#Happy late 2018 everyone!! How have you been | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lilac-5ky · 5 months

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The Party (Satoru x Fem!Reader)

Plot: You decide to surprise your boyfriend on his birthday

Tags: Birthday fluff, Comedy, Hurt/Comfort, Slight Angst, Shibuya incident?What Shibuya incident? (year is 2018), Established Relationship, Gojo Senpai, Satoru being the adorable menace everyone loves, SO. MANY. CHARACTERS. MAKING. APPEARANCES, feels like an actual jjk ep at this point, (fic deteriorates a bit over the latter part as my mental health does, writing until 6 am is exhausting, i know im late but spare me)

Word Count: Slightly under 9k.

A/N: Happy late Birthday, my love 💙💙💙

Masterlist | Requests | AO3

“Are we there yet?”

“Almost there—watch your step!” You warn, only to lose your footing a second later as you smash head first into your boyfriend’s back.

There is no way Satoru doesn’t know where the two of you are headed. Even with his technique supposedly turned off and your shaky hands concealing his curious eyes, all the things that make Jujutsu Tech into the place that raised generations of sorcerers (yours, included) continue to exist, bearing witness to his intentionally dumb guesses.

“Is it the beach? Are you taking me to see the ocean?” Satoru excites. “Aw, baby! You should have told me so; I would have brought my swimming trunks with! Although, I hafta say swimming in December is probably a bad idea, my nipples will freeze and fall right off. You wouldn’t want that, right?”

A sigh evades your lips, expelled as a little white cloud of frustration. On second thought, his mouth was what needed to be covered. Preferably stitched.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we aren’t going to the beach”—aw, shoot—“and your nipples get to live another day.” Your teeth chatter. Tiptoeing behind him with upstretched arms is already hard on its own. Doing so in the cold is purely exhausting.

You lose count of how many torii gates you cross, the joint click of your shoes switching to an uncoordinated thump as you go from traversing cobblestone paths to climbing an endless uphill of stairs, your stroll, again, feeling like part of a survival show. Curse Master Tengen. They might have only been responsible for the barriers, though in your scare, that doesn’t stop you from holding them accountable.

We are going to die.

Or more like you are going to die, considering Satoru’s already secured himself a life net in the form of your poor broken-to-be bones, and that’s the best case scenario you can hope for, the worst being having to repeat your ascension from the bottom step up.

“Then, are we visiting Himeji Castle?” Satoru continues, the frigid temperature not enough to crack his spirit. “Because I know the single best place for Tama Tsubaki. So fragrant, so elegant, so deliciously sweet! You haven’t been to Himeji before, have you? It’s also known for its excellent leather craftsmanship. Last time I went there, they had these insanely pretty wallets with—”

“N-no!” You yelp, voice as strained as if you’re walking on a tightrope. Shivering, “Wouldn’t you have noticed if I took you on a 4-hour road trip?”

“But time always moves so fast when I’m with you.” He coos in response, his tone serious when he asks, “Wanna take a break? Promise to keep my eyes closed till we reach the top. And after that too, if you want.”

Silky lashes map out the inside of your palms as they flutter against them, sweet little butterfly kisses that convince you to withdraw your hands. After all, you’d hate for his birthday to be stained with blood.

Not yours, at least.

“If you dare open them, I’ll kill you.”

“How scary!” Satoru captures your frozen hand and slips it in his coat’s pocket with far too great precision for someone with impaired vision. You don’t complain. Not even when he makes you bump into every single step on your way up, giggling to himself, until, as promised, you reach the summit and he lets go for you to assume your previous positions.

“I don’t”—pant—“miss”—pant—“walking this w-walk.” You muster in between labored breaths, palms on your knees as you crouch forward like an elderly lady with chronic back pain. “Wh-what are you smiling for?”

“Nooooooothing!” Satoru chirps, soft dimples carving hard into his milky complexion. “Just takes me back to the time when you still called me Gojo Senpai is all.”

Your youth comes playing in your head like an old cassette forced to rewind, bittersweet recollections sending you on a sudden trip down memory lane.

You met Satoru at the peak of spring and fell in love with him over the course of fall—a swirl of autumn leaves coloring the currently naked maple trees red. Muddy soles and uniforms soggy from the rain. Chasing after an umbrella you agreed to share and hopscotching across shallow puddles. Laughing louder than the pending storm.

But before that, bickering. So much bickering that continuously tested the patience of those around you, arguments over video games escorting you to morning assembly, and plans to catch new movie releases sealing your goodbyes.

The bitterness of Shoko’s cigarettes and the promise to never smoke again. Arcades and electronics in Akihabara. Karaoke and conveyor belt sushi in Shibuya. Getting a stranger to buy you your first beer and puking your guts outside a convenience store in Shinjuku. The promise to never drink again.

Moon-viewing festival. The unforgettable sight of him in a yukata, your heart multiplying itself into your eyes. Stolen glances and not-so-accidental nudges. Your first kiss tasting of melon soda, your second burning faster than the wick of his sparkler. Another kind of promise.

The giddiness of first love filters the film pink. Five-minute dates behind the old gym in flash forward. Late-night expeditions to each other’s dorms. Your loss of innocence overshadowed by the sudden loss of Haibara. Tears that threaten to spill out of the sequence. Suguru’s betrayal. The strength to move forward.

You’ve come a long way since the days you cheekily called him Gojo Senpai without a care in the world, and even though tragedy managed to forever sully them, standing here with him now makes it worth the pain. Given the chance, you’d do it all over again.

Rolling the cricks around your neck and shoulders, you walk up to Satoru, a tug at the lowest hanging tuft of hair signaling for him to meet your height. Knees bent. Eyes still closed. Lips still curled. Features so undeniably beautiful at 29 as they were at 17.

“Don’t move.” You mumble, smiling softly as you watch him pucker his lips in anticipation of a kiss. Instead, you fish out a pair of rectangular shades from inside your pocket and place them over the bridge of his nose.

“Let’s go before we get scolded for being late again.” Your hand steals his this time around, ushering him forward. A speckle of heat shooting from your fingers to your cheeks. “I trust you not to spoil your own surprise, Gojo Senpai.”

You are less than thirty steps away from your destination when, without a warning, the man behind you stops moving, forcing you to halt with him.

“What is it?” You ask, your body reeled closer to his from the bind of your fingers. “If you’re gonna ask whether I’m taking you to Laputa, I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m still figuring out the coordinates.”

“That’s not it.” He huffs a chuckle against your knuckles, tenderly brushing them against his cheek. “But drop a pin when you do. Always wanted to take a nap in that fluffy flower bed. I’m sure it tastes fluffy too, just like whipped cream.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.” You return, a yawn coaxed at the mention of napping. “So, what is it? Why did we stop?”

“I’m cold.”

“Well, so am I, but we really are close this time. If you just—”

“You should kiss me.” Satoru announces with solemnity better befitting a declaration of war. He realizes that himself, bringing his free hand to ruffle the hair on the back of his skull. Awkwardly. Ears tinged red. Cutely. “That would warm me up.”

“Is that your excuse?” You ask, chapped lips rubbing together. Your heartbeat felt in your throat. You shouldn’t be feeling like this. Not when you’ve known each other for the better part of your lives. It’s not normal. You don’t think you are.

“Nope.” He balances things out with a boyish smile that doesn’t make things any better for the lovesick teenage girl residing in your heart. She doesn’t know any better but to fawn over it. “My excuse is that we haven’t kissed here before. We’ve kissed there,” you follow his pointer, first to a bench made of stone and then to a blind spot behind some shrubs, “and there—many times there, heh, but not here. So we should kiss.” He reasons with a simplistic, nearly childish mindset. One you can’t quite argue against.

Until his spell breaks on you rather unceremoniously.

“I thought your eyes were closed!”

“Well, they were, but then I—hah, stop pullin’ like that—started missing your pretty face too much. Can’t deny me the simple joys in life, sweet cheeks.” He grins. “C’mon, just one kiss. Then we can meet with Yuji and the others. Promise I’ll act extra surprised!”

“Y-you knew?” Your eyes widen.

“I’ve known for about a week now? Heard you two talking on the phone, plus the kids asked to be put on cleaning duty when they usually leave everything to Megumi. Then a ton of chairs started to go missing, and—”

You barely bother listening to the rest, too caught up in your thoughts for Satoru’s detailed explanation of where it all went wrong to matter. Every year without exception—from your 16th birthday party-for-two in that tiny storage room you were accidentally locked in together to last year’s all-out murder mystery dinner party—he’s managed to sweep you off your feet, and yet you can’t throw him one party without it being spoiled.

You aren’t a planner. You know that. You know, but somehow you hoped this year would be different. That, twelve years after his insistence to spend his birthday in your company alone took root, (“Why would I want to spend this day with anyone other than you, angel? We have tons of fun together, don’t we? Just me and my special girl. Speaking of, any special requests for your birthday? I have some ideas myself, hehe~”) and one year after he stopped waiting for an apparition to show up and celebrate with him, he’d allow himself to bask in the appreciation of the living.

“Are you mad?”

The buzz of his voice quiets down, the paleness of a winter morning dawning beneath snowy lashes as he peers at you from above the rim of his sunglasses. Snowflakes of wonder stirring in his irises that contain them like two perfect snow globes, trapped in them, an ageless moment of the past.

“I’m relieved.” Satoru whispers, so faintly you almost miss it.

“Re…lieved?”

“You brought everyone here, right?” You nod. “Without blackmailing anyone?”

“Just Nanami.” You admit. “And Ijichi—Shoko promised to take him out for drinks if he came.”

“That’s good.” His lips pull into a smile warm enough to thaw your worries. “Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of my own birthday.”

“I’ve noticed,” you interrupt. “You aren’t the only one perceptive here, Mister Six-Eyes.”

He gives you a funny look, creases forming over his brow as an imaginary zipper is drawn across the corners of his lips.

You unzip it. “Please continue, Great Gojo Senpai.”

His eyes light up. Satoru isn’t one for honorifics, yet hearing you address him as such makes the lovesick teenage boy in his heart shudder with excitement.

“You know what birthday I got the biggest haul for?” A shake of your head prompts him to continue. “Seventh.” Figures, you add. He nods. “Wanna know what they got me? A Hokusai painting. You know. One of those wavy ones.” Only he would ever refer to a Japanese classic that way. “But seven-year-old kids don’t care about dead people’s paintings or Shinto shrine visits. They want adventure, balloons, and luscious Gâteau au Chocolat. The new Street Fighter game, maybe.” His fingers snap together. “They want Laputa.”

You forget your hand is still in his until it’s given a light squeeze, Satoru nervously fiddling with your fingers while he mulls over what to say next.

“Bottom line is, birthdays with the clan suuuuuucked. And then, as I got older, I grew tall enough to outrun those stupid goons watching over me. So I’d run straight to Suguru’s house, drag him to the station, and from there, we’d go to that one pastry shop in Shinjuku and buy every cake on display. We’d eat till we both got sick—hah, you wouldn’t think his stomach was this sensitive with all those curses he gobbled up, right?—and then a few years later we met Shoko, and she’d put out her cigarette on my share.” He hisses like a distressed cat. “Then we met you”—another squeeze—“and those were the best birthdays of my life. Back when we were all together.”

“Satoru—”

“I didn’t think I could have that again.” He cuts you off. “But you said you got everyone together, and while some of us are no longer here, a lot are. This is good. You did well. I’m relieved, really. I’m happy.”

By the time Satoru finishes talking, you find yourself at a loss for words, blankly staring at his unaffected expression. It’s easy to forget how vulnerable he can be in those rare outbursts of sincerity; easy to forget that the one branded as the strongest is a person who cries and breaks too, and even easier to let yourself be deceived by that happy-go-lucky attitude. But as a smile begins to take shape upon your features, you can see where he’s coming from.

You are relieved.

“What are you smiling for?” Satoru asks in the same manner you did earlier.

“Nooooooothing!” You shamelessly steal his line. “Just thinking about the sorry look on your face when you realize there’s no chocolate cake.”

“You evil witch!” He proclaims, mouth hanging slack and forefinger pointing in accusation. “Next you’re gonna tell me you didn’t buy candles either!”

“Actually…”

You take hold of his finger before he can protest any further. Not that he wants to when both his hands are enveloped in the warmth of your smaller ones, childishly swinging by your sides. Back and forth. Up and down. Round and round. Arms overlapping as you both step closer, chuckling at a joke only your eyes seem to know.

“About that kiss.” You begin, laughing again at the small, exasperated mhm your boyfriend lets out, his Adam’s apple bobbing under the high neck of his sweater. “Are you still feeling cold?”

“So cold.” Satoru wiggles his shoulders as if he’s truly shivering. “Warm me up before the cold hand of death takes me away. Pleaseeeee.”

You aren’t one to deny him. Tiptoeing forward, you crane your neck so you can reach higher, while he bends his knees to shorten himself, meeting you halfway. Heavy breaths are shared as your noses brush together. The subtle notes of bergamot on his clothes blending with the wintry crisp in the atmosphere. Eagerness tugging at his bottom lip.

You might not be one to deny him, but you definitely are the type to tease him.

“Why don’t you do it? Why should I be the one to kiss you?”

“Wha—because I asked you!” Satoru quips.

“And?”

“And I have Senpai rights. Plus you didn’t pay boyfriend tax this morning, and come think of it, you didn’t wish me a Happy Birthday either!” He gasps like he only realized that just now. He builds his entire case around it. “Birthday Boy demands it. You have no choice but to give in or you’ll be cursed for your next seven birthdays!”

“But I thought you didn’t like your own birthday.”

“Baby!” Satoru finally breaks, his voice reduced to a high-pitched whine. “Even so, you can’t be mean to me on my own birthd—”

His lips are warmer than yours when you nullify the distance, conveying the softness and fruitiness of your stolen chapstick. A smirk is written on them, bitten away as you drag his hands closer to your body, foreheads bumping together and sunglasses nearly slipping from his nose. He giggles into your mouth, whispering how hot he finds it when you take the lead—moaning at the way your tongue presses against his, and disregarding the three sets of footsteps that enter the scene.

“Sensei!” A somewhat recognizable, albeit squeaky, voice calls out. “We’ve been waiting for you!”

“Way to ruin the surprise, Itadori!” Another, angrier, squeaky voice scolds.

“Idiot, you just said there was a surprise. And I told you both to go easy on the hellion.” The last of their group tries to deadpan, somehow sounding more ridiculous than his peers.

“Pft—F-Fushiguro!” Nobara and Yuji laugh in sync, too preoccupied with poking fun at their classmate to notice your form erasing itself from existence behind Satoru’s back as he turns around to face them.

“Yuji! Nobara! Megumiiiii!” His tone is colored with a falsetto when he addresses his favorite (target) student, prompting the duo to keep harassing him with countless pokes at his confetti-laced spikes.

Your plan to use poor Megumi’s torture as a decoy to flee the premises goes to waste as your hand is held out in the open, with Satoru showing you off to them like the big prize at the end of a wrestling match.

“Oh, future Mrs. Gojo Sensei!” Yuji is the first to acknowledge your presence; the effects of the gas are all but worn off as he timidly waves at you. “I didn’t know you were here! What brings you to school today?”

“That’s quite the title, Yuji. Told you to just—ugh!—call me by my first name.” You struggle to pull your wrist out of Satoru’s grasp. You lose. “Also, no need to keep playing charades. He knows.”

“You told him? Then what was all of this for?” Nobara comes forth, a pink balloon dramatically deflating in her hands.

“Actually, I figured it out myself! Aren’t you proud to have such a smart teach—”

“No!” Two out of three shout in unison. You almost do so yourself.

After their back and forth escalates into a full-blown debate on who’s more intelligent, Satoru or Megumi’s shikigami (the results to be announced on a future episode of Are You Smarter than a Toad?) and happy birthdays are wished, Yuji asks the one question you feared answering the most.

“Sensei? Miss Y/N? What were you doing out there in the cold?”

Their own curiosity beats Megumi and Nobara to the classroom as they stall their entrance, with Satoru being the first to hit the buzzer.

“You see, Yuji, when a man and a woman love each other very much, they—ahahouch! Love really does hurt! It hurts so badly!” He yelps as you stomp on his foot hard enough to cripple an average man.

“Don’t you dare use me as a test subject for the talk, Satoru!”

“What talk, darlin’?” He smiles coyly, not losing the chance to brag. “Oh, you mean the talk about how you fell victim to my charms and couldn’t wait till we were alone to kiss me? Guess I still got it, despite the extra candle on the cake.”

“Aww!”

“Eww!”

“Gross!”

The reactions vary.

“You’ll get another candle lit up in your memory if you keep spewing shit like this!” Your attempt to step on his shoe is countered by his technique.

“Hey, no cursing in front of my precious students!” Satoru chides. “We’re supposed to set an example for them, not taint their innocent souls!”

“Satoru!” With a tremendous roar, the door flies open, startling the three students to jump behind their teacher and you to follow suit.

Principle Yaga stands by the frame, his authoritative tone coursing through your body as it recalls every punishment he ever subjected you to. The soreness in your calves from running laps around school for being late. The dryness in your eyes after surviving one of his excruciating educational VHS tape sessions for being “cheeky” and the ache in your fingers from scrubbing the gym floors squeaky clean—courtesy of being caught sneaking back into the dorm with tousled hair in the dead of night.

You almost feel sorry for Satoru acting as the wavebreaker for the incoming tsunami, but then you remember how the majority of your crimes were incidentally committed in his name and wish him good luck. He deserves whatever earful he gets, possibly something along the lines of “Sixteen minutes late? Are you trying to break a world record?”

“You think Gojo Sensei will die?” Yuji whispers. “He’s at that age when a lot of celebrities die, right?”

“He’d better not! I didn’t bring any funeral wear with me.” Nobara answers back.

“Can’t you read the room?” Megumi rasps. “Plus, that’s the 27 Club you’re talking about. Gojo Sensei has outlived that.”

“Didn’t take you for a clubgoer, Fushiguro.” The two of them snicker, prompting Megumi to sigh as he again points out their idiocy.

“Principal Yaga!” Satoru bravely puts himself forward, your line of defense falling apart like a house of cards you’re made to support on your own. “Are you here to wish me a happy birthday? How thoughtful! Guess it’s true what they say: People mellow down with age.”

“Sixteen minutes late—”

The man’s mouth twitches furiously as an invisible countdown starts in all your heads, none of you expecting the situation to simmer down before it boils over.

“But I’ll let it slide this once. Happy birthday, Satoru. I’ve stopped hoping that the years bring you wisdom and fix your bad habits. It’s pointless; every year you turn more impudent than the year before,”—is that supposed to be a birthday wish or you getting kicks from throwing shade at me?—“but I wish they bring you happiness. I made this with you in mind. Hope it’s to your liking.”

You watch as Principal Yaga reveals a felt doll from behind his back, handing it to a repulsed Satoru, who makes no effort to conceal his personal feelings, let alone express gratitude.

“Huh? What’s that supposed to be?” He asks, shaking the doll so quickly you only catch a glimpse of its fluffy white tail and stitched black sunglasses—a cat?

“It’s you.” Its maker replies, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “And he has a name. Satoru, say hello to Catoru.”

Four of you share a look among yourselves, too stunned to say a thing until Satoru and his doll counterpart face you, the latter being held up by the scruff of his neck. Just like an actual cat.

“Do I look like this?” Satoru asks, and you all go quiet, with three hands simultaneously nudging you to represent them. Traitors!

“I mean, there are times when you do act like a cat—kinda?” Your voice is pinched up, hands moving frantically to dispute your words as your boyfriend’s face turns sourer than umeboshi. “But you look ten times—no, a hundred times more handsome! I promise! If anything, you resemble a—uh, Turkish Angora? Those are super beautiful!”

“You’d better get along.” Yaga warns. “I designed Catoru with a sweet tooth like you.”

“I don’t want a little mochi thief in my house!”

Yaga marches back into class without waiting to hear Satoru’s concerns about the impending depletion of his secret mochi stash. The kids tail after him, leaving you to comfort Satoru with a gentle pat on his back. “Let’s go inside, mm?”

