#to figure how they react in the same scene but as their own person in the other's shoes

[qiinamii]

crown swap

#i wasn't sure to wait until i have another set of art otw of this role swap au but i figured eh it'd be a good start than anything lol #i don't have many thoughts (a lie) but love the concept everything's the same except they switched places and it definitely hurts more #to figure how they react in the same scene but as their own person in the other's shoes #i'd think when it comes to magic simon... if betty's flaw came from obsession; then he would be on excruciating guilt #she gave it all up for him and he did nothing but let it happen; do what you will with the rest #betty mad simon sad; true encapsulation of how magic ruins you #qiiarts #betty grof #simon petrikov #petrigrof #adventure time #fionna and cake #prismo the wishmaster #finn mertens #fionna campbell #tiniest cameos lol

[writers-hes]

Sydney Saw it First (c. berzatto x reader)

You’re Carmy’s friend from Noma and he asks tou to mentor Marcus before he heads to Copenhagen to stage. Sydney thinks you’re both fools in love and she’s determined to fix it. (fluff, sydney being the best wingman, inspired by the scene in new girl when nick points his shoes to jess, two fools in love)

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It was hard for anyone to read if the Carmen Berzatto cared.

Some days, he was loving but most days he was tenacious. It’s not like he meant it. It was just how he was wired; how he reacts to things. The crew learned that the hard way, when he exploded on Marcus, when he screamed at Sydney…when the stress gets to him, it really gets to him.

He’s imposed penance on himself for his actions, secluding himself from the world…being unreachable. If there was one thing in the world that he craved and that he was afraid of, it was love. So he secludes himself until he feels alone. Relationships were unnatural to him.

But it came naturally with you.

You were training to become a pastry chef at Noma when Carmy was there. You met each other at the halls, shared friends that it was inevitable for you two to become friends. He was your first taste tester when you first made croissants. He helped you make your own sourdough starter for the sourdough cookies that you were experimenting on. You were the first person whom he cooked his mom’s picatta. You were his sous chef, helping him prep the vegetables on important dates. When news arrived detailing Mikey’s death, you were the first person he called. 

You two were great. You were great.

If anyone deserved praise, Carmy thought that it was you.

He didn’t know why but when he saw that Marcus was really interested in pastry, he called you; asked you to come and teach a really, really eager student that was going to stage in Copenhagen soon. Sydney also suggested that sweets are needed in a restaurant. You didn’t hesitate to board the plane upon his request. If anything, you were glad that he was finally asking you for a favor. It only meant that he was still—if not more—comfortable with you. 

You arrived in Chicago all smiles, and greetings. It was Richie and Carmy who picked you up from the airport and Richi was floored. How did his cousin even manage to tolerate you? He didn’t hate you immediately, of course. In any case, Carmy told you about his little girl; you decided to bring her a little gift. 

“I didn’t know what to get you but Carmy said that you have a daughter so I got this instead,” you said, extending a toy. “My niece has the same one…so, I figured…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Richie nodded. He muttered a small ‘thanks’ before helping you with you luggage. 

The night before, Carmy instructed everyone during family to behave. 

“Look, there will be no funny business, alright? My friend is flying in tomorrow to oversee Marcus and act as his mentor while we fix the Bear. No taking her knife away, no screaming, no fighting, no fucking anything, alright, chefs?” he asked. When he was met with silence, “Alright, Chefs?”

A couple of ‘heards’ were thrown. 

“Who is this friend, anyway, Jeff?” Tina asked. “You didn’t tell us to behave when Sydney over here first came,”

“Someone from Copenhagen. She, uh—“

“She?” Sweeps asked, his eyebrows raised in anticipation. “You got a girl, chef?”

“No,” he replied. “She studied in Copenhagen as a pastry chef, okay? No big deal—“ he proceeds to mention your name and how you’re just really super cool. “No big deal—“

“Wait, Chef, that’s a big deal!” Marcus said. “Oh, you know her recipes are all over my station, right?” he asked. “Sydney—“

“I went to the place she worked at in New York after I graduated. Everything’s just so…good. Amazing,” she recalled. “So, yes, it’s a big deal,”

“Yeah, whatever. Just promise me to behave, alright?” Carmy asked. “She’ll have to make do with what we currently have but I’ll try to stock up and set up the station before she arrives tomorrow.” 

-

You arrived at the Beef—er, the Bear a day after your arrival in Chicago. You were able to find a place that was near the city center for a good deal. You were here indefinitely, still trying to figure out if you wanted to run your own bakery or just work with others for the rest of your life. Seeing Carmy take the leap was insipiring. 

“Hello, chefs, I’m Y/N,” you said, a friendly smile gracing your features. Carmy was right beside you, watching everyone. “I’m a pastry chef and I graduated with Carmy in Copenhagen. I’m here to mentor Marcus but of course, if you have any questions regarding anything, you can ask me. I know how to cook too…and uh, I’ll be taking care of family tonight,”

Carmy jerks from his relaxed position. 

“You sure?” he asks softly. “I can take care of family, if you’re too tired.”

“Yeah. It’s like initiation,” you nod, looking at him and then looking back at the new faces in front of you again. “Do you have any questions…”

Sydney raises her hand. 

“Um, I’m sorry if this comes across rude but why are you here?” she asked.

“Oh, well, I’m not really tied down to anything right now. When Carmy called me, asking if I could come here, I decided to go. I’m here in Chicago indefinitely and I’ve been receiving invitations to cook, teach a class, whatever. I might accept some of those,” you said. Sydned nodded. Damn, Noma’s chefs were being chased from left and right. She was in the presence of two. 

“Do you have a little notebook?” Tina asked, making Sydney scofd. “With recipes?”

“Um, no,” you shook your head. “I keep all my notes in my head and then write it afterwards,” Tina liked you already. 

“What do you think about Carmen Berzatto—“

“Anyway, that’s all, Chefs! Marcus, come to the office with me, chef,” Carmy said, breaking up the huddle, and making you laugh. He discreetly pulls down your shirt, a sign that you should follow him too to the office. When you were both out of earshot, Sydney asked no one in particular.

“That girl and Chef? There’s something,”

That afternoon, during family, Sydney watched the two of you like a hawk. Confirming her suspicions when Carmy stayed for family and sat beside you.

-

Sydney notices it for the second time. You were going over the Noma “picture book” with Marcus, telling him how some of the desserts came about.

“What’s this?” Marcus asked, pointing at a photo of the dessert that put you on the map. 

“That’s a dish of candied hallabong peel, with a prosecco peach sorbet, on a bed of meringue, topped with candied cherries. I got it because some of my friends went to Jeju sometime and brought back this orange hybrid. I think….I think we can recreate it but it wouldn’t be the same without the orange.”

“What about the flesh and the juice?”

“I turned it into like an orange-chocolate cake with chocolate mousse,”

Carmy was just passing by but he decided to watch you interact with his employees instead. 

“Anyways, where’s your chocolate cake? Let’s taste it and compare it from the last one. Also, I can send you my recipe for sourdough doughnuts. Just give me your email,” you said, looking up briefly to find Carmy already looking at you. It made him feel good to see you incorporate yourself so well in the kitchen. Well, it’s not like the Bear is open but his staff went to you for some tips and advice. They were all undergoing some sort of training to make everything more elevated. “Hey, Carm. Do you need anything?” 

“Hey-hey,” he coughed, ashamed for being caught. “Nothing. Uh—“

“Chef, did you ever try Y/N’s stuff?” Marcus asked. He’d really, really, really want to taste something that you made someday. They were all delicate and so detailed. It’s probably why you got multiple awards at such a young age.

“I did. She used to bring big Tupperware containers of things they made in the kitchen,” 

“He finished them all,” you told Marcus. “Wouldn’t spare me a bite,”

“I don’t know, bug,” he teased. “I vividly remember you begging me to do it because you were so sick of fucking croissants.”

“You’re so annoying,” you huffed, a playful smile on your face. “Go on now. Marcus and I have stuff to do and you’re distracting us.”

“In my own restaurant,” Carmy mutters, shaking his head. Sydney’s eyes immediately directed to Tina. Did you see? Did you hear the word ‘Bug’?. Tina only shrugged. 

-

Sugar dropped in to check on the improvements being done at the Bear  when she saw you and Carmen at the back, talking. She had to double take what she saw because it was quite…odd to see him talk to you with the same twinkle he used to have. She has never seen him like this. He was genuinely laughing at some of the things that you were saying, a shared plate of leftover chocolate cake between the two of you. 

“Who’s the girl outside?” Sugar asked, looking at Richie and Sydney for answers. 

“Some fancy pastry chef Carmy met in Copenhagen,” Richie replied. “It’s a whole bet now, you know? They’re always out in their own world ever since she got here,”

“Everyone puts in 10 to predict what’s going to happen,” Tina said. “You’re betting?”

“Yeah, sure,” Sugar says, giving a bill to Tina. “I bet…I bet they’ll fall in love right before she leaves Chicago. Like, on the way to the airport. Carmy’s going to tell her that he loves her and she stays,”

Laughter echoes in the room. 

“This is not some fucking movie, cousin,” Richie said. “Obviously, Carmy’s not gonna do shit about it.”

“I think…she’ll call him over and they’ll share a moment,” Marcus said. “He’s always at her place, did you know that?”

Meanwhile, unaware of the ongoing bet, Carmy looks at you.

“What do you think about Chicago?” he asked, a cigarette hanging idly on his fingers. 

“It’s nice…chilly,” you said. “But it’s nice. I’ve been offered jobs here, you know?”

“Hm?” he asked. “Are you planning to take them?”

“I’m…thinking about them. They’re all the same but like, I want my own bakery, you know? My own place.” you said. “It’s going to be a lot of work if I do that and I don’t necessarily have the staff to do all that.” you said. 

“If you want…you can come stay with us if you’re not sure,” he offers. “Like a pastry chef. Actually, I’ll have to ask Sugar and Sydney if it’s alright with them but you can stay here,”

“Bear, I don’t want to impose—“

Sydney was walking outside to throw the trash but she stopped her trackes when she heard you talk. 

“I want you here,” Carmy said with conviction. “But if you don’t-don’t like it here in Chicago, I wouldn’t mind either, you know? It’s just that…I want you here and-and fuck, I don’t know. I guess working with you made it so much more fun again, you know? Like us in Copenhagen. I mean, we’re always a team and-and it’s nice to have you here with me. Sugar and spice? Sweet and spicy or whatever the fuck they called us back then,” he chuckled, inhaling his cigarette to calm himself down. “We can make it work,”

“Yeah, yeah. You go talk about it to Nat and Syd,” you said, taking a swig of your water. “And then we’ll talk. Cool?”

“Cool,” he shrugged. Sydney leaves and goes back to where the commotion was. 

“I change my scenario,” she said. 

“You can’t do that, Sydney,” Richie said. “It’s a bet! You have to pay again,”

Sydney breathed, what was ten more, right? Fuck. 

“Fuck, sure, okay. Whatever,” she said, giving Richie the bill. “She’ll stay here. She’ll realize the there’s nothing waiting for her back home and she’ll stay here,”

“Where did you get this?” Fak asked. “Quite—oh my God. Sydney, did you fucking cheat?” 

“No, I didn’t fucking cheat!” she defended, it was a lie. “Can’t you see the two of them? Always in their own world? How would Carmy let her go?”

“Jeffrey has a point,” Tina shrugged. “But if she loses, just know that you lost twice, Jeff,”

“I know,” 

-

You, Sydney, and Carm all went to his apartment. It was where the two of them made a menu while you acted as a consultant and a taste tester. Their palates were fucked and they didn’t know what to do or what to cook anymore. So they asked you. But you weren’t there today. You and Marcus were in your apartment, making up stuff for dessert. The Beef has officially closed down and is a rubbled mess. There was no space and Carmy just wanted to be there with you.

“Can I ask you something and you can tell me to fuck off?” Sydney asked while she watched Carmy plate the hamachi crudo. 

“Hm?”

“Do you…have feelings for Y/N?” she asked, looking at Carmy. He blushed, his ears turning red for being caught.

“Is it obvious?”

“To everyone but her,” she shrugged.

