feel free to ask away! I think their relationship is really interesting, and I'd be delighted to keep writing for them. Guinevere is a fascinating character in particular, and is one who I think, even in legend, sometimes gets boiled down a lot, so I wanna add some depth back into her character, and give her a chance to shine!

Thank you so much for asking, and if there's anything else you're curious about, don't hesitate to send it my way! Like I said, I am always happy to holler about Guinevere and Morgwen! <3

#answered asks #sidhewrites

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fictionkinfessions · 3 years

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I've been thinking about my parents a lot lately...

Most of the fandom hates mom, and like, I get it. She was really manipulative and passive aggressive. I would know: I couldn't say no to anything she asked of me, no matter how unpleasant I found it. Few things were scarier than disappointing her. But even still, she was my mother, and I couldn't feel anything but love for her. It hurts when people treat her like a villain.

And dad... I still haven't fully worked through my feelings towards him. Don't get me wrong- I love him too, and when things get rough, I can't help but wish he was still by my side to help. But I can't help but wonder why he did things the way he did. What was the point of making us think psychics were awful? Did he want us to be afraid of him when we found out the truth? Or did he just think he could lie to us forever? Did he not trust us? Not love us enough to tell the truth until he had no other choice? - Dion Aquato.

#fictionkinfessions #fictionkin #dionaquatokin #psychonautskin #chara hate #prevabuse #child abuse cw #manipulation cw #mod party cat!

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hatsukeii · 4 years

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Can I request HCs of Bokuto, Daichi and Ushijima doing community service at a daycare or preschool? Thank you!

Oh my god yesss they’d all be so soft ahhhhh-

Imma do preschool because I dislike preschool children but these guys don’t:)

Let’s gooooo

🦉Bokuto Kotaro🦉

- Absolutely ADORES every single child in the room.

- And is also vv good with them.

- His loud, fun, outgoing personality is all it takes to win the kids over.

- “So, today we’re gonna be doing basic maths! I know you guys don’t like it, but bear with me! Once we’re finished, everyone gets a chocolate!”

- “Nobody is better at English than my friend Akaashi. Except me! I can teach too, he can’t!”

- The younger children love him so much like wow-

- They always ask to play with his hair, and are always surprised when it isn’t spiky and pointy when they pet it.

- The kids go absolutely wild with him during recess.

- He would play tag with them, hide and seek, charades, even role play.

- And every single time he’s it, he’ll pretend to be old and let the kids think they won.

- But when it’s the kid’s turn to catch him, he’s gonna hold back and fall dramatically when a hand touches him.

- Lowkey some of the preschool girls have a crush on him and it’s been like two hours.

- Shows off how high he jumps to the boys.

- And lets the girls teach him how to do ballet.

- Will not hesitate to lift them up and swing them around.

- He loves role play with the kids so much.

- Often acts as the knight in shining armour, although if he sees a crush situation happening he’ll become the villain.

- The teachers at the school think he’s absolutely wonderful.

- “Where did you even find this kid Mina?”

- “Oh, he’s one of the members from my brother’s volleyball team where he coaches.”

- “He’s going to be a great dad, tell your brother to give him the message.”

- Is always the first one to rush to a kid that’s crying or visibly upset.

- HE GETS UPSET WITH THE KID TOO.

- “Awww no, don’t cry! What happened? If you cry I’m gonna cry too!”

- Luckily, kids are satisfied easily. Give them candy and they’ll love you forever.

- Thank the lords Bokuto always has a stash of sweets whenever he goes to the preschool.

- When it’s time to leave, he’s devastated, and so are the kids.

- Their cranky ass teacher is gonna be back, and let’s be real there’s no way she’s as good as Bokuto.

- Secretly they pray for her to get fired or quit so that he can come and volunteer more.

- “Bokuto san! Stay safe! We’ll see you again sometime!”

- “I’ll come and visit sometimes after school! Have fun, I’ll see you guys again!”

- Yeah, his heart’s a puddle now.

🏐Daichi Sawamura🏐

- The dad really shows in him.

- The kids absolutely adore him.

- He’s mostly really sweet with the children, often reading them storybooks and all that.

- Also loves to help them with subjects like Maths or English.

- “Ah, don’t panic, I can help you with it! All you have to do, is raise one finger first, yeah! Then, raise three more. How many fingers are there now? That’s right! Good job!”

- He’s an AMAZING TEACHER.

- Plus, he can draw too.

- Loves to teach the kids how to draw simple things.

- “Okay, we’re going to be learning about colours today! Do you guys know any colours?”

- “For red, let’s draw apples! It’s super easy! I’ll teach you!”

- Doesn’t really join in much on their recess activities.

- He kinda just sits back and watches them play tag and go on the slides and stuff.

- Sometimes, the kids ask him to push them on the swings and he’s very, very happy to do so.

- Usually starts chatter with the teachers about what a pleasure the students are to teach.

- Whenever preschoolers need help, or if they’re hurt, he’s the first person they run to.

- “Oh no Tamaki! Let me grab a bandage, give me a second.”

- “Do you need some tissues for that runny nose?”

- Okay, but he does get serious at times.

- Especially when it comes to bullying.

- That’s when the scary Daichi shows.

- He still holds back, he doesn’t want to scare the kids off or anything.

- But he does seriously talk to them about it.

- “Hey, shoving someone off the swings is not cool. It’s rude and you can get someone seriously hurt. Apologise now.”

- Okay he can get strict at times but the kids still love him a lot.

- He loves to give them piggyback rides.

- They usually snuggle into his neck or shoulder and oh my god it’s so adorable-

- Loves making the kids laugh by making stupid jokes and tickle fights.

- Did I mention that he’s super patient with them? (My short tempered ass could NEVER.)

- He’ll take his time explaining, as long as the kid eventually gets the hang of whatever they’re trying to do.

- Will laugh at all the jokes the kids tell, even if they’re dumb.

- Doesn’t ever fully leave, since he still visits the preschool a few times a month to check on the preschoolers.

- Every time he visits, he brings a bunch of new markers, pens, some candy, and all that to treat the kids.

- 10/10 would recommend.

🐮Ushijima Wakatoshi🐮

- Okay he’s so blunt with the kids when he first started.

- If he sees an ugly drawing he’ll just say “You could do better, but good job anyways.”

- The kids were honestly vv intimidated at first.

- I mean this dude has a constant frown even when he’s feeling good, almost like a permanent rbf.

- Plus he’s a giant.

- And he has bushy ass eyebrows.

- He looked like the definition of scary to preschoolers.

- However, we all know how soft Ushiwaka is.

- He might be blunt, but he’ll try to help the kids improve.

- Like if he thinks the drawing is ugly, he’ll teach them how to make it look better.

- “Here, I’ll hold your hand and guide you through it.”

- Doesn’t get strict with the kids because he doesn’t want to scare them anymore than his looks already do.

- Likes to try and crack jokes.

- Try.

- Most the time the jokes are too elaborate for the kids to understand and he goes “Oh, you don’t get it? Ah, I suppose it needs a bit more time.”

- Brings chocolates everyday for the kids and for himself.

- Doesn’t matter what they did, as long as they get through the school day they get a chocolate.

- Lets the preschoolers sit on his shoulders and runs around with them there.

- Pushes them on the swings during recess.

- Loves to sit in a circle and play dumb games with them.

- The kids think he’s hilarious when he laughs at their dumb jokes.

- They also think it’s hilarious when a joke goes over his head.

- But they adore him nonetheless.

- When any bullying happens he just acts nonchalant.

- That’s enough to discipline the kids.

- “Hey, stop that. It’s not nice.”

- His stoic face makes it just that much scarier for them.

- He’s super bad at advice, but he’s trying his best.

- His advice is way too mature for four year olds to understand.

- He’s very good at cheering them up though.

- He once got a tutu so he could do dance with the kids the next day.

- That tutu is now stuffed in the inner drawer of his wardrobe.

- He’s too ashamed to take it out, but wants to keep the memories.

- When he has to leave he doesn’t show any emotion.

- But he still sends a smile and a wave to them, despite feeling really sad inside.

- Promises to visit once in a few months so the kids can see him again.

Awww they’re all so soft my heart can’t take it-

#haikyuu #haikyuu headcanons #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu daichi #haikyuu bokuto #haikyuu ushijima #hq #hq headcanons #hq imagine #hq daichi #hq bokuto #hq ushijima #ushijima wakatoshi #bokuto kotaro #daichi sawamura #headcanons

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surveys-at-your-service · 3 years

Text

Survey #338

“i can’t decide if you’re wearing me out, or wearing me well”

