#and yet isn’t this how middle schoolers act

[satoruhour]

HE PLAYS BASS !

a/n: modern au bc i cant handle any angst rn. i ramble a lot in this to set the scene teehee. not beta read, gn btw / tagging @crysugu @slttygeto @getousex :3

wc: 3k ish

warnings: bass guitarist!geto, soft dom!geto, he is respectful of your boundaries, both geto and reader smoke weed, shotgun kiss, sexual acts under the influence, fingering, clit stimulation, implied second round, implied cunnilingus, dry humping, praise, n*sfw under the cut

bass guitarist!geto who has had an interest in music and its instruments since being a little boy, practically begging his parents to enrol him in some guitar classes. with fingers strumming the nylon strings alongside complicated chords on the frets felt so right that since then he and his guitar have been inseparable since.

bass guitarist!geto who gets to know the guitar so well that he masters guitar solo after guitar solo, playing songs by ear in his free time and thought lead guitar was all there was to music until the age of fifteen where he stumbles across a song with a bass line that sounded absolutely heavenly — through the 240p quality of the youtube video, he watched the bassist dish out the heavy beats, always in the background yet detrimental to making the band sound complete.

bass guitarist!geto who leaped at the opportunity to buy a bass guitar with whatever money he had to purchase a Squier bass — it was a little shitty in sound but it was cheap, something affordable for a middle schooler. suguru didn’t care. he perfected the use of his bass guitar, already having the basics down from playing guitar; his room is filled with posters, picks, pieces of displaced lyrics.

bass guitarist!geto only has the chance two years later to ask his new friends if they wanted to jam out together and down the line, if they wanted to form a band. it was a clueless band of boys (with shoko of course) in some room of gojo satoru’s luxury house where his parents don’t care to ask him to keep the noise down like suguru’s parents do.

bass guitarist!geto fights to get a spot to audition for one of tokyo’s biggest music festivals a few months later. if they won they would get more recognition, more support, even if they haven’t figured out the specifics of how to operate a band. with gojo as the singer, shoko on the lead and nanami on drums, they would find out what they had.

bass guitarist!geto who breaks that stereotype of the bassist being ignored throughout a performance. he thinks it could be because of his longer hair and his newly bought gauges, and he thought he didn’t look too shabby himself — although he isn’t surprised to see most of the girls fawn over gojo as he sang lyrics of an original song, courtesy of the joint effort between geto and shoko.

bass guitarist!geto who gives judges the finger after they said they couldn’t perform originals at an audition, blacklisting them for future performances — but gojo sees it as a win when he has a hoard of new fans waiting outside to get a photo with him with autographs that differed from each paper his pen made contact with. later, he bursts out laughing when gojo says he hadn’t even thought of a proper signature yet and just ‘did whatever on their paper’.

bass guitarist!geto whose band gained popularity fast because of everyone’s good looks, singing at that same place they auditioned at, but now with repertoire under their belt. it’s then that they’re already all in university, and yet everyone’s still incredibly passionate.

bass guitarist!geto who spots you in the crowd together with your friends, jamming out to their set, but while your friends’ eyes are locked on gojo who’s loving the attention, nanami who can’t give a shit and shoko who’s too focused on her solo, you manage to draw geto’s eyes to you. he spends the rest of the set locking eyes with you, amidst other things like sending you winks and licking his lips until you’re under his spell. all throughout he doesn’t lose the rhythm, but he does slip-up from time to time and there’s a panicked look that nanami sends to geto for messing up his rhythm.

bass guitarist!geto who sees you at his next show alone, smiling up at him right at the front row while he’s trying not to mess up after the last time. this time he has a chance to show you what he’s got in a bass solo, losing himself in the music until even you fades off and you’re truly seeing the bassist for who he is. he’s easing back into the main melody of the song but not before leaning over the speakers with a knee on the floor, hovering right over you before shoko takes over and he’s back to his heavy beats.

bass guitarist!geto who brushes off the teasing after the set ends, only to be bombarded with more of it when he sees you on campus — no way you’re in the same school as him, walking around with your cute outfits and laughing along to your friend’s joke with no care in the world.

bass guitarist!geto who doesn’t have much trouble charming you into hanging out with him, already recognising him from far away when he’s got his long flowy hair and gauges and tight black shirt and tall stature — you aren’t realising he’s asking you if it’ll be okay for you to head over to his dorm room. you’re getting pushed by your friends behind you to say yes with giggles and gossip, and of course you weren’t going to reject the hot guy you missed class and ditched friends for.

bass guitarist!geto who shows you his room and tells you to let him know if he’s made you uncomfortable in any way. in the background, there’s a faded, soft song that continues to play that really completes the dorm, immediately hitting it off until he starts to roll a joint a while later, offering it to you with a raise of his eyebrow.

“oh— n-no it’s fine, geto-san, i don’t really smoke…” you sheepishly turn down the weed, settling instead to watch him and his beautiful side profile, letting him explain to you about bands and guitar and chords.

“thank you for having me, geto-san,” bowing, you’re nothing like the person in the bar that day, geto thinks it’s the lack of alcohol but he doesn’t mind, simply leaning on the doorframe as he nods down at you. his smile is intoxicating and so goddamn attractive you would’ve buckled to your knees if not for the deep breaths you were taking.

“next time, pretty?” geto smiles, a little high from smoking. his eyes are lidded (they usually are anyway) and smile lopsided. his hair’s almost out of the bun.

“yeah, next time,” it sounded so breathy, you bit your lip. “i guess you’d have to find me on campus, though.”

bass guitarist!geto who mutters how you’re a little tease to himself later when he closes the door. he swears to himself he’d get your number next time, but it’s not difficult to find you the next time, hanging around the same place at the same time. it’s like you wanted him to find you — he’s not opposed to it. it’s a few weeks down the road now, and the second time is watching him curiously as he smokes, too. you take a hit and embarrass yourself completely in front of him though, and while you’re fighting for your life, you’re not opposed to the buzz it gives you.

bass guitarist!geto who’s opening the door to you the next time, surprised to see your dishevelled state and a pillow between your arms, walking almost a block like this to the next building where his dorm was. he offers to make you some tea and you shake your head, feeling a pounding headache already coming on just from explaining that your roommate was an asshole.

“you can sleep here if you want to, okay?” you sigh, thanking him immensely because even after knowing him for such a short period of time, you’re comforted by his presence.

“at least satoru’s not here,” you laugh at that, nodding tiredly before you’re settling on gojo’s bed after insistence from the other. he wouldn’t care, he’s always going back home anyway, don’t know why he wanted to share a room with me. but before you can get settled in, you hear the familiar crinkling of the paper and the click of the lighter and the smell of weed fills the room again.

again, his hand is outstretched, holding an ashtray below him as the tip of joint glows a red, calling out to you yet reminding you of the way you coughed the other night.

you crawl off his roommate’s bed, snatching the cig out of his hand in a way to prove something to yourself before taking a big puff. this time you’re better, letting the drug flow through your system, but tolerance is another thing, because it only takes another hit for you to be smiling drowsily at the other while geto is a little high, too, eyes rolling to the back of his head when your hand traces over his arms and you giggle.

“you w’nna kiss?” geto asks quietly, a little soberly, having talked late into the night while you hang off his arm and slur your words. but now you know you’re feeling a little more sensible when you can feel your heart pound and your eyes widen despite their need to close.

“i meant it, doll. you’re fuckin’ stunning,” suguru mumbles, the coldness of his rings sending a chill down your body, but also a spark to your core, “you look exactly like the day i discovered bass.” and it’s like cupid fully shoots his arrow through your heart — because have you heard the man play? you’re speechless at his point, only mustering a nod before you’re leaning in.

he hums drunkenly as a way to ask you to wait a min, manoeuvring you onto his lap before he’s taking the almost vanishing joint into his hands. two more puffs are perfect for the cigarette to be discarded and so with a gentle hand, he holds onto your nape while he tries not to get hard from having you on his lap. slowly, your lips wrap around the other end of the joint, taking in another influx of the drug before he does too.

bass guitarist!geto who pulls you towards his lips a little roughly but he doesn’t give you what you want (what he has in mind is much, much better), rather leaving his lips ajar as he exhales the smoke from his mouth into yours, your own smoke already dissipating. weirdly, this burn is more prominent, probably because all you can focus on are suguru’s dazed eyes and the way they burn through your skull. you inhale the smoke before you feel his soft lips on yours.

geto hums into your lips, coming off of them periodically to allow the smoke to disperse, but the moment is so intimate and hot that you blow away the smoke and lunge forward to wrap your arms around his neck.

“no more pullin’ away, geto-san…” you’re trailing off, words messily whispered against his lips and you burn at the chuckle he sounds out, muttering back a question of consent. you’re nodding, reeling at the speed at which he places his hands on your thighs, dragging you further up his front until you rested on his pelvis.

“kissing me like you can’t breathe and you’re still calling me by my last name? i’m wounded.” geto pulls away and defies your rule — you think he’s the only one who can do that. pouting, suguru pushes away the hair enclosing your face. “c’mon, drink, sober up a little.”

“...i like it like this,” you murmur, ashamed as to how readily you leaned into his touch. his stare is piercing though, not budging until you’re gulping down half the cup.

“throats turn dry when we smoke, princess. we can do it more when you’re more used to it, alright?” geto explains, patting your thigh and ignoring the tensing of them around his own. he’s trying so hard to act nonchalant, but he can’t get the image of you parting your lips for the smoke out of his head. the way your eyes flutter close, how you wanted more of him.

“alright… suguru,” you sigh out the name and geto wishes he could hear it somewhere else, “but can we—” the high is getting to you, making your hormones go into a frenzy and you’re grinding on his lap. geto hisses at the feeling, of your cunt brushing against his bulge. your hips are inexperienced, but you’re going by feel, drawing little circles and moving back and forth; whatever that brings you pleasure.

“baby— f-fuck…” geto swears when you pair it with the lips tha kiss down his cheek and jaw and neck, hands on your hips guiding you as you try to chase your high. but a whine from you draws geto out of his daze and he almost cums hearing your needy voice, begging him for something, anything.

“’m tired, suguru,”

he knows, grinding is a tiring thing, so rather he opts for you to lie on him with your back to his chest. by now, the room’s filled with the smell of weed and arousal, asking once again if he could take off your pyjama shorts. geto smiles at the lack of underwear but he says nothing, eyes latched onto the strings of juices that connect your pussy to the shorts.

“my baby ready to be touched?” he feels you nod, loving the way your stomach contracts and expands at the hand that travels over your clothed tits. there, he squeezes them, rubbing fingers over the hardened nub but soon creeps towards your centre. his hand and fingers are so much larger than yours, covering your whole core easily when he cups it and the contact is enough to make you mewl.

“hurry,” your hips hump the air.

“patience, darling,” geto’s gravelly voice cuts through to your ear before he finally draws languid circles upon your clit, rubbing and pressing on your bundle of nerves. his whole body burns from seeing you react so cutely, all cause your eyes couldn’t leave his on that stage. now your eyes were rolling up and over, little moans leaving your lips just from his hands.

bass guitarist!geto who seems to know all your pleasure points in one night, kissing the spot under your ear, to talking you through your orgasm. you were enamoured by the guitarist that you’d let him do anything to you, obsessed with the way he never missed questions of “is this okay?” and “tell me to stop”. geto is just as besotted by you, the arch of your back, the call of his name. god, he was going to write so many songs about you.

“think you can handle a finger, baby?” suguru whispers, caressing your twitching thighs from your first orgasm. with a shaky “yes”, geto plays with your hole, smearing your juices around your sex and getting it all on your thighs. the bashful suguruuu! has him laughing, taking your lips into another kiss as an apology.

“sorry, sweetheart. love teasin’ ya,” muffled words are said, “goin’ in.”

your jaw drops even more when geto first inserts a finger, so much wider and longer that a long moan escapes you. the stretch is so good, everything you’ve ever imagined after watching his fingers travel over the bass strings, and you’re already asking for a second finger. when he does oblige, your hands fly to grab at his wrist.

“feel good?” he chuckles at your lack of an answer, rather responding by clenching around his fingers and leaning back more into his hold. geto sets a pace, thrusting his fingers in and out of you. he thinks it’s enough of staring at you and almost gets whiplash when his head turns to his hand — from the way he disappears into your dripping cunt, he thinks he’ll cum untouched, although your desperate hips also would play a part.

“feel s’good, suguru— shit…” geto groans lowly into your ear when he feels your hand replicating the circles he’s made on your clit, juices starting to collect in his palm from how wet you were.

“you keep clenchin’ around me, baby, you w’nna cum?”

your body is more vocal than your voice, twisting and thrashing from how his fingers already feel so good. the haze and the smell of geto suguru and the weed in your system is all overloading on you at the moment, but in between you’re able to nod, fingers rubbing at your clit while geto’s speed picks up a little.

your legs naturally spread, each slap of his palm against your pussy paired with the lewd noises only making the whole thing better. it’s not long before you feel that familiar feeling, using your right hand to direct him to you once more and it’s here you see the man you saw on stage before: focused, flushed, small smirk on his face. “gonna cum.”

“yeah? are you?” geto asks against your lips, still tasting the faint aroma of the joint. your eyes are so heavy and your limbs feel like lead; it’s a wonder how both your hands are moving on your soaking wet pussy.

“yeah, sugu, s’sensitive—!” geto coos softly at your whimpers before capturing your lips, swiping his tongue over your bottom lip and your orgasm comes crashing down on you. suguru effectively swallows your moans, groaning on his own end when he can feel your cum running down his hand. slowly, he lets you ride through your orgasm, pressing pecks on your skin and shoulders.

“attagirl. so much cum, hm?” your chest is heaving, whining when he removes his fingers and there’s a cute little squelch from the juices, gasping softly as geto separates his fingers and there’s strings connecting his middle to ring finger. “dirty girl.”

you scoff softly with a smile, eyes following how his fingers make his way into his mouth. the other only hums before carrying you bridal style to the shower with a sweet smile on his face. geto suguru was certain he’d worship you.

“gotta taste that cute little pussy next time.”

#jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk drabbles #jjk smut #jujutsu kaisen getou #jujutsu kaisen smut #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen headcanons #geto smut #geto x reader #geto suguru x reader #getou x reader #jjk geto #geto fluff #getou suguru smut #geto suguru smut #geto suguru fluff #suguru geto smut #suguru geto x reader #geto x you #jjk #jujutsu kaisen geto

[nudystar]

okay this is my final statement, cause deadass I’m over it now

for the server thing, I did feel sorry and apologized to WHO I needed to apologize to. if I ain’t apologize to you, then idk what to tell you. apologies to the folks that had roles that we lied about.

to the folks that I ain’t never had beef with me, why are yall tryna make somethin out of nothin ? like deadass, some of yall I haven’t talk to in a minute and some of yall I never even interacted with. yall sayin yall fighting for your friends but I’m the villain when I do it ? please get out my face with that. you starting stupid ass beef when I don’t even talk to half of yall wtf. yet I’m childish ? alright.

naj, you specifically, what problem do I have with you? I want you so specific and let me know what we have going on. I never had an issue to begin with, we was never beefing so why tf are you talking so much shit about me? you trying to act all big and bad when I never had a problem with you. now you wanna talk as “civilized adults”, after dragging my name through the mud FOR THREE DAYS ? yeah no, kiss my black ass and suck my damn clit !

do I feel bad that your friend got a death threat ? yes ! but it sure as hell wasn’t me or my mutuals 🤷🏽‍♀️. unlike yall, we have some couth and don’t be bothering nobody.

y’all constantly say I’m sending high schoolers to fight my battles and paint me as this pussy bitch. meanwhile y’all akeke and laughin with mean girls and damn near bullies, constantly dragging folks names through the mud fa no reason. to this day, yall stay on imani’s ass about a discord server from three months ago, after handing out apologies like an eviction notice. deadass, all seriousness, leave them alone. some of yall ain’t even deserve an apology but hey, whatever helps yall sleep at night

y’all stay coming at me with this “I got high schoolers to fight my battles” and “I got a gang of middle schoolers hyping me up”. boy yall sure don’t know me 😹, yall just assume everything cause some of them have minors in their bio. I got moots that’s my age and younger moots (oldest is 19). on top of that, I’ve met these niggas when I was 17, say it with me SEVENTEEN !

omg, crazy right ? I met them when I was a minor, that’s like so insane ! so if you do the math (correctly !), I’ve known these niggas for two years. I’m sorry that I have a strong ass friendship and I got folks who actually care about me 🤷🏽‍♀️ . meanwhile, yall are mdni blogs interacting with minors. hmm, but doesn’t mdni stand for MINORS do not interact ? or maybe I just miss a memo ?

small note, yall literally lack math, english, and comprehension skills if you think my friend, juice/mypimpademia, is 14-15. not only can yall not spell, yall don’t make sense either. if she had her blog for about 2-3 years and she’s 14, wouldn’t she be 11-12 writing on here ? oh, hm, that’s doesn’t seem right. y’all just be seeing minor and think it means 13-14, oh y’all do not know the definition of minors…..which means anyone BELOW the age of 18, 10+8, 9+9, 14+4. cmon now guys, I thought we were better than this !

speaking of them, yall stay talking about how I got high schoolers as friends yet be so mad that yall are blocked by these same minors 😹. niggas are so pressed about being blocked by these high schoolers, it’s sad ain’t gonna lie. now I ain’t they damn momma or their damn parent, so idgaf what they do and when they do it

also, to think I’m trying to disrespect someone talking is honestly so…wow ! y’all saying I’m correcting her aave when I use aave my own self, you can literally scroll and see it yourself but anyways ! not only that, say I grew up in a white neighborhood just cause I corrected her grammar ? not her aave, her grammar. maybe if she wasn’t being rude asf to the op, nobody wouldn’t say anything but hey 🤷🏽‍♀️.

not only that, aren’t you insinuating that only white folks can talk proper ? that they’re the only ones who can speak properly ? isn’t that pushing a stereotype to a black girl ? hmmm, says a lot about you as a writer, especially as black writer.

to the eren discourse, what’s to say atp ? y’all still gonna romanticize hood love and paint black love as violent and stereotypical as much as you can. yall gonna continue to slap eren as this fake black man and still gonna be blinded to your wrongdoings. y’all still gonna paint onyankapon as this stereotypical black man who ain’t shit, paint him as aggressive asf and only smoke weed. but hey if that floats your boat, it sure asf will sink mine !

in conclusion, I genuinely don’t care if black tumblr don’t fuck with me no more. imma still stand on what I said 😹, yall ain’t making change shit about what I said unless I said something out of line. some of yall did already but I digress !

#( 💭 ) — discourse

[bonebrokebuddy]

BART ALLEN OUTSIDER POV FIC PROMPT: WAIT WAS BART IN A CULT?

Bart Allen, only 13 years old, ends up getting enrolled back into school to learn about modern history to unlearn the Reach’s vastly altered version of history that he was taught and to connect with non-meta kids his age.

He goes to central city middle school after jumping back to the future. The students there quickly notice that the new kid is a very weird guy.

- Bart said he came from Keystone city yet can’t name a single thing about Keystone.

- Despite being a class clown, he’s weirdly serious about certain topics and asking anything about the future causes Bart’s eyes to glaze over for a second

- He doesn’t know anything about pop culture.

- When asked what his favorite movie was for his “get to know you question,” Bart responded that he didn’t watch a lot of movies. He responded similarly for every other icebreaker question. Including favorite ice cream where when he replied, “I’ve never had ice cream” cue the class erupting in commotion and disbelief that took the teacher 10 minutes to calm down

- He doesn’t know about current social media trends. As a few months of him in school goes by, it becomes apparent that he’s almost never up to date on current or past social media trends.

- He’s absolutely horrible at history outside of some recent metahuman & JL events.

- He doesn’t seem to know how school works. Like, a kid goes up to him and offers to do his homework if Bart pays her because she noticed he was struggling with history... and Bart acts very confused. “Isn’t that not allowed?” And that comment confuses the shit out of the girl trying to get money out of Bart and they eventually continue talking and agreeing on her tutoring Bart free of charge. After a while he opens up to her about having difficulties remembering which history is which when writing essays but refuses to elaborate, leading her to think that Bart used to go to a Catholic school.

- in the lunch room, Bart said he didn’t know who Lady Gaga was and it began a trend of kids asking if he knew who [celebrity] was & bets were placed on if he did or didn’t (Bart caught on quickly and educated himself on this the day he found out so he wouldn’t seem too out of touch. It was boring quickly so he stopped keeping up with celebrity gossip quick)

- When interrogated about his lack of knowledge in media, he said he lived an “isolated childhood” and was homeschooled until recently

- Eventually in the locker room, when changing people notice his scars (unknown why them but they’re the results of The Reach’s reign and enforcement of control over the metas)

And the middle schoolers put the pieces together: Bart escaped from a doomsday cult.

- and the rumor spreads like fucking wildfire

- That’s why he has the scars, they must have punished him for defying the cult! That must be why he escaped!

- That’s why he said he had an isolated childhood and “can’t remember which history is the correct one”

- That’s why Bart has to have the worksheets for the lower grades given to him during worktime because he’s catching up on what he wasn’t taught while in the cult!

- That’s why his handwriting is famously awful to read! The cult must’ve not let him write so they couldn’t communicate to escape!

- That’s why he’s so touchy about talking about the future!

- That’s why he’s so awkward actually talking to people! He never got experience in the cult because he couldn’t talk to outsiders!

- That’s why he uses weird slang nobody’s ever heard of.

- That’s why he didn’t know what a giraffe was!

- That’s why he randomly disappears from school for weeks at a time, because he’s getting treatment from brainwashing!

- The brainwashing treatment rumor eventually devolves into that Bart disappears randomly for days or weeks at a time from school because he needs to pray to the gods he worshipped at certain times or is trying to escape back to the cult but keeps getting brought back; to he’s under the witness protection program and needs to be hidden from cult members trying to find Bart and bring him back (backers of this version claim that’s why they can’t find any records of a ‘Bart Allen’ anywhere online is because it’s a fake identity). and so the rumor’s light connection to reality devolves rapidly

- They’re middle schoolers so the rumors get a little weird (if not downright bizarre & essentially nonsensical because, again, middle schoolers. I only faintly remember rumors from middle school at this point but I remember they started relatively normal and then got fucking weird and most made zero logical sense ) but they center around one main thing: explaining away every weird thing about Bart on the fact that he recently escaped a doomsday cult

#bart allen #flash #young justice #kid flash #impulse #dc comics #writing prompt #prompt #dc #middle school kids are the weirdest creatures and are just on the cusp of knowing Big Knowledge but don’t have any of the fine details tater #so they still make these fucking weird ass leaps in logic that make No sense and they all go ‘yep that makes sense’ #so the rumors would go from ‘he was in catholic school’ to ‘he was in a cult’ #would evolve Very quickly once the scars were found out #and the absolute devastation that would be wrought on rumors from Bart during PE #because the guy has a runner’s build and can run the mile in record time #so the rumor evolves to that Bart’s cult was about having to run/escape an alien invasion #and slowly due to middle schooler exaggeration #the rumor becomes almost uncomfortably close to reality with the only exception that time travel isn’t involved #and I think that would be funny as hell to explore #feel free to add on or elaborate on any way you wish! please tag me if you’re inspired by this to write your own fic! #bones speaks

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

different media anon here, thank you so much for your answer! It really pushed me to try watching the stageplays someday in my own time... somehow... haha qq if you dont mind me asking again (sorry if theres like a limit on ask per week or something), yknow how theres rivalries between divisions? Had the DRBs not been a thing, which divisions/groups do you think would actually be pretty friendly with each other, and which ones would still be pretty tense despite the lack of hypnosis mics lmao

What a super interesting idea. I tried to consider each team's dynamic with the other team, and it got a little long, so sticking this under a cut.

First, I want to properly define how this thought experiment will work, as removing tension/the Hypmics altogether makes the plot collapse entirely and raises a few questions about how several groups got together and what certain team members are up to, if not orchestrating tension. If Rei isn’t slinking around in the background looking shady and cooking up some DRB-related shenanigans, is he really still Rei? And so on.

Therefore, I am going to stick to the letter of the question. What if there were no DRBs? The DRBs seemed to have come about because Otome had the bright idea of pitting two rap boys against each other for sport in a bloodless, more marketable version of a gladiator match, so what if she just... didn’t do that? When Ramuda called Ichijiku and went, “Yo, what up, homie G, did you know the boys are planning a revolution?” what if Otome didn’t have anything lined up and kind of had to be like, “Well, shit”? So then she sent out Ramuda to break the crew up but in a totally lame, Ramude-esque way.

You know in FP/M+ chapter 11 when Hifumi tries to guess the reason TDD broke up and guesses that someone ate someone else’s pudding? Yeah. That’s what we’re going with here. Ramuda went around, ate everyone else’s pudding, and blamed it all on someone else. (We can assume Jakurai caught him in the act or something.) The mild anger on the Ichirou-Samatoki end and the sheer “wtf, Ramuda?” factor on the Ramuda-Jakurai end was enough for TDD to take a temporary hiatus, and when all tempers cooled down, they decided to go their separate ways but remain friends.

And while this may not be necessary for the letter of this prompt, let’s throw Sasara and Kuukou a bone and say that their tiffs with Samatoki and Ichirou happened in a similar fashion. Would Samatoki blow up and send Sasara’s ass packing back to Osaka (temporarily) if he thought Sasara touched his shit and Sasara, sensing an opportunity to clown on Samatoki for it, did what he does best? Absolutely! Would Ichirou and Kuukou butt heads in a he-said, she-said argument over who drank Ichirou’s last Coke? You know it. But as in TDD’s split, these arguments wouldn’t last long, and everyone would be pretty admicable before long.

Now our stage is set. Welcome... to the pudding AU. 

BB/MTC: Samatoki and Ichirou are still homies to some extent, and this means that Ichirou still looks up to him as an older brother figure. By the sort of transitive property of older brothers, Jirou and Saburou would probably likewise respect him and at the very least would play nice with the rest of MTC. Samatoki likes kids, so he’d have no issue with the younger BBs, and Riou enjoys company as well. The group would probably have a lot of fun camping and having cook-outs at Riou’s place in the woods. However, there is an issue, and it is the one person I haven’t mentioned yet. I do not think Juuto “Mature Adult” Iruma would enjoy spending his free time with a middle schooler, especially if that middle schooler is as liable to sass back as Saburou is. Thus, the cook-outs would likely devolve into a very different sort of roasting over a campfire and would end with both Juuto and Saburou in time out.

BB/FP: After Ichirou cools off in regards to the Coke and pudding incidents (which may take a while), I figure he and Ramuda would fall back into a similar dynamic that they have in canon, wherein Ichirou thinks Ramuda’s a little weird but not enough to really do anything about it. FP and BB have fairly dissimilar interests, so I don’t think they would hang out a ton. Additionally, I think Ichirou would be a bit concerned about Dice and Gentarou’s bad behaviors (gambling and lying) rubbing off on the little BBs. Still, they might all get food or something every once in a while. The TDD manga suggests that Ramuda will, when he’s not pestering Ichirou, be occasionally struck with the desire to feed him, so I could see him popping up ever so often to treat the BBs to a nice dinner in some cozy little family restaurant. FP is like the weird uncle and the weird uncle’s irresponsible friends who give baller presents at Christmas and teaches you all the cool swear words you’re too young to know.

BB/MTR: This is a dynamic that I don’t think would work super well, not because of any sort of animosity, but simply that these two groups have such big differences in maturity and interests. The Buster Bros certainly wouldn’t mind fishing or dinner/drinking parties after work, but they wouldn’t have much to contribute to the adult conversation. Likewise, I’m sure that MTR would listen politely (Hifumi maybe not so much) to conversations about anime and school, but they wouldn’t be personally invested in it. I’m sure they all think well of each other but are probably casual acquaintances at best. They might have more luck mixing in a bigger, blended group, such as in TDD.

BB/DH: Despite how surprisingly easy it is to remove the DRBs from Hypmic and replace them with pudding without losing a significant chunk of the story and its character dynamics, I do not think we can conceivably make whatever the hell is going on between the Buster Bros and Rei be about pudding. Therefore, this group does not get along. Sasara and Ichirou probably keep in touch in a vague, acquaintances way. In canon, Ichirou doesn’t really reach out to him after he splits from Samatoki (even though there’s nothing really preventing him from doing so), so I imagine something similar would happen here.

BB/BAT: Oh they would kick so much ass. You know Kuukou and Ichirou would be making monthly trips to hang out with the bestie and try to beat each other’s ass in a parking lot somewhere. Jirou and Juushi would bond over music, and if anyone tried to bully Juushi again, Jirou, Kuukou, and Ichirou would show up to whoop their asses. (Saburou’s on standby waiting with a phone ready to call their lawyer (Hitoya)). I think Saburou and Hitoya would annoy the absolute hell out of one another, so they would end up very close friends too. Somewhere, there’s a group picture of all 6 smiling and hugging, and Hitoya texts it to Jakurai with the caption, “Look at this! Five kids, you bitch. And no child support, no less. You wish. You wish you were me.”

MTC/FP: It surprises me that Chuuouku had to make a reason for Samatoki to hate Ramuda, because the grasshopper arc shows that FP manages to piss off MTC plenty just by virtue of being themselves. I do sort of think that the only reason TDD works as well as it does is because Jakurai is a buffer absorbing the worst of Ramuda’s obnoxious energy, thus stopping him from trying to speedrun becoming a Ramupancake by annoying the absolute shit out of Samatoki until Samatoki beats the absolute shit out of him. And I mean... I do get it. I love the character Samatoki to death, but if he were a real person, by god there is something about him that would make it physically impossible for me to not fuck with him. His bravado is purely a bastard magnet. (I think that’s part of why he and Juuto get along so well.) Also, Gentarou appears to be allergic to cops and would be unable to resist making Juuto’s life hell (there’s a bastard magnet on Juuto too). So I have a feeling this would devolve into an absolute shitfit for four members of this little gang while Dice and Riou are just chillin’ on the side. So long as Dice and Riou can keep chillin’, everything’s all good. To be honest, I think Dice could get along well with MTC provided he left Gentarou and Ramuda at home - hell, I think Dice could get along with virtually anyone in the cast provided he left Gentarou and Ramuda at home. He’s as chill as could be while Gen+Ramu are chill in the same way that the surface of the sun is chill.

MTC/MTR: Hmm.. a mixed bag. Riou and Jakurai would become best friends overnight, partially because they’re on eye level with one another for a change, partially because they can commiserate about war, and partially because Riou would suggest, “Would you care to come into the woods with me to cook absolute batshit ingredients, fish in mountain streams with your bare hands, and wrestle the local wildlife into submisson?” and Jakurai would be like, “Oh! :) Would I!” A match made in heaven. As for the rest, I’m not sure. I think Hifumi and Riou would actually be able to get along in an odd sort of way - they’d swap recipes, and Riou would share some of his plants in exchange for spices he can’t get in the woods - since Riou’s absolutely patient enough to handle Hifumi’s high energy. Doppo and Riou would also work. Like Dice, I think Riou’s chill enough that you can send him to virtually everyone (barring Saburou, who is fourteen - apologies to the fourteen-year-olds reading this, but someday you will understand what I mean) and expect him to come home with a new best friend. Honestly, I think this whole dynamic would actually shake out pretty nicely. They seem like they could be trusted to have a chill time drinking/eating together someday. MTR are like MTC’s square cousins, and MTC’s like MTR’s slightly sketchy friend you know from high school who’s cool but definitely runs with the wrong crowd. (I would say they’re the weed dealer if not for Juuto’s obvious hatred of the topic.) The only reason why I called this a mixed bag in the first place is because I was a bit concerned about leaving Juuto and/or Samatoki and Hifumi in a room together - see the bastard magnet comment above - but knowing that Juuto is Doppo’s acquaintance would probably mitigate that a bit. (Although, knowing that Juuto is a potential Doppal may inspire Hifumi to do something embarassing like share Doppo’s baby pictures.) So hey, why not? Friends.