“Fuck, really? I thought I was being discreet,”

“Oh, you can stay here! You’re so good and so smart and so pretty,” Sydney gushed, mocking Carmen.

“Fuck off,” he laughs. “I…I do,”

“Yeah?”

“I just…just…she’s uh, so amazing, and like, I’ve been feeling these feelings since…since Copenhagen,” he mumbles, finishing the garnish with an oil. 

“Damn. You never made a move?” she asked, getting forks. She gives one to Carmen and they both taste the crudo. It was amazing. “That’s good,”

“It is. Good job, Syd,” Carmy replied.

“It was her who told me to try adding jalapeno slices,” Syd said. 

“You can’t do that,” Carmy warned her. Why did she want to get you two together so bad? “But I haven’t done anything. I mean, like, she was dating these guys and they’re so cool that-that it was never really my turn,” he remembered.

“But you’re the best chef in the world! That trumps that,” she encouraged. “None of them worked out?”

“No,” Carmy shook his head. “She’d always end things and I don’t want that for myself. She told me none of them worked out…wasn’t what she was, uh, looking for?”

“Oh,” Sydney nodded. “Well, if you’re feeling brave enough…”

“I haven’t been having…fun,” Carmy acknowledges. “With the Beef and the Bear until she got here, you know? Made me feel like I was young in Copenhagen again,”

“Another question. You can say fuck off if you want,” Sydney says and watches as Carmy bites a smile. “The last one. Is that why you asked her to stay? It’s just that I heard you the other day and…”

“Fuck off,” he laughs but Sydney noticed how everything about him conveyed everything that she needed to know. 

-

“This is a quenelle,” you told Marcus. You, Marcus, Carm, and Sydney were at your apartment. It was bigger than Carmy’s and your oven didn’t have jeans in them. “This took me at least a hundred tries,” you chuckled. “You just…away, back, and then hands…” You demonstrated, making a quenelle of a yuzu mousse.

“Damn, Chef. How’d you do that?” Marcus asked, trying it for himself. He failed, his quenelle being a little bit smaller than yours. 

“I had a friend named Luca. He didn’t let me out of the kitchen until I made a perfect one,” you recalled. “Carmy was there and he was laughing at me. He could do it in like three tries and I remember hating him,”

“You hate me?” he asked, leaning on the countertop. He didn’t like to hear about Luca. He only wanted you to talk about the two of you.

“Hey, Bear. Try this?” you asked, spooning him the raspberry curd. Carmy opens his mouth and you walk over, feeding him the pinkish liquid and then watching his face. “It goes with a black sesame shell. Do you like it?”

He notices your close proximity and flushes.

“Y-yeah,” he coughed, looking away. “Really good. Uh, very good,”

“No notes?” you asked and he swore he could kiss you right there because you were so beautiful.

“No notes,”

“Thanks, Chef,” you said. Sydney whistles as you help Marcus master his quenelle. Carmy looks at her and she teases him with a mockery of what he just said.

Carmy and Marcus left after cleaning up. You and Sydney decided to have a girl’s night. You were both sitting on the couch, mud masks on your faces when she turned to you fully.

“You know, he likes you right?”

“Who?” you asked, trying to fit a handful of chips.

“Carmy,” you heard and you choked on the bits of chips in your mouth. 

“Fuck!” you choked. “Sydney!” You were coughing while Sydney handed you a glass of vodka cranberry. You gulp it down. “You—can’t say shit like that!”

“What?” she laughed. “Look, I’m not kidding! Whenever he talks to you, his feet are pointed at you. I’ve read enough fucking books and body language shit to know that he’s interested,”

“I don’t think so,” you said. “That’s bullshit,”

“It’s not though,” she shrugged. “He asked you to stay for a reason,”

“He needs a pastry chef,” you shrugged. “Besides, he and I are friends, Sydney. I’ve been trying to get him jealous all my time in Copenhagen but he never…he never got the signal,”

“Oh,” Sydney nods. Two idiots in love. “Have you ever tried telling him?”

“Of course not! He’s always on about how he doesn’t have the energy to love or date. I tried the jealousy thing before but it never worked. Trust me, there’s nothing.”

-

Carmy arrives at your doorstep the next morning, bright and early. Sydney had already left, telling you something about stopping by at her dad’s apartment to get stuff. You were going to the Bear with him to help Sydney choose plates for the restaurant. 

“Good morning,” he greets. Two cups of take-out coffee in his hands. “I got us some coffee while we walk on the way,”

“Thank you,” You took the cup from his hands and clutched your jacket tighter. It was so, so, so cold. “Didn’t know it was going to be this chilly today,”

“You wanna wear my jacket?”

“You’ll be cold,”

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said, already taking off the jacket to the best of his one-handed ability. He was only wearing a gray sweater underneath. “I have something. See?” He doesn’t take no for an answer, taking your coffee and your bag from you so you could wear the colorful jacket.

“Thanks, Bear,” you said, smiling at him. The sight of you in his clothes does something to him and he couldn’t help except give you a slight nod before forging on in the chilly Chicago weather. 

You both entered the Beef giggling amongst yourselves when the usual buzzing stopped.

“Remember when Luca—“

You halted, finding the silence odd. You looked around to see everyone looking at you.

“What’s wrong? Is something wrong?” Carmy asked, removing his hand from the small of your back. “Syd—“

“Love the sweater,” Richie teases. You look down and feel the warmth on your cheeks. 

“It was cold and he asked me to wear it,” you shrugged, leaving Carmen to deal with the staff out front. You were signalling Sydney for help but she only looked away. Traitor. “Um—“

“Y/N, if you could please help me out here,” Carmy called you. 

“Your boyfriend’s calling,”

“He’s not!” you huffed before walking over. “What is it?”

“I need you to time me, is that okay?” he asked. He nodded towards the stopwatch and you complied. “Thank you. I just need to check or like, map out the kitchen you know?”

“Of course,” you replied. 

“Do you need help getting on—“

“It’s okay it’s just an old thing,” you replied.

“Yo, cousin! If you’re done eye fucking, Sugar needs you.” Richie calls.

“We’re not eye-eye fucking!” you complained. “What the fuck?” You stood up from your corner before you could even work and accidentally looked down. If a man is interested his feet will—

You move to the side and Carmy follows. And then to the side again. 

“Y/N–“

“Stay there,” you asked, walking around him and him turning around. “Carm!”

“What?” he asked, grasping your shoulders. He looks down to his shoes. “Are my shoes dirty?”

“No, it’s just—“ you tried again but Carm still followed. “Sydney told me about like, how when a guy is, uh,”

“Cousin!”

“Fuck, okay. Let’s talk about it later okay? Once everyone’s out?” he asked, looking at you. “Can we do that?” His jacket felt softer on you than it ever did on him.

“Yea-yeah,” you nodded. “I’ll go help Sydney,”

The afternoon passed by and you were alone at The Bear. You waited for Carmen to finish up at the dining area like you promised. Your heart was beating so fast, maybe a thousand miles an hour. What Sydney said has been on your mind and what if it wasn’t true and you get embarrassed? Fuck, could you even handle that?

You sighed, burying your head between your hands when Carmy walks over to you. 

“What’s up?” he asked. “Everything alright?”

“Y-yeah,” you nod. “Can you stay there and just, I don’t know, be Carmy?” you asked, standing up to test the theory again. He just stands there, dumbfounded. You circle around him and he follows. You were looking on the ground. 

“Fuck, what the fuck?” he asked. “Is there something wrong with my shoes? I know they’re old and not—“

“Carmen, shh,”

“What?” he asked, grasping your shoulders for the second time that day to steady you. “What’s wrong?”

“Fuck, I don’t—“

“What’s wrong?”

“Sydney told me that there’s like, this body language thing and like, uh, says that when a guy is interested his shoes are always pointing at you and well, she told me to look at yours,” you rambled, looking away in embarrassment. “Look, if this will be weird between the two of us, I mean—“

“Why would it matter?” he asked, hands inching closer to your neck. He was nervous but maybe this is the opening that he’s been waiting for for years. When you didn’t reply, he asked again. “Why would it matter?”

“Because…because I’ve been trying to make you jealous for years in Copenhagen and it never worked,” you whispered. You were embarrassed. It felt like you were in high school telling your crush that you liked him. “I know you don’t see me that way,” you replied, trying to look for the right words. Carmy lets you finish. He wanted to hear you. “And it’s fine. If this is stupid, let’s forget that this ever happened. Okay? God, I’m so fucking embarrassed right now,” 

“Hey, hey,” he cooes, his thumb tucked the hair back and then caressed your cheek. “Whoever said that I wasn’t jealous? I had to leave all the time because I was so fucking jealous. Those guys were cool. Don’t-don’t be embarrassed, okay? I like hearing that-you, uh, like me,”

“Carmy…don’t lie to me, okay? You don’t have to pretend—hm,” 

Carmy had just kissed you. Carmen Berzatto just kissed you. You were clutching on his shirt so tightly, afraid that if he lets go, he’ll be gone. But he doesn’t. He just trails his hands down to your back, touching skin to skin until you’re one. 

“I’ve been waiting years to do that,” Carmy rasps, breathing heavily. 

“Yeah? Then, do it again,” you whispered, smirking slightly at how he seemed to blush hard. Before you could tease him though, he tucks your hair back again, bringing your lips closer to his.

He did.

A/N: Thank you for giving my recent fics so much love and for being so motivating. Your kind words really make my day and I hope that you love this too. Don’t forget to reblog and comment! Thanks again!

TAGLIST: @kpopgirlbtssvt

#carmen berzatto x reader #carmy berzatto x reader #carmen berzatto fanfiction #carmen berzatto #fanfiction #fluff #the bear #carmy berzatto #carmen berzatto x you #the bear fic #carmen berzatto fluff #the bear fx

[thestobingirlie]

conformity in stranger things

(as we see it through the characters of steve, dustin and eddie)

dustin meets steve while steve is already heading down his own path — he’s leaving behind ideas about high school and relationships, and figuring out who he is without them.

steve, by season two, had already become disillusioned with the idea of high school, and power struggles, and being the most popular guy in school. which is why he doesn’t react to billy’s taunts.

despite what the fandom may have you believe, steve’s seasons long arc about his struggle with conforming to the person people expect him to be is done.

don’t get me wrong, steve is still hanging onto some ideas in s2, like pretending you don’t care to get girls, and seeing nancy as different to all his other girlfriends (though i personally think that speaks more to steve’s prior relationships than the way he views woman).

and so, dustin and their friendship play a major role in steve fully moving on from the concept of ‘conforming’. steve doesn’t want to change who he is to get people to like him, or love him!

and with dustin, he doesn’t!!!

they make up dorky handshakes, and give each other advice. they talk about girls and steve teaches him how to achieve his signature hairstyle.

their relationship impacts both boys, but neither of them are conforming. it’s pretty much the exact opposite!!! despite what some fans would have you believe steve and dustin have a positive impact on each other!!!

dustin doesn’t change who he is to impress steve! he’s just as dorky as before, and in fact imparts some of that dorkiness onto steve!! steve and dustin help each other to find who they are, and figure themselves out.

on the other hand.

eddie had a negative impact on dustin.

dustin in s3 is dorky. he likes science, and school, and building great big radio towers up hills.

dustin in s4 is failing classes, treating friends like shit, his hubris is at an all time high; all aided by eddie’s high opinion of himself and ideas about conforming.

see. when eddie talks about conforming, he doesn’t really understand what he’s talking about (which is why his fans don’t either).

when he criticised people for ‘conforming’, all he’s really talking about is people being interested in things he doesn’t like. parties. band. science. basketball. he looks down on them all.

he makes snap judgments, and reduces them down to stereotypes. we literally watch him learn this on screen!!!

we literally watch as he verbally recognises that he knew nothing about steve, and yet reduced him down to his interest in basketball.

and here’s where the irony comes in. eddie is literally leading the club on conformity.

everyone in hellfire wears the exact same thing, and he makes fun of the clothes they used to wear. he seats himself on a thrown, and judges anyone that wishes to come before him before he deems them worthy to play a game. he’s not accepting all losers. he’s literally telling them they’re lesser than as he stands on tables in the cafeteria, and then fights against erica playing with them… just because he thinks she has to prove herself to him first.

that’s the point of eddie’s character!! that his whole big speech at the beginning of the season is wrong. and we literally see how he’s wrong scenes later when eddie interacts with chrissy.

people watch eddie learn and grow as a person, and then reduce his character right back down to who he was when he was first introduced.

tl;dr — if one of dustin’s relationships is about conformity, it’s his friendship with eddie, not steve. his brother dynamic with steve is about the complete opposite. about reaching across dumb nerd v jock social divides and finding a family.

in looking up to eddie, dustin has let his other interests fall to the wayside. he’s snarkier, makes fun of steve more (just like he’s been watching eddie mock jocks for months), his friendships with the rest of the party are at an all time low.

and yet. some people would have me believe this is dustin’s truest self? who gets his mormon girlfriend to hack into his school because he’s failing latin. who mocks steve for ‘wanting to be a hero’ when just the season before he was prepared to die by steve’s side.