Are you a fan of techno? I've gotten more into it lately, actually. I've never minded it. Who’s your favorite horror movie villain/monster? Pyramid Head, though he's called Red Pyramid Thing in the movies. Do you have a favorite muscle car? Nah. I'm not big into cars. What would be a total deal-breaker for you, relationship-wise? You so much as lift your hand at me, bye, motherfucker. Would you consider yourself to be accepting of others? Yes, but not as much as I used to be. There are certain opinions I just don't tolerate in people anymore; I feel like by staying associated with people whose views invalidate or in any way harm others (racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.), you're on the side of evil as well, even if indirectly. However, I genuinely do feel I have a wide range of viewpoints I'm willing to accept in others, even if I don't agree with them. Are you flirtatious? No. I think I'm only capable of flirting with someone I'm already with and very comfortable around. I'd feel way too shy and awkward otherwise. Have you ever just felt "drawn" to someone, but you didn’t know why? "Didn't know why," no. I've felt drawn to people with good reason, like if I was romantically interested in them. Is there anyone you currently want to reach out to? There's a number, honestly. Especially with the aid of therapy, I'm being motivated to strengthen bonds with old friends and/or acquaintances via Facebook. Freddy or Jason? I think Jason is scarier. Freddy tends to come across as cheesy for me. Have stickers or gems on your cell phone? Nah. Ever teased your hair? Bitch I damn well tried in high school because I wanted the ~ l e g i t ~ emo hair, but mine was just too heavy to hold, at least with the hairspray my sister had. Have any friends with benefits? Nah, that's never been my thing. Ever lost of bunch of valuable information? Ummm I don't believe so. I've lost massive RP posts before, but I can't really call those "valuable information." What drinks or food make you hyper? None, really. Most expensive thing you ever bought? With my own money, my snake. She's a champagne morph ball python. What type of toothpaste do you use? Crest. How much time to spend putting on makeup daily? Zero. When listening to a song, what do you listen for (lyrics, bass, beat, ect)? The beat, more than anything else. What is the color of your toothbrush? It's a white electric one. What is your favorite color(s) of eye-makeup? Black. Just black. Are you sexually active? I'm not. Do you have sensitive skin? Very. Are you attracted to several guys atm? I'm actually not attracted to any guys in my personal life atm. How many toilets are in your house? Two. Do you have an older sister? Excluding the one I don't know, I have three older sisters. Favorite song by Owl City? Probably "Hot Air Balloon," but I don't know many at all. What color is your mum’s car? White. Do you truly understand the (LDS) Mormon religion? I don't know what "LDS" means, but as my former best friend developed into a Mormon, I learned some stuff from her in her self-discovery. I don't remember a lot of it, not that I knew all that much in the first place. Where do you keep your kitty litter box? Ugh, Mom's unmovable about it being in my fucking room for some reason. And we have an extra goddamn room no one uses yet. Roman's shit STINKS, like we think something might actually be wrong, but nope, it has to stay in here. e_e It would literally inconvenience nobody if we moved it in the spare room. Are you a lighter complexion than your father? MUCH lighter. He's very tan. Do you like apricots? No. Solid soap bar or liquid body wash? 100% body wash. Bar soap slips so easily, and as someone who lives with another person, I'm not rubbing my body with the same bar my mother uses, no offense to her. Sharing it's just gross. Where do you live (country or state)? Shitty 'ole North Carolina. Do you use plastic, wooden, or wire hangers? I think we have a mix of them, actually. What is your favorite shade of yellow? I only like pastel yellow. Otherwise, it's one of my least favorite colors. Are there any shades of blue that you don’t like? If so, which ones? Ehhh not really. What is something you want to accomplish before you turn 30? God, can I please have a stable career by then. Who has the best decorated house in your town? I don't know. We live in a cul de sac community thing where it's just houses next to houses, so there's a lot to choose from. I don't pay attention to them. What is your favorite part of Halloween? The decorations. Do you feel a connection to the moon? "As above, so below," as the saying goes. What does your heart long for? Peace and contentness with myself. Did you decorate a pumpkin this year? Last year, I didn't. I do want to this year, though, if I can just think of a really good idea. I have to be motivated. What are some fall activities you would do with your kids? I'm not having kids, but I'll follow along, hypothetically. With how much joy Halloween brought me as a kid, I'd want to do SO much as a family with them. Homemade decorations, carving or painting pumpkins together, and hell yeah I'd be taking them trick-or-treating once I felt they were ready and they wanted to. I'd be one of those parents that probably spends too much on whatever costumes they want, haha... Oh, and then besides Halloween, I'd certainly rake leaf piles together for them to jump and play in. This question has brought to mind like ONE thing I could enjoy as a parent, haha. Have you ever seen a fox? I have; besides in a zoo setting, I've seen one or two in the wild run out of sight, and I also found one poor fellow as roadkill that had been disemboweled by I'm assuming vultures. With my whole roadkill photography thing, I literally almost kneeled into a strand of intestines I didn't see at first. :x What color are the squirrels where you live? We only have brown ones. Is there anything about Halloween you find offensive? lol no What do the trees look like where you live? Lots, and lots, and LOTS of pine trees... There are others, but I'm not well-informed on tree species and such. Oh, then of course there are dogwoods (our "state tree"), which are unmistakable because they smell like fucking manure. What is your dream vacation? Maybe the mountains on the western side of NC during the fall... ugh, that would be breathtaking. We actually have an abandoned The Wizard of Oz-themed park around there that allows tours at certain times of the year, and I'd love to visit and photograph there. As well, western NC has the zoo, which would be spectacular to visit with autumn weather and, once again, load up on photos. Did you like field trips when you were a kid? I LOVED field trips. Do you find museums boring or interesting? Very interesting! Would you ever wear a shirt with your country’s flag on it? No. I'm not patriotic enough at all for that. What’s a medicine that makes you sleepy? Historically, larger doses of Klonopin can knock me the fuck out. Do you like bath bombs? Never used one, because I don't do baths. Who are your favorite small YouTubers? I'm going to guesstimate you mean less than 1M subs as "small," because I really don't know what you consider to fit that description. I watch a lot of people with less than 1M, so it's hard to say, but lately it's probably been a let's player John Wolfe. He's really funny. Then there's some tarantula YouTubers, along with the animal educator Emzotic... and really just many others. I think most of the people I watch actually have sub-1M, but more than 500k. Who are your favorite big YouTubers? Markiplier is absolutely, positively #1. I also really enjoy Snake Discovery, GameGrumps, Jeffree Star (don't judge me ok, he's a fuckin hoot), and while I haven't watched them in years, Good Mythical Morning will ALWAYS be deeply, deeeeply embedded in my heart. What was your favorite girl group when you were growing up? Ummm probably the Spice Girls? Have you ever used an outhouse? Ugh, yes, at old childhood sports games. What was the last good cause you donated towards? When I cut off like 8+ inches of hair to accomplish the style I have now, I donated it to Children With Hair Loss. My hair has always been mega-thick and healthy, so why in the world waste it? One of my most cherished items is the certificate I got in return many months later that my donation had been used. Have any of your exes gotten married or had kids since your breakup? I haven't had contact with Juan in many years, don't know what Tyler's up to either, and I haven't spoken to Jason since 2017, so. I'm very doubtful he's married or has kids yet, though, just knowing him and how "I need to be fully prepared for this" he is with big life stuff like that. Does it bother you when people get super emotional? Not at all. I'll do my all to comfort them. Have you ever worked in a restaurant? No. Do you get a lot of thunderstorms where you live? Depends on the time of year. Summertime? Brief but super intense thunderstorms every late afternoon. What was the last drive-thru you went through? Taco Bell w/ Mom. Do you know anyone who claims they can see/feel spirits or other supernatural ‘things?’ No. Do either of your parents have a mental illness? My mom has depression, and Mom is also convinced Dad has either depression masked as anger and/or bipolarity, but following the divorce, I don't see it in him at all. He's never seen a doctor in that field to be diagnosed with any mental illness. What fun things are there to do where you live? Jackshit. Do you know anyone with a really poorly-trained dog? Mother of fucking god, yes. My little sister lives with her best friend, and said friend has a colossal black lab named Hudson that is absolutely uncontrollable because she neglects the shit out of him. Won't listen to you even if it saved his life. He jumps on you, barks endlessly, and if he escapes the house? Good fucking luck getting him inside. She has absolutely no right to own a dog with how shitty of an owner she honestly is. When you were growing up, did your family rent or own your home? They owned it. The idiots who were moving in after us accidentally burnt the place to a fucking crisp, and my parents were SO not happy to lose that house because people were dumb enough to place boxes atop the goddamn stove. Do you do meal-prepping? No. Do you know anyone who got preggo less than a year into their relationship? Multiple people, not that that's my business. What did you dream about last night? I don't remember it clearly, other than I was with Jason and his mother was also present. What's the biggest age difference you've ever had in a relationship? That would have been with Juan, but I don't remember exactly how old he was. I just know I was a freshman and him a senior that got held back a year or so in HS. If you could save one animal from ever becoming extinct, what animal would you pick? Probably bees, given how vital they are. Name the coolest thing about one of your grandparents. My maternal grandmother worked at Disney World. I can't remember what her position was, though. Do you ever eat peanut butter straight from the jar? If I want a healthy snack, sometimes I'll have a scoop. Do you prefer your clothes loose or close fitting? They need to be loose. Favorite thing you’ve ever painted? This big painting of meerkats grooming on burlap I did in high school. Do you always wear a bra? I question the self-love of anyone who can sleep with a bra on. ;__; Do you normally finish one book before starting another? Oh yes, I can't read more than one at a time. Do you prefer reading books, comic books, manga/graphic novels, magazines, or the newspaper? The normal book. Do you know how to play chess? I don't. Are you watching anything? No, but I do have Manson's "Third Day of a Seven Day Binge" on in another tab. What is your blood type? A-. Has anyone ever borrowed something from you and never returned it? Yes. Do you twitch when you're falling asleep? Dude, I more than "twitch." I can just suddenly spaz out and look like I'm seizing for a moment. Another side effect of my nightmare suppressant medication. Are any of your pets “overweight”? No. Has anyone ever bought you a ring? My mom has bought me a few, and Jason gave me one for one of our anniversaries. Where was the last place you took a bath/shower, other than your own house? My sister's place. What first attracted you to the last person you kissed? Just how unique and happy that way she is. And her pretty much undying loyalty. Has someone ever taken a pic of you while you were making out with someone? No, considering I wouldn't go that far with someone unless we were alone. Had a crush on someone you thought shared your sexuality, turns out didn’t? Yes. What’s your favorite color to wear? Black. Does it gross you out if a guy has hair on his chest? I personally don't find an excess of it attractive, but it doesn't "gross me out." If they bathe themselves just like everyone else, why should it? Do you think sexuality is a choice or not? It is absolutely not a choice. If it was, I'd assume most people would choose to be straight, given phobias, hatecrimes, etc... I could write an essay on this. Do you like industrial piercings? Yeah. Do you think stretched ears are disgusting? "Disgusting" is, once again, the wrong word. Gauges don't really gross me out - hell, I want tiny ones -, but they can reach a size that, to me, is not visually appealing. Did you watch animated Barbie movies when you were little? I do remember loving Princess and the Pauper as well as the Rapunzel one; my sister was addicted to them. Oh yeah! Then there was the Swan Lake one that she adored, too. We usually watched movies together. Do you like fruit in your cereal? Big No. Do you like raw vegetables? Ugh, no. Do you listen to A Day to Remember? I do! They're on my list of faves. Do you like funnel cake? I actually don't. Have you ever been with someone while they were getting a tattoo? Yuh.