MTC/DH: God, what an interesting concept. Assuming that Samatoki and Sasara make up, I think Samatoki’d treat him in a “Haha, you knucklehead :) *beats his ass*” kind of way, which is all well and good. Running from an angry Samatoki gives Sasara good exercise. So Sasara would introduce him to Dotsuhonsters like, “Hey haha this is the yakuza leader who tries to beat me up all the time :)” and Roshou would go, “GOOD for him.” Samatoki and Roshou are, of course, instant best friends. The only awkwardness is when one day Roshou and Samatoki both share some pics of themselves a few years back, and Rei doesn’t say anything, but he does lean over and give poor Sasara (who is sweating bullets) a Look. There is not anything this man does not know. (Roshou and Samatoki, of course, are fucking oblivious, god bless their dumb asses.) Introducing Riou to the crew would go well, although I think Riou would be a bit baffled at their high-speed sense of humor. Introducing Juuto would go less well - and here I would like to pause and apologize to all the Juuto fans, since I feel like I’ve been making him out to be a cantankerous bitch, but he really is canonically closed off and prickly. That’s a big part of his character and what makes Juuto opening up to MTC so special and wonderful. At any rate, none of what I said above about Juuto was meant to be insulting, and I am now going to immediately fly in the face of that and lay into him - because I am 100% certain Rei has lured Juuto into an NFT scam, catfished him online, or both. The meetup quickly devolves into a game of tag as Juuto scrambles to get Rei into handcuffs.

MTC/BAT: Like FP, I think BAT’s obnoxious energy is a bit much for Samatoki. However, I think Juuto and Hitoya could be absolutely amazing friends, as they have pretty similar approaches to how they treat the justice system and how it plays into their respective missions. They also seem to have similar-enough tastes that they’d probably hang out in their free time. Hitoya would cry with relief that Juuto actually knows how to spell “charcuterie” after three days holed up in the mountains with Kuukou. Riou and Kuukou would likely respect one another for their strong conviction to their beliefs. I could see Riou being interested in training with Kuukou. Survival rhythm, survival monk. Survival rhymes and survival funk. Get sprayed in the woods by a survival skunk.

FP/MTR: There are two ways I can see this going, and one ends in the apocalypse, which is why I think King Records saw it vital to pry Jakurai and Ramuda apart before their respective groups mixed. On the one hand, I can see this having the same dynamic as a couple who have wildly different friend groups so you know the other dudes in a very second-hand, say “hey” when you pass on the street way. I don’t mean that in the sense that Jakurai and Ramuda would be a couple in this AU, but considering Jakurai’s willingness to forgive Ramuda for much more egregious shit, I think it’s fair to assume they’d make up after maybe four days tops for something as insignificant as “trying to break up the friend group” and “secretly being a government spy”. At any rate, assuming they each go on to build their own friend groups on their own time while still remaining close friends, I don’t think they would try to make one supergroup of pals because Jakurai and Ramuda’s one-on-one dynamic is very different than their group dynamic. Jakurai tends to... maybe babysit isn’t the right word, but mitigate, perhaps, Ramuda in group scenarios like TDD, and that wouldn’t work well with either MTR or FP. Both groups rely on them treating and being treated as equals while being able to express their true selves. Therefore, Jakurai-Doppo-Hifumi would be good friends, and Jakurai-Ramuda would be good friends, and Ramuda-Gentarou-Dice would be good friends, but there’d be no Jakurai-Doppo-Hifumi-Ramuda-Gentarou-Dice supercluster. On the other hand, if that did exist, the results would be disastrous. Yes, I think Jakurai would love this because he’d Hayami Show the hell out of Dice (Jakurai and Dice’s voice actors are very good friends), but if you allowed Dice and Doppo to meet on good terms, their mutual hatred of the systems they live in would spark a revolution overnight. As for Hifumi and Gentarou... Jesus Christ... it might be a good thing that they dislike one another in canon, because I cannot imagine a more chaotic pair of good friends. Together, they have the collective energy of those posts which show someone swerving through incoming traffic at roughly the speed of sound with the caption “Can’t help being a Gemini! <3 Live, Laugh, Love”.

FP/DH: Putting Gentarou and Sasara together is likewise a recipe for disaster. I think they’d try to one up one another, resulting in horrible casualties. I don’t think Ramuda would voluntarily want to hang out with Rei either - he doesn’t seem to be that fond of Rei in canon - so I don’t think these groups would ever naturally mix.

FP/BAT: Honestly, if left to their own devices, I think FP would try to adopt Juushi. Ramuda and Gentarou would, I think, find him very charming, even if Dice might be put off a bit by the crying. I don’t know how things would work with the rest of the crew, though. Kuukou might hold some resentment for Ramuda causing a fight between him and Ichirou, and Gentarou+Dice would be too protective of Ramuda to let this go easily. It’s probably best that these two groups don’t mix, apart from FP trying to arrange custody for Juushi on weekends.

MTR/DH: In theory, this could work pretty well, especially because Hifumi would kill to host a house party for his friends. They’re all mature enough to be able to connect well, if they ever had a reason to connect (I’m not sure what this would be, though - probably a friend of a friend recommendation via Samatoki). In practice, this would be a terrible disaster, because Sasara would goad Jakurai into drinking and then immediately regret it, if he lived to tell the tale afterwards. Still, talk about an interesting experience, huh? Oh, on that note, Jakurai and Sasara may actually get along by virtue of being into interesting people/things, although for somewhat different reasons.

MTR/BAT: Unfortunately, the Jakurai-Hitoya split is another relationship break we can’t pudding our way out of, boys. Hifumi and Juushi seem like they have the potential to connect due to their similar ways of coping with traumatic situations, but god... Poor Doppo... Imagine trying to sleep while the two of them are going, “HA HA HA HA!!!!” in the other room. Kuukou seems a bit too rough and wild to fit in with most of the group, although he and Jakurai might enjoy meditating together.

DH/BAT: Honestly? I could see it. Kuukou and Sasara have a strong dynamic back in MCD, so I could see them staying casual pals and eventually bringing the rest of their crew around to hang out. Both groups also have similar dynamics of younger, energetic dudes roughhousing while an older man looks on and gives timely advice, so I think they wouldn’t clash too much, even in terms of Kuukou and Juushi’s relative immaturity. Sasara enjoys that kind of commotion, and Roshou, while despairing about the state they leave his apartment in, enjoys encouraging kids and younger people. The one point of contention I’m foreseeing is Hitoya being alarmed by Rei’s flagrant law violating.

Super fun thing to think about! Thanks for sending this in.

#not a translation #asks #hypmic asks #humor asks

[nekropsii]

I think you misunderstood why I dislike Tavros and how he's seen, which I will preface you are absolutely right to misunderstand, upon rereading I didn't actually make my point, which is 100% on me. And you are definitely allowed to disagree with me however I do want to make sure that my point isn't misread.

My dislike of Tavros isn't from a place of being annoyed at him or thinking that he's not a victim, he absolutely is. It's that his victimhood is used by fans and by him as an excuse for his behavior which is often really damaging and kinda shitty.

This is the troll that found out that he seriously hurt Jade and basically responded with "I had good intentions and that absolves me of fault and anger, and I'm hurt that you're still upset at me! But it's okay I forgive you, and I forgive myself for hurting you" which is such a cruel response!

In every instance he "gains confidence" he almost immediately starts uncomfortably flirting with whoever has shown him any kindness. You see it with him flirting with Jade after the aforementioned interaction as soon as she showed any sense that she might not treat him like trolls treat her, or flirting with Kanaya (who is a lesbian) when she helps him in Pesterquest.

After dying and the Tavrissprite debaucle he again starts acting like an absolute tool, getting in everyone's face and acting like a spoiled child.

And the worst part is on the rare occasion that someone calls out his behavior he starts to claim victimhood and claims that that absolves him of his actions, like because he was hurt he now has a license to act however he wants and people have to give him pity.

Again you're allowed to disagree, and he is absolutely a victim, but that doesn't give him a license to act how he does

I’m glad you’re taking the blame on the fact that you did not, in fact, make any point in your original ask outside of insult. I’m also glad that you’re open to disagreement, because I’m gonna take you up on that. So, yeah, if you don’t mind, I’ve got a few counterpoints for this:

This level of shitty behavior is typical for… Just about every single Homestuck character. Sure, you can dislike Tavros for his specific brand of shitty behavior, but he’s absolutely not special, nor is he an isolated case in this regard. He’s not even the only character to behave in this exact manner- I get that he’s the focal point here, but I still need to point that out. He isn’t special. Hell, some fan favorites are known for doing worse things than this.

Pesterquest is not canon, and therefore is not a valid example of his character within canon. Yes, it is official content, but it is quite literally not canon. These two labels can coexist.

Tavros is a socially inept 13 year old boy. He’s 13 years old. 13. He is a middle schooler. He is an awkward 13 year old boy who has been put through the fucking wringer, the fact that he’s doing shitty things makes complete and utter sense. Genuinely, he could be so much worse. Yes, the things he did were shitty, but he’s a kid. They do that. Kids are shitty sometimes. They don’t fuckin’ know any better, dude. I guarantee you that you were kind of a bastard when you were 13.

When you are abused, you do not become a good person. Abuse almost never makes someone a good person, especially not immediately. It makes you an asshole. That’s why Vriska is like that. That’s also why Tavros is like that. In fact, Tavros is like that… Probably largely because of Vriska. Tavros kinda just… Acts like your average 13 year old abuse victim.

Our collective understanding of Tavros as a person- as well as Equius and Eridan, since we’re discussing problem children now- is based on a very troubled literal child with zero sense of self worth. We can’t really judge his morality when his sense of morality/reasonability genuinely is not fully formed yet, and is honestly being actively impeded upon. This is just speculation, but I’m betting that if he’d been given the room to actually grow and mature as a person- you know, past the age of 13- he wouldn’t be nearly as bad.

I’m willing to bet his, yes, highly awkward flirtations were just what he thought you were supposed to do when you were confident. Does that make it ok? No. It’s still weird! I’m not enacting apologetics for that. But as I’ve stated previously… Socially inept 13 year old with no sense of self worth + there’s characters that are worse off than him. Again… 13 year olds are just… Like that, sometimes.

I understand that this could have just been poor wording on your own part, but in your original ask, you literally said that Vriska was “keeping Tavros in check”, so I’m not exactly willing to trust that you have an objective view on the actions of either of these characters. Say that you’re aware he’s a victim all you want, that line just personally raises a lot of red flags for me, and I don’t think you understand the implications of calling abuse someone being “kept in check”. Was Vriska really “keeping him in check” by purposefully physically disabling him, and then constantly ridiculing him for the disability she caused? Was she really in the right for that? Was that something he deserved?

I don’t know, dude. He’s a fictional character, yeah, but it feels kind of weird to be weighing a 13 year old boy’s morality on a scale like this. He hasn’t really done anything warranting much heavy insults, or a callout post, or anything- he’s just a kid who was kind of a social fuck-up. If you’re so heated about Tavros’s level of shitty, I kinda have to wonder if there’s any Homestuck characters you even can tolerate. They’re all kind of assholes. You know… Because they’re children.

#homestuck #beta trolls #tavros nitram #vriska serket #tavros.pdf #nekro.pdf #nekro.sms

[trashlie]

ILY FP 181, 182, and 183

Man, I thought I’d at least put together one of these for 181, but I really have not been able to pull myself together for this last month, I guess, ugh. That’s okay, I think - it will keep me from turning this into a recap and maybe allow me to explore my VERY MANY thoughts on this little flashback! And trust that I have SO MANY. 

It is no secret that I’ve taken a lot of interest in Alyssa over this last half year or so, so you can imagine how much I’ve been enjoying this flashback arc. While it doesn’t provide us a major look into who Alyssa really is, we’re finally getting more clues to cobble together than we had before, and it definitely is blowing some fandom beliefs out of the water! It also reinforces what I’ve said before - that Alyss and Kousuke are mirrors! In my Alyss and Kousuke As Mirrors post and ask responses, I had a lot of uncertainty as to where I thought this would go, because of how little we knew of who Alyssa truly is and what is part of an act. I think we’re starting to get somewhere with her now! I know she’ll likely never be a very sympathetic character to a lot of people, but my fascination with her has definitely increased and it’s giving me some hopes and wishes of my own! 

To preface, I’d like to lay out what the general fandom belief of Alyssa has been. Until now, she’s been regarded as a fame seeker who wants to have everyone’s attention and always craves the spotlight, that she’s spineless and cannot handle confrontation which may be coupled with the fact that she wants to be liked (as in, to save face, she doesn’t defy or contradict others wishes), she doesn’t care about who she hurts to get what she wants, she’s more interested in Kousuke than Nol, and in general she’s been viewed as supremely selfish and self-centered. 

There’s some things I agree with, others only to a certain degree, and still others I wasn’t totally sold on. In previous posts, I’ve noted that I believed it possible that Alyssa’s idol career itself may not have been what she truly wanted (although at the time I assumed it might just be a stepping stone towards what she really wanted, a necessary stop in her trajectory to her power-couple goal, to influence and power). At any rate, though, we can see now that a lot of this has been proven incorrect, although certain things have definitely been reinforced. 

People Pleasing and Peer Pressure 

Something that certainly stands is how very easily influenced by others Alyssa is. This isn’t something I’m going to fault her for, either, because frankly, I know a lot of people who take to their mid-twenties or thirties to feel comfortable and confident in who they are, regardless of what others think. Especially for a middle-schooler with no prior experience with social settings, this is extra hard for Alyssa, who begged her parents to let her attend public school with the dream of making lots of friends and experiencing a “normal” life. Peer pressure is hard and when what you want is to be liked and have a lot of friends, being seen as weird for the things you do like (like math) or hanging out with someone who everyone else regard as weird and potentially a bully doesn’t bode well with what you want. Frankly, it takes a strong spirit to be comfortable in your own skin, to be who you are, and Alyssa doesn’t have the experiences yet to be that person. I think we can also argue that the way her parents treat her hasn’t helped -  though well-meaning, they seem to overwhelm Alyssa and limit her ability to actually explore the things she’s interested in. She states that she’s not even good at dance, which is why she’s taking lessons at all, and she’s only in them because she once expressed interest in it - and there’s an implication that it’s not something she even likes or enjoys anymore, and yet she continues. 

Is it just that Alyssa lacks the ability to push back and tell her parents when she loses interest in something? Is it that they don’t give her the room to do it? It sounds a lot like they hear she likes something and then drowns her in that thing without ever considering that her interests will change and wane. 

We are also given a lot of indication that at this early age, Alyssa just struggled to confront people in any form of it. She can’t stand up for herself to her parents about not wanting to follow certain paths, she can’t tell Shinae the truth about her feelings and seems to be cornered when she finally starts to open up, she can’t push back against people who are picking on her. 

At any rate, the point stands that due to the way her parents treat her, smothering her with everything she dares to breathe about, she hasn’t been given the opportunity to find comfort in being who she really is, because they are always a step behind or clinging to something she said in the past that is no longer true. She’s too reluctant to mention anything else she likes because maybe they’ll do the same thing again. She has no room to breathe to explore herself to figure out what she really wants, and the things she does know about herself are considered “weird” by other kids - her disdain for kpop and preference for classical music, her favor for math and science type things, she goes to exhibits for her own keen interest! If the other kids knew, they’d definitely continue to pick on her and call her weird.

And yet that’s exactly what she’s so afraid of. She states she’s seen what happens to kids who are ostracized and that’s the last thing she wants. Alyssa is learning the hard way that not only are kids cruel, but who she wants to be is at odd with who she really is. If she wants to fit in with the other kids, she has to put on a front, feign interest in things she doesn’t care for, squash down her true interests and perform for them. Long before she becomes an idol, Alyssa is already having to perform and learn about conditional favor: people will like you only so long as you fit what they want you to be. 