#steve harrington #dustin henderson #eddie munson #stranger things #my post

[diedikind]

thrown off by this change in the revised version of tgcf

the context is that since xie lian went to catch hong hong'er during his god-pleasing warrior performance, someone had to be punished for it, and the options are: 1. xie lian faces confinement or 2. hong hong'er loses one of his senses.

xie lian argues that he's done nothing wrong, so he refuses the first option. mei nianqing guessed this of him, so he ordered people to take hong hong'er away before xie lian can react and to stop xie lian from saving him. and that's when xie lian relents and says fine i'll choose option 1.

a little thrown off because if it were the old xie lian, he probably would be adamant about creating a third path rather than settling for one of the two. i was trying to figure out the point of this change.

well, first of all, this isn't really a one-cup-of-water-two-people type problem since one of the options concerns xie lian himself. so perhaps the point here isn't that he chose one of the two paths but that he chose to sacrifice himself.

the second thing is xie lian didn't actually end up facing confinement because as soon as they shut the door, hong hong'er screamed and attracted a plethora of evil spirits, which caused so much chaos that xie lian ran outside to check what's going on. then afterwards everyone just sorta forgot about his confinement and mei nianqing said you know what, just go and slew some eight hundred demons. so xie lian chirpily said "see, there is a third path!"

(still feels a little iffy because A. xie lian still chose one of the two options even though the result is that he didn't end up stuck with any of them and B. xie lian wasn't the one who created this third path as it was offered to him by mei nianqing)

anyhow, i'll try my best to find a coherent explanation.

as i mentioned in another meta, xie-lian-catching-hong-hong'er-causing-the-mask-to-fall-off symbolises how hua cheng's existence was part of the reason why xie lian's different from jun wu. if we apply the same logic here, then hong hong's presence enables xie lian to choose the third path.

additionally, this scene gives xie lian a reason to believe that the third path comes easily and is very attainable. since mei nianqing just offers it to him like that, the scene adds to the seventeen-year-old crown prince's "privilege" and naivety. it fleshes him out a bit more and builds to his character growth arc of going from someone who claims "heart in paradise" even without having experienced "body in abyss" to someone who truly achieves "heart in paradise" even after experiencing "body in abyss".

(finally, side note on hua cheng losing one of his senses. i thought this was new but it actually wasn’t — thank you to the person in the comments for pointing it out. i suspect it would be his sight if they had actually gone through with it, adding another layer of meaning to hua cheng digging out his own eye almost as a tribute to what xie lian chose here.)

#xie lian #tgcf #heaven official's blessing #hua cheng #hualian #mei nianqing

[laenordeservedbetter]

For Samantha Carpenter x fem reader. (If you're doing requests, I'm not 100% sure if you are or not,please.)

Reader is Amber Freeman's half older sister (Sam Carpenter's age). Amber knows that Stu Macher is her sister's father, which she is jealous of. So after attacking Tara and luring Sam back to Woodsboro, Amber attacks Reader at Ambers and rs house. (Sam and Reader dated before Sam left, and once they've all moved to NYC, they get back together. R is also a little reliant on alcohol and weed after everything that happened.)

Holding On To You

Words: 3.3k (I think)

Relationships: Samantha Carpenter x Fem!Reader, Sibling!Amber Freeman x Fem!Reader, Implied/Referenced Tara Carpenter x Amber Freeman, Chad Meeks-Martin x Tara Carpenter, Mindy Meeks-Martin x Anika Kayoko

I wrote this this fic in bits, so the timeline is kinda jumbled. I only arranged which part should go where when I finished writing and decided to imply Tamber last minute because why not? Also, Amber's dad raised r as his own, which is why r refers to them as her parents.

The ' * * *' means a long period of time has passed.

Warnings: (18+) this is definitely not my best work, poorly written fight scene, angst, violence, cussing, grief, suggestive themes, reader has problems with alcohol. lmk if I missed any! (I don't remember if the core four were drinking alcohol in Sam and Tara's apartment, so I put something else here)

A/N: I didn't intend for half the fic to focus on reader's dynamic with Amber, but I felt like it's important to show how torn she is by how she feels with what happened. Sorry if I made it too angsty and not what you (anon) asked for 😭

not my gif. || masterlist || previous work

-

Your phone buzzed at the same time you were about to go up the stairway leading to your room. Determining that whoever is texting you is more important than sleep, you unlock the cellular device to read the message.

(1:49 a.m.)

Amber: Tara was attacked.

Three words. Fifteen letters.

Your body turns stiff as if there was a supernatural force compelling you to stay still. Tara was attacked. The first thought that went to your mind was ‘is she okay?’ but for some reason you can’t explain, your fingers typed in different words.

(1:50 a.m.)

You: Does Sam know?

Is Tara in the hospital?

How is she?

(1:51 a.m.)

Amber: Such dumb questions. What you should be asking yourself is ‘who’s next?’

Your brows furrow and you frown. She shouldn’t be saying that, you thought. Amber was peculiar but if there was one thing you were sure she’s best at, it was being there for Tara - protecting her. The person on the other side of the screen that you’re talking to feels different from the Amber you know. Something is off.

(1:55 a.m.)

You: Don’t say shit like that, Amber. Tara got hurt. This is serious.

(1:55 a.m.)

Amber: Oh, this isn’t Amber.

(1:56 a.m.)

You: Then who are you?

(1:56 a.m.)

Amber: You’ll find out soon enough.

The chances of being given ample interval to question the sender of the text who is definitely not Amber reduces to zero the second a masked figure creeps behind you and slashes your arm. “What the fuck?!” Blood trickles down your skin, the wound deep enough to nearly make you see your bones. You have to look away from your own body or else you might collapse from the mere sight of it.

You’re panting, looking into the mask of your attacker. He tilts his head at you tauntingly. “And here I thought that the daughter of Stu Macher would put up more of a fight.”

You don’t react, but you run for the kitchen, grabbing the first breakable object you can find: the floral vase.

When Ghostface attempts to lunge forward, you aim the vase at his head, but he dodges swiftly, leaving the vase to smash against the newly-painted wall. You grimace. Your parents were gonna kill you the moment they decide to hop on their plane and get home. “They’re going to be so mad at me.” You complain while grabbing a kitchen knife.

This will do.

“What are you planning to do with that knife?” Ghostface wonders mockingly.

You make a face at him, “No more talking.”

And just like that, you got into a knife fight. You manage to stab Ghostface in the abdomen. He rolls over, his hand going over his stomach to assess the damage. Smiling triumphantly, you let your guard down, which proved to be an error of yours as Ghostface recovers enough to dig his knife near your chest. You drop your weapon, feeling your eyes flutter shut. Your attacker slowly removes his mask, shocking you, yet it was like the time you fade out of consciousness was also planned since you pass out way before you can see what he looks like.

* * *

“We’re waiting for you downstairs.”

You stop what you were doing to look up at Tara. She sends you a sympathetic look and you shoot her one back. “I’ll finish up in 5 minutes.” You say, motioning to the clothes that are yet to be packed into your suitcase.

“Okay.” Tara’s attention is drawn to the picture frame on the nightstand. It was of you and Amber when you were children. She was wearing a pirate costume while you wore a witch’s. “Are you bringing that with you?”

“Yes.” You reply, taking the frame in your hands, fingers ghosting over the photograph. “It was one of our happiest memories together. She was such a sweet kid. I’d like to remember her that way instead of…” You trail off, taking a sharp intake of breath. A month has passed since your sister attacked you and murdered people. You’d never know why she did it nor do you want to. Some things are better left unsaid. Tara, however, felt the opposite. She knew Amber differently and you can understand how she feels, to an extent. “You can keep it if you want. I have other photos in this room stored somewhere.”

Even though Tara shakes her head ‘no’, she is appreciative. “No, it’s fine. I have pictures of my own too.”

The two of you bask in the silence. No other words needed to be shared. Tara leaves you alone after that, but the space she formerly occupied isn’t left empty for long when Sam appears by the doorway.

You grin when you see her, “Hi.” It’s the first time in days that you managed to smile authentically. Going through the worst thing imaginable can dim someone’s light and you were in no position to pretend that everything was okay when circumstances proved the opposite. Although it pained you to think about that night, seeing Sam made you feel that you weren’t alone.

“Hey.” She replies. “Ready to go?”

“Most definitely.” You answer with the truth as you zip up your last bag, ready to leave this place behind and start anew.

Sam holds out her hand, “Come on.”

You don’t take one last look back. You’d be lying if you said you would miss this house. Everything direful that happened in Woodsboro began here, so it is fitting that this is also where it should end.

Or at least, that’s what you thought.

* * *

The bottle in your hand weighs lighter than your grief. That’s what you keep telling yourself during these types of moments. It’s a remedy. Ephemeral, maybe, but it helps you forget. That’s the one thing you could ask for.

You nurse your wounds at a bar stool. The time is a bit early for a Saturday for you to be drinking, just how you like it. You take a sip, then another, and another, making you finish your drink earlier than you’d like. “Fucking hell.” A new bottle slides over in front of you before you can ask the bartender for one more drink. Turning your attention to your side, you note a woman staring right at you, a sly smirk on her lips.

Once you give her a nod as a ‘thank you’ for the booze, you go back to the bottle, indicating you want to be left alone. Unfortunately for you, the woman does not take the hint. She moves to the stool next to yours, hoping to shoot her shot.

“Hey.” She says, her bright blue eyes shining in the dim light of the bar. Although you cannot deny that she’s attractive, you’d rather be gazing into a different pair of eyes, preferably brown ones on the face of the only girl you’ve ever loved. “I’m Jolene.”

“Hi, Jolene.” Putting down the bottle, you purse your lips, hoping that this exchange would end soon. You tense when Jolene places a hand on your right shoulder.

Jolene chuckles, unbothered by the signs that you were uneasy, “You’re a little tense.” She pauses, gauging your reaction, “I can help you relax.”

“Look, I appreciate the offer, but, uh. . . I’m kind of waiting for someone, so if you don’t mind. . .” You pull your arm away, pretending to look at the entrance to the bar as if you were meeting one of your friends. Truthfully, it should be a lost cause since you haven’t told anybody that you would be here, including Sam.

“Well, let me keep you company while they arrive.”

You internally groan. “Respectfully, Jolene, and I mean this in the nicest way possible since you seem like a good person, leave me alone.”

“Are you sure?”

“A hundred percent.”

Jolene smiles understandingly, about to get up and turn away, but then her mouth drops open as if she’s seen a movie star, “Wait, you’re one of the survivors of the murders at that one house in Woodsboro! Your sister tried to kill you and your biological father was a killer too, right?! Stu Macher, that’s what his name was.”

Of course. That’s why she approached you. She only pretended not to know who you were until you tried to convince her to piss off. Great. “Bye now.” You throw a fifty dollar bill on the counter, hastily running out of the place as if you were brought back to those nights spent in that house trying so desperately to get away. The feeling of tightness takes place in your chest. You see a stranger pass by with hair that looks exactly like Amber’s and you turn lugubrious. No matter what she did, she was still your sister. You want to hate her for everything she did to you, to Tara, to everyone you thought she cared for. However, missing her triumphs all the other emotions you have. Though that may not be an excuse for her wrongdoings, it makes you mourn what has and what would have been.