#survey #surveys #questions #lyrics: ''third day of a seven day binge'' by marilyn manson

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culebratia · 5 years

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Honest opinions on horror villains

Okay so I love horror villains and horror in general. Most of them are really interesting and have a sort of grotesque charm to them that I can’t really describe, it draws you to them and pulls you into wanting more. But there are some horror villains that are either overrated and underrated, and today I’m here to discuss some of them! (I’d like to reiterate that I don’t hate any of these characters, I actually like them all! But I’m just talking in a general perspective and my view on their popularity and the actual movie they come from.)

LESLIE VERNON

* overrated.

* okay, I know, people are going to get upset at me over this. This was an amazing movie, they said. It’s so new and different from the others, they said. And I completely understand that! It’s unique and inventive and I love the whole premise of the movie, but goddamn did it bore me..

* I like Leslie Vernon as a character, but I don’t love him like I do with other characters. He’s cool! I adore his slasher design, but his personality bores me a little bit at times. There are some points where my emotions and feelings on the guy are a little bit like a rollercoaster — up and down, up and down, up and down. It’s crazy.

* once again, I like the concept of his movie, but the way it was presented in a filmmaking point of view is underwhelming.

ART THE CLOWN

* underrated.

* there are three movies I know of with Art in them: The 9th Circle, All Hallow’s Eve and Terrifer. And all of them are equally shit, which is to be expected since it was written and directed by a young guy who specialises in special effects. But damn was Art interesting to watch.

* there are some points in the movies where I think “why couldn’t he have starred in a better made film?” because if that were so, he’d get so much more publicity! Art is an absolutely terrifying demon clown creature, way more scary than Pennywise, and people from around the world should know his name! He’s the only character in all the movies who actually has good actors.

* shitty movie, fantastic character. I hope to see more of him.

MICHAEL MYERS

* overrated by a milestone.

* look, I’m all for Michael Myers. He’s hot, lemme tell you that. But he’s a really boring character. It’s all the same (apart from the 3rd movie)! Michael returns to his hometown to find and kill Laurie, killing a whole other group of people who she happens to be involved with at some time during the movie.

* when I watch a horror movie, I want to have the villain to have some sort of character. At least with Jason, you can see some emotion in him which defines him as a whole! But with Michael? He’s a clean slate, and that is soo uninteresting.

* first two movies were great, others were unneeded honestly.

BILLY LENZ

* underrateeeeed.

* stinky attic boy needs some love. He is what started the slasher genre for peats sake and yet everyone overlooks him as a horror villain. Let me tell you, that phone scene in the beginning was absolutely fucking terrifying when I first watched it, and it’s still unsettling to this day even after I’ve watched it a million fucking times.

* we never even got to see Billy’s face properly throughout the whole movie and yet he made such an impact on everyone who ever watched Black Christmas! And that ending scene? Perfect cliffhanger. (The remake was shit compared to the original)

* great movie, great character, needs more credit.

BRAHMS HEELSHIRE

* overrated.

* bet y’all are shocked at this aren’t you? He’s the character I most often write for. But that’s really because he’s heavily requested. I actually don’t really like him all that much, too much exposure I guess. I mean I have nothing against his character as a whole, he’s attractive to me and interesting but I don’t actually know.

* now the movie is something I do know about though: bullshit. Absolutely terrible. A basic plot line (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing sometimes, it just needs to be played out right) and a director which results to cheap jump scares because apparently that’s ‘scary’. The movie as a whole is so predictable and it never scared me once when I went to watch it at the cinema. I can understand why people like it though.

* decent(?) character, bad movie.

OTIS DRIFTWOOD + family

* underrated.

* okay this might have something to do with my weakness for Bill Moseley, scarily cute women and clowns, but man do I love the Firefly family. Each and every character, even the ones we barely see, within the family is so perfectly polished and unique, and I love Rob Zombie for it. He can’t write dialogue for shit but man do I love his horror villains.

* although the first movie was very confusing at some points. Like, what?? What was with that ending? It was a very good movie in my opinion and was actually pretty horrifying. It used things that disgust us and manipulated that to terrify every single one of its viewers and that’s perfect. Hated the protagonists though.

* fantastic movie, great villains, shitty protagonists,

FREDDY KRUEGER

* overrated.

* now don’t get me wrong, I love Freddy, I grew up loving Freddy. He’s witty and fun to watch, maybe not like Chucky, but after a while he gets so repetitive that it gets really really annoying. Couldn’t they think of something unique and interesting for him to say instead of him just calling everyone a bitch??

* the writing becomes boring after a while, the directors add so many unnecessary features, weaknesses and powers we had no clue even existed up until this very point, and it’s overall not a very good franchise when you get into it. I enjoyed the first and seventh movie a lot, but all of the other ones didn’t really excite me all that much.

* okay character, okay movie, but isn’t worth all the attention.

NUBBINS SAWYER, DRAYTON SAWYER, CHOP-TOP SAWYER + GRANDPA SAWYER

* un👏🏽der👏🏽ra👏🏽ted

* these boys deserve just the same amount of attention that Leatherface does. I know that Bubba is a really cool character, and he deserves attention too! But that doesn’t mean that his family get to be left out. Each and every single one of them helped shape the Texas Chainsaw franchise to what it is today, and honestly it wouldn’t have been as amazing without them in it.

* Texas Chainsaw has so many metaphors within it nobody really goes into. When we first meet Nubbins and he’s kicked out of the van, Franklin very obviously points out “would you be able to do that?” referring to Nubbins slicing his hand up, and later on we see Franklin blowing raspberries at his friends due to the fact that he couldn’t go upstairs because of his disability, which is exactly what Nubbins was doing when he couldn’t get into the van. This area is the director exploring the ways that people could so easily turn into madness without people realising it.

* Drayton Sawyer is your average looking fellow who runs the Sawyer household, but he is not average at all. He’s sadistic, witty, hypocritical, and surprisingly still a Christian. He claims that he “doesn’t like to do the killing” and yet he’s shown constantly poking and prodding at the final girls like they’re some caged animals, living only for the pleasure of himself. The fact that he’s an elderly man basically screams “wolf in sheeps clothing”, because usually when you see an elderly person, you assume them to be kind and wise, whereas, Drayton can’t even spell ‘sex’ correctly.

* Chop-Top wasn’t present in the first movie sadly, but it’s explained why, which is understandable in a filmmaking perspective. He is probably the most terrifying character out of the bunch. He’s impulsive, disgusting, and absolutely fucking insane. Whether or not this is due to his time in Vietnam I don’t know, but man does it make a great affect. And that time in the movie where he was introduced? It was absolutely heavenly. No one in today’s horror industry would build up suspense like that and cause so much raw fear from a petty jump scare. The fact that he carries around his damn brothers corpse like he’s puppet, treating him like he’s still a living being adds onto the scare factor as well.

* great villains, good movies, everything after TCSM2 wasn’t really very good though.

Okay, now that’s over and done with! Let me show you my top ten favourite horror villains (from actual horror movies), you’ll either be completely shocked or completely not! :)

Pinhead — love the creature design. Fantastic personality and concept. Annoyed he’s not a woman.

Bubba Sawyer — baby boy needs love. And affection. And kisses. And basically anything positive. We must protect him.

Chop-Top Sawyer — terrified me when I first saw him as a kid. I wanna fuck Bill Moseley. I love his personality. Wish his movie came out.

Captain Spaulding — funny ass motherfucker. Always cracks me up. I want him to be my daddy.

Hannibal Lecter — interesting in a psychological perspective. Has a way to make your skin crawl without doing much.

Art the Clown — scarier than Pennywise. I wish his movies were better. Why didn’t Terrifier make it obvious he was a demon?

Otis Driftwood — boy’s a hottie. But please stop fucking corpses. Once again, Bill Moseley.

Stu Macher — first fictional crush. He’s my irl type of guy. I dated a guy like him once.

Jennifer Check — movie was ahead of its time. Legit was about having a succubus gf. Lesbian scene was hot. I’m gay for Meagan Fox.

Billy Lenz — terrifying phone calls. Nasty boi. The remakes will never be as great as the OG Black Christmas.

Anyways, so that’s it! It’s past midnight currently so I might just go to bed lol but whatever. I’ve wanted to write this out for a whiiile but decided to just get it over with now. I’ll say it all again: every character I write for, I like, I just have different levels of like, so please no hate over this. Thanks!

#horror #movie #pinhead #art the clown #brahms heelshire #leslie vernon #michael myers #billy lenz #jennifer check #chop top sawyer #drayton sawyer #nubbins sawyer #freddy krueger #otis driftwood #baby firefly #captain spaulding #bubba sawyer #stu macher #ghostface

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imdoingthismspaintadventure · 5 years

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Worm 2.5 - In which Taylor makes a questionable decision

When we last read Worm, the trio were being horrible and Taylor NOPE’d out of school. possibly to consider Tt’s offer. I guess we’ll see how that goes

If you looked at Brockton Bay as a patchwork of stellar and squalor, upper class and lower class with no middle ground, then downtown was one of the nice areas. The streets and sidewalks were wide, and that meant that even with skyscrapers in every other lot, there was a great deal of blue overhead.

So BB is a city with huge class disparity where the difference in wealth between districts is vast. It sounds more Gotham than Metropolis. (Even if Gotham is probably unmatched in how much of a shithole it is. Holy shit that place is cursed)

Following my retreat from school grounds, I hadn’t been sure what to do. My dad worked an unreliable schedule, so I couldn’t spend the rest of the afternoon at home unless I wanted to risk having to explain what I was doing home on a school day. I didn’t want to hang around the general area of my school, so that had left me the options of the half-hour walk to downtown or a trip to the Boardwalk. Between my morning runs and the previous night’s escapades, I had seen enough of the Boardwalk, so I’d decided to head downtown.