The atmosphere inside the classroom is significantly more promising than what Yuji showed you on FaceTime this morning. All desks are pulled to the side in a rough T formation, with the spread of food you spent two nights making carefully put in order, from platters full of golden-crusted corn dogs and crispy chicken fingers to dainty cupcakes decorated with Konpeito candy and colorful mochi of every filling you could think of. Inumaki serves bar, and you’re pleased to see people returning for seconds, with Yuji waving his hands while praising your popping candy cake poppers to his taciturn upperclassman.

Balloons hang near the ceiling—a flag garland dangling from one end of the blackboard to the other. A gigantic birthday message spans across the surface, with smaller wishes sprinkled in abundance, some consisting of mere congratulations and others expressed with heartfelt emotion. You can easily guess who wrote what based on handwriting alone; Megumi’s by far the tidiest.

You knew leaving the decorations to Nobara was a smart choice. She knows it too. She doesn’t waste the chance to boast to Maki about it, the older girl twirling a bouquet made of lollipops between her fingers while gazing at the drifting clouds outside the window.

Satoru was right. This is good. You have every reason to be proud, too.

In the far back of the room, the adults have struck up a conversation with Panda, who snaps a picture of your entrance. The two party poopers—Ijichi and Nanami—look up from their quiet exchange.

“Satoru! You came!” Principal Yaga’s pride and joy steps forward with open arms, a party hat pulled taut between his round ears. “Congratulations on your birthday,” says Panda, planting two identical party hats on your heads. “Let me take a picture of the two of you. Couldn’t get an angle from back there.”

Your shoulders get squeezed as Satoru smooshes your faces together, the pointy tip of his hat nearly taking your eye out when he tries to steal a kiss from your cheek. You squint—and snap!

“Hey, can you take another? I think I wasn’t looking straight.”

“No do-overs!” Satoru interferes before Panda can even open his mouth. “Don’t worry! Getting a bad picture of you is impossible when you look perfect at any given time. Right, Panda?”

His former student glances down at the camera, letting out the exact same sound your computer makes when a Windows program crashes, and then rushing to mask it with a hearty chortle.

“Of course, Satoru! You got very lucky; Y/N is as beautiful as she is kind-hearted.” He shows you a grin that’s mostly teeth. “You know, she worked really hard for this party. We barely did anything ourselves.”

Not true; you all did your part…

Your eye is endangered once more, with his lips finding their target this time around. “That’s my vanilla caramel drizzle cupcake muffin baumkuchen pie to ya!”

That’s half your macchiato and half your bakery order, you argue silently.

“Shame Yuta couldn’t make it.” Panda continues. “Heard he’s down with a cold, though he did send you his gift via Maki.” A fuzzy thumb points at the closet-turned-gift-depository, where various bags and packages are stacked into a pyramid. “Anyway. I’ll let the two of you mingle. Come over if ya want more pictures of you taken. Got lots of props too.”

Your eyes follow as he returns to his post, spotting Shoko experimenting with a pair of groucho glasses. Nanami shakes his head disapprovingly, leaning back into his chair while Ijichi’s stutter is visible from where you and Satoru stand.

You glance up at him, a default smile plastered on his lips. Unreadable to others, but painfully obvious to you. The face he’s searching for is not among those present.

“Everyone seems to be having fun.” Satoru points out.

“Y-yeah.” You croak.

“Can’t believe you got everything down. Class looks like it did back then. Even the wobbly pom-pom on the party hats.” He squeezes the one on your head. “That caught me off guard.”

“Well, it would’ve been a greater surprise if you didn’t eavesdrop on my private phone calls.”

“That ain’t on me, sweets.” He whisks your hand into his and drags you onward. “Not my fault I was born with heightened senses. Better get used to it; our kids will probably take after me in that aspect.”

You shrug his comment off, watching as Satoru stows the cat away in the closet and dramatically dusts his hands off. “Another great addition to the world’s creepiest collection.” He grumbles.

“But Catoru is the cutest so far!” You object.

He is about to answer when a sound akin to that of someone choking has you both turning toward the makeshift buffet where Ijichi is downing water straight from the jug, his sunken cheeks a scarlet shade of red.

“Shit! He must’ve discovered the jalapeno poppers.” You bite your lips into a straight line, feeling somewhat responsible.

“Nice job!”

“It wasn’t my intention!”

Your plea of innocence doesn’t resonate with Satoru, who gives you a thumbs up before forming a cone around his mouth and shouting at Ijichi—chuckling at the hurried way the man searches for an escape between chairs and people.

“Ijichi! Oi, Ijichi! I-ji-chi! Over here! Come wish me a happy birthday!” He waves his arms around like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, declaring—unlike Tom Hanks—that he’s coming to him instead.

“Don’t go around terrorizing people, ‘Toru.” Your voice has him stopping his march to peck your lips.

“Promise I’ll be a good boy. You’re free to punish me if I’m not.” He smirks, finger-gunning you all the while stepping backwards in slow motion.

“You never are!”

“Hmm, that’s only because I’m the best. And you’d better prepare a handsome reward for when we get home, ‘cause the best always wins.” A flirtatious wink makes you question how many people listened in on your exchange, praying that the answer is none.

You take advantage of Satoru’s absence to pay a visit to your old friends, mentally counting the days since the last time you all gathered up. It’s been way too long—the beer you’d promised to catch up over turned into a distant fantasy.

��Gonna get yourself nauseous if you keep staring at that whirlpool, Shoko Senpai.” You plop down on the closest vacant chair, the bored brunette humming without lifting her eyes from the lemonade swirling inside her cup.

“If you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you.” She states, managing to sound both mesmerized and disinterested at the same time.

“And? Seen anything yet?” You lean closer.

She retires with a sigh, dark circles looming below her hazelnut eyes. “Nothing yet.”

“How about now?”

Pulling your trump card—aka one of those miniature vodka bottles you specifically brought with her in mind—from your pocket, you pour a generous amount into her drink, reminiscing about the time she accidentally spiked Satoru’s soda and had him swimming on the floor.

It takes one sip for Shoko to liven up, a sudden jolt of energy coursing through her veins as she reaches out for the bottle.

“You’re a lifesaver, you know that?”

You chuckle. “Big praise coming from someone who actually saves lives.”

“Big words coming from people who openly drink in front of underage students.” The man to your left observes, absentmindedly picking at the tentacles of the octopus sausage on his plate.

“Kento! You made it!” You tip from one side of your chair to the other, arms dangling empty as he dodges your hug. “Having fun?”

“Please stop acting like him. I know the years in his company have caused your twisted personalities to merge, but the world is already wretched enough with one Gojo Satoru around.” He munches on the “good part” of the dissected octopus, discarding the tentacles inside a carefully folded napkin.

“But to answer your question, whether I’d rather spend my Friday afternoon explaining to everyone I know that the man in the picture dancing inappropriately with half-naked models in Ibiza isn’t me but a look-alike or sitting here, chaperoning a bunch of kids and making sure no one kills themselves, then yes. It’s not as horrible as I expected. And you’re as good of a cook as I remembered.” He wipes his mouth. “But I’m still clocking out at 7 sharp.”

“Come on! I did what I had to do to get you here!” You giggle, experiencing a little of the same rush Satoru feels when he’s poking fun at Ijichi. Oh no. “I am glad you’re enjoying the food, at least!”

A sound viler than any curse’s wail pierces through your ears as a TV cart is dragged into the room. You recognize it as Yaga’s old torture device—those five-hour black and white tapes gleaming menacingly on the lower shelves, with an unknown machine piled atop the cassette player. You aren’t sure what its purpose is until Yuji connects a microphone to it.

“Everyone—ah, ah, ah! Can you hear me?” The boy dabs a palm against the microphone, sounding loud and clear across the room. “Fushiguro, can you hear me? Fushiguro—ah, ah, ah!” The last of his ah’s interrupted by Megumi’s calling him out in front of their live audience.

“Everyone, thank you for coming to Gojo Sensei’s birthday party! I’m Itadori Yuji, and I’m happy to have co-hosted this event with Miss Y/N.”

A couple of heads turn in your direction, Satoru’s among them. It’s easy to make out his silhouette when he dwarfs everyone around him—Principle Yaga on his side and an antsy Ijichi lurking behind them.

“I enrolled in this school a little over a semester ago by accident.” Yuji continues undeterred. “Back then, I didn’t know any more about curses than the next person. Not that I do now.” He scratches through his hair. “Honestly, it was a lot to stomach, especially the part where I get to share my body with another. I was told I’d be better off dead, and I did die once. I was supposed to be dead, but then Gojo sensei gave me a choice, and I’m here because of that choice. More than a helping hand, he’s been a guiding light to me, and on behalf of all of us, thank you, and Happy Birthday!”He bows. “I hope you have a good one!”

Yuji holds out the microphone for Satoru, the two of them sharing a high five with an affectionate pat seeing the boy off.

“Thank you, Yuji, for this wonderful speech!” Satoru grins, evidently moved by his student’s words. “Everyoooooooooooone! Give it up for the man of the hour, the one and only, the most incredibly handsome and magnificently strong sorcerer known as Gooooooooooojo Saaaaatoruuuu!” His body twists in a pirouette, peace signs and heart signs flying everywhere as he lands with a finger pointing at where the imaginary camera would be.

Unsurprisingly, no one is impressed. Cricket sounds almost audible.

“Wow, okay. Tough crowd, I guess.” His lips comically jerk to one side of his face, his tone turning nasal before switching back. “I won’t bore you with individual thanks and other useless formality crap.”

He smirks at the way your mouth rounds a silent gasp. Nanami notices too, posing a question you shrug off.

“To cut it short: first-years! You’ve all proved yourselves as worthy sorcerers and worthier humans. As a reward, I’m proud to announce your reward in the form of a—c’mon guys, drum your desks a little!—luxurious, one of a kind, ten outta ten, uniquely planned field trip by moi!”

“Is it Paris? Are you taking us to Paris?” Nobara dreams out loud.

“Sensei! How about Universal Studio? I saw them post their newest churrito flavor on their webpage.”

“Can I sit this one out?” A gloomy murmur begs.

“Great thinking, Yuji! Unfortunately, Nobara, we won’t be going overseas this time, but, Megumi, you’ll definitely want to reconsider once you hear our destination, which iiiiiis—excitement is free, everyone!—Parque Espana!” Satoru claps for his suggestion.

Three dejected faces say pass in unison, with only Megumi daring to complain about Satoru taking him and Tsumiki to the theme park every second Sunday when the two were younger. You remember that. Some times you’d tag along, and you’d all grab ice cream while staring at that humongous roller coaster the kids were too short to ride.

Undefeated, Satoru directs his attention to the second-year students, the three of them loitering by the chip bowl. His tone turning grave, “Second years, I’m honestly very disappointed in all of you. In our two years of knowing each other, you never thought to throw your favorite teacher a party for his birthday. You’re lucky I don’t have the authority to drop you a grade, but still. You fail!”

“Fish Flakes!” Inumaki expresses his supposed disagreement.

“Huh? You never even told us when your birthday was because you didn’t want us knowing your real age, you blindfolded idiot!”

“Maki, not now!” Panda anxiously gets in her way. “Cool it!”

“You should have figured it out yourselves.” Satoru toots. “Moving forward! I’d like to give my special thanks to the moon of my life, my sun, and my stars.”—you knew watching Game of Thrones with him was a very bad idea—“Y/N! Come here, sweetie. Don’t be shy; everyone knows how much we love each other.

It almost feels like you have the limelight shining on you, with every person eagerly awaiting your response. You gulp hard, whispering so that only Nanami can hear. “You were right. Please save me.”

“What is it, Buttercup? You already have my heart, but if there’s anything you’d like for me to do, then now is the moment to say it.” Satoru smiles sweetly, his voice dripping with honey.

“Actually, there is. Can you put me down?” You kick your legs around while he hoists you up in bridal style, your unjust abduction having occurred in the blink of an eye.

“Anything and everything for you!” He kisses the top of your head, holding you close to him even after letting your feet touch the ground. “Alright, that’d be all! I hope everyone gets to have the time of their lives. Now, let’s get this party started!” He throws the microphone up in the air.

Nothing happens.

“I said, let’s get this party star—whatever.” Satoru gives up half-way through raising his arm again. “Yuji, play something fun!”

“On it!” Yuji salutes him, and the two of you walk away from the blackboard.

A faint sigh echoes behind you, its relief cut short as Satoru grabs the microphone once more. “Ah, right. Ijichi, I’ll see you in my office on Monday. I’d wear a headband if I were you.”

“I’ve c-committed a mortal sin, G-Gojo!” Ijichi struggles to say, uncertain of the crime he’s being accused of, yet hopeful for Satoru’s forgiveness.

“You are such a menace!” You throw a playful punch to his chest once he sits you on his lap, away from the eyes of people gathering around the karaoke machine, and close to Nanami, who departs with a disgusted scoff.

“You love me for it.” Satoru’s lips press softly against yours, incapable of hiding his smile when you pull his face in for another kiss, the tight squish of his arms making sure you’re going nowhere.

“I do.” You affirm, rubbing your nose on his. “I love you.”

“How much?” His eyes crinkle fondly.

“Hmm, like, a lot?” You giggle, your fingers absently brushing through the trimmed hair on the back of his skull. “Enough to spend half a lifetime by your side and still find you the most incredible person in all of creation.”

“Wanna spend the other half too?” His breath on your cheek colors your skin red, your eyes momentarily lost between shades of blue.

“Come back with a ring, Shit-toru.”

“That’s not the way you talk to your future husband!”

“He’s here? With us? Right now?” You gasp, frantically looking around, until Satoru forces you to face him with a thumb on your chin, his other hand squeezing an innocent touch around your thigh.

“Satoru!”

“Scared your future husband will see us?” He throws his head back, laughing at your panicked state. “Don’t worry. I’ll fight him for you. And win. After all, I am the strongest.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, he did it! He said the line with only—”you glance at your phone—“six hours left before the day ends, what an amazing record!”

A shrill screech fired from the other side of the room interrupts your banter, the microphone turning into a lethal weapon in Panda’s massive palms. The students appear to have divided themselves into couples, fighting over who gets to go first until Inumaki takes the initiative with a rap song—or, more accurately, sings over a rap song, as the only words in his roster revolve around onigiri ingredients that are mentioned nowhere in the lyrics.

“Stop hogging the mic!” Maki attempts to steal it, backing away as the boy teases to unzip his collar. She knows better than to push her limits while unarmed.

Panda still gets in the middle. For precaution, you assume.

“Reminds you of something?” Satoru comments on your riveted attention. “They’re just like us. How we once were. Young and full of dreams.”

“Nah. You were always a horny bastard.” You slap the inappropriately placed hand away before you get up and sit where Nanami was previously stationed. Poking your tongue at his devastated expression.

Conversation between the two of you is kept to a minimum after a different tune begins blasting from the speakers—Yuji and Megumi take over the stage with Takada-Chan’s most recent success, one of them performing the vocals to perfection while the other merely mumbles yeah’s whenever the song calls for it. Next are Nobara and Maki, the two girls belting out to an anthem of empowerment that has the boys in the room gulping uncomfortably among themselves.

The mood shifts completely when Yaga pours his soul into an 80’s power ballad, his raspy voice transforming into the smoothest velvet, complemented by Panda’s harmonies. Even Satoru praises his old teacher, cheering him on from the bleachers with a makeshift napkin-banner.

You don’t realize your boyfriend’s gone until you see him with the microphone in hand, bending the cable as he makes quick gestures for the floor to empty, performing what is possibly the cheesiest, most romantic love song ever written, and ushering you to join him once he drops to his knees—quite literally at your feet.

You ruffle his hair and shove his goofy expression away. No matter how charming his singing voice may be, he’ll never get you to sing in public. Similar to how he’ll never catch you admitting how loudly your heart beats in your chest, despite the fact that it’s written all over your face.

God, you hate this man. So much that part of you wishes you’d spent his birthday like you did every other year—tangled in his sheets and kissing till you cannot breathe.

As soon as the karaoke session ends, Megumi and Yuji exit the room to bring in the cake, with Satoru jumping them for a thorough inspection. The dessert is inspired by one of his favorite confections. Handmade mochi bites are spread evenly between three layers of fluffy strawberry cake, the entire enterprise covered in fine red bean paste and topped with vanilla buttercream, strawberry cutouts, and, of course, more mochi in a light pink shade to recreate the world’s largest daifuku.

You lost count of how many failed attempts it took to create your own recipe from scratch, but the look on Satoru’s face is better than any payment you could possibly ask. He struggles to find a word that describes his feelings—phenomenal being the one he ends up using. Definitely better than chocolate cake. Perhaps even on par with the legendary Laputa.

Everyone gathers anew for the birthday boy to blow out his candles, awkwardness sweeping through the crowd as, one by one, you come to the conclusion that there is no available lighter.

you search through your pockets for a lighter, finding none. Shoko’s unhealthy (and supposedly cut) habit comes in clutch, with the brunette handing Yuji the keys to her office. The boy sprints outside at full speed, idle chatter put on pause as the TV starts playing on its own, the song selection window traded for a relic of the past.

“Is this even working?” A young Shoko taps the camera, tilting her body at a curious angle. Short skirt rolling up.

“Probably not. That shit’s ancient, but feel free to test it! Maybe try showing it something funnier, like your pant—”

Horny bastard. Right on the money.

“Cut it off, Satoru.” A voice makes both you and present-day Satoru shudder, its owner taking the camera from their friend’s hand to shoot footage around the gym. “Yaga Sensei told us to use this to document the Goodwill Event, not film amateur gravure.” The frame shakes once more. “Looks good to me.”

“Pft, what’s the point?” Satoru flicks a pebble at the camera. “So he can make a quick buck out of me destroying those brats? The outcome’s already decided. Now turn this thing off. I wanna lay under the sun without some junk in my face.”

The camera zooms in on him splaying his limbs on the grass, possibly near the track field, based on the slight hint of red inside the green.

“The only junk in your face is your face itself.” Shoko deadpans, making him chase after her while Suguru continues filming them until they turn into a pair of flickering dots.

“These two.”

The world is turned upside down as a close-up of his bang takes over the screen. Realizing that himself, he pulls the camera further away, cat-like irises shining like pure amber under the sunny sky. You’ve missed their warmth.

“Preparation for the Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event, Day 1.” He declares, and the screen goes black in an instant, white noise reigning over the space.

Your hand seeks Satoru’s on its own, the faint sound of his name dangling from your parted lips, both your breaths catching in your throats. He’s left gawking at the screen, reciprocating your touch with shaky fingers that try to anchor him to you. It’s safe to say this was not part of your plan.

“Weird. Thought it’d be one of those old workout tapes.” Nobara reveals herself as the culprit behind the incident, ejecting the tape back into its box and later standing with her hands pinned to her waist. “Gojo Sensei, I recognize you and Ieri, but who was that third person in the video? Bangs Guy.”

Out of everyone in the room, she’s the only one to have absolutely no information on Suguru. Aside from the adults, the second-years were all present during last year’s attack, and Megumi knows whatever has slipped from Satoru during his stay at the Gojo clan’s compound.

Nobody rushes to respond; all of you tuned in on Satoru even though only Shoko, Yaga, and you are directly gazing at him, his face contorted with a pained grimace he tries hard to disguise.

“Geto Suguru was—”

“My best friend.” Satoru grins at Principal Yaga’s attempt to help him, grasping your hand more confidently as he confronts the girl. “Geto Suguru is my best friend.”

“Huh. Guess there’s hope for everyone.” No one’s left with any courage to laugh at Nobara’s poor attempt at a joke. “Where is he now—”

“Senseiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” A voice gains volume as the door bursts open, Yuji pouring into the classroom with the lighter held over his head like it’s the Olympic flame. “I g-got th-the—” He tries to breathe, ending up only saying, “Fire. Wish. What. Miss?”

“Yuji!” Satoru makes you follow him to the door. “You’re right on time! And no, you didn’t miss anything. Just stories of the past.”

“Stories?” Yuji wipes the sweat off his forehead. Still very much exasperated. “But I…like stories.”

“I know you do.” Satoru’s eyes settle on yours, the clamor in his eyes hushing for the first time in years. “But birthday wishes are meant for a future that’s yet to be written.”

“Thank you!”

Appreciation falls from your lips as a long-drawn yawn, every second you spend huddled under the kotatsu’s warmth begging to lull you to sleep. Today was a long day. So long, it feels as if it spanned an entire lifetime.