You wanted her to go to college. You wanted to be the one on the front row cheering her on as she accepts her diploma. You wanted to be the person she turns to for relationship advice. You would have wanted her there when both you and Sam began getting harassed online just because your fathers were serial killers. Amber would have fought anyone who attempted to cross a line. Sometimes it felt like she was your big sister even though you are technically older.

And then it hits you.

You’d always be stuck in that goddamn stupid, cursed house, persistently wishing that things had been different. That you hadn’t moved there, that your sister never met Richie, that you have the same biological father as Amber. Standing in the middle of the sidewalk, you realized that maybe you never left the place at all. You are in New York (You’re not deluded. You know that much.), but a piece of your heart would eternally be in Stu Macher’s house with Amber at the doorway while the other half is chasing after a love that might never be.

* * *

Sam drops by in your shared room to ask what you want for dinner. On Saturdays when neither of you are working, you and Sam order food and watch a movie that is preferably a romcom or fantasy. The unspoken rule being: watching horror is out of the equation.

She notices your swollen eyes and discards her phone on the table to comfort you. Sam climbs into your bed, arms circling around your waist in order to ground you. “I’m here. It’s okay.”

You don’t speak, fearing that your voice might crack and that it might show that you are as weak as you think you are.

But of course, Sam notices. “I know you don’t want to talk right now, so I’ll just hold onto you. If or when you want to talk, you can squeeze my hand. Is that okay?”

You shake your head in affirmation, locking your fingers with Sam’s, granting yourself the permission to crumble in her arms.

Once your heartbeat slows to a calm rhythm and the heartache subsides to a low wave that stays at your feet, you squeeze her hand three times.

“I’m listening.” Sam says, sensing your hesitance. Understanding where your diffidence comes from (she sees it in herself too), she adds, “I won’t judge you. I’m here to listen and if you want advice, I’ll try to give one. If you don’t want me to say anything, that’s fine too. Whatever works best for you.”

She is giving you the space to feel. Not a lot of people can say that and still stay after you’ve poured your heart out. Sam is different from most people because she cares. You are each other’s anchor. That’s why it doesn't take much convincing for you speak of your feelings bit by bit without worrying about falling into a rabbit hole. Knowing that Sam is there with you, listening, holding your hand, is more than enough motivation to keep going.

“. . . Sam, is it wrong? To miss Amber? The whole world tells me what she is. A murderer. But I- I saw it in her eyes that night at the party. Hesitation. Remorse. She told me that she was jealous that I got to be the one whose father was a serial killer but when she pointed the gun at my head, I saw something else flicker in her eyes. I don’t know. It’s probably just my brain making things up to make me feel better. Maybe I should just accept that my sister was a killer and move on. I shouldn’t even be feeling like this when I know she murdered people in cold blood — people I used to know. Am I crazy?” Once you started talking, you couldn’t stop. It was like you’ve been bottling this up to release it at the right moment. The memories of that night resurfaced in the forefront of your mind, acknowledging them for the first time. By now, you were laying on your back while Sam had an arm wrapped around your shoulder and the other still on your waist. For less than a minute, you were scared that she would push you away in a literal sense.

She didn’t.

“It’s not wrong, Y/n. She was your sister, of course you have the right to miss her. Now, I still don’t understand her motive and I won’t try to because she hurt Tara and you. But you knew her better than me or the people calling her names. You knew the kid that she was. You know what’s real. You are allowed to have your own opinion of Amber even if it isn’t what others want you to think. You’re not crazy for feeling these things. I’d be scared if you didn’t feel anything at all. It’s normal. You’re human. Don’t be too hard on yourself because of something you can’t control.” Sam says, soft but stern.

You take this opportunity to gaze into her eyes, seeing reverence, sympathy, and devotion all in one. She took the parts of yourself that you hated and treated them as if they were something sacred. When you have a person like that in your life - one who helps you accept your flaws instead of turning them away -, you start to see flowers bloom in the pieces you considered damaged. She loved the things about you that you execrated.

Before Sam, you gave love a definition: it is a thing that enfeebles you - yet that’s not all that there is to it. Love can be a chain, it can be suffocating, and there is no doubt that it can shatter you until the only thing you have left is a piece of a broken mirror to prove that it existed; but it can also be a tune (like the song you sung as a kid that you never paid much thought to), a soft bed, a dance, or a simple look a person gives that sends your heart fluttering no matter how many times you have been on the receiving end of it.

“Sam?” You call out, realizing that you’ve spent a while not responding.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for listening,” You say quietly. “and for not becoming a stranger.”

She smiles gently.

Your heart flutters.

* * *

Tara lets out a deep breath. She’s laying down with a novel in her hand that became abandoned three minutes ago, her attention now focused on glaring at you and Sam from her position on the couch. “Just get back together already. I’m so tired of watching you two tiptoe around each other with your unresolved feelings!” She yells, roughly flipping a page of the book in order to prove her annoyance. Sam, who was currently on dish duty, dropped a plate upon hearing Tara’s comment. (It didn’t break, fortunately.)

“Are you talking about the book or…?” Of course, Chad would be the one to make the situation far more awkward than it needs to be. You don’t hate the kid, but he does get oblivious at times, which you normally wouldn’t mind if it doesn’t affect you. Mindy punches him in the shoulder. His mouth gapes. He looks at you, then at Sam. “Ohhhh.”

“Idiot.” Mindy mumbles.

“I agree with Tara though.” Anika comments, pointing her apple drink at Tara. (You and Sam don’t allow the kids to drink at the apartment, so the only beverages available are apple and orange juice boxes.)

“Me too, babe.” Mindy beams proudly as if Anika gave the answer to an unsolvable mathematical equation and gives her girlfriend a peck on the lips.

Chad makes gagging noises, averting his eyes away from the couple.

You see the scene unfold in front of you with a smile before you turn away to take the popcorn out of the microwave. “I think we’re driving Tara crazy with the suspense.” You joke, transferring the popcorn to a bowl and placing another bag inside the microwave. Sam shoots you a questioning glance, referring to the amount of popcorn bags that were already cooked. “I was thinking that each couple would have a bag or bowl each. Mindy and Anika, Chad and Tara. I wasn’t sure if you wanted to share with me, which is why I put another-”

Sam takes out the uncooked popcorn from the microwave, interrupting what would have been your rambling, “Of course I’d share with you. You’re my girlfriend.”

You look away, unable to keep a smile off your face. “I will never get tired of hearing that.” As you busy yourself with placing the popcorn on three separate bowls, Sam observes the group on the living room.

“I think we should tell them.”

“Huh?”

“About us. It’s time, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” You take Sam’s hands in your own, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “I’m ready.” You look at her lovingly. “How should we do it?”

Sam sports a mischievous smirk, “I know just the right way.” She ‘accidentally’ drops another plate (which, amazingly, didn’t break as well), drawing the attention of Tara, Chad, Mindy, and Anika. She gives you the go signal and you kiss her, bringing your bodies closer.

“TARA, SOMETHING’S HAPPENING IN THE KITCHEN!”

“WHAT ARE YOU- OH MY GOD!” Tara exclaims.

“CHAD, GIVE ME THE CAMERA!” Anika flails her arms chaotically for Chad’s phone, instantly snapping pictures of you and Sam the moment the device is handed to her.

Chad grins, giving you a thumbs up.

When you pull away from Sam for air, Tara runs up to you with questions at the ready. Sam did most of the talking. You added a few things here and there, looking back at how far you’ve come. The grief never went away. It’s still lingering. Except this time, you don’t feel the panic. You focus on the memories - the good and the bad. Those things are the reason why you’re where you're at right now. Although you’d have liked some of it to turn out differently, you can’t change the past, hence why you don’t shy away from what happened as much as you used to. You hold on to the memories the way you’d want to hold on to the love of your life.

“You okay?” Sam asks, rubbing a comforting hand on your shoulder.

You realize that you’ve been crying. “Yeah, they’re happy tears. It’s just. . .” You breathe out, feeling the weight of hopelessness on your shoulders disappear.

It felt like finally coming home after a long journey.

#sam carpenter x reader #sam carpenter #samantha carpenter #scream 6 #scream vi #scream #tamber #tara carpenter #amber freeman #anika kayoko #chad meeks martin #mindy meeks martin #stu macher

[tendergraphite]

When the Hare knows the Devil is out Hunting. [Bunny Analysis]

Bunny's actions prior to his subsequent murder hadn't been erratic—And despite Henrys and Francis' framing, it had not been out of stupidity either. In the same vain of Charles being forced into silence until the later better half of the book, Bunny had been too. Richard should've talked to Bunny, but instead assumed how he'd react; That this 24 year old man was jealous of him, and didn't want him there.

He looses the fish in the water bowl, distracted by the flood of relief when on a silver platter Henry offered acceptance—Richard reacting with a laugh, saying what we were all thinking. ''Yes! Yes of course I want to know.'' We feel that comradery, and a mortifying scene of betrayal becomes a promise of a stable partnership; We remember Francis' country house and want to stay there.

But in truth, that scene was purely manipulation. Not a single moment was true, nor genuine—Henry simply needed Richard to feel apart of something, because if he did not feel that way he'd be completely ruined; So he makes Richard an accomplice, and we never dare to dwell on the maliciousness of the act because we mistake it for escape.

Henry stretches out the bounds of morality, and prepares Richard to be ready to accept anything.

[ If you haven't read it already, here's Bunny's first analysis post ] Richard forgets Henry and Bunny are Best-Friends—It goes to show we’d forget too. He’s told once by the twins that the two were as thick as thieves, and once you couldn’t hope to catch the two apart. But the two are best friends, and it matters.

So, why did Bunny treat his ‘’Friends’’ the way he had? Simple, they weren’t his friends. It was never about the group, it was about Henry. Buns relationship with the group consisted of him keeping the peace for the benefit of Henry, the only person who he considered an actual friend.

With Francis’ it’s established early how they do not interact with each other outside of the group—It’s heavily implied in fact that Francis tried to or did assault Bunny. When it came to Charles and Camilla, he knew about their goings about and obviously hadn’t been comfortable with the idea.

When it came to Richard, no jealousy had been involved; He’d been miserable and treated him so cruelly because there Richard was, happy and clueless and it was just so unfair—Spite had spurred on from that, Bunny was suffering the consequences of Henrys actions alone.

Bunny saw the group's antics as a tad silly, he knew Henry took himself far to seriously and that this was important to him, so he'd entertained the idea of a bacchanal.

We associate youth with innocence more often than not, meaning Henry in Bunny's perspective was an untainted figure. He never saw him in his full light, he didn’t know about his childhood abuse, he for sure hadn’t known of his infatuation for Camilla; And when you do not know, you fill in the gapes yourself; it’s how we end up with Bunny believing Henry to have ended up in a car accident when Henry never stated such a thing in the first place.

We listen to Henry's recounting of Rome, and see Bun threw his eyes alone. Henry doesn't outright lie, he never generally does—Instead he prefers to reframe a situation; He outlines how ungrateful Bunny was and is, how he's an attention seeker and only ever wants more, more, more. Henry neglects to highlight how he knows why Bunny acts in that manner, (I mean, if Charles knew why Henry certainly does.) and how this was never Bunny's fault, it was his own for bringing the journal knowing full well Bunny wouldn't be able to help but snoop.

So really, what happened? When had Bun realized Henry would conspire to kill him? Well, one must wonder what Henry really did say about Bunny in that journal that hadn’t been too kind, what had driven Bunny so monstrously mad—Mean if you read your best-friends journal for giggles only to find out they hated you how'd you feel? So I’d say it was the combination of that, and Henry slapping him.

That’s when Bunny’s mind split into two beliefs—Henry is going to kill me and; Henry cannot kill me, he’s my best-friend, he loves me. Let’s start from the beginning: When he’d screamed bloody murder after the group arrived at 6 am covered in blood, his first thought would’ve been ‘’Who else other than a person has that much blood?!’’ Because of that, when he then read the newspaper, he'd begged for ignorance.

What really spurred on his incessant jabbing at the group about the newspaper wasn’t because it came out of some urgency for cruelty, but because he was desperately trying to prove himself wrong. It's in truth why he became so distressed, and why his false nicety for the rest of the group washed away—His mind couldn't compute Henry being a cold blooded killer, and him being that quiet lonely boy who always read alone at his desk.