Yeah that seems sensible. Going to the boardwalk seems like it risks an encounter from one of Lung’s subordinates, which were apparently seeking revenge. Although that shouldn’t be a problem given than Armsmaster took both the credit and the blame.

Poor Danny, he’s totally lost control of this situation.

I didn’t want to dwell on the subject of school or Emma, so I turned my focus to the recent message from Tattletale. She wanted to meet, presumably to repay the favor she felt she owed me. I considered the possibility that it was a trap, but I couldn’t imagine any angle where it would be. She just didn’t have any reason to go after me. The worst case scenario was that it wasn’t Tattletale, but that wasn’t the impression I’d had. What she said in the message seemed to flow with what I had seen of her last night. I would be careful, nonetheless.

Yeah I can’t think of any reason they would have to go after her besides being cartoonishly villanous, and they didn’t seem like the type.

That it is a trap from someone else (like one of the flunkies who were in the fight and saw the bugs) is more believable, but that is also unlikely, I think.

I think it’s genuinely Tattletale wanting to meet, which is also the most narratively interesting situation.

It was perplexing. These guys were, in large part, virtual unknowns. From what I knew of Grue and Hellhound, they were both marginally successful B-list villains who had been barely scraping by. Now both were on a team that was pulling high profile heists and confounding even the likes of Armsmaster. The two of them seemed totally different in methodology and style, and if I was remembering right, both Grue and Hellhound had lived in different cities prior to teaming up and setting roots in Brockton Bay. That raised the question: who or what had drawn these four very different individuals together?

Damn, seems like they leveled up! They got much more organized and competent! And are pulling larger scale heists!

They do seem pretty different! A darkness-generator seems more stealth based, as opposed to the feral monster dogs. But they seem to have good synergy!

Maybe Tt organized them and brought them together? We know so little of both her and Regent...

It was possible that Tattletale or Regent were the uniting factors, but I couldn’t really imagine it, having seen what I did of their group dynamic. Grue had poked fun at Regent rather than treat him like a leader, and while I couldn’t put my finger on it, the more I imagined Tattletale uniting that group of unconnected people with powers, the harder I found it to picture. In fact, when I thought about it, hadn’t Grue said they had fought for a considerable amount of time over how to deal with Lung? It didn’t really sound like they had any leadership worth speaking about.

So they seem to be competently organized while also having no organization at all and frequently bickering. Hmm.

Maybe there’s a shadow leader, or another group behind them? Or maybe they just work like that, in some weird way.

It wasn’t hard to sympathize with Armsmaster. The whole scenario there was just bizarre, and it was made worse by the fact that there were practically no details as far as Tattletale or Regent went. Information, it seemed, was a major factor when dealing with capes.

Knowledge is power. If you know somebody’s weakpoints or full extent of abilities, it makes things a lot easier

Information is often underestimated in series that are all about powerlevels and strength, but I love it when it makes a difference.

The streets were busy with people on their lunch break. Businessmen and businesswomen were heading to restaurants and fast food places. My stomach growled as I passed a line of people waiting their turn at a street vendor. I checked my pockets and winced at the realization that I didn’t have enough for even a hot dog. My lunch had been in my backpack.

Have I mentioned that Taylor’s daily life sucks hard? Because it does.

I stopped myself before I could finish that train of thought and put myself into a worse mood by dwelling on what had happened at school. Still, as I thought back to the circle of villains and Tattletale’s message, the amusing thought crossed my mind that I could ask them to repay the favor by buying me lunch. It wasn’t a serious thought, but the ridiculousness of the mental image – me eating a burger with a group of supervillains – put a dumb smirk on my face. I was pretty sure I looked like a moron to anyone on the street who happened to glance at me.

Hehehe

That sounds awesome.

Supervillain burger time!

As I thought on it, though, the notion that I might actually consider taking Tattletale up on her offer of a meeting nagged at me. The more I thought on it, the scarier the idea got, and the more it seemed to make sense.

Uh oh, I can feel the incresingly more likely villainous path for Taylor creeping closer

What if I did take them up on the offer? I could meet them, talk with them, see what they had to offer, and all the while, fish for information. If I got anything worth sharing, I could turn around and give it to Armsmaster so he could use it against them. Just going by what Armsmaster had said about these guys and the scarcity of information on them, it would be a pretty major coup for the good guys.

Uhhh that sounds shaky at best and a horrible idea at worst.

You would have to get close to them and then betray their trust. Which is both rough, cause you tend to form emotional ties with people, especially for someone as isolated as Taylor; and it is also dangerous, as you make very dangerous enemies in the process who know a lot about you

Okay, so they would likely see my ploy as a monumental betrayal if and when I pulled it off. I would be making enemies. That said, I suspected that when it came out that I was a hero and not a villain, they would count it as such regardless. Didn’t it make sense to leverage as much information as I could from them before they caught on, as far as their misconception went?

What the?

Someone finding out their assumptions about you were wrong and someone finding out you personally betrayed them and screwed them after getting close to them are two very different things

I feel like we are in a very high speed bad decision train of thought.

I turned around and headed in the direction of the public library. It was only a few blocks away.

The library was busy, which made sense, given the number of offices and businesses around, the number of people wanting some quiet during their lunch hour, and people doing research or casual browsing they couldn’t do at their workplaces. I would have included Brockton Bay’s biggest and fanciest high school, the nearby Arcadia High, in that generalization, but I doubted many students were spending their lunch breaks at the library.

Going to the library to clear your mind and think about all of this?

The Central Library looked almost more like a museum or art gallery than anything else, with tall ceilings, pillars and massive pieces of artwork hung to frame the hallways between the major sections of the building. I headed up to the second floor, where there were about twenty computers and a line of people waiting their turn to use them. I anticipated a fifteen or twenty minute wait, but as the clock approached one o’clock, people headed back to work and the line rapidly thinned out. A free computer came up within a few minutes of my joining the line. I let the person behind me go on ahead, waiting a bit longer so I could get a station with a little more privacy.

Oh is she heading to the library computer to avoid being traced as she responds? Smart!

Also I would love to be in that library. All of the yes.

By the time I sat down, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to write. I found the message with the search function and clicked on the username ‘Tt’. A drop down menu appeared, and I chose ‘send private message’. It gave me the option of making an account, signing in with an already existing account, or sending the message as an anonymous guest. I chose the last option, then typed:

Subject: Re:Bug

Bug here. Would like to meet, but want proof you are Tt. I’ll reciprocate if needed.

Welp we put the plan in motion it seems! A very dangerous plan at that!

Going to the library, using an anonnymous identity, asking for proof...Taylor is being very smart in doing something that seems very dumb

I didn’t send it right away, taking a moment to consider. Getting decent proof would prevent any potential problems like the message turning out to be a trap laid by, say, Bakuda. Leaving the burden of proof on Tattletale and leaving it up to her to decide if she wanted verification I was indeed ‘Bug’ meant I didn’t have to worry about coming up with exactly how one might prove their identity. I reread it twice over, then sent the message.

I don’t think it would be Bakuda, especially now that you commented on the possibility.

The reply came only two or three minutes later. It was fast enough that I couldn’t imagine Tattletale taking the time to check and double check every aspect of her message the way I had mine. Was that recklessness on her part, or just the benefit of experience?

Maybe she has a knack for these things? Or has done this before?

I closed the tabs I had opened in the meantime and checked to see what she had written. It was a private message, from her to me, and it set my fight or flight instincts in high gear:

Subject: re:Bug

Proof? Last night you didn’t say anything until I asked your name. Big guy had a mess of nasty bites and you pepper sprayed him and I told my pal G that when he asked. Good enough?

G R and me will meet you at the same spot we crossed paths last night, k? Don’t have to get gussied up if you catch my drift. Rest of us will be in casual wear.

If we meet at 3 will that give you enough time to get there from library with everything you need? let me know

Ta ta

Oh what the fuck

Tattletale knows you are in the library? That is concerning

Is that her power? Is she able to know where people are and what they are doing? Therefore knowing their “secrets”, hence the nickname? That seems very powerfull

Let’s hope her mental-type power doesn’t also include reading minds, cause if it does, you are already extremely fucked.

Remember what I said before about this being a bad idea? With the possibility of a mental power in their group, multiply that ten times.

My heart pounded. She knew where I was, and she was letting me know. Why? More to the point, how? Had I unwittingly entered an online exchange with a savvy hacker? I knew my way around computers, my mom had made sure I had one since before I could read and write, but I would be lying if I said I could tell if I was being hacked or do anything about it.

She could have just seen your library IP, I guess. Powers seems more interesting though.

I would have interpreted the casual mention of my location as a veiled threat if it didn’t run contrary to everything else in her messages to me. Besides – Tattletale was talking about meeting me in casual clothes. I took that to mean they wouldn’t be in costume. I couldn’t understand why, but at the same time, it was hard to imagine her threatening me with one breath just a sentence after she’d offered to meet me in a way that made her totally vulnerable.

I would say her mentioning it was more of a power flex, than it was a threat.

And that move not only makes her vulnerable, it makes you vulnerable, It means that they both know your identity, and you know theirs. Which both sound really bad

Tattletale had unwittingly raised the stakes for my scheme. My primary goal was to gather information on them, and here I was getting a chance to see them with their masks off. It was too good to be true, which made me wonder what kind of safeguards they had in place to protect themselves.

I think the stakes were already higher than you realized. This is an insanely risky move. There is a reason why only trained professionals are double agents.

I just had no idea what I would be getting into.

That is an understatement.

The screensaver came up while I stared at the monitor with thoughts racing through my head. The words ‘BROCKTON BAY CENTRAL LIBRARY’ scrolled across the screen in varying colors.

I bet it never hits the corner.