Satoru plops down beside you, the neckline of his sweatshirt diving low over his collarbones as he chugs his share of hot cocoa. Yours remains untouched while you switch between the same two movie options, incapable of picking one over the other.

“What do you have for me?” He asks, running his fingers over the ceramic rim. A melodic string instrument-like sound is induced.

“Okay so. Got the cult classic Sixteen Candles, which we’ve probably watched more times than Molly Ringwald had to practice her lines for the role, and I also have La Boum, in case you’re feeling more adventurous, and I don’t know. Frenchy, maybe.”

“Hmm, I mean. When you phrase it like that…”He acts as if he’s seriously contemplating his choice, only to snatch the remote from your hand and choose La Boum. He smiles slyly, curling near your chest. “It’s what you obviously wanted to watch. And I always choose, so.”

“Forfeiting your birthday boy rights?” You hum, tenderly combing through his freshly washed white strands. He smells just like his cake, you think. “Be careful. There are still nine minutes left before your birthday’s over, and you’re robbed of your rights for an entire year. Think you can make it?”

“Will you be with me during those horrid days?” His voice turns muffled.

“Always. Now, before the movie starts and you ruin the fun with your excessive blabbing, how about you reach under the kotatsu for your gift?” You suggest, chuckling as his head lifts up, cerulean eyes shining with unfeigned surprise.

“Angel! You shouldn’t have!” Satoru beams whole as he drags the heavy box out, shaking it in an attempt to feel out its contents.

“You know that doesn’t work with me. C’mon. I’ll pause for you.”

He wastes no time to untie the light silver bow that ties the box together, taking, however, his sweet time to review each and every object placed within. Carefully, he lays everything out on the table, small gasps evading him at a constant and maturing into a full-on shriek as he spots that one rare Digimon trading card you bust your gut trying to purchase via private online auctions.

“I—um. I know it doesn’t sound too good ‘cause I’m your girlfriend and I’m supposed to know everything about you and what you want, but I really had no idea what to get for your birthday. So I decided to get you a bit of everything from your favorite things. You can blame me for weaponizing nostalgia later.”

You clear your throat with a quick sip of cocoa. Licking your lips, “Anyway. It’s really no biggie as you can see. I just bought off some trading cards, ported a few of your old favorite games to a current generation console—yes, Street Fighter included—and made you this silly beaded charm with our initials for your phone, since they are back in fashion.

“I know it’s not much, and you could buy those things at any given time, but—time is something you cannot buy, right? Your childhood, your youth. The so-called best years of your life. I wanted you to have that back, even if just for a day.”

It’s been minutes, and Satoru remains quizzically silent, to the point where the array of kisses aimed at your neck comes as a true ambush. You’re knocked to the floor, giggling and flailing while he shows you his affection in every way possible, kissing you, praising you, hugging you—loving you.

“H-Happy Birthday, Toru.” You repel his face enough to say. “Y-you know, a thank you would be nice to hear!”

“As if you don’t know what I’m about to say.” Satoru grins, holding your palms to his mouth. Kissing them one by one, repeatedly, and slowly. Multiple times each. “You are my childhood. And my youth. And the best years of my life—they are all you. Everything we’ve been through, and everything we’ll live together.”

“How’s that for a thank you?” He chuckles, quickly breaking the tension with a final kiss on your nose. Perhaps the only part of you that’s not tinged red. “That being said…”

“You want to go for a quickie?” You sniffle against your will.

“See? You do know everything about me.” He reaches for the deck of cards with the swirly brown backside. “It’s time to duel!”

A/N: sorry for hastily written ending. had no time, oopsie!

#gojo x reader #gojo birthday #gojo fluff #gojo angst #gojo satoru #gojo x you #gojo x y/n #jujustu kaisen #jjk #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #satoru <3 #jjk gojo #jjk fanfic #satoru x reader

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ellzilla · 2 months

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An extreme warning for everyone in the Creepypasta community, especially the Creeps Comic sub-community

This is a post 6 years too late, but I've finally gained the courage to speak up. Trigger Warning for: Pedophillia, child grooming, suicide and beastiality There are two manipulative pedophiles in the creepypasta community that go by the name Kori [Konpeito-Starfox on tumblr, korgifemboi on discord] and Michael [kitsuneaniki on discord] who have: Dated a minor, have been sexual in the presence of minors, exposed minors to hardcore pornography and have drawn pornography FOR minors. When I was 15 back in 2018, I was invited to a creepypasta discord after I was found because of my Old LJ ask blog. I remember Kori and Michael [Trixi at the time] were 21 and 24-25 and were 'tame' at first, but they slowly became more and more sexual as months went by. A few raunchy jokes turned into full on porn posting. They talked about sexual situations with Creeps characters with two 16 year olds and a 17 year old. I felt uncomfortable with it, but I couldn't get why. This next part may be worded poorly, as it's extremely emotionally hard on me to bring up the memories, but I'll try my best and will be the most coherent I can make it. As a dumbass 15 year old, I didn't get the difference between being gay and being sexual due to the homophobic town and family I've grown up around I had never been told otherwise, so I thought it was fine, that lgbt people in their 20's being highly sexual around and directly to lgbt teenagers was fine! Everyone was happy! And me bringing up the uncomfortableness was just me brining everyone down! But then Kori and Michael made porn for a 16 year old's oc having sex with their sonas. And something in me finally shouted "Something is wrong." I didn't know how to word it, but I approached my family [good!] and said "My friends are being a little too gay, what should I say?" [bad!!!] and so I was told "tell them to stop that." And so, in I said "can you stop being gay?" in an attempt to say "hey stop being sexual" [I know, I know, point and laugh at 15 year old me for being confused] and obviously got kicked out for that. There was shit said by them that made me want to commit suicide [thought I must stress they never directly told me to kms] And then got death and rape threats that MIGHT have been from them on my old LJ ask blog after that, but that's a side note. In the same year, the 16 year old who was given porn of their oc, [who I will refer to as Victim 1 and censored in black] started dating Kori and Michael. Note: Victim's 1's birthday is in October and this screenshot is from September

It is of note that Kori and Michael are extremely manipulative and hav convinced Victim 1, that it's better to lie to me and tried to say they were 17 when they started dating, despite me knowing their age and not correcting another [I will refer to as Victim 2 and censored in red] mentioned it in a conversation. There are two other victims who I will also censor the names of.

Below is a continuation of this conversation to show that Kori and Michael have convinced Victim 1 that them showing porn to minors is okay.

I also showed Victim 1 that what Kori and Michael did is VERY ILLEGAL, let alone immoral, but was brushed off. Granted, I should have showed him more but I was rushing to the hospital because of my heart issues and was not thinking straight due to the stress.

Michael has also been proven to quite literally speak for Victim 1 as well. [The sibling comment was because they thought Victim 2's [trans] sister was Victim 2 referring to me]

This is the end of the post, and I hope this is enough to show how much of a threat Kori and Michael are to minors, but I physically cannot show the mountain pile of trauma without putting myself in a medical emergency. There is far more receipts of Kori and Michael's emotional manipulation, but again, if this post went on for too much longer I could end up in the hospital because of them and I don't want it to be a fourth time. If you or someone you know are friends with Kori and Michael, please distance yourself from these pedophiles and show your friend this post. If I could, I would personally report them to the police, however they are in America and I am in Australia with no knowledge of how to report across-seas. If you can, please report them to the proper authorities, although I do not know if they can get into legal trouble for what they did to us years ago, it will stop any on-going child grooming. Please note, I will not be mentioning this or replying to anyone specifically IN MY INBOX until AFTER I recover from making this post. Do not send me anon messages if you're going to tell me something private, instead, message me. If you have a public issue with this post, say it with your chest and off anon. Before this hell is through, I have three more screenshots to share. One of Victim 2 being shown drawn Beastiality while they were still a minor [I have been informed Victim 2 was still 16], one of Kori [with a pfp of LJ having sex with Will in a server full of minors] mocking me while I was still 16 and against them being sexual [and mocking me for my LJ design and having a non-sexual lizard hyperfix], and a miscellaneous message of Michael admitting he likes dog genitalia and mocking me for not liking porn but being fine with gore. WHILE I WAS STILL A MINOR. I will put them under the cut as two of them are censored but still visual images of nsfw. IF YOU ARE A MINOR, DO NOT CONTINUE THE POST AND PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE.

Grown ass adults talking to and about children...

#cw: pedophillia #cw: grooming #grooming tw #pedophillia tw #child abuse tw #public service announcement #i don't know what else to type.

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thehopelessexception · 1 month

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is it just me?

i've been observing a tendency surrounding women —mostly between 20 and 26— where we can't find anything close to love (from men). women are not dating, nor living a normal life, developing a femcel-like point of view. and im saying this because i want to be loved just like anyone else, but are we the problem? or is there something wrong with boys? i mean, ofc there's something wrong with boys; but every year pass by and every time is harder and harder to find someone willing to put the effort to make you feel loved and understood. was it like this 50 years ago? 100 years ago? i am very much aware that our mothers and grandmothers suffered in the world they lived in, generally with sexist husbands and mandatory tradwife lifestyle. but i am also sure that there was some exceptions, way too many more than today.

and we tend to romanticize the past, probably there's something to do with our generation. nor millennials or gen z, the ones in the middle. the girls who grew up with enough technology but not so much. the ones that went crazy over boybands and fanfiction and hung up posters in our walls. the ones that went crazy in 2018-2020 with deranged feminism just to realise, later on, nobody really cared and it maybe was a little over the top. the ones that filled our beds with stuffed animals repeatedly every time we woke up just to throw them on the floor at night so we could sleep. the girls who spent their teenage years on tumblr writing code (before men took that away from us) and making playlists of marina lana and the 1975 so everyone on the internet could see how cool we wanted to look like. probably the ones that suffered some kind of bullying in highschool or some health problem related to how we didn't fit in or how bad we looked at ourselves in the mirror (yk what i mean). we weren't the cool kids in real life or it was just me?

now i'm observing how hard it is to adapt that teenager to adult years. and maybe it's me but i don't feel like an adult. i am a tiny ball of anxiety. i suffer too much stress. i am trying to finish my degree but i don't know if im worthy of anything because i dont have money, and i don't have time to work and study at the same time because i spend too many time thinking about it and feeling a fraud and a failure.

i don't know how to talk to boys either —nor girls, in that way—. and until some days ago i was quite sure i was willing and capable of spending my whole life alone. i've given up to anything because i felt it imposible to be loved. but lately my mind goes up and down with that scene of jo monologue in little women by gretta gerwig. and it also goes with the hot priest monologue of fleabag. and today i rewatched the classic he's just not that into you. are we condemned to be the tedious rule? am i?

i've seen all of my girlfriends suffering the same mysery. and i've seen the extremes. women giving up the love they deserve —because they accepted the fate of being the rule— by dating a jerk just because they are afraid of loneliness. and i've also seen women giving up everything else just because they are not willing to give up love. those are us. hopeless romantics who watched way too many romantic comedies and somehow still expect to find someone willing to die for us just like dicaprio in romeo + juliet. —or at least a patrick verona—.

what i've never seen was actual love. all the couples i met... they don't look happy. they don't look in love. they don't look like they enjoy their own company even. they look exactly like a picture of instagram. they exist just to make us feel miserable even when it's obvious they are not gonna last. i've seen couples of what? 7 years? gone. broken up. they grew tired of each other and of course they never looked like they had anything close to sparkles in their eyes. chemistry? none. and maybe it is my anxiety speaking but i don't want that. i refuse to have that. i want all or nothing. i want always and forever. i want everyone to look at us and think "if i don't have that i'll kms". i want family —even tho im not sure i want to get pregnant, what am i a childbride?—. i don't want to change anything to fit in with the standards of a boy. i want marriage even tho im not sure i want to be legally married. i want the posibility, the future. i want the emotions surpassing myself. i want to not know me anymore and then knowing me again. i want to doubt myself. i want my heart beating so fast i could kill someone for them. i want to believe god exists. i want to laugh of happiness without they making a joke. i want my sundays to not be deppresing because i can hang out with the love of my life and have fun. i want to be the "and yet" of someone willingly enough to fall for me every single day even if i am kinda insane all the time. i want someone who cares. someone who fantasizes with spending the rest of their lives with me and is going to put the effort to get to know every single thing about me and stay because he's blown away. and aparently that's setting the bar "too high" because we are the rule and not the exception.

people always assume that by being a romantic i expect flowers every day and cheesy comments about how beautiful i look; and that would actually make me want to puke because i can do that myself. i am confortable with myself, i like myself, i love myself, i have the ego. i am not really asking for that much i just want someone to love me with every single thing that's probably wrong with me. what i want is someone curious and smart. someone who pays enough attention or wants to. i want the chemistry off the roof.

and contrary to anyone's beliefs the bar is too low about everything else. every single girl probably wants the same thing. is it that hard for men to understand that women want to feel loved?

lately —worldwide— it's all a competition of genres as if humanity doesn't need us to interact to survive. it's a loop that opened up in 2013? with the tumblr-4chan gate and right now got translated to the real world because pick-mes are back and being a man is cool. and suddenly that's how nature works!! because apparently women are boring and just a hole. maybe they all need to go all alexander the great. but it's getting boring. and we as women deserve love as much as respect.

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svt-nari · 1 year

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basics:

birth name: hwang nari (황나리)

english name: julie hwang

nicknames: nabiran, nabi, riri, maknae noona, eternal nabi, seventeen's yeobo, the forever teenager, kpop's bestie, nation's passion, pledis' girls last survivor

birth date: 1996/05/30

birth place: jeju-si, jeju island, south korea

residence: yongsam-gu, seoul, south korea

nationality: korean

languages: korean (100%), japanese (90%), chinese (70%), english (70%)

blood type: O+

family: mom, dad, older brother and younger brother

sexuality: pansexual

physical traits:

faceclaim: seola / kim hyunjung (wjsn)

height: 165cm

weight: 45kg

tattoos: five (both arms, right rib, left wrist and nape)

piercings: 5 (each ear)

career:

stage name: nari (나리)

positions: main vocalist, lead dancer, visual, face of the group

representative emoji: 🦋

group: seventeen (세븐틴)

debut date: 2015/05/26

debut album: 17 Carat

solo debut date: 2023/05/25

debut album: 꽃 'kkoch' (flower)

social media:

instagram: @ mynabiran

weverse: 피�� 리~ 🪷 'blooming ri~'

trivia:

— along with coups, she's the member who has the longest training period in seventeen. she started training at sm and was supposed to debut with f(x) but didn't due to her age, then, she traded to pledis right after, still in 2009.

— she was actually supposed to debut in a girl group that still didn't have any plans to happen, but, pledis saw a lot of potential in her and decided to put her on Seventeen TV for her to get along with the audience and the members. she quickly got accepted and became a sweetheart to everyone who met her.

— she's the 4th oldest member in the group, she's the oldest 1996 liner and one of the aces of the group. anything you put her to do she will ace it perfectly without any obstacles.

— nari's number one nickname, used by almost everyone who knows her, is nabi. since she loves to make friends and is easily outgoing, the members started calling her that, which quickly spread around and now everyone calls her that.

— she was literally everywhere in 2018/19 due to a famous fancam of her dancing to exo's love shot during an award show. her talent and visuals stood out to a lot of people, and her fanbase triplicated due to it. she gained the nation's passion nickname due to this masterpiece.

— nari is close to all of the boys, especially the younger ones whom she loves to spoil and give attention to. she tends a lot to seungcheol too, since she knows how hard he works and how little he cares for himself. she's known to be seventeen's mom along with jeonghan, in which fans make jokes about them fighting over the title.

— nari's biggest fear nowadays is the day seungcheol and jeonghan enlist for the army. she's really not prepared for this, and she's been dreading the subject ever since the year started. fans make sure to try and not mention it too much because they know she goes through social media quite a lot.

— during their trainee days, nari used to go out of her way of school just to drop the younger ones at their own school, most of the times she would arrive late for her own classes, but she says it was worth it.

— she has one of the highest iqs in kpop, she's really smart, but sometimes she just forgets it and acts like the stupidest person on earth — which may seem like it but it isn't purposeful.

— she's openly pansexual, which made her receive a lot of backlash in which was quickly turned down due to a lot of people standing up for her. nari is really grateful for them and never forgets to thank them whenever she has to give a speech or something.

— she's also known to be hybe's groups mom. she loves to say that she adopted enhypen, newjeans, lesserafim and txt. she's also really close to fromis_9 members and says that jiheon is her adopted baby.

— even though she's not a part of the performance team, nari practically begged to go to i-land with her members. she was so happy that she was allowed to go that you could see it just by her face. nari says that, on that day, she knew that ni-ki, jungwon and sunoo were going to be a part of her babies.

— nari's also an actress, she has been in some k-dramas and movies. her members love to tease her because of it and whenever one of her new dramas gets released, get prepared for a weverse thunderstorm of posts teasing her.

— she has a dog, who lived in the apartment she used to share with wonwoo and mingyu. now, she moved out to her own apartment in yongsam-gu and also adopted a cat.

— her number one hobby is cheating on games with jeonghan.

— she's currently in a relationship with a male idol, people now that she's taken but they don't know who it is because of her members exposure of her life that she doesn't really care.

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svt-sunnie · 2 months

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🌟 SUNNIE 🍓 started their LIVE: cb live 💕

streamed on: weverse date: 24.02.26 languages: kor. = “normal”, “chn = bold” warnings: implied breakups, mentioned drinking

“Hi, Carats! Welcome to the comeback live for my second mini album!” Sunnie greets. “It’s been a long time, right?” She says, looking down at the comments.

💎: Unnie we missed you!!!

“I missed you guys too… I've been really busy recently, and I just got back from fashion week.”

“I also had to dye my hair purple, but it's kind of fading now.. It reminds me of the purple hair I had during Mansae era.” Sunnie laughs

“I’ll start introducing the album now since it comes out in one hour!” She says as the staff signals her to hurry up.

Sunnie leaves the frame, then returns with a physical copy of ‘Good, Bad, Ugly.’ “Here’s the album Carats!” Sunnie exclaims while showing it off. “There are three album versions, ‘Good, Bad, and Ugly,’ but I only have ‘Bad’ right now.”

💎: what is the meaning of the album name?

“The meaning of the album is to show all the sides of a relationship with others and with yourself, the positive and the negative, which is where I came up with the name.” She explained.

“I need to speed this up, so I'll start introducing the tracks now!” She laughed as she put away the album. “There are eight tracks on the album and, Woozi and Bumzu Oppa helped me make most of them.”

“I wrote all of the songs based on different experiences I've had throughout my life and want to thank everyone who participated in creating them with me!”

“Okay, the first song is ‘DIZZY’, the album intro.” “It talks about how dizzy it feels to love someone when you aren’t sure how they feel about you,” Sunnie explains.

A 20-second snippet of ‘DIZZY’ plays on the speaker while Sunnie reads the comments.

💎: wahh, how is this only an intro?? isn't it good enough to be a full song?

“Originally, it was going to be a full song but honestly I never ended up finishing the full song so…” She shrugs.

“Next is the title track ‘Find Myself’ which I originally wrote in 2018 when I was struggling a lot with my identity in and outside of Seventeen but it never got fully written, so Woozi Oppa helped me rewrite the song.”

A 10-second snippet of Find Myself plays while Sunnies dances along.

“Since it's releasing soon, I won’t make any additional comments and just move on to the next song, which would be…” She pauses, “Oh, right! The song is ‘My Love,’ I wrote it when I had a lot of love in my heart and felt emotional, so I hope Carats can feel those same feelings!”

While the snippet plays she checks the comments again.

🐻‍❄️: introduce late night pls 🤲

“Since Hansol is getting impatient, we can move on to ‘LATE NIGHT.’ We were out together drinking and somehow ended up writing a song just about having late night conversations, kind of inspired by our actual conversations.”

🐻‍❄️: best song on the album imo

“Hansolie is so..” She trails off, shaking her head.

“Anyway! Next is the song ‘Good, Bad, Ugly’ is actually about the different parts of yourself instead of a relationship. You should always love yourself no matter what!”

After a moment of reading the comments she checked the time.