What would you do if your closets friend had committed a murder? What if, someone you thought you knew and were so sure of turned out to be entirely empty; How is one supposed to react in such a situation?

Well Bunny hadn't known what to do—All he could think to do was bottle up his feelings, and let them fester until the rot burst and splattered. In retrospect, it explains his meltdown at Francis' country house—Bun feared Henry now, but this man was still his best friend, he felt safe around him and comforted; For gods sake he slept in Henry's bed afterwards, his mind couldn't settle.

Bunny's tears never were because he'd bee excluded, or due to being left out; He was in denial. It's further shown threw his daydreams about the trip to France, a way to re-envision the Rome trip—It was better than thinking about how his best-friend was planning on beating him to death (Or so he believed.) He told Julian and Richard specifically because he knew they had Henry's better interest at heart. It couldn't have gone on—The misery was eating him on the inside out, and his mind had finally buckled.

#bunny corcoran #henry winter #richard papen #charles macaulay #camilla macaulay #the secret history #dark academia #I don't condone any of Bunnys beliefs #but I also don't condone murder!

[vashtijoy]

Hi! Do you think the tracksuit Goro wears, when they all meet up at school, belongs to Ren or was there another way he got it somehow?

This one's just a little bit complicated. In this 1/11 meeting, all the Shujin kids are in their ordinary winter uniforms, while all three visitors are in school tracksuits.

who's wearing what

First of all, unless they did something weird like buying tracksuits, or unless Makoto liberated them from school stores, we can probably guess who lent what to whom:

Futaba is probably wearing Haru's tracksuit, since Haru is the second-smallest;

Ryuji p...robably lent Yusuke his tracksuit;

Which leaves only Ren to lend a tracksuit to Akechi.

You could reverse those last two, of course—maybe Ren offers Yusuke his tracksuit, and Ryuji reluctantly steps up. He is quite aggressive about including Akechi, as a rule—"And you? Sound good?" @minkhollow42 also points out that as a former track team member, Ryuji might have multiple tracksuits.

So it depends which you like. Personally, I like the callback to conf 3 we get, if Akechi is wearing Ren's clothes.

who invited akechi

On 1/10, after Lavenza's phone call, Makoto says she'll figure out "how to get Yusuke and Futaba into the school". Someone's missing, huh? And yet there Akechi is, all the same. So there are a few possibilities:

Makoto remembered him, invited him, and arranged a tracksuit for him. (not out of the question)

Ren invited him. and slipped him his tracksuit between the 1/10 and 1/11 scenes.

One of the other PTs invited him, and arranged for him to borrow Ren's tracksuit.

After Akechi was invited, he arranged his own tracksuit. We can probably rule this one out.

While I like the idea of Ren inviting him, I also like the idea that Makoto had an attack of conscience—it would be like her. But honestly, I don't think either of these two options are my favourite.

Take a look at Akechi's line of sight, as he says "I didn't think you'd invite me":

Where's he looking? Across the room, at Haru and Futaba. Is it just a side-effect of the model's position? Possibly, but then Haru is the first to reply to him, as if he was addressing her directly. He's also turned just a little away from camera (towards the chair where Lavenza will appear), making it look as if he's facing Haru rather than Futaba. From a dev perspective, Akechi, Haru and Futaba have been placed so that they visually confront each other.

After the 1/10 discussion where Haru and Futaba have their veto on Akechi joining the team, it seems unlikely Akechi would ever have been invited without their being asked. So something went on behind the scenes, which resulted in Akechi being there in that tracksuit (which, yes, is probably Ren's).

wheels within wheels

Also, in case you ever wondered how much Akechi knows about the Velvet Room... notice how he's the only one seriously startled when Lavenza appears, with his little ?! there:

He's the only one who hasn't met Lavenza, of course. But he also reacts before he sees her—as if he doesn't have a context for anything mysterious and blue.

revision history

click here for the latest version.

v1.1 (2023/10/21)—ryuji might have multiple tracksuits.

v1.0 (2023/10/21)—first published.

#asks #persona 5 #p5 meta #ren amamiya #goro akechi #makoto niijima #haru okumura #futaba sakura

[eclectic-sassycoweyes]

Been thinking a lot about not only TK using Carlos’ bicep as his personal ‘emotional support bicep’ which 🥹🥹🥹 - also thank you and creds to @paperstorm for making the huge contribution to the whole entire fandom with this description -

But, also about the whole thing from Carlos’ perspective and how Carlos reacts to it, and feels about it, makes my stomach do a little swoop every time I come across a gif from either the wedding ep or the scene where they’re waiting for news on Marjan

Like, I’m thinking about semi-lonely, tense pre- and during season 1 Carlos needing someone, not just to love and be loved by but to take care of and hold and be there for🥺 Like we all know Carlos must work a lot to maintain those biceps and of course this is probably for his own sake bc he likes them, and to be good at his job etc but,,

He’s obviously gotten some attention from it, guys who finds him sexy and maybe likes a little power play

And he can appreciate that especially when ‘guys’ are in fact TK who enjoys it and wants him to use his strength a little bit to press his hands into the mattress above his head: (🔥)

Or to ‘twist his arm’ 😏😏

But more than that S1 Carlos longed for his body (huge bicep) to be appreciated in different ways. To be the one that someone (TK) needed to be held by, to be the shoulder (bicep) that someone (TK) could cry on, and lean on (both figuratively:

And literally:

- He needed to be that for someone (TK), to take on that role in a healthy, loving relationship. And he certainly got that from TK. But he got even more than that, more than he could have dreamed of, bc with TK he’s also become a shoulder (bicep) to sleep on:

Not just in the domestic privacy of their own home, but in public, among a wonderful new group of friends and family:

As well as a shoulder (bicep) to both lean on and rub their thumb back and forth on for self soothing:

In short, that work paid off exponentially as he got to be someone’s (TK’s) ‘emotional support bicep’. 🥲

And what completely gets me is the way he’s so casual about it in this last one. Like I imagined the first couple of times Carlos in his head would have been like ‘oh, okay, my bicep is now your pillow, I see, I’ll stay as still as possible or react in some way like by kissing your hair or something or move so you’re more comfortable’, and ‘oh okay, you’re not letting go, you really must love that bicep, I’ll buy a permanent gym membership and think of that ever time I work out, this bicep shall be forever dedicated to your needs’ while in his head being all 😳🫠🥰😌🥹🥹🥰

But now he barely reacts, it’s so natural. He just barely registers that ‘oh, my adorable, emotional boyfriend (husband😭) (TK who I know in and out and who know me the same way😭) is (once again/per usual😭) reserving my bicep for emotional support reasons while he cries on me, imma let him do his thing while I grab his ankle, both to comfort TK,’ - but also bc while TK needs to physically lean on someone (Carlos) when he’s emotional (or sleepy, or just, it’s right there anyway), what Carlos needs it something (someone) (TK) to hold on to, to tether himself to bc it’s overwhelming for him to lose control of his emotions.

And TK is the perfect rock for him because he’s not only so open about his emotions, and an adorable kitten boyfriend (husband), but because he’s also and at the same time incredibly strong and prepared to catch Carlos at any time😭

The naturalness of it all just says so much about how long they’ve been together and built their relationship, how well they know and how comfortable they are with each other and how they’re perfect for each other and fit together like two pieces of a puzzle! There are some thoughts here about different kinds and ways of embodying ‘masculinity’ and vulnerability but I’m not nearly eloquent enough rn to go into that..

Anyway, with TK, Carlos, now without even giving it a second thought, has gotten the relationship he dreamed of and more, has gotten exactly the appreciation for his strength and body (biceps) that S1 Carlos longed for and worked so hard for, and gets to take on the role in his relationship that he needs and be who he always were and I’m just 😭🥹🥹🥰🥰🫠 slowly melting away over it.

#me rambling #Tarlos ramblings #Tarlos headcanons #am definitely not working on my thesis right now as you all can see🙃 #@paperstorm I hope it’s okay that I tagged you I’m still a newbie when it comes to tumblr etiquette and I wanted to give creds for the #emotional support bicep #since you came up with the term and I appreciate where that made my mind go 🙃 #Carlos’ biceps #Tarlos #9-1-1 lone star #911ls #carlos reyes #tk strand #headcanons #Tarlos feels #kitten tk #gentle dom carlos #tarlos wedding #tk sleeping on Carlos

[ae-neon]

ANTI NESSIAN

The short of it:

ACOSF romance sounds like an incel revenge fantasy where the man gets to punish and fuck the woman who rejected him and mold her into a copy of the woman his role model/best friend/ alpha daddy is fucking.

The long of it:

I don't like when women's fear, anger and rejection is taken as a challenge.

Every now and then I wanna read ACOSF, tell myself I'll just ignore the Cassian stuff and eat around it, you know? Then I see canon Nessian interactions and I gag.

I don't know if it's because I don't read dark romance so I haven't been exposed and numbed to the truly heinous things authors are doing in their romances but I can't.

I'm just gonna sit back down in my anti Nessian seat cause it was never my favourite dynamic to begin with but it's to the point I can't even read fanfic bout them anymore (and I'm missing out on some good shit!)

I've read love interests who are mean to everyone BUT their intended partner.

I've read love interests who are mean to everyone INCLUDING their intended partner.

But a love interest who is ONLY mean to his intended partner?

I use the word mean very loosely here.

And maybe it wouldn't be so bad if him constantly pushing her to react or getting in her space didn't include or was immediately followed by super sexual thoughts or intention. That shit is predatory.

Earlier Nessian walked a fine line and I was even willing to move past that awful ACOWAR tent scene but ACOFAS? Cassian doesn't have to be perfect or nice on his own, as a character, but he might as well have thrown the idea of Nessian in the Sidra.

The combo of

wanting Nesta sexually but not liking her personally

having an inferiority complex about himself that he projects onto her interactions with him

History of a high born woman using him and finding a symbol of that same type of woman downtrodden and vulnerable

Having that woman entrusted to his "guidance and care" by almost everyone without question

Confirmation through a magic bond that she was literally made for him, belongs to him and would be best to bear his children (GAG)

Him using his position as her "carer and guardian and authority figure" to punish her on behalf of a man (and group) he desperately looks up to and wants to please

Him molding her to meet the requirements in order to be accepted by said man and group even when it goes directly against how she's expressed she wants to live.

Him molding her to mirror the wife of the man he looks up to

It feels like if this was set in the Victorian period he'd have had her lobotomized and locked away if she didn't correct her behaviour to him and his friends' standards.

Like can you imagine your (already deteriorated) well being signed off to a man who tells himself he loves you but doesn't act like it? wants to fuck you to prove he's good enough to everyone else? Is basically best friends with ACOTAR Elon Musk?

It sounds like an incel revenge fantasy.

And how is several people physically barring someone who is clearly using sex as a coping mechanism from having sex with anyone but this one guy not a weird coercive thing? Like you're taking advantage of her, I'm so disgusted.

All this without even mentioning the 500 year age gap and power imbalance and imprisonment and sense of extreme isolation and lack of mental health care etc etc

#anti nessian #until i die #anti acosf #anti sjm #anti cassian #somebody save her #nesta deserves better #anti ic #anti inner circle #nesta archeron #pro nesta #sjm critical

[brigdh]

I was thinking more about how Stede doesn't really have an arc this season (see my previous criticism here), and I've decided that what I would have loved to see was Stede actively attempting to court Ed.

Now, we did get a little of this in the first few episodes: Stede's letters in 2x01 are great, I love his attempting to track Ed down via a crime-map in 2x02, and of course the "I'll never leave you. I'll never leave again" speech at the end of 2x03 is fantastic. But once Stede and Ed are both in the same location and conscious, there's really nothing. Stede just hangs around, waiting for Ed to figure himself out, or take the lead, or something, I don't know, but Stede's certainly doesn't take any action to progress their relationship himself. He's such a static character in the second half of S2.

But! Imagine instead the arc where Stede is actively trying to romance Ed! I don't need him to be good at it; it's probably a better character arc if he isn't, in fact. Maybe he comes on way too strong at first and this is why Ed asks him to slow down, until Ed can figure out what he's doing about his own guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues (maybe Ed can actually figure out something about his guilt/violence/identity/daddy issues). Maybe Stede's entire conception of romance comes from poetry and novels and it hits a hard skid when he tries it out in reality. Maybe there are cultural clashes between how pirates approach one another and how the landed upper class does it. The exact way Stede fails doesn't really matter, because the point is that Stede is trying something, and fucking it up, and trying again, and growing as he does so, learning more about what the relationship between him and Ed needs and who they are as people.