How ironic, that she had such strong disdain for kpop, and yet she had to perform for what she wanted, and ended up in that very career. 

I still badly want to know how this happened, because it’s clear that the career Alyssa is in is not what she truly wanted. I’ve seen people argue that maybe she’s here for the stepping stone reasons, or because she changed her mind. But idk, she seems pretty set in her way with her interest there, and it just really reinforces my theory that Alyssa only wound up a kpop idol because she couldn’t speak up against it. It largely seems like something that fell into her lap and her parents jumped at it assuming that Alyssa was on board for it because she’d practically trained for so long. Maybe she felt too guilty about the money they’d put into her lessons - there’s implications that they’ve spent so much money on her that they’re tight on money - maybe it’s just part of her inability to speak up for and defend herself, her inability to say no this isn’t actually what I want.

Maybe it IS just that she reluctantly is following through for the hopes that it will afford her the connections to get out it and go for what she really wants? 

Power (for freedom)

Even this little glimpse into Alyssa’s life has given enough to re-examine her previous statement about how she desires to be part of a power couple (and how Kousuke likely might be her intended target). Even though her family seems to be trying to do things for her favor, she still feels trapped and oppressed by them and craves escape. And now she’s in a kpop group that she doesn’t seem to enjoy completely - the fact that in middle school she made a note that being able to write music is far more interesting than being able to play instruments and she was given that opportunity to write a song, and it ends up being about feeling trapped and shackled down, unable to escape speaks volumes. Additionally, we know she spends more time with her sister than her group mates, it’s implied that she doesn’t practice as much/as hard as them and frankly I don’t think this is mean girls being mean. I think it probably IS true that Alyssa doesn’t put as much effort into things because she doesn’t enjoy it she doesn’t want to be here and who can blame her group mates? They DID train hard for this, they DO want this. Of course they’ll be upset by the way she acts! 

Unlike them, Alyssa doesn’t want to be part of this career, and if her case is anything like Shinae’s, she feels trapped by Yui. What happens if Alyssa denies this opportunity? What has her family gained from Alyssa’s career/connections? I think there’s a good chance there’s a lot more on the line than we know about, and thus Alyssa has to continue to fake it to make it. So, who is surprised she wishes to be part of a power couple? It seems less about wanting to be influential, to have people look up to her and more about wanting to be in a position to feel in control of her life, to be free to do what she wants. 

Consider this: Yui is a powerful woman with a powerful family name and more importantly, she is very much in control of herself, she takes no direction or control from others, she has shadow puppets (possibly including Alyssa herself). I think Alyssa is aware of what kind of person Yui really is - a widely-held fandom belief about Alyssa is that she wants to be the kind of person Yui is, right down to the scheming manipulation. But when Alyssa calls Yui a charitable woman and says she wants to be like her, her eyes are closed. They remain closed as Alyssa remarks how nice it is of her to give Shinae a job. I think Alyssa sees through this, because it’s the same situation she’s in, and she above all probably knows what a trap it is. If Alyssa feels stuck in a career she can’t escape, “gifted” to her by Yui, then she has an understanding of what it means for Shinae. I used to think maybe Alyssa said it because she understood the implications - that she, too, had been handed her career like Shinae, but if Alyssa has no love or pride in her career, then it’s less that she cares about what others will think of her being handed a career and maybe more about concern for Shinae, and what it means for her to also be entangled with Yui. 

Despite this, though, Yui possesses qualities that Alyssa clearly covets - starting with the fact that someone like Yui wouldn’t be ensnared in traps like Alyssa currently is, the fact that no one controls her or dictates her moves. 

And this brings us to Kousuke! From the outside, Kousuke lives this way, too. He looks to all outsiders like he’s completely in control of his life, on a path of his choosing that he was meant for, he’s successful, influential, rich, and in control. Like Yui, he looks like he is free to move where and how he wants, so it’s not a surprise that Alyssa is drawn to him. But more than that, we now know that Alyssa and Kousuke are far more alike than we had considered before! I used to think that Alyssa was drawn to Kousuke because she saw in him all the things she wants for herself, and while I do still think that’s true, it clearly isn’t the totality of it! I wonder how well she knows him - does she know they both favor the same kind of music? Kousuke is regarded as a bit of a genius, years ahead of kids his age in school, quick to pick up new things. Since she was 3, by the time she was in middle school, Alyssa had learned to play FIVE different instruments and wound up writing her own song pretty early in her musical career. And it’s not even a left vs right brain thing, because she’s also good at math and fascinated by science, especially anatomy, with a previous dream of being a biomedical engineer. Much like Kousuke, we can see that Alyssa isn’t really into things kids her age are. Does she know how similar they are? Does she just sense it? Kousuke clearly doesn’t see this in her yet (I think) but I wonder if with enough time, they could come to see this? She’s easily written off by others as being vapid and maybe even ditzy, with little going on in her head, but that’s clearly not the case. 

Notably, too, where Alyssa learned to play all five instruments, Meg only learned a couple and stopped her lessons. We are further given a sense that there’s a “golden child” vs “the other one” with Alyssa and Meg. Was Meg allowed to give up because she wasn’t as gifted as Alyssa, not worth the money it would take to teach her? Is the focus just heavily placed on Alyssa so Meg is given the freedom that Alyssa badly wants for herself? 

And so, in search of that escape, seeking a sense of normalcy and the ability to breathe and explore what she wants, Alyssa finds herself in public school, befriended by a boisterous Shinae. 

Shinae from hope to self-isolation

This is a very Alyssa-heavy post, I know, but I do want to dedicate some time to Shinae, too, because the Shinae we see in the flashback is SUCH a contrast to the Shinae we first meet at the start of the series, which reinforces just how much of an impact this experience had on Shinae. Alyssa’s betrayal affected her so deeply it left her with not only physical but also mental and emotional scars, so deep that when Nol later betrays her and walks away, this bubbles back to the surface - an experience for which she blamed herself and repressed, shoved so deep down that she never recovered from it. Had she made peace, it wouldn’t have come bubbling to the surface when Nol acknowledged the very scar she hides. 

Alyssa was so important to Shinae, despite their brief stint in friendship. She was Shinae’s first friend, someone who she found so cool and fascinating and she fought hard for that friendship, too. Both girls know that Shinae is putting more into this friendship than Alyssa is, and I think Alyssa shows some guilt over it. She’s never quite able to address her issues to Shinae and though we know she’s trying to pull away and distance herself, she never succeeds when Shinae calls her out on it and corners her. Shinae has spent much of her childhood picked on and bullied, not even defended by the school, and it gets so bad that she has to transfer schools! You can’t blame her for being a little desperate to keep that first friend, so afraid of losing out something she’s always craved. 

There’s a lot about young Shinae that really hurts my heart, to be honest, especially compared to her current self. Her admission that despite the barriers she put up, despite all the ways she isolated herself for her own protection and chose loneliness over the risk of getting hurt again, she carried some hope that people would prove her wrong, that she would find the friendship and acceptance she actually craved HURTS - especially when you know that because of that quiet hope, she let down her walls for Nol who she thought had proved he wasn’t the threat she worried, only to learn that so much of him was a lie, that maybe that friendship never meant anything. 

The Nol vs Alyssa parallel is SO intentional and BOY does it hurt! Also, I know I’ve talked about the irony that Shinae has been hurt by these two people who are dating, but it just feels even more intense in light of everything. Shinae put so much hope in Alyssa despite all the signs she should have listened to, she hoped so much and fought so hard to help Alyssa learn to ignore the feeling of being picked on, and in the end, she failed. Alyssa meant so much to her and as far as Shinae was concerned, she didn’t mean the same to Alyssa. If she did, wouldn’t Alyssa have chosen her over popularity? Wouldn’t she have stuck with her? If she meant so much to her, would she have treated her the way she did, ostracized her in effort to save herself from that very fate? For Shinae, Nol’s betrayal hurts so much not because of the lies but because it runs parallel to the last significant betrayal she experienced. Once again, she made someone so important to her, only to feel like she wasn’t.

It’s not about the lies or that he gave her a fake name: it’s because she believed it didn’t mean to him what it did to her, that she foolishly fell for someone who didn’t care about her the way she did him. 

And that’s what is SO significant, too, about Shinae’s willingness to accept Nol, how desperately she wanted him to answer her calls or messages, to come back and show his face. If it was about the lies and betrayal, it might be harder for her to accept that friendship - but despite that, she ardently hoped he would prove her wrong, because she needed to know that it meant something to Nol, that her friendship was not so easy to cast aside, that she mattered. And that’s why she’s able to accept him back, albeit with anger. To know that she is important to him, that even though he began those friendships with no intention of them being real only for them to end up meaning so much to him makes up for the lies. 

Popularity vs Individualism

The thing is, I think Shinae may have meant something to Alyssa, but she was just at odds with what she wanted. Numerous times, we see Alyssa get very flustered over the sincere, earnest way Shinae praises her, the way she sees her as this really cool person for traits that the other kids treat as weird, things she knows she would get made fun of for. She downplays her skills and intelligence, not even in a coy or demure way but like... Alyssa really doesn’t seem to think there’s anything special about being able to learn to play instruments or anything like that. She’s quickly learning what she needs to hide about herself in order to fit in, but outlier Shinae finds these things about her so admirable and cool. In fact, Alyssa is so sure that Shinae had lots of friends before because she’s so tough and confident and courageous and brushes off all the teasing that comes her way - but she only seems that way because she’s been there before, because she’s endured it before but NOW she finally has a friend. It’s easier to deal with that if she has a friend to have fun with. 

That whole admission is so painful, for Shinae to confess that duh, of course she also wishes she could experience what it’s like to be liked by so many people instead of treated like a weirdo, picked up and bullied simply for existing. But she doesn’t know. That’s why Alyssa means so much and is so important to her. That’s why even though she knows Alyssa is trying to pull away, she keeps trying to reign her in closer, asking her to be her project partner even when she can see Alyssa looking away, calling her out on her she’s growing quieter and quieter and less involved in this friendship. Shinae is determined to keep this special friend. 

But the other kids think Shinae is weird, and Alyssa knows this. In fact, the flashback where Maya overhead the girls calling Shinae weird is probably a big turning point for Alyssa. Based on the two flashbacks, that’s probably the day that Alyssa misses lunch with Shinae, and we can sense a big change in Alyssa. She’s been told that public school sucks unless you’re popular, she’s told that people think Shinae is weird and even that she looks weird, and though they don’t really tease her about it there’s definitely a dig about how Alyssa uses intelligent words the other kids do and that it seems weird to be so studious and well-learned. Again, Alyssa is learning that she has to bury who she really is to fit in, and while she seems to like Shinae, she also is learning that to stay friends with her will very likely lead to her own bullying.  Alyssa never even though Shinae’s hair was weird until the other girls said anything! There’s so many things she accepts for what they are, until she realizes that others think they’re weird. I think we can agree that she’s shaped by what others think, but I think it’s a little more like... it’s not necessarily that it’s changing her opinion of things as much as she’s just learning what is and isn’t considered acceptable and she’s trying to align herself with the acceptable.

Everything is a parallel

It begins her rift with Alyssa, though. Through Maya’s flashback, we know something will go down with Alyssa and Shinae’s science project - there’s a flashback where she’s being accused of copying someone else’s project and Shinae pointed says she did all the work, it’s her project and never once mentions Alyssa about it. Following that, Minhyuk asks if Shinae hangs out with Alyssa anymore and she notes that no, they don’t hang out as much as they used to, because now Alyssa has lots of friends. Alyssa has been influenced and she makes her choice - she decides to fit in, to shrink herself into something the other kids will like, to start playing a role. 

And yet, before she was influenced by other peoples’ opinions, Alyssa really did seem to like Shinae. She had fun with her in math club and she seemed really touched by Shinae’s sincere compliments and earnest friendship. But she also knew that she was making a different decision, that Shinae was giving more to their friendship than she was.

When Shinae smiles that blinding bright, very Yeonggi-like smile, Alyssa’s face screws up and she blushes - but I think it represents guilt and remorse, not anything positive. She feels bad Shinae cares so much and she herself cares more about popularity than this friendship. She knows the choices she’s making, that she’s pulling away, and she feels so guilty she has to physically escape. 

In a very similar way that Kousuke seems to see Nol in Shinae, Alyssa seems to see Shinae in Nol. That bright smile she puts on is SO very like the kind Yeonggi would wear, so it’s only natural that in the aftermath of all that went down, when Alyssa was back to being lonely and friendless, when Yeonggi offered her his friendship and that bright, earnest smile, Alyssa would accept this weird stranger’s friendship, because it reminded her of another person who candidly offered her such sincere, earnest friendship when she needed it. And, likewise, when Alyssa is aware that she’s hurting that person, she finds herself pulling away and withdrawing. 

For a long time I couldn’t tell if Alyssa really understood how much she was hurting Nol, if she simply took his friendship for granted. I think she definitely carries guilt that she refuses to acknowledge, which is why she deflects and throws things back at him when he calls her out. But I also think she knows that she’s being a bad friend, a bad girlfriend, and that’s why she avoids him, the way she avoided Alyssa. (Shoutout to DATBOYWHOISCHILL on reddit for calling out that parallel of avoidance). The way he reaches out over and over, just like Shinae trying to reign her back in, UGH the way Nol and Shinae are SO VERY SIMILAR and yet unaware of it just KILLS ME. It was even pointed out the way they both defend her and aren’t really met with gratitude - although I guess it’s worth noting that by the time Nol is doing this for Alyssa, her image is on the line and she’s already aware of the conditional relationship she has with her fans, the image she has to maintain if she doesn’t want to be ostracized and cast out.

Honestly, all of this makes me even more certain that Alyssa needs to experience a fall from grace in order to learn to be herself and to escape the people-pleasing quest of acceptance. Only when she loses everything - her career, her fans, her image - will she be able to face who she really is and who she really wants to be, to come to terms with being okay being alone, and maybe find her voice to push back against what she doesn’t want. And I still think it could possibly lead to some kind of reconciliation. While I’m not sure if Shinae and Alyssa could ever be friends - there’s so much hurt and anger there yet - I think they could at least make peace with their past and resolve their issues in a way that helps Shinae move on. An Alyssa who, like Shinae once had, has lost so much and hit rock bottom and has to go through the hardest and darkest times would probably be better able to understand what she couldn’t in sixth grade, how Shinae was able to endure the ridicule because she had a friend at her side. I think it would lead to Alyssa being able to accept herself for who she really is, and not the performance she puts on for other people. 

Frankly, I feel like while Alyssa is a people-pleaser who seeks out popularity, what she really want is the kind of friendship Shinae offered. She’s chasing after something she won’t receive. Fans don’t unconditionally love their idol - they will only love her if she performs for them, and that means the person she presents herself as, too. Who will love Alyssa for who she really is, for her nerdy side and her love of classical music, for finding math fun, for her interest in anatomy. Who will love her for all the things that made her so “weird”? She continues to put on a front for people who “love” a version of her she’s created for their consumption, chasing down the sincerity and earnest approval she received from a maybe-weird outcast who saw her for who she really was and still thought she was cool and interesting. 

Trauma and Healing

But to segue back to Shinae, I think these episodes have shined a lot of light on who she used to be, as well, and we can still see glimmers of that Shinae today. I keep thinking about that smile she wore for Alyssa, and how she said that she hated Yeonggi’s smile because she was unable to smile like that herself. She went from being able to wear that smile to finally defeated, scarred deeply by Alyssa’s choices and the fall that followed. Physical ramifications of trusting someone too much, of giving someone too much of a chance. In her eyes, she was punished for daring to think she could have friendship like that.

In fact, even though Minhyuk fills that void and becomes the kind of best friend Shinae needed, we know that years later she still has enough seeds of doubt to wonder if Minhyuk was only her friend out of pity because it’s so unfathomable for her to think that anyone can truly be her friend because they like her for who she is, and it takes reaffirmation for her to accept that it’s true. 