“Wow.. It’s already 20 minutes until the release..” She laughed. “Alright, this next song is called ‘Star,’ Junnie wrote it with me. It's just a beautiful song, and I feel like the meaning can be up for your own interpretations.” She said while smiling.

💎: I get so happy to hear you sing in chinese!!

“It makes me really happy too! I can definitely see myself making a full Chinese album one day.”

“The next song is ‘Our Street,” which I wrote after having a bad breakup a very long time ago and I never had a chance to release it until now, it's a really sad song but definitely my favorite.”

💎: it's so strange seeing an idol openly talk about their relationships ㅋㅋㅋ

Sunnie hummed in acknowledgment, “I’m almost 26, so I feel like I can talk about it now. Also, nothing that hasn't been said about me before, so why not just make music about it.” She said, shrugging.

“Wow, the last song already? The track is called ‘In My Dreams’ and I wrote it about unrequited love and wishing that they liked you back.”

After the snippet was done playing Sunnie started waving goodbye. “The album should be out in a couple of minutes now, please give the songs a lot of support!”

“Bye Carats!”

alternate title: yuming soft launcing for an hour straight

taglist: @seolboba @amnesixa @allthings-fandoms

#sunnie.live #kpop oc #seventeen 14th member #kpop added member #14th member of seventeen #kpop addition #fictional kpop oc

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soyouareandrewdobson · 5 months

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Nintendo-vember Level 3: Dobson and his Toxic Nintendo Nostalgia

Nostalgia can be toxic. Now bear in mind, I did not say that it IS toxic, but that it can be toxic. This assumption that because we have pleasant memories of something, that it was always good all the time. A desire to get that back, ignores all the good that’s come since then. As well as all the bad stuff that was there too. And it poisons you. Making you more suggestible to deception and your own greed. Who is to say that your own past is more important than someone else’s future? And because you want something that may not have been real at all, the farther the goal post gets. Because you can’t really reclaim it. So it just gets worse and worse and you get greedier and more desperate for it, because what you really want is never going to come. Until in the very end, you become the thing you hated in the first place. Lewis Lovhaug – March 2018, Infinite Crisis

Everything I did for this month so far, was going to lead directly into today’s , actually long in the works, post. Cause today we go over the comic, that as far as I see it, may actually be Dobson’s most (in)famous one out there. The one that painted the public’s opinion of him more so than anything he would ever do when starting to draw “political comics” under Trump. The one that defined him for all of deviantart and kiwifarms from 2010 onward. A comic that will always show up, whenever someone online even remotely talks about him. The one that I have seen more times than any other being used for threads on /co/ for Dobson. A comic that is neither about politics, feminism or even part of any of his comic series. A comic that is truly centered around the concept of toxic nostalgia, rather than whatever Andrew Dobson was going for and that fits perfectly to the theme of this month.

Ladies, gentlemen and inbetween… I give you, the Localization one.

Released in 2010, a time when Dobson was still trying (and failing) to sell himself more on the image of just being a quirky nerd and Nintendo fanboy whose work you should support because he only wants to make others happy, this became a comic that genuinely cemented further in the eyes of others, how much of a self-indulgent and extremely manchildish prick with dumb taste he really was.

How, some here may ask who are a bit too young? Well, let me give you context…

For starters, by the time Dobson released the comic, he had already quite a bit of a reputation online for being a prick to other nerds. His infamous “West vs East” comic which he created “as a joke” to vent about the popularity of anime in the mid to late 2000s had been published three years prior and had, in combination with a lot of derogative journal entries and posts on deviantart and other pages, earned him the ire of many people. In addition, his failed or outright aborted “original” content had painted him as a quitter, who despite wanting all the fame someone could muster online, was not willing to put the necessary work in it.

Dobson was, for a lack of a better word, a bully among nerds who tried to use his platform to shame people for being “nerdier” than him or enjoying stuff he didn’t, while also playing the victim card for people not interested in purchasing his product or calling him out on his hypocrisies and flaws in opinions.

In that regard, Dobson was pretty much ahead of the curve to some “woke” companies. Insulting your customer and then being surprised when no one wants to buy your shit.

The other thing to be aware of, has to do with the history and popularity of Nintendo characters at least pre-1995 in America.

For the few not quite aware and as a quick reminder to everyone: Videogames back in the 80s and very early 90s (like 1990-92) did on average not necessarily have what we can call “complex” lore when it came to videogame stories and characters. At least not to a degree as we would get later in the mid-90s and onwards. Aside of (J)RPGs most games were simply focused on moving a character from one end of a level to the next and the story as to why we even bothered for Megaman to fight the Robo Masters and who the heck Dr. Wily was, was printed in the manual on a small page.

And Mario and Link were no exception to that. Mostly because they also had only very few genuine main titles under their name. By 1989, The Legend of Zelda had only two NES titles under its name, while Mario had (if we don’t account for non-jump n’run games in which he was shoved into because of his status as Nintendo’s mascot) the three main Mario Bros games for the NES, one game for the Game Boy, Mario Bros and the two Donkey Kong titles.

Lacking quite a bit in characterization game wise, Nintendo of America in order to sell the stuff had to partly make the characters appeal to the audience via localization done through merchandise and non-game related products. And early fans of these characters would obviously crave for it.

Enter The Super Mario Bros Super Show, a cartoon series produced on order of Nintendo of America by Haim Saban and DIC Enterprises (the same ones who would give us “The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog”, “Captain N” and “Inspector Gadget”) that ran from September 1989 till December of 1989. Using the first two Mario Bros games for the NES as basis for the character design of the show, the show itself had otherwise little to do with the games. Ignoring the live action segments, the actual animated episodes would have plots in which Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach (the later going by the then American official name of Princess Toadstool) traveled into whatever territory and had to deal with Bowser (or King Koopa as he was known) in a plot that had elements of some book, movie or anything else to parody.

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In addition the show would later have Legend of Zelda based animated segments, of which 13 were produced. Those featured Link living in Hyrule castle with a more active “power woman” Princess Zelda and a fairy companion named Sprite and the two having to deal with Ganon, who was more of a dark wizard than a warrior based demon.

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Overall, the shows were not really all that great compared to other stuff that existed cartoon wise, with some aspects of the characters feeling jarring nowadays. But honestly, for the sake of this article, I watched some of them and frankly they were not that terrible. They were typical 80s cartoon fanfare, which among other things included some animation errors and dumb slapstick. Especially the Mario segments were very slapstick heavy and Mario and Luigi were mostly characterized by Luigi being a bit of a scaredy cat even before the games did show him like that, Mario being rougher than you would think and dumb jokes about Luigi and Mario loving pasta and other Italian dishes. Because you know, Italians are only known for their cuisine!

The Zelda segments also had a bit of an “odd” character dynamic imagined for Zelda and Link. Zelda was a bit of a jerkass commanding bitch and Link could be a horndog trying to always flirt with her or trying to get a kiss.

There is one moment in an episode for example, where Zelda sits on Links bed after just having stopped some condor from stealing a piece of the Triforce guarded in Link’s room. Right then Link enters the room, sees the Princess sitting there and immediately says “smooching time” and tries to jump her to make out.

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Minute 3:15 – 3:20 more or less Yeah, I think Pepe le Hyrulian would not really sell well with more modern audiences and sensitivities.

All that said, I can understand people having a soft spot for the show and enjoying it unironically. It is just that I think most of them would also be intelligent and understanding enough to see, that these shows did NOT give the ultimate interpretation of who or what these characters and their games were. Truth be told, even back then those things weren’t really acknowledged by Nintendo. Sure, Nintendo of America may have given the okay to do those things. But in Japan, global headquarters gave more or less a rat’s ass about it. They were busy making the NES and Gameboy profitable and worked on Mario Bros 3.

Truth be told, the most “characterization” Mario even got in Japan at the time was as followed: Shigeru Miyamoto thought he should be Italian and from New York. The former because he “looked” Italian to him (as a result of the mustache), the later because Donkey Kong, the game Mario originated from, was inspired in part by King Kong and King Kong is set in New York. Mario didn’t even have a name originally, having been known by Jumpman once. The origin of his Mario name is, that after Minoru Arakawa (president of Nintendo of America at the time) got into an argument with a real estate developer named Mario Segale, who Arakawa owned rent money, the game developers decided to name the character Mario. Which may or may not have been meant as a “take that” against Mr. Segale. But if so, it’s one that backfired.

But I digress. Point of that entire elongated history lesson is, that Mario and Link were in terms of characterization mostly defined to some 80s kids, by their depiction in the American cartoon, which had however very little in common with what the games were about. It was e.g. the cartoon who popularized heavily the entire idea of the brothers being from Brooklyn and having been transported via a magic pipe into the Mushroom Kingdom, while in the actual games, such a backstory was never really given. As evident by even the actual American instruction manuals for Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 I checked out online for this. Look them up.

And again, most people, even the kids, could accept that the animated show and what the games were, differed.

Then came the 90s, and with more titles under their belt, Nintendo of Japan decided to flesh out their mascots more to increase their popularity, resulting in Mario, Link and others getting “official” personalities as shown by their behavior in games and not just the inofficial ones via non-canon foreign material. And again, most kids and people were okay with that. After all, the games were what really mattered to them in the long run. Plus I think that as long as the games would simply “capture” the spirit of whatever they liked in the characters iand games n the first place, they would be okay with it.

But not Andrew Dobson.

Born in 1981 and likely not owning a NES up until the cartoon aired, he jumped onto the show as an eight year old and became a fan of it. In fact he enjoyed the Zelda cartoon so much, even as an adult he would draw fanart about it

Nothing at all wrong with that in my opinion. You like something, you have the ability to create fan content for it, go for it.

But as we more or less already established via the Howard and Nester comic, Dobson was as a person dead set that only the thing he liked or was first exposed to counts and not whatever others thought. Something that supposedly may explain why he genuine hates Bowser Jr and Yoshi, as evident by these tweets made a few years after the Localization comic was made.

And yeah sorry, but how can one hate Yoshi? Yoshi is an adorable pet dinosaur you can ride. You know how many kids would have loved someone like that in their life? Gues if Yoshi was less into vore and more into inflation, Dobson would have liked him more.

Speaking of the comic -and to finally get back to it- even Dobson admitted years later that the entire point of it is to simply piss all over Nintendo and that he was annoyed that his “beloved” American continuity got erased in favor of the “dirty Japanese” one. Despite the fact that the Japanese one is, as he himself admits, official.

And boy does he take the piss on it. To the point I want to call him R. Kelly.

So lets dissect how his stand is just the typicla strawman affair, unfunny and at times quite frankly outright homophobic, sexist, hypocritical and racist.

First, the art. As always, it is just “great” to see the degree in animation being fully utilized here. No background but skyblue, everyone looking more like a doodle, the use of the fillbucket, the director having 5 fingers on his hand in the second panel, but four in the fifth, getting the numbers of fingers on Mario completely wrong, missing out on Peach in the last panel and so on… brilliant! How come Disney would not hire someone who could draw like that! Oh right, because standards. Though those have gotten quite low over the years

Every single person working on this needs to be blacklisted.

But of course, the true brilliance comes through the writing. Starting with the strawman executive coming off as if what he does is something new. That he is the “evil soulless corporation” who doesn’t care for his employees and creations true personality and forces them to fit into some mold for the audience to enjoy. The “audience” and consumers also being more or less indirectly insulted by the way Dobson presents the entire affair, as he seemingly wants to blame “those damn kids” for ruining his favorite childhood characters.

But Dobson, I thought you loved corporations hating on fans.

Then we come to what the characters are supposedly changed into.

(warning, upload of the comic for the third time, so you cna always see what I refer to)

First, Mario being no longer from Brooklyn and that he is supposedly an Italian stereotype. As a non American, I have to ask: Why is it so important that Mario has to be from Brooklyn? I get the feeling the only reason people like Dobson or Moviebob care about it, is because they want to deep down culturally appropriate the character. Assure he is in some way of American culture and doesn’t belong to some “dirty, foreign country”, even if they have to go for a compromise and make him a dirty half blood Wop. I mean, I will say this: Yes, Mario has an accent that is stereotypical. And? I take a stereotypical accent and being otherwise a determined but friendly everyday hero over him being stereotypically obsessed with pasta and no personality conveyed through his actions aside of being a bit mean and bossy to his brother, as was the case in that dang cartoon.

The thing here is, Dobson was genuinely convinced that Mario’s portrayal as given by Charles Martinet, Mario’s VA from the early 90s up until August of 2023, wasn’t just stereotypical, but also racist, harmful and culturally insensitive. Something he believed even back in 2017 and resulted in a minor twitter meltdown

Look, I will say this here: Yes, Martinet’s voice for Mario is kinda stereotypical. And I did my research. Unlike Martinet, Lou Albano, the original voice of Mario in the Mario Bros Super Show, was actually of Italian heritage. Born in 1933 in Rome, having immigrated to the USA shortly after he got baptized in the Vatican (you can’t get more Italian than that!), he certainly was more authentically Italian than Martinet, who was born in California. Heck, Martinet’s father is actually French and he spend more time in France in his youth than in America or Italy. The story of how Martinet got his gig as Mario is also well known and painted by a rather stereotypical joke involving Italian food.

But to paraphrase the twitter user Dobson argued with, I think that all things considered, Martinet gave Mario and all the other characters he voiced over the years just a certain warmth and fun to their personality with the way he delivered his lines, that he managed to convey and define the cartoonish true nature of Mario and Co for many generations to come. And even now that he has been retired from the role, he is still a name recognized for the character. A character no one, not even freaking nationalistic Italians, seem to have a problem with. So, mangia un cazzo, Dobson. You sound just like the assholes who tried to get rid of Speedy Gonzales and in doing so pissed off all of Mexico.

Next the way he talks about Peach. Okay first, the Popeye arms are again just something from the cartoons. Or at least he believes it cause…. Well

Does that look like Popeye arms?

Second, he is essentially saying that Princess Peach, unlike the cartoon version, is a bimbo. Why, because she is blonde and you have some sort of deep seated hatred for blond people? Also, Peach hasn’t fought with Mario together in really any NES videogame either, Dobson. Oh what, Mario Bros 2? Aka the reskinned version of Doki Doki Panic? The way he talks here about Princess Peach is just utterly sexist, as he essentially devalues Peach as a character, just because she plays a damsel in distress often times. Which doesn’t even necessarily mean, that she isn’t a badass in her own way, even in that role. I mean, she is still the sovereign ruler of an entire nation and in Super Princess Peach -which seems to be the game he references when it comes to her being “over emotionally”- she saves the day all on her own. Sure, she is emotional in the game, but the entire premise of the game is centered around everyone’s emotions going haywire along Vibe Island, including the villains. Bet Dobson hasn’t even played the game back in 2006 and just went off on some shitty rumor. Not to forget that this statement is utterly false. Peach has also been a great supporting character and fighter in games such as Super Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario, which were released BEFORE that comic. And nowadays she is also known as a great character in stuff like the Mario + Rabbids games plus she will get her own upcoming Princess Peach: Showtime game for the Switch. Lastly, let us not forget every game where, even if she played a damsel, was still important to the plot by defying the villain as best as she could. Not to forget the current movie, in which she still kicked ass while going out all in pink.

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So, after he has been racist towards Italians indirectly as well as sexist towards women embracing their brand feminity (boy, don’t want to know how 2011 Dobson would have then reacted to the Barbie movie of 2023), let Dobson be judgmental about anime fangirls and also rather homophobic, by the way how he tries to tear down “modern” Link.

There are four things I hate the most about the Link panel, which make it frankly in my eyes the one where Dobson’s hatred and own nastiness really shine through.

First, the accusation that the “changes” to Link’s design past “Link’s Awakening” can be attributed to anime fangirls. Showing both his true hatred for women when they don’t fall in line with his views and his stuck up shitty opinion about anime fans and combining it with latent misogyny. Look, I have seen thirst anime fangirls myself a lot over my lifetime. But they were not the demographic to “ruin” Link. If anything, I think that the popularity of Cloud Strife in general with others may have slightly influenced Link’s design for Ocarina of Time. Which in itself also had been in development at least since spring of 1996, till its release in November of 1998. And even then, that is a stretch I came up with, cause in my opinion someone in the development team likely just thought “Hey, what if we move on from the more cartoony look of the late 80s and early 90s and try some “darker” fantasy elements, without going full Berserk?” And that is how we got Link in that game. Because of some developers trying to appeal design wise to a general audience, not just a random group of made up strawmen. You want to see games pandering to actual Yaoi fangirls aesthetically? Play Enzai or Twisted Wonderland.

Second, again his hatred towards blond people. I really would like to know where that comes from, because I doubt it was only related to some random bully in school being blond.

Third, the way he uses the word effeminate and describes post Ocarina of Time Link essentially as “nonthreatening”.

For starters, considering Link rams his sword into Ganon’s skull in Ocarina of Time and slashes away at many of his enemies, which is way more threatening and violent than just poking them with a stick in 2D overhead view, I wouldn’t really consider him “non threatening”. I like to call him and many of his future incarnations, badass as fuck. Even the cartoonish, childlike Link from the Wind Waker continuity, who didn’t just stab Ganon in the head, but put his sword in there for good. It also is kinda laughable how Dobson uses the word “non threatening” in a negative manner, seeing how over the years ever since he sucked off Steven Universe, he would whine on twitter and other social plattforms again and again how males in media are always resolving conflict only via violence and are not in tune with their emotions. In other words, he once considered being more or less pacifistic a negative trait.

Also, “effeminate”? Okay first, Link looks like this in Ocarina of Time…

What exactly looks “effeminate” about male Link here, or at least let’s say more “effeminate” than for example in a character like this?

Second, we all know that if Link all off sudden looked more like Guts from Berserk or the protagonist of DarkSoul (you know, more “manly”), Dobson would throw enough of a hissy fit, he would likely come back from his sabbath and whine how Nintendo is embracing toxic masculine traits in his characters. All while also blaming PS3 games for some reason for that.

Third, how exactly would Dobson define effeminate here? I mean, the term is already defined as being derogatory, the most common definition I found by Merriam-Webter online being as followed

Effeminate: having feminine qualities untypical of a man : not manly in appearance or manner

Effeminate: marked by an unbecoming delicacy or overrefinement

So, Andrew “I hate all men” Dobson, has a problem with a character not being “typical” or stereotypical manly male? The same guy who praised the She-Ra reboot for its portrayal of Bow and fucking worships that fat fuck below as one of the best protagonists in a cartoon of the last decade…

Has actually deep down a problem with people embracing more female interests, qualities or just looking more feminine in appearance, even though the later may not be by choice but rather genetics? All while also having the audacity to say then this years later?

I find this just genuinely hate- and hurtful. Not just a simple complaint about a design choice regarding his supposed favorite fantasy game hero, but a “deep cut” towards people who just enjoy things not considered “stereotypically manly” or may feel not comfortable falling in line with gender expectations. I mean, what? Is a man now supposedly not manly in Dobson’s eyes because they like musicals, sweets are capable of showing empathy and other emotions or like to dress up in certain ways or take care of their appearance?

It is just disgusting to me, because I know people, both male and female, who had to deal with bullying and name calling a lot simple because they didn’t quite fall in line with expectations by others or struggle with their own identity partly because of expectations vs reality. And as evident by THIS comment TheHypocrisyofAndrewDobson received once it isn’t just “a joke” to people genuinely affected by that sort of mentality. And again, this derogatory use of the world and complaint towards “modern” Link comes from someone who years later would whine about toxic masculinity, put women on pedestals even if they are abusive, likely jerked it off to Link in Gerudo gear following Breath of the Wild and in the biggest ironic “twist”, loves the cartoon incarnation of Link, whose catchphrase is “Excuse me, Princess” and needs a restraining order as much as Warner Bros gave Pepe lePew.

And to finish this panel off (yes, we are still not at Samus), of course the next complain is how Zelda and Link are “no longer love interests” … now I apologize in advance towards any moderate shipper out here, but I am going full snarker mode now for this part. Okay?