This also could have been a really interesting arc for Stede internally. Throw in a couple of flashbacks to Stede courting Mary, to make a parallel between how he acted then and how he's acting now with Ed. If it's beyond the budget to fly Claudia O'Doherty to New Zealand or she's busy or something, give Stede a random other lady or two he approached as a young man – ones who obviously refused to accept his hand. Excellent! Now there's even more weight to him getting it right this time with Ed, when he's never managed to get someone to like him before! Or give young Stede an intense friendship with another young man that went wrong, and back then he didn't understand, but now he can look back and be like, 'oh I guess that wasn't as platonic as I thought'. (Personally, this would be my favorite option, but I know Jenkins & co said they didn't want to write a coming-out story, so maybe they'd have been less interested in this one. Fine, but I want it! 🥳 ) I think you could do this without taking up a lot of screentime – I doubt all the scenes we got of Ed's childhood add up to five minutes in total, but we got plenty of information from those three glimpses.

It would also make sense for Stede to discuss the issue with the crew, which gives the show a chance to flesh out their role a little more, another thing the season could have used. If he asks Lucius, what Lucius responds and how he reacts could help to develop the Lucius/Pete relationship. Similarly, if Stede turned to Olu or Jim, we could have heard more about Jim/Archie or Olu/Zheng or any combination of the four. Or any of the crew! What kind of relationship advice does Frenchie give? Roach? This also could have intersected with Ed's redemption arc nicely: which are the crew are willing to put aside their anger at Ed to help Stede (and them doing so would give more credence to Izzy's speech about them being family and loving Ed at the end)? Who isn't willing, and tries to deliberately sabotage their relationship for revenge, and how do Stede and/or Ed react to that?

Overall, I think such an arc could have fit the show's themes of masculinity and toxicity really well. There's so much about dating and pick-up lines and romance that reflects on gender – there are expectations of who should be aggressive vs receptive, flowery vs crude, prudish vs too fast, gifts as a sign of love vs gifts as obligation... it's endless. Obviously the season wouldn't have time to explore all these angles, but I list them as a sign of how many directions they could have taken this topic in. Ultimately it all comes down to: Who does Stede want to be as a partner? And who does Ed want him to be? And that would be so strong as a direction to go in, even if we didn't get final answers to the questions! At least they would be asking them.

But instead we got a vision of a mermaid and never explored who Stede is in reality. :(

#ofmd meta #our flag means death #stede bonnet #gentlebeard #blackbonnet #ofmd season 2 #ofmd critical #(for real this time unlike my last post)

[syzzish]

payback ! m. fushiguro

wc: 3.3k

경고 // warnings: not proofread. enemies to lovers. college au. oral sex (f! receiving), fingering, degrading (slut), praising (pretty girl), generally indecisive dom megumi. unprotected sex! lowercase intended.

a/n: use a condom. also i’m starting to notice my love for megumi is coming back hard.

— megumi genuinely could not explain how he felt about you. one minute you pissed him off so bad that he had to leave a lesson (of course, he didn’t hear the end of it from gojo) and then the next you frustrate him. but not just any type of frustration.

it was the type that stuck with him all day, the same moment constantly on repeat. maybe it was that you accidentally bumped into him due to lack of spacial awareness, or that you’d blatantly cut him off mid sentence to chip in your thoughts during a conversation with your friends.

whatever it was, it pissed him the fuck off, and the pent up frustration was quite the hassle to deal with on his own.

so he figured he'd call you out on it the next time you messed up his mood. maybe guilt trip you into getting him a few snacks, something light to teach you a lesson on not angering him.

the next time you did mess up, though, his plan changed.

you had just spilled your juice on his and your own uniform, the liquid seeping through to the white button-up underneath his jacket. the juice had stained your clothing as well, so you quickly removed the jacket to see that the juice had made your shirt see-through. it was a complete accident, but the look of pure distraught on the boy’s face was enough for you to gather you had just sent him fuming.

megumi didn’t say anything at all, not even after your never-ending apologies and offers to get him a new top. he simply raised his gaze from his shirt to look at you.

megumi towered over you, his lean figure intimidating you. his eyebrows were furrowed and he methodically sucked in his cheek over and over again, almost as if he was thinking on how to react. suddenly, he cocked his head to the side and relaxed his brows, a much more lightened expression, almost as if he got an idea.

“y’know what? c’mon.”

that was all he said before his larger, cold hand grabbed your wrist and pulled you away from the scene.

quite frankly, megumi didn’t know where you two were going. somewhere private, he hoped, so he could personally humiliate you like you just did for him. there was only one distinct difference between what you just did and what he was about to do: your humiliation was for his eyes only.

as he dragged you down the halls, students looked, pointed, and whispered. this had to look odd; the school’s most moody boy and the clumsy girl together? no one expected it.

you certainly didn’t expect when megumi took a sharp turn into a janitors closet, locking the door of the tight space.

he turned to meet you, finally relaxing your wrist from his grip, which was sure to leave a bruise.

“who the fuck do you think you are?” he said coldly. the closet was dark, but not dark enough to hide your face from his gaze. you stammered to give a response, clearly intimidated by his tone.

he stepped closer, leaning down to your eye level, and in the most calm tone, he asked you once again.

“did you not hear me? i asked you a fucking question.”

“i really don’t know what you mean, it was an accident-”

“i could give two shits if it was an accident or not, you ruined my shirt.”

“well i offered to get you another but you straight up ignored me.” you said, crossing your arms, clearly annoyed by his ego.

“i heard you offering the shirt, y/n, it’s just the fact that you always seem to find a way to piss me off.” he said, his dark blue eyes locked on yours. even through the darkness of the room, he could still see that your body tensed. he knew it totally betrayed your tough exterior, and you knew it too.

“i don’t understand what you’re talking about, fushiguro. why did you drag me all the way here when i could’ve easily just gotten you a shirt?” you said.

megumi had to think about his next words wisely. he was very aware that you infuriated him.

but did it turn him on?

“y/n, i’m gonna be completely honest with you.” he said, pausing. megumi pronounced every syllable clearly, making sure to to drag out the word “completely,” almost as if he were talking to a small child.

“you frustrate me in ways i cannot fathom, but it’s something about you that doesn’t make sense to me.” he began. he took a deep breath before he spoke again.

“i don’t want anyone else to have you.”

he said it so bluntly. so casually, it was almost frightening. you had absolutely no idea what was going through this boy’s head. one minute he was pissed at you for spilling juice on his shirt, now he’s confessing his sexual attraction to you? what the fuck is going on?

megumi dreaded the next few seconds of silence — not because you didn’t respond, but because he couldn’t read your face. despite it being dark, he was close enough to make out the details of your face. he just couldn’t tell what your expression meant.

“what?”

you on the other hand were straight-up baffled.

“fushiguro i really don’t know what to say, i mean this makes absolutely no sense,” you started. you watched as megumi’s face dropped, a look of disappointment washed across it. he expected the answer, but it still stung a bit.

“but i’m not opposed to it.”

the taller boy’s head immediately lifted, his body perking up along with. you hesitated but figured this was the time to say it.

“since we’re being honest, i’ve always found you attractive, fushiguro. i just didn’t expect that you’d feel the same about me. i mean, i always ruin your day.”

“i think i just gotta teach you a lesson now.” his voiced lowered. you felt shivers go down your spine, and your nose tickled as his hair brushed against it. fushiguro’s hands made their way to your waist, snaking around to pull you impossibly closer in the small closet.

he brought a hand from your waist to your chin, lifting it up to meet his gaze.

“can i kiss you?”

you felt the room get hot as he asked you. it’s all you wanted, and who were you to keep the man waiting?

“yes, please.”

fushiguro’s lips crashed onto yours, his hand cupping your face while the other snaked lower to grip your ass. your hands felt along his muscular arms, stopping to grip for support as he smacked your ass. you gasped, and fushiguro quickly took the opportunity to slip his tongue into your mouth. the kiss grew more passionate as it continued, and for a moment, you felt bliss.

eventually, both of his hands made their way down, and fushiguro cupped your thighs as he lifted you up to straddle his waist. you felt a prominent bulge against your heat, and the pool in your panties grew.

you pulled away from the kiss, a string of saliva connecting your lips to his.

“fushiguro,” you began.

“megumi.” he corrected.

“megumi, can we go somewhere more private?” you asked bluntly. you were sure you were intoxicated by his pink lips, which currently, gave your lips no filter.

he smirked as he placed you back on the ground, the height difference between you two becoming obvious again.

“yea, cmon.” megumi said, his hand reached for yours as he dragged you out of the closet and into a nearby empty classroom. he locked the door and shut the blinds behind you, making sure that no one could see. he couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t hear you, so at least you could keep your dignity somewhat intact.

after closing the final blind, megumi turned to you with a newfound dominance on his face. his eyes darkened and his stance got heavy, almost as if he was hunting and you were his prey.

he slowly walked towards you and extended a hand, to which you grabbed. he led you to a desk in the room and motioned for you to lay down. you complied, laying down with your legs closed.

“open.” he said as he opened your legs. he sat in the chair at the table, face nearly inches away from your clothed cunt.

“can i take this off pretty girl?” he asked, staring up at your chest. you looked down to see you were still wearing your juice-covered shirt. you nodded and he quickly reached up to help you take off your shirt. megumi admired your breasts for a minute, as they sat prettily in your favorite bra.

“you’re so beautiful.” he said. that was enough to make you weak. your ears got hot as he brought his hands up to your chest.

“can i touch?” megumi said as his hands stopped right before they made contact with your tits. you hummed softly.

“i need verbal confirmation, love.” he said calmly. you replied with a short “yes,” and with that confirmation, he reached and began to squeeze your tits.

it felt surprisingly good, his heavy hands groping you. he felt all around your breasts and leaned into your neck as well to leave a faint trail of love bites from your ear to your—actually, your bra was in the way.

“take it off.” he said bluntly. you felt that his movements stilled as you sat up to look at him. his lips were red and swollen as he retracted his hands from your chest. you looked down to see that he meant your bra, so quickly, you unhooked it and slid it off your shoulders. the cold air in the room immediately made your nipples raise.

“fuck, y/n…” was all megumi said before he pulled you by your thighs closer to the edge of the desk and latched his mouth onto your tit. as he kissed and licked your bud, he gave made sure to give equal treatment to the other by pinching your nipple in between his fingertips.

you were a moaning mess—and completely soaked—and he hasn’t even done anything yet. megumi seemed to take notice as he moved lower. as he kissed along down your waist, he slid off your skirt and began kissing your inner thighs, bruising any spot of skin his lips touched.

“megumi..” you moaned aimlessly. there wasn’t any true intent behind it—maybe it was to get him to move faster or with more purpose? who knows, you were soaking.

“be patient. besides, you owe me for being so goddamn annoying.” he said as he slipped one finger under your panty’s waistband. you felt his digit inching closer and closer to your cunt, and he knew it with the way he watched your face contort.

“megumi, please..”

“what are you asking for? go on, use your words.” megumi encouraged you as he found your clit. you body jolted as he rubbed the bud ever so slowly. you couldn’t help but moan, he knew exactly how to touch you.

“y/n?” he asked, never stilling his movements on your clothed pussy.

“megumi..p-please fuck me..” you didn’t mean to stutter, but the minute you said his name, the boy’s finger moved faster and pressed harder, sending a shockwave through your body.

“fucking slut. so impatient, lemme prep you first, ‘kay?”

megumi then hooked your panties to the side with two fingers and proceeded to spread your hole with another two. he kept a thumb on your clit, constantly.

megumi had seemingly lost all of his determination to make you wait as he licked up and down your cunt like a starved man. he couldn’t help it, your pussy had made such a mess, it was practically begging him to clean it up.

as he lapped at your cunt, you reached for megumi’s hair for support. you gripped his soft black locs as he made your legs squirm by being between them. megumi’s hands reached up to pull you impossibly closer to his face, practically suffocating himself. he pushed you to lay down as he pleased you, clearly wanting to see the way your tits rose and fell with your heavy breathing.

you felt yourself inching closer and closer to a release with the way his long tongue fucked your hole. he eventually switched out the muscle for a finger, then two, and moved his lips to your clit.