That’s what makes this current arc SO special, in my opinion. This is a Shinae who still carries trauma with her, who is still so greatly affected by a literally traumatic fall, and in spite of that, she still finds herself wanting to find the best in people, craving the friendship she dares not believe she deserves. Despite it all, she held out a hope that she didn’t necessarily believe in, that Nol would find his way back to them not just for closure but to maintain that friendship. I think that much is obvious by the way she addresses him when he finally joins her on the rooftop - she’s cagey and uncomfortable having exposed so much of her vulnerable self to him because she thought they were ending things, not that he might decide to go back on his word, and she was so unprepared to face that. And still she tries to! Though he has to corner her to get her to, she admits that yes of COURSE she wanted him to hear all of that, to see him again. 

In spite of all the ways Shinae has been hurt by people - by her mother, by her sister, her first friend, by Maya and Rika, by students who knew nothing about her but bullied her anyway, by the adults who never did their job and intervened or looked out for her - she still wants to find people who prove her wrong. I think this is even true for her relationship with Kousuke, who she has noted she thinks isn’t so bad as much as he just has lived a different life and is kind of misguided. I continue to think this is why Shinae will serve as a bridge between Nol and Kousuke, too - because she is likely to be the person to see the best in each of them, to bring out the best in them, and help them to see it in each other, too. 

For as much as she’s told herself she doesn’t like people, that they will only let you down, for as much as she tried to isolate herself from others to prevent that kind of hurt ever happening again, she can’t resist but to want to let people in, because even though she believes the universe is punishing her simply for existing, I think she is learning that it’s not enough to simply bow your head and accept it. Things don’t ever change when you do that, and though she’s also experienced that sometimes things don’t change when you try to fight back, maybe it’s different when you have others by your side? 

Again, I think Shinae’s entire experience with Alyssa has only reinforced her friendship with Nol, should they both decide to continue this friendship - which I think is what is being established. If Nol wanted to still run away, he would have used his opportunity. He states that his being there is for him - because it’s his last night and he wants to make things right, to make things up to the people he’s hurt. It’s for him because he wants to be where he really wants to be for once, and to atone for what he has done not for his karmic retribution or absolution, but because that is what friends do. The whole conversation that follows where he holds Shinae in place is not because he is finalizing their goodbye but to call her out and square things away. If they are starting this again, they need to do it on the same page. 

Where Shinae gave too much of herself to Alyssa and to Yeonggi, maybe this time she and Nol will be equals, partners for real, and with this deeper understanding of each other, what their past has done to hurt them and twist their feelings, it is likely for them to form an even stronger bond and alliance. 

UGH I have so MANY feelings and I feel like I’ve still missed so many points I’d like to make, but I think I’ve at least addressed a good bulk of them. I know there are people who aren’t enjoying this because they’d rather see Shinae and Nol talking, but this flashback is such a necessary piece of storytelling. It’s clueing us in more on who Alyssa is and what her motivations are, it’s really emphasized just how much of a toll this experience took on Shinae and comparing it to Nol demonstrates just how much it means for her to still reach for him. The perspective it’s given us is, I think, crucial to the friendship that Nol and Shinae are setting and helps us better to appreciate it as something beautiful in spite of the ugly they’ve endured, and what they mean to each other. 

I think there are some readers who forget that what has happened to Nol, Shinae, Kousuke, and Alyssa in the past is absolutely a part of who they are now and what their paths currently are. Without examining all those scenes, we’re missing pieces in our puzzle and we can’t move on to their adult selves without exploring all of this. And considering this is a very character-driven story focused on exploring human traumas and the way it affects us, I, for one, am absolutely over the moon with this. I appreciate the rekindling of Shinae and Nol’s friendship even more knowing just how much Alyssa’s failed friendship hurt Shinae. Give me all the emotional baggage, thank you!

#I Love Yoo #ILY Brainrot #ILY FP #ILY Spoilers #Alyssa Cho #Shinae Yoo #this is largely about these two #admittedly it's very Alyssa-centric but I promise I get to Shinae throughout this too! #i'm forever fascinated by the way Alyssa and Shinae continue to parallel each other but more than that i am fascinated by how much their #intersection has affected them and the people around them #you could argue that as much as Alyssa has affected how Shinae responded to people and potential friendships Shinae has affected even how #Alyssa treats Nol which is just incredible to me and something i really didn't anticipate #i talk a lot about how i think Alyssa may never have gotten over what happened with Shinae too and how this might be something that affects #her to this day but god being able to see the core of who she is now back then is wild. and also sad #gonna character tag for nol too since i address him here #Nolan Oliver T. Lochlainn #Yeonggi #because there's some Yeonggi specific bases too lol #i'm gonna end up making relationship tags soon i swear #rs: a few good friends are more than enough #afkjafjkafkjaf lmao idk if i'll use that but i love the idea of it #because i just know that we'll be seeing a lot more of the alyssa shinae impact in time #anyway aAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH #i hope alyssa kousuke anon is out there and sees this cos man i am vibrating #i'll probably work on a follow up for that alyssa and kousuke as mirrors post in time too tho it may be better to wait for more eps #IDK we'll see #this post is a best i am sorry

[toxiclavender]

I think the reason ppl get so up in arms about smut specifically is bc it kinda comes with the implication that even while they're a minor, bc that's all we're ever shown, you're sexually attracted to them as an adult....?

It does kinda make me uncomfortable when the only visual i have to attach to a proposed scenario is that of a kid which is why I tend to skip out on charas that don't have a canon adult design and whatnot at least (even sfw except platonic or sometimes those where reader is clearly the same age bc it's not that hard imagining younger me? lol)

That being said, as long as it's a clearly adult version (including accounting for changes in their life, experiences etc so it isn't just "actually middle schooler but i slap 'adult' on the lid so it doesn't seem weird") i genuinely couldn't care less lol. And, yknow, sending suicide bait just isn't the gotcha some ppl seem to think it is but....

I’m aware that visuals play a big part in it but I strongly believe that even if art was provided, there would still be backlash because they still think it’s inappropriate if the author didn’t make them an adult yet. I saw this happen plenty of times already. They still want people to abide by the rules that they want fanfic writers to follow.

When aged up character art goes around, if it’s sfw there won’t be hate because it’s just showing the character doing simple task or posing like they’re some model. People will gush about how great they look, leave a like, possibly reblog and go on about their day.

If an artist was to share their piece where the aged up character is shown doing adult things or just shown in clothing that’s meant to be seductive, that artist will be labeled as a creep and weird for seeing them like that because after all you looked at their character design when they were a minor and drew them doing something perverted. They’ll get likes and reblogs but occasionally get anons telling them they don't like it, as if their opinion matters.

And it’s crazy because people don’t have a problem with shows like The Simpsons even though they have a history of aging up Bart and Lisa, showing them do adult things like smoking weed and drinking, although in the next episode we’ll be watching them as kids again, ignoring the fact that Bart was making out with one of the twins in the closet and she said something nasty. It isn’t okay solely because they make them act like children when drawn as such or the other way around, it's okay because the creators did it themselves. Had they not done that and someone drew Bart in that way, there would be discourse.

[personalitynexus]

So lemme air out a few things that are irking me about 2045...

1: PURIN EZAKI - Her story is a little to conveniently told and easily swallowed. Her hero worship for Batou feels forced from the word ‘go’, and we learn now in S2 of what I call 4th GIG that she’s supposedly the lone survivor from the JUNGLE CRUISE episode, where she was rescued from the crime scene by an unusually cold and distant Batou, who was extremely emotional and close to the case since it involved a CIA spook running an op in the last war... And yet Batou didn’t recognize her because her hair color is now pink instead of brunette and using an assumed name. AND HER APARTMENT IS A HIGH END UNIT WITH NO FURNITURE OTHER THAN A FRIDGE/FREEZER COMBO THAT HOUSES ALL OF HER EXTERNAL MEMORY DEVICES?? Put it all together and she screams Post-human or NSA spook planted inside the team to garner leverage over them... And yet that never happens. BUT HEY! Let’s make a pass at the focus of our hero worship and ask him to shack up in a hotel room that were treating like a crime scene! And let’s not forget how she behaves like a post-human in some scenes... and then immediately returns to acting like normal in the next second, complete with how they are shown to overheat and hemorrhage when ‘overclocked’ for too long. It’s never said outright that she is a post-human... but it’s never cleared up that she isn’t one either. And yet somehow the Tachikoma have the beginnings of a ghost among themselves, but Purin doesn’t after being remade and revived with her own memories, but can emote more clearly and concisely than most humans do in a week, let alone the average posthuman ever does?

2: DOUBLE THINK - The ending of the season... A great chance to hit on the trademark philosophical speed bag that GitS is known for and go a few rounds with the Ship of Theseus thought experiment now that Purin has died and been resurrected in a fully artificial body using all of her earlier mentioned External Memory Devices... And yet, we don’t. We get a ham-fisted middle school students explanation of his do-or-die attempt to save the world by putting everyone into a dissociative state of mind, causing them to experience true reality and a virtual reality of their own making. The writers have to force feed us that this is supposedly the next big human singularity, and yet it can all be undone by removing the middle schooler from the source? How does that work exactly? Singularities are turning points in evolution from which there is no easy way of undoing it. Transhumanism, or the fusion of man and machine to the point where one is indistinguishable from the other, is our current Singularity threshold, the premise of which GitS and other Cyberpunk genres are set on. It’s not something that is easily undone in those settings, and doing so would greatly harm the species. But this? Pull the cable assembly from the ports in his neck and the dreaming ends, plunging everyone back to only the one reality? That’s not really a Singularity level event... The superstructure the kid is hosting all of these minds, which he now refers to as N’s btw, is closer to that singularity than his concept of Double Think.

3: TOGUSA - Here’s where shit really gets complicated. Finale of S1 of 2045 we have the least cyberized individual of the team get infected with a Nostalgia virus written by who we later classify as our main antagonist. He is then sent on a trip down the antagonists memory lane until he reaches a crucial turning point in his ideology, witnessing the execution of someone by mobsters and a dirty cop, which leads to his cousin getting shot and killed before help arrives in the form of a former paramilitary mountain recluse. Here the memory turns to fantasy and the antagonist saves his cousin with the help of the recluse and his former military team, and offers Togusa a ride in the back of their canvas covered transport, all while hacking Batou’s eyes in real time so he can’t see Togusa leave. Flash forward to S2, about 5 or 6 episodes in... and we learn Togusa’s been missing for 2 MONTHS, and hardly anyone seems concerned. In 1st or 2nd GIG (Laughing Man and Individual 11), the team would have tore the world apart to find a missing member of the squad, especially when they vanished mysteriously while on a case. Yet here in 4th gig (2045) they go about business as usual, only really caring about the missing agent after he phones in from...

4: THE TOBACCO SHOP - Oh yes, it has it’s own bullet point. The mysterious Tobacco shop that had a working pay phone and exactly enough change for one outgoing phone call for our agent that was MIA.... THAT LITERALLY DID NOT EXIST IN THE PREVIOUS WIDE ANGLE SHOT OF THE AREA. It’s been driving me crazy all damn week! But the only way it makes sense is if you take the earlier 3 points and this one, throw them in a pot, let them simmer for a few days and get...

5: AN INCOMPLETE MESS - The story felt rushed. I will be honest and say that right now. Purin was handled sloppily, and the team literally could not care that Togusa was missing until he phoned in with the Chekov’s Cell Phone. But looking at these 2 seasons, or 24 episodes, from the wide angle lens of a 36-40 episode series standard, and you see the plot threads that were left abandonded. Including was Togusa really gone for 2 months? Was the team infected with the Nostalgia Virus after he vanished infront of Batou, which then snowballed into the entire world getting infected (explained somewhat in finale)? Was Purin truly a childhood survivor of one of Batou’s old enemies, or was she planted as a double agent inside Section 9 by one of 2 conspiring forces? Was she even human to begin with, or an advanced AI that thought she was human as part of her cover? The story leaves more questions than answers, but a lot of them start with the 4 points above...

#Evil Laughter Ensues {OOC} #GitS:SAC_2045 spoilers

[onebarofsoap]

that’s what happened right

#mp100 #mob psycho 100 #apologies to everyone who sees this #kageyama ritsu #hanazawa teruki #soap tries art #i greatly hesitate to call this art. anyways #and yet isn’t this how middle schoolers act

[father-time-and-baby-new-year]

alphabet boy II

SYNOPSIS: college AU. Armin, your brilliant tutor, invites you over to his house for some studying. Naturally, you're nervous and he seems to be giving you a reason to be.

PAIRING: SCUMBAG!Tutor Armin x FEM!Reader

WARNINGS: half edited, noncon/dubcon, fingering, non-penetrative sexual content. gaslighting, manipulating,

A/N: really need the motivation to write again and I've been slacking on my multi-parters so here's a somewhat highly anticipated one. Armin fuckers, this is for you. non-Armin fuckers, I hope this converts you

WORD COUNT: 2.0k

II. I.

“You’re not paying attention.”

You feel his voice right by the shell of your ear, and the proximity nearly makes you reel back in surprise but you manage to catch yourself.

“S-sorry” You apologize, wishing you didn’t stutter.

The thing is you’re just really out of your element. This is the first time you’ve been to Armin’s house for personal tutoring, and it was hard to focus on the material when his presence was so distracting.

It wasn’t like you were fantasizing about him or anything [well…]-you always tried to banish those thoughts as soon as it came. But still, being alone with an attractive boy with a disarming charm was causing some jitters. You felt like a shy middle schooler, on edge and jittery.

The last tutoring session in the library when he [basically] called you stupid plagued your mind. The memory of him feeling up your thighs lived in your head rent-free.

“Let’s take a break.” He sighs. Your heart drops at the noise of disappointment but you suppose it’s what you deserve.

You push your laptop lightly aside on the table, the bleak light straining your eyes, and ask for the bathroom. You just wanted to freshen up and be alone for a few seconds. The bathroom is meticulously clean, something even you knew was unexpected for a boy. You looked at yourself through the spotless mirror, scrutinizing every flaw.

You sigh, fiddling with your dress collar. Why you had tried dressing pretty for a boy so out of your league, he may as well be in Mars--you didn’t know.

When you return, there is a tall glass of lemonade waiting for you.

“Thought you might be thirsty.”

It’s a simple gesture that makes you blush so you thank him earnestly. Like the gentleman he is, he assures you it’s no problem. Not wanting to prolong the awkward silence, you compliment his apartment, “This is a really nice place. So much light and space.”

You’re babbling but he engages you regardless, and you two are mindlessly discussing the benefits of living at off-campus housing over dorming. His words are pleasant but there’s a sinking feeling within you as you notice he’s bored. Or maybe distracted was a better word.

“So, do you have a boyfriend? Or anyone you’re seeing?”

You nearly choke at the question uttered through a buttery voice.

“Oh um, not really.”

“Not really?”

You made a mental note to answer in definitives. Armin seemed the type to snuff out anything he reasoned as half-truths.

“No. I uh, don’t have a boyfriend.” And then you clarified a pin-drop later, “And I’m not seeing anyone either.”

The blond hums a playful tune that’s vaguely nostalgic.

“Have you ever had a boyfriend?”

You don’t understand the point of this line of incessant questioning, and can’t calm your heart rate.

“I-um, I don’t-“

Taking one look at your serious face, eyes rimmed with worry and cheeks pink, he laughs. It’s a startling sound like bell chimes.

“Relax. I just wanted to know if you had any experience.”

The sentence flies out of your mouth before you can even ponder it: “What do you mean by experience?”

It’s not his fault if he can’t hide the feral grin that crosses his mouth right at that moment. You can’t discern his expression as you’re staring at anywhere but him, so you don’t notice the uncontained excitement that glimmers in cerulean eyes.

“Let’s move to the couch. You’ll be more comfortable there.”

You think about saying that you’re fine wherever you are and didn’t really feel like changing positions, but he’s already striding towards the couch. So you start packing up the materials, before a clear voice calls out to you, “It’s okay. You don’t have to bring all that. Just bring your flashcards.”