Dobson… the fact that you cared so much about shipping two fictional characters in a series of children games, for a console primarily played by kids, while you were being in your 20s and above is pathetic as shit. I know that you have no one in life who genuinely loves you, because among other things you are incapable of either feeling or identifying true love while also being a selfish little shit, but to be so thirsty for affection that you project that need on some pieces of data or lines of color, makes you a bigger loser in my book than any republican who lost the primary against Donald Trump in 2015. The fact that you look at a piece of fiction and your immediate thought is “oohh, these two characters together would look very cute hugging, kissing and doing things I touch myself to at night”, while things such as plot progression and character development likely play second, third or fourth fiddle, only confirms to me that shippers (at least the once acting like you in that regard and other fields) are a fucking blight on any fandom and the world at large.

Now with that shit vented, I once again apologize for going that far, even for “comedic purpose” towards the people who actually can recognize when they go just a bit too far with shipping. But this isn’t just annoying in regard to this comic, it is annoying with Dobson in general. If you are even remotely aware of how he treats the LGBT subject for real as well as what he truly enjoys about Legend of Korra and Miraculous Ladybug, you know he is thirstier than someone stranded in the Gobi desert. Just look at his pic of Zelda and Linkle he made in honour of Hyrule Warriors.

I can kinda taste his urge to touch himself there.

To me it is just dumb to define any story out there and the characters in it by simply “are they getting together or not” because romance to me in storytelling is an additional flavor, not the main ingredient. It is one reason I really do not like Miraculous Ladybug for example. And the fact that Dobson seems to define Legend of Zelda a lot as a franchise by the “shipping potential” of Link and Zelda as implied by that panel, irks me in all the wrong ways.

I mean, for the most part the appeal of the Zelda games isn’t the “romance” between the two, it is traversing the land of Hyrule and saving it from evil while going on a big adventure. And let us be real here, Link and Zelda weren’t really an item pre-Ocarina of Time either. In the NES and SNES games they were essentially strangers to each other, with one filling the role of damsel in distress even a bit harder than Peach did. After all, Peach may be a princess, but she actually rules her kingdom. Zelda on the other hand is daddy’s little girl in those and other games post 1998. And the relationship they had in the cartoon, the one Dobson likes to call a “may they, won’t they” thing is in my opinion not cute, but toxic. She is a demanding bitch that calls him names at times, he is a horndog who needs a lecture by Sexual Harassment Panda and none of them improves character wise over the show.

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What a misogynistic piece of shit

There is a reason I consider Tetra, Zelda from Skyward Sword and the “Wild” Zelda the better interests, because not only do Link and Zelda here have better chemistry and are both nicer and more respectful to each other in a manner, they also support each other in very heroic ways. I mean, Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom willingly sacrificed her own conscious just so Link can have a shot at defeating Ganon and saving Hyrule in the future, while Link wants to do everything to save his friend. If that isn’t impactful, tragic and has so much romantic potential, I don’t know what else would count.

But hey, supposedly the cartoon is better. And the 365 Days Trilogy is a great love story with no unfortunate implications involving sexual relationships and abuse. *snark*

And then it is Samus turn. And I really have to wonder, if Dobson ever even played a Metroid Game before Other M anyway, as he hates games with scary elements and FPS.

Aside of once again whining about changing the hair color (Dobson seems to be something of a reverse Aryan enthusiast), he acts as if the addition of the Zero Suit in Metroid was a cardinal sin and “sexist crap”, to entice more men to playing her game.

Okay… for starters, the Metroid games were already enjoyed by a huge male demographic long before that or before even Metroid Prime. Samus wasn’t a “played by females thirsty for representation” only character, as that comic seems to imply. She was considered a female badass hero from the moment she first appeared and her design is deliberately inspired by Ripley from Alien. And skimpy? Again, Dobson doesn’t seem to know what certain words mean. Skimpy would be when the outfit would show more off her skin or was barely there. This is a skintight jumpsuit, that also has a function in the game as a less movement restricting suit compared to Samus armor. Heck, just watch this video, that guy gives some decent explanation on the suit itself.

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And yeah, I can agree that in certain cutscenes more so than the actual game, it does put quite a bit of emphasize on Samus “attributes” so to speak. But are we really trying to insinuate that the Zero Jumpsuit is more sexist than the character stripping off to her underwear as was the bonus ending content of the initial Metroid games?

youtube

And if the issue is that the skinsuit makes Samus more “sexy” and that Dobson does not want to see sexy characters in Nintendo games…

He should reevaluate the fact that he enjoyed the above later.

There is also this little tweet I found after the fact, Dosbon would make later in 2015, where he actually more or less confirms the idea, that he thinks the Japanese only care for Samus in a “sexy skintight” manner, by making this dumbass “joke” comparison

Ignoring the fact btw, that the pic on the left was drawn by Samus original designer Hiroji Kiyotake. Again, Dobson trying to discredit the Japanese. And don't get me even started that he enjoys Other M or takes more offense to the shoedesign of Samus in Smash Bros than anything

Finally, and to wrap this thing up, we reach the final panel, showing the executive declaring that the “old” stuff shall from now on be brushed off like Dobson tried to brush off his fetish artist days, all while the “new and improved, but truly despicable” pretenders of his favorite childhood heroes are behind him. Mario lobotomized to say MAMA MIA while his eyes look like he is possessed by the retardation of Talus, Link being a “silly girl who makes silly movements with her hands and likely just wants to hang out with cute boys”, while Samus looks pissed and just wishes she was in something less degrading for her than this comic. Like Other M.

Honestly, this comic just stinks of loser entitlement and as stated prior, toxic nostalgia. Dobson has never really been a creator of decent stuff, only a consumer who demands the next product as soon as he hungers for it and will be utterly judgemental to petty and spiteful degrees, when he doesn’t get what he wants or suddenly thinks he sees something “problematic” to it. And to him, already the fact that stylistic choices and aesthetics changed over time, a natural progression of things if you ask me, is “problematic” in his eyes. Dobson would have rather had for Zelda, Link, Mario, Samus and Co to be undefined postholders he could have projected himself on, or outdated 80s stereotypes and toxic men, because that is the first thing he was ever exposed to when it came to those characters. Why not go even further, Dobson? Erase the Switch, the Wii and any other game console post 1989 from history, so that gaming itself never evolves past the 8-Bit era. Let’s destroy Pokemon, God of War, Kirby, Sonic and many other franchises and characters, because they are not the “true heroes of the Golden Age of gaming”. Let’s see how you will like that, when they come for your beloved Skyrim.

Bottom line, Dobson is a nostalgic pig, stuck in a past he looks at through rose tainted, grease covered glasses and this comic more than anything written before and after that embodies the mentality quite as well. And even though he tried to play it off as a joke, anyone with half a brain saw through what it was really about. And they made Dobson know, partly through less words than I used here, why they thought his opinion and by extension he, sucked.

Dobson wasn’t just playing the overzealous Nintendo fan for shit and giggles. He was, this overzealous, almost destructive and utterly disrespectful fan, who believed in the superiority of his favorite childhood toy over the consoles of others, even if that included pissing off his own “kin” or accussing Nintendo of being problematic dirty foreigners. Just look at anything he would type in regard of Super Smash Bros for the Switch, like how pissed he was at the fact he had to put effort into getting his favorite character to play as. Essentially insinuating, the game and people enjoying it were crap, just because he was biased towards fighting games to begin with. And look, being critical of aspects of a game, is one thing. But some of the things Dobson found to complain about? Pathetic, childish and utterly irrelevant in the bigger picture of anything

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I want to punch him in the throat for this voice alone...

And if you think Dobson being an opinionated Nintendo fanboy is cringe, wait till we get to him being an opinionated PS3 hater.

But before that, I want to tear at least one of his shitty Zelda opinions a new one…

#andrew dobson #syac #so you are a cartoonist #tom preston #adobsonartwork #webcomic #youtube #adobsoncomic #nintendo #super mario #legend of zelda #link #samus aran #metroid #nintendo vember #Youtube

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milkytheholy1 · 3 months

Text

ROTTMNT Masterlist

Leo:

Just trying to relax - Leo x Female Reader

The week had been stressful, to say the least, you knew living in New York would cost you an arm and a leg if you wanted to carry on living in your small apartment you'd have to work a lot more shifts at Albearto's Pizza.

Part 2 - Leo x Female Reader

The sun beamed through your poorly made curtains, as loud car horns could be heard disrupting your sleep. A groan was released from your throat as your eyes slowly blinked open, you gradually started to lean up from your couch and glanced around the place.

24hr lockdown - Leo x GN Reader

You had walked into the lair with the intention of playing video games with Mikey and watching Lou Jitsu films with Raph. However, blaring red lights and a panicked Leo was something you were not expecting.

You're not gross - Leo x GN Reader

Request: Well can you do a rottmnt leo x reader were Leo is sick?

Tired yet? - Leo x GN Reader

Request: Can I... request a Leo x reader where both are suffering from insomnia, so they meet up for late night hanging out? Included with warm drinks owo

Online buds - Leo x Male Reader

Request: hey- can i request a leo/male reader meeting each other for the first time? (theyre online friends) it can b platonic or romantic aaaa.

Jealous much? - Leo x Female Reader

"Okay, it'll be easy all you have to do is seduce them," Donnie whispered as he adjusted the goggles around his eyes, zooming in on their target. You stared at Donatello, hands-on-hips, gawking at the back of his head "You're kidding, right?"

Candy Crush - Leo x Female Reader

Swinging your legs back and forth over the ledge of the building, you looked up gazing at the full moon in the inky, black sky. Your jacket was flapping in the slight breeze, your fingers tapping keys on your phone. Idly waiting for your partner, you decided to play some mobile games to pass the time.

Big bro to the rescue - Leo x GN Reader

"I remember practising how to ask you out in the mirror..."

I'm not Mikey - Leo x GN Reader

"You know you're my favourite, right?" "I better be."

Distraction - Leo x GN Reader

Wanted to get this out before Christmas but I've ended up writing it on Christmas Eve so sorry about that, think of it as my Christmas present to you XD Hope everyone has a fantastic Christmas and a happy new year!

Busy - Leo x Female Reader

I just love your 2018 leonardo, like mwah! Beautiful! I dont know if you do oneshots soley but if you did could we have one with leon and the reader just making out and the mood is great but then whoops !family! Just leon being embarresed especially because y/n just thinks its so freaking halarious

Winner - Leo x GN Reader

"You're jealous, aren't you?" "I'm not jealous."

Actions speak louder than words - Leo x GN Reader

Rottmnt leo scenario where he has a s/o, where Leo worries about his red stripes and s/o just goes over and cups his cheeks and kisses his nose, (I’d like the scenario to lead off with just that and s/o doesn’t say anything about his stripes. Figuring they’re actions would be enough here)?

Problem - Leo x GN Reader

I really LOVE your writing, can I request a Rise!Leo x reader angst one? Like ANGST angst where they are having a big fight in reader’s apartment because of something Leo did/said and reader it’s really upset/angry/hurt so they keep heating the fight and saying things until he kisses the reader, with a happy ending but like ANGST, Thank you and keep up the good work!

Pointy - Leo x GN Reader

Hi!!! I hope you are having a great weekend!!! Can I please get a story or headcanon of 2018 Leonardo x reader where the reader is a elf and has magical powers. But the reader is self conscious about their ears, face markings, and their unusual different color eyes. They have to use magic to hide who they really are when they are in public because people make fun of them. Can the story also be about 2018 Leonardo comforting the reader and reminding them how beautiful they are?

Dare - Leo x GN Reader

"If you bite your lip one more time, I'm going to do it for you."

Late night, deep thoughts - Leo x GN Reader

I had this idea after recently reading a fic on A03 called 'Night Light', which I highly recommend it's so good, anyway this idea kinda stemmed from a part in their fic. I hope you enjoy!

What's up, Doc? - Leo x GN Reader

"Its not funny! I'm supposed to be mad at you!"

I don't deserve you - Leo x Female Reader

the reader is very self conscious about her feelings towards the red slider and thinks that even Leo wouldn’t like her since no one else did, but then they are been chased (in a mission or a game with his brothers, idk) and have to hide together in a small place (like some closet or something) . Then a few things start to get serious and he says something that makes the reader even more uncomfortable and by the end she’s crying because she knows he’ll never even love her?

Draw me any day - Leo x GN Reader

Request: could you do a one where yn wants to draw leo (rotmnt) and tries to not show him but fails.

Why didn't you come? - Leo x Female Reader

Requesting a Rise Leonardo x fem reader where she is having bad days of her life and it’s her birthday and everyone had a surprise for her until Leo basically forgets about it? Then he remembers that he messed up and goes after the reader went and makes something I her bedroom like an apology ?

Boyfriend material - Leo x Female Reader

Heyy I’m a really big fan of yours. I just read your Rise!Donnie like fanfic and I was wondering how Rise!Leo would be in a lime. I just KNOW jokes and fun times will ensue!

Acceptable in the 80's - Leo x GN Reader

Okay, so as much as I would love to write this for 2012 Leo, it just seems right that I do it for Rise Leo, right? Like I can't really imagine the 2012 version to be singing and dancing all goofy, but Rise? Oh yeah. I can. Hope you enjoy!

The great pun war of 2021 - Leo x GN Reader

Can it be about RiseLeo and READER being the most charismatic, chaotic yet flirty frenemies and will only agree with one another with one liners. Then one day READER jokes about them being a couple but Leo gets nervous and just agrees about it and the gang takes things out on a dare to Leo?

Sin, Cos, Tan - Leo x GN Reader

Could you do a Rise Leo x reader where the reader has studying sessions with Donnie where he tutors them and Leo gets jealous and tries to help even though he doesn’t have a clue about math or science or anything like that? Lastly, if you can’t get to it I totally get that. Make sure to take care of yourself and drink plenty of water!

You're a mean one, Mr Grinch - Leo x GN Reader

so idk where i saw it but i saw a post where reader x donnie are like “frenemies” but they develop feelings for each other. Can you do something like that but with leo instead? like him and reader give each other so much shit (not to the point they hurt each others feelings tho) and they flirt ALL the time but they’re both oblivious to each others feelings.

Highway Man - Leo x GN Reader

“Make me.” “Bite me.”

I'm not dead, idiot! - Leo x Female Reader

hello, hope you are well! i absolutely love your writing and was wondering if you could do a rottmnt leo x fem!reader? maybe something along the lines of reader goes with the brothers on a mission and ends up getting injured and leo freaks out. like readers not dying or anything but he thinks they are and is like “no don’t die i love you too much”

Anytime - Leo x Male Reader

was wondering if I could request a Rise Leo x male reader who’s a yokai that looks kinda like male naga (a half human half snake being) but the reader is disguising as a human (kind of like how samanita was disguising), and one day as a joke Leo takes the amulet from the reader, and reveals what they truly look like and everyone just stares at them making the reader scared and nervous making him slither out of the lair.

The fantastical case of the missing shirt - Leo x Male Reader

Hi hope you are having a wonderful day! I absolutely LOVE your Tmnt fanfics! And I would like to request a one shot of Rise Leo x male reader with prompt #49 where The reader steals one of Leo’s shirts (since we see the turtles wear clothes sometimes in the show)

The future - Leo x GN Reader

Hey everyone, I'm back on my TMNT shit again. Rottmnt Leo x GNReader - set in the Kraang future.

My way - Leo x GN Reader

Okay so future Leo won by a landslide so here he is, not as much fluff as I had originally planned but a lot is implied and cute. Also got a mention of Casey in there for the one person in my ask box asking for it, hope you enjoy!

Late - Leo x GN Reader

Don't worry this features no spoilers for the movie but I will be doing some angst eventually.

A detective always interrogates twice - Leo x Female Reader

Howdy everyone! So this isn't related to Everything Ends, just want to make that clear right off the bat. This is in fact heavily inspired by an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia! It's from season 14, episode 5 titled "A Janitor Always Mops Twice", I'd check it out if you have the time, it might help make things less confusing. I also use a lot of 40's slang, so sorry in advance, but hey educate ya selves!

The big screen - Leo x Female Reader

Can You do a Rise Leo x a crush fem reader were the reader is an actor for a movie as the maniac villan but she is very shy irl (maybe Leo finds a fan fiction about reader, would he read it? XD) Is ok if you don't want to do this 😅

Donnie:

I've got a date - Donnie x GN Reader

Donatello had wanted to tell you for a while, he wanted to confess his admiration for you, his need to be with you, his love for you. He's, of course, tried multiple times to confess to you, but every time something or more usually someone interrupts the delicate atmosphere around you both.

Trust me - Donnie x Female Reader

Heyo! Could I request a Rise Donnie x Female Reader? I like the other Donnie oneshot you did! :3 If you want a plot for it, I was thinking maybe the reader has a sleepover with the turtle brothers, and they end up playing Truth or Dare... and the brothers try to set the unsuspecting girl with Donnie through the game! XD

Doctor Feelings strikes again - Donnie x Female Reader

RiseDonnie x Female Reader oneshot Request: Could you do another Donnie x reader where the reader and Donnie sits in for a lesson from Doctor Feelings?

Can I pick? - Donnie x GN Reader

Request: Okay, could you please do 32 with ROTTMNT Donnie? I could totally see him saying that first bit with Y/N inquiring the second

Bad to the bone - Donnie x Female Reader

Don gets his battle shell pierced through so it injures his soft shell while he protects reader in battle please? And then she comforts him and he opens up about how insecure he is about being soft so he keeps his bad boy image up all the time.

We're not done here - Donnie x Female Reader

How about a Donnie x Reader where the reader is really self-conscious about their body and has pretty sucky self-esteem? I feel like it'd be cute with how Donnie secretly relates and has enough confidence for the both of them!

Coward - Donnie x Female Reader

Request: f reader is concerned about why Donnie is no longer talking with her about what he's working on, how his day went, etc. he always brushes her off with a blushed face and wants to get back to work. she thinks it's because he's sad or mad or whatever, but it's actually just because Donnie just realized that he has a crush on her and is bashful.

Tough cookie - Donnie x GN Reader

where the reader has a GREAT relationship with all the turtles (like especially Leo, they're best friends) **except** Donnie. like, i wouldn't necessarily call the reader a bully but they like to mess around and make fun of Don alot, but the reason why they tend to pick on Donnie is because they're actually really jealous of him and how smart he is and secretly wanna be good friends with him but since he's kinda a tough cookie to crack they've just given up on the friends thing and only make fun of him.

Why? - Donnie x GN Reader

Can I get a donnie rottmnt scenario where he has a crush on someone who is very emotional base and likes fantasy and magic stuff over science and tech, but they can understand donnie when he talks and actually admit they think he sounds kind of poetic with how detailed he describes things while they have a hard time doing the same?

Experimental bo - Donnie x Female Reader

"What kind of superhero are you?"

Radio Ga Ga - Donnie x Female Reader

“How long have you been standing there?” “Longer than you’d like.”

Daydream Believer - Donnie x Female Reader

May I have (27.) "You gotta stop doing that." "What?" "Saying things that make me wanna kiss you.") With rise donnie x female reader who is self conscious about their singing voice and Donnie overhears and compliments it? Maybe a kiss at the end por favor? It doesn’t have to be long I just am craving some fluff

Say it - Donnie x Female Reader

Just want to give a big thank you to mistresslottie on Wattpad for helping me with this. I literally had no clue how to write lime-like stuff and they're one of my favourite tmnt writers out there so was super happy they helped me.

Bad boy got game - Donnie x Female Reader

guys meeting reader during a mission of sorts, where it ends with them breaking an object(a camera, phone, laptop etc) and the reader looking DEJECTED, not even mad. And of course Donnie could fix it…but rise!donnie’s trying to be the emotionless bad boy™ right? But no. Sad reader eyes. Says ‘no, it’s fine. I’ll just replace it :(‘ and he feels guilty, and she looks SO sad, so he does it anyway. He gives her the new and donnie-improved whatever.

Proposition - Donnie x GN Reader

Request: That's completely fine with me! I was wondering if you could do a oneshot for a Rise Donnie x Fem or GN reader (I don't mind) where the reader has severe anxiety and doesn't really like to talk about they're problems- kinda like how Donnie isn't a touchy Feely kinda guy so he could relate and helps the reader out. Sorry if that's too confusing. I was inspired by the song Control by Zoe Wees.

Lip locked - Donnie x Female Reader

Donnie and reader have been together for a while and they are in Donnies lab hanging out while Donnie is working on a few things and reader is doing homework for the next day and she keeps biting her lips while thinking, Donnie finds it distracting and keeps telling her to stop it. Until he can’t take it and says “if you bite your lip one more time, I’m going to do it for you.” And reader thinks about it before acting innocent and bites her lip while turning back to her homework, Donnie getting irritated and kisses reader.