If I went, best case scenario, I could get enough information to turn them in. I’d get mucho cred from the good guys and respect from an international celebrity. If I’d judged Armsmaster right, I’d get even more brownie points if I gave him the info and let him – or helped him – make the bust. On the flip side of the coin, the worst case scenario was that it was a trap, or they’d figure out what I was doing. It would mean a fight, maybe a beating. There was an outside possibility I could get killed, but somehow that didn’t concern me as much as it maybe should have. Part of the reason for my lack of concern, I think, was that the possibility existed any time I went out in costume. That, and from my interactions with them last night, I didn’t get a ‘killer’ vibe from them.

They are still villains! Villains you would royally piss off!!

Also I can’t help but feel that the “mucho cred” you would get from the heroes and the world is slighly idealized. The Risk/Reward ratio on this one is not good

On the topic of the status quo… if I didn’t go, what would happen? This particular window of opportunity would likely pass, as far as being able to get the dirt on Tattletale and her gang. That was okay, as I thought on it. It was a high risk, high reward venture anyways. Taking that path would mean turning down the meet, then killing time for the rest of the afternoon, trying to avoid dwelling on the fact that I had missed two straight afternoons of classes and might, maybe, miss more. It was depressing to think about.

Is she subsconsciously putting herself in very dangerous situations as a form of escapism ? That doesn’t seem healthy

“Excuse me?”

Startled, I looked up. A middle aged woman in a red jacket stood just behind me. As I met her eyes she asked, “Are you done?” She gestured at the computer, where the screensaver was still scrolling.

“Excuse me, ma’am, I was in the process of making a mistake”

Heady with the relief that she hadn’t been, irrationally enough, Tattletale, I smiled and told her, “Give me thirty seconds.”

Subject: Re:Bug

See you at three.

Well, we’re all in now. Let’s see how this goes.

#Worm #Worm liveblog #parahumans liveblog #worm parahumans #wildbow #parahumans #Taylor what are you doing #arc 2 #worm 2.5

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briangroth27 · 5 years

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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Review

I really enjoyed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! While I preferred Goosebumps as a kid, the three Scary Stories books were also an ever-present part of my childhood and I can vividly remember reading them by flashlight with the lights off. The vast majority of my early knowledge of urban legends came from the stories in those books and they certainly helped build my love of spooky things in general as well as the “kids encounter the supernatural” sub-genre of horror/sci-fi specifically. I haven’t read the books in years (though I still have them), but this movie made me want to revisit them because it’s so good!

Full Spoilers…

Scary Stories is anchored by very strong performances from its teen cast. The main kids do really well with the material they’re given, crafting protagonists that touch on standard teen archetypes but that are also fleshed out, especially Zoe Margaret Colletti (Stella) and Michael Garza (Ramon). Stella is the most well-rounded and explored character in the film, and Colletti displays a huge range of emotion! She capably led the movie and she clearly has a bright career ahead of her. I liked that Stella was the most into horror and nerdy things among her friends, but no one treated that as weird even in this film’s era (girls have always been into nerdy stuff too!). The one thing I wanted more of in terms of her character was why “everyone said” it was her fault that her mother left. Feeling responsible for the absence of a parent is a common childhood misconception, but it seemed weird to frame it as something the whole town would be telling her without also giving a reason for it (though it did give her a connection to Sarah’s own persecution by the entire town, even if only in Stella’s mind). It was really cool of the movie to draw Ramon as the mysterious outsider kid rather than some troubled/tough white kid. That lent the movie a fresh feel while also touching on the racism of the period (which is still in full force today; one of many grounded horrors the movie dabbles in that are very much as relevant now as they were in the film’s 1968 setting). Garza brought an effortless coolness to Ramon that felt appropriately period while also acting as a great mask for his fears. Ramon and Stella’s budding romance was sweet and cute too.

Auggie (Gabriel Rush) and Chuck (Austin Zajur) were no slouches either, providing most of the film’s comic relief while also capably playing real terror and friendship. The two of them and Stella felt extremely natural as friends since childhood and Ramon also effortlessly blended into the group; these four kids’ chemistry was fantastic! At first I wished we'd gotten more personal connections between Chuck and especially Auggie’s fears and their personalities: most victims here face stories pulled from their established fears and anxieties, but Chuck and Auggie’s initially felt more random. A personalized connection to the stories the book used against them after “reading them” would enhance the scares and illuminate their characters, and after thinking about it more I think I may have an idea of what they're going for. I could buy Auggie as a hypochondriac, so eating a toe would be horrifying, and he seems to be the most afraid of spooky things among his circle of friends, so maybe his story is attuned to him, but just felt generic because of the more generalized nature of his fears. Chuck’s story is based on a recurring nightmare he has, but I think it’s more personal than that. The Pale Lady (Mark Steger) could be punishment for Chuck’s objectification of women via his pen, but I’m wondering if perhaps that pen is a front (given how quick to show it off he is, to prove his interest in it) and he’s secretly gay. He scoffs at Auggie’s attraction to Ruth (Natalie Ganzhorn), he’s attacked by the book in a mental hospital (homosexuality was classified as a mental illness in 1968), and his nightmare calls its red room (which turns out to be the entire building when the alarm lights come on) “an evil place” (conversion therapy is torture). I think the Pale Lady is a manifestation of conformity and traditional relationships being forced onto him (or rather, forcing him into their narrow definitions by literally absorbing him): she’s everywhere and he can’t outrun or escape her.

Chuck’s sister Ruth also got some solid depth: though initially introduced as a stuck-up and cliché popular teen, they quickly had her stand up for her brother. The fact that both of them annoyed one another but they still raced to help each other made their relationship feel very real. That she’s helping continue the search for him at the end of the film instead of being condemned to insanity forever or something is awesome too! Tommy (Austin Abrams) was the only teen character that was really written as one-note, but it was a frightening note, both because of the violence and racism he exuded and the fact that he could easily be a modern radicalized teen, filled with all the same kinds of hate, rage, and eagerness to go off and kill people in a pointless war that you can find online nowadays. Now that I think about it, Chief Turner (Gil Bellows) was also written fairly single-mindedly and he was also a villain. I wonder if that’s intentional: these human villains don’t have redeeming qualities or sympathetic backstories, so their racism and ugliness is fully on them. Of course, continuing to embrace racism is always fully on the racist, but this film isn’t even trying to make excuses for why they might be like that. I think the movie’s saying there really isn’t anything more to people who are this consumed by hate and ignorance. There’s no point in trying to reason with them because they’re exactly what they present to the world (except they’re not strong like they pretend: they’re just scared straw men).

The movie’s main villain, Sara Bellows (Kathleen Pollard), does have more layers to her than these human ghouls: despite being “evil,” she’s presented as (initially) being a victim whose only crime was trying to warn the town about mercury poisoning in the water. After taking her revenge on her family for committing and torturing her, Sarah’s decline into unfocused rage parallels Stella’s inability to let go of her feeling that she drove her mother away nicely. I wonder if part of Sarah’s reason for attacking the kids just for finding and taking her book was because she thought they’d lie about her too; it’s when Stella promises to write and tell her story faithfully that she relents, after all. Skimming through the books again after seeing the movie, I realized I’d forgotten they were written to help you scare the people you were reading to, so I liked that Sarah telling stories tailored to her victims was her method of vengeance and that Stella had to help tell her story to end the terror. Those are cool ways to honor the structure of the books.

The film has a great mix of jump scares (some of which did work on me), gross-out imagery (Auggie and that toe, man!), body horror (Tommy’s fate was brutal and painful-looking!), and real-life terror (Ramon running from the draft resonated with me a lot; even as a kid growing up in the 90s, being drafted to go die in some war was a major fear of mine). It was sobering to see just how many of the societal problems of the late 60s (racism, pollution, white boy rage/toxic masculinity, useless wars, the wealthy screwing over everyone for profit, no one listening to women, etc.) still haven’t been solved today. I do wish the movie were a little scarier, but the overall tone is wonderfully spooky (and decidedly “fall,” which was great), while the comic relief breaks up the tension nicely. The design of the monsters is very cool, with some of them looking like they walked right out of the books. The pacing is brisk, the directing, writing, and score are all solid, and the actors all bring their A-game. Sarah Bellows’ book was a good way to weave the original series’ stories together and I really liked that our heroes don’t just forget or ignore what they’ve been through and walk away from the terror at the end of the movie. Instead, Stella, her father (Dean Norris), and Ruth are actively headed off to rescue Chuck and Auggie. I love that, like in the real world, you can’t just let evil fester: you’ve got to stand up and protect each other. Ramon also goes off to face his fears, enlisting in the army, but that was a lot more somber: I didn’t get the sense that he’ll be coming back (though I hope he will!).

I’d definitely watch More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and hope we get another movie (and a third one, if they want to go that far)! I love this spooky 90s literature renaissance that’s going on and I’d like to see it continue (please give me Goosebumps 3 and a show about The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids while we’re at it!). In the meantime, get your Halloween season started early, because these Scary Stories are definitely worth a trip to the theater!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

#scary stories to tell in the dark

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calliecat93 · 5 years

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One month into V7, and it's already been a crazy ride. IDK if I’d call it crazier than V6’s first few episodes, but it’s certainly close. There’s been so much talk in a short amount of time. Ruby’s lie to Ironwood. Ironwood in general regarding his choices. The villains and their schemes. The state of Mantle and it and Atlas’ potential fates. Pretty much everything has been discussed in depth in one way or another. And I’m sure that this chapter will give us even more things considering what happened. So, I guess we better get to it, huh?

Overview

With the Dust Mines all cleared, the military brings Amity Arena over while our heroes are busy gushing over the badassness of the Ace-Ops. Though Ruby s surprised to learn from Harriet that they aren’t friends, they just work together. It doesn’t help when Ruby tries to convince WBY to go exploring when they get back to Atlas, but none of them are interested due to either being tired or the fact that they did exploring all over Anima. Worse? Ironwood speaks to Ruby, Jaune, and Qrow, telling them about a recent string of murders which includes Forest from last week (RIP #FRWBY). This has only made Ironwood’s image, as well as Atlas’, even worse and Jaune points out how maybe it wouldn’t be as bad if they didn’t put out the Dust Embargo. Ironwood… actually agrees, and he is hoping that RWBYJNR can do some good within Mantle. The talk is cut short, however, when Ironwood is informed of someone landing. Someone that he is not looking forward to talking to.