“megumi, ahh, i’m gonna-”

“cum.”

that was all he mumbled into your pussy, the vibrations hitting your clit and sending you headfirst into an orgasm. it felt so good, all of it; the way he continued to lick your juices away, the way he curled his fingers up to hit your g-spot, and especially how he looked up at you as you looked down to see his face in between your legs.

after helping you ride out your high, megumi backed away from your cunt and began to take off his jacket and unbutton his shirt.

you sat up slightly and took into account how absolutely ripped he was. it made your pussy throb the way the veins in his hands showed as he pulled down his pants to reveal the prominent bulge in his navy blue boxers. his body looked as if it was sculpted by the gods, unintentionally flexing as he put his shirt and pants to the side. he leaned over you as he asked,

“you still want me to fuck you, pretty girl?” he asked softly, stilling his movements to look you dead in the eye, despite you being completely naked. (so he had some sort of decency about him.)

“yes please.” you said, voice still breathy from practically straining it.

you were still lying down, so it made it very easy for him to slide off his boxers and position himself. you felt him rub along your entrance, and that’s when it hit you.

“uhm, megumi, do you have a condom?” you asked.

“quite honestly, i wasn’t expecting to fuck anyone today, so no.” he said bluntly. “do you want me to stop?”

you took a breath. i mean, as long as he doesn’t cum inside you should be fine, right? plus, you were already so horny, no way you were gonna stop.

“no, keep going.” you said. megumi leaned down to kiss you as he rubbed his cock along your entrance. suddenly, he began pushing in and it hurt.

“are you okay?” he whispered into your ear.

“nngh—yes, fuck, just go s-slow.” you moaned back to him, and with this confirmation, megumi continued to push into your cunt.

“god, you’re so tight.” megumi strained as he bottomed out in your pussy. he let you adjust to his size — which was a good 7.5 inches — and when you were ready, you rubbed the back of his neck and kissed his jaw.

megumi began at a very slow pace, trying to be gentle with you, despite every single fiber in his body telling him not to. sure, you annoyed the shit out of him, but he figured the least he could do was try to be a good fuck buddy.

he watched as your body rocked beneath him, your pretty tits bouncing in the direction of his thrusts. he leaned down to kiss them, leaving a trail of hickeys in his wake. his thrusts into your tight little cunt got increasingly more rough, you were pretty sure you could feel him in your throat.

you reached your hand to cover your mouth and muffle your moans when megumi reached his to circle your clit, but he didn���t appreciate that too much. the black-haired boy reached down to grab your hand from your mouth and pinned it onto the desk below you both.

“i wanna hear you, ahh, go on and t-tell me how much you love my cock, pretty.”

your pussy clenched around him, his moans in your ear making you impossibly wet.

“i love your cock so much ‘gumi, fuck! right there,”megumi looked down at the mess you two had made.

“you fucking slut, look at you, creaming on me.” with a few more rough strokes, you came on megumi, leaving a pretty white ring for him. he watched as your face contorted with pleasure and your body tensed up. he especially liked how your hands scratched his shoulders and reached for his hair as support. all of it was intoxicating? you were intoxicating.

“cum, ‘m gonna cum, w-where?” gumi struggled to keep a steady pace as he felt himself approaching his high.

“here.” you quickly pulled away from the boy and cooked off the desk to your knees. you took his cock in your mouth as you massaged his balls to get him closer and closer. you felt him throb in your mouth as he fucked your face, grabbing your hair and groaning.

“fuuuuck just like that, take my cock like the good slut you are, yea?” he groaned. “you’re gonna make me cum—”

you held megumi’s dick in your mouth, allowing yourself to choke on it. you soon felt his hot cum drip down your throat, slow thrusts from his hips helping you milk him dry.

“holy shit, y/n.”

you pulled back from his dick, not even realizing tears were falling from your eyes until his thumb wiped them away. megumi’s expression was a hard one to read—especially from the angle below him. from the best you could tell, it was a look of admiration as well as a look of bliss. but he also looked displeased? maybe it was just his usual attitude, but had you done something wrong?

“that was amazing.”

a wave of relief washed over you as megumi extended a hand for you to stand up with. he guided you to the desk and quickly put on his clothes as well as handing you your own.

“wait here okay? i’m gonna go get some stuff to clean up with.” he said, quickly exiting the room.

so, he’s not that bad after all, huh.

within 5 minutes, megumi was back with towels, clean uniforms for the both of you, and some water. he cleaned you up and handed you the new set of clothes, as well as cleaning the desks and changing himself.

“so megumi,” you began. he looked at you as he slid on his shirt. “what does this mean for us?”

“i assumed that it meant you’re mine now.”

“what?”

“did you think i was just gonna fuck you and leave?” he asked, walking closer to you.

“i mean thinking i’m attractive doesn’t necessarily cancel out finding me annoying.” you reasoned, feeling a bit intimidated by the look on his face.

megumi stepped even closer. “yeah you’re annoying, y/n, but you also make me feel things i’m not sure how to identify. i just want to make sure it’s what i think it is.” he said, his voice dropping as he looked at your eyes.

“and what do you think it is?” you asked, scared that he would admit that it was only a sexual attraction.

“i think i like you.”

my stories always end so cheesy lmao. anyway, thanks for reading! <3

#syzzygy #syzzish #✧ — nsfw/smut #ఌ — x reader #syzztheestallion #syzz supremacy #megumi smut #fushiguro x reader #fushiguro megumi #megumi x reader #jjk #jjk megumi #jujutsu megumi #jujustu kaisen #fushiguro smut

[magistralucis]

Had my worst confrontation with The Pigs so far, especially awful because I didn’t even intend to stumble upon this. I didn’t choose any hostile options, I was alone (I think having Kim around makes this encounter worse and longer), and I passed the check for the gun just fine... but because I hadn’t talked to the Hardie Boys yet, literally hadn’t approached them at all, my detective had no idea what to do with her afterwards. All his mangled brain could come up with was this:

Sure, Lieutenant ‘I-will-instantly-pull-a-gun-at-a-mentally-ill-old-woman’ Kitsuragi totally would. 🙄 But in his absence, I’m shattered that HDB can’t act on any other option, despite being able to conceptualize one. Logic says it right there: the locals will take care of her. It’s the right answer. In terms of video game logic, this is exactly the sort of thing that'd be a positive modifier for the Hardie Boys talk. Even if you never approached them before, it feels like it’d forward your case if you ask their help, since you have the interests of the vulnerable members of their community in mind. Even if the Hardie Boys aren’t an option, Lilienne is a short distance away, isn’t she? Couldn’t HDB ask the Washerwoman, any other local in Martinaise? If he gives anyone a heads-up, he will have delivered a minimal duty of care.

But no. None of that happens, because this scene isn’t a brownie points exercise, and HDB isn’t a reasonable authority figure. He’s deeply unwell, like The Pigs. He’s been abandoned, like The Pigs. He’s in horrible pain, clinging to the vestiges of a cop identity like her, in the desperate hopes of something real and present to hold onto. This is a man who can barely face his own reflection. Seeing The Pigs, a near doppelganger of what he is and may become, is clearly too much for him to handle. HDB can react with compassion, or he can react with threats and violence, and both threads persist through the very end of the encounter with her.

Mutually exclusive options, but both present, and both possible. They are equally valid indicators of the person HDB is, and since he’s capable of the threat at all, it’s not looking good. And this is his double he’s saying this to. We know HDB hates himself to the point of self-destruction, and didn’t/doesn’t think he can improve (’I don’t want to get better, I want to get worse’): the fact that he can think up the pieces that might help her, yet his posterior neocortex shuts him down before he can put them together, implies to me that HDB is actively refusing to believe he can help The Pigs. He’s afraid to believe. He’s beyond help, after all. Everyone told him so.

He thinks it’s true, too, so the same must go for her, yes?

It’s. It’s just. How fucking broken is HDB that he knows what must be done, but simply cannot connect himself to the idea that he ought to do it. How are we meant to bear that his immediate thought upon seeing this poor woman - this horrific, devastated mirror of himself - is that Kim will know what to do, but he does not, because he convinced himself he’s utterly helpless. ‘Cause obviously, Kim’s stabilizing him, right? Surely Kim can do the same for The Pigs, and since RAC sure as fuck doesn’t know what to do about himself, he might as well just give up if Kim’s not around. So without Kim and without the Hardie Boys, HDB will simply walk away, and never bring up this incident again. It fucking breaks my heart it can’t end any other way. There are no adjectives for this level of self-loathing.

And you know, I bet he’d have reacted similarly had he been with any other RCM officer - Jean, others in Precinct 41, whatever - because he fundamentally doesn’t exist in a system that has compassion for people like this. Note that it is Esprit de Corps, your cop sense, which pipes up first to assert that you can’t help her. ‘’’Protect’’’ and serve my fucking arse

And no, Kim doesn’t know what to do in this situation either, according to FAYDE. Unlike HDB he doesn’t even come up with the right answer, only nightmare fuel, as regular cops with regular thoughts do

oh god. oh god, kim

#disco elysium #disco elysium meta #disco elysium spoilers #harry du bois #kim kitsuragi #the pigs (disco elysium) #magistralucis plays disco elysium #long post #ask for tags #this is a harrowing scene with no good paths and this post is definitely not about the better of those paths #the reason i hadn't talked to the hardie boys yet at this point was because i was testing to see if i could do the shivers check #without having progressed with the investigation at all #i could not. there was no payoff for this and i just abandoned this woman on the boardwalk for nothing #this post is pretty damning i get that but i was just so taken aback i had to scribble it out. no pulled punches in disco elysium no sir

[hollowed-theory-hall]

I saw this in your post about Percy and the Weasleys parents, and I’m confused:

“Percy cares so much for his family. When Voldemort is revealed and the war actually starts, he puts all his disagreements with his parents aside to come and help and make sure they're okay, because he cares. And still, he is being shunned and treated like an outsider.”

When did this happen? From what I remember, Percy did not put his disagreements with his parents aside and come to make sure they were okay after Voldemort was revealed and the war actually started. When Harry arrives at the Burrow in HBP, it’s noted that Percy was still not talking to his parents:

“And what about Percy?” asked Harry; the third- eldest Weasley brother had fallen out with the rest of the family. “Is he talking to your mum and dad again?”

“Nope,” said Ron.

When Percy does show up to the Burrow on Christmas, it’s clearly because Scrimgeour wanted to have a chat with Harry and pump him for information, not because Percy wanted to help his family and make sure they were okay.

When was it mentioned that when Voldemort was revealed and the war started, Percy put aside his disagreements and went to help his family and make sure they were okay?

You're right, he wasn't talking to them.

I just don't think it was because he didn't care. I think he did care and he agreed to Scrimgeour's plan so he could have an excuse to check up on his family. Scrimgeour could've come by the Burrow on his own, he's the minister, Molly and Arthur would've let him in anyways, so Percy didn't have to be there if he didn't want to.

Percy chose to come with Scrimgeour to check up on his family. He cared about them, even if he wasn't sure what to say to them after everything that happened. The distance he keeps keeping from them is mostly down to him having no idea how to rebuild the bridges with them properly:

There was a moment’s painful silence. Then Percy said rather stiffly, “Merry Christmas, Mother.” “Oh, Percy!” said Mrs. Weasley, and she threw herself into his arms. Rufus Scrimgeour paused in the doorway, leaning on his walking stick and smiling as he observed this affecting scene. “You must forgive this intrusion,” he said, when Mrs. Weasley looked around at him, beaming and wiping her eyes. “Percy and I were in the vicinity — working, you know — and he couldn’t resist dropping in and seeing you all.” But Percy showed no sign of wanting to greet any of the rest of the family. He stood, poker-straight and awkward-looking, and stared over everybody else’s heads. Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George were all observing him, stony-faced.

(HBP, page 341)

This is from that same Christmas. He avoids their eyes because he's ashamed and sorry, but also prideful and has no idea what to do. They're his family, but he feels like a stranger in his own childhood home. His stiff and awkward, but he hugs his mom.