The colour purple - Donnie x GN Reader

“I have a feeling we should kiss.” “Is that a good feeling or a bad feeling?” “Shut up and kiss me already.”

Record breaking dive - Donnie x GN Reader

ello, how about: RiseLeo / RiseDonnie (one of them) and the reader are secretly in love with each other, but they cannot admit it, because they are afraid of being rejected by their beloved because of the differences in their species (human and mutant). Therefore, they continue to hide their feelings until a certain point or accidental confession.

Moth man - Donnie x Male Reader

I’ve been binge reading your rottmnt fics and I would like to request rottmnt Donnie X male reader where the reader is also a mutant but the reader is a moth mutant so he’s got fluff all over his body (cause moths have fluffy bodies), and Donnie can’t help but have some curiosity about how soft the readers fluff is.

It's my favourite colour - Donnie x GN Reader

Could I maybe ask for a rise Donnie x reader (female is preferable but Gender neutral is alright with me) where the reader’s favorite color is purple and she always wears it. Then one day she’s sitting in the lab with Donnie when he can’t stop staring and eventually the reader makes a joke like: “what? You wanna kiss me or smth?” And he just takes it seriously and nods.

Mikey:

I don't hate you? - Mikey x GN Reader

Could you do a rottmnt (whichever turtle do you it’s the best suit for) x shy reader ( blushes easily, it’s friendly but when crush comes around gets very clumsy and quiet) it’s kinda obvious that both like each other ( but either can see that they do ) and reader really wants to confess but gets cold feet w/ how the boys treat April?

Food fight! - Mikey x Female Reader

Request Rise!Mikey x female reader where Mikey and the reader are maybe hanging out in the kitchen baking because they were bored with nothing too interesting to do and since they were so distracted by how much fun they were having with their little food fights they ended up making a mess of the kitchen.

Happy thoughts - Mikey x Female Reader

Can you do an established relationship with rise mikey x female reader and the reader needs late night cuddles because she can’t sleep due to nightmares that the turtles (especially Mikey) might not survive one of the missions the team goes on?

Raph:

Little nightmares - Raph X GN Reader

ROTTMNT Raph x Sleepy Reader, you know where the reader has been having bad nightmares, so Raph decides to comfort the reader and the reader would thank him.

Into The Sewers - Raph X GN Reader

So, could it be where the reader is a neutral acquaintance and finds Raph alone in his ‘savage’ state, and has to help him calm down so they can find his brothers?

Alone - Raph X GN Reader

"I can't take the loneliness anymore."

Nurse Raph - Raph X GN Reader

could i request a rottmnt raph x enby reader (platonic) where the reader just had surgery and is kinda achy? i had a surgery yesterday and im looking for some turtle comfort

#rottmnt #rottmnt masterlist

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astralfuchs · 17 days

Note

Given how “unique” a Miku concert would be I’m surprised Crypton themselves didn’t send some team members or equipment personally to make sure things are set up right bc other than some performers that might hide their face/wear disguises idk how many usual concert locations have something prepped for “holo” projections compared to Japan and their Vtuber boom (although I’d rather buy a plushie from a booth but hopefully at least the theatres would have good sound quality)

Sucks for any workers scrambling and getting hate/hope it doesn’t affect the sales of any other indie ppl performing their concerts

The weird thing is it worked before. I went to miku Expo 2018 in cologne and 2020 in Berlin. Both times it was an actual hologram concert with the same band as magical Mirai. Neither of these two locations had a concert like this before, I'm pretty sure. All of the equipment must've been toured around with thew Miku Expo crew. Going against advertising and expectations (basically all of these concerts, and like all of them in recent years were holographic) without notifying buyers beforehand and also not even afterwards when people keep asking is, to put it lightly, customer unfriendly at best and a scam at worst.

I arrived a bit late in 2018 since I only had standard so I don't know how it was there, but in 2020 people went around giving out free stickers and badges, or general stuff they got from other miku events. One of them seemed to be a huge meiko fan so when she gifted me something I gave her the meiko badge I got from the random gacha button bags. Stuff like that really made it feel like a community coming together, so reading that giving out badges, stickers, etc. wasn't allowed this year, even for people who specifically got an okay from cfm and also got their stuff stolen from is surreal.

I had vip in 2020 and as far as I know everyone got their vip merchandise, which doesn't seem to be the case this year, which makes no sense because you would know how many people at this location have the vip ticket. Another thing I read is that vip ticket holders were supposed to be let in earlier for merchandise and the concert hall but it didn't happen, which also worked flawlessly before in my experience.

Merchandise being not enough for everyone is sadly not new, I was in line for it in 2018 and when I was three people away the store people shouted they were all sold out, which was very much a bummer but I thankfully bought the penlight and t-shirt beforehand in the online store so it wasn't too bad for me and as I said I was quite late to the so definitely in the latter half of the people that got in. Still should've been more but I would chalk it up to being the first concert in Europe and them not having expected such a huge crowd maybe. How this is still the case 6 years later and in America where there were concerts way before 2018 is beyond me.

I don't know if this is because of crunchyroll (it probably is tho) but I can't say cfm is innocent either since they partnered with them and it's their job to ensure everything is up to standard, which clearly didn't happen.

For me, I was really happy to hear there was going to be a Europe one again, especially since I really loved it, it is such a magical experience so the last year's being online only made me super sad since it isn't the same in the slightest, but seeing it's also partnered with crunchyroll I decided against it. It's because I loved it so much that it really saddens me to see what is currently going on (also probably why I wrote so much, very sorry). Miku Expo is one of the best, magical and insane events you can go to as a vocaloid/piaproloid fan and I wish for all fans, people who've been in the Fandom longer and already have been to Miku Expo, and newer fans that didn't have the chance yet, to have that same experience but this is not it. This being someone's first miku expo experience is just a sad thing to think about considering what a massive downgrade the experience is. I hope there will be official statements soon and that the people who are currently experiencing it still have a good time.

#Sorry for long post #I sadly have a lot of opinions when it comes to vocaloid related stuff #Being in a fandom for almost 10 years does things to you #Miku expo #Miku Expo 2024 #My post #Long post #ask

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japhan2024 · 7 months

Note

Ian throws Anthony a surprise birthday party

Such a timely prompt :D

I decided to combine this fic with this promt:

The Best Day Ever

November thirtieth, 1987

June seventeenth, 1984

September sixteenth, 1987

Ian never had to think about these dates. He just knew, from around a month before they were due, to buy a gift and send a card. Of course he would also just call his sister and he'd see Anthony every week anyway. It had been like that for years and years. But the last few of them had been painful.

September sixteenth, 2017. Ian had sent a card and a text. No reply.

September sixteenth, 2018. Ian had sent nothing.

September sixteenth, 2019. Ian had sent a text. Just a 'thanx' in return.

September sixteenth, 2020. Ian had sent a birthday meme. 'lol thanks'.

September sixteenth, 2021. Ian sent nothing.

And September sixteenth, 2022. Nothing.

But now it was August 16th 2023 and Ian was determined to make Anthony's upcoming birthday count for seven. He was pacing up and down his Los Angeles appartement, suddenly stopped and shouted: "that's it!" into the dullness of the evening.

"What's up with Ian the last few days?" Shayne asked Keith at the Smosh headquarters.

They'd barely seen Ian, which had been common but not lately, now Anthony was there too. They peaked into Ian's office.

"He's still on the phone?"

Shayne stroked an imaginary goatee. "He's up to something…!"

Then the invitations started to arrive at people's doorsteps. They were impeccably hand written in gold letters that made you feel guilty of even considering not going. "The Declaration of Anthony Day" was written proudly at the top of each invitation. People would ask each other if they'd gotten one in hushed tones, and soon it was apparent that everyone at Smosh - the cast, the crew, the supporting staff - they were all invited. This was going to be some hell of a party.

And then the day arrived. A dull Saturday morning, Anthony had invited Ian, Mykie and a couple of his close friends for a vegan brunch at his home. Nothing fancy. Turning thirty-seven wasn't a particularly remarkable feat and Anthony didn't want to remind everyone of how hot he was while being the oldest person at Smosh.

The brunch was nice and uneventful, and Anthony was ready to spent the rest of the day quietly but all of a sudden the doorbell rang.

"Did we order pizza?" Mykie asked.

"I don't think so?" Anthony said, confused.

He opened the door and his jaw might as well have hit the floor. Shane Told from Silverstein was at his doorstep, dressed in all black but casual garments, and said matter-of-factly: "Happy birthday Anthony! Are ya comin'?"

"Wh.. whaaaat?" Anthony laughed and looked around, and immediately found the culprit. Ian stood there cheesing like a fool.

"Are you behind this, bestie?" Anthony asked. Ian winked.

Everyone followed Shane down the stairs and then they saw it: a sparkling monstrosity of a party bus. It was already packed with people!

"Oh my god, Jenna? Justine? Ryan! Natalie?!"

It was like the bus was filled with the year 2005. Anthony loved it. All these OG youtubers he'd not seen for ages. All of them greeted him with hugs and kisses and giggles and there was wine and champagne, and Anthony's party entered the bus as well and they drove off into downtown LA. When they arrived, Anthony saw they were at Rahel Ethiopian Vegan Cuisine, one of the best vegan restaurants in the city.

The owner of the restaurant greeted the party at the door and said "In honor of Anthony Day I have prepared you the most delicious foods! Please come inside."

"Anthony Day?" Anthony wondered aloud, and Ian laughed.

The evening was simply wonderful and Anthony saw so many people he almost got dizzy. But the night wasn't over: Ian's phone rang and he said "Hey Anthony, it's for you!"

Anthony picked up the phone, and he saw his mom in her home, together with Ian's mom who was apparently visiting.

"Hello dear," they said in near unison. Anthony was on the verge of tears.

"Hi moms."

They exchanged some sweet words and congratulations and when they hung up, Anthony dived in to hug Ian.

"This means so much to me, Ian."

Ian smiled mischievously.

"What are you planning now?" Anthony said mock-accusingly.

"Well, Anthony, you've just eaten the best meal of your life, but not everything can be five stars on your birthday. I've made you something that you must eat, or I will be offended! But I can't promise you that it's any good, or edible at all…"

The chef appeared again and rolled up a cake with thirty-seven candles on it.

"You made the cake?!" Anthony asked Ian, with a quiver in his voice.

"I sure did buddy. You know the last six years I haven't gotten you a proper gift or anything. I want to make good on that."

"Oh Ian!" Anthony hugged him again.

"Alright, alright," Ian patted Anthony on the back but he smiled widely while he did it.

To be honest, the cake did taste mediocre, but Anthony didn't mind at all. It was all the more proof that Ian had actually made it himself. He ate a whole chunk of it, and it wouldn't have mattered, all the other things. Just this cake alone, and Ian, those were the best gifts he could have ever gotten. Anthony was blissfully happy. When he went to sleep that night, he croaked to Mykie:

"I love Ian so much, he's the best friend in the entire world."

"I know you do honey," Mykie replied sweetly. "I'm so glad you're finally back together. You've been so much happier, and that in turn makes me happier."

Anthony hugged her under the blankets.

"You're such a hugger, I love it."

"Come here, daddy wants his cuddles," Anthony joked. But he was so tired that he fell asleep almost immediately after that.

#Anthony Day #Anthony's Day #ianthony

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not-so-mundane-after-all · 11 months

Text

Fandom: DC Titans

Title: The Empty Nest Syndrome

Pairings/Relationships: Dick Grayson & Rachel Roth, Kory Anders & Rachel Roth, Graysonfam, Dickkory

Summary:

The day came faster than Dick would have liked. He was dreading it since the moment he found out, the feeling pooling in his gut like liquid fire. But he squashed it down with an explosion of pride that filled his chest, his face lit up by a smile so wide his cheeks hurt when Rachel announced at the table that she applied for college. She had always longed to be a normal kid and the fact she was going to finally experience it the way she wanted filled him with nothing but joy. He was happy for her. After everything she's been through, she deserved it. Still, selfishly, he never wanted the actual day to come. --------- Dick and Kory drop Rachel off at Bludhaven University on her first day of college. Everyone's a mess and failing to hide it, Dick most of all.

Well, the journey had come to an end... But we're still writing! The finale was absolutely amazing, I am very satisfied with how our favorite family's story had been wrapped up, though a tiny bit sad at the fact they won't be spending much more time under one roof. But that's fine! I mean, my baby girl is going to college 🥹🥹🥹🥹 And I've spent the last few days obsessing over how much of a wreck Dick will be when the day finally comes. This fic is the result!

I also wanted to take a second to thank you all for reading the things I've been putting out for the last four years. Writing for this fandom is an honor and a privilege. It hasn't always been easy or felt like it's worth it, but I don't take any of it for granted. Thank you for every single comment and all the kudos, all the bookmarks and subscriptions. It means the absolute world. I've been feeling pretty low about writing Titans lately but this finale really lifted me up and made me feel inspired. So I'm not leaving just yet!

New chapter of Acrida coming in the next few days!

Enjoy!

@wonderbatwayne @ambeauty @escapism-through-imagination @meetmeunderthestarrynight @legendsofentity @kirjavasblade @undertheknightwing

#dc titans #tv: titans #titans #dcu titans #titans season 4 spoilers #titans s4 #titans spoilers #titans season 4 #dick grayson #rachel roth #kory anders #garfield logan #graysonfam #dickkory #titans fic

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yxkhei · 5 months

Text

I'm gonna gush for a moment because..I can!

So, I've been here what feels like..forever, joining in 2018, leaving for a bit and then coming back, I can't seem to stay away! Especially not after meeting some special people and creating some genuine connections that I'll be treasuring for forever because they mean so much to me. This group and the people in it truly brought back my love for writing and creating in a point in my life where I felt as if I'd lost it and didn't enjoy it anymore. I know I've gotten much busier lately (adulting..iykyk) but I still love spending my time here, writing with you all and creating some amazing memories I'll truly treasure. But I wanna give a special shoutout to the one person who really does mean the absolute most to me, and that's M. I gushed to you last night, but you genuinely do mean the world to me. You've been there for me through some of my darkest moments and toughest trials in life, especially this year more than most because you know all the things I'd gone through and you were by my side through all of it. I cannot begin to tell you how much that and all your support truly means to me. You've seen me through a lot of shit that I don't know if I would've been able to make it through without you. You always know how to put a smile on my face and bring me out of my moods and make me basically feel like a person again when I don't ever think I can. You also amaze me with how strong you are, just like you said to me! You're also able to really see the good in everything and everyone and that's so special because you never see that much anymore in people. Writing with you is the highlight of my rp-ing career just because of so much fun we have with all of our babies. You really made me enjoy and love writing again when I never thought I'd be able to. You inspire me to want to try harder, to create more and be as creative as I can be and I can't tell you how amazing that feels. Like you said, thank you for always putting up with me all these years and I've found someone amazing in you, babe. Thank you for everything else you do with and for me, it never goes unnoticed. I love you, bb! 💕 @tcemint

I wanna give another shoutout to some others who are always so welcoming and make me happy writing with too! I love all the friendships and connections I've formed with all of you on my fcs and I always look forward to writing and doing things with each and every one of you. You're all so amazing and thank you for being there and being so welcoming to all of my fcs even if you may not know much about them or who they are. None of it goes unnoticed! @tcmhcll @tthompscn @kvmnamjoons @westcoastsaweetie @margseliserobbie @scrchdrew @janggyul @ninqningie @thatnattyice @m-mount Ilyyyyy all. 🫶🏼

#( ooc. )#hfrpappreciation

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3terna15unshin3 · 11 months

Text

Then Because She Goes

I wake up, love you, so love you, love you

★ Chapter 5 of 15, 4926 words

★ Matty Healy x Original Female Character

★ warnings: alcohol consumption

<< 4

25 December, 2018

The holidays were celebrated peacefully and with tons of food, in the Manansala family. Este’s mum and dad spent the day cooking all of her favourite Filipino food for an early Christmas dinner, then enjoyed a classic roast dinner the next afternoon on Boxing Day.

Well-fed and happy to be back home to hang out with their family dog Dano (a mellow golden retriever, named after Este’s obsession with the film Little Miss Sunshine), she had a relaxing holiday. And, as much as the regressive feeling of staying in her childhood house sort of stressed her out, Este took advantage of her last couple of days off of work by not making many plans.

That was until she got a message from Matty. He always hopped around for Christmas, since his own friends and family were messily dispersed between London and the north countryside. He and the rest of the band were allowed a holiday break from rehearsals, so he spent late December basking in the calm before the storm. Matty knew he’d eventually be in Manchester with some free time. So, he decided to send Este a text.

Their conversation had graduated to iMessage after Matty suggested the idea that night in Kingston. As nice as their budding friendship had been, he found himself thinking of Este with affection. How she could make him laugh both on purpose and by accident, the way her hair sat lazily on the edges of her face, her love for books and her skill for allowing other people to experience what she feels when reading them.

So, he considered maybe asking her on a date. But the idea of that scared Matty—the formality of asking, the possibility of rejection. When trying to assume if she felt the same way, he was coupled with uncertainty, but he reached out anyway.

Este

Tue, 25 Dec at 13:02 PM

Merry Christmas x

Free to grab coffee on the 28th? 6 ish?

I’ll be in town that evening, if u are up for it

Only a couple of messages were sent between them since the album release party. Este, of course, showered him in flattery after first listening to it, whole-heartedly impressed by his work. Since Matty’s drunk words were sober thoughts that night, he really did care about Este’s opinion of him. He bubbled with joy when reading her messages. If she was telling the truth, that is. But Matty didn’t take her as a liar.

It had been busy for both of them; Matty was doing press for the month following A Brief Inquiry’s release and rehearsing for tour, while Este, Sam, and Oliver were dealing with the pre-holiday retail craziness. With that in mind, Matty was surprised to get a fairly quick response from her.

Este

Tue, 25 Dec at 14:10 PM

28th is my first day back to work :( off at 8 as usual

But we can do something afterwards if that's not too late?

And Merry Christmas to you too x hope you’re enjoying a break from the craziness

I am thank you !

I could just come by and hang out while u work bc I love it there Lol

Unless it’ll be busy I can just meet you there after close

That would be lovely! It’s always super slow the week after Christmas anyway

Everyone’s too busy raiding the big shops for the sales

ok cool I’ll probably show around 6:30

I need to chat to ur face about the album too :P

You’ve said enough about the album Este bloody hell

I don’t think I can take another compliment

Ego been fed enough lately?

Yeah actually thanks

Trying to learn how to be humble

Thank god x

✴ 28 December, 2018

A bay of colourful spines stared at Este as she stood in the Teen Fiction section trying to help a middle-aged mum find a book for her daughter. Every fragment of her teenage memories that popped into her mind felt outdated or not the right fit for the customer.

“I find that she’s rarely challenged with the books she reads, you know? I want her to really fall into the trance of a novel, have it leave an effect on her. I don’t think a book has done that for her yet,” the mum explained passionately.

Este thought back to the moments she felt that way for a book. One she read a couple of years ago—when she was definitely too old to do so—came up. Its heavy subject matter and vast symbolism and imagery struck her. Her hands picked the familiarly bright blue book.

“This one’s called Challenger Deep. I read it well into my twenties, but it explores topics I think other teen fiction writers refuse to explore. A little heavy, but for the right purpose. I think your daughter would love it, if she feels really deeply, like me.”

The mother, Orla, spent another 25 minutes chatting with Este about the intensity of being a teenager in the state of the world. A phenomenon the book shop worker never got sick of was getting a peek into the lives of the people of Manchester. Este felt like every time someone new walked into the shop, she got to know her city a bit better.

“Thank you again, Este. You’ve been lovely,” said Orla after checking out the novel for her daughter. Her boots then stepped out of the shop and into the breezy evening air.

The quiet day continued, piles of books slowly getting sorted through and reorganised. Matty, of course, was on her mind. Este watched the clock as 6:30 neared, but no text came through from him yet. She was hoping he wouldn’t catch her while deep in conversation with another customer, or (embarrassingly) struggling to carry a stack of books.