We cut to the area where the ship landed… and a familiar company logo is on the hangar door. Out comes… ugh, Jaques Schnee. Yep, this asshat is back and he is furious that Ironwood took over the mine site, even after Ironwood tells him that since it’s a military operation there was no council vote required. Jaques starts to go off… until he sees Weiss. He’s furious that she’s been back in Atlas and not told, assuming that Ironwood has something to do with it, but Weiss makes it very clear that she’s there by her own choice as it was when she left. Jaques is pissed… but then calms down, and cue the gaslighting when he comments on how Mama Schnee is doing badly due to Weiss leaving. He turns to then thank Ironwood for screwing himself over as poor Weiss is left utterly derailed. Fortunately, the other three girls stand by her with Blake holding her hand, which encourages Weiss to call them her family when Jaques turns back to her.

Winter arrives just as Jaques leaves… as does Penny, who sends our girls flying. Oops. She’s there to congratulate them. Why? Well, we cut to inside Amity Arena, the location where everything changed for everyone. Why are they there? Well, Ironwood speaks of RWBYJNR’s actions from the Fall of Beacon, to defending Haven, to now and says that they aren’t acting as students. They are acting as Huntsmen and Huntresses. As such, he grants them their Hunting Licenses. That’s right everyone, after seven seasons, our kids are FINALLY official Huntsmen and Huntresses! Yay!!! Ironwood is relieved that he has fighters that he can trust helping him, which haha… that sure isn’t plunging the knife in deeper regarding Ruby’s lie or anything! Ironwood has to return to managing the current operation, leaving the kids to enjoy their cake and celebrate their accomplishments. Despite this, they all feel it’s almost trivial now after all that they’ve been through, but Qrow encourages them to take the time to enjoy themselves for once.

Everyone celebrates… well, almost everyone. Ruby has opted to sit alone in the stands while the others enjoy themselves. Qrow goes to her, clearly proud that his niece has made it to this point, but he can tell that this, the current events, and the lies have gotten Ruby conflicted. Ruby expresses how she’s worried that she’s acting like Ozpin, though Qrow tells her that while Oz only trusted himself with the truth, Ruby does still trust others and is just waiting for others to prove themselves. He says that Summer would be proud of her… which gets Ruby to ask a question that we have wanted to hear for SOOOO long now. Was Summer’s last mission, the one that she never returned form, Oz related? According to Qrow… no, it was not. We confirm that Qrow was NOT with Summer on that mission, and Oz appeared as lost and confused as him and Tai. But of course, now that Qrow knows the extent of Oz’s lies, he can’t be for sure. But he does know that had Summer found out the truth, she’d do as Ruby is now: press on.

So as the kids sign up for Huntsmen missions (with poor Jaune getting saddled with escorting children XD), we cut to the Schnee Manor where Jaques is drinking in his study. He’s interrupted by Whitley informing him of a visitor. One who invited himself in. It is, of all people, Watts. Jaques is stunned by this, sending Whitley away and says that Watts is supposed to be dead. But we don’t get any more details on that as Watts is there for business. Why? Well, you know how Jaques is running for council? Well… let’s just say that Watts knows of a way for Jaques to have his cake, and eat it too. Ho boy, things are about to go insane…

Review

A calmer episode compared to the past few, but still really good!

So let’s go into Schnee drama first. I hate Jaques. I didn’t think that I could have him more than I already did, but I was proven wrong. That’s not a complaint either. Jaques is very well-written and a perfect embodiment of an abusive asshole. He not only lashes out angrily when things don’t go his way, but he’s even scarier when calm. The way that he tried to gaslight Weiss after her open defiance, bringing up Mama Schnee and ‘how she gets’ when upset. Trying to make Weiss feel guilty, even though it’s HIS fault that his wife is in such a state and he clearly doesn’t care. It’s just cruel and incredibly scummy, but not a surprise coming from him. We also see at the end that even though Whitley is his favorite and has groomed him to the point that even Watts notes the similarities, even he isn’t immune to being talked too harshly and we see that the kid is clearly afraid of him. Is it any wonder why Winter stayed in the army van until Jaques left? I don’t blame you, hon.

I loved seeing Weiss stand up to him though. She spoke up for herself and made it clear that she wasn’t going to let Jaques control her anymore. Yeah, his gaslighting brought her back down, but he didn’t beat her either as she has RBY there beside her. Seeing all three supporting her was so sweet and so perfect and Weiss calling them family? Beautiful. Special mention to Blake though. You can tell that she absolutely knows the game that Jaques is playing since… well, that’s what Adam did to her. Her holding Weiss’ hand was such a sweet gesture and just shows how much these girls love and support each other. It was such a well-done scene, and I loved it!

So… our kids are Licensed now~ This was, honestly, a long time coming. Yes, we can debate on if they’re truly ready for it or not. But at this point, they’ve gone far and beyond what was expected out of them. They fought in the Battle of Beacon. They went to Haven and defended it. They reached Atlas. They’re now fully a part of this larger conflict and, despite any rough patches, are all committed to it and their duties as Huntsmen and Huntresses. It only makes sense that they are granted their licenses at this point. But the question is, is Ironwood giving them the licenses because he believes that? Or is he aware that they’re not telling him something, and trying to do things to get their trust? It could be either one or could even be both. Either way, that’s where we are now.

But the event is treated with little fanfare, tbh. Which again, isn’t a complaint. I honestly quit thinking about them getting their licenses since about V4, since RNJR at leat were pretty much acting as such by then. There have been so many other things that have happened that I gotta agree with Yang, it does feel trivial now. I’m glad that it happened, but it just feels like ‘oh this happened, that’s cool’ over anything grand or triumphant. Still, I’m glad that they are licensed and it was nice that they could take it easy for a moment. That much they’ve absolutely earned. It was cute too, like Nora piling up on cake, Yang playing the removable arm trick on Penny, and Bumblebee selfies. I liked it~!

The highlight though is, of course, Ruby and Qrow’s talk. First, it’s so nice to see Qrow be an encouraging uncle again. I did not like Qrow during V6, even if I get why he was like he was. So seeing him in a much better headspace and being able to support his niece really helped remind me of why I like Qrow as a character so much. Jason Liebrecht has been doing such a great job voicing Qrow as well. He just puts so many little touches in the performance that lets him express so many emotions, and it’s fantastic. It was especially needed since Ruby’s clearly struggling. She tried to get the others to do some fun stuff like they used to, but they aren’t interested. She finally got her license, the thing that she’s wanted since a little girl, but at that point so much has happened that it didn’t really matter anymore. She’s worried and feeling guilty about her recent decisions, and is worried that she might end up like Oz, lying to everyone around her and making decisions that ultimately do nothing and lead others to their deaths.

There’s a lot weighing on Ruby right now, and I’m fairly sure that it’s only going to get tougher for her. But it was so nice to see Qrow comfort her, especially after how much Ruby tried to make him open up and talk to her last volume. Say what you want about her speeches, but they clearly helped Qrow as demonstrated here. But of course, we finally have Ruby ask about Summer. Nothing too major is revealed except that her last mission at least appears to not be Oz-related and Qrow wasn’t with her. Which… leads to something I’ve been wondering about for a while. Is Summer dead? All that we know is that she never came back, so maybe she was just presumed dead. But if she’s alive, where is she? I have some ideas, which I talked about here if you’re interested. But if she is alive… then why did she never go back home? Plenty of questions, but we can only wait for the answers. But hopefully, it won’t be too much longer now.

Then we have the ending. Ho boy… so Watts knows Jaques. And he’s supposed to be dead. Wondering why that was necessary, but it doesn't seem like Jaques is surprised that he’s alive. That he’s in his house? Absolutely. Alive? Mmm… not to me. But then what the heck happened that caused Watts to fake his own death? And what’s Jaques’ involvement with it? It was probably something bad, but still. But yeah, Watts is going to help Jaques out it seems. What for? Well, I've talked about what I think the big plan would be, and if I’m right… ho boy, it's gonna be America during 2016 all over again. It’s gonna be interesting to see how this plays out, especially on the Mantle side of things. Which may be coming soon, going of the thumbnail for next week...

As I said, this was a calmer episode compared to the first three. But that’s not a problem at all. The pacing was good. There were some great character interactions. It helps push along the narrative and allows characters like Ruby, Weiss, and Qrow to show off their character development. The animation was good, especially with the more cartoony moments. Thunder Thighs makes me cackle every time. This was Eddy Rivas first episode as writer, and he did a fantastic job! As did directors Dustin Matthews and Paula Decanini. They did an excellent job here, and I loved it. If V7 keeps up the level of quality, I think that it can rank up there with V3 and V6 as the best~!

Chapter Five Predictions

We saw in this episode that two individuals were spying on the Amity Arena activity, one of them being a Faunus girl who has a certain emblem on her clothing. It appears to be Robyn Hill’s emblem. This, as well as Robyn being on the thumbnail for the episode, confirms her finally making her debut. She’s likely going to be informed of the recent activity, though whether she’s aware of Ironwood’s plan (at least the satellite part) remains to be seen. But if not, she’s likely going to want to know why. Which hopefully means that we get to see how she leads/operates the Happy Huntresses and how she’s running her campaign for council.

Speaking of, we’ll probably get to see the actual election and what the respective candidates are doing. Since Jaques is now with Watts, I expect plenty of smear campaigns and corruption going around to make Ironwood and perhaps Robyn look worst. Like I said, the American 2016 Election all over again. It likely also means seeing more chaos and protest in Mantle, ones that I doubt are going to be peaceful. And then we have Jaune on his first mission, and I thin that Miles’ ‘thirsty moms’ comment is about to come into play, haha. Not sure about the rest of the gang, or even if we’ll see Oscar after he was absent here. Guess we’ll find out soon~!