You hoped that wouldn’t mean he’d quiz you, but that’s exactly what he meant to do.

“Law of diminishing returns.”

“Wait! I know that one!” You brightly exclaimed, “ Uhh..it gives way to the catch-up effect which means poor countries tend to grow more rapidly and they’ll one day essentially catch up with wealthier economies.”

The blond ran his hand through his hair before sighing. You could feel your heart drop. You were sure you were right. Was your answer wrong enough to cause exasperation?

“Stick with the formal definition next time. I didn’t ask for the theory based on the law.”

You pouted, and Armin couldn’t help but relish in how eagerly you sought his approval, like a puppy performing tricks to appease their master.

“You should sit closer. Can you even see the word?”

You moved closer to him, knees knocking into each other. He looks down at the completed set.

“Well, you didn’t do as bad as I expected.” Ouch. But maybe he meant it as a compliment?

“But,” the corners of his mouth curled, “I’d say you’re still struggling.” Never mind.

“T-this is a new chapter though. I don’t think we’ve even gone over it in class.”

Blue eyes narrow, and you wonder if he’s going to give the well-meaning spiel about how staying ahead was the only way to keep up. That mantra may work for someone with high ambitions and an extremely good work ethic but you were no well-oiled machine. You had other classes too!

“Why are you so defensive?”

Your eyes widen in surprise at the question, spoken so softly and casually, you almost miss the disdained lilt.

“Oh uh-“

“Listen to me. I quizzed you so I’m able to assert your skill level. And your response to my assertion is that it’s something you haven’t gone over in class yet. Do those things relate to each other at all?”

Meekly, you shift your attention to the rug.

“Answer me.”

“N-no”, you squeaked.

“And what have I always told you? The only way to keep up is to-“

“Stay ahead.” You finished, “I’m sorry, I just-“

“Did I say you could interrupt me?”

You could feel the blood rushing to your ears, unsure when the atmosphere had shifted. Your heartbeat was beating rapidly and you could feel your body go warm.

He sighed, and placed a hand over over your folded ones, squeezing your palms.

“You know I’m just looking out for you right? It almost feels like you don’t care-“

“No!” You exclaim, “I-I do.” Heat pools into your cheeks once you realize your grave mistake, “I-I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

The blond smiles radiantly and it nearly melts away all of your worries…until he opens his mouth to deliver another damning remark.

“You know, with your looks…you don’t really even have to graduate. Maybe choose an easy major and then get some rich husband to take care of you.” There’s a distinct lack of humor in his tone as if he wholeheartedly believed every word he was saying.

Your eyebrows furrow in blatant confusion, and in the back of your mind, danger signs are flashing at the back of your head. Your thighs are growing warmer. Oh no, this could not be happening right now.

“That’s what most girls’ dreams are anyways.” He inspects his spotless nails, “You chose this class because Ackerman’s attractive right? That’s why his class has such a high drop rate…silly girls join, not understanding how harsh of a grader he is.”

You open your mouth to defend yourself but the next inflammatory remark he spews almost sends you to shock, “Though I bet, if you got on your knees for him, you’d be getting an A on those finals.” He laughs as if he was saying something particularly amusing, an undercurrent of spite coloring his words, “You wouldn’t even need me as your tutor.”

There are a million things on the tip of your tongue but no voice to speak them out. You want to ask him why he’s been so weirdly invasive, what his weird hang-up with professor Ackerman was, and of course, the casual sexism was really throwing you in a loop. Still, you have no doubt Armin could beat you to a bloody pulp several times over in a verbal lashing, and your mind was too fragile to deal with this.

You’ll sign up for a new tutor or better yet no tutor. You’ll get over your social anxiety and join a study group. You’ll go to all of Professor Ackerman’s office hours. Anything had to be better than this. You’re giving yourself this pep talk in your head but there’s no denying that your legs feel warm, and the self-improvement speech is withering away in your mind as it seeks to instead process how Armin fucking Arltert is touching you right now.

He pins you against the cushions, one hand locking both of your wrists. You’re shaking but your pupils are blown out wide.

He smirks, “There’s an excellent stress reliever for studying you know.”

You limp in his hold but the cocky attitude behind his words brings you back. You thrash under him, earning an annoyed growl from the blond.

“I’ve been so fucking patient with you, you know? Planning out your study guides, sharing my notes with you, proofreading homework, going over the mock exams—don’t you think I deserve a little compensation?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

He's right. He's right. Armin actually has done so much for you. Maybe it was too easy to take for granted because of how efficient he was, and how he acted like it was nothing. But right now, nothing really was everything.

He smiles. Yeah, this is who you were. Add just a little bit of pressure and you crumble. That flash of bravery from before was nothing but a petulant outburst from a child who didn’t know any better.

Armin coos, “Isn’t it a little embarrassing to be a virgin at your age?”

With unbridled precision, while he’s still holding your lower body down with the weight of his legs, he unbuckles his belt and ties it around your strained wrists. Red fills your face, and like always, you’re struggling to find the right words to respond. To say anything at all. Most of all, you can feel a wetness building at your core.

“I know the way you look at me, you know.” He kisses the dip of your neck, slender fingers splayed from under your shirt, “I know you’re into this.”

And because he is a scientist who must have evidence to back up his hypothesis, his hands find themselves under the waistband of your floral skirt that you foolishly wore, pushing the cure pastel underwear aside. You’re writhing in his grasp but maybe not as much as you should be, but it’s not your fault your movements are sluggish right?

“You have such a funny habit of not deleting your windows and keeping your bookmarks open.”

You freeze.

“This entire time I thought you were some prudish virgin even though you dress like a whore. Someone with who I had to be gentle. But all that fucking porn you read? Nasty. Is that why you need help in this class?” He punctuates slowly, "Because you're wasting your brain for something else?"

Immediately, you remember how you left your laptop on the table. You remember how many times he used your computer to double-check the notes, and you trustingly let him, forgetting that despite deleting your tabs, the hidden windows of steamy erotica were not yet erased out of their existence. Embarrassment violently paints your body.

He doesn’t wait or care for your response as he starts a vigorous assault on your clit with his slender finger, rubbing up and down in a vicious manner. The second finger prods at your entrance, feeling a tight cavern despite the amount of slick collected. Your eyes roll back in pleasure-is this what being with someone is like?

Stop. Get a hold of yourself. Why are you so fucking horny right now? It doesn’t matter what Armin said about you or how he called you out for the fiction you’ve read, because this is real life. But Christ, it’s Armin, the boy you’ve had a crush on since the moment he explained to you what a marginal abasement curve was. Stupidly handsome Armin with a gentle voice and too-blue oceanic eyes. Stupidly handsome Armin who coerced you into being under him.

You’re so fucking warm and tight, and Armin can’t wait to sink himself inside of you, can’t wait to humiliate you further. With nimble fingers he untied the ribbons of your dress like you were a Christmas present, groping your soft mounds and marking up your collarbone with teeth and tongue. Crystalline tears roll down the side of your face. You really shouldn’t be crying when you’re this wet.

“So fucking funny how you can’t look at me in the eye when we have a conversation but you read the filthiest fucking smut I’ve ever seen.”

taglist: @candy-hime

#tw noncon #tw dubcon #attack on titan fanfiction #armin arlert fanfic #yandere armin arlert #armin arlet x reader #armin arlet x you #manipulator armin #armin x y/n #armin arlet imagines #armin smut #tw manipulation #tw gaslighting

[reki-of-the-valley]

More Renga brainrot because that's all I do! - Pet names edition!

Langa calls Reki his Sunshine, but he says it in English to Reki doesn't get it. And Langa starts calling him Sunshine before they start dating so Reki doesn't click that it's a pet name

At first, Langa only uses Sunshine to refer to Reki when he's just talking to himself, mostly when he's tired or his head and heart are just fluttering with Reki Reki Reki

The first time Langa slips up, he's with his mom. They're out shopping, one of the rare occasions when they spend time together.

Nanako is going on about how she wishes she made more traditional Japanese dishes and meals, but she's so used to making western food that she never has any ideas of what to make or how they never taste the way she really wants them to when she does makes dishes from her childhood. Langa is nodding along - Nanako is used to her son being silent - but then he's talking so her full attention is on her son, especially when he's saying things like "I could always ask Sunshine's mom how she makes [insert whatever dish]"

There's a silence, then Langa feels the panic build up in him. "Wait! No! I mean Reki's mom! Not-!" Langa's biting the inside of his cheeks, so embarrassed. Nanako is grinning and she will be asking more about this whole "Sunshine" situation, to Langa's disenchantment

Langa is pretty good with concealing the whole thing, especially when he's only speaking Japanese. But it happens, he does slip up around Reki. It's after an especially thrilling yet exhausting night at S. Both as sweaty and tired, ready to crash, but Langa is hungry because he just burned so much energy. His mind is a blissful haze, somewhere between Japanese and English. That's how he ends up casually asking something along the lines of "Wanna go get burgers, Sunshine?"

He nearly doesn't catch his own words, and he wouldn't have thought twice if it wasn't for Reki looking at him in confusion. Panic once again. Because this time it's not his mom, it's not a stranger, it isn't in his head and heart. He called Reki Sunshine to his face. Reki was sunshine, yes, but saying it, it makes things real. It's putting his feelings out there for everyone to see. It's admitting to Reki that he thinks about him a little too much, a little too intensely, a little more than just platonically

But Reki is oblivious, because it's Reki. Reki who doesn't understand English. Reki who has a thousand nicknames for Langa. So for Reki, Sunshine is just Langa's equivalent of dude but in English, so he doesn't mind at all. And Langa is both extremely relieved and extremely frustrated

After that, Langa only uses Sunshine when he's praising Reki. It's unconscious, really, but it's fitting. And in a way, it's telling Reki he loves him, it's telling Reki that he loves him so much, enough to be giving him pet names. Reki is his summer sunshine, his morning sun, his light, but only in English. Langa can't quite say it in Japanese, in a language Reki understands. That's too much. Langa isn't ready to admit his feelings. Langa isn't ready to confess, not yet. Maybe never, but he is ready to call Reki his Sunshine in a language he's truly comfortable in

And this goes on for a while. Months of a secret pet name. Until Reki is getting ready for a race against Miya. No high stakes, probably something dumb like loser has to do the other's homework of choice (obvs it has to be reasonable, not like a whole essay or asking a middle schooler to do something he doesn't know like advanced math or whatever). Reki and Miya are bickering and teasing each other, friendly trash talk as they're used to at S. At least until Langa is coming along, wishing his Sunshine good luck. Reki grins because Langa is good luck to him. Miya is gapping.

"Sunshine? That's so gross, you slime! Of all the pet names you could choose, you go with Sunshine? And you didn't bother telling me you two are dating? How long have you been hiding it?"

Langa feels his whole insides twist. His heart stops. He feels sick. Miya is staring between the two. Reki is staring at him, frozen. Everything is wrong. This is not how Langa wanted this to go. This isn't how he wanted Reki to learn about-!

"Langa?" Reki's hand is squeezing Langa's arm. "Langa, you good man?" Reki is crouched down next to Langa. Reki - Langa can see the panic in his eyes, the uncertainty, the anxiety - is pushing all his own feelings aside, acting brave for Langa. Langa who never felt this overwhelmed until now.

Obviously, at this point, the race is postponed, Joe, Cherry, even Shadow, having gathered around to see what was happening. Miya is apologizing, but mostly unsure of what he did wrong. At least, he doesn't know until Reki is snapping back, big amber eyes staring the boy down and telling him that he isn't dating Langa. And Langa's heart tightens in his chest.

Joe is the one to clear the crowd, pushing everyone away to give Langa and Reki space. Cherry stays behind, but as soon as the two are calm enough, he gives them a curt nod before walking off.

The silence is thick and awkward, and Langa wants to die on the spot. He can't face Reki. Reki wasn't supposed to know about the pet name in the first place!

But then Reki's hand is on his, his smile soft, his eyes... Deep amber and looking at him in a way Reki's never looked at him. There's something in Reki's expression that makes Langa's stomach flip, his heart doing cartwheels in his chest.

"Hey, man, you good?" "I'm sorry." "What? Why?" "I shouldn't have..." "Is this about the whole Sunshine thing?" Langa nods. "Don't worry 'bout it, dude. And I mean, it's not mean. You're allowed."

That's when Langa notices it, the way Reki's thumb is rubbing his knuckles, the way Reki's looking at him, a light blush making his face glow, every freckle like a star against a sunset. That's why Reki is Langa's sunshine. Because he's beautiful, he's calming, he's the end of the day, the time to wind down and relax. Reki is a continual golden hour, with his grin and shiny eyes

It's now or never, Langa knows that. It's now or he'll have to die with that knowledge. It's now or Langa will never have another shot to see this beautiful view ever again

"I like you. I like you so much, Reki."

Langa feels Reki tense up, his fingers going rigid against Langa's. Langa sees how Reki's eyes widen, his shoulders freezing midbreath. But then he's grinning. And laughing. And nodding.

"Yeah, man? You mean it?" Langa nods hesitantly. "Man, aw, dude! That's- Yeah, yeah, okay, man. I mean- Aw, dude, this is so much harder than I thought... Of course you make it sound so easy to say, but like, man! Langa, dude, I like you too!"

Reki is grinning, wider than Langa's ever seen. So bright, like the Sunshine that he is. And at that moment, Langa almost blurts out that he loves him. (He has more self-control than that. One step at a time)

Reki refuses to let go of Langa's hand after that. They don't talk about what that means quite yet, what they are now, since they're still at S and it's noisy and this is a conversation they should probably have on their own, but Reki doesn't let go of Langa's hand and Langa takes that as a win in his book. Especially when Reki is pulling him up, dragging him back to their friends

Miya's got his hands stuffed in his pockets, not quite wanting to talk to the two, probably embarrassed about all the commotion he caused (he also probably got scolded by Cherry and Joe). He's only pulled out of his teenage pouting when Reki is ruffling his hair, reminding him that they had a beef

Both get ready for the race, everyone's spirits lifted once more. And Reki is especially pumped now. He's just missing one thing: his good luck charm

"C'mon! Say it! Please?" "But I said it before." "Say it again, please Langa?" "Fine, fine. Good luck, Sunshine. I believe in you."

And with the rush of adrenaline that hangs in the air at S, Langa finds the confidence to press a kiss to Reki's cheek, whispering "good luck, Reki" into the warm skin. There's an explosion of cheers and screams but Reki doesn't have time to linger onto the sensation of Langa's lips pressed to his cheek because the lights are already going, the race about to start

Edit: just a reminder that there is a fic version of this that can be found here!

#whoops #This turned out to be a whole ass fanfic #If anyone was wondering this is how my fanfic notes look like most of the time #This was supposed to be short and dumb but then it got long #Sorry yall #renga #snowgear #lanreki #reki x langa #langa x reki #reki #langa #kyan reki #reki kyan #langa hasegawa #hasegawa langa #sk8 #sk8 the infinity #sk8 headcanons #lils rambles #lils writes

[bajisbabe]

# IF YOU SEE THE HOMIES WITH THE GUAP

“the money blue, designer shoes, jimmy cho, louis boots”

having you as a younger sibling | Ran, Rindou

warnings: platonic, violence, cussing, gender neutral reader.

anon said: “hey i sent the order "ran and rindou with a younger sibling who dates sanzu ?? plss" However, I changed my mind, I just want to know what they would be like with a younger sibling gn, but you decide which of the two requests you will make, pls”

song: beethoven by kenndog

— having Ran and Rindou as your older brothers would certainly be a trip.

— no one messes with you because they’re afraid of getting cracked in the skull with Ran’s baton.

— you likely have no friends because of this, to be honest 😬

— doesn’t matter though, your brothers are almost always around.

— Ran is most definitely the type to bother you about your appetite.

— “have you eaten yet?” / “are you going to?” / “you need to eat.”

— gets all huffy when you refuse to eat.

— “alright, starve then 🙄”

— eventually comes back with something for you to eat.