Once 6:50 rolled around, Este finally heard from him.

matty

Fri, 28 Dec at 18:49 PM

Sorry im already late

Just left late tbh

Lol ur fine

Do you like bubble tea??

You realise I’m Asian right???? course I like bubble tea

and you don’t have to bring anything! I’m okay

Omg you’re asian I would have ever guessed

Shut up and tell me your order

Matcha milk tea with pearls pls

Thank you xx

Ok gonna be even more late now but u know why so

Matty didn’t end up walking through the front door until quarter past seven. “There he is,” commented Este.

He held the two bubble tea drinks, one in each hand, raising them both in celebration. “I made it,” he said, handing her the green one. “Only 40 minutes late!”

After thanking him, Este took hers to the counter to set it down and puncture the top with the pointy side of the straw. Matty did the same. She looked at his drink, taking note of its purple colour. “You like taro?”

He looked at her, confused. “Yes? Should I not like taro?”

A laugh escaped from her lips and she shook her head no. “You should. I love taro. Just surprised, that’s all,” she admitted without elaborating.

“You’re surprised because I’m white and uncultured and should be picking, like, strawberry or something, aren’t you?”

“I didn’t say that.”

✴

Matty carried over a metal stool from the back room to set it next to the one Este sat on. Together, they sat behind the counter, sipping on their teas and chewing up the boba.

“Can you let me say one more thing about the album? So I can just get it out and then move on?” asked Este. Matty sat on her left, fidgeting with the spinning seat of his stool, swivelling back and forth over and over; while she sat still and faced him fully.

“Okay, fine. This is your last chance.”

She smiled, happy to be able to get her last point out. “My favourite track isn’t Love It If We Made It, like you’d think.”

“Really? What is it then?”

“I Couldn’t Be More In Love.”

Matty looked back at her for a second, shocked. “Tell me why.”

“It sort of feels like being down on your knees and screaming at the sky. And it sounds really guttural. Your voice carries with so much urgency. I love its composition too, with the twinkly 90s sounding keys and saxophone solo and key change. It has all the elements of a standard, a perfected and refined sound—that almost holds down the rawness of the vocal.”

His swivelling gradually slowed to a halt as Este spoke. She had pointed out every aspect of the song that Matty loved, while her hands gesticulated in front of her, helping her process her own thoughts. Every word she used felt carefully chosen and placed strategically. It was refreshing.

“You know,” Matty started, with a smile of gratitude hanging from his mouth. “I recorded that vocal, like, a day before I went to rehab. So there was this hopelessness to them, and to be honest I sang it better after I got out. But it just felt right, so we left ‘em.”

“That makes me like it even more,” Este replied shortly, chewing more pearls and looking at him with admiration. She sensed he had more to say, so she let him continue.

“And not many people know, but it isn’t about a girl or romantic relationship. I wrote it about the idea of, like, what happens if all of this disappears—when nobody cares. Getting to do this thing, writing music, and having it personally affect people and being able to keep making more. It’s genuinely the one way I make sense of the world. Not even the fact that I have that vehicle to process my emotions but just knowing that it’s there. What happens when I’m not sure it’s there anymore?”

She let the information sit between the two of them for a beat. “Things always make sense when you’re the one explaining them.” They smiled at each other. “It’s comforting. Makes me feel hopeful. Like, if someone understands themself in this way then maybe one day I will too. An understanding deep enough to remain curious.”

He laughed, swishing around the straw in his close to empty bubble tea. Setting it down on the counter, Matty’s feverish hands reached for something else to twiddle with. A stack of sticky notes was in his hands, now ripping the yellow sheets into skinnier strips and connecting them end to end to make one long piece.

“When I listened the first time, I obviously thought it was about a relationship. So it made me think of an ex of mine,” Este mentioned hesitantly, watching Matty toy with the paper, nervous to bring up what she was about to. “It was my first time, like, actually being in love. So after things didn’t work out, it was so hard for me to grasp just not loving her anymore. When all I’d done the whole time was love her. So that whole, ‘What about these feelings I’ve got?’ thing really hit me.”

Matty paused for a second, having a quick panic internally. Is Este gay? I thought Cate was the gay one. It was embarrassing to imagine beginning to pursue someone not interested in him, let alone anyone of his gender. If that was the case, their friendship would be just fine the way it is—but his infatuation felt too far gone to reverse.

“That’s kind of where that line came from. And what I want people to feel when they listen. But when I thought about what it means to me, it wasn’t romantic at all,” he said. “Have you loved anyone since then?”

“No. Not in the same way. The true bisexual experience is having a huge pool of humans you could be attracted to and then not liking any of them. At least for me,” Este responded, bringing a light-heartedness back into her speech. Matty relaxed in reassurance and joined her in laughter. Bi. Good. Phew, even. “Was it easy? Figuring out your sexuality, I mean?”

She got up to walk over to the door and bolt it shut, flipping the sign to read ‘closed’. “In a way. Growing up, I thought the feelings I had for girls weren’t the same as the ones I had for boys, just because I thought they had to be different. Even though I knew they were there. And then I grew up—learning more and more—and things started to make sense. But it was never fully easy, or linear. Or definitive.”

She sat back down, continuing to watch Matty fold up the ripped paper. He brought one end of the strip of paper up and around itself. Using his fingers to flatten it, a small pentagon was formed, and he took the remaining length of paper to resume folding.

“That’s sort of what I find so difficult about it,” he admitted. “So many people over the years have taken what I say about my sexuality and construed it to mean something concrete—when that’s just not how I see it.”

His thumb nail, one by one, made small creases in each side of the flat chunk of paper to create the recognisable five points of a star. Matty set it down, now complete, on the counter and slid it over to Este. She picked it up and rolled it in her fingers, replying while studying it and bringing it close to her face. “It’s for sure frustrating when people think they know you better than you know yourself.”

Matty grabbed another couple of sticky notes to start another star. “I’m kind of envious of people like you, you know. Who have it figured out. I have such a hard time letting myself truly feel things that I find myself coming millimetres close to understanding myself in a different way than before and then I just pull away at the last minute. Just in fear of not liking what I discover, or looking stupid. Which I should stop being scared of.”

“I don’t have it all figured out, not even a little bit.” Este ripped up a few papers to try and copy him but she failed. No words had been shared between them about the technique, since they were busy conversing, so she only had the visual aid of Matty making another in front of her. She gave up, letting him just hand over the second one for her to hold. “You being aware of that fear is enough understanding in itself, in my opinion.”

They sat quietly for a couple of seconds, Este finishing her last few sips of tea and tossing the empty cup into the bin. “Is that what Sincerity Is Scary is about? That fear?”

He looked at her, nodding to confirm her question. “The stupidity of that fear.”

“Wow, I should become a music journalist or something,” she joked, shocked that she got it right.

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, darling.”

Matty made more stars as their conversation persisted. He varied the width of every strip of paper to make ones of all sizes. A pile of yellow origami accumulated. Este watched, still not understanding how it was done. She found it endearing—and quite cute—to witness the attention and effort he was putting into the mundane craft.

“You hungry?” she asked, finding a lull in their discussions.

He glanced up at the clock, seeing its hands pointing at 10:07pm. “Always,” agreed Matty. “In the mood for something specific?”

Este remembered that she had walked to work that afternoon, after lending her car to Cate for the day while hers was getting serviced. So, she considered places within walking distance from Greenhouse. “Piccadilly Tavern does some good food. Just down the road,” she suggested.

“Sounds good to me.”

They gathered Matty’s collection of stars into the corner of the counter, while Este secretly hoped Sam would leave them there for her to be able to collect them again tomorrow, and then put on their jackets. His bubble tea was now empty and in the bin alongside hers.

Small clicks were heard while the two walked around the shop to turn off the lamps. Then, they were out the door one after the other, Este locking up behind them, and taking off to the pub. Matty extended his arm, bent at the elbow, towards her. She noticed—confused at first—but eventually wrapped her own around it and came close to the warmth of his body. The air sat at a chilly 5°C, but it didn’t feel that way when they had the other so close.

As the pub neared, Matty and Este observed its packed nature from the outside window. They had both forgotten the state of pubs on Friday nights.

“I honestly don’t think we’ll even physically fit inside,” he said as they paused before the door. Their arms were still linked. Este had to stop herself from accidentally stepping on Matty’s foot.

“I’d suggest another place, but they do a great margherita pizza here and it’s kind of all I can think about right now,” she confessed.

He chuckled. “We can takeaway?” Matty pulled the door open, and she went in, approving of his suggestion.

The wait for a pizza to share was only 15 minutes and Este left her number to get a call when they were ready; so they sat on the curb outside to avoid the bustling building. Despite him protesting, she paid for the food. Matty had already bought the drinks from earlier, so Este argued that it only made sense for her to cover dinner. He gave in.

“Oh, I have news for you,” Matty mentioned vaguely.

Este was curious. “News?”

“Yeah. I finished On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous last night.”

“Go on! How do you feel?” she eagerly pushed. Matty dragged out his thoughts with silence to build suspense, making her writhe in impatience. Este shoved his shoulder with hers to try and get his words out faster. “Seriously, if you have anything bad to say about this one I might have to walk away right now. That’s a warning.”

“I think it’s my favourite piece of fiction I’ve read in the past three years.”

✴

The pub rang Este about their ready-to-go pizza in the middle of their conversation about On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. They talked about Vuong’s words and what made them so poignant, and Matty even claimed that her annotations benefited his reading experience (and embarrassing her by referencing some of her notes verbatim).

Matty offered to go inside to fetch their takeaway and carried it for the entirety of the walk to her flat, after they decided it was more sensible to go there rather than camping out in Greenhouse after hours. Plus, she knew that Cate would be staying over at Georgia’s for the night, so they’d have the place to themselves. By the time they got up to Este’s door, the food was still hot, since her flat was only a short walk from The Piccadilly Tavern.

“Must be nice to live in this area. To be within walking distance to your work and all of the shops around Piccadilly and everything,” commented Matty.

“Yeah. It's busy, though. And it makes it too easy to just stay in my little bubble and never leave.”

She held the door open for Matty and the pizza box to squeeze through, and he set it on the dining room table.

“When I was in my early twenties—living here—I wouldn’t have ever wanted to leave,” he admitted.

Their jackets came off.

“Water okay with you?” she asked, jug in hand. “It’s either that or wine. Choose wisely.”

He opened up their takeaway, positioning the pizza so that they could share it, and then took a seat. “I mean… I’ve got no plans in the morning that a hangover could disturb. Do you?”

Este paused to think and then turned to pull on the handle of the drawer beneath the microwave, pulling out a corkscrew. Matty laughed at her non-verbal answer to his question and graciously accepted the glass of red she poured for him.

Their first bites of pizza hit the spot. Este wasn’t lying when she said the Tavern did a great margherita. They spent a couple of minutes eating, with small portions of conversation squeezing between their mouthfuls of pizza.

“So what’s next year looking like for you? Touring the world?” she asked, stopping at her third slice.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Matty wiped his mouth with a napkin before continuing. “We start with the UK in early January, bit of a break in February. Then, hopefully the Brits—if we’re nominated. Off to South America for some festivals, then Coachella and US tour through to June maybe? Coming back over during the summer for Big Weekend and a bunch of European festivals. Summer Sonic in Japan, Reading and Leeds. Australia and then Asia—I think ending it off with more US dates. All while writing and recording the next album, too.”

Este’s mouth hung open, struggling to conceptualise his crazy schedule. A whole year of travelling? Non-stop? It seemed impossible to her. She realised that it’s Matty’s job and that he’d done it before, so it must not be as scary to him. “Wow,” was all she could mutter out.

“Yeah, I know,” he said with a chuckle.

“I don’t know if I’d survive that.”

“I barely did, last cycle. Did a bunch of smack, and stuff.” He sipped his wine and laughed. The glass was close to empty now. “But it’s worth it in the end."

She dusted the powdery flour accumulating on her fingertips into the corner of the box, considering the fact that it may be the last time she saw Matty for a while. It unexpectedly saddened Este. Conversing over text was fun and friendly, but moments like that first night; sitting on the couch and sipping beers in her flat, or drunkenly shouting at each other over the music in Kingston, and making origami stars behind the counter at Greenhouse, all made her realise how great his company was. Her attachment grew. Would their connection sustain through the year he was away? Does he even want it to sustain? she pondered.

“I’ll have to write down that crazy schedule on paper to break the news to my nan that you can’t attend her party,” Este joked.

“When is it?” Matty asked.

She could see a glimmer in his eye. Oh god. He wants to come, she thought. “No,” denied Este. “You’re not coming.”

A smile grew on his face as he realised she was onto his intent of asking. “Come on. Tell me when it is,” he insisted, playfulness evident in his voice.

“You’ll be on tour, Matty. I’m not going to make you show up to a banquet hall to celebrate my nan and granddad’s anniversary.”

“It’s not ‘making me show up’ if she told you to invite me and if I want to go,” Matty argued.

Este covered her face in embarrassment, with her elbows resting on the table in front of her, in disbelief that he wanted the information out of her. She spoke a ‘no’ but it was muffled by her hands in front of her mouth. He reached forward, pulling them away to reveal her face. In a flustered state, he noticed her mouth twitching up and down to try and stop a smile from showing up. Matty’s eyes found hers. He put on the biggest, corniest smile he could; eyes squinting, cheeks flexed, all teeth on display. Este couldn’t help but let her smile escape, Matty succeeding. She let out a laugh.

“9th of February. Saturday,” she gave in.

Racking his brain for the specifics, he realised that the 9th was when he’d be off, after the UK leg and before South America. Matty couldn’t believe the coincidence, laughing to himself in bewilderment. “I’ll be in London.”

“For a show?”

“No. Home. Off, free. Perfect time to attend a dinner and dance event held in a banquet hall.”

She looked at him in disbelief. “Be serious please, Matty.”

“I am.”

Este shook her head, deciding to avoid the conversation and pouring them both another glass instead. And then she poured another, and another. It neared two o’clock in the morning, the both of them lounging comfortably on the couch together. The bottle of red was empty, a beer sat in front of each of them on the coffee table, and they were passing a now second and half-smoked joint back and forth. Crossed out of their minds, the previously deep and thoughtful conversations from earlier in the night were long gone.

Matty found himself doing things like explaining, in detail, the (objectively, according to him) correct way to put shoelaces into a pair of Converse; which he didn’t know he was so passionate about until he caught himself talking about it for far too many minutes. Este happily listened, equally as tipsy and high as him, shooting back with random tangents of the same minuscule relevance. It was the most fun each of them had all week.

The influence in their system along with the late hour of the night forced any remaining walls between them to falter. Este reached and touched his knee in laughter a few too many times to go unnoticed by Matty. He watched her eyes linger at the ink on his forearms that poked out of his cotton shirt while he blabbered. Her hands constantly reached up to flip the gold dragonfly hanging around her neck, but she always did.

Likewise, she caught sight of him breaking eye contact more than ever before. It looked like he was looking down at her lips, but she wasn’t sure. The curls on Matty’s head were disturbed by his fidgety hands every few seconds. Este thought it looked nice when they were messy so she wouldn’t dare complain.

“I feel like there's wet concrete behind my eyes when I try to close them and open them again,” he said to nobody in particular, obviously tired.

“That was a weirdly descriptive way to say your eyelids are heavy.”

“Yeah I know, but that’s what it feels like.” Matty clicked the power button on his phone and read the time. It was past three now. He flipped it around to show Este. “I think it’s bedtime.”

She stood up, reaching into the basket of miscellaneous throw blankets that sat in the corner of her living room and tossing one to Matty. It landed directly on top of his head and made him giggle. They were both smart enough to know that there was no way Este would let him leave this late, so she didn’t bother even asking him to stay.

“Don’t be alarmed if you hear me get up a million times during the night. Wine makes me wee,” she warned with a slight slur to her speech.

“Noted.” Matty untied his shoes to remove them before pivoting his legs onto the sofa where Este was previously sat, laying flat. “Thank you for the pizza. And wine, and weed. And for letting me stay over.”

“You’re welcome. Now you know what I get up to on Friday nights.” She took a cushion from the opposite end, near his feet, and then walked back to where his head sat. Standing behind the arm of the sofa, Este lifted his head to place it underneath. He looked up at her and uttered a small ‘thank you’.

She smiled back and laughed. “Your face looks silly when it's upside down.”

He wanted to pretend to be offended but he was too tired to carry out the bit.

Este continued to potter around the flat, still wanting to clean up after their night by putting the scattered bottles and glasses near the sink and closing the pizza boxes from the table. When it was tidy, she made her way back over to Matty. “You’re okay with sleeping here? On the sofa?”

He nodded, barely awake. “Of course. Don’t worry about me, I’ll knock out as soon as I close my eyes,” he assured her. Este was about to turn towards her room when Matty grabbed her hand to stop her first. “Wait, before I forget. On Beauty and Being Just.”

She raised her eyebrows. “On beauty and being just what?”

“It’s an essay you should read. Been on my mind all night but I couldn’t remember the title and it’s only just now come back to me.”

Este promised to read it but was unsure if she’d remember what was called in the morning. Walking away, she switched off the big light, before the two of them said a final goodnight. Not bothering to change her clothes, she fell asleep soundly.

6 >>

#matty healy #the 1975 #matty healy fanfiction #matty healy x oc #the 1975 fanfiction #matty healy fic #tbsg #Spotify

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swan-of-sunrise · 1 year

Text

Endgame (Chapter One)

Summary: (Y/N) and Steve struggle to come to terms with their loss as a new ally rescues Tony from space, and the Avengers decide to track the Mad Titan down.

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Reader

Word Count: 4.4k

Warnings/Disclaimers: None

A/N: Hi guys! Hopefully you’ve forgiven me for the way I ended the last book (sorry not sorry lol) because now we’re moving onto Endgame! It’ll be one hell of a roller-coaster, so be ready to experience every emotion a human can possibly experience lol thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter One June 2018 Avengers Facility, Upstate New York (Previous Book)

“Dear Mister Fantasy, play us a tune, something to make us all happy. Do anything, take us out of this gloom. Sing a song, play guitar, make it snappy…”

As (Y/N) listened to the melancholy song blaring at an unhealthy volume through her earbuds, she stared up at the ceiling of hers and Steve’s bedroom and studied the subtle imperfections of the dry paint. The longer she stared at the slight ridges and streaks above her, the more they stopped looking like slight ridges and streaks and started to resemble the handful of faces she was trying her hardest to ignore.

“You are the one who can make us all laugh, but doing that you break out in tears. Please don’t be sad if it was a straight mind you had, we wouldn’t have known you all these years…”

Her throat tightened in grief as Sam’s teasing smile and playful gaze morphed into existence, quickly joined by Wanda’s devastated expression as she destroyed the Mind Stone embedded in Vision’s forehead and Bucky’s friendly but tortured eyes.

“Dear Mister Fantasy, play us a tune, something to make us all happy. Do anything, take us out of this gloom. Sing a song, play guitar, make it snappy, yeah…”

T’Challa’s regal and commanding stare materialized beside the others and her own eyes began to well with fresh tears when her old friend Greg’s cheerful face appeared; she didn’t know that her friend and book publisher was among the Vanished until they all returned to the Avengers Compound and began taking a census, the shocking realization bringing with it a fresh wave of pain and anguish at the thought of Mara, Abbie and Leo having to grapple with his sudden disappearance.

“Dear Mister Fantasy, play us a tune, something to make us all happy. Do anything, take us out of this gloom. Sing a song, play guitar, make it snappy…”

(Y/N) squeezed her eyes shut when Loki’s face came to mind, but she was unable to stop herself as she thought about the brave and misunderstood friend who offered her protection and support in one of her most desperate hours and who selflessly sacrificed himself while attempting to stop Thanos before it was too late. She struggled to cope with his loss, partially because she hadn’t been there to witness it herself but mostly because out of everyone residing at the Avengers Compound, she was the only one who truly saw the gentle and loyal side of the God of Mischief; Thor did, too, but the God of Thunder adamantly refused to speak or even look into her eyes after their defeat in Wakanda three weeks earlier. She knew that he blamed himself for not killing Thanos before he could use the Infinity Stones and although no one dared to say it out loud, she also knew that he felt responsible for her very personal loss.