Episode Stats

Favorite Character: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Qrow Branwen Favorite Scene: Weiss facing Jaques/RBY supporting her Least Favorite Scene: The Mission Board since it just kinda dragged. Favorite Voice Actor: Jason Liebrecht (Qrow Branwen) Favorite Animation: Thunder Thighs Rating: 8/10

Final Thoughts

A slower episode, but a great one nonetheless. Great character writing, great accomplishments, and of course more development of the plot. Moments like Weiss against Jaques, Ruby and Qrow’s heart-to-heart, some talk on SUmmer, and our heroes getting their Huntsmen/Huntress Licenes made me smile so much, and all without feeling cramped or forced. I think that we earned a breather, and this one delivered without feeling boring. Eddy did a great job and since he confirmed that he also wrote Chapter 5, which is 20 minutes BTW, I am super excited to see what else he brings us~!

#rwby #rwby7 #rwby reviews #callie reviews

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todorokiaimee · 5 years

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Blues In The Night 8. All The Things That You Are

Previous Chapter | Chapter Song

“I think I have an envie for something sweet. What about you, mon cher?” Shoto and Aimee walked hand in hand down the busy Tokyo streets up to a row of food trucks. Her tears long dried from their earlier heart to heart, Shoto was thrilled to see her smile once again. “Envie?” he questioned, looking down at her with a quirked brow. “It’s means hunger or craving.” Aimee tapped her chin with a small smirk. “You know, maybe you should take a few French lessons? Then you can understand more of my hodgepodge of a native tongue,” she flicked her tongue at him mock-seductively. “Do you know…. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?” The peppermint haired man sucked in a breath, his face reddening before mumbling. “That one I do know…”

It didn’t take Aimee long to find her choice: fruit crepes. Strolling up to the truck window, the pair ordered a large strawberry banana crepe to share. Why not end their evening with yummy dessert? “That will be 1,000 yen,” the cashier said with a smile as he put in the order. Shoto reached into his suit jacket and pulled out his wallet, ready to pay when he noticed his love give him the evil eye. “No, no, no… Put your money away. I don’t even want to know how much money you just spent on me, so no. I got this,” Aimee protested as she pulled out her debit card from her coat pocket. Shaking his head, Shoto caught her hand, a small smile on his lips, “Please, let me. I don’t mind.” He offered his card to the cashier. “Here, sir.” Aimee scowled at her beau, pointing her finger right at his nose. “Shoto, I swear if you don’t put that away, you will get all sorts of bad gris-gris coming your way!” The hero chuckled lowly in his throat, sizing up his challenger, “You’re making threats now?” A sweet smile graced Aimee’s lips as her fingers slowly walked up his chest. “Oh, darling…” She gripped his tie pulling him down closer to her face, much to his surprise. “Not a threat, a promise.” Fuck me. Shoto cleared his throat as he willed his libido to calm down, Aimee now offering her card to the cashier as well. The cashier, deciding it’s a man’s role to pay for his lady, started to reach for Shoto’s card only to met with Aimee’s look of daggers. “Don’t. You. Dare.” With a shudder he quickly took her card, bowing his head slightly to the hero. “Sorry man, she’s just scarier than you.” The ravenette looked over to her shoulder to Shoto with the smuggest expression he had ever seen, causing him to smirk in turn. For once he didn’t mind getting bested. “I’ll have to remember that.”

After receiving the crepe, the pair started to walk back towards the car. Aimee took a generous bite of her sweet treat with a smile. “Mmm so yummy!” Shoto smiled, wrapping a strong arm around her waist. “I’m glad you like it, my love.” “Here, have a bite!” He leaned down to take a bite as they walked past a dark empty alleyway. Shoto felt a rush of wind whip towards him, alerting him to an impending foe. “Watch out!”

Shoto shoved Aimee out of the way just in time for him to shield her from solid black tendrils erupting from the alley. The black shadows, wrapped around his body, pulling him deeper into the dark alleyway, high into the air. Activating his quirk on reflex, he created a large ice wall in hopes of stopping their path. Much to his dismay the shadows only moved around the obstacle, still trapping Todoroki in its hold. Shit! Wait, of course. He quickly activated his left side, his flames bursting to life. The dark tendrils weakened, allowing him to break free. Logically, of course his flames would be best suited for this quirk due to the light emitted from them. Falling back towards the earth, the hero created an ice bridge as he slid back down to the ground, noticing his now partially incinerated suit. There goes another perfectly good suit. His foe launched at him again as he countered with a larger fire attack only to hear a scream from behind him. Panicked, the hero turned his head to see Aimee on the ground, cowering in fear. She’s still here?! “Run away, Aimee! Get out of here!” he yelled as he continued to grapple with the tendrils. Aimee’s chest heaved as she struggled to pull herself up off of the ground. There as a stinging on her hands and knees, no doubt scraped from her fall. However, it was the throbbing pain of her ankle that worried her. She had twisted it on the way down. Stupid heels! It’s not that bad. I can do this. She struggled to her feet, only to cry out in pain when she put her weight on it. “I can’t! My ankle!” Todoroki audibly growled as he continued to fight off the shadows, trying to weave and dodge out of their path. Shit! Did I push her too hard? “Then hide!” He bellowed as he launched another flame attack. Aimee scrambled on her hands and knees, crawling behind a nearby dumpster to hide. Carefully, she peeked around the edge, willing that Shoto stay safe.

Todoroki continued to fight against the shadows as he weighed his options. Due to the location, he couldn’t use his quirk to its full capacity. He would risk damaging the buildings as well as the people that inhabited them if he were to go all out. Not to mention, he might burn Aimee in the process as well. The hero also noted that his opponent was clearly smart. My flames aren’t really hurting the man, just weakening the quirk. He must be hiding nearby but until I get a hit on his body, I’m in a losing battle. And he certainly isn’t giving me any time to seek him out. He didn’t like it but perhaps his best option was to just flee with Aimee and get her to safety. After another massive fire attack, Shoto turned to run towards Aimee, only for the tendrils to wrap around his leg, causing him to crash down against the concrete. The black shadows continued to wrap around him like vines, trapping his arms and slowly squeezing his throat.

Aimee watched on in fear from her hiding spot. The man who had just comforted her in her time of need was in trouble. She had to do something! Panicked, she scanned the area for something, someone, anything that could help him. Finally, her eyes fell on a figure peeking behind a fire escape. It didn’t take her long to realize that the shadowy tendrils that have engulfed her love were, in fact, coming from this man. Taking a deep shaky breath, Aimee activated her quirk. She wasn’t sure how Shoto would react, but she knew she couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

Just as Shoto’s vision was beginning to blur due to lack of oxygen, he locked his sights on Aimee as she slowly stood to her feet, clearly in pain. “Aimee what the hell are you doing?! Get out of here!” He shouted weakly as he continued to fight against the shadows holding him captive. Aimee only shook her head, her eyes trained on something far behind him. “Shoto, look away,” she spoke calmly as she revealed a broken beer bottle from behind her back. Todoroki shook his head wildly. She couldn’t possibly think she can fight this guy on her own. “What? Aimee please!” Just as he uttered those words, Aimee brought the broken glass down to slice across her thigh. Shoto’s face contorted in horror as he watched his love injure herself. “Aimee No!!!” he wailed only to hear another cry of agony come from behind him. The next moment, the shadows vanished, letting him free. Choosing to ignore the third voice, he ran towards Aimee as she crumbled back down to the ground, only for her to hold up a hand in protest. “I’m fine! Get the bad guy! He’s hiding behind that fire escape!” Shoto whipped his head around to the area in question, quickly seeing the dark figure. Charging toward the man, he activated his ice quirk, effectively entrapping him in a large block of ice. With a deep scowl, Shoto approached the man who somehow still had a smirk on his face. Just as he was about to open his dirty mouth (presumably to taunt him) Shoto punched him directly in his face, knocking him out cold. Before returning back to Aimee’s side, he did notice the red stain of blood through the ice at the exact same place Aimee had cut herself.

Once back at her side, Shoto looked over Aimee for any other wounds, all while being careful not to touch her bleeding leg and cause her more pain. “What the hell were you thinking?” He mumbled through clenched teeth as he went to pick her up. “Stop, I’m too heavy,” Aimee said softly as she weakly pushed him away. “Nonsense,” Shoto huffed as he effortlessly hoisted her off the ground bridal style. “I have to get you out of here in case he had others with him. I’ll call for back up in the car.” With Aimee secure in his arms, he ran back towards the restaurant and his waiting car, even skating on his ice to avoid various obstacles. Once they reached his car, he gingerly placed Aimee down in the passenger’s seat, before running over to the other side getting in as well. Shoto drove off like a bat out of Hell as he called the police, letting them know where to find the unconscious villain. After hanging up the call, his eyes flicked over to Aimee as she sat quietly. She hasn’t said a word since they left the alley, her eyes still cast down to her lap. Shoto sighed, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “I’ll take you to the nearest hospital.” “No need. I’m fine.” Shoto turned his head at her small voice, clearly confused. “What do you mean you’re fine? You probably need stitches.” “Shoto, I’m fine. Look.” Shoto glanced over as Aimee lifted her blood stained dress before wiping away the blood on her thigh. The gash was gone. The hero hummed to himself, his eyes back on the road. Must be the work of her quirk. I assumed she was quirkless since she never mentioned it. “And your ankle?” Aimee winced as she slowly rolled her ankle around in her seat before speaking softly. “It’s not broken. I just need to ice it.” Shoto sighed as he ran a hand down his tired face, relieved she was not seriously hurt before changing his course. “Fine. But I’m taking you to my place so I can be sure you’re safe.”

After a short and silent car ride, Shoto carried Aimee into the lobby of his expensive modern building. “Good evening, Mr. Todoroki-- Oh my gosh! Is everything ok?!” The doorman, a lanky man around the same age as Shoto, scrambled to press the button to his private elevator, taking in his disheveled appearance and the woman in his arms. “Everything is under control, thank you,” Shoto said curtly as he entered the elevator, Aimee hiding her face in the crook of his neck. “Just know I won’t be accepting any visitors tomorrow.” The doorman nodded as the elevator doors closed.