— he nonchalantly makes conversation with you while you eat, trying to make it seem as though he isn’t watching to make sure you eat it all when he actually is.

— Rindou, on the other hand, is very annoying to have as an older brother.

— he acts like he never wants you around.

— “ugh, why are you here?” / “get lost, (y/n).” / “do we have to take them?”

— is a bit of a jerk, but he has a kind heart… I think?

— the type to get you something you asked for weeks ago, having remembered the entire time.

— if you say you need water, he’ll suddenly disappear and then come back with a whole 32-pack of water, taking one out and shoving it into your chest like it was a nuance to get.

— but if you’re ever upset, just know he’ll be there. bumping his fists together and asking, “who’s ass do I need to kick?”

— Ran is the lover, Rindou is the fighter.

— but they’re both willing to fight for you.

— they already beef with middle schoolers anyway, they don’t mind squaring up with a couple more for their younger sibling.

— if you ask them to back off, they will.

— they might stop showing up so often in an effort to make you seem more approachable.

— and once you finally managed to make some friends, Ran and Rindou try their best not to scare them away.

— despite being two of the most feared men in the region, they will crumble if you ask anything of them.

— might even teach you how to use their weapons.

— but would most definitely get scared once you start swinging it about.

— “(y/n), that’s not how you do it… (y/n), nO!”

— they’re not gonna let you use their weapons again.

— you can forget it, lmao.

— mess around and you could land one of them in the hospital.

— Ran would tell you that it’s not your fault while you cry about how sorry you are and that you didn’t mean to give him a ✨concussion✨

— but if it’s Rindou you hit, be prepared to get cursed out. he hates you, lmao.

— actually, you might end up in the hospital because of them.

— do not, by any means, playfight with these guys.

— they take that shit waaaay too seriously.

— they will knock you out if it means they win.

— will apologize for it later but would honestly do it again.

— don’t enter their room without knocking. if you enter the room while Ran is testing out his baton, he may or may not smack you with it completely by accident. but it will happen nonetheless.

— he would apologize, trying to shush while your cry because if Rindou finds out, he will have Ran’s ass.

— “...you hit them? didn’t I tell you not to swiNG THAT SHIT AROUND IN HERE!”

— Rindou would hit you too though, to be honest. but unlike Ran, he wouldn’t apologize.

— he would just stand there, staring at you while you writhe in pain, “didn’t I tell you to knock?”

— jerk.

— and a hypocrite. ✋😔

— but don’t be too mad, they really do love you.

— they would do anything for you.

— you’re family after all.

#tokyo revengers x reader #tokyorev x reader #cw cussing #cw violence #ran x reader #ran x you #ran headcanon #tokyo revengers headcannons #rindou haitani x reader #rindou x you #rindou x reader

[glissando365]

Look all I’m saying is Warlock Dowling doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being a “too bloody normal” human child. 

I know the fandom likes to joke about how A/C must have messed Warlock up with their terrible guardianship—and that would be entirely fair given how poorly they thought through their 11-year plan (in what world does siccing an angel and a demon on a kid supposed to cancel out his Satanic upbringing???)—but we know from canon that regardless, Warlock was impervious to their conflicting influence. 

Look at the book: Nanny Astoreth openly encourages Warlock to be a menace yet he’s too rule-abiding to ride a tricycle through the house. His tutors canonically teach him nothing but history and theology and politics and he somehow ends up good at math. Brother Francis tells him to revere potato weevils yet he publicly insults Aziraphale’s magic act. The kid absorbed zero of what they threw at him.

Adam on the other hand reads some homemade conspiracy zine from Anathema and it jumpstarts him to trigger the dominoes of Armageddon. Which isn’t to diss Adam for his situation or anything (except maybe to say he definitely would have become an ecoterrorist if he’d grown up under A/C’s plan**), but it is to say that when Crowley says Adam is a “human incarnate” that that’s not quite right. 

With Adam as the Antichrist and the implication that Greasy Johnson is the second coming of Christ, then Warlock is the quintessential human of the story: he continues on as he is despite whatever bizarre shit Heaven and Hell use to try and misguide him, he likes “comics and cartoons and his B.M.X. bike,” he seeks some good and some bad but not to serve any ineffable plan, and he collects stamps.

Is his overall role insignificant? Sure, just like the near destruction of humanity involved very little humanity. Is he a brat? Duh, he’s a middle schooler. 

But I appreciate Warlock’s persistent normalcy and what it meant for the story. I hope he got to try all the 39 ice cream flavors of America. 

#**i have many thoughts about what would have happened to adam if radical good and radical bad had crashed into him a lot sooner than 11 #but that's a rant for another post #i just have thoughts ok? #warlock dowling #good omens #time capsule my thoughts

[mainveyn]

《 nebulous love 》suna rintarou x reader

wc : 1.6k

genre : absolute angst 💔

a/n : theres a lil scenario where u have to hide in the locker ik its abit weird but just assume that the locker is big enough for u to hide in there lolol   

series : silent love ▪︎ unspoken love ▪︎ nebulous love ▪︎ ardent love

you wanted to walk up to him, hold his hand and congratulate him in person. you swear you really do. but you couldn't, not when a swamp of girls are surrounding him. he has a huge smile on him, unlike his usual deadpan expression. after all, this is a crucial match for his team and their victory is a big step for their upcoming spring high tournament. even he can break a smile that bright because of that. you told yourself it wasn't because of that girl who passed him a water bottle and snuggled at his arm like it's her spot to take. 

"wait," you mumbled out unconsciously, because you found yourself ridiculous at being upset. who am i to be upset by that, you thought as you fiddled at the hem of your jacket with your eyes casted at the floor beneath. you decided you probably won't get to talk to him now. not after seeing him playfully pinched her cheek with so much affection. you walked out of the gym without a second thought, ignoring the fact that you met his eyes briefly and he tried to wave at you. you turn away like you didn't see him and suna didn't like that.

strolling through the hallways, you wondered if it's even necessary for you to be there when he has her. she looks a little too young for his taste, probably still a middle schooler but it's really none of your concern. all you know is the moment she is here, the world you shared with suna has broken apart. you expected that and you swear you tried your best to move on. you didn't think it was his fault that you caught feelings for him from the start, which is why you can never push him away. staying by his side while the pain eats you away becomes a routine now.

a soft tune rings through your pocket, a special ringtone you set for him. you received a text from suna about him telling you to wait at his clubroom, much to your confusion. even so, your feets take you to where he wants you to be without hesitation. 

no one seems to be there as you step foot into the clubroom, noting how clean and tidy the place is right now. you assume everyone has left as you find yourself sitting on the bench in the clubroom, texting him back that you're already here. your reflection on the little mirror at the corner almost made you laugh at your pathetic self. just how easy it is for you to crawl back to him, your heart winces at your own bitter remarks and feel your breath stuck at your throat.

all thoughts are wiped out as you heard the door open, his eyes slightly brightened up at the sight of you. you mentally scold yourself for reading too much into it, but what he did next only throws you into another labyrinth of confusion. "so, what do you want me to come here for?" you enquired but he wordlessly linked his arms around you in a tight embrace. you feel his hot breath inches away from your cheeks before he snuggles into your hair to bask in your scents.

he pulled away a few seconds later as he cocked his eyebrows at you. "you didn't like the crowd so i thought it's better to talk here," his warm smile made all your words tied in your throat as you found yourself shaking under the pressure of your heartache. he only thinks of you as a friend, nothing more than what you felt for him. and yet his affections made you fall deeper into despair.

feets glued on the same spot, you couldn’t move a muscle and watch his smile slowly turn into a playful smirk. he mistaken your silence as being embarrassed and comments on how cute you are. he continued to tell you how happy he is for today’s matches, describing his blocks today are a total shutdown against their opponent with a slightly excited tone. his unusual enthusiasm instantly brought a smile upon you, genuinely felt happy for him as you resonated with him as a volleyball player as well.

but the rest of the conversation are drowned out of your mind as every second passes only makes it harder for your heart to continue beating. you instinctively have your right hand clutch onto your other arm out of anxiousness and he immediately spotted it. after all, he had spent so much time with you to know you like the palm of his hand. emerald eyes briefly scanned your feature until he completely stopped talking. he cupped his warm hands on your cheeks, inching closer to you as your back fully leaned against the lockers behind you now.

“you okay?” suna whispered in that tone again, a voice filled with so much love that you thought only you’re special enough to hear it. you shake your head with tears threatening to fall, attempting to shake his hands off of you too. as you tried to come up with an excuse for you to leave, he held your face on his palms again with a stern expression. 

“y/n, you know you can always talk to me.” no, you didn’t want to deal with him now. not when you are not given enough time to prepare yourself and put up another fake smile to reassure him. he already has someone he loves. this isn't right. you knew that so you need to calm yourself down before reassuring him ―mostly yourself that you’re fine and content at just being his friend.

but no gods are here to hear your prayers today, you’re not given any chance to relieve the pain growing in your chest. not even a second after he released his hold on you, suna pulled you back abruptly by the back of your neck and pressed his lips against yours. your eyes widened and balled your fist on his jersey at the sudden contact. a mixture of hurt and joy flowing through you, but you wished all of these were just a dream. 

his fingertips brushed past your face as he gently tilted your head to the other side to mold his lips with yours better. you should stop him but the way he touches and holds you is the only thing you want to savour right now. you don’t even want to think why is he doing this to you. everything feels perfect now, except for the growing ache in your heart because you knew this isn’t right. as selfish as it sounds, you want him to be yours and yours only. because he already owns your heart, without asking. it isn’t fair at all. 

he released his grip on you but still lingered on your shoulder, waiting for your reaction. you tried to avoid his eyes, hair covering the side of your face as you moved further away from him. you heard him calling for you but what’s more terrifying right now is the loud bickering of the miya twins and their rushed footsteps echoed through the hallways.

you quickly shoot him a panicked look, and he only returns the same expression. just as atsumu violently twisted the door open, suna hastily opened up his locker and ushered you to hide in there. neither of you are in the right mind nor given sufficient time to think it through, so you comply without questioning. you scrambled into that dark little space, putting yourself into another void of misery. 

“yer so annoyinー oi sunarin! why are yer still here?” atsumu rounded the corner, surprised that the brunette hadn't left the school like he usually would. suna shot him an annoyed look before telling the twins to leave him alone, pretending he was just chilling and scrolling through his phone all this while. osamu interjected, reminding him to get changed before kita found out and lectured him about it.

suna tried to act as normal as he could while keeping an eye on his locker, not wanting to drag this any longer. he didn’t show it but he want nothing more than to beat himself up now, grimaced at himself internally for making you suffer.

but you wouldn’t have known, not when you shrinked into the corner as you clung onto your knees like your life depended on it. tears pricking at the corner, you refused to let them fall as you hid your face on top of your knees. what am i even doing here? why do i even have to hide? those unanswered thoughts occupied your mind that you didn’t even notice the twins had left and suna had opened his lockers. the lights from outside slowly seeped through, exposing your vulnerable self right in front of him.

“y/n?” he finds his voice come out strained as he catches sight of your shoulder trembling. he tries to move closer to you but all it takes is a suppressed sob slipped out of you for him to back off.

not bothering to wipe off your uncontrollable tears, you attempt to stand up at your own effort. suna offers his hand only for you to reject it silently. his hand remained there, hoping that you'll take it like how you usually would as he watched you struggling to get on your feets.

“y/n,” he called out again, he will try as many times as it takes. as long as you’d just spare him a glance, he swore he won’t make you cry ever again. for the first time, he hates how he got too comfortable in his usual wordless interactions with you. because he has so much to tell you and you wouldn’t have known.

probably never as you began to run out of the clubroom, walking out of his life as well.

reblogs are very much appreciated <3

#suna x reader #suna x y/n #suna x you #suna fluff #suna angst #haikyuu suna

[medusas-stylist]

For anyone who wants some angsty 7, I present — the Seven aren’t cohesive, featuring Percy “I’m fucking sick of this shit I’ll do it myself” Jackson, Annabeth “Percy’s fine, we’re fine, it’s got to be fine” Chase, Piper “boys, stop comparing sizes” McLean, Jason “I’m not starting a fight, I’m not starting a fight, I’ mom not—” Grace, Leo “please don’t kill me, I just wanna be appreciated” Valdez, Hazel “is it bad that I like it when people defend me” Levesque, and Frank “this isn’t what I signed up for” Zhang.

Percy doesn’t like Leo. Maybe the kid’s a bit too jokey, a bit too flirty, a bit too disrespectful. Percy understands hiding behind laughs, but the way Leo does it just grates on his nerves. Maybe he should stop treating being a demigod as a joke. Piper’s cool enough, he thinks, reminds him a lot of Silena. And Jason is... he’s boring, milque toast, and just way too by the book. Dude needs to take the stick out of his ass.

Annabeth doesn’t know what’s up with Percy. He’s angrier. She assumes its being thrust into yet another world-saving prophecy. Especially after the cruel twist that was the last one. Percy always viewed himself the hero in the most tragic of senses. As happy as she knows he is with her, a part of her also knows he was ready to die on his birthday. And that he’s not happy being one of seven now. His friends are nice. She likes both of them. And she likes Piper, Leo, and Jason, even if the Roman makes her antsy. She’s just not looking forward to having to be the glue on this mission.

Piper doesn’t know what to think. The Greatest Hero doesn’t seem all that great. Sure, he’s got the looks and the power, but he doesn’t feel like a hero should. There’s no optimism around him, just moody anger. Even looks-wise, he feels caught between a loser middle-schooler and a jock high-schooler. And Hazel is... guarded. Like Piper herself, she supposes. So Piper knows she should be a bit more empathetic, but she can’t stop being wary. She likes Frank, being the teddy bear he is. But Annabeth is being more distant now. Maybe that’s because Percy’s back. Maybe it’s because she’s trying not to take Jason’s side in this brewing rivalry they have.

Jason knows Percy doesn’t like him. He can feel the older teen’s dismissive attitude. It’s not that Percy is rude to him. Percy’s just unappreciative, he thinks. Yeah, that’s right. Percy doesn’t care much for Jason’s plans or opinions, constantly second guessing him or talking over him. Jason doesn’t like that. Piper says there’s a rivalry, but Jason is too nice for that and Percy doesn’t seem to think Jason is worthy of a rivalry. What he really doesn’t like though, is the way in which Percy lashes out at Leo. Yes, Leo can be gratuitous. But Leo’s got a hard past, same as the rest of them, and he doesn’t need Percy acting like Leo’s the bad guy here. And to top it all off, Annabeth, Frank, and Hazel all seem wary around him. He can’t fucking take this.

Leo is petrified. He’s pretty damn sure that at the first sign of anything wrong, Percy’s going to run him through with Riptide and feed Leo to his pet hellhound. (Because Percy has a pet hellhound. Totally normal.) Piper says Percy’s not that scary and Jason seems to be standing up for him, but Leo can’t shake the feeling that Percy hates his guts. Maybe Leo should take it easier on Frank and Hazel, speaking of whom... well, Hazel interacts with him like he’s a ghost and Frank seems ready to stand behind Percy and put ten arrows in Leo’s skull. Annabeth doesn’t even seem like mediating anymore, which hurts because he thought they were getting close, bonding over this ship. This ship he’s starting to regret building. They should’ve just left Percy in New Rome. He seemed fine.

Hazel is trying to stay out of it. Which is hard because she feels like she is the middle of it. Which makes her feel worse because she doesn’t want Percy to defend her. She can defend herself, thank you very much. Still, she can’t deny the warm feeling it gives her to have Percy stand up for her like that. It’s like having an older older brother. And Leo can be nasty sometimes. She doesn’t hate him, she’s dealt with far too much hate in her lifetime to ever want to hate, but she’s very close to it. Doesn’t help that he looks just like Sammy.