“You are the one who can make us all laugh, but doing that you break out in tears. Please don’t be sad if it was a straight mind you had, we wouldn’t have known you all these years…”

Imagining Carina and how the infant looked when they said goodbye to her right before leaving to battle the Black Order and defend Vision – her tear-filled (Y/E/C) eyes and sweet little pout as she looked up at her adoring parents – proved to be the final straw. (Y/N) sat up on the bed and ripped the earbuds out of her ears, switching the old MP3 player off and setting it on the nightstand before wiping away the tears that managed to escape; she managed to hold back the sob that had started building in her chest and took a quivering breath to try calming herself down.

It had been three weeks since Thanos snapped his fingers and used the six Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life in the universe, three weeks since the Mad Titan walked through a portal and disappeared without a trace, and three weeks since (Y/N) lost her daughter and her friends in the blink of an eye. After everything they’d done since that terrible moment they realized they’d lost – returning to the Avengers Compound, conducting deep space scans to hunt down Thanos, documenting a complete census of the Vanished, becoming acquainted with the cosmic superhero who was summoned back to Earth by Fury before he himself Vanished, and checking in with their surviving friends and family – it still felt as though (Y/N) was trapped in a waking nightmare. Every day for the past twenty-two days, she woke up with thoughts of Carina on her mind and in one heartbreaking moment, she remembered all over again that her daughter was gone and an insurmountable wave of grief would threaten to overtake her.

After taking one final gulp of air, (Y/N) stood and crossed the room to the closed bathroom door, her hand hovering over the doorknob for a brief moment of hesitation before grasping it and slowly opening the door. Steve, who’d been leaning against the sink and staring morosely at his own reflection in the mirror, looked over at her and attempted to smile, but the haunting emptiness in his azure eyes remained; he set the razor he’d used to shave off the physical evidence of his two years on the run down in the sink and ran a hand over his smooth chin. “Yeah, I figured I was overdue for a shave.”

“You were looking a little scruffy.” Stepping into the room, (Y/N) pulled a towel off of the wall rack and carefully wiped away the spots of shaving cream he’d missed. “You and Rocket were beginning to look like twins.”

The super-soldier huffed out a quiet chuckle as his large hands moved to rest on her hips while she continued her methodical task. “Speaking of the talking raccoon, I saw that he disassembled your Bug’s engine; I thought that he was only supposed to be checking your brakes?”

“Well, after he finished with the brakes, he said that he should check out the rest of the car because – and I quote – ‘you humies don’t know jack-shit about machinery.’ He needed a distraction and seems to really enjoy fixing things, so I just let him continue working.” Her movements slowed as she recalled something she’d witnessed earlier that evening and it wasn’t until Steve started running his hands up and down her sides that she finally spoke. “He misses Groot and his friends, the other Guardians of the Galaxy he was telling us about. I saw him sitting in the driver’s seat earlier, listening to one of my old 80’s compilation cassette tapes and staring off at the woods across the lake.”

Steve pursed his lips and nodded. “Thor told Nat that one of the Guardians, a guy named Quill, was originally from Earth and that he loved music as much as you do; she’s been trying to get more intel from both of them to see if Quill’s still got any living family here, but she hasn’t had much luck going off of one name.”

“I can’t say that I blame either of them. They want to forget.” (Y/N) set the towel down on the bathroom sink and lowered her gaze, unable to look at Steve without seeing a hint of their daughter in his features. “I just…” Her lower lip trembled and she blinked back her rapidly-forming tears. “I want to forget, too. Even if it’s just for one night, one moment, I…I-I just want to feel something other than pain.” She mustered up enough courage to glance up and into Steve’s reddened eyes. “Make me forget. Please, sweetheart, make me forget about it all for just one night.”

“We’ll forget together,” Steve promised, a tear trailing down his cheek as he leaned down and captured her lips in a passionate kiss; while she kissed him back with equal vigor, he backed her up against the sink and without warning, he lifted her up by her waist to sit on the bathroom counter and stood between her parted legs. Their kisses were desperate and needy, a far cry from the romantic reconnection she’d spent her entire pregnancy longing for, but their urgency to lose themselves in one another put any thought besides the two of them entirely out of their minds; (Y/N)’s arms wrapped around Steve’s neck and her fingers weaved through his long blonde hair, tugging on the locks and eliciting a sinful groan from Steve. The super-soldier broke their kiss and began to trail his lips down her jawline and along the column of her throat, causing her to tip her head back for easier access and stifle her own satisfied moan.

But just when Steve’s hands were beginning to tug the hem of her shirt upwards, he suddenly stilled against her. “Do you feel that?”

“Hmm?” (Y/N) struggled to regain her breath and comprehend what her fiancé was talking about but moments later, her question was answered when the counter she was seated on began to shake. Her brow furrowed in confusion as she glanced around the bathroom, noticing the mounted makeup mirror quivering and the window pane rattling in its frame, and she pulled away from Steve with her eyes widened in realization. “Oh my God. Do you think that Carol finally found the Benatar?”

Steve nodded as his azure eyes filled with a glimmer of hope. “Let’s go find out.” With a final fleeting kiss, the two of them quickly dressed and hurried outside to where Rhodes, Bruce, Natasha, Rocket and a distraught Pepper were all gathered; the CEO of Stark Industries and Tony’s fiancée had been staying with them at the compound since they’d returned from Wakanda, and she’d spent many sleepless nights analyzing deep space scans in a desperate effort to find Tony and bring him home safely. The super-soldier’s hand squeezed (Y/N)’s tight as they joined the others and they looked up in time to see a massive spacecraft descent from the sky; Carol Danvers, the former U.S. Air Force pilot more commonly known across the galaxy as Captain Marvel, glowed brightly with cosmic energy as she guided the groaning spacecraft to the ground.

“She did it,” Rocket quietly remarked, and there was a hint of fear in his voice. “The glowing chick found ‘em.”

The spacecraft’s steps descended and Pepper stifled a sob in her hands when Tony appeared at the top; a blue-skinned woman was helping the weakened billionaire down the stairs and when he showed signs of unsteadiness, Steve let go of her hand and ran across the lawn to help. (Y/N) watched Pepper and Rhodes share an emotional hug before hurrying to greet Tony, but the small smile she’d managed to muster at their reunion disappeared when she saw that no one else was onboard; at least Rocket isn’t entirely alone, she thought to herself, the hollow feeling in her chest growing as she watched Rocket sit down on the spacecraft’s steps beside the blue-skinned woman and wordlessly take her hand. But the others were gone, either Vanished or murdered by Thanos; the Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, Peter Parker…

A familiar hand on her shoulder pulled her out of her silent rumination and Natasha smiled a little when she turned. “Tony’s here, alive and safe. He’ll know where we can find Thanos.” The spy gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze just as Carol walked up to them. “Good work, Danvers.”

“We’re lucky I found ‘em when I did; another few hours out there and your friend would’ve been gone.” (Y/N) shuddered and the captain gave them an apologetic look before continuing. “Their food and water ran out two weeks ago and their ship was dead in the water. Whatever happened out there with Thanos…it wasn’t good.”

(Y/N) nodded, watching the others escort Tony inside as she twirled her engagement ring around her finger. “No, but Nat’s right; if there’s even a sliver of a chance of fixing all this, then we need anything that Tony can give us on that bastard.”

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

Despite what she’d said to Natasha and Carol on the lawn of the Avengers Facility, (Y/N)’s confidence in Tony’s ability to aid them in their search for Thanos all but disappeared by the next morning. Bruce patched up the billionaire’s many battle wounds and inserted an I.V. into his arm to replenish the nutrients he’d lost after so many days without food or water, but Tony appeared almost detached throughout the entire process; he insisted on being briefed as soon as possible, so they reluctantly wheeled him into the common room and worriedly watched him twirl his spoon around his soggy cereal while they booted up the holograms of all their ongoing research. He looks like he’s been through hell, (Y/N) thought as she shared a look of concern with Steve and leaned against the table beside him while Rhodes started speaking.

“It’s been twenty-three days since Thanos came to Earth…”

(Y/N)’s jaw clenched as she averted her eyes from the holograms displaying all the faces of the friends and allies they’d lost; Sam, Wanda, Vision, Bucky, T’Challa, Shuri, Scott Lang, Maria Hill, Nick Fury, Laura Barton and all three Barton children, Sharon Carter, Peter Parker, Stephen Strange, Erik Selving, Jane Foster, Hank Pym, Hope Van Dyne…she wasn’t sure which was worse, being forced to see their faces every single day since they’d gone or not having a picture of her own daughter to display as one of Thanos’ countless victims. The others weren’t immune from the emotional impact of the holograms; Steve crossed his arms tighter across his chest and pointedly looked down, Carol blinked away her tears as Nick Fury’s image faded away and Natasha cleared her throat right before Yelena Belova’s image appeared, still unwilling to accept the news of her younger sister’s loss.

“World governments are in pieces. The parts that are still working are trying to take a census, and it looks like he did…” Natasha paused for a moment to compose herself while Tony looked away from Peter Parker’s school I.D. photograph. “He did exactly what he said he was gonna do. Thanos wiped out fifty percent of all living creatures.”

The silence of the room was finally broken by Tony. “Where is he now? Where?”

“We don’t know,” Steve replied, the forced calmness of his voice wavering when he glanced up at Tony. “He just opened a portal and walked through.”

The billionaire moved to adjust his wheelchair and caught sight of Thor, who was seated alone outside in the courtyard. “And what’s wrong with him?”

“Well, he’s pissed. He thinks he failed.” Rocket’s empty gaze met all theirs and he shrugged. “Which, of course, he did, but you know, there’s a lot of that goin’ around, ain’t there?”

“Honestly, until this exact second I thought you were a Build-A-Bear.”

“Maybe I am.”

Under very different circumstances, (Y/N) would’ve smiled at Tony and Rocket’s exchange, thrilled that the two like-minded geniuses were somehow able to meet one another. But there was only one thing that she cared to focus on, and that was making Thanos pay for what he’d done. “We’ve been hunting Thanos for three weeks – deep space scans, satellites – and we’ve got nothing. Tony, I know that you’ve been through a lot but you fought him-”

“Who told you that?” (Y/N) kept her irritation in check at Tony’s blunt interruption. “I didn’t fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet while the Bleeker Street magician gave away the store. That’s what happened; there was no fight because he’s not beatable-”

“Okay…” Steve cut through the billionaire’s incoherent rambling, his struggle to maintain his patience evident in the way his fingers dug into the edge of the tabletop behind him. “Did he give you any clues? Any coordinates, anything?”

Tony snorted and flailed his hand in indifference, causing Steve’s grip on the tabletop to tighten in frustration as (Y/N) exchanged a knowing look with Natasha. “I saw this coming a few years back. I had a vision, I didn’t wanna believe it…thought I was dreaming.”

The super-soldier pushed himself the table and took a step forward; (Y/N) anxiously bit her lip when she noticed the divots he’d left in the wood and she felt the tension in the common room grow. “Tony, I’m gonna need you to focus-”

“And I needed you.” The billionaire’s quiet but accusatory words echoed throughout the room and (Y/N) felt herself tense up. “As in past tense. That trumps what you need; it’s too late, buddy. Sorry. You know what I need? I need to shave.” He knocked the bowl of cereal over and it clattered against the table as he stood, making all of them flinch at the harsh sound; ignoring Rhodes protests and attempts to stop him, Tony ripped the I.V. out of his arm and continued addressing the room. “And I believe I remember telling all of you, alive or otherwise, that we needed a suit of armor around the world! Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not, that’s what we needed.”

“Well, that didn’t work out, did it?”

(Y/N) stepped forward and rested a hand on her fiancé’s bicep. “Steve, he’s not well…”

“Nah, I’ve really never felt better, Austen. You remember that day, don’t you? You remember what happened after Ultron, right?” Tony demanded and after she slowly nodded, he turned his attention back to Steve. “I said we’d lose. You said we’d ‘do that together, too.’ But guess what, Cap? We lost, and you weren’t there.” Steve’s muscles flexed beneath her hand but he remained silent, watching with regret in his azure eyes while Rhodes unsuccessfully tried guiding Tony back into his wheelchair. “But that’s what we do, right? Our best work after the fact? We’re the A-vengers, not the Pre-vengers, right?”

“Okay, you made your point, just sit down-”

“Okay, okay,” Tony ignored his best friend’s pleas and pointed at Carol. “She’s great, by the way. We need you, you’re new blood and we’re a bunch of tired old mules!” Pushing past Rhodes, Tony walked right up to Steve and sneered. “I’ve got nothing for you, Cap, I’ve got no coordinates, no clues, no strategies, no options. Zero, zip, nada. No trust. Liar.” He ripped the arc reactor off his emaciated chest and thrust it into Steve’s hand. “Here, take this. You find him, you put that on, you take your family and hide…” He suddenly dropped to his knees and raised a shaking hand as everyone hurried to his aid. “I-I’m fine, I’m fine…”

The billionaire collapsed onto the ground and the others sprang into action; Natasha ran out of the common room to alert Bruce and Pepper of Tony’s condition while Rhodes scooped his best friend up off the ground and Carol helped them to the infirmary. (Y/N)’s gaze met Thor’s as he watched the others scramble to help Tony from his seat in the courtyard, but he quickly averted his eyes and stared down at his clasped hands. Swallowing the lump in her throat, (Y/N) turned away from the window to face Steve; the super-soldier stood rigid as he stared at the spot where Tony fell, his soldier’s composure beginning to falter as his fingers clamped around the arc reactor.

Although (Y/N) still believed that Steve made the right decision when he rejected the Sokovia Accords and went on the run, she knew that everything that transpired in Siberia between him and Tony could’ve been prevented if he’d just been honest with his friend; Tony spent the better part of two years caught between the pain of learning that Steve betrayed his trust and the hope that his friend would someday reach out to him, only for the pain to fester and the hope to slowly dissipate over time. It was a dressing-down that Steve undoubtedly earned through the choices he’d made, but hearing how those choices were the reason why they’d lost everything to Thanos wasn’t what the super-soldier needed to hear. Not after losing our Carina, (Y/N) thought as she took a steadying breath, cautiously stepping forward and allowing a tearful Steve to pull her into a tight embrace.

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

“Bruce gave him a sedative,” Rhodes announced to the four of them after stepping out of the infirmary; inside, Tony slept in a hospital bed while Pepper and Bruce shared a hushed conversation at his bedside. “He’s gonna probably be out the rest of the day.”

(Y/N) opened her mouth to ask the others what their next step would be but was interrupted by Carol. “You guys take care of him, and I’ll bring him a bottle of Xorrian elixir when I get back.”

The captain began heading back to the common room and (Y/N)’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Carol, where are you going?”

“To kill Thanos.”

Exchanging matching looks of apprehension, the three of them hurried after Natasha as she caught up with the older woman first. “Hey. You know, we usually work as a team here and between you and me, morale’s a little fragile.”

“We realize that up there’s more your territory,” Steve added. “But this is our fight, too.”

Carol sighed. “Look, you guys did an incredible job and that’s more than what countless planets across the galaxy can say; they’re the ones that Thanos decimated without breaking a sweat, the ones that were the first to suffer by his hand and the ones that I failed to protect. I owe it to them to put an end to Thanos once and for all.”

“And we owe it to our daughter to do whatever it takes to bring her back.” (Y/N)’s voice caught in her throat and an empathetic look crossed the captain’s face. “I don’t even know if that’s possible or not, but the only way we’re going to find out is if we all go after Thanos together.”

Rhodes nodded in agreement from his spot near the doorway. “Do you even know where he is?”

“I know people who might-”

“Don’t bother.” They all looked over at Nebula, the blue-skinned woman who’d gotten off the Benatar alongside Tony and one of the Guardians of the Galaxy; her raspy voice was filled with a heavy emotion as she stepped into the common room. “I can tell you where Thanos is.”

While Natasha left to fetch Bruce and Thor, Rocket switched on the hologram devices and began to input new data and Steve guided (Y/N) off to the side for a moment alone. “Do you really think that there’s a way to bring Carina back? To bring everyone we lost back?”

“Steve, you saw everything that those stones could do; if they could make half the universe disappear in the blink of an eye, then there’s no reason not to believe that they could bring them back.” She wrapped her arms around herself as she looked into Steve’s azure eyes. “But we won’t know unless we try.”

Nodding, Steve’s hand cupped her cheek as he pressed a soft kiss onto her forehead. “And we will, sunshine. Whatever it takes.”

They pulled away from one another as the others filed into the common room; Thor carried his bowl of food over to the dining room table and began picking at it while they turned their attention to Nebula. “Thanos spent a long time trying to…perfect me. When he worked, he talked. About his Great Plan. Even disassembled, I wanted to please him.” Nebula shifted uncomfortably and (Y/N) felt a pang of sympathy, unable to imagine what the warrior’s life had been like under the Mad Titan. “I’d ask, where would we go once his plan was complete? His answer was always the same: ‘To the Garden.’”

Rhodes’ brow rose in surprise. “You’re saying Thanos had a retirement plan?”

“Where is he?”

Standing on the table they encircled, Rocket pressed a button and brought up a holo-map of Earth that showed the planet being engulfed in a wave of energy. “When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became Gound Zero for a power surge of ridiculously-cosmic proportions. No one’s seen anything like it…” He shifted the map around to show an orange-colored planet as an identical wave of energy encompassed it. “Until two days ago, on this planet.”

“He used the stones again…” Natasha murmured as she leaned in to take a closer look at the holo-map.

“Hey, hey, hey, we’d be going in shorthanded, you know…”

“And he’s still got the stones…”

“So, let’s get ‘em.” Carol glanced over at (Y/N) with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. “We’ll use them to get everyone back.”

Bruce looked unconvinced. “Just like that?”

“Yeah.” Steve nodded. “Just like that.”

“It’s like (Y/N) said, even if there’s a small chance that we can undo this, we owe it to everyone who’s not in this room to try.”

Natasha’s words resonated throughout the entire room, and (Y/N) glanced around to gage her friends’ reactions; Steve, Natasha and Carol looked the most on-board with their fledgling plan, Rocket and Nebula seemed more cautious but ultimately agreeable, and both Bruce and Rhodes’ expressions were filled with apprehension, with the scientist looking slightly worried as he addressed the room. “If we do this, how do we know it’s gonna end any differently than it did before?”

Across the room, Carol gave them a small smile. “Because before you didn’t have me.”

(Y/N) exchanged a knowing look with Natasha while Rhodes heaved a sigh. “Hey, new girl? Everybody in here’s about that superhero life; where’ve you been all this time?”

“There’s a lot of people in the universe, and they didn’t all have you.”

Thor’s chair scraped against the floor as he stood and crossed the common room to stand before Carol; the stoic Asgardian held his hand out and Stormbreaker blew past the captain, ruffling her blonde hair as it swiftly flew into his grasp. When Carol didn’t flinch and even gave him the barest hint of a smile while they sized one another up, Thor looked over at the rest of them and nodded. “I like this one.”

(Y/N) turned to Steve, who was still studying the rotating orange planet at the center of Rocket’s holo-map. After a long, deciding moment, the super-soldier looked up at her with a fierce determination simmering in his azure eyes and she found herself beginning to smile as he finally spoke. “Let’s go get this son of a bitch.”

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

A/N: And here we've arrived at Avengers: Endgame! This'll be just as emotional and amazing as the movie, and I really can’t wait for you to read it! Updates might be a bit more sporadic than usual but I'm hoping for a chapter every other week (still haven't decided which works best with my schedule and mental health), so make sure to stay tuned for more!

Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! I’ve created a Spotify playlist inspired by this series, and I’ll be updating it every time I upload a new chapter. Enjoy!

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5L6MERx3PIydW3FyNPqYvl?si=4b8ad4bbff8d4b2a

Chapter Two

“Endgame” Masterlist

Tagging: @mrs-obrien @lahoete @awkward117 @cminr @natdrunk @momc95 @savedbystyle @miraculouscloud @awkwardnesshabitat @marinettepotterandplagg @mangosandmimosas @supersouthy @benakenalove @brooke0297 @hufflepeople @becausewelie @outoftheregular @junipermurdock @ladydmalfoy @mads-weasley @username23345 @crist1216 @capswife @lilmschild @avngrsinitiative @crowleysqueenofhell @y-napotat @mary1raven @groovy-lady @ljej95 @innersublimefury

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