After rising to the top floor, Shoto carried Aimee out of the elevator and into his lavish apartment. Aimee looked around in amazement at the spacious layout and modern minimalist design. So this is how the other side lives. Carrying her into his bedroom before turning into his attached bathroom, he sat her down on the long marble countertop. The ravenette looked on silently as Shoto grabbed a warm wet washcloth and began to wipe away the now mostly dried blood on her legs and hands. Crouching down, he pulled out a first aid kit, laying it down on the countertop next to her. Gently, Shoto took her wrists in his hands to look at her palms. He sighed heavily as he studied the scrapes, cursing himself for being so rough before taking out some ointment and bandages from the kit. He hated seeing her lovely brown skin, bruised and torn. Aimee hissed as he patched her up, his hushed apologies the only other sound in the room. As he moved on to her knees, Shoto finally said what was on his mind, “Why didn’t you tell me about your quirk?” Aimee bit her lip as she hung her head, afraid to meet his eyes, before whispering, “I was ashamed… Afraid of what you’d think of me.” Todoroki gave her a quizzical look as he placed bandages on her knees. “What do you mean, my love?” He gently took her swollen ankle in his right hand as he activated his quirk, sending a slight shiver down Aimee’s spine. “It’s a long story.” Shoto gave the dark-skinned beauty a small smile, as he nodded toward her injured ankle in his hand. “I have time.”

Aimee nodded before taking a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for the bomb she was about to drop. “My mom was quirkless. Living in the 7th Ward of New Orleans, my parents had nothing and my mother was constantly targeted because she was viewed as weak.” Shoto listened patiently as she paused, finding her words. “When she became pregnant with me, my parents went to a voodoo priest and asked him to perform a ritual so that I would be born with a strong quirk. That way I’ll be able to defend myself, have a better chance in the world.” Shoto recalled Aimee telling him about her religion and a few of the voodoo customs and rituals. Before meeting Aimee, he probably would have been wary of the practice, but now he knew that it was nothing like what he saw in horror movies. In fact, Aimee saw the practice mostly as an act of superstition and tradition as opposed to actual magical spells and potions. “The ritual worked… maybe a little too well.” She paused, flicking her eyes toward his heterochromatic ones, gauging his reaction. “My quirk is called Voodoo Doll. As long as I have it activated, whatever physically happens to my body will also happen to whoever I’m looking at.” Shoto rubbed his chin with his free hand as he recalled the events earlier tonight. “So when you slashed your leg…” Aimee nodded completing his thought, “I also slashed the leg of that guy.” A single tear fell down her cheek as she whispered, “I’m so sorry, Shoto.”

Todoroki sighed as he reached up to wipe her cheek. “Shh… Don’t apologize. I was only able to subdue him because of you.” He knitted his eyebrows together as he remembered another detail of tonight's events that didn’t make sense to him. “One thing is bothering me though. Why is it that the gash on your leg healed but your ankle and smaller cuts didn’t?” “Only injuries made when my quirk is activated will heal immediately. I don’t feel pain from those injuries as well.” Aimee watched as a look of surprise flashed over Shoto’s face, prompting her next disclaimer, “But the longer I use my quirk, my healing ability weakens. If I use it too much I can succumb to my injuries.”

Shoto nodded, mulling over this new information. Even with the limitations, she did have an extremely impressive quirk. “I still don’t understand why you kept it from me.” Aimee’s lip quivered as she fought to hold back her tears of shame before speaking barely over a whisper, “It’s villainous, my quirk.” Shoto stared at her in shock at her claim. “It’s only good for hurting people. I didn’t want to hurt him but I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I’m a monster.” Tears started to flow freely from her eyes as Shoto shushed her yet again, kissing her cheek. “Darling, you are many things but a monster is not one of them.” He lifted her chin so that she met his eyes before continuing. “There are no heroic or villainous quirks. Only people. Take my flames for example.” Letting go of her chin, he activated his left side and a small flame appeared on the tip of his finger. “I could easily incinerate people to get what I want. But I choose not to.” He deactivated his quirk and gently took her hand in his. “You used your quirk tonight to save me and for that I thank you. If you don’t want to use your quirk even for self-defense that’s fine. I’ll train you once your ankle heals. I just want you safe.” Shoto placed a soft kiss across her knuckles as he looked into her large brown eyes. “I love you for everything that you are. Quirk and all. I wouldn’t change a thing.” A small smirk pulled at his lips as he swiped his thumb across the smooth skin of her hand. “To be honest, I think it’s pretty badass.” A relieved smile crossed Aimee’s face as she pulled him in for a tight hug. “Thank you. I love you too.”

Shoto smiled as he placed a sweet kiss on the top of her head before slowly pulling away. “Let’s get ready for bed, beautiful. There are some towels in that cabinet and extra toothbrushes in this drawer,” he pointed out in his trademark soothing voice. “I’ll get you something to sleep in.” After Shoto slipped out of the bathroom, Aimee got to work at washing her face and brushing her teeth. In a few minutes, he returned with one of his tee shirts and a pair of sweats, closing the bathroom door behind him to give her some privacy. Aimee eyed the clothes skeptically, almost certain they would be too small for her curves. After slipping out of her dirty dress, she managed to barely squeeze into his shirt, the fabric straining against her ample breasts. Unfortunately, she couldn’t even pull the sweats up over her thighs and ass. Sticking her head out of the bathroom door, she called out to her beau, “Shoto? They’re a bit too small… Do you have anything bigger?” Shoto blushed, imagining her curves struggling against the fabric of his clothes as he looked through his drawers for something more suitable. Finally, he left his room and walked over to the guest room, pulling out a massive black shirt from the dresser drawer. Walking back to his bathroom, he handed it over to Aimee before disappearing back into the bedroom. Aimee eyed the very large shirt in her hands. It was way too big to be Shoto’s. Pulling it onto her body, it hung to her knees like a dress, and the neckline was so wide that it fell off her shoulder. Actually, It was pretty cute.

Limping back out into the bedroom, Aimee sat on the bed to see that Shoto had changed his clothes as well. He was now dressed in a pair of grey sweats and a white tee as he threw away his charred suit. Aimee blushed slightly seeing him dressed so casually, not to mention how the sweats fell against his anatomy perfectly. Shoto turned to see Aimee quietly braiding her hair, his own cheeks redding as he took in her silhouette. “Do you need anything else?” The ravenette shook her head with a smile, “No, mon cher. I’ll be ready for bed after I finished braiding my hair.” Shoto studied her as he sat down on the bed beside her. “You do that every night?” “Yep, otherwise my curls will tangle like a rat’s nest during the night.” The hero hummed as he reached out, gently taking a curl between this fingers. It was soft and still smelled of flowers despite their wild night. A small smirk played on Aimee’s face as she turned to him, “You know, it’s a cultural no-no to touch a black person’s hair without their permission.” Shoto dropped the curl immediately as his face went red, worried he had offended her. “My apologies.” A light giggle fell on his ears as Aimee playfully bumped her shoulder against his. “At ease soldier. You get a pass since you’re the best boyfriend ever.” “In that case, may I help?” Surprised, Aimee turned to face Shoto, a soft pleading look in his eyes. “You want to help braid my hair?” The faintest of blushes crossed his cheeks as he gave her a small smile. “I used to like braiding my sister’s hair growing up. Also… I think your curls are beautiful.” Fighting her own blush, Aimee nodded and Shoto got to work. His long fingers deftly slid through her curls as they braided in a comfortable silence. No words were needed as they both enjoyed the quiet intimacy of the moment. Once completed, Shoto pressed a kiss to her temple, running his fingers down the finished braid, “Good?” Aimee smiled, returning a kiss to his cheek. “Ca C’est bon. That’s good.” The pair stared at each other lovingly, not wanting to break the sweet moment, until Shoto finally stood with a sigh.

“I’ll let you get some sleep. I’ll be in the guest room if you need me.” Always the gentleman, Shoto didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. After all, he was the one that insisted that she stay the night. As he turned to walk out of the room, a small hand gripped his arm, catching him by surprise. “Wait… Will you stay with me?” The hero looked back into Aimee’s pleading eyes with a smile. “Of course.”

Aimee slipped under the sheets and watched as Shoto took off his shirt. Sweet Baby Jesus. He had the body of a god. His muscles were well defined but not bulky. Pecs just begging her to lay her head on, chiseled abs, and a V so sharp you could cut yourself. She bit her lip as she stared shamelessly until a curious thought entered her mind. “Hey, before you get too comfortable… can you lift up your arms?” Shoto gave her a puzzled look as he slipped under the covers. “Why?” A mischievous smirk pulled at her lips as she shrugged coyly. “For science.” “Science, huh?” His own smirk played on his face, as he now had an idea of what his little trickster was up to. Of course, he obliged. Shoto lifted both his arms in the air to show the hair under his arms. White under his right, red under his left. A low but giddy giggle escaped Aimee’s throat, satisfied by her new discovery, “Thanks.” The peppermint haired man rolled his eyes playfully, as he slipped further into the sheets, Aimee following suit.

After reaching over to turn out the lights, Shoto pulled her close to his body, her head resting on his chest, as their legs tangled together effortlessly, mindful of her ankle. After a few moments of silence, a dark chuckle left Shoto’s lips. “What?” Aimee looked up at him in the darkness. “I was just thinking… that had to be the worst date ever.” He smiled as Aimee shook against him, trying desperately to hold in her laughter. “Go on and laugh.” With his permission she burst into a full belly laugh, tears pricking at her eyes. Shoto couldn’t help is own chuckle as her laughter was infectious. Finally calming down, she took a deep breath before replying, “You’re probably right, but it can only go up from here. Right?” He nodded, kissing the top of her head before tilting her chin to kiss her lips. “Right.” A bright smile pulled at her lips as she squeezed her beau tighter. “Laissez les bons temps rouler! Let the good times roll!”

Chapter 9

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