Frank is caught between two nuclear weapons. Admittedly, Percy is like ten nuclear weapons, but Jason isn’t a pushover. Even if he is letting Percy walk all over him. Frank has heard so many stories about Jason that he’s sort of shocked he’s letting Percy be this dismissive of him. And he’s even more shocked at how dismissive Percy has been. He hasn’t seen Percy this terrifyingly dangerous since he killed a giant. Percy’s supposed to be the nice guy. Maybe it’s got something to do with Leo. Or maybe he’s just jealous of all the time they had with Annabeth. He hasn’t seen the two interact that much, but Percy is dangerously attached to her. He just wishes his friend would realize that they’re all on the same team.

#percy jackson #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #the seven #the 7 #annabeth chase #percabeth #piper mclean #Jason grace #leo valdez #hazel levesque #frank zhang #angst #dark!percy #? #no friends #everyone’s fucking tired #Percy might want to kill someone #just to get some anger out #ya know #Leo doesn’t want it to be him #because of course it’d be him #happy ending #what’s that #enemies to friends #never heard of it #people overcoming differences #nope #not sure what you’re talking about #not-a-unit

[kjack89]

Conversation Starter

Just a little modern AU E/R fluff for your Saturday evening enjoyment.

It was like every single cliché had come to life: Enjolras’s palms were sweating, his knees were wobbling slightly, and it felt like his stomach had vacated his abdomen and taken refuge somewhere around his ankles. And all because he was walking down the street towards Grantaire so that they could go on their first date.

Honestly, it was hard to gauge whether it was the Grantaire part or the date part that had Enjolras feeling like a middle schooler again, and his mouth went dry as he finally reached Grantaire, who turned and looked expectantly at him with that little smile on his face. “Hey,” Enjolras managed, and Grantaire’s eyebrows rose.

“That’s really what you’re going with?” he said in lieu of a greeting, and Enjolras stared at him.

“Excuse me?”

Grantaire shook his head with something like disapproval. “Just...hey,” he repeated, slightly incredulous.

Enjolras’s brow furrowed. “If you’re about to make a ‘hey’s for horses’ joke…”

Grantaire barked a laugh and shook his head. “I promise you, I am not.” He squinted slightly at Enjolras as if just seeing him for the first time. Which was patently absurd, since they’d been friends for years and sleeping together for, well, awhile, and besides— “Just trying to figure out why you sound like every a-hole who’s ever slid into my DMs.”

Enjolras gaped at him. “I—what?” he managed, his voice sounding mangled to his own ears.

“I mean, here you are, this great orator, and the best you can muster for the opening line of our first official date is hey.” Grantaire shrugged. “I guess I just expected more, that’s all.”

The nerves that Enjolras had been feeling earlier had long since disappeared, replaced almost entirely by something like pure rage. “Well, I’m sorry,” he said frostily, “how do you like to start a conversation, since you’re clearly such an expert?”

Grantaire grinned, and the sight took Enjolras aback almost as much as the entire conversation to that point had. “Oh, I don’t,” he assured Enjolras, who just stared at him. “I let other people start the conversation so that I can mock them for their opening, thus establishing the tone for the rest of the evening.”

He sounded abominably smug, and Enjolras’s had to work to wrench his mouth open to splutter a response. “And has that ever worked for you?”

“Well, you haven’t left yet, so.” Grantaire had the gall to actually wink at Enjolras. “Ask me again at the end of the evening.” He paused, his smile softening, just slightly. “Besides, you’re not nervous anymore, right?”

Enjolras blinked. “Who told you that I was nervous?” he asked defensively, and when Grantaire just gave him a look, he managed a light laugh. “Ok, fine, I was.”

“And?” Grantaire prompted.

“And what?”

“And are you still nervous?”

Of course he wasn’t. Which had probably been the whole entire point, and Enjolras just shook his head slowly. “You really are an asshole,” he said, with no small amount of affection. “You know that, right?”

Grantaire grinned before leaning in and pressing a swift kiss to the corner of Enjolras’s mouth. “Maybe,” he said. “But like I noted before, you haven’t left yet. So I must be doing something right.”

Enjolras shook his head again, but when he took Grantaire’s hand, his palm wasn’t sweaty anymore. “So it would seem.”

----------

“We need to talk.”

Enjolras had to raise his voice slightly be heard over the general hubbub of the back room of the Musain, which ended up being a mistake, since as soon as he said it, almost all conversation ceased. Or at least, that’s what it felt like, which made his attempt to get Grantaire’s attention so that they could talk seem kind of pathetic.

Or something.

Grantaire’s expression was unreadable as he stood and jerked his head towards the door, walking out without waiting to see if Enjolras was following him. Enjolras, of course, did, and not just because everyone seemed to be staring at him.

He followed Grantaire outside to the alley and watched as Grantaire stopped and crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking at Enjolras with that same unreadable smile. “Well?” he said impatiently, and Enjolras blinked.

“Well, what?”

Grantaire arched an eyebrow. “You said we need to talk, so...talk.”

Enjolras eyed him warily, trying to figure out why Grantaire’s tone was suddenly so cold, certain he was stepping on to a landmine. “Now I’m not sure I want to.”

“Why not?”

Enjolras gave him a look. “Because you’re looking at me like you’re about to start swinging.”

Grantaire rolled his eyes. “I would never use physical violence against you,” he said dismissively, which Enjolras almost would’ve taken as sweet if it weren’t for the fact that, in that moment, he wasn’t entirely sure he meant it.

But whether Grantaire meant it or not, Enjolras figured he might as well try to use it to lighten the mood. “The scratches on my back would say otherwise.”

For one brief moment, it almost looked like Grantaire was smiling.

Almost.

“I would never use physical violence against you without your repeated and extremely enthusiastic consent,” Grantaire amended, a little impatiently. “But that’s not really the point.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No, the point is, if you’re going to break up with me, I’d really appreciate it if you just got it over with.”

Grantaire said the words flatly, so much so that it took Enjolras a moment to even realize what he’d said. “If I’m going to...what?”

“Break up with me,” Grantaire repeated slowly, as if Enjolras was dumb, or hard of hearing.

Which rankled Enjolras more than a little, seeing as how he was neither, and yet still had absolutely no idea what Grantaire was talking about. “Why in the hell do you think that I’m about to break up with you?”

Now Grantaire was looking at him as if he was dumb. “Because you said we need to talk,” he said, as if that was any kind of an answer.

Enjolras stared blankly at him. “Yeah, because we do,” he said. “I wanted to see if you’d mind if we pushed our flights for Thanksgiving until later in the evening.”

Grantaire’s eyes fluttered closed. “Are you serious?” he asked, and Enjolras nodded, even though Grantaire’s eyes were still closed. “And you chose to broach that topic with, we need to talk?”

“I’m genuinely not seeing what I did wrong here,” Enjolras said.

Grantaire opened his eyes. “Is it possible that you were dropped on your head as a child?”

“Grantaire—”

“No I’m serious, it would explain a helluva lot.”

Enjolras cleared his throat. “Grantaire, there’s no need for ableist jokes.”

“Fine,” Grantaire said. “But do you honestly think that changing our Thanksgiving flights merit that kind of an introduction?”

“Actually, yeah, I do,” Enjolras said sharply, and Grantaire looked taken aback. “We’re flying to your parents’ house for me to meet them as your boyfriend. It’s kind of a big deal, and I wanted to talk about it because I didn’t want you to think that I was trying to get out of it. “

He said all of this in one breath, and Grantaire looked even more taken aback than before. “Oh,” he managed, his voice small.

“Because, for the record, I’m not,” Enjolras added helpfully. “I just have a meeting that got pushed to that afternoon.”

“Ok.”

Enjolras looked at him and took a deep breath before telling him, “I know that I don’t always go about things the right way. I don’t say the right thing, I don’t act the way I’m supposed to, I’ve never been very good at this. But I’m trying, because I...:” He trailed off, blushing slightly. “Well, because I love you. And I’m in this. And I just thought you should know that.”

Grantaire was staring up at him as if he had never quite seen him before. Then he sighed heavily. “Well God fucking damn it.”

Enjolras frowned. “What?”

“You were right.”

“About…?” Enjolras prompted.

Grantaire smiled at him, all his anger from before seemingly vanished. “We actually did need to talk,” he said, and he took a step forward to lace his fingers with Enjolras’s. “And I’m really fucking glad we did, because I love you, too.”

Enjolras grinned. “Good,” he said, bending down to kiss him.

Grantaire kissed him for a moment before pulling back. “But you’ve really got to work on your conversation starters.”

Enjolras just laughed. “I will certainly try.”

----------

“Are you mad at me?” Enjolras asked, the first words either had said in each other in several hours, which probably explained why the words seemed to hang between them as Grantaire studiously avoided looking at him.

“I’m sure I have no idea what would give you that impression,” Grantaire said frostily.

Enjolras rolled his eyes. “Mostly the fact that you’ve been giving me the silent treatment and keep glaring at me,” he said sourly.

Grantaire gave him one of those selfsame glares. “That was a rhetorical question.”

“Well, are you going to tell me why you’re mad at me, or would you prefer that I play twenty questions to guess the answer?” Enjolras asked, as pleasantly as he could manage considering that he was considering throttling his boyfriend, whom he loved, with his bare hands.

“I don’t know, you were doing so well with charades,” Grantaire shot back.

Enjolras sighed and counted to ten in his head before asking, “Can you be serious for, like, thirty seconds?”

“I am being serious,” Grantaire snapped. “And I’m not the moron who started this conversation with ‘are you mad at me’ when the answer was an obvious fucking yes.”

Enjolras rolled his eyes so hard he instantly gave himself a headache. Though that could possibly also be attributed to the banality of this entire conversation. “So now you’re mad at me for how I chose to broach this conversation?”

Grantaire just shrugged. “It’s one of many reasons, yes.”

“And again, am I going to have to guess the other ones?” Grantaire shrugged again and Enjolras sighed. “Look, I’m sorry, and I’m not just saying that because I want this fight or argument or whatever to be over, because you know as well as I do that I love to fight.” Grantaire nodded in agreement, which Enjolras took as a slightly optimistic sign. “But I also love you, and this doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a fun fight for either of us.”

Almost as if against his own will, Grantaire looked over at him, a small smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. “And what does a fun fight look like?”

Enjolras smiled slightly, turning to face Grantaire, reaching out to hook his fingers through the belt loops of Grantaire’s jeans to tug him closer. “Well, it usually ends with one or both of us naked.”

“Ah,” Grantaire said, reaching up to rest his hands lightly against Enjolras’s chest and tilting his head up slightly. “Yeah, I like those fights.”

“I had a hunch,” Enjolras murmured, bending his head so that his lips just brushed against Grantaire’s. Then he took a step back, and Grantaire let out a small noise that sounded suspiciously like a whimper. “But this seems like it’s something serious, so if you’d rather we discuss whatever’s going on…”

“I never said that,” Grantaire said breathlessly. “You were the one who brought it up.”

“Did I?” Enjolras murmured, pulling Grantaire close again. “Well that was stupid of me.”

Grantaire kissed him lightly. “So stupid.” He reached up to brush a blond curl out of Enjolras’s eyes. “I really do like these kinds of fights.”

Enjolras laughed. “So do I,” he said, bending down to kiss Grantaire once more. “In no small part because it’s like we get to fight and make up all at the same time.” Grantaire murmured his agreement and Enjolras added, “I mean, do you even remember why you were mad at me?”

Grantaire’s expression soured and he gave Enjolras a look before kissing him again, a little more forcefully this time. “Maybe not so much with the conversation right now.”

Enjolras’s answering laugh was captured by Grantaire’s mouth. “Fair enough.”

----------

“You know that I love you, right?”

Enjolras said it casually, almost offhandedly, and it took him a moment to realize that Grantaire had stopped walking. “What did you do?” Grantaire asked, and Enjolras looked blankly at him.

“What did I do about what?” he asked.

Grantaire gave him a look. “To make you say that,” he said impatiently. “You had to have done something.”

Enjolras stared at him. “I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Grantaire let out a weary sigh before telling Enjolras slowly, “You chose to start the conversation—”

“Oh my God,” Enjolras groaned. “Not this again.”

Grantaire refused to be deterred. “You chose to start the conversation with ‘you know that I love you, right’.”

“Yes, I did,’ Enjolras said, because there was really no use in denying it.

“Which therefore implies that there is some kind of reason I should have for doubting that you love me,” Grantaire told him.

Enjolras stared at him. “That is one helluva leap in logic.”

Grantaire rolled his eyes, clearly unamused. “If it is, then once again, you and I need to have a conversation about your word choices.”

“Maybe so, but do you think it can wait?”

Grantaire threw his hands up in the air. “Sure, we’ll just table it and let me have a heart attack everytime you start a damn conversation!” he half-shouted, and he stalked a few paces away. “I mean, you really think this is something we should wait on?”

“Actually, yes,” Enjolras said, pulling a small, gray box from his pocket. “Because I kind of have something else that I wanted to talk about.”

Grantaire huffed a sigh. “Like—”

Enjolras got down on one knee just as Grantaire turned around. “Like this.”

Grantaire stared at him. “Oh my God,” he whispered.

“Grantaire, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” Enjolras said simply, unable to stop his stupid, lovesick grin. “Will you marry me?”

Grantaire was still staring at him. “Are you...are you fucking kidding me right now?”

Enjolras arched an eyebrow, though his grin didn’t once waver. “Is that a no?”

Grantaire spluttered incoherently. “Is that a – you fucking – is that a – get up here and kiss me, you asshole.” He grabbed the front of Enjolras’s shirt and pulled him up to kiss him, cradling Enjolras’s face in his hands. “Yes, of course I will marry you, but for fuck’s sake, that is not how you start a proposal!”

Enjolras laughed breathlessly. “I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I propose.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Grantaire told him, beaming as Enjolras slid the ring on to his finger. “You’re stuck with me now.”

Enjolras kissed him again. “And you’re stuck with me and my many failures at being a conversationalist, apparently.”

“Yeah,” Grantaire said happily. “You bet your ass I am.” He kissed Enjolras once more before looping his arms around Enjolras’s neck. “Just promise me something, ok?”

“Anything,” Enjolras said instantly.

“For the love of fucking God, please do not start your vows with ‘you know I love you, right’.”

Enjolras laughed. “I promise.”

“Good,” Grantaire said, before telling him, “and for the record, I do know, and I love you, too.”

Enjolras’s expression softened, and he kissed him once again. “I know.”

----------

“Hey,” Grantaire said tiredly, pausing to lean down and kiss the top of Enjolras’s head before plopping down next to him on the couch.

Enjolras shifted automatically so that Grantaire could lean against his shoulder. “You know, once upon a time, you told me not to start a conversation with ‘hey’.”

Grantaire yawned widely. “And I stand by that statement.”

“But now it’s ok when you do it?”

Enjolras couldn’t see him, but he could feel the movement of Grantaire rolling his eyes at him. “There’s a difference.”

Enjolras set his phone down. “Ok, so then explain the difference to me.”

Grantaire sat upright and turned to face him, his expression suddenly earnest. “The difference is that I’m not starting a conversation.”

Enjolras’s eyes narrowed. “Well seeing as how we weren’t talking just a few minutes ago, and now we are, I’m not sure how else you would qualify that.”

Grantaire smiled slightly. “You’re forgetting one important thing.”

“And what’s that?” Enjolras asked.

“We’re married.”

As this was not a recent development, Enjolras just stared at him. “Ok...and?”

“And this is it,” Grantaire said simply. “This is the rest of our lives. Just one big conversation that may pause every now and then, but it’s not gonna be over until the end, which means there’s never a need to start it up again.”

Enjolras couldn’t stop himself as he leaned in to kiss Grantaire, though he pulled back just enough to inform him, “You just don’t want to admit that you were an ass about saying hey to start a conversation.”

Grantaire laughed lightly. “Maybe.” He kissed Enjolras once more. “But, uh, you know I love you, right?”

Enjolras rolled his eyes. “Hilarious,” he said dryly.

“I know,” Grantaire said, his smile soft. “Thank God you’re stuck with me.”

“Yeah,” Enjolras said, kissing his forehead. “Thank God for that.”

#exr #enjolras x grantaire #enjoltaire #enjolras #grantaire #fanfiction #les miserables #modern au #established relationship #fluff