He still doesn't feel at home and he has no idea how to approach them. I just honestly think it comes off this way because Percy is an awkward person in an uncomfortable situation.

And Arthur, Fred, and George definitely aren't helping him feel at home. They are more stony and distant than Percy is. Which, definitely affects Percy's leaving quickly, he still feels unwelcome.

In Deathly Hollows, even before he finally comes back fully for the battle he does react to his father:

Not until the doors had clanged shut again did Percy realize he was in a lift with his father. He glanced up, saw Mr. Weasley, turned radish red, and left the lift the moment the doors opened again. For the second time, Harry tried to get out, but this time found his way blocked by Mr. Weasley’s arm.

(DH, page 221)

He is already ashamed of his decision to trust the ministry. He just doesn't know how to go back. And I assume he's also terrified considering what's going on in the ministry at the moment.

But Percy knows he sided with the wrong people and he does return, but I do believe he already figured that out during book 6 and just had no idea how to rebuild that bridge. That is, until the battle when everything was going to shit anyways:

“I was a fool!” Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a—”

(DH, page 512)

#harry potter #hp #hp thoughts #harry potter thoughts #percy weasley #anon asks #asks #anonymous

[brakingpoint]

Adding onto the point you made about rpf and I just wanna mention the video that Mercedes released of George reacting to his 'meme' scenes and imo you can clearly tell that at one point he was just so uncomfortable? And how that is not okay because at the end of the day thay are the ones providing the content and if they all are made to feel like that, than i wouldn't be suprised if they just stopped sharing personal stuff?

i checked this video out after seeing this ask and it was certainly just... a choice to have him react to one girl's extended tiktok that was just thirsting over his photoshoot. like it wasn't actually a "meme" there was no real humour to it there was nothing for him to really say about it (which i think at least partially contributes to his awkwardness in that section)... like the person who made that tiktok is in the comments and she's chill about it seemingly but it's such a weird decision. i know "celebrities read thirst tweets" has been a thing for years but that's normally quick, snappy, slightly absurd statements that actually are funny enough to get a reaction, plus they usually blur out the author's handle & photo and often their display name too. to just make you look at one young woman's actual face and listen to her actual voice for a minute straight as she talks (fairly blandly, no offence to this woman, she was just trying to generically thirst in peace i presume) about how good you look in a photoshoot is just... so strange and i can't figure out what the person who planned that video thought the appeal of that section would be or what george would possibly have to say about it?

imo that definitely comes into the same category as admins using ship names etc in that they're taking things that are definitely intended for intra-community conversation and, because in the current age of social media (and especially on hyper-algorithmic platforms like tiktok) fan spaces and official spaces are exactly the same thing, decide that they can get more attention from the younger fangirl [theoretically gender neutral, though i'd guarantee marketing teams aren't viewing it that way] demographic by acknowledging them and leaning into the lack of separation between church and state (blorbocedes, 2023).

then people who are new to fandom & don't know the etiquette, especially in rpf fandoms, think - quite understandably, if this is the way admins are acting - oh cool, well in that case it's okay and normal for me to talk about ships/thirst/my y/n fantasies to the drivers and teams, and if that gets engagement the admins will continue blurring those lines and pandering to the shipper demographic as far as they can without actually getting into inappropriate territory, and this will make the existence of the rpf side of f1 fandom even more noticeable & something of a curiosity attraction to other types of fan. and as has already been discussed all this almost certainly won't lead to a "George and Lewis Read Your Fanfictions" video posted by mercedes-amg petronas f1 team's official youtube channel. but it could more realistically lead to one of like lando or max's mates namedropping everything changes or whatever in a twitch stream as a gag. which, i must stress, we also do not want

really tl;dr i guess it's. as people have been saying, a lot of the drivers are probably aware that rpf (slash fics or x reader) exists. we live in a post-larry world after all. but that does not mean they need to be privy to the details or have it shoved in their faces or have open discussion around it encouraged by their own social media teams

[safetycar-restart]

So. I saw a certain tweet of George going into the Mclaren motorhome with Lando. Thoughts? Well mine is that you are Lando's dom. George's dom treats him badly and Lando hates seeing his friend hurting. So he drags him back to see you so he can submit and feel better. He sees how good Charles and Pierre's poly relationship is for them and he wants that too! 🐇

Please I love the image of Lando just stealing George. He’s just like “nope, mine now” and fucking takes him. Shoutout to the poor mclaren media person who left Lando alone for two minutes and came back to find Lando had kidnapped one of their competitors. I'm gonna tag this as 'd/s au - poly!George/lando' cause i really like this idea and i'd love to hear more about it and for it to be its own au!!

Firstly, lando's original plan was to simply murder the Mercedes dominant, but he figured that would probably take a lot of planning and isnt really his thing (AKA: Alex refused to help).

George is pretty good at hiding how much he's hurting, how his dom clearly isnt giving him what he needs. But Lando can still tell.

His suspicions are confirmed one evening when he's at dinner with George and George asks him if he gets berated for needing more attention from his dom. Lando's heart just breaks for his friend (okay yes he's had a crush on George for years but George doesn't know that so it's still friend). Lando thinks about all the times George has stared longingly at you and him, how George averted his eyes when Lando would catch him watching.

Then there was the time that you joined them for lunch (Lando had just had a scene with you and he didnt want to part from you just yet) and George had insisted on paying. You had thanked George sincerely, telling him you really appreciated it and George was beaming for the rest of the day.

And then Lando thinks about whatever the fuck charles and Pierre have going on with charles's team and just... yeah he needs to kidnap George.

This all comes to a head during a media pen session. Lando was already in the media pen when George arrived, and George looked so fucking sad. His eyes were red like he had been crying, and he was gripping his water bottle so hard his hand was shaking.

Lando thought back to how George's session had gone, and as far as he knew George did well. There was nothing on track that would warrant George being like that, and Lando knows there's only one other thing that could do that: his dom.

Lando decides right then and there that George needs to come back with him and scene with you.

You have no idea how Lando manages to sneak George out from under the eyes of the entire media pen and his own media person, but somehow he did because you walk into his driver room and find George sitting on the couch with Lando.

At first you think that George is just hanging out with Lando, but then you see that Lando has his arm wrapped around George and seems to be comforting him. You ask what's happened, and George looks up in fright. The poor thing honestly looks like he's about to bolt out the door, but you're standing in the way of that.

Lando starts to explain, well he just says that George really needs a nice dom and then gives you his best puppy dog eyes and damnit you are powerless to deny him.

The saddest part is honestly how the smallest thing makes George so so happy? You run your hands through his hair, asking if he's going to be a good boy and he nods to quickly its comical. The smile on his face when you kiss his forehead in response is heartbreaking. A well cared for sub shouldn't be reacting this way to a mere forehead kiss from an unknown dom.

You treat George as well as you can, cuddling him and letting Lando suckle on his cock, praising him the entire time and encouraging him to fall apart in your arms. He's floating in subspace for the rest of the night, cuddled between you and Lando.

George is absolutely mortified when he wakes up the next morning and thinks back to how he acted. But at the same time, he can't remember the last time he was this well rested? He never wants to leave this bed.

Needless to say, George starts to come back.

At first it's just Lando dragging George along to scenes and George pretending that he's annoyed by this and hasn't been counting down the days until a race weekend because he might be able to scene with you and lando again. But eventually, George starts to accept that you and Lando actually love being with him and he starts to seek you two out on his own accord.

#d/s au - poly!George/lando #sub!george #sub!lando #ln #gr #nsfw. #gn!reader #d/s au #🐇

[loveskilljoy]

Ok so like. Heimdall. Love him, hate him, whatever—I feel as though a Rather Large Point of his character is often overlooked, and its actually one of the most important parts ! So, I wanted to make a (mildly longwinded) post about both his personality and how its a stellar example of Odin and the abuse he’s so frequently described as having put his “family” through. TW’s for discussions of emotional and psychological abuse from a parental figure, the cycle of abuse, and a very brief mention of alcoholism 

First and foremost, this post is NOT to excuse some of the genuinely shitty things Heimdall is responsible for both in the present setting of the game and things mentioned in the past (by Mimir, mostly). There is certainly plenty that he has done wrong. What this post is about is one of the most frequently misunderstood aspects of him; which is that while yeah, he’s definitely an asshole—especially for having spoken to Literal Kids like that I mean cmon Atreus is like 13—but there is ABSOLUTELY a reason for that! Does that excuse it? Not at all ! But it does give an immense amount of insight into both Heimdall and Odin as characters. Primarily, it’s an excellent example of how Odin just Loves to nurture codependency, and that his way of going about that often involves whittling a person down to whichever traits he thinks will make it most convenient for him to bend to his will/manipulate. This is obviously seen with Thor pretty explicitly in game, Odin commenting that he’s really only good for fighting and drinking, but I 100% believe the same has and continues to happen with Heimdall. His outwardly haughty, somewhat conceited/holier-than-thou attitude that boils down to everyone else being beneath him in some way are simply the traits that Odin has made him out to be—over lifetimes. He is special because he has Gjallarhorn, he is better and smarter because he was gifted foresight, and the job of protecting his home from threats. He is Odin’s most trusted and loyal confidant, and for a guy who likely wants admiration and pride from the All-Father more so than anyone else in Asgard, that’s reason enough to be completely at his will. It’s why he’s so absurdly faithful to Odin. Because really, what is Heimdall without any of those things? He can’t fight for the life of him, he’s not nearly built for that. He’s still obviously pretty young (even in god terms) so it’s not as though he’s fit for being a general or war counsel. So, strip away the foresight and illusion of an elevated position, and you get a kid who just... desperately wants to prove himself to his dad. A kid who gets shoved away at the top of a wall on his own for eons. Which, might I mention, Heimdall basically says upon meeting Atreus. LIKE THE PROJECTION IS LOUD

With all that said, in my very sporadic and probably a little incomprehensible way, it really isn’t a surprise that he acts the way he does—because he’s reacting to trauma. Of course he’s going to lean completely into the egotistical act, because that’s all that he is. And, most importantly, when he’s in a position in which that identity is questioned, he like. IMMEDIATELY crumbles and retreats in on himself in a way that’s goddamn blatant in one of the very first cutscenes with him: after his fight with Atreus. Unfortunately Tumblr adamantly refuses to let me post this damn scene as a video so we’re just gonna have to make do with pictures BUT. But... the fact that he sobers up so quickly in Odin’s presence, his determination in convincing him that Atreus is of ill intent (because. yk. thats Heimdall’s JOB) and the way his expression drops as soon as Odin shows even a Hint of being disappointed in him. LIKE. LOOK AT THIS. 

I know I definitely read his expression as confusion the first time I watched this scene, but upon multiple rewatches it’s pretty fucking clear that isn’t what this is. Heimdall isn’t confused at Odin’s reactions, he’s scared. Of Odin. Genuinely I implore you to go give this scene another watch because the way he whispers the “But... All-Father...” line sounds like he’s damn near about to cry.  WITH ALL OF THAT SAID ! Heimdall is shown rather brilliantly in his introduction on the sheer basis that we, as the player, are supposed to read him as a jerk with a stick-up-his-ass, only to then see that demeanor falter entirely in the presence of his father. He is a living, breathing example (as much as Thor is) of the effects Odin’s manipulation and abuse have on all that he’s supposedly close with and I think it’s a facet that tends to get forgotten amidst a large portion of the fandom piling on hate for Heimdall. Which is to say, if you hate him, that’s absolutely fine! he’s uh. Not designed to be a likeable guy. What Heimdall is designed to be is a representation of trauma and unhealthy coping mechanisms, of which his character shows splendidly in multiple instances even outside of the stuff I’ve shown here. In the hopes of not letting this post get any more egregious in its length than it already is, these are the main things I’m going to cover. but just. Yeah, got tired of seeing takes saying he’s a one dimensional character when he’s obviously got a lot to him !!!!

#God of War #god of war ragnarok #gow #gowr #gow heimdall #heimdall #(pulls a whole character analysis out of my ass) #(directly after having posted the most abhorrent fancam of this man imaginable) #anyway. many Thoughts on this shitty little man !!!!!!